Somewhat unsettling full sized recreation of Dealey Plaza in Second Life. You can stand in all the famous places, the views are eerily accurate.
You can ride the limo now. More to come...
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Dealey Plaza in Second Life
Somewhat unsettling full sized recreation of Dealey Plaza in Second Life. You can stand in all the famous places, the views are eerily accurate.
You can ride the limo now. More to come...
Liberals called on to support Net Neutrality
The Tories, needless to say, aren't so hot about the idea.
Conservatives supporting people over business. Are you nuts?
Prentice had rebuffed earlier questioning by Angus in the House of Commons and said the Conservatives were not in favour of regulating the internet.
"We have a well advanced internet system in this country. It is not publicly regulated," he said in the exchange earlier this month. "At this point in time we will continue to leave the matter between consumers on the one hand and internet service providers on the other."
As one of the commenters on the CBC story put it, "So it's the deep pockets and strong arm tactics of Bell on one hand, and people who have no choice on the other...and that's the way the Tories like it."
We're fucked.
Bell knows there's no alternative, so they will fuck us. No one should be surprised by this. It's human nature for those in control.
Read more here, if your provider lets this through.
Conservatives supporting people over business. Are you nuts?
Prentice had rebuffed earlier questioning by Angus in the House of Commons and said the Conservatives were not in favour of regulating the internet.
"We have a well advanced internet system in this country. It is not publicly regulated," he said in the exchange earlier this month. "At this point in time we will continue to leave the matter between consumers on the one hand and internet service providers on the other."
As one of the commenters on the CBC story put it, "So it's the deep pockets and strong arm tactics of Bell on one hand, and people who have no choice on the other...and that's the way the Tories like it."
We're fucked.
Bell knows there's no alternative, so they will fuck us. No one should be surprised by this. It's human nature for those in control.
Read more here, if your provider lets this through.
The Censored 11
The New York Times and Youtube are a bit behind on this. Anyone who lives in Montreal or Toronto will be familiar with Regg Hart and his screenings. These cartoons and many others have also been available on the net for years now. I myself have viewed many and many.
They absolutely need be seen and talked about. To sweep a part of history under the rug because you don't like it is dishonest (helllooo Disney).
These cartoon do reflect the nastier undercurrent of culture at that time. I wonder what made today will be an embarrassment to future generations.
Borat perhaps...?
Read more here.
Cheeseburger to cost beefy £85
Hey, if some fat rich fuck wants to spend his/her money like a complete clown, who am I to judge...they already think condos are a good deal.
FAST food chain Burger King are to serve up the world’s most expensive takeaway – costing a whopping £85.
There’s no common old meat in this burger. It will contain top-quality Kobe beef from Japan. And instead of ketchup and cheddar, it will be garnished with foie gras – a goose delicacy – and rare blue cheese.
But BK customers will still be able to buy regular fries and a fizzy drink to help it down.
It will be launched in selected branches next month, with London’s upmarket Kensington and Chelsea tipped to get the posh burger first.
At £85, it is in marked contrast to deadly rival McDonald’s who offer a budget burger for just 99p.
Launching the most expensive takeaway in town may seem odd during the credit crunch.
But Lucy Barrett, of Marketing Magazine, said: “The idea of a burger that no one buys is not as ludicrous as it seems. Burger King will use it to promote a gap in perception between it and McDonald’s. It could lead consumers to reassess the quality of the brand.”
FAST food chain Burger King are to serve up the world’s most expensive takeaway – costing a whopping £85.
There’s no common old meat in this burger. It will contain top-quality Kobe beef from Japan. And instead of ketchup and cheddar, it will be garnished with foie gras – a goose delicacy – and rare blue cheese.
But BK customers will still be able to buy regular fries and a fizzy drink to help it down.
It will be launched in selected branches next month, with London’s upmarket Kensington and Chelsea tipped to get the posh burger first.
At £85, it is in marked contrast to deadly rival McDonald’s who offer a budget burger for just 99p.
Launching the most expensive takeaway in town may seem odd during the credit crunch.
But Lucy Barrett, of Marketing Magazine, said: “The idea of a burger that no one buys is not as ludicrous as it seems. Burger King will use it to promote a gap in perception between it and McDonald’s. It could lead consumers to reassess the quality of the brand.”
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Council approves Griffintown plan
Cut the shit Montreal, you "approved" this months ago privately, quietly behind closed doors.
I grieve for Montreal and the suburban nightmare Devimco is about to unleash upon you.
Montreal city councillors last night approved a $1.3-billion residential and commercial project for part of the historic Griffintown neighbourhood in the Southwest borough.
A developer plans to build two big-box stores, a marina and 3,860 housing units, among other things, under a plan critics said lacked community input.
Marvin Rotrand and Warren Allmand, city councillors with Mayor Gérald Tremblay's Union Montreal party, voted against the measure, as did opposition councillor Richard Bergeron.
All other councillors present voted for the project. Construction is set for spring 2009.
I grieve for Montreal and the suburban nightmare Devimco is about to unleash upon you.
Montreal city councillors last night approved a $1.3-billion residential and commercial project for part of the historic Griffintown neighbourhood in the Southwest borough.
A developer plans to build two big-box stores, a marina and 3,860 housing units, among other things, under a plan critics said lacked community input.
Marvin Rotrand and Warren Allmand, city councillors with Mayor Gérald Tremblay's Union Montreal party, voted against the measure, as did opposition councillor Richard Bergeron.
All other councillors present voted for the project. Construction is set for spring 2009.
Madonna Hard Candy
I'm struggling through Madonna's latest Hard Candy and I must say on first impression it's a mess.
Too much, too many cooks. It sounds like a lot but not Madonna. No song is a stand out, except the 2 you already heard.
If this is a dance album, it's for those who are slowing down, unable to kick up their heels anymore.
Bland and uninteresting. It's "Ile Bonnetta" over and over....
Too bad.
Rogers to bring iPhone to Canada later this year
'Bout fucking time.
Canadian wireless carrier Rogers Wireless said Tuesday it has reached an agreement with Apple to begin offering the iPhone later this year.
"We're thrilled to announce that we have a deal with Apple to bring the iPhone to Canada later this year," the carrier said in a statement. "We can't tell you any more about it right now, but stay tuned."
Canadian wireless carrier Rogers Wireless said Tuesday it has reached an agreement with Apple to begin offering the iPhone later this year.
"We're thrilled to announce that we have a deal with Apple to bring the iPhone to Canada later this year," the carrier said in a statement. "We can't tell you any more about it right now, but stay tuned."
Monday, April 28, 2008
What was Herodotus trying to tell us?
History—the rational and methodical study of the human past—was invented by a single man just under twenty-five hundred years ago; just under twenty-five years ago, when I was starting a graduate degree in Classics, some of us could be pretty condescending about the man who invented it and (we’d joke) his penchant for flowered Hawaiian shirts.
The risible figure in question was Herodotus, known since Roman times as “the Father of History.” The sobriquet, conferred by Cicero, was intended as a compliment. Herodotus’ Histories—a chatty, dizzily digressive nine-volume account of the Persian Wars of 490 to 479 B.C., in which a wobbly coalition of squabbling Greek city-states twice repulsed the greatest expeditionary force the world had ever seen—represented the first extended prose narrative about a major historical event. (Or, indeed, about virtually anything.)
Read more here.
The risible figure in question was Herodotus, known since Roman times as “the Father of History.” The sobriquet, conferred by Cicero, was intended as a compliment. Herodotus’ Histories—a chatty, dizzily digressive nine-volume account of the Persian Wars of 490 to 479 B.C., in which a wobbly coalition of squabbling Greek city-states twice repulsed the greatest expeditionary force the world had ever seen—represented the first extended prose narrative about a major historical event. (Or, indeed, about virtually anything.)
Read more here.
Nasty spiteful Christians strike again
That walking bag of hate, Ken Hutcherson is at it again:
A Day of Silence inside Mount Si High School meant to show support for gay and lesbian students erupted in noisy protests outside.
More than one-third of students didn't show up for classes Friday. Principal Randy Taylor said 495 out of 1,410 students weren't at school, including 85 athletes whose parents had asked that they be excused for their personal beliefs.
About 100 people joined the Rev. Ken Hutcherson, a prominent anti-gay-rights activist, in prayer and song that questioned the dedication of a school day to what they said was a controversial political cause.
This kind of "Christian" really are the scum of the earth, no? Goes a long way to explaining the Dark Ages though.
Read more here.
A Day of Silence inside Mount Si High School meant to show support for gay and lesbian students erupted in noisy protests outside.
More than one-third of students didn't show up for classes Friday. Principal Randy Taylor said 495 out of 1,410 students weren't at school, including 85 athletes whose parents had asked that they be excused for their personal beliefs.
About 100 people joined the Rev. Ken Hutcherson, a prominent anti-gay-rights activist, in prayer and song that questioned the dedication of a school day to what they said was a controversial political cause.
This kind of "Christian" really are the scum of the earth, no? Goes a long way to explaining the Dark Ages though.
Read more here.
Project foes gather 'to praise Griffintown'
Oh good God no! Who gave Gobeil a microphone!
 |
| "It will be like suburbia minutes from downtown! You will love it! Now STFU" |
There's been enough talk already, said city councillor Alan DeSousa, the executive committee member responsible for economic development.
"The project has gone through an extensive public consultation - until no one had anything left to say," he said in a telephone interview yesterday.
"We are not rubber-stamping."
Please, you never had any intention of listening to the public. It's not rubber-stamping, it's Montreal. Some of us have seen that city in action longer than you Mr. DeSousa.
Read more here.
Orangutan attempts to hunt fish with spear
A male orangutan, clinging precariously to overhanging branches, flails the water with a pole, trying desperately to spear a passing fish.
It is the first time one has been seen using a tool to hunt.
Read more here.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Blasting Caps Warning PSA
With Willie Mays. These ads were quite common in the early 60's.
I still have 10 fingers. They worked!
One of Montreal's lesser intelligences speaks out about his part in the hockey riot
"I hope you don't think I'm a bad person," said one of the people accused of participating in the street violence after Monday's NHL playoff game...
...The man, who spoke on condition that his name not be used, said the combination of alcohol, mass euphoria and his disdain of the police made him do it.
The triple threat of idioticy.
An avid hockey fan, he said he'd been drinking and watching the game on television at a friend's house, then went downtown to celebrate, where his intoxicated state led him to "do stupid things" alongside the crowd.
But he stressed that he did nothing to hurt average citizens - or anyone's business."
That's how people make their living, you know."
Shucks no, really??
So 10 years later, this person has now matured into a full adult...
Yet when it comes to the police, he is resentful and has disdain for law officers.
When he was 15 years old, he says, a group of 10 to 15 older men cornered him in a bus shelter and beat him up because he had thrown snowballs at their apartment building. But when he called the police, they didn't help him or believe him.
This is genius goes on to complain the police "bruised me up real bad," during theriot, oh sorry, intoxicated state led him to "do stupid things"
No sir you're not a bad person..you are like I said, someone with the IQ of a doorknob.
...The man, who spoke on condition that his name not be used, said the combination of alcohol, mass euphoria and his disdain of the police made him do it.
The triple threat of idioticy.
An avid hockey fan, he said he'd been drinking and watching the game on television at a friend's house, then went downtown to celebrate, where his intoxicated state led him to "do stupid things" alongside the crowd.
But he stressed that he did nothing to hurt average citizens - or anyone's business."
That's how people make their living, you know."
Shucks no, really??
So 10 years later, this person has now matured into a full adult...
Yet when it comes to the police, he is resentful and has disdain for law officers.
When he was 15 years old, he says, a group of 10 to 15 older men cornered him in a bus shelter and beat him up because he had thrown snowballs at their apartment building. But when he called the police, they didn't help him or believe him.
