Wednesday, May 02, 2012

BBC America treats Americans as the immature children the probably are

A writer for British comedy The Thick of It has criticised BBC America's decision to censor the show.

Jesse Armstrong described the move to 'bleep' Armando Iannucci's award-winning political satire as an "error".

"They should at least have a conversation with Armando and check what they're going to do with it before they put it out," he told the BBC. "It seems a little odd."

BBC America stood by its decision, despite the show airing at midnight.

Read more here.

Scumbag engineer at Google knew exactly what he was doing

The Google engineer who wrote a program that collected personal data from wi-fi networks told at least two other colleagues, a report has revealed.

Google released the full investigation conducted by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

It said senior staff on the Street View team were unaware of the plans.

The company was fined $25,000 (£15,300) earlier this month for impeding the FCC's investigation, but was ruled to not have broken the law.

The report came two weeks after a heavily redacted version was released by the FCC at the time of the original fine.

It detailed how one Google engineer, referred to only as "Engineer Doe", produced a computer program capable of collecting data from people's unsecured home wireless networks.

The data gathered included contents of some emails and web browsing history.

Read more here.

China throws yet another tandrum, this time over Chen Guangcheng

China demanded an apology from the United States on Wednesday after a human rights activist emerged from several days of refuge inside the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.

Chen Guangcheng's presence in the U.S. Embassy had prompted a flurry of diplomatic activity between the United States and China. The situation has threatened to overshadow U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's scheduled meetings with senior Chinese leaders this week.

"The U.S. handling of this was interference in Chinese domestic affairs, and this is totally unacceptable to China," Liu Weimin, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said in comments reported by the state-run news agency Xinhua.

Read more here.

Tuesday, May 01, 2012

It pays to be rich: Conrad Black to come back to Canada

The Conservative government won't confirm a report saying Conrad Black has been given permission to return to Canada for a year, even though he gave up his citizenship in 2001 and has criminal record in the U.S.

The Globe and Mail is reporting that Citizenship and Immigration Canada has granted Black a temporary resident permit, which would allow him to live in Canada from May 2012 until May 2013.

Black would normally be inadmissible because he isn't a Canadian citizen and has a criminal record.

According to a government website, a temporary resident permit temporarily overcomes inadmissibility.

So does being one of the club...

Read more here.

Harper and Co.: "We’re part of the crusade"

More from the intellectual giants, um, leading us...

The Harper government was privately concerned last fall about costs, delays and the quality of communication it was receiving on the U.S. F-35 stealth fighter project even as its chief spokesman on the file assured Canadians all was well...

...“We will purchase the F-35,” Mr. Fantino told Fort Worth business leaders during his visit. “We’re on record. We’re part of the crusade. We’re not backing down,” the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported him saying.

Read more here.

North Carolinian and his shotgun: Idiot of the Day

Update: one of these gun toting fools, a certain "Chase Young", has had the video pulled from youtube.

Monday, April 30, 2012

Dan Savage causes cherry picking Christian bigots to flee, going LALALALA I can't hear you

During a speech at a high school journalism convention, Dan Savage attacked anti-gay Biblical literalism, which caused some Christian students to walk out

Gee, what a shock...

Read more here.

Entertainment industry wins big victory in its effort to censor the Net in the UK

A victory for them maybe, but it does nothing to stop people despising them.

File-sharing site The Pirate Bay must be blocked by UK internet service providers, the High Court has ruled.

The Swedish website hosts links to download mostly pirated free music and video.

Sky, Everything Everywhere, TalkTalk, O2 and Virgin Media must all prevent their users from accessing the site.

Read more here.

60 Minutes: Torture and war crimes are AOK

60 Minutes interviews CIA torture architect Jose Rodriguez.. "..people don't understand that this program was not about hurting anybody. This program was about instilling a sense of hopelessness and despair on the terrorist, on the detainee, so that he would conclude on his own that he was better off cooperating with us...

Friday, April 27, 2012

Latest attempt by governments to control the Internet: CISPA

The House of Representatives passed cybersecurity legislation Thursday aimed at protecting American companies from hackers who steal intellectual property.

The bill passed 248 to 168, largely along party lines, despite the Obama administration's threats to veto the bill and its claims that the bill falls short in protecting civil liberties

I don't believe for a second the aim of bills and laws like this are solely for the reasons stated. Can't have all this unbridled free speech, now can we...

Read more here.

George Zimmerman raises $200,000 from some very f*cked up individuals

George Zimmerman's attorney said his client's bail might have been set higher if a judge had known about $200,000 US raised by a website and that only came to light this week.

Mark O'Mara said on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 that he only learned about the money Wednesday and will inform a judge at a hearing Friday.

Zimmerman, who has been charged with second-degree murder in the Feb. 26 shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, was released from jail this week after paying 10 percent of $150,000 bail.

Read more here.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Jeffrey Miron: Idiot of the Day

Anti-bribery laws hurt U.S. companies! Do away with the law then...boohoohoo

What a moron.

public and policymakers should also consider whether the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act is good policy. And despite good intentions -- particularly, the goal of reducing corruption -- it is not.

The act is difficult to enforce on a consistent basis, since companies that wish to pay bribes can circumvent the law in numerous ways, mainly with minimal risk of exposure. So, most violations go undetected. The act therefore hurts companies that break the law clumsily and get caught, thereby creating a competitive advantage for companies that break the law cleverly and get away with it.

The most likely outcome is therefore that the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has minimal impact on bribes but enriches the least honest companies. And if the act deters bribes by U.S. companies operating abroad, that is even worse.

Read more here.

Catholic leaders call Paul Ryan a heartless bastard

Or words to that effect...

Rising Republican star Paul Ryan has been condemned by Catholic leaders for saying his controversial budget plan was inspired by church teaching.

Faculty members and priests at Georgetown University said they could not condone a spending plan they said would hurt society's most vulnerable...

...The letter adds: "In short, your budget appears to reflect the values of your favorite philosopher, Ayn Rand, rather than the Gospel of Jesus Christ."

Read more here.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Jose Rodriguez, Ex-CIA Officer: Sick F*ck of the Day

The retired top CIA officer who ordered the destruction of videos showing waterboarding says in a new book that he was tired of waiting for Washington's bureaucracy to make a decision that protected American lives...

..."I wasn't going to sit around another three years waiting for people to get up the courage," to do what CIA lawyers said he had the authority to do himself, Rodriguez writes. He describes sending the order in November 2005 as "just getting rid of some ugly visuals."

Read more here.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Nina Easton: Idiot of the Day

Don't blame the 1% for America's pay gap

It's time to end the myth that the nation's wealthy are getting rich off the backs of the poor. Instead let's figure out what they're doing right.

It just gets worse after that...

Read more here.

Friday, April 20, 2012

Carnival Cruise Lines: Cold Hearted Bastards of the Day

Carnival Cruise Lines is scrambling to avert another public relations nightmare in the wake of reports that one of its luxury ships ignored a distressed fishing boat and left two of the occupants to die at sea.

The Panamanian fishing vessel was adrift in the Gulf of Panama with three men aboard when, according to one of them, a large vessel passed but ignored signals for help.

"Instead of helping us, they left us," said fisherman Adrian Vazquez, whose boat had been drifting for two weeks at that point after losing engine power.

One of Vazquez's fellow fishermen died of dehydration that night. The other died five days later, on March 15.

Read more here.

Log Driver's Waltz

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Norwich City: A**holes of the Day

They're hiding their embarrassment and technical incompetence by going after this kid. What a bunch of assholes.

A 17-year-old Norwich City fan has angered the club by leaking pictures of its new kit 12 hours before the official launch.

Norfolk Police were called in after IT student Chris Brown published images of the 2012-13 strip on the internet.

Chris has apologised to the club, which said it would protect its intellectual property at all times.

Police have said all parties had agreed the matter could be resolved through a "face-to-face" meeting.

The teenager, from Norwich, managed to obtain the pictures from the club's kit launch website as it was being updated.

He said he then posted the images on Twitter.


Read more here.

Michael Baker: Idiot of the Day

Stunning stupidity

A Kentucky man is facing a misdemeanor rap after he siphoned gasoline from a police car, a theft that came to the attention of cops after the perp posted a Facebook photo memorializing the crime.

Read more here.

New app proves once again what a moron Rob Ford is

How about an app that let's me take a picture of Ford giving the finger to a mother and her daughter....

