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silveradeptGreetings, folks. Start your day off right with edible adult novelties undergoing a taste-test.
Observe, as well, the creation of a new Rupert Murdoch publication intended for iPad and tablet users. Which we put next to this negative portrait of Rupert Murdoch and his rise to becoming a major media mogul for context and opposition.
There's also Scott Westerfeld explaining how the March of the Censors is often successful in your schools and libraries - because due deliberation is often not done when a small vocal minority complains.
Also, an object lesson in the dangers of work-for-hire - if the people who actually own the property don't like you, they can fire you and replace you any time they like. Which, if you're working on someone else's creation, is normal. But if you want to keep control of your own original stuff, then a work-for-hire contract is not for you.
And then, if you wish to get a full measure of despair, think about the wealth inequality in the United States and the world. Now revise your estimate at least two orders of magnitude worse. That's reality. The concentration of the wealth at the top had all sorts of poor effects, factory farming and simlar measures to squeeze every last cent of profit out and drive costs down being one of the easy ones to see. So is the rising unemployment rate and the ease in which the economy burnt up once the kindling of the housing bubble was ignited.
We find the following letter of note interesting - a letter from a producer expressing his...concern for Mia Farrow making a sudden decision to cut her hair, thinking that such impulsive things could ruin her acting career, reminding her of her obligations to the studio and others. The writers covered the change by having her character cut her hair and not remember doing so. This is some time in the past, but what strikes me is that the writers had to construct something to explain it, and it wasn't as simple of a throw-away line as "Oh, I cut my hair." It says something both about the writers, who apparently think Occam was a nice guy but not worth listening to, and about the culture of film at the time - a career ruined over a haircut done hile someone was filming a television series? Really?
Out in the world today, despite all the furor over Wikileaks, several news organizations are building or already have ways in place to allow anonymous leaks of the same size and scope. Some of them have even said they will stand on the side of Wikileaks if it is ever put on trial for its actions.
The protests in Egypt, at least before the violent crackdown, contained lots of people of both sexes. This is an important piece of information about the character of the protests. It should assuage the manufactured doubts of those too scared of an Islamic shadow to actually pay attention to what's going on. (Unlike the ones who callously exploit that spectre to raise fear and intolerance in their own countries and their supporters.) It won't help any with the people convinced that the mob cannot form successful democracy because they are a mob, and that makes them prone to being controlled by someone with more savvy. The suggestion there is that the government in place needs to be there to help make a transition to true democracy, and then to step back and let it go once they've set it in motion. Considering what the people are protesting, though, I'd give you a coin flip on who would be better able to successfully make that transition. For those who wonder how the United States might be able to exert pressure to go in a desired direction, remember that the United States supplies Egypt with a significant amount of military funding, and may be able to use those ties and others to get the Egyptian military to act.
Possibly unrelated, Egypt's natural gas pipeline to Jordan was sabotaged, forcing the turning off of the line to both Jordan and Israel.
A person being held indefinitely at the Guantanamo Bay facility has died without receiving formal charges or release. He was condemned to spend his life in the prison without being charged or released, without the beenfits of even the military commission trial for his actions. That's one life that could at least spark a murder charge, maybe, if not a laws of war charge or something that can be used to hold the facility and its enablers accountable. Why isn't it happening? Sure, the world can decide to make it so that the criminals can't leave the country, but that still means the counry they're in harbors them and ignores what they did.
A court in the United Kingdom has barred a man with low intelligence from having sexual relations with anyone, claiming that he does not have the mental capacity to understand all the ramifications of what he is doing, and thus cannot consent.
The Indian government is adding yoga asanas to a publicly-available database, some with videos of performance, so as to stop other companies and persons in other countries from trying to copyright or patent them.
Finally, a cable from Wikileaks indicates that the United States will supply the Russian Federation with identifying numbers of missiles that it ships to the United Kingdom as part of the UK's nuclear arsenal.
In the United States, the Republican Party continues to fight their war against women, where in Georgia, a law has been proposed to require victimes of rape and domestic abuse to be called "accusers" and not "victims". The national party wants to make it so hospitals that can't or wont't do emergency abortions don't have to transfer women who need the procedure to hospitals that will.
Perhaps stunts like these, and the people who support and oppose them have contributed to the significant polarization of the Presidential approval rating between the two biggest parties in the United States.
Those without belief in any deity can still be churchgoers, as the social and communal aspects of religious practice are still entirely compatible with a lack of theistic belief.
Active skeptic and magician James Randi has started a major campaign against the manufacturers of homeopathic remedies, offering a challenge to any of them to be able to scientifically prove that they work as they are supposed to.
AOL-Time Warner has expressed an interest in acquiring the Huffington Post, which creates a bit of a quandary about the Post's indie cred and the question of whether such an acquisition would be a sellout and damage HuffPo beyond repair as it joined the mainstream.