This is genius goes on to complain the police "bruised me up real bad," during the
No sir you're not a bad person..you are like I said, someone with the IQ of a doorknob.
The Dark Knight
Batman's current incarnation continues its dizzying accession to the upper stratosphere of pretension.
This is The Crow of this decade. The film won't be very good, but everyone will rush to see the dead guy's appearance.
From the post this came from:
"I guarantee you will be BLOWN AWAY. I have not seen a poster that brings out this much energy and excitement ever....I love the colors, I love Batman's pose, I love the flaming building - this poster kicks some serious ass! Now is everyone getting excited for The Dark Knight? "
Um no. Yuck.
That guy needs to see more posters.
Unfortunately this is going to get a lot of negative reactions from people who feel this looks an awful lot like what we saw when the planes hit the WTC on 9/11.
Chris on Apr 24, 2008
6
Chris, oh god, I hadn't notice… but you have a point, Some people will be offended.
bltzie on Apr 24, 2008
7
Freakin sweet. Sweet glorious poster design. I want 5 of them.
And Chris, I see where you're coming from, but it's just a building on fire. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "People only see what they WANT to see." So if you look at this and see 9/11, that's just a reflection on who YOU are. Not on the poster. Personally when I look at it, I see a 22 ounce serving of bad-ass!
Makes you want to weep, doesn't it?
Read more here.
Toronto Transit workers to walk off job
Those sneaky motherfucking bastards. TTC, you will be hated across Toronto today, you cunts.
Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) workers have voted against a tentative agreement reached last weekend and workers were to have walked off the job last night.
The union that represents nearly 9,000 operating and maintenance employees says 65 per cent of members who voted rejected the tentative settlement.
The tentative deal had been forged last Sunday, narrowly averting a walkout the following morning. The deal was ratified earlier this week by the TTC.
No wonder people beat up busdrivers.
Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) workers have voted against a tentative agreement reached last weekend and workers were to have walked off the job last night.
The union that represents nearly 9,000 operating and maintenance employees says 65 per cent of members who voted rejected the tentative settlement.
The tentative deal had been forged last Sunday, narrowly averting a walkout the following morning. The deal was ratified earlier this week by the TTC.
No wonder people beat up busdrivers.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Devimco uses smoke and mirrors over Griffintown
The crap from Devimco and the City of Montreal continues over Griffintown.
They just don't get what a bad idea it is to turn a project of this size over to one developer, one who clearly has the esthetics of amateur suburbanites.
Developers of the proposed Griffintown project announced yesterday they will invest an additional $40 million to green up their project and make it more family friendly.
Devimco Inc. co-president Serge Goulet said the company is making the changes in response to public pressure and in hopes Montreal city council will approve the project as early as Monday's council meeting.
"We have listened to the people of the Southwest (borough) and we've accepted the challenges the city of Montreal demanded that we meet," Goulet said. "Our new project will be of an international scope and Montrealers will be proud of it."
Goulet said he hopes to begin construction in the summer of 2009, and to complete the project over about eight years.
So nothing has changed, they listened to no one.
Read more here.
They just don't get what a bad idea it is to turn a project of this size over to one developer, one who clearly has the esthetics of amateur suburbanites.
Developers of the proposed Griffintown project announced yesterday they will invest an additional $40 million to green up their project and make it more family friendly.Devimco Inc. co-president Serge Goulet said the company is making the changes in response to public pressure and in hopes Montreal city council will approve the project as early as Monday's council meeting.
"We have listened to the people of the Southwest (borough) and we've accepted the challenges the city of Montreal demanded that we meet," Goulet said. "Our new project will be of an international scope and Montrealers will be proud of it."
Goulet said he hopes to begin construction in the summer of 2009, and to complete the project over about eight years.
So nothing has changed, they listened to no one.
Read more here.
Film industry cheers as Ang Lee slams Bill C-10
Renowned Oscar-winning director Ang Lee has joined the growing chorus of artistic voices strongly opposed to Bill C-10, the government's pending legislation that will deny tax credits to films and videos deemed offensive to the public.
"People should be free to say anything," said Lee, when asked about the controversial bill during a question-and-answer session on the weekend with young Vancouver filmmakers.
He noted that he has never been censored, even when "I was making a film about gay cowboys in Calgary", referring to his best known movie Brokeback Mountain that garnered the Taiwan-born director an Oscar.
Not even Chinese authorities censored him during filming in the Communist-ruled country for his most recent film, Lust, Caution, Lee added.
He said financially-assisted films should not be treated as propaganda "or as a salesman for the tourist industry. I think that's just too low. They (the government) should know better than that."
Afterwards, as youthful film-makers gathered around him, Lee urged them to "make a noise, whatever" to stop Bill C-10. "It's almost like censorship."
Almost?
Read more here.
"People should be free to say anything," said Lee, when asked about the controversial bill during a question-and-answer session on the weekend with young Vancouver filmmakers.
He noted that he has never been censored, even when "I was making a film about gay cowboys in Calgary", referring to his best known movie Brokeback Mountain that garnered the Taiwan-born director an Oscar.
Not even Chinese authorities censored him during filming in the Communist-ruled country for his most recent film, Lust, Caution, Lee added.
He said financially-assisted films should not be treated as propaganda "or as a salesman for the tourist industry. I think that's just too low. They (the government) should know better than that."
Afterwards, as youthful film-makers gathered around him, Lee urged them to "make a noise, whatever" to stop Bill C-10. "It's almost like censorship."
Almost?
Read more here.
Clinton says she leads in popular vote
And you want someone with this kind of honesty to be your next president?
Think long and hard again, this is the real Clinton...
Sen. Hillary Clinton is arguing that she is ahead of rival Sen. Barack Obama when it comes to the popular vote.
"I'm very proud that as of today, I have received more votes by the people who have voted than anyone else," Clinton said Wednesday, one day after her decisive win in Pennsylvania.
Not so fast, says Obama's campaign. Clinton's count includes her wins in Michigan and Florida, but the Democratic presidential candidates agreed not to campaign in those states because they violated party rules by scheduling their contests too early.
Obama didn't even have his name on the Michigan ballot, so he received no votes from that contest.
Read more here.
Think long and hard again, this is the real Clinton...
Sen. Hillary Clinton is arguing that she is ahead of rival Sen. Barack Obama when it comes to the popular vote.
"I'm very proud that as of today, I have received more votes by the people who have voted than anyone else," Clinton said Wednesday, one day after her decisive win in Pennsylvania.
Not so fast, says Obama's campaign. Clinton's count includes her wins in Michigan and Florida, but the Democratic presidential candidates agreed not to campaign in those states because they violated party rules by scheduling their contests too early.
Obama didn't even have his name on the Michigan ballot, so he received no votes from that contest.
Read more here.
Jon Stewart on Hillary's Declining Respect for The Voters
Fuckin' Hillary, she had that one pulled..oh look! another!
CNN Sued For $1.3 Billion Over Cafferty Remarks
Two people are suing CNN on behalf of the tantrum throwing child nation China.
Grow up people
A Chinese primary school teacher and a beautician have filed a suit against CNN in New York over remarks they say insulted the Chinese people and are seeking $1.3 billion in compensation -- $1 per person in China, a Hong Kong newspaper reported.
Read more here.
Grow up people
A Chinese primary school teacher and a beautician have filed a suit against CNN in New York over remarks they say insulted the Chinese people and are seeking $1.3 billion in compensation -- $1 per person in China, a Hong Kong newspaper reported.
Read more here.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
The B52's
This video alone could undo the serious reputation this blog has built up.
Who am I kidding ;)
FBI wants widespread monitoring of 'illegal' Internet activity
The FBI on Wednesday called for new legislation that would allow federal police to monitor the Internet for "illegal activity."
The suggestion from FBI Director Robert Mueller, which came during a House of Representatives Judiciary Committee hearing, appears to go beyond a current plan to monitor traffic on federal-government networks. Mueller seemed to suggest that the bureau should have a broad "omnibus" authority to conduct monitoring and surveillance of private-sector networks as well.
The surveillance should include all Internet traffic, Mueller said, "whether it be .mil, .gov, .com--whichever network you're talking about." (See the transcript of the hearing.)
Read more here.
The suggestion from FBI Director Robert Mueller, which came during a House of Representatives Judiciary Committee hearing, appears to go beyond a current plan to monitor traffic on federal-government networks. Mueller seemed to suggest that the bureau should have a broad "omnibus" authority to conduct monitoring and surveillance of private-sector networks as well.
The surveillance should include all Internet traffic, Mueller said, "whether it be .mil, .gov, .com--whichever network you're talking about." (See the transcript of the hearing.)
Read more here.
Germanic invaders may not have ruled by apartheid
Whoever said they did?
When a strong Germanic signal was discovered in the Y-chromosome of British men, geneticists at University College London suggested that enslavement and apartheid imposed by Saxon invaders was responsible.
Oh they did...
It was an idea that, given 20th-century European history, had a particular resonance.
The argument is, that from AD 430 to 730, the Germanic conquerors of Britain formed an elite, with a servant underclass of native Britons. Inter-marriage was restricted, and the invaders and their genes flourished.
"But it is just not necessary to assume an apartheid-like system," argues John Pattison of the University of South Australia in Adelaide. "The evidence is compatible with the idea of a much more integrated society."
Read more here and here for the "apartheid" theory.
When a strong Germanic signal was discovered in the Y-chromosome of British men, geneticists at University College London suggested that enslavement and apartheid imposed by Saxon invaders was responsible.
Oh they did...
It was an idea that, given 20th-century European history, had a particular resonance.
The argument is, that from AD 430 to 730, the Germanic conquerors of Britain formed an elite, with a servant underclass of native Britons. Inter-marriage was restricted, and the invaders and their genes flourished.
"But it is just not necessary to assume an apartheid-like system," argues John Pattison of the University of South Australia in Adelaide. "The evidence is compatible with the idea of a much more integrated society."
Read more here and here for the "apartheid" theory.
“Where is everybody? For God’s sakes.”
This is beyond unbelievable.
What idiots they must think we all are. And as no one seems to be doing anything about it, perhaps we are.
On April 9, ABC News reported that in 2002, President Bush’s most senior advisers approved the use of harsh interrogation tactics. Days later, Bush confirmed to ABC he “approved” of the tactics. Sadly, the media have largely ignored the story since it was first reported. Moreover, not one White House press corps reporter has raised the issue with the Bush administration…until today.
During this afternoon’s White House press briefing, reporter Helen Thomas noted that Bush “has admitted that he did sign off on torture” saying it damages “the credibility of this country.” But press secretary Dana Perino denied that the United States has ever tortured detainees and referred to testimony from CIA Director Michael Hayden as evidence:
THOMAS: The president has said […] we do not torture. Now he has admitted that he did sign off on torture, he did know about it. So how do you reconcile this credibility gap? […]
PERINO: The United States has not, is not torturing any detainees in the global war on terror. And General Hayden, amongst others, have spoken on Capitol Hill fully in this regard. […] And you can go back through all the public record.
Read more here.
What idiots they must think we all are. And as no one seems to be doing anything about it, perhaps we are.
On April 9, ABC News reported that in 2002, President Bush’s most senior advisers approved the use of harsh interrogation tactics. Days later, Bush confirmed to ABC he “approved” of the tactics. Sadly, the media have largely ignored the story since it was first reported. Moreover, not one White House press corps reporter has raised the issue with the Bush administration…until today.
During this afternoon’s White House press briefing, reporter Helen Thomas noted that Bush “has admitted that he did sign off on torture” saying it damages “the credibility of this country.” But press secretary Dana Perino denied that the United States has ever tortured detainees and referred to testimony from CIA Director Michael Hayden as evidence:
THOMAS: The president has said […] we do not torture. Now he has admitted that he did sign off on torture, he did know about it. So how do you reconcile this credibility gap? […]
PERINO: The United States has not, is not torturing any detainees in the global war on terror. And General Hayden, amongst others, have spoken on Capitol Hill fully in this regard. […] And you can go back through all the public record.