Taking the city's battle to clean up Toronto digital, Rob Ford visited a lane way near St. Clair and Lansdowne to unveil a new mobile app that lets citizens report unwanted graffiti instantly. Instead of coughing up for a phone call, smart phone users can now snap a picture and whisk it off to 311 for processing.

"This is as efficient as it gets," remarked Ford at press conference earlier today. "This will make it easier than ever to report graffiti vandalism and help keep the city spotless.


Read more here.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

UFO

A Horizon Guide To Dinosaurs

Friday, April 06, 2012

Police in Moorhead, Minnesota: Scumbags of the Day

Stacy Knutson, a server at the Fryn' Pan Restaurant in Moorhead, got the tip back in November from a customer who left a takeout box inside the restaurant.

Knutson followed the customer out to parking lot and tried to give her the box but the woman told her to keep it. When Knutson opened it, she found $12,000 in cash.

Knutson, a mother of five, called local police and turned in the cash as lost property.

At first, police said the cash would be hers if it remained unclaimed for 60 days, according to the lawsuit Knutson filed against the department.

At the end of the 60 days, however, the department told Knutson she would have to wait another 30 days to get the money.

Then police told her she would not receive the money at all because it smelled of marijuana and had been seized under a state law.


Read more here.

Thursday, April 05, 2012

Andrew Sullivan just loves him some Pink Slime

...I honestly can't see why there's been all this fuss about it. "Waste not, want not," was my mother's constant refrain. But then I love steak and kidney pudding and liver and bacon.

Read more here.

More government attempts to control the Internet, this time Arizona

In one of the most sweeping attacks on free speech in America, the Arizona legislature has passed a draconian bill that would criminalize speech on the Internet (“any electronic or digital device”) that prosecutors consider “obscene, lewd or profane language or . . . suggest[ing] a lewd or lascivious act if done with intent to ‘annoy,’ ‘offend,’ ‘harass’ or ‘terrify.’” The law is largely undefined and is in my view facially unconstitutional. The law would drive a stake in the heart of free speech. Yet, people like Bill Clinton have been calling for such a crackdown on Internet speech for years.

Read more here.

Wednesday, April 04, 2012

Pink Fluffy Unicorns Dancing on Rainbows

Billy Payne, chairman of Augusta National Golf Club: Idiot of the Day

The chairman of the club that hosts America's most prestigious golf tournament skirted the prickly issue of women's membership Wednesday, saying it is a private matter.

During his annual media session, Billy Payne, chairman of Augusta National Golf Club, did not comment specifically on Ginni Rometty, the top executive at IBM and, undoubtedly, one of the corporate world's most powerful women.

IBM's sponsorship of the Masters tournament guarantees club membership for its officers, but Rometty is a woman, and the club does not allow women to join.

"Well, as has been the case, whenever that question is asked, all issues of membership are now and have historically been subject to the private deliberation of members," Payne said. "That statement remains accurate; it remains my statement."


Read more here.

Oil Industry in Canada makes sure to gouge before Easter weekend

Canadians woke up to spiking gasoline costs this morning, with prices reaching 140.1 cents a litre in Toronto and 147.9 in Montreal.

That's about eight per cent higher than a year ago, even though crude oil prices are lower.

Crude for May delivery fell $1.05 to $102.95 US a barrel Wednesday morning on the New York Mercantile Exchange. A year ago, crude was trading at $104 a barrel.


Read more here.

Tuesday, April 03, 2012

Tim Tam Slammer

New York's Department of Education realizes how dumb they looked

One week after New York's Department of Education drew controversy with a request to ban 50 words and references from the city's standardized tests – including “dinosaur,” “birthday” and "religion" – the department announced Tuesday that it is abandoning the plan.

"After reconsidering our message to test publishers and the reaction from parents, we will revise our guidance and eliminate the list of words to avoid on tests,” New York Chief Academic Officer Shael Polakow-Suransky said in a statement.

“We will continue to advise companies to be sensitive to student backgrounds and avoid unnecessary distractions that could invalidate test scores and give an inaccurate assessment of how students are doing," the statement continued.


Read more here.

Harper and Co. compensate for small dicks with F-35's, damn the cost

The Department of National Defence did not run a fair competition to choose the F-35 fighter jet, is likely underestimating the total procurement cost, and made key decisions without required approvals or proper documentation, the auditor general concludes in his spring report released today.

Michael Ferguson's first report as auditor general is heavy-hitting, and highlights a long list of problems with how the decisions were made to buy 65 F-35 planes to replace the aging CF-18s. But it also raises questions about how much the planes will cost and what DND officials were telling Canadians, and their members of Parliament, about that pricetag.


Read more here.

I have seen the future of Crap, and its name is Rock of Ages

The US Supreme Court doesn't give a f*ck about you

Land of the Free...

The Supreme Court on Monday ruled by a 5-to-4 vote that officials may strip-search people arrested for any offense, however minor, before admitting them to jails even if the officials have no reason to suspect the presence of contraband.

Read more here.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Fragments



A selection of clips from CGI projects I've done.

Texas's Rangers Ballpark charges 26$ for 2 feet of cow lips

Everything is bigger in Texas and the Rangers' new Champion Dog is no exception. The two foot hot dog with one pound of meat is the latest addition to the Sportservice menu at Rangers Ballpark.

The whopping wiener is topped with chili, sautéed onions and shredded cheese. It may be a bit pricey at $26 but at two feet, you could feed the whole family. Heck you could feed an entire ball team.


Read more here.

Monday, March 19, 2012

One hateful and one cowardly politician









"The Nobel peace prize winner and president of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf"

The peace prize? What a joke...

Read more here.

Google's new country-specific suffixes breaks comments on blogs

Posting from Shakesville:

I have heard from many of you in the UK and Canada that you're having the same problem as readers in Australia, New Zealand, and India, now that Blogger is adding country-specific suffixes to the blog's URL.

This causes a compatibility failure with Disqus, our third-party commenting system. For comments to load correctly, one must be viewing the blog at blogspot.com.

To access comments, replace the '.ca' or '.co.uk' or your specific country's extension at the end of the URL with '/ncr' and press enter. (If that doesn't work, try blogspot.com/ncr.) If you then right-click on post titles from that page and select 'open link in new window,' the page in the new tab will allow you to view and post comments.


Read more here.

Friday, March 16, 2012

Oh good, more monopolies: Bell buys Astral Media

Not to worry, the consumer will enjoy increased service and savings....

=/

Bell Canada, the country's biggest telecommunications company, has agreed to buy Montreal-based Astral Media Inc. for $3.38 billion, giving the company more control over content for its cellphone, internet and land-line services.

Read more here.

Canadian police suggested we pay for their spying

One of the major unanswered questions about Bill C-30, the lawful access/online surveillance bill, is who will pay for the costs associated with responding to law enforcement demands for subscriber information ("look ups") and installation of surveillance equipment ("hook ups")...

...In 2009, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) proposed several possibilities, including the creation of new public safety tax that would appear on monthly customer bills. The CACP adopted the position that law enforcement should not have to pay for the associated costs claiming it "brings the administration of justice into disrepute." Instead, it proposed three alternatives:
• the telecom companies and Internet providers could pass along the costs in the form of a "public safety tariff" that would apply on monthly consumer bills
• the government could provide tax credits to telecom companies and Internet providers
• the government could establish a federal funding pool to cover the costs


Read more here.

There's something rotten in the state of Ottawa

An investigation by CBC News has turned up voters all over Canada who say the reason they got robocalls sending them to fictitious polling stations was that they'd revealed they would not vote Conservative.

Although the Conservative Party has denied any involvement in the calls, these new details suggest that the misleading calls relied on data gathered by, and carefully guarded by, the Conservative Party.

Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand announced Thursday that he now has "over 700 Canadians from across the country" who allege "specific circumstances" of fraudulent or improper calls. CBC News examined 31 ridings where such calls have been reported and found a pattern: those receiving those calls also had previous calls from the Conservative Party to find out which way they would vote.


Read more here.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett: Scumbag of the Day

'extremely rare' Anglo-Saxon Christian grave found

An Anglo-Saxon grave discovered near Cambridge could be one of the earliest examples of Christianity taking over from Paganism, archaeologists said.

The skeleton of a teenage girl was found buried on a wooden bed, with a gold and garnet cross on her chest.

The grave is thought to date from the mid-7th Century AD, when Christianity was beginning to be introduced to the Pagan Anglo-Saxon kings.