Artist Amanda (F-Bomb verb) Palmer (now married to Neil Himself) points out the stupidity of telling a high school playwright that they can't perform their play about the questions of Columbine in the high school, to their peers, the audience that needs it the most. Requested in the comments are stories of art departments and how awesome and transformative they are. The arts are powerful, and there are brilliant minds in our schools. Why aren't they being unleashed? They'll learn both the craft and they'll be able to ask and answer the questions they're really interested in.
And finally, D'oh - singer flubs national anthem at American Football championship. The result of that game was that the Green Bay Packers, the only non-profit team in the National Football League, defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers by a score of 31-25. The fact that American football is still what it is says a lot of things about the United States, and few of them are pretty.
In technology, the IPv4 protocol has reached capacity. IPv6 still has plenty of numbers, though, even if the ISPs of the United States seem to have no interest in switching over to the new protocol.
The inexorable march of electric motors and their incredible efficiency will make the internal combustion engine a relic much like smoking in public places is - taxed, regulated, scientifically shown to be inefficient, and decried as bad for public health.
Two bits on Facebook, possibly opposed - creating a good corporate Facebook engagement policy and for users, how to set your privacy setting so that you're not being posted around the Internet when you don't want to be.
Into opinions, why not use Red Day as a time to declare your support for all kinds of love?
On more political-ish matters, Mr. Carroll displays his contempt for the current administration and venerates the Great Saint Reagan, claiming that Reagan&aposs; robust recovery proves his ideas are right and the anemic Obama recovery proves he's wrong, so MORE TAX CUTS NOW. Because, y'know, it's always that overbearing government that stops recovery with their regulations and taxes, instead of letting The Market (A.P.T.I.N.) have everything and then coming, pauper-like, to ask for alms from their betters. Because, apparently, the current wealth disparity isn't disparate enough - MORE TAX CUTS NOW.
Mr. Taube suggests that the correct network to pick up Keith Oblermann is FOX News, not because he's any good or anything, but because it will let the network dodge accusations that it's a consrvative propaganda arm, and because it would be great for the ratings to have Olbermann and the rest of the network go head to head with each other. A FOX-sanctioned brawl between Bill'O and his nemesis, nightly! Oh, the ratings! Except for the part where, if it's based anything on the way Mr. O'Reilly interviewed the President on Sunday, Bill's not cut out for the job and won't be able to hold up his end of the requirement to make it interesting.
Mr. Burke claims the memorials going into place regarding the 11 September attacks are not designed to evoke memory at all, containing almsot no artifacts, nor do they properly respect the memories of the persons who died in the attacks and their aftermath.
Last out for tonight, the predictions of Edison, 1911, and how they turned out here in 2011, and an interview with the person whose created the iconic and cult classic The Rocky Horror (Picture) Show.
Observe, as well, the creation of a new Rupert Murdoch publication intended for iPad and tablet users. Which we put next to this negative portrait of Rupert Murdoch and his rise to becoming a major media mogul for context and opposition.
There's also Scott Westerfeld explaining how the March of the Censors is often successful in your schools and libraries - because due deliberation is often not done when a small vocal minority complains.
Also, an object lesson in the dangers of work-for-hire - if the people who actually own the property don't like you, they can fire you and replace you any time they like. Which, if you're working on someone else's creation, is normal. But if you want to keep control of your own original stuff, then a work-for-hire contract is not for you.
And then, if you wish to get a full measure of despair, think about the wealth inequality in the United States and the world. Now revise your estimate at least two orders of magnitude worse. That's reality. The concentration of the wealth at the top had all sorts of poor effects, factory farming and simlar measures to squeeze every last cent of profit out and drive costs down being one of the easy ones to see. So is the rising unemployment rate and the ease in which the economy burnt up once the kindling of the housing bubble was ignited.
We find the following letter of note interesting - a letter from a producer expressing his...concern for Mia Farrow making a sudden decision to cut her hair, thinking that such impulsive things could ruin her acting career, reminding her of her obligations to the studio and others. The writers covered the change by having her character cut her hair and not remember doing so. This is some time in the past, but what strikes me is that the writers had to construct something to explain it, and it wasn't as simple of a throw-away line as "Oh, I cut my hair." It says something both about the writers, who apparently think Occam was a nice guy but not worth listening to, and about the culture of film at the time - a career ruined over a haircut done hile someone was filming a television series? Really?
Out in the world today, despite all the furor over Wikileaks, several news organizations are building or already have ways in place to allow anonymous leaks of the same size and scope. Some of them have even said they will stand on the side of Wikileaks if it is ever put on trial for its actions.
The protests in Egypt, at least before the violent crackdown, contained lots of people of both sexes. This is an important piece of information about the character of the protests. It should assuage the manufactured doubts of those too scared of an Islamic shadow to actually pay attention to what's going on. (Unlike the ones who callously exploit that spectre to raise fear and intolerance in their own countries and their supporters.) It won't help any with the people convinced that the mob cannot form successful democracy because they are a mob, and that makes them prone to being controlled by someone with more savvy. The suggestion there is that the government in place needs to be there to help make a transition to true democracy, and then to step back and let it go once they've set it in motion. Considering what the people are protesting, though, I'd give you a coin flip on who would be better able to successfully make that transition. For those who wonder how the United States might be able to exert pressure to go in a desired direction, remember that the United States supplies Egypt with a significant amount of military funding, and may be able to use those ties and others to get the Egyptian military to act.