Read more here.
Gregor Schneider is a very sick puppy
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| Gregor Schneider in a recent photo |
The epic idiocy of the art world never ceases to amaze. That and the morons who call this kind of crap art (Oh darling you really must see it. People are dying to get in!).
This German so called artist (vulture would be a more appropriate name) fills a lack of real talent with something else:
PRIZE-winning German artist Gregor Schneider has caused an uproar by launching a search for a volunteer willing to die for art.
The enfant terrible of the German cultural scene is looking for someone whose dying hours will be spent in an art gallery with the public admiring the way the light plays on the flesh of a person gasping for the last breath.
You are one sick fuck Gregor Schneider
Read more here.
In your face Christians strike again
Yup, we'z Christians so screw your separation of church and state! We all from Florida! We can throw elections so we can sure as hell get God back on the rear end of cars where he belongs.
Wonder how that Islamic plate is going...or the "I Don't Believe" atheist plate...
Florida considers Christian license plate
Florida drivers can order more than 100 specialty license plates celebrating everything from manatees to the Miami Heat, but one now under consideration would be the first in the nation to explicitly promote a specific religion.
The Florida Legislature is considering a specialty plate with a design that includes a Christian cross, a stained-glass window and the words "I Believe."
Rep. Edward Bullard, the plate's sponsor, said people who "believe in their college or university" or "believe in their football team" already have license plates they can buy. The new design is a chance for others to put a tag on their cars with "something they believe in," he said.
If the plate is approved, Florida would become the first state to have a license plate featuring a religious symbol that's not part of a college logo. Approval would almost certainly face a court challenge.
Good, hope it gets their sorry ass thrown out of court...I believe
Read more here.
Wonder how that Islamic plate is going...or the "I Don't Believe" atheist plate...
Florida considers Christian license plate
Florida drivers can order more than 100 specialty license plates celebrating everything from manatees to the Miami Heat, but one now under consideration would be the first in the nation to explicitly promote a specific religion.
The Florida Legislature is considering a specialty plate with a design that includes a Christian cross, a stained-glass window and the words "I Believe."
Rep. Edward Bullard, the plate's sponsor, said people who "believe in their college or university" or "believe in their football team" already have license plates they can buy. The new design is a chance for others to put a tag on their cars with "something they believe in," he said.
If the plate is approved, Florida would become the first state to have a license plate featuring a religious symbol that's not part of a college logo. Approval would almost certainly face a court challenge.
Good, hope it gets their sorry ass thrown out of court...I believe
Read more here.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
RNC, McCain camp urge NC GOP to not air Obama ad
Which apparently, they are going to run anyway.
RNC Chairmen Mike Duncan has contacted the North Carolina GOP and urged them not to air an ad that injects Barack Obama's pastor into the state's gubernatorial contest. Similar pleas were also made at the staff level of both the RNC and John McCain's campaign.
"John McCain strongly rejects this ad and the type of politics that degrades our civics," said McCain communications director Jill Hazelbaker in a prepared statement "From the beginning of this process McCain has expressed his intent to run a respectful campaign based on the issues, and we have repeatedly called for all parties to follow his lead."
Americans, always the land of subtlety.
Btw, check out the church lady at the end...
The Maples Inn
Ha!
Someone has set up a blog devoted to The Maples Inn, the Montreal West Island watering hole/biker's hangout/opium den for days past...torched by its neighbours in a blatant act of arsine that was never charged..
The West Island created a few writers with wit or wisdom to share. The idea here is to compile a collection of story references that has the "Mapes" as a setting in every story. Fact or fiction.
For most this building had some place in the formative years of our lives.
All family names will be edited out for legal to ethical reasons. First names only if needed.
Wimps!
If you had actually been to the Mapes, you won't remember much, let alone names...
Ok, maybe Willie, and that drug dealer in the Caboose...
Read more here.
Someone has set up a blog devoted to The Maples Inn, the Montreal West Island watering hole/biker's hangout/opium den for days past...torched by its neighbours in a blatant act of arsine that was never charged..
The West Island created a few writers with wit or wisdom to share. The idea here is to compile a collection of story references that has the "Mapes" as a setting in every story. Fact or fiction.
For most this building had some place in the formative years of our lives.
All family names will be edited out for legal to ethical reasons. First names only if needed.
Wimps!
If you had actually been to the Mapes, you won't remember much, let alone names...
Ok, maybe Willie, and that drug dealer in the Caboose...
Read more here.
The Low Road to Victory
I'm glad The New York Times has finally caught up with this blog, which has been saying this for weeks...
sheesh
The Pennsylvania campaign, which produced yet another inconclusive result on Tuesday, was even meaner, more vacuous, more desperate, and more filled with pandering than the mean, vacuous, desperate, pander-filled contests that preceded it.
Voters are getting tired of it; it is demeaning the political process; and it does not work. It is past time for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to acknowledge that the negativity, for which she is mostly responsible, does nothing but harm to her, her opponent, her party and the 2008 election.
Read more here.
sheesh
The Pennsylvania campaign, which produced yet another inconclusive result on Tuesday, was even meaner, more vacuous, more desperate, and more filled with pandering than the mean, vacuous, desperate, pander-filled contests that preceded it.
Voters are getting tired of it; it is demeaning the political process; and it does not work. It is past time for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to acknowledge that the negativity, for which she is mostly responsible, does nothing but harm to her, her opponent, her party and the 2008 election.
Read more here.
Henry VIII?
The Tudors continues its spiral into farce with each new season. Are we to believe this is Henry VIII? The Henry VIII?
The fat bloated tyrant who died of syphilis?
That Henry?
Microsoft and DRM screws you
Had you been one of those dumb enough to have "bought" music from the now defunct Microsoft music store (and you would have had to have been very short sighted to have done so), guess what!
Customers who have purchased music from Microsoft's now-defunct MSN Music store are now facing a decision they never anticipated making: commit to which computers (and OS) they want to authorize forever, or give up access to the music they paid for. Why? Because Microsoft has decided that it's done supporting the service and will be turning off the MSN Music license servers by the end of this summer...
...Microsoft's decision to turn off the MSN Music authorization servers serves as a painful reminder that DRM ultimately severely limits your rights.
That should come as no surprise, and if it does, perhaps you deserve Microsoft's contempt.
Read more here.
Customers who have purchased music from Microsoft's now-defunct MSN Music store are now facing a decision they never anticipated making: commit to which computers (and OS) they want to authorize forever, or give up access to the music they paid for. Why? Because Microsoft has decided that it's done supporting the service and will be turning off the MSN Music license servers by the end of this summer...
...Microsoft's decision to turn off the MSN Music authorization servers serves as a painful reminder that DRM ultimately severely limits your rights.
That should come as no surprise, and if it does, perhaps you deserve Microsoft's contempt.
Read more here.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Montreal hockey fans riot
Montreal has a long tradition of riots and hockey.
It lets the lesser intelligences among us have a night out, a social activity even they can join in on.
When they're not attacking idiot Ontario tourists that is.
Iron Age mystery of the 'Essex druid'
Grave near Colchester could be the first burial site of an ancient mystic ever to be discovered in Britain
As sacred priests, their duties included teaching, law enforcement and possibly even burning people to death in giant wicker men. Druids dominated British culture with their mysterious magical rites in the centuries before the Roman invasion.
For such an important band of men, however – it could take 20 years to train to be a druid, according to some sources – hardly anything is known about them. That could be about to change now, though, after what is thought to be the first discovery in Britain of a druid grave.
Read more here.
As sacred priests, their duties included teaching, law enforcement and possibly even burning people to death in giant wicker men. Druids dominated British culture with their mysterious magical rites in the centuries before the Roman invasion.
For such an important band of men, however – it could take 20 years to train to be a druid, according to some sources – hardly anything is known about them. That could be about to change now, though, after what is thought to be the first discovery in Britain of a druid grave.
Read more here.
Terracotta army has egg on its face
China's terracotta army, a collection of 7000 soldier and horse figures in the mausoleum of the country's first emperor, was covered with beaten egg when it was made, scientists say.
According to German and Italian chemists who have analysed samples from several figurines, the egg was as a binder for colourful paints, which went over a layer of lacquer.
Read more here.
According to German and Italian chemists who have analysed samples from several figurines, the egg was as a binder for colourful paints, which went over a layer of lacquer.
Read more here.
Push to end paper voting
I don't understand this push to e-voting. Ok, I do, as it aids the politicians but not us.
It doesn't nothing for the people and their right to know.
Yes, I understand it.
On the eve of tomorrow's hotly contested and relatively close Democratic presidential primary in Pennsylvania, a number of voting activists are sounding the alarm one last time about the state's election systems. Over 85 percent of PA voters will vote on paperless touchscreen machines that are hackable, failure-prone, and fundamentally unauditable.
Read more here.
It doesn't nothing for the people and their right to know.
Yes, I understand it.
On the eve of tomorrow's hotly contested and relatively close Democratic presidential primary in Pennsylvania, a number of voting activists are sounding the alarm one last time about the state's election systems. Over 85 percent of PA voters will vote on paperless touchscreen machines that are hackable, failure-prone, and fundamentally unauditable.
Read more here.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Comcast: Worst. Company. Ever.
We got the same kind of sneaky middlemen beginning to piss on the net up here too.
Inspired by March Madness, the folks at the Consumerist blog recently set up brackets to determine America’s worst company. The tournament was still going on as this column went to press, but I’m not afraid to predict the winner.
It will be Comcast — in a rout.
Read more here.
Inspired by March Madness, the folks at the Consumerist blog recently set up brackets to determine America’s worst company. The tournament was still going on as this column went to press, but I’m not afraid to predict the winner.
It will be Comcast — in a rout.
Read more here.
Hillary, step aside!
Now she's using Bin Laden in her ads
She must go.
"You need to be ready for anything"
Yes, like loosing. Step aside Hillary.
She must go.
"You need to be ready for anything"
Yes, like loosing. Step aside Hillary.
Patrick races into history
Danica Patrick made history Saturday as midnight struck.
Patrick became the first woman to win a major auto race by capturing the IndyCar Series' event at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit in Japan.
Patrick, led by a smart call by team manager Kyle Moyer, Monrovia, Ind., went the final 51 laps without a pit stop to become the surprise winner of the Indy Japan 300.
But of course some sexist bozo has to say this:
Putting Patrick’s victory in perspective
Danica Patrick’s first IndyCar win in the Japan 300 was more a triumph in public relations than auto racing.
It didn’t happen as the result of a final lap, wheel-to-wheel battle, one that many close observers of the sport feel she will never win.
It instead was more a battle between the race engineer’s computers on the Andretti Green team and that of her rival Helio Castroneves’ Penske Racing team. It was a matter of who would get the best fuel mileage in the final handful of laps of the 200-lap race.
Pfft, can't just say congratulations can you?
Read more here.
Patrick became the first woman to win a major auto race by capturing the IndyCar Series' event at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit in Japan.
Patrick, led by a smart call by team manager Kyle Moyer, Monrovia, Ind., went the final 51 laps without a pit stop to become the surprise winner of the Indy Japan 300.
But of course some sexist bozo has to say this:
Putting Patrick’s victory in perspective
Danica Patrick’s first IndyCar win in the Japan 300 was more a triumph in public relations than auto racing.
It didn’t happen as the result of a final lap, wheel-to-wheel battle, one that many close observers of the sport feel she will never win.
It instead was more a battle between the race engineer’s computers on the Andretti Green team and that of her rival Helio Castroneves’ Penske Racing team. It was a matter of who would get the best fuel mileage in the final handful of laps of the 200-lap race.
Pfft, can't just say congratulations can you?