Read more here.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

British Home Secretary Theresa May puts out for the Americans

Home Secretary Theresa May has approved the extradition to the US of a student accused of copyright infringement.

The US authorities say 23-year-old Sheffield student Richard O'Dwyer's TVShack website hosted links to pirated films and television programmes.


Best bullshit:

A spokesman said Mrs May had "carefully considered all relevant matters" before signing the order.

Yes, she carefully read the "do it or else" letter she received...

Read more here.

Enemies of the Internet

Bahrain and Belarus have been added to Reporters Without Borders' annual list of "enemies of the internet".

They join 10 other nations on the campaign group's register of states that restrict net access, filter content and imprison bloggers.

India and Kazakhstan have also joined RWB's list of "countries under surveillance" because of concerns that they are becoming more repressive.

The body says 2011 was the "deadliest year" yet for so-called "netizens".

It says at least 199 arrests of internet campaigners were recorded over the year - a 31% increase on 2010.

It adds that China, followed by Vietnam and Iran currently hold the largest number of netizens in jail.


Read more here.

Evolution of the Moon

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Pushy Religion: Help Help, I'm being repressed

A former veteran systems administrator for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory claimed during opening arguments in a civil lawsuit Tuesday that he was wrongfully terminated for expressing his views on intelligent design.

David Coppedge, who spent 15 years on the Cassini Mission, one of NASA and JPL's most ambitious planetary space explorations, asserts that he was unlawfully fired under his employer's anti-harassment and ethics policies. JPL contends Coppedge created a hostile workplace while expressing his religious views with co-workers.

His suit also claims that supervisors wrongly admonished him for distributing DVD documentary films titled "Unlocking the Mystery of Life" and "The Privileged Planet," which present biological and cosmological explanations for intelligent design, according to the complaint.


Read more here.

Harvey Fierstein to become president

Voters in elections are more likely to pick candidates with a deeper voice, a new study has suggested.

Researchers at two US universities made recordings of both male and female speakers and then altered the pitch of their subjects' voices.

In the study, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, listeners "voted" more frequently for the "candidate" with the lower voice.


Read more here.

Mashable poised to become irrelivant

CNN is reported to be in talks to buy the technology news website Mashable.com.

Need I say more?

Read more here.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Psychotic murderers are loose in Iraq

A recent spate of killings and intimidation aimed at gay Iraqis and teenagers who dress in brash Western fashions is sending waves of fear through Iraq’s secular circles while casting doubt on the government’s will to protect some of its most vulnerable citizens.

Read more here.

Oooooo Doug Ford is *so* butch

Councillor Doug Ford, under fire at City Hall for his outspoken, bare-knuckle style, says being a politician is the only thing that stopped him from fighting a verbally abusive bicycle courier last week...

...The councillor, trying to drive into underground parking, got out because the courier was blocking him from pushing a button, he said.

“I told him if I wasn’t an elected official I’d kick his ass in about 10 seconds,” Doug Ford said. But the courier was still cursing him when he walked up from the garage, he said.


You go girl. Not to be outdone, Rob has this to add...

Mayor Rob Ford interjected: “There’d be one less courier because, trust me, Doug has been a kick boxer 10 years . . . I guarantee you that guy would have been history in about two seconds.”

This is our mayor folks...

Read more here.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Willy Wonka You Get Nothing Remix



by SrslySirius

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Microraptor Had Black, Iridescent Feathers


A four-winged, feathered dinosaur that was the size of a pigeon and lived approximately 130 million years ago had black feathers with an iridescent sheen, a team of US and Chinese researchers has revealed.

In their study, scientists from the Beijing Museum of Natural History, Peking University, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Akron, and the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) analyzed a specimen of the Microraptor, a non-avian dinosaur that in 2003 became the first four-winged dinosaur ever discovered.

According to a Thursday press release from the University of Texas, the researchers compared the patterns of pigment-containing organelles known as melanosomes from a Microraptor fossil with those found in the birds of today. The AMNH, in a separate statement, said that they compared the shape and density of the fossil against a melanosome database of modern birds at the Beijing Museum of Natural History.

Their research, the museum said, revealed that the Microraptor was “completely black with a glossy, weakly iridescent blue sheen” which university representatives compared to “the feathers of a crow.” The discovery makes the Microraptor the earliest known species to have iridescent color in its feathers.


Read more here.

Friday, March 09, 2012

Landmark Rush

Thursday, March 08, 2012

Warner Bros. and your "Disc-to-Digital" idea: F*ck you

The entertainment industry and their frustration with not making a dollar off every aspect of home entertainment takes a new twist:

...the first phase in this process is to let DVD owners bring their DVDs to a store that will handle the digital conversion. Tsujihara described this process as allowing consumers to convert their libraries “easily, safely and at reasonable prices.”

You did read that last paragraph correctly. The head of Warner Home Entertainment Group thinks that an easy, safe way to convert movies you already own on DVD to other digital formats is to take your DVDs, find a store that will perform this service, drive to that store, find the clerk who knows how to perform the service, hope that the “DVD conversion machine” is not broken, stand there like a chump while the clerk “safely” converts your movie to a digital file that may only play on studio-approved devices, drive home, and hope everything worked out. Oh, and the good news is that you would only need to pay a reasonable (per-DVD?) price for this pleasure.


Read more here.

The Music Industry's latest bit to rule the Internet in Canada

When Bill C-32 was first introduced, Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore famously characterized opponents as radical extremists. As the hearing on the bill nears its conclusion, it has become apparent that the only radical extremism are music industry proposals that are so over-the-top that they have managed to make the digital lock rules look tame by comparison (which may have been the intent). For Canadian concerned with copyright and the Internet, this really is the final call as the bill will go to clause-by-clause review next week.

Read more here.

Wednesday, March 07, 2012

Bill Maher and Andrew Sullivan climb into bed together with Rush Limbaugh

Bill Maher✔
@billmaher

Hate to defend #RushLimbaugh but he apologized, liberals looking bad not accepting. Also hate intimidation by sponsor pullout


and Mr. Sullivan: "It's a free country, but I get queasy with boycotts to target disgusting but free speech."

Wisconsin lawmakers: Scumbags of the Day

In the face of an expected recall election targeting Gov. Scott Walker and four Republican state senators, Wisconsin lawmakers were to consider a proposal Tuesday that would amend the state constitution to make it more difficult to toss an official from office.

The measure would only allow officeholders to be recalled if they have been charged with a serious crime or if there is a finding of probable cause that they violated the state code of ethics.

Under current law, no grounds are needed to seek a recall.


Read more here.

Clueless white people sing an ode to Santorum



It is not beyond the realm of possibility that these dimwits push Santorum to the nomination.

Tuesday, March 06, 2012

The British Olympic Association (BOA) is worried about coodies

British athletes have been warned against shaking hands with rivals and dignitaries at the London Olympics.

The British Olympic Association (BOA) is concerned about illness damaging the host nation's chances of success.

Asked if handshakes should be avoided, BOA chief medical officer Ian McCurdie said: "I think, within reason, yes.

"The greatest threat to performance is illness and possibly injury. We are talking about minimising risk of illness. It is all about hand hygiene."


Read more here.

Monday, March 05, 2012

Steve Bridges Impersonating President Bush



Steve Bridges, an actor best known for impersonating then-President George W. Bush at the 2006 White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, died last week at the age of 48, his manager said Sunday.

Read more here.

"8": A Play about the Fight for Marriage Equality



If nothing else, what a cast.

The Story of Keep Calm and Carry On

Friday, March 02, 2012

Harper and Co. ok with the use of torture..again

There are some very sick, cowardly fucks in charge of Canada right now.

The federal government has given Canada's spy service the go-ahead to provide information to foreign agencies even when there is a "substantial risk" it will lead to torture, a newly released document shows.

Read more here.

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Davy Jones and Frank Zappa

"This Week in Trek" featured video



The podcast "This Week in Trek" featured on of my videos this week. They slightly misunderstood its intent, but hey, it was featured.

Uganda continues to be a vile pocket of hatred

Like the whine of a spoiled child, with more than a touch of psychotic.

At first, it was a fiery contempt for homosexuality that led a Ugandan lawmaker to introduce a bill in 2009 that carried the death penalty for a “serial offender” of the “offense of homosexuality.”

The bill’s failure amid a blitz of international criticism was viewed by many as evidence of power politics, a poor nation bending to the will of rich nations that feed it hundreds of millions of dollars in aid.