Possibly unrelated, Egypt's natural gas pipeline to Jordan was sabotaged, forcing the turning off of the line to both Jordan and Israel.
A person being held indefinitely at the Guantanamo Bay facility has died without receiving formal charges or release. He was condemned to spend his life in the prison without being charged or released, without the beenfits of even the military commission trial for his actions. That's one life that could at least spark a murder charge, maybe, if not a laws of war charge or something that can be used to hold the facility and its enablers accountable. Why isn't it happening? Sure, the world can decide to make it so that the criminals can't leave the country, but that still means the counry they're in harbors them and ignores what they did.
A court in the United Kingdom has barred a man with low intelligence from having sexual relations with anyone, claiming that he does not have the mental capacity to understand all the ramifications of what he is doing, and thus cannot consent.
The Indian government is adding yoga asanas to a publicly-available database, some with videos of performance, so as to stop other companies and persons in other countries from trying to copyright or patent them.
Finally, a cable from Wikileaks indicates that the United States will supply the Russian Federation with identifying numbers of missiles that it ships to the United Kingdom as part of the UK's nuclear arsenal.
In the United States, the Republican Party continues to fight their war against women, where in Georgia, a law has been proposed to require victimes of rape and domestic abuse to be called "accusers" and not "victims". The national party wants to make it so hospitals that can't or wont't do emergency abortions don't have to transfer women who need the procedure to hospitals that will.
Perhaps stunts like these, and the people who support and oppose them have contributed to the significant polarization of the Presidential approval rating between the two biggest parties in the United States.
Those without belief in any deity can still be churchgoers, as the social and communal aspects of religious practice are still entirely compatible with a lack of theistic belief.
Active skeptic and magician James Randi has started a major campaign against the manufacturers of homeopathic remedies, offering a challenge to any of them to be able to scientifically prove that they work as they are supposed to.
AOL-Time Warner has expressed an interest in acquiring the Huffington Post, which creates a bit of a quandary about the Post's indie cred and the question of whether such an acquisition would be a sellout and damage HuffPo beyond repair as it joined the mainstream.
Artist Amanda (F-Bomb verb) Palmer (now married to Neil Himself) points out the stupidity of telling a high school playwright that they can't perform their play about the questions of Columbine in the high school, to their peers, the audience that needs it the most. Requested in the comments are stories of art departments and how awesome and transformative they are. The arts are powerful, and there are brilliant minds in our schools. Why aren't they being unleashed? They'll learn both the craft and they'll be able to ask and answer the questions they're really interested in.
And finally, D'oh - singer flubs national anthem at American Football championship. The result of that game was that the Green Bay Packers, the only non-profit team in the National Football League, defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers by a score of 31-25. The fact that American football is still what it is says a lot of things about the United States, and few of them are pretty.
In technology, the IPv4 protocol has reached capacity. IPv6 still has plenty of numbers, though, even if the ISPs of the United States seem to have no interest in switching over to the new protocol.
The inexorable march of electric motors and their incredible efficiency will make the internal combustion engine a relic much like smoking in public places is - taxed, regulated, scientifically shown to be inefficient, and decried as bad for public health.
Two bits on Facebook, possibly opposed - creating a good corporate Facebook engagement policy and for users, how to set your privacy setting so that you're not being posted around the Internet when you don't want to be.
Into opinions, why not use Red Day as a time to declare your support for all kinds of love?
On more political-ish matters, Mr. Carroll displays his contempt for the current administration and venerates the Great Saint Reagan, claiming that Reagan&aposs; robust recovery proves his ideas are right and the anemic Obama recovery proves he's wrong, so MORE TAX CUTS NOW. Because, y'know, it's always that overbearing government that stops recovery with their regulations and taxes, instead of letting The Market (A.P.T.I.N.) have everything and then coming, pauper-like, to ask for alms from their betters. Because, apparently, the current wealth disparity isn't disparate enough - MORE TAX CUTS NOW.
Mr. Taube suggests that the correct network to pick up Keith Oblermann is FOX News, not because he's any good or anything, but because it will let the network dodge accusations that it's a consrvative propaganda arm, and because it would be great for the ratings to have Olbermann and the rest of the network go head to head with each other. A FOX-sanctioned brawl between Bill'O and his nemesis, nightly! Oh, the ratings! Except for the part where, if it's based anything on the way Mr. O'Reilly interviewed the President on Sunday, Bill's not cut out for the job and won't be able to hold up his end of the requirement to make it interesting.
Mr. Burke claims the memorials going into place regarding the 11 September attacks are not designed to evoke memory at all, containing almsot no artifacts, nor do they properly respect the memories of the persons who died in the attacks and their aftermath.
Last out for tonight, the predictions of Edison, 1911, and how they turned out here in 2011, and an interview with the person whose created the iconic and cult classic The Rocky Horror (Picture) Show.