Read more here.
2 men beaten in Montreal over possible racial slurs
Montreal police are investigating the brutal beating of two young men who were swarmed Friday on a downtown city street in an incident allegedly sparked by racial taunts hurled at a group of black people, according to an Internet video of the pummeling.
The 23 second beating left the two Waterloo, Ont., men, aged 23 and 26 years, lying like they were dead on the pavement as bystanders laughed and hooted. As several people gathered around the men's prostrate bodies, someone is heard saying "don't touch their necks man, watch their necks" before police and paramedics arrived. A male voice close to camera then says: "Stupid idiot, why would he say that?"
The beating happened at about 10:45 p.m. near the intersection of Ste. Catherine and Peel Sts. in downtown Montreal, Const. Laurent Gingras said.
The two men, both white, suffered from minor injuries, bruises and cuts, but refused to go to the hospital, Gingras said.
This is the comment by the person who posted it:
This was recorded last night in downtown Montreal. Apparently, 2 young men were hurling racist insults at a group of black people. The end result was that they got the crap kicked out of them, and rightly so. What were they thinking?!?
What are you thinking? What an idiot. Sure, if they were shouting racial slurs, they are epic fools and will make people angry. But this? They could have been killed.
Do they deserve that, by a mob?
"Watch their necks!" one conscientious sick fuck shouts.
Sorry but for me, both sides in this story have the IQs of doorknobs.
The 23 second beating left the two Waterloo, Ont., men, aged 23 and 26 years, lying like they were dead on the pavement as bystanders laughed and hooted. As several people gathered around the men's prostrate bodies, someone is heard saying "don't touch their necks man, watch their necks" before police and paramedics arrived. A male voice close to camera then says: "Stupid idiot, why would he say that?"
The beating happened at about 10:45 p.m. near the intersection of Ste. Catherine and Peel Sts. in downtown Montreal, Const. Laurent Gingras said.
The two men, both white, suffered from minor injuries, bruises and cuts, but refused to go to the hospital, Gingras said.
This is the comment by the person who posted it:
This was recorded last night in downtown Montreal. Apparently, 2 young men were hurling racist insults at a group of black people. The end result was that they got the crap kicked out of them, and rightly so. What were they thinking?!?
What are you thinking? What an idiot. Sure, if they were shouting racial slurs, they are epic fools and will make people angry. But this? They could have been killed.
Do they deserve that, by a mob?
"Watch their necks!" one conscientious sick fuck shouts.
Sorry but for me, both sides in this story have the IQs of doorknobs.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Shoddy! Tawdry! A Televised Train Wreck!
We'll make politics really easy for you. It's as simple as ABC.
Not the least of the reasons that the Beltway has gotten so much wrong this year is that it believes that 2008 is still 1988. It sees the country in its own image — static — instead of as a dynamic society whose culture and demographics are changing by the day.
In this one-size-fits-all analysis, Mr. Obama must be the new Dukakis, sure to be rejected by white guys easily manipulated by Lee Atwater-style campaigns exploiting race and class. But some voters who lived through 1988 have changed, and quite a few others are dead...
Read more here.
Not the least of the reasons that the Beltway has gotten so much wrong this year is that it believes that 2008 is still 1988. It sees the country in its own image — static — instead of as a dynamic society whose culture and demographics are changing by the day.
In this one-size-fits-all analysis, Mr. Obama must be the new Dukakis, sure to be rejected by white guys easily manipulated by Lee Atwater-style campaigns exploiting race and class. But some voters who lived through 1988 have changed, and quite a few others are dead...
Read more here.
Chinese Urge Anti-West Boycott Over Tibet Stance
"But if you go carrying pictures of chairman Mao
You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow"
- Lennon
Woohoo!!!
Someone's feeling uncomfortable...
Armed with her laptop and her indignation, Zhu Xiaomeng sits in her dorm room here, stoking a popular backlash against Western support for Tibet that has unnerved foreign investors and Western diplomats and, increasingly, the ruling Communist Party.
Read more here.
Their brand of silencing of critics probably works like a charm...inside China.
Not so well on the rest of us..
Nothing like making police state thugs feel uncomfortable. Sometimes it's a joy to get out of bed.
You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow"
- Lennon
Woohoo!!!Someone's feeling uncomfortable...
Armed with her laptop and her indignation, Zhu Xiaomeng sits in her dorm room here, stoking a popular backlash against Western support for Tibet that has unnerved foreign investors and Western diplomats and, increasingly, the ruling Communist Party.
Read more here.
Their brand of silencing of critics probably works like a charm...inside China.
Not so well on the rest of us..
Nothing like making police state thugs feel uncomfortable. Sometimes it's a joy to get out of bed.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
When Corporations go too far
Yeah, I know they do it every day, but sometimes they just look like idiots:
Car maker puts ban on chocolate
Honda staff say they can only eat certain types of chocolate
Staff at Swindon's Honda factory say they have been banned from eating cakes and fruit in their break rooms.
They also claim they can only eat certain types of chocolate bars that do not contain a biscuit base.
Questionnaires are now being issued by the Unite union to consider what action staff should take.
A Honda spokesman said: "Our overall objective is to always deliver the highest quality product and we cannot compromise on achieving this."
He added: "Therefore our company standards are an essential aspect of our business."
Jim D'Avila of Unite told BBC News: "They've barred things like fruit or any product with a biscuit in it so it's got to the ludicrous state where a Mars bar is ok but a Twix bar, because it has a biscuit base, isn't allowed.
"Frankly they've lost the plot. The vast majority of people just can't believe that the company are being so picky in what they're doing."
Indeed yes, they have lost the plot, and it is time people began to tell corporations to fuck off.
Car maker puts ban on chocolate
Honda staff say they can only eat certain types of chocolate
Staff at Swindon's Honda factory say they have been banned from eating cakes and fruit in their break rooms.
They also claim they can only eat certain types of chocolate bars that do not contain a biscuit base.
Questionnaires are now being issued by the Unite union to consider what action staff should take.
A Honda spokesman said: "Our overall objective is to always deliver the highest quality product and we cannot compromise on achieving this."
He added: "Therefore our company standards are an essential aspect of our business."
Jim D'Avila of Unite told BBC News: "They've barred things like fruit or any product with a biscuit in it so it's got to the ludicrous state where a Mars bar is ok but a Twix bar, because it has a biscuit base, isn't allowed.
"Frankly they've lost the plot. The vast majority of people just can't believe that the company are being so picky in what they're doing."
Indeed yes, they have lost the plot, and it is time people began to tell corporations to fuck off.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Russell Brand
Apparently, there's a British comic coming our way named Russell Brand.
BBC says:
In Forgetting Sarah Marshall Russell Brand plays a sex-obsessed rock star - a role some might feel suits the notoriously libidinous performer.
Until recently he was largely unknown in the US, but Brand is quickly assuming the status of a rapidly rising star.
He is doing stand-up comedy performances at Los Angeles clubs and appearing on chat shows.
He is also working on another movie, Bedtime Stories, alongside such established Hollywood stars as Adam Sandler and Courteney Cox.
Can't say I've heard of him. At least he's not Borat.
Read more here.
BBC says:
In Forgetting Sarah Marshall Russell Brand plays a sex-obsessed rock star - a role some might feel suits the notoriously libidinous performer.
Until recently he was largely unknown in the US, but Brand is quickly assuming the status of a rapidly rising star.
He is doing stand-up comedy performances at Los Angeles clubs and appearing on chat shows.
He is also working on another movie, Bedtime Stories, alongside such established Hollywood stars as Adam Sandler and Courteney Cox.
Can't say I've heard of him. At least he's not Borat.
Read more here.
The rabbit done died
The topic of this ancient pregnancy test came up in Second Life, with most never having heard of it.
Wikipedia has an article, and within are the echos left by it in pop culture:
The rabbit test was featured in the episode of the television series M*A*S*H entitled "What’s Up, Doc". A rabbit (Fluffy) belonging to Radar O'Reilly was used to test for pregnancy in Margaret Houlihan. To assuage Radar, rather than killing the rabbit, Hawkeye Pierce performed surgery under anesthesia. When Houlihan later thanked Radar for the use of his pet, he responded that he was sure that she would have done the same for the rabbit.
The Aerosmith song "Sweet Emotion" refers to the test: "Can't catch me 'cause the rabbit done died."
Country singer Eric Church also references this in his song "Two Pink Lines" saying "these days the rabbit doesn't die"
In the BBC comedy The Vicar of Dibley, in a purposefully absurd variation of the rabbit test mixed up with home pregnancy test kits, Alice Tinker Horton tells the vicar she can't be pregnant because she "wee'd on a hamster" and it didn't turn blue.
In an episode of The Golden Girls, Sophia Petrillo claims that she believes she is pregnant. Her daughter's response is, "What happened? The rabbit died laughing?"
An independent short film titled Redemption Maddie centers on the idea of testing pregnancy with rabbits.
In Squidbillies, the rabbit test was used to determine Rusty's paternity. However, the rabbit died when Early's acidic urine "melted" the rabbit into an ooze, rather than as a result of the test procedure.
Billy Crystal starred in a 1978 movie Rabbit Test in which he became pregnant.
A collection of essays by Teresa Bloomingdale, columnist and mother of ten, bears the title I Should Have Known It When The Rabbit Died (1979). The title refers to an anecdote (1956) in which the rabbit used in her first pregnancy test died from jumping off the examination table, thereby shrugging off any responsibility for her ever-growing family.
In Philip K. Dick's novel The Game-Players of Titan, pregnancy is tested by biting a strip of "rabbit paper".
Wikipedia has an article, and within are the echos left by it in pop culture:
The rabbit test was featured in the episode of the television series M*A*S*H entitled "What’s Up, Doc". A rabbit (Fluffy) belonging to Radar O'Reilly was used to test for pregnancy in Margaret Houlihan. To assuage Radar, rather than killing the rabbit, Hawkeye Pierce performed surgery under anesthesia. When Houlihan later thanked Radar for the use of his pet, he responded that he was sure that she would have done the same for the rabbit.
The Aerosmith song "Sweet Emotion" refers to the test: "Can't catch me 'cause the rabbit done died."
Country singer Eric Church also references this in his song "Two Pink Lines" saying "these days the rabbit doesn't die"
In the BBC comedy The Vicar of Dibley, in a purposefully absurd variation of the rabbit test mixed up with home pregnancy test kits, Alice Tinker Horton tells the vicar she can't be pregnant because she "wee'd on a hamster" and it didn't turn blue.
In an episode of The Golden Girls, Sophia Petrillo claims that she believes she is pregnant. Her daughter's response is, "What happened? The rabbit died laughing?"
An independent short film titled Redemption Maddie centers on the idea of testing pregnancy with rabbits.
In Squidbillies, the rabbit test was used to determine Rusty's paternity. However, the rabbit died when Early's acidic urine "melted" the rabbit into an ooze, rather than as a result of the test procedure.
Billy Crystal starred in a 1978 movie Rabbit Test in which he became pregnant.
A collection of essays by Teresa Bloomingdale, columnist and mother of ten, bears the title I Should Have Known It When The Rabbit Died (1979). The title refers to an anecdote (1956) in which the rabbit used in her first pregnancy test died from jumping off the examination table, thereby shrugging off any responsibility for her ever-growing family.
In Philip K. Dick's novel The Game-Players of Titan, pregnancy is tested by biting a strip of "rabbit paper".
To listen to the mayor of Montreal, Griffintown residents are screwed
le maire de Montréal, Gérald Tremblay seem to be a real piece work.
Now he's stating that the public was ignored and will continue to be ignored because Griffintown was an emergency that needed immediate attention.
What bullshit.
Obviously to this writer, money was the reason. Fuck the public, let's get rich.
Read more here.