But this time around — the bill was reintroduced this month — it is a bitter and broad-based contempt for Western diplomacy that is also fueling its resurrection.

“If there was any condition to force the Western world to stop giving us money,” said David Bahati, the bill’s author, “I would like that.”


Read more here.

Davy Jones RIP

sniffle

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Stone Age hunters from Europe may have discovered America

New archaeological evidence suggests that America was first discovered by Stone Age people from Europe – 10,000 years before the Siberian-originating ancestors of the American Indians set foot in the New World.

A remarkable series of several dozen European-style stone tools, dating back between 19,000 and 26,000 years, have been discovered at six locations along the US east coast. Three of the sites are on the Delmarva Peninsular in Maryland, discovered by archaeologist Dr Darrin Lowery of the University of Delaware. One is in Pennsylvania and another in Virginia. A sixth was discovered by scallop-dredging fishermen on the seabed 60 miles from the Virginian coast on what, in prehistoric times, would have been dry land.


Read more here.

Twitter becomes marketer's pimp

Companies are now able to search and analyse up to two years of Twitter updates for market research purposes.

Firms can search tweets back to January 2010 in order to plan marketing campaigns, target influential users or even try to predict certain events.

Until today, only the previous 30 days of tweets were available for companies to search. Regular users can access posts from the past seven days.


Read more here.

Monday, February 27, 2012

Liberal party staff member behind "Vikileaks" deserves a medal

A Liberal party staff member was behind the "Vikileaks" Twitter campaign that took aim at Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, the House of Commons was told Monday.

Interim Liberal leader Bob Rae said he was advised Sunday that a member of the Liberal party research bureau used a House of Commons computer to set up the account that was used to publish details of Toews's divorce two weeks ago.

Rae said he spoke with the staff member Monday morning. The person offered his resignation and it was accepted, Rae said, while not naming the staff member.


Read more here.

Internet trolls Rumblefish's copyright claim is for the birds

Never underestimate the scumminess of the lawyer class.

Rumblefish, a company notorious for sending copyright takedown notices to YouTube alleging copyright violations in videos' soundtracks, demanded removal of a video whose audio consists entirely of ambient birdsong recorded during a walk in the woods. When the video's creator objected, Rumblefish repeated its accusation, and Google added the notation "These content owners have reviewed your video and confirmed their claims to some or all of its content: Entity: rumblefish Content Type: Sound Recording."

Read more here.

Arrogant banker to server: "Get a real job"

An arrogant banker has done all in his power to enforce his position as the ‘one per cent,’ all the while reminding everyone else they’re not.

After dining on a meal at a boutique Newport Beach, California restaurant, the banker left only $1.33 on a $133.54 tab.

Adding insult to injury, he gave the server, Breanna, another tip: ‘Get a real job.’


Read more here.

Harper and Co. accused of f*cking with the last election

Harper and Co. acting in a dishonest way?

No! Knock me over with a feather...

More candidates are coming forward with reports of calls that tried to send voters to the wrong polling stations last election day.

The House of Commons returns Monday from a week-long break as the furor grows over harassing and fraudulent calls on May 2, 2011.

Liberal and NDP campaigns in 36 ridings say they were hit with the calls. One Conservative, MP Dean Del Mastro, said Saturday that his supporters also got calls.

Former Liberal MP Anthony Rota, who lost his bid for a fourth term in Nipissing-Timiskaming, Ont., by 18 votes, says the voter suppression tactics could have cost him the election.

"What I was hearing was, 'Elections Canada told us to go to the wrong poll.' Or they were sending them across town to vote in another location," he told CBC's Julie Van Dusen.


Best bullshit:

Defence Minister Peter MacKay pointed to Sona's resignation and told CBC News that the party doesn't need to investigate any further.

"I think they've identified the individual that was involved in this, and this is certainly not something our party condones," he said.


Translation: Ignore the Man behind the curtain...

Read more here.

Sacha Baron Cohen continues to be a tremendous a$$hole

From the moron who inflicted Borat on the world...

He promised controversy at this year’s Oscars and Sacha Baron Cohen certainly didn’t disappoint, providing one of the night’s greatest moments a full hour before the show even started.

Sporting full faux strongman regalia in a publicity stunt for his new film, “The Dictator” — the British comic actor created a huge red carpet stir after dumping what he jokingly called the ashes of late North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il from an urn onto TV presenter Ryan Seacrest.


Read more here.

Thunderf00t: Youtube starts banning 'religiously offensive' videos



Below is one of the banned videos. You decide..

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Virginia's Dave Albo: State rape is just so damn funny

Texas GOP Senate debate: I hate gay people the most. No I do! No, I do!!

Harvey Weinstein deals with bullies of his own

There's more to this than some harsh language. Someone doesn't want kids to be free of bullying it seems.

Movie mogul Harvey Weinstein has threatened to pull out of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) over a film rating given to the documentary Bully.

The R rating means children under the age of 17 will not be able to watch the film, about bullying in US schools, without a parent present.

In a statement, Weinstein called the rating decision "a bridge too far".


Read more here.

Friday, February 24, 2012

Indiana Rep. Bob Morris: The world knows what an idiot I am? Boy, am I sorry

After reflecting on the letter I wrote on February 18, 2012 to my fellow Indiana Republican Representatives, I realize now that my words were emotional, reactionary, and inflammatory. For that I sincerely apologize. I apologize to the Girl Scouts of Indiana and all of the girls and parents of Indiana who are participating in and running their Girl Scout organizations in a way that promotes leadership, community involvement and family values. I certainly should not have painted the entire Girl Scouts organization with such a wide brush.

But now the world knows, oppsie!

As I have mentioned, the letter was intended for only my colleagues in the Statehouse. That is not an excuse for the breadth of my letter – rather, it is the reason for the lack of research and evidence it contained.

If you read his "apology", he's not really sorry, he just regrets the world now knows what a fool he is.

Read more here.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Stunningly ignorant teen age girls views on race



They've since been booted from their high school...

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Indiana Rep. Bob Morris drags his family into his pit of idiocy

Undaunted by ridicule from the leader of his own party, an Indiana lawmaker is standing by his allegations that the Girl Scouts is a radical organization that promotes abortions and homosexuality.

The scouts and Planned Parenthood have dismissed Rep. Bob Morris' comments as absurd, as did Republican House Speaker Brian Bosma. But Morris, a Republican, told The Associated Press his critics need to do more research into the 100-year-old scouting organization.

"My family and I took a view and we're sticking by it," Morris said Tuesday, adding that his daughters were joining an alternative group for young girls run by conservative Christians. "My girls are no longer Girl Scouts. They're now going to join American Heritage Girls."


Fuckwit. I wonder if he's even dimly aware he's the laughing stock of the Internet.

...probably not.

Read more here.

EU court to rule on ACTA

The European Union's highest court has been asked to rule on the legality of a controversial anti-piracy agreement.

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (Acta) has been criticised by rights campaigners who argue it could stifle free expression on the internet.

EU trade head Karel De Gucht said the court will be asked to clarify whether the treaty complied with "the EU's fundamental rights and freedoms".

The agreement has so far been signed by 22 EU member states.

300m-year-old forest preserved in ash

Researchers have unearthed a forest in northern China preserved under a layer of ash deposited 300 million years ago.

Preservation of the forest, just west of the Inner Mongolian district of Wuda, has been likened to that of the Italian city of Pompeii.

The researchers were able to "reconstruct" nearly 1,000 sq m of the forest's trees and plant distributions.


Read more here.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Vic Toews gets the attention of Anonymous

Indiana Rep. Bob Morris: Idiot of the Day

Another metal giant speaks up.

A lawmaker has sent a letter to fellow Republican members of the Indiana House saying he will not support a resolution celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts because he believes it is a “radicalized organization” that supports abortion and promotes homosexuality.

In a letter obtained by The Journal-Gazette of Fort Wayne on Monday, Rep. Bob Morris of Fort Wayne said he did some research on the Internet and found allegations that the Girl Scouts are a tactical arm of Planned Parenthood, allow transgender females to join and encourage sex.

“After talking to some well-informed constituents, I did a small amount of web-based research*, and what I found is disturbing,” Morris wrote in his letter, which also accused the group of promoting “homosexual lifestyles.”


*Conservapedia...

Read more here.

Ancient plants back to life after 30,000 frozen years

Scientists in Russia have grown plants from fruit stored away in permafrost by squirrels over 30,000 years ago.