Now he's stating that the public was ignored and will continue to be ignored because Griffintown was an emergency that needed immediate attention.
What bullshit.
Obviously to this writer, money was the reason. Fuck the public, let's get rich.
Read more here.
Egypt's Colossi of Memnon to be reunited with their twins
Towering like sentries above the necropolis of Ancient Thebes in southern Egypt, the world-famous Colossi of Memnon will see their number double from two to four from next year.
The painstaking work of 12 archaeologists and hundreds of workers is about to redefine the way visitors see and understand this mysterious site that has cast its spell over travellers for more than 2,000 years.
Read more here.
The painstaking work of 12 archaeologists and hundreds of workers is about to redefine the way visitors see and understand this mysterious site that has cast its spell over travellers for more than 2,000 years.
Read more here.
Action urged to keep net neutral
Tough action is required by US regulators to protect the principles that have made the net so successful, a leading digital rights lawyer has said.
Professor Lawrence Lessig was speaking at a public meeting to debate the tactics some net firms use to manage data traffic at busy times.
He said the Federal Communications Committee (FCC) should act to keep all net traffic flowing equally.
The FCC said net firms had a duty to tell customers about data management.
Read more here and here.
Now just two days before the FCC's Stanford hearing, Comcast issued yet another press release, probably aimed at dissuading the FCC from taking any action against it. Comcast and another peer-to-peer company, Pando Networks, said they created their own "Bill of Rights and Responsibilities" for file sharing, much to the amusement of some legal experts..
After speaking with Comcast, it appears that their "Bill of Rights," is really about informing the consumer that their Internet traffic could suffer delays. The cable company also says it could "de-prioritize" very heavy users of Internet bandwidth, and it will work with Pando Networks to learn how to work with peer-to-peer traffic.
Clearly, Comcast is trying to have it both ways, playing the role of the cable monolith and at the same time, trying to present a nicer face to the peer-to-peer community and consumers.
Professor Lawrence Lessig was speaking at a public meeting to debate the tactics some net firms use to manage data traffic at busy times.
He said the Federal Communications Committee (FCC) should act to keep all net traffic flowing equally.
The FCC said net firms had a duty to tell customers about data management.
Read more here and here.
Now just two days before the FCC's Stanford hearing, Comcast issued yet another press release, probably aimed at dissuading the FCC from taking any action against it. Comcast and another peer-to-peer company, Pando Networks, said they created their own "Bill of Rights and Responsibilities" for file sharing, much to the amusement of some legal experts..
After speaking with Comcast, it appears that their "Bill of Rights," is really about informing the consumer that their Internet traffic could suffer delays. The cable company also says it could "de-prioritize" very heavy users of Internet bandwidth, and it will work with Pando Networks to learn how to work with peer-to-peer traffic.
Clearly, Comcast is trying to have it both ways, playing the role of the cable monolith and at the same time, trying to present a nicer face to the peer-to-peer community and consumers.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Paperback Writer
Story about the creation of the Beatles' song "Paperback Writer", with a aside on the topic of Penguin books.PAPERBACK WRITER WAS written by Paul McCartney in the early spring of 1966. “Penguin paperbacks was what I really thought of, the archetypal paperback,” McCartney reflected when I asked what his inspiration was. Penguin was almost a generic term for paperbacks in the early Sixties: they had such market dominance that people used the word to mean any paperbound book.
Read more here.
Hal Turner
Ok, what the fuck folks...
New Jersey-based Internet talk show host Hal Turner, an avowed white nationalist who earlier this week made threatening remarks against and posted the address and phone number of Lexington Superintend of Schools Paul Ash, stood by comments in this Wednesday's broadcast, adding that Ash and other Lexington school officials deserved to die for their inclusion of same-sex families in the town's elementary school curriculum.
So, this madman is allowed to continue doing this?
If brave, read more here.
Of course, we are not dealing with the brightest lights here, as this actual graphic taken from a board very much in agreement with Mr Turner shows.
It is a delight (from a distance) to watch the reaction of people who are being told by others they shouldn't hate something.
Classic.
New Jersey-based Internet talk show host Hal Turner, an avowed white nationalist who earlier this week made threatening remarks against and posted the address and phone number of Lexington Superintend of Schools Paul Ash, stood by comments in this Wednesday's broadcast, adding that Ash and other Lexington school officials deserved to die for their inclusion of same-sex families in the town's elementary school curriculum.
So, this madman is allowed to continue doing this?
If brave, read more here.
Of course, we are not dealing with the brightest lights here, as this actual graphic taken from a board very much in agreement with Mr Turner shows.
It is a delight (from a distance) to watch the reaction of people who are being told by others they shouldn't hate something.
Classic.
Shanghai Surprise
Someone from Shanghai was trying to access this blog via privacyhold.info, using a method unknown to me.
Woohoo, I see you
Feds to collect DNA from every person they arrest
Oh look! The American federal government must have spoken to the Toronto police chief...
The government plans to begin collecting DNA samples from anyone arrested by a federal law enforcement agency — a move intended to prevent violent crime but which also is raising concerns about the privacy of innocent people.
Using authority granted by Congress, the government also plans to collect DNA samples from foreigners who are detained, whether they have been charged or not. The DNA would be collected through a cheek swab, Justice Department spokesman Erik Ablin said Wednesday. That would be a departure from current practice, which limits DNA collection to convicted felons.
So they'll only take it from those arrested...wanna bet everyone will be arrested at least once...?
I tell ya folks, it will become a crime someday *not* to provide DNA...they'll take it from babies anyway, so no fuss there.
Read more here.
The government plans to begin collecting DNA samples from anyone arrested by a federal law enforcement agency — a move intended to prevent violent crime but which also is raising concerns about the privacy of innocent people.
Using authority granted by Congress, the government also plans to collect DNA samples from foreigners who are detained, whether they have been charged or not. The DNA would be collected through a cheek swab, Justice Department spokesman Erik Ablin said Wednesday. That would be a departure from current practice, which limits DNA collection to convicted felons.
So they'll only take it from those arrested...wanna bet everyone will be arrested at least once...?
I tell ya folks, it will become a crime someday *not* to provide DNA...they'll take it from babies anyway, so no fuss there.
Read more here.
Bell tells customers to fuck off
"Bell insists throttling Internet services necessary"
It should be "Customers insist throttling Bell is necessary"
More corporate bullying this time from our friends at Bell. There's an internet war going on up here in Canada, as semi-monopolies vie for who can screw consumers first.
A great mistake was made when we gave over access to the net to these people. Now they think they own it and can control it. And just try and find an alternative in the Toronto area...
I'm waiting....
Bell Canada says it is downgrading the Internet services of bandwidth hogs, and is asking the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to toss out a landmark complaint by competitors.
The Canadian Association of Internet Providers has asked the federal regulator to issue an immediate cease and desist order to stop the telecom giant from "throttling" the web traffic on its networks. Bell, in its response made public Wednesday, says it has no choice but to slow down the services of Internet customers who use up a lot of bandwidth to share files during peak hours....
...Last month, Bell informed smaller Internet Service Providers that it was bringing in traffic-shaping policies on the network space it sells to them, effectively downgrading the services these smaller companies are able to provide to their customers.
Read more here.
It should be "Customers insist throttling Bell is necessary"
More corporate bullying this time from our friends at Bell. There's an internet war going on up here in Canada, as semi-monopolies vie for who can screw consumers first.
A great mistake was made when we gave over access to the net to these people. Now they think they own it and can control it. And just try and find an alternative in the Toronto area...
I'm waiting....
Bell Canada says it is downgrading the Internet services of bandwidth hogs, and is asking the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to toss out a landmark complaint by competitors.
The Canadian Association of Internet Providers has asked the federal regulator to issue an immediate cease and desist order to stop the telecom giant from "throttling" the web traffic on its networks. Bell, in its response made public Wednesday, says it has no choice but to slow down the services of Internet customers who use up a lot of bandwidth to share files during peak hours....
...Last month, Bell informed smaller Internet Service Providers that it was bringing in traffic-shaping policies on the network space it sells to them, effectively downgrading the services these smaller companies are able to provide to their customers.
Read more here.
Pope waves at gay Catholic group
Holy Christ! I did what?!! Drive around again, I'll give them a more appropriate gesture!
"The pope appeared to look directly at about a dozen members of the group as they stood behind a 10-foot long banner with the message, 'Dignity Washington — Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Catholics, Our Families and Friends — A community of Faith in Action.'...'I thought it was a good chance for us to be seen and he obviously saw us and waved at us, so I think we got our message across,' said Raymond Panas, president of Dignity Washington.
Read more here.
"appallingly embarrasing" defense of that Microsoft video
Omg, there is someone out there, a certain Colin Steele, who actually liked that Vista video!
Well there's no accounting for good taste.
Yes, it was an internal video sure, a "parody"..but it is still one of the worse corporate video every made.
Our defender disagrees:
Microsoft pulled one over on the Windows Vista haters yesterday, releasing a supposed Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) internal sales video. The video, “Rocking Our Sales” by Bruce ServicePack and the Vista Street Band, features a Bruce Springsteen lookalike singing about Vista’s improvements in “security, desktop and mobility, and productivity.” And there’s even a sax solo.
This did not "hit back" at Vista critics, but reenforced just how out of touch Microsoft marketing really is.
Later in the day, it was revealed that the video was a spoof by Microsoft in an attempt to show its lighter side. And all the critics had egg on their faces.
Sorry, no egg here. The video sucked then and it sucked now. But we now have the added bonus of Colin Steele to make fun of too!
Read more here.
Well there's no accounting for good taste.
Yes, it was an internal video sure, a "parody"..but it is still one of the worse corporate video every made.
Our defender disagrees:
Microsoft pulled one over on the Windows Vista haters yesterday, releasing a supposed Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) internal sales video. The video, “Rocking Our Sales” by Bruce ServicePack and the Vista Street Band, features a Bruce Springsteen lookalike singing about Vista’s improvements in “security, desktop and mobility, and productivity.” And there’s even a sax solo.
This did not "hit back" at Vista critics, but reenforced just how out of touch Microsoft marketing really is.
Later in the day, it was revealed that the video was a spoof by Microsoft in an attempt to show its lighter side. And all the critics had egg on their faces.
Sorry, no egg here. The video sucked then and it sucked now. But we now have the added bonus of Colin Steele to make fun of too!
Read more here.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Appallingly embarrassing Microsoft Vista video
Watch for the two clowns at the end, "Microsoft's sales team rocks!"
Internal video or not, this is what the suburbs do to creativity.
Zhang Ziyi
From a statement made by Zhang Ziyi concerning the Olympic flame protests...When I walk down the streets of the United States, I am often proud of my motherland. The prosperity and beauty of Beijing and Shanghai are no less than any American city. When I speak with people in the business sector of the United States, they all feel that the steadily developing China has made huge contributions to the world. In recent years, we have lived through certain hardships, such as SARS, the snow storms, the avian flu ... but we came through and maintained our high economic growth rate.
Walking down the streets of Beijing late at night, I deeply realized why we are able to have peace and prosperity. In the United States, there has just been four cases of school campus shootings with many dead innocent children. I don't understand why certain western media would applaud the recent riots in Tibet. Why couldn't they see the innocent lost lives which came as a result of arson and physical battery? China is becoming strong and powerful, and they don't like the former "Sick man of East Asia" to have the same standing as they do. On further thought, I thought that I should be content because this shows that China is going down the correct and peaceful path. We should continue to do so with determination ...
This sentiment is echoed over and over in posts by Chinese: China is rich and powerful (big and shiny=good), only western type trouble makers are to blame here (read here anyone not stating the party line). We have done nothing to deserve this, you're just jealous (so STFU).
My hat is off to the Chinese government, for putting this over on your people. Well done.
It's nonsense but it seems to work for you.
The West Island
The Vandals are at the Gate!