The fruit was found in the banks of the Kolyma River in Siberia, a top site for people looking for mammoth bones.

The Institute of Cell Biophysics team raised plants of Silene stenophylla - of the campion family - from the fruit.


Read more here.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Uh oh. Iran warships enter Mediterranean

Iranian warships have entered the Mediterranean Sea for only the second time since the 1979 revolution.

The destroyer Shahid Qandi and its supply vessel Kharg have passed through the Suez Canal but their destination remains unclear.

Navy chief Admiral Habibollah Sayari told the Irna agency the mission was a show of might and a "message of peace".


Read more here.

Google caught with its hand in the cookie jar

Google has been accused of bypassing the privacy settings of users of the Safari web-browser.

The Wall Street Journal said Google and other companies had worked around privacy settings designed to restrict cookies.

Cookies are small text files stored by browsers which can record information about online activity, and help some online services work.

However Google says the story "mischaracterises" what happened.


Yeah, ok..

"We didn't anticipate that this would happen, and we have now started removing these advertising cookies from Safari browsers. It's important to stress that, just as on other browsers, these advertising cookies do not collect personal information."

The Wall Street Journal reported that Google "disabled the code after being contacted by the paper".


Read more here.

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews and the Conservative Bullsh*t of the Day

He's shocked, shocked!

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews says he is surprised to learn that a section of the government's online surveillance bill provides for "exceptional circumstances" under which "any police officer" can request customer information from a telecommunications service provider.

In an interview airing Saturday on CBC Radio's The House, Toews said his understanding of the bill is that police can only request information from the ISPs where they are conducting "a specific criminal investigation."

But Section 17 of the 'Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act' outlines "exceptional circumstances" under which "any police officer" can ask an ISP to turn over personal client information.

"I'd certainly like to see an explanation of that," Toews told host Evan Solomon after a week of public backlash against Bill C-30, which would require internet service providers to turn over client information without a warrant.

"This is the first time that I'm hearing this somehow extends ordinary police emergency powers [to telecommunications]. In my opinion, it doesn't. And it shouldn't."


RRRRight...

Translation: the public has read the bill? Damn, damn, damn!

Read more here.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews doesn't like personal information taken about him without a warrent

To put it politely Mr. Toews, you're a fucking hypocrite.

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews will request a parliamentary investigation into a Twitter account that's being used to post his personal information and is linked to an IP address in the House of Commons.

In an interview with Evan Solomon, host of CBC Radio's The House, to air Saturday, Toews says he's going to send a letter to Commons Speaker Andrew Scheer to request an investigation.

The user account on the social networking site Twitter that's being used to post personal information on Toews has been linked to an IP address on Parliament Hill, the Ottawa Citizen reported Thursday night.

An IP address is a unique number that identifies computers in a network, which suggests that someone who works on Parliament Hill may be posting Toews's personal information online.


Read more here.

Why is the man loathed so? See below for possible reasons:

Online surveillance bill opens door for Big Brother
Section 34 gives Orwellian powers to government-appointed 'inspectors'


Read more here.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie set to delight bigots across his state

Legislators in the US state of New Jersey have passed a bill legalising same-sex marriage, but Governor Chris Christie has vowed to veto the measure.

The state's Assembly approved the bill 42-33, after the Senate passed the bill on Monday.

Mr Christie and most state Republicans say they want gay marriage put to a popular vote.


Read more here.

Harper and Co.: Science? We don't need no stinkin' science

Note to the outside world: we are not being governed by the brightest of lights here. Sad but true.

The Canadian government has been accused of "muzzling" its scientists.

Speakers at a major science meeting being held in Canada said communication of vital research on health and environment issues is being suppressed.

But one Canadian government department approached by the BBC said it held the communication of science as a priority.

Prof Thomas Pedersen, a senior scientist at the University of Victoria, said he believed there was a political motive in some cases.

"The Prime Minister (Stephen Harper) is keen to keep control of the message, I think to ensure that the government won't be embarrassed by scientific findings of its scientists that run counter to sound environmental stewardship," he said.

I suspect the federal government would prefer that its scientists don't discuss research that points out just how serious the climate change challenge is."”

The Canadian government recently withdrew from the Kyoto protocol to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.


Read more here.

Politico's Donovan Slack: Idiot of the Day

It's very clear what side President Obama is on here in Wisconsin.

Behind the stage where he will speak today are two flags: an American one, as usual, and right alongside it -- and a flag for the local union, Wisconsin 1848.


Except the flag was the flag of Wisconsin.

Politico pulled the story, but thru the magic of web cache: voila!

Read more here.

Harper and Co. do something right

The federal government is expected to take steps today to close a legal loophole that could have undermined thousands of gay marriages around the world.

The governing Conservatives are expected to detail changes to the Civil Marriage Act to ensure the marriages are recognized.


Read more here.

Someone in Parliament doesn't like Vic Toews

Whoever you are, welcome to the club.

Mr Toews should welcome such openness with his personal information. He seems to be ok that ours is open to such scrutiny.

A user account on the social networking site Twitter that's being used to post personal information on Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has been linked to an IP address on Parliament Hill.

The anonymous account uses an IP address that originates within the House of Commons, the Ottawa Citizen reported Friday.

An IP address is a unique number that identifies computers in a network, which suggests that someone who works on Parliament Hill may be posting Toews's personal information online.

The Twitter feed was set up on Feb. 14 and has already garnered more than 8,000 followers.


Read more here.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Conservative MP Tom Lukiwski and Conservative Bullsh*t of the Day

Worried about the optics of wide-angle shots of empty seats in the House of Commons, a Conservative MP suggested Tuesday that broadcasting rules be changed on Fridays - at least - to focus only on the person speaking, to make for better television. Tom Lukiwski said he has heard concerns from colleagues that the empty seats picked up on camera make politicians look bad. "That kind of concerns a lot of members that it frankly doesn't look good for Parliament," he said. Friday is usually a light day in the House, as many MPs vacate Ottawa to return to their constituencies. A House of Commons committee reviewing the broadcasting rules this week heard from Parliament's chief informa-tion officer, who said wide-angle shots have been permitted since 1992 to provide some context for viewers at home. "You are on camera," Louis Bard told the committee. "If I have to focus on the chair and the member behind is sleeping, there's not much I can do."

The Story of Doctor Who

Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore defends the "Don't F*ck with our Money" copyright bill

Canada’s copyright legislation is taking a very different path from controversial U.S. legislation that drew widespread protests, Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore said Wednesday.

In an interview with CBC News the week a special committee set up its schedule for examining the bill, Moore said the government has rejected the aggressive approach the American government tried to take with the Stop Online Piracy Act.

Observers have said they’re not opposed to much of bill C-11, the act to amend the copyright act, but they fear lobbying could convince the Canadian government to take a more aggressive approach.


Read more here.

Canadian Minister of Public Safety Vic Toews: Vic wants to know about you. Let's get to know about Vic.

...an anonymous party has created a Vikileaks Twitter account that is publishing embarrassing personal details culled from affidavits filed in Mr Toews's divorce, saying, "Vic wants to know about you. Let's get to know about Vic."

Read more here.

Business Insider's Matt Rosoff: Idiot of the Day

Via Boing Boing:

If you want to understand why Silicon Valley startups keep tripping into privacy-related PR disasters, you could not do better than reading this attack on online privacy from Silicon Alley Insider editor Matt Rosoff.

"Each time [a data breach] happens, bloggers and privacy zealots scream and yell and pull their hair out. In some cases, the companies are forced to apologize and cancel the offending feature. Sometimes, a few politicians grandstand so they can look like they're solving real problems and maybe the government gets involved and forces the companies to change a little bit.

But these flaps had exactly zero effect on Facebook's and Google's business. No effect. None. Nada. User growth, engagement, revenue -- all kept going up without a blip. Normal people don't care."

By "normal" people, Rosoff means people like him, who must endure rather than hope for obscurity. But the assumptions clouding his rather privileged viewpoint expose themselves at once, as he embarks upon a classical dialogue between himself and a straw-man interlocutor angry at a hypothetical data breach.


Read more here.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Russian wet dream: Putin arrested



It's not real, but I'll bet many in Russia wish it was.

Newark, N.J. Mayor Cory Booker: Voting on civil rights is a bad idea



Bigots just love voting on the rights of others....oh, except when it affects them.

Harper and Co.: Be afraid

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

World does nothing as Uganda prepares to become the Nazis of Africa

Kinda helps in understanding the 1930's, no?