The good people of Kirkland and Pierrefonds in Montreal were always a bit strange and unpleasant, but good God look at this gate! They've outdone themselves!
«Ce n’est pas vraiment nécessaire, ce n’est pas l’Afghanistan ici! Nous ne sommes pas non plus deux catégories de gens différents. Nous sommes tous du monde de l’Ouest-de-l’Île et devrions essayer de vivre en harmonie.»
Tels sont les commentaires de la mairesse de l’arrondissement de Pierrefonds-Roxboro Monique Worth, à propos d’une clôture de sécurité qui empêche les gens de traverser du territoire de l’arrondissement à celui de la Ville de Kirkland.
La clôture en question est située entre la rue Château-Pierrefonds à Pierrefonds et la rue Houde à Kirkland. Un passage pour piétons et cyclistes relie les deux secteurs sur une distance d’environ 200 pieds.
Read more here.
Vitamins 'may shorten your life'
But but, the industry said if I took multivitamins and drank 8 bottles of designer water a day, I'd live forever!
Research has suggested vitamin supplements do not extend life and could even lead to a premature death.
A review of 67 studies found "no convincing evidence" that antioxidant supplements cut the risk of dying.
Scientists at Copenhagen University said vitamins A and E could interfere with the body's natural defences.
Read more here.
Research has suggested vitamin supplements do not extend life and could even lead to a premature death.
A review of 67 studies found "no convincing evidence" that antioxidant supplements cut the risk of dying.
Scientists at Copenhagen University said vitamins A and E could interfere with the body's natural defences.
Read more here.
China demands apology from Cafferty
China is always doing the fake outrage...they did it here in Canada when our PM had the nerve to meet with the Dalai Lama (Read that here).The Chinese Foreign Ministry demanded Tuesday that CNN's Jack Cafferty apologize for remarks he made last week, in which he called the Chinese "goons and thugs" and said products manufactured in China are "junk."
"Cafferty used the microphone in his hands to slander China and the Chinese people (and) seriously violated professional ethics of journalism and human conscience," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said Tuesday, according to China's state-run Xinhua news agency.
She said Cafferty's remarks "reflected his arrogance, ignorance and hostility towards the Chinese people, ignited indignation of Chinese (at) home and abroad and will be condemned by those who safeguard justice around the world."
"those who safeguard justice around the world" LOLOLOLOLOL my sense of humour is outraged China! I demand an apology.
Read more here.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Did the Romans tidy up Stonehenge?
...the most surprising discoveries so far have been Roman. In a small pit containing a small bluestone in the corner of the trench, itself cut into the main socket of one of the uprights, they found a Roman coin. Even more alarming, was the excavation of the large pit in the centre of the excavation, where right near the bottom they found a very small piece of what was indubitably Roman pottery. Was there a major reordering of the site in the Roman period?
Read more here.
Read more here.
Neanderthals speak out after 30,000 years
Talk about a long silence – no one has heard their voices for 30,000 years. Now the long-extinct Neanderthals are speaking up – or at least a computer synthesiser is doing so on their behalf.Robert McCarthy, an anthropologist at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton has used new reconstructions of Neanderthal vocal tracts to simulate the voice. He says the ancient human's speech lacked the "quantal vowel" sounds that underlie modern speech.
Read and hear more here.
Milky Way’s Giant Black Hole Awoke from Slumber 300 Years Ago
Interesting story, but the science in the title is fucked, as they themselves point out later..
The galactic center is about 26,000 light-years from Earth, meaning we see events as they occurred 26,000 years ago.
Read more here.
The galactic center is about 26,000 light-years from Earth, meaning we see events as they occurred 26,000 years ago.
Read more here.
China and world attention
It is a delight to see China embarrassed on a planetary scale.
In London, a man with a fire extinguisher hurled himself at a torchbearer using what a friend gleefully describes as a "rugby tackle." In Paris, the torch's omnipresent security guards—members of the Sacred Flame Protection Unit of the Chinese People's Armed Police, the same paramilitaries who put down riots in Tibet—had to extinguish the flame themselves to prevent protesters from doing so first. In San Francisco, the torch disappeared, reappeared, changed routes, and then vanished altogether. City officials explained that they had moved their "farewell to the torch" ceremony to a "private" location in order to avoid demonstrations.
In other words, the ceremony was canceled...
Read more here.
In London, a man with a fire extinguisher hurled himself at a torchbearer using what a friend gleefully describes as a "rugby tackle." In Paris, the torch's omnipresent security guards—members of the Sacred Flame Protection Unit of the Chinese People's Armed Police, the same paramilitaries who put down riots in Tibet—had to extinguish the flame themselves to prevent protesters from doing so first. In San Francisco, the torch disappeared, reappeared, changed routes, and then vanished altogether. City officials explained that they had moved their "farewell to the torch" ceremony to a "private" location in order to avoid demonstrations.
In other words, the ceremony was canceled...
Read more here.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Toronto's police chief wants a DNA sample from everyone charged with a serious crime
Why don't these people just say they just want us all fingerprinted and our DNA on file...it would save so much time.
Myself, I feel DNA is one of the most personal things we have, and the state has no right to it. To take it from someone who is just only "charged" with a crime is a gross violation of personal rights.
So of course the state will find ways of getting it anyway.."ooo sorry, you're not guilty, but thanks for the DNA!"
For three months, court employees across Canada have been knocking on doors and going into prisons to get DNA samples from thousands of violent criminals who initially slipped through the fingers of the country's rapidly growing DNA database.
Already the unique genetic code of roughly one in 250 Canadians is in the data bank. But police say that's not nearly enough.
Toronto police Chief Bill Blair hopes that, as soon as 2011, police will have the power to demand DNA samples from anyone charged – not just convicted – of serious crimes.
"DNA doesn't discriminate," said Blair. "It's a revolutionary crime-fighting tool."
Read more here.
Myself, I feel DNA is one of the most personal things we have, and the state has no right to it. To take it from someone who is just only "charged" with a crime is a gross violation of personal rights.
So of course the state will find ways of getting it anyway.."ooo sorry, you're not guilty, but thanks for the DNA!"
For three months, court employees across Canada have been knocking on doors and going into prisons to get DNA samples from thousands of violent criminals who initially slipped through the fingers of the country's rapidly growing DNA database.
Already the unique genetic code of roughly one in 250 Canadians is in the data bank. But police say that's not nearly enough.
Toronto police Chief Bill Blair hopes that, as soon as 2011, police will have the power to demand DNA samples from anyone charged – not just convicted – of serious crimes.
"DNA doesn't discriminate," said Blair. "It's a revolutionary crime-fighting tool."
Read more here.
Russia tests monkeys for Mars trip
They won't utter Yuri Gagarin's famous phrase "Let's go!" But the monkeys of Sochi have already proven their worth as trailblazers in space - and now they are being groomed for a trip to Mars.
The macaques will be the first to experience the radiation that poses a big risk to astronauts - or Russian cosmonauts - on any flight to the Red Planet.
The Sochi Institute of Medical Primatology, at Vesyoloye near the Black Sea, has a proud history of involvement in the Russian - formerly Soviet - space programme.
Read more here.
The macaques will be the first to experience the radiation that poses a big risk to astronauts - or Russian cosmonauts - on any flight to the Red Planet.
The Sochi Institute of Medical Primatology, at Vesyoloye near the Black Sea, has a proud history of involvement in the Russian - formerly Soviet - space programme.
Read more here.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Virgin Media CEO attacks net neutrality
Listen to the tone of this article. Doesn't it say to you people like this don't give a fuck about the net and you and I, just how fast their product is delivered.
This is why they must be stopped.
Virgin Media CEO Neil Berkett has attacked the principle of net neutrality, whereby internet service providers do not interfere with or degrade the speed at which content is delivered from websites to consumers, branding it as "b****cks".
Berkett's cable operator ranks as the second largest internet service provider in the UK with approximately 3.6m customers.
In an interview with the Royal Television Society's Television magazine, Berkett said that "this net neutrality thing is a load of b****cks", and revealed that Virgin is already in talks with unnamed content providers about paying to have their content delivered faster than others.
Feeding into the debate between internet service providers and the BBC over iPlayer, Berkett even warned that public service broadcasters who choose not to pay for faster access to Virgin's subscriber base would end up in "bus lanes", effectively having their content delivered to consumers at a lower speed.
This is why they must be stopped.
Virgin Media CEO Neil Berkett has attacked the principle of net neutrality, whereby internet service providers do not interfere with or degrade the speed at which content is delivered from websites to consumers, branding it as "b****cks".
Berkett's cable operator ranks as the second largest internet service provider in the UK with approximately 3.6m customers.
In an interview with the Royal Television Society's Television magazine, Berkett said that "this net neutrality thing is a load of b****cks", and revealed that Virgin is already in talks with unnamed content providers about paying to have their content delivered faster than others.
Feeding into the debate between internet service providers and the BBC over iPlayer, Berkett even warned that public service broadcasters who choose not to pay for faster access to Virgin's subscriber base would end up in "bus lanes", effectively having their content delivered to consumers at a lower speed.
Rare statue of Roman emperor found
Italian police have recovered a rare statue of a Roman emperor who co-ruled alongside Marcus Aurelius and was known for his reluctance to sit for portraits.
Police said Friday that the marble head of Lucius Verus was the most spectacular find among more than a dozen looted ancient artifacts hidden in a boat garage near Rome.
Read more here.
Texas School Suspends Student for Answering Call in Class From Dad in Iraq
To whoever made this decision at Cove High School in Texas, The Lord of the Universe is calling you cold hearted bastards of epic proportions.
A Texas sergeant and his son recently found themselves separated not only by an eight-hour time difference, several bodies of water, hundreds of miles and a war, but by a high school official who suspended the boy for answering his dad's call during class.
Cove High School in Texas, where half the students have at least one parent deployed, justified the punishment against Brandon Hill by saying he had violated the no-cell-phone policy when he took the call from his father, who is serving in Iraq.
Read more here.
A Texas sergeant and his son recently found themselves separated not only by an eight-hour time difference, several bodies of water, hundreds of miles and a war, but by a high school official who suspended the boy for answering his dad's call during class.
Cove High School in Texas, where half the students have at least one parent deployed, justified the punishment against Brandon Hill by saying he had violated the no-cell-phone policy when he took the call from his father, who is serving in Iraq.
Read more here.
CCTV and fingerprinting could NOW be used in exam halls
Boy the powers that be in England will do and say anything to get underage people fingerprinted, won't they? (See this post about fingerprinting airline passengers, or this "describing how the British government intends to go about "coercing" its citizens onto a National Identity Register". ).
It does exhibit a shocking disregard for the rights of those who can not yet stand up for them.
Schools are considering introducing CCTV cameras and fingerprint checks to trap exam cheats.
Students scribbling vital facts on their shirtcuffs or hiding cribsheets in pencil cases would be easily identified under the crackdown planned by the Examination Officers Association.
It also hopes to cut the number of claims from pupils that they were given the wrong instructions by invigilators.
Read more here.
It does exhibit a shocking disregard for the rights of those who can not yet stand up for them.
Schools are considering introducing CCTV cameras and fingerprint checks to trap exam cheats.
Students scribbling vital facts on their shirtcuffs or hiding cribsheets in pencil cases would be easily identified under the crackdown planned by the Examination Officers Association.
It also hopes to cut the number of claims from pupils that they were given the wrong instructions by invigilators.
Read more here.
Griffintown
Le comité pour le sain redéveloppement du Griffintown dépose son mémoire le 10 mars 2008 dans le cadre des consultations publiques de l'arrondissement Sud-Ouest.
The Committee for the Sustainable Redevelopment of Griffintown present their brief at the public consultations of the SouthWest Borough March 10, 2008.