"Who cares? They're not coming for me..."

Uganda’s proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill has been re-introduced into Parliament and is currently in the hands of the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee. As the Committee considers what to do with the bill, there has been considerable confusion over what would happen if the bill were to become law. Most of the attention has focused on the bill’s death penalty provision, but even if it were removed, the bill’s other seventeen clauses would still represent a barbaric regression for Uganda’s human rights record. In this series, we will examine the original text of bill’s eighteen clauses to uncover exactly what it includes in its present form.

Read more here.

Judge Napolitano: How to get fired from Fox News

Canada's public safety minister Vic Toews: Idiot of the Day

They are using the tired old, yet oh so successful "child porn" defence of a very bad bill.

Critics of a bill that would give law enforcement new powers to access Canadians' electronic communications are aligning themselves with child pornographers, Canada's public safety minister says.

"He can either stand with us or with the child pornographers," Vic Toews said of Liberal public safety critic Francis Scarpaleggia during question period on Monday, after Scarpaleggia asked about a bill expected to be tabled Tuesday.


Translation: Let us pass this very bad bill that will strip Canadians of even more rights and freedoms, or you're into kiddie porn.

Harper and Co.: Simple minded and hoping we all are too. As voters seem to think giving these reactionary thugs a majority was a good idea, perhaps we are...

Read more here.

Michael Geist discusses the bill here

Whitney Houston album prices rise after her death

It's easy to get so emotional about a singer after they've passed prematurely, as Whitney Houston did Saturday at the age of 48. But fans seeking to buy her digital albums in remembrance weren't too happy at sudden price hikes so soon after her death.

The Brits picked up on it quickly, with London-based Next Web writer Matt Brian and The Guardian's Josh Halliday both finding the price increases, which raised Houston's "The Ultimate Collection" 2007 album from £5 (about $7.89) to £8 (about $12.63). In the United States, the cost is even steeper: $15 for the "Greatest Hits" collection at both Amazon (mp3 store) and iTunes.

Halliday found out that Sony Music increased the price of "The Ultimate Collection" at about 4 a.m. Sunday, not even 12 hours after news broke of Houston's death. Fans were quick to point fingers at Apple for the anti-sale, but it turned out that when Sony bumped up the wholesale price of "The Ultimate Collection," iTunes and other retailers automatically upped their pricing.


Read more here.

Monday, February 13, 2012

The Manitoba government are cold hearted bastards

The Manitoba government is making a court bid Monday to quash a lawsuit by the family of Brian Sinclair, a homeless man who died after waiting 34 hours in a hospital emergency room in 2008.

Lawyers for the province and the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (WHRA) will ask a Court of Queen's Bench judge on Monday to dismiss the majority of the civil suit, which was filed by the Brian Sinclair Estate and Family in September 2010.

The lawsuit seeks $1.6 million and names 18 defendants, including several medical staff, the WRHA and the Manitoba government.


Read more here.

Rick Santorum - Gifts From God

Malaysia cowardly defends deporting Saudi journalist for tweet

The Malaysian government has defended its deportation of a Saudi journalist accused of insulting the Prophet Muhammad in a tweet

Home Minister Hishamuddin Hussein said the deportation to Saudi Arabia was legal and that Malaysia cannot be seen as a safe haven.

Hamza Kashgari, 23, was sent back to Saudi Arabia on Sunday.

Mr Kashgari's controversial tweet last week sparked more than 30,000 responses and several death threats.

Insulting the prophet is considered blasphemous in Islam and can be punishable by death in Saudi Arabia.


Read more here.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Ontario PC's just love racist, homophobic Tim Hudak

Well, there's no accounting for taste.

Tim Hudak has retained his leadership of Ontario's Progressive Conservatives.

The Opposition chief survived a leadership review by delegates gathered at the Tory convention in Niagara Falls, receiving 78.7 per cent support of the 1,241 ballots cast. Most observers had expected the party would give the rookie leader a second chance, given the possibility of a snap election in a minority legislature.


Read more here.

Thousands protest ACTA in Europe

Another sleazy attempt by governments and corporations to control the Internet. They were hoping no one would notice...

Thousands of people have taken part in co-ordinated protests across Europe in opposition to a controversial anti-piracy agreement.

Significant marches were held in Germany, Poland and the Netherlands against the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (Acta).

Around 200 protesters gathered in central London outside the offices of several major rights holders.

Demonstrators argued that Acta will limit freedom of speech online.


Read more here.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Path and Hipster caught f*cking with your privacy

The makers of two iPhone apps have apologised after it emerged they had uploaded users address-book information without explicit permission.

Path and Hipster both sent contact data to company servers in order to help users find friends who were also using the apps.

Both companies said they had now updated their apps to fix the problem.


Ha, problem. Sounds more like an intentionally build in feature.

Best bullshit:

"We made a mistake," Path chief executive David Morin said in a blog post.

Translation: Damn, we got caught.

Read more here.

Music Labels’ Joint Venture, VEVO, Shows Pirated NFL Game At Sundance

Over the last decade the major music labels — and their trade organization, the Recording Industry Association of America — have established a repeated pattern of attacking consumers in the name of squelching illegal file-sharing. Piracy, they claim, has been the industry’s undoing, accounting for an over 50% drop in sales since 1999 (the industry likes to discount the impact of legal per-song music downloads via services like iTunes, and the myriad other changes facilitated by the rise of high-speed Internet connections).

Their efforts to combat piracy are often draconian: threatening tens of thousands of people with lawsuits claiming obscenely high damages; attempting to coordinate their threats with consumers’ ISPs; and, most recently, supporting legislation like SOPA and PIPA that would undermine the fabric of the Internet. Hell, Universal once pulled down a 30 second YouTube video of a dancing baby because the baby had the audacity to dance to a Prince song.

Which is why my jaw dropped when I saw that VEVO, a property jointly owned by some of the biggest record labels in the world, was showing a pirated stream of an ESPN football game at its Sundance PowerStation venue last month — on no fewer than two televisions, and a pair of laptops


Read more here.

Washington State Representative Maureen Walsh: Hero of the Day

Thursday, February 09, 2012

NYC police murder teenager over small amount of pot

This madness has got to stop.

Ramarley Graham, an 18-year-old teenager, was killed in his home on East 229th Street in the Bronx last week by plainclothes narcotics cops. Graham, who was unarmed, was shot in the chest as he was trying to flush a small amount of weed down the toilet, as his terrified grandmother and 6-year-old brother watched from a few feet away.

Read more here.

Public Safety Minister Vic Towes: F*ck you and all you stand for

Are Canadians “OK” with torture? Our government is, apparently. In a 2010 letter that has only just come to light, Public Safety Minister Vic Towes decreed that the government would accept intelligence that might be derived from torture by third parties. The Minister cautions that “Canada does not condone torture,” which is a bit like saying that one is opposed to shoplifting on principle … but, should a friend steal something of particular interest, well that’s another story.

Read more here.

Awww those poor cashed strapped Wall Street bankers

...Morgan Stanley’s recent dictum capping cash bonuses at $125,000. In response to that, Sherman quotes an unnamed banker:

"After tax, that’s like, what, $75,000?" an investment banker at a rival firm said as he contemplated Morgan Stanley’s decision. He ran the numbers, modeling the implications. "I’m not married and I take the subway and I watch what I spend very carefully. But my girlfriend likes to eat good food. It all adds up really quick. A taxi here, another taxi there. I just bought an apartment, so now I have a big old mortgage bill."


My heart bleeds

Read more here.

World's Oldest Work Of Art Found...maybe

A recently discovered painting in Spanish caves in Costa Del Sol was found by scientists to be approximately 42,000 years old, making it the oldest artwork ever. What is more, this artwork is also the first known painting by Neanderthals, not homo sapiens. Professor Jose Luis Sanchidrian called it an "academic bombshell" and its effects will reverberate through the field of Art History for years to come.

Doubts are being raised as to authenticity of said art works...

Read more here.

Toronto City council kiss Rob Ford's ass

That could take some time...

City council has excused Mayor Rob Ford after the city’s integrity commissioner found he improperly solicited charitable donations from lobbyists for his football foundation.

In August 2010, council accepted the finding of integrity commissioner Janet Leiper and directed the mayor to reimburse the donors.

Because he hadn’t done so, the issue returned to council but this time, council voted 22-12 to rescind its earlier decision and take no action against the mayor.

The move indicates there are no consequences if a member of city council runs afoul of their code of conduct, said Councillor Paula Fletcher, an opponent of the mayor.


Read more here.

Countering the recording industry written "Bill C-11 Is No SOPA" bullsh*t

Michael Geitst to the rescue as always:

Barry Sookman, lawyer and registered lobbyist for the Canadian Recording Industry Association (now Music Canada), the Motion Pictures Association - Canada, and Canadian Publishers Council, has an op-ed in the National Post claiming that concerns that proposed amendments to Bill C-11 could result in SOPA-style rules in Canada are the stuff of wild claims and hysteria.

The short response is that Sookman's column - along with his clients - downplay the dramatic impact of their proposed amendments. Their proposed amendments to C-11 would radically alter the bill by constraining consumer provisions, heaping greater liability risk on Internet companies, and introducing website blocking and Internet termination to Canada. Several of these provisions are very similar in approach to SOPA in the U.S. and the comparison is both apt and accurate. Moreover, the column leaves the false impression that Bill C-11's digital lock rules are standard when they are widely opposed by numerous stakeholders that Sookman would not dare to call anti-copyright.

There is much more to take issue with in the column and I've done so in paragraph-by-paragraph format below. Sookman's column is posted in italics and my response immediately follows:


Read more here.

Tuesday, February 07, 2012

A federal appeals court rules against the Prop 8 supporting bigots of California

A little kick in the teeth of the bigots behind the evil Prop 8...

A federal appeals court ruled against California's voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage Tuesday, arguing the ban unconstitutionally singles out gays and lesbians for discrimination.

In a split decision, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found the state's Proposition 8 "works a meaningful harm to gays and lesbians" by denying their right to civil marriage in violation of the 14th Amendment.


If you think voting on the civil rights of your fellow citizens is aok, you are one sick fuck.

Read more here.

Pete Hoekstra love you long time



No racism here...

Saturday, February 04, 2012

Russia and China act like swine over Syria

An Arab and Western-backed resolution condemning the violent crackdown in Syria has been vetoed at the UN Security Council by Russia and China.

They rejected the draft as "unbalanced" hours after activists accused troops of killing at least 55 people at Homs.

Western countries said the move would encourage Syria's government to continue its violent clampdown.

A BBC correspondent who entered Homs with rebels after the vote says gun and shell fire can be heard in the city.


Read more here.

The Island of Misnamed Toys

American arrogance: Mitt Romney

Pink Ribbons, Inc.

Keystone FBI Cops hacked by Anonymous



As FBI and Scotland Yard investigators recently plotted out a strategy for tracking suspects linked to Anonymous, little did they know that members of the group were eavesdropping on their conference call and recording their plans.

The online vigilante group has released a 17-minute clip of a Jan. 17 conference call between investigators discussing evidence gathered against members of the group as well as upcoming plans for arrests. The group also released an e-mail sent out by an FBI agent to law enforcement agents around the world with a phone number and password for accessing the conference call.

The FBI has confirmed to the Associated Press that the recording is authentic.


Read more here.

Friday, February 03, 2012

NEWS FLASH: Rick Santorum is a heartless bastard

Can't pay? Fuck off and die.

"People have no problem going out and buying an iPad for $900. But paying $200 for a drug they have a problem with -- that keeps you alive. Why? Because you've been conditioned in thinking health care is something you should get and not have to pay for. Drug companies, health care companies need to have a profitability, because if they don't, then how are we going to regulate costs? We're going to ration care," said Santorum. "And you may be someone who gets that care, but this little boy, because of his condition, or because of his life expectancy may not. Why? Because it's not cost effective." While some of in the audience applauded Santorum's tough stance against government involvement in drug prices, others protested. The mother of the child yelled out that she was going bankrupt just to pay for her child to keep breathing. It wasn't clear what the boy's condition was. "I hear these and sympathize with these very passionate cases," Santorum responded to the mother. "Look, I want your son and everybody to have the opportunity to stay alive on much-needed drugs. But the bottom line is, we have companies with the incentive to make those drugs. And if they don't have the incentive to make those drugs, your son won't be alive and lots of other people in this country won't be alive. We either believe in markets or we don't."

Read more here.

Trailer for "The Phantom Menace" in 3D manages to make the film seen even worse



This may be the most annoying thing ever created.

As a commenter said:

videovitch
2 February 2012 3:56PM
There are no words in the English language that adequately express the extent to which George Lucas needs to fuck the fuck off.

Thursday, February 02, 2012

Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu elicites other sick f*cks to back him up

Underneath any rock you find...

Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu says he's received hundreds of messages of support since he made controversial comments Wednesday about facilitating the suicide of convicted murderers.

The Conservative senator sparked the controversy when he was asked his opinion on the death penalty and he replied that he is against it, but not opposed to ropes being left in the cells of serial killers who have no chance of rehabilitation. Boisvenu said they have the right to take their own lives.

Later in the day he issued a statement saying his comment was inappropriate and he wished to withdraw it. He apologized if he offended anyone that has been affected by suicide.

Boisvenu now says he has received 500 to 600 messages of support and that he simply expressed an opinion that many Canadians hold.


Read more here.

Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu: Idiot of the Day

Charming. But his statement will delight our nuckle dragging Conservatives.

Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu has backtracked from controversial comments he made Wednesday about having ropes in the jail cells of convicted killers that prompted an accusation that the Quebec senator broke the law.

His office issued a statement Wednesday afternoon that said a comment he made earlier in the day to reporters was "inappropriate" and that he regrets not clarifying his views on repeat criminals.


Read more here.

Wednesday, February 01, 2012

Quebec bloggers disent non to Huffington Post sweatshop

Dear Arianna and Co. have questionable motives, and here's another example...

A week before launch, Huffington Post Quebec has lost at least nine high-profile contributors — intellectuals, leftist activists and politicians — who'd agreed to blog but have now pulled out over concerns they'd be writing for free.

Amir Khadir, Steven Guilbault, Normand Baillargeon, Francoise David, Evelyne de la Cheneliere, Jean Barbe, Philippe Couillard, Bernard Drainville and Pierre Curzi say they won't blog for the new online news site.


Read more here.

The Huffington Post is still redirecting traffic to the Canadian version 1 time in 10, to drum up bogus numbers.

A swarm of The Quadrotors of Death



Run!

US military makes self steering bullet

Sick fucks

A self-guiding bullet that can steer itself towards its target is being developed for use by the US military.

The bullet uses tiny fins to correct the course of its flight allowing it to hit laser-illuminated targets.

It is designed to be capable of hitting objects at distances of about 2km (1.24 miles). Work on a prototype suggests that accuracy is best at longer ranges.

A think tank says the tech is well-suited to snipers, but worries about it being marketed to the public.


I'm sure orders for them are already pouring in...

Read more here.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie: Scumbag of the Day

The verbal feud over gay marriage in New Jersey got more personal Monday with Gov. Chris Christie firing a slang term at a lawmaker, and a hero of the Civil Rights movement chastising the governor for a separate remark.

Christie called openly gay Assemblyman Reed Gusciora “numb nuts” during a Statehouse news conference — his response to the lawmaker comparing him to former segregationist governors in the South.


Voting others civil rights, the out for all bigots...

“I think people would have been happy to have a referendum on civil rights, rather than fighting and dying in the streets in the South,” Christie said after an event in Central Jersey.

Read more here.

Monday, January 30, 2012

US Attorney General's strong arming of MegaUpload: Another reason the cloud is a bad idea

An attorney for MegaUpload -- which was shut down by the US government earlier this month, and whose assets have been frozen, following copyright complaints from the entertainment industry -- says that the US Attorney General is planning to destroy all its user data within a week. With its assets frozen, MegaUpload can no longer pay to host its data with its service provider, and so the AG will cooperate with the erasure of tens of millions of users' personal files -- backups, family photos, personal videos, financial records, and even movies and music in production by independent artists who used MegaUpload as a file-locker while their produced their work. TorrentFreak characterizes this as the destruction of evidence, and I think that's right.

Read more here.

Toronto and yet more bullsh*t condo marketing

195 units ranging from 380-square-foot studios ($238,000) to 1,230-square-foot three-bedroom suites ($724,000).

So affordable..

A man signed a waver, and finds his image used in a 23 ft mural promoting yet another condo project..