The Committee for the Sustainable Redevelopment of Griffintown present their brief at the public consultations of the SouthWest Borough March 10, 2008.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Pope won't break bread with Bush
It must be just *torture* that the Pope won't have dinner with you!
The White House has scheduled a dinner next week in honor of Pope Benedict XVI's first visit to the United States, but one guest will be conspicuously absent from the proceedings: the pope himself.
There are no competing events listed on the pope's schedule, and the White House was unable to explain Benedict's absence from the dinner.
Read more here.
The White House has scheduled a dinner next week in honor of Pope Benedict XVI's first visit to the United States, but one guest will be conspicuously absent from the proceedings: the pope himself.
There are no competing events listed on the pope's schedule, and the White House was unable to explain Benedict's absence from the dinner.
Read more here.
Lexington superintendent threatened by radio host
This radio host has clearly committed a criminal act, so why isn't he in jail?
And we're the bad ones...
Lexington superintendent Paul Ash of Newton has been threatened by a New Jersey radio host [Hal Turner] urging listeners to “use threats and violence” against Ash for the school district's new diversity curriculum.
The radio host says “I advocate parents using FORCE AND VIOLENCE against Superintendent Paul B. Ash as a method of defending the health and safety of school children presently being endangered through his politically-correct indoctrination into deadly, disease-ridden sodomite lifestyles.” The site lists Ash’s last known addresses, a phone number, and a birth date.
Read more here.
And we're the bad ones...
Lexington superintendent Paul Ash of Newton has been threatened by a New Jersey radio host [Hal Turner] urging listeners to “use threats and violence” against Ash for the school district's new diversity curriculum.
The radio host says “I advocate parents using FORCE AND VIOLENCE against Superintendent Paul B. Ash as a method of defending the health and safety of school children presently being endangered through his politically-correct indoctrination into deadly, disease-ridden sodomite lifestyles.” The site lists Ash’s last known addresses, a phone number, and a birth date.
Read more here.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Light Beams to Color Rome Column
The Trajan Column, one of Rome's most famous monuments, will be shown next year under a totally new light. Italian researchers announced they plan to restore the column's original bright colors by "painting" it with light beams.
Read more here.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
McCain ads
Presented today, 2 over the top bullshit ads from one of the morally corrupt leaders of the U.S., John McCain.
This first one is almost a parody.."Does he walk the walk?"..."The American President Americans have been waiting for"
Huh, say what? This implies someone else is not American...and that is??
This second is worse:
The hypocrisy is stunning, isn't it?
Of course that epic idiot lesbian Andrew Sullivan likes it: "shrewd and encouraging". The man is always attracted by shiny things.
This first one is almost a parody.."Does he walk the walk?"..."The American President Americans have been waiting for"
Huh, say what? This implies someone else is not American...and that is??
This second is worse:
The hypocrisy is stunning, isn't it?
Of course that epic idiot lesbian Andrew Sullivan likes it: "shrewd and encouraging". The man is always attracted by shiny things.
Huge Viking Hoard Discovered in Sweden
Hundreds of ancient coins unearthed last week close to Sweden's main international airport suggests the Vikings were bringing home foreign currency earlier than previously thought, archaeologists say.Buried some 1,150 years ago, the treasure trove is made up mainly of Arabic coins and represents the largest early Viking hoard ever discovered in Sweden.
Read more here.
Ancient statue discovered in Rome
A fragment of an ancient Roman equestrian statue that once adorned the Colosseum has been found during excavations near the world famous Italian landmark.
According to the Italian daily, Il Messaggero, the fragment was discovered among the remains of an ancient pavement that once surrounded the amphitheatre.
"A marble fragment measuring one metre by a metre and a half, is from an equestrian statue, probably a statue that embellished the arches of the Colosseum," said archaeologist Silvana Rizzo, advisor to the minister of culture and tourism, Francesco Rutelli.
Read more here.
According to the Italian daily, Il Messaggero, the fragment was discovered among the remains of an ancient pavement that once surrounded the amphitheatre.
"A marble fragment measuring one metre by a metre and a half, is from an equestrian statue, probably a statue that embellished the arches of the Colosseum," said archaeologist Silvana Rizzo, advisor to the minister of culture and tourism, Francesco Rutelli.
Read more here.
IOC chief: Games meant to advance human rights
And the award for epic naiveté goes to the IOC chief:
Olympic chief Jacques Rogge said Thursday that the controversial Olympic torch relay would go ahead but admitted that the International Olympic Committee had hoped that awarding the Games to Beijing would "advance the social agenda of China, including human rights..."
Read more here.
"We were saddened by what we saw in London and Paris. We were sad for the athletes and torch bearers. We were sad for the children who watched their heroes and role models being booed"...
It ain't the runners or athletes they're booing, it's China.
And rightly so.
Olympic chief Jacques Rogge said Thursday that the controversial Olympic torch relay would go ahead but admitted that the International Olympic Committee had hoped that awarding the Games to Beijing would "advance the social agenda of China, including human rights..."
Read more here.
"We were saddened by what we saw in London and Paris. We were sad for the athletes and torch bearers. We were sad for the children who watched their heroes and role models being booed"...
It ain't the runners or athletes they're booing, it's China.
And rightly so.
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Olympic Official Condemns Anti-China Protests
Caught between an outpouring of activism and an offended Chinese government, the top Olympic official condemned protesters disrupting the torch relay and insisted the Beijing Games won't be derailed.
"Politics invited itself in sports," Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, said in an interview Tuesday. "We didn't call for politics to come.
You're fucking dealing with China moron, of course politics will come in. Do they not realize this is the only time everyday people get to express their opinion about China???
I know they're supposed to stand on the sidelines, cheering on the torch...life is too short.
I hope it continues. China needs be embarrassed on a planetary scale.
Read more here.
"Politics invited itself in sports," Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, said in an interview Tuesday. "We didn't call for politics to come.
You're fucking dealing with China moron, of course politics will come in. Do they not realize this is the only time everyday people get to express their opinion about China???
I know they're supposed to stand on the sidelines, cheering on the torch...life is too short.
I hope it continues. China needs be embarrassed on a planetary scale.
Read more here.
'Breakthrough' at Stonehenge dig
Archaeologists carrying out an excavation at Stonehenge say they have broken through to a layer that may finally explain why the site was built.
The team has reached sockets that once held bluestones - smaller stones, most now missing or uprooted, which formed the site's original structure.
The researchers believe that the bluestones could reveal that Stonehenge was once a place of healing.
Read more here.
The team has reached sockets that once held bluestones - smaller stones, most now missing or uprooted, which formed the site's original structure.
The researchers believe that the bluestones could reveal that Stonehenge was once a place of healing.
Read more here.
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Fuck your war
This picture appeared on Digg, and solicited the usual juvenile responses (and to be fair, not all the comments are of this level of simianness:
Bigger story here: Grandma figures out how to use label marker.
Oh, an old age joke, how original!
She is actually lost and someone put those stickers on her. I hope she finds her way home :/
Another, ok, fine.
Sad thing is, she thinks its still world war 1 :(
Oh this can't be any worse, can it?
"I was on may way to the Macy's when these nice kids were talking to me and gave me these nice stickers. Are the Beatles in town again?" -- Old Lady.
Oh stop, it's tooo funny!
Isn't she from the same generation that brought us two World Wars and the nuclear bomb? Hmmm... Nevertheless, no one wants this war. Way to learn from your mistakes, Gram Gram.
Akk, I know I shouldn't expect any historical knowledge from Digg commenters (unless it is a game storyline), but but...
May their grandchildren turn on them with equal coldness...and you know they will.
Torture and the Catholic Church
Interesting post covering the Catholic Church's stand on torture. Although I can't agree with all of the article's conclusions, its list of reasons used *justifying* torture is highly entertaining:
11. This amnesia also accounts for another favorite rhetorical trope: The "9/11 Changed Everything" cry of Generation Narcissus. Being a Generation that fancies itself the summit of all human history, it is a generation that tends to talk as Never Before Have We Faced Such Evil. Therefore, war crimes are okay because it not like we're fighting pantywaists like Nazis and Communists. We are the grand exception to the general rule against war crimes because our enemies are uniquely, extra-special super-duper evil. Ours is a high and lonely destiny, etc. blah blah...
...The basic guidelines the Church proposes are pretty simple
1. Don't do evil that good may come of it.
2. Some things are intrinsically evil, meaning you *can't* do them under any circumstance.
3. Torture is one of these things.
4. If you are confused about what "torture" is, then bear in mind the Church's *other* command, which is that we must treat prisoners humanely, not merely "not torture them". Aim for that, and you won't accidently torture them.
5. Seek the intelligence you need while bearing in mind the above.
Read more here.
11. This amnesia also accounts for another favorite rhetorical trope: The "9/11 Changed Everything" cry of Generation Narcissus. Being a Generation that fancies itself the summit of all human history, it is a generation that tends to talk as Never Before Have We Faced Such Evil. Therefore, war crimes are okay because it not like we're fighting pantywaists like Nazis and Communists. We are the grand exception to the general rule against war crimes because our enemies are uniquely, extra-special super-duper evil. Ours is a high and lonely destiny, etc. blah blah...
...The basic guidelines the Church proposes are pretty simple
1. Don't do evil that good may come of it.
2. Some things are intrinsically evil, meaning you *can't* do them under any circumstance.
3. Torture is one of these things.
4. If you are confused about what "torture" is, then bear in mind the Church's *other* command, which is that we must treat prisoners humanely, not merely "not torture them". Aim for that, and you won't accidently torture them.
5. Seek the intelligence you need while bearing in mind the above.
Read more here.
Just what does Apple Inc. have against Canada?
As an man in the street, I know the lack of the iPhone here in Canada is pissing off loyal Apple customers. WTF Apple?
Given the monopolistic nature of the providers here (heelllooo Rogers) as well, the holdup is probably not all Apple's doing.
Apple may be one of the most beloved consumer brands in the world, but its products cost more here than they do south of the border despite near parity in the currencies, new services often arrive long after they're launched in the U.S., and then there's the conspicuous absence of the company's iPhone.
Meanwhile, other multinational consumer electronics companies, including Microsoft Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co., consider Canada a proving ground for new products and services.
So does Apple hate Canada?
Read more here.
Given the monopolistic nature of the providers here (heelllooo Rogers) as well, the holdup is probably not all Apple's doing.
Apple may be one of the most beloved consumer brands in the world, but its products cost more here than they do south of the border despite near parity in the currencies, new services often arrive long after they're launched in the U.S., and then there's the conspicuous absence of the company's iPhone.
Meanwhile, other multinational consumer electronics companies, including Microsoft Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co., consider Canada a proving ground for new products and services.
So does Apple hate Canada?
Read more here.
"You have no right to be here!"
More psychotic ramblings, this time from an American Democratic Illinois state rep, Monique Davis.Yes the Democrats have crazies too, here a religious one to whom the concept of free speech is not something she's ready to accept, especially if that speech is a viewpoint she doesn't want to hear.
And Lord help us if the children hear anything not coming from God's lips. Heaven forbid they think for themselves.
Also, she seems to be avoiding the fact that her government is putting one million dollars into some Baptist church. Our free speecher was taking them up on that.
Silly man, doesn't he know God is on their side.
"I am fed up! Get out of that seat!"
I hope voters in her area begin to say the same thing about her.
Read more here, and hear more here.
Monday, April 07, 2008
Appian Way is under threat
In ancient times the Appian Way, which links Rome to the southern city of Brindisi, was known as the regina viarum, the queen of the roads. But these days its crown appears to be tarnished by chronic traffic congestion, vandalism and, some of its guardians grumble, illegal development.
Condos!
Read more here.
Olympic Torch 3rd Protest London BBC Coverage
The third protest, on this occasion someone actually grabbed the torch from former BBC Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq.
The U.S. establishment media in a nutshell
From Glenn Greenwald on how the American media is right on top of the important stories...
Here are the number of times, according to NEXIS, that various topics have been mentioned in the media over the past thirty days:
"Yoo and torture" - 102
"Mukasey and 9/11" -- 73
"Yoo and Fourth Amendment" -- 16
"Obama and bowling" -- 1,043
"Obama and Wright" -- More than 3,000 (too many to be counted)
"Obama and patriotism" - 1,607
"Clinton and Lewinsky" -- 1,079
Read more here.
Here are the number of times, according to NEXIS, that various topics have been mentioned in the media over the past thirty days:
"Yoo and torture" - 102
"Mukasey and 9/11" -- 73
"Yoo and Fourth Amendment" -- 16
"Obama and bowling" -- 1,043
"Obama and Wright" -- More than 3,000 (too many to be counted)
"Obama and patriotism" - 1,607
"Clinton and Lewinsky" -- 1,079
Read more here.
Sunday, April 06, 2008
"Tibet is Chinese business, and none of yours"
Anonymous comment (of course) left on this blog regarding my position on Tibet
all my life I have always tried to be kind to people. One kind of people I always feel like strangling are those who are self-righteous and arrogant at the same time. You, Protogenes, make my blood boil. I do feel like strangling you. Move along, you. Tibet is Chinese business, and none of yours.
"self-righteous and arrogant". Bullseye sir. You should hear what the world's saying about you.
I do feel the issues are sometimes bigger than countries, and at times the world must intervene when a wrong is being committed.
So if China is doing wrong, then "Tibet is the World's business, and none of China's" would be a more contemporary response.
China doesn't like foreign intervention in their affairs?...ummm sound familar?
"make my blood boil. I do feel like strangling you". Nice...And you wonder why we look upon China with...concern?
Btw sir, this is my blog, I can say what I please here. It's you who should move along.
Oh look! Tanks!
all my life I have always tried to be kind to people. One kind of people I always feel like strangling are those who are self-righteous and arrogant at the same time. You, Protogenes, make my blood boil. I do feel like strangling you. Move along, you. Tibet is Chinese business, and none of yours.
"self-righteous and arrogant". Bullseye sir. You should hear what the world's saying about you.
I do feel the issues are sometimes bigger than countries, and at times the world must intervene when a wrong is being committed.
So if China is doing wrong, then "Tibet is the World's business, and none of China's" would be a more contemporary response.
China doesn't like foreign intervention in their affairs?...ummm sound familar?
"make my blood boil. I do feel like strangling you". Nice...And you wonder why we look upon China with...concern?
Btw sir, this is my blog, I can say what I please here. It's you who should move along.
Oh look! Tanks!
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Harold & Kumar escape from Guantanamo Bay
Am I the only one who doesn't find this topic even remotely funny...?
What's next? Harold & Kumar do Auschwitz.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Saskatchewan MP apologizes for anti-gay slur
Oh he doesn't come across in the clip so much as homophobic, just a drunk asshole.
And if every tape of every asshole who chose to immortalize their idiocy for all time were to surface, we'd all still be viewing in 3000 AD...
Of course, this does nothing to dispel the common belief that Conservatives are selfish nasty minded slugs, but I digress..
A Saskatchewan MP says he's sorry for comments he made on tape in 1991 that the NDP says are offensive and homophobic.
A flush-faced Tom Lukiwski offered his apologies to reporters in Ottawa on Thursday, but would not answer questions on whether he would resign.
Read more here.
And if every tape of every asshole who chose to immortalize their idiocy for all time were to surface, we'd all still be viewing in 3000 AD...
Of course, this does nothing to dispel the common belief that Conservatives are selfish nasty minded slugs, but I digress..
A Saskatchewan MP says he's sorry for comments he made on tape in 1991 that the NDP says are offensive and homophobic.
A flush-faced Tom Lukiwski offered his apologies to reporters in Ottawa on Thursday, but would not answer questions on whether he would resign.
Read more here.
"Drink 8 Glasses Of Water A Day" Rule May Be Total Myth
No shit. They only started to say that after water started to be bottled...and sold..
Ummmm
So the article is incorrect, it may be the writers' "whole life", but it hasn't been that long really.
Now, this is shocking: the advice we've been getting our whole lives--to drink eight glasses of water a day--may have no medical backing.
Read more here.
Ummmm
So the article is incorrect, it may be the writers' "whole life", but it hasn't been that long really.
Now, this is shocking: the advice we've been getting our whole lives--to drink eight glasses of water a day--may have no medical backing.
Read more here.
"all in the name of Islam"
I'm sorry, but I can't get my mind around this sort of action...
Eight men planned to detonate bombs aboard flights from London across the Atlantic to create deaths on an almost unprecedented scale, a court has heard.
Homemade devices were to be smuggled on to passenger aircraft and detonated mid-flight, Woolwich Crown Court heard.
After their arrests in August 2006, passengers were banned from carrying most liquids on board aircraft.
The eight men all deny conspiring to murder others and endangering aircraft bound for the US and Canada in 2006.
Prosecutor Peter Wright QC said the men planned to inflict heavy casualties, "all in the name of Islam".
He told the court: "These men were, we say, indifferent to the carnage that was likely to ensue.
Read more here.
Eight men planned to detonate bombs aboard flights from London across the Atlantic to create deaths on an almost unprecedented scale, a court has heard.
Homemade devices were to be smuggled on to passenger aircraft and detonated mid-flight, Woolwich Crown Court heard.
After their arrests in August 2006, passengers were banned from carrying most liquids on board aircraft.
The eight men all deny conspiring to murder others and endangering aircraft bound for the US and Canada in 2006.
Prosecutor Peter Wright QC said the men planned to inflict heavy casualties, "all in the name of Islam".
He told the court: "These men were, we say, indifferent to the carnage that was likely to ensue.
Read more here.
SpaceNavigator 3D Mouse Gives Full Range of Motion to Second Life Avatars
3Dconnexion's SpaceNavigator, a rubber-capped multi-axis metal dial meant mainly for 3D design, has been put to even better use as a pan-dimensional controller for Second Life. The video says it all: watch as Beast, one of the "Lindens" who works at Second Life's founder company, demos movement of his avatar on both land and in the air, and even use SpaceNavigator side by side with a mouse. It's perhaps even cooler in build mode, where you can twist, push, pull and tilt—basically have free range of motion—when doing heavy construction. The SpaceNavigator is already available for $60, and works with Google Earth, Adobe Photoshop and a bunch of CAD and GIS apps. It will be available in Second Life at release 1.20.
See more here.
See more here.
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Is Bush a war criminal yet?
Memo: Laws Didn't Apply to Interrogators
The Justice Department sent a legal memorandum to the Pentagon in 2003 asserting that federal laws prohibiting assault, maiming and other crimes did not apply to military interrogators who questioned al-Qaeda captives because the president's ultimate authority as commander in chief overrode such statutes.
Read more here.
For more from Vanity Fair, please visit here
The Justice Department sent a legal memorandum to the Pentagon in 2003 asserting that federal laws prohibiting assault, maiming and other crimes did not apply to military interrogators who questioned al-Qaeda captives because the president's ultimate authority as commander in chief overrode such statutes.
Read more here.
For more from Vanity Fair, please visit here
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
How the open net closed its doors
This should come as a surprise to no one, as we have known all along that governments do not like their citizens having voices of their own.
Like middlemen everywhere, they fear people will discover governments are unnecessary for communications between them.
A new book details the extent to which countries across the globe are increasingly censoring online information they find strategically, politically or culturally threatening.
Access Denied: The Practice and Policy of Global Internet Filtering challenges the long-standing assumption that the internet is an unfettered space where citizens from around the world can freely communicate and mobilise. In fact, the book makes it clear that the scope, scale and sophistication of net censorship are growing.
Read more here, while you still can.
Oregon's healthcare lottery
Americans love to tell us how advanced they are, how they are the greatest nation on Earth (and yes, it is only Americans saying this).
Then a story like this comes along to illustrate just how cold the American heart can be...
With some 45 million Americans uninsured, how to pay for medical treatment is a big issue in this year's presidential election.
Now officials in Oregon say they have come up with a fair way of providing coverage for some of those who cannot afford it.
In her comfortable home in Portland, Oregon, Louanne Moldovan sifts through a pile of papers.
They are unpaid medical bills, stretching back a year, arising from treatment for Crohn's Disease, the chronic intestinal condition she suffers from. She thinks she owes nearly $15,000 (£7,500) in all.
Louanne says she is looking for full-time employment but, she adds, her earnings through freelance work will not buy enough health insurance for the treatment she needs. For her the state healthcare lottery offers an uneasy solution.
That's right folks, because the U.S. is so caring to it's citizens, this state has to run a lottery to win health care.
You sick fucks.
Read more here.
Then a story like this comes along to illustrate just how cold the American heart can be...
With some 45 million Americans uninsured, how to pay for medical treatment is a big issue in this year's presidential election.
Now officials in Oregon say they have come up with a fair way of providing coverage for some of those who cannot afford it.
In her comfortable home in Portland, Oregon, Louanne Moldovan sifts through a pile of papers.
They are unpaid medical bills, stretching back a year, arising from treatment for Crohn's Disease, the chronic intestinal condition she suffers from. She thinks she owes nearly $15,000 (£7,500) in all.
Louanne says she is looking for full-time employment but, she adds, her earnings through freelance work will not buy enough health insurance for the treatment she needs. For her the state healthcare lottery offers an uneasy solution.
That's right folks, because the U.S. is so caring to it's citizens, this state has to run a lottery to win health care.
You sick fucks.
Read more here.
IOC warns China over web access
Speaking of tinpot dictators...
China must ensure open access to the internet during the Beijing Games, Olympic officials have warned.
Inspectors from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said China was obliged under its Games contract to provide journalists with web access.
The IOC's Kevan Gosper said there was concern that the web had been blocked during recent unrest in Tibet. He said this could not happen during the Games.
Read more here.
I hope China's PR ass gets kicked around the world...
China must ensure open access to the internet during the Beijing Games, Olympic officials have warned.
Inspectors from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said China was obliged under its Games contract to provide journalists with web access.
The IOC's Kevan Gosper said there was concern that the web had been blocked during recent unrest in Tibet. He said this could not happen during the Games.
Read more here.
I hope China's PR ass gets kicked around the world...
Opposition leaders [in Zimbabwe] go into hiding as poll result is delayed
Zinbabwe's tinpot dictator seems to be denying the obvious...
Senior figures in Zimbabwe's opposition were in hiding last night as a tremendous power struggle played out in the wake of weekend elections in which President Robert Mugabe's government appeared to have been defeated.
Official results from the state-appointed electoral commission were issued yesterday, with almost theatrical slowness, as factions within the ruling party and the security apparatus scrambled for any alternative to conceding defeat.
Read more here.
Senior figures in Zimbabwe's opposition were in hiding last night as a tremendous power struggle played out in the wake of weekend elections in which President Robert Mugabe's government appeared to have been defeated.
Official results from the state-appointed electoral commission were issued yesterday, with almost theatrical slowness, as factions within the ruling party and the security apparatus scrambled for any alternative to conceding defeat.
Read more here.
Unlocking Stonehenge's secrets
Stonehenge is a British wonder of the ancient world - it's also as familiar a part of our landscape as the White Cliffs of Dover.
It's such an iconic sight, we tend to forget that two fundamental questions remain - when was it built and what was it for?
For hundreds of years, these questions have intrigued and frustrated antiquarians and visitors alike.
Remarkably, in the next fortnight, we might just have the beginning of some answers.
Read more here.
It's such an iconic sight, we tend to forget that two fundamental questions remain - when was it built and what was it for?
For hundreds of years, these questions have intrigued and frustrated antiquarians and visitors alike.
Remarkably, in the next fortnight, we might just have the beginning of some answers.
Read more here.
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