The closest I’ll ever get to one of these condos is when I tiptoe into the presentation centre. I am a lifelong renter. I have no credit history. My mortgage application would make even the kindliest banker bust a gut. This isn’t a complaint. I’ve made a conscious choice to live my life a certain way, to eschew money for time — time to write, to stroll, to enjoy an afternoon espresso — and now my lifestyle is being used to sell a condo that I could never afford — because of my lifestyle.

Read more here.

US Rep. Jane Harman: Idiot of the Day



She outraged about being wired taped, while supporting the Patriot Act.

The stupid, it burns, it burns!!

H&M rips off artist design

Tori LaConsay, painted a billboard in the US with the message You Look Nice Today to make residents in her town feel good about themselves.

A couple of days ago, she realised that H&M were selling towels, pillows and doormats with a similar design.

One message written in support of Tori LaConsay, from Georgia, Atlanta, said: "Your You Look Nice Today rug and pillow design has been stolen."

H&M's initial response denied copying the artwork: "H&M apologises if anyone thinks we have copied, which has never been our intention and not allowed.


Their bullshit:

"We have merely been inspired after seeing many different varieties of different text messages, to create something similar in a different font, with the use of the big and small brackets and the placement of the heart.

Read more here.

Sunrise Propane explosion finally goes to trial




Took their fucking time about it, no?

The Ontario government’s court case against Sunrise Propane begins on Monday, more than three years after the company’s facility in northwest Toronto exploded, killing a worker and forcing thousands to flee their homes.

Sunrise employee Parminder Saini died in the explosion and firefighter Bob Leek suffered a fatal heart attack while battling the fire that followed. The blast sent up a fireball that could be seen across the city and forced the evacuation of 12,000 people from their Downsview neighbourhood homes.

The company faces several charges under provincial labour and environmental laws for its role in the Aug. 10, 2008, explosion that charged the lives of those who live near the fuel depot at 62 Murray Rd., in the area of Keele Street and Wilson Avenue.


Read more here.

And let's not forget this little gem, from 'Shut up!' Councillor Maria Augimeri:


Saturday, January 28, 2012

MPAA just doesn't understand the Internet

To them, it's all about control...

The MPAA's O'Leary concedes that the industry was out-manned and outgunned in cyberspace. He says the MPAA "is [undergoing] a process of education, a process of getting a much, much greater presence in the online environment. This was a fight on a platform we're not at this point comfortable with, and we were going up against an opponent that controls that platform."

Read more here.

Harper and Co. will f*ck over old people...slowly

Harper, step by step making this country just that much more heartless.

Any changes to retirement income won't be sudden, but the government isn't ruling out any options for restructuring the system, Minister of State for Finance Ted Menzies said Friday.

In an interview with Rosemary Barton on the CBC News Network, Menzies says the government wants to make sure the system in place now can be sustained in the future.

"I don't think we'd change anything overnight," he said.

"We're looking at all options right now. We're looking at all options that make it sustainable."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper told world leaders Thursday that Canada's retirement income system will see some "necessary" changes in the coming months.

While his keynote speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Thursday was short on details, Harper said Canada's aging population "poses a threat" to the country's social programs and services.


Read more here.

Friday, January 27, 2012

Mustang Mid-High School forgets students are people

Another school reacts to students with an abuse of power...

A suburban Oklahoma City school district has suspended a ninth-grade student and is investigating whether a substitute teacher whose photograph was taken on a cell phone was asleep on the job.

Mustang school district officials say a Mustang Mid-High School student snapped a picture of what appears to be a man with his eyes closed behind a school desk last week.

A district spokeswoman told The Oklahoman a faculty member saw the photo on a social media website and reported it to the principal. It's not clear if the photo was taken during class time.

School officials say cell phones are allowed on school grounds, but can't be used during class. The names of the student and the substitute teacher under investigation weren't released.


Read more here.

More government moves to control the Internet, this time called ACTA



Sopa and Pipa might be on hold for the time-being, but there is a greater threat looming. It's called the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) and it's an international agreement that aims to establish multinational standards on intellectual property rights enforcement.

Most recently, Acta made the headlines when online activists paralysed some of Poland's government sites to protest against Warsaw's plans to sign the international copyright treaty. They fear that it could lead to censorship on the web. Meanwhile Anonymous has announced over Twitter that it is planning a "huge operation soon" opposing Acta.

Wired.co.uk has created a handy guide to the agreement and how it might affect you. It's worth looking at the introductory video in this post to start with.


Read more here.

The Australian transport minister Anthony Albanese: Idiot of the Day

'In Australia we have serious challenges to solve and we need serious people to solve them,' he said. 'Unfortunately, Tony Abbott is not the least bit interested in fixing anything. He's only interested in two things - making Australians afraid of it and telling them who's to blame for it.'

If you think that sounds a tad familiar, you'd be right.

In the 1995 movie The American President, President Andrew Shepherd, played by Michael Douglas, tore into his rival Bob Rumson.


Read more here.

Study indicates conservatives may be idiots

No, really?

There's no gentle way to put it: People who give in to racism and prejudice may simply be dumb, according to a new study that is bound to stir public controversy.

The research finds that children with low intelligence are more likely to hold prejudiced attitudes as adults. These findings point to a vicious cycle, according to lead researcher Gordon Hodson, a psychologist at Brock University in Ontario. Low-intelligence adults tend to gravitate toward socially conservative ideologies, the study found. Those ideologies, in turn, stress hierarchy and resistance to change, attitudes that can contribute to prejudice, Hodson wrote in an email to LiveScience.


Read more here.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Twitter becomes a craven coward

A new Twitter policy which goes into effect today allows the social network "to reactively withhold content from users in a specific country," so that Twitter can further expand globally and "enter countries that have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression."

Fuck you Twitter

Read more here.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

1122

Flint expert 'reverse engineers' Neanderthal stone axes

Researchers at the University of Kent have recreated the processes Neanderthals used to produce sharp flint axes, and found that our ancestors were skilled engineers.

A modern-day 'flintknapper' replicated the sharpening processes that Neanderthals used to create tools - a sort of modern 'reverse engineering' of ancient techniques in use by three kinds of early 'hominin' including Neanderthals as early as 300,000 years ago.

The researchers found that Neanderthals could shape 'elegant' stone tools - shaping them to be hard-wearing, easily sharpened and with a perfectly balanced centre of gravity.

The reproduction of how Neanderthals worked shows that it is unlikely that stone flakes used in the tools could have been shaped by accident - and that our ancestors intentionally 'engineered' stone cores to create tools fit for their jobs.


Read more here.

Reality vs. Oklahoma state Senator Ralph Shortey

...Shortey’s bill, which we pray is the last remaining evidence of human civilization when aliens finally discover Earth:

No person or entity shall manufacture or knowingly sell food or any other product intended for human consumption which contains aborted human fetuses in the ingredients or which used aborted human fetuses in the research or development of any of the ingredients.


Read more here.

Rob Ford: Idiot of the Day

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford compared his political opponents at city hall to despot Joseph Stalin on Tuesday, the same day that one of those councillors had praised the mayor for a new attitude.

Speaking on Toronto radio station AM 640, Ford was asked a question about Coun. Josh Matlow — a first-term politician usually described as centrist, who has said he will oppose the mayor's planned abolishment of the land transfer tax.

After calling Matlow a "left-wing NDPer," Ford compared him to left-leaning councillors Adam Vaughan, Gord Perks, Janet Davis and Paula Fletcher.

"These people are all two steps left of Joe Stalin," he said. "So I'm not discouraged by that and I don't expect it. They don't care about the taxpayers. But I know one person that does, and that's me."


Stalin? Really Robbie, Stalin?

Read more here.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Tea party group in Tennessee want their children to be as ignorant as they are

Muddle a child's mind and you've got them for life.

A little more than a year after the conservative-led state board of education in Texas approved massive changes to its school textbooks to put slavery in a more positive light, a group of Tea Party activists in Tennessee has renewed its push to whitewash school textbooks. The group is seeking to remove references to slavery and mentions of the country's founders being slave owners.

Read more here.

Monday, January 23, 2012

US Supreme Court hands down yet another hideous decision

Revolting

A state law mandating "humane treatment" of downed livestock headed for the slaughterhouse was unanimously overturned Monday by the Supreme Court.

At issue was whether federal regulations dealing with inspection of domesticated animals about to be killed, processed, and sold for human consumption preempted -- or nullified -- California Penal Code 599f.

Several justices had earlier noted the good intentions behind the state action, but all now agreed that it went too far into the traditional federal arena.


Read more here.