Friday, June 29, 2007
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Paris' World, Class Privilege, and the Political Moment
By Paul Minot at DailyKos
Like many of you, I come to DKos to get away from Paris Hilton and all the other tabloid obsessions of the MSM. However, the number of recent threads alluding to Miss Hilton led me to question the presumption of her political irrelevance—and after some thought, it came to me that her recent travails just might be the harbinger of a significant shift in the public zeitgeist. (Bear with me now....)
Read more here.
I agree with much of what he has to say, but I also lay a large portion of the blame at the feet of her extremely dim witted "fans" to take anything this woman does seriously.
Most frightening quote by a "fan" recently, in a blog's comments:
Well I for one feel sorry for Paris. I happen to love her. She's young, rich, gorgeous, famous, blonde, dumb as a fetus, and LOVES to party!
Here ends Western Civilization
Like many of you, I come to DKos to get away from Paris Hilton and all the other tabloid obsessions of the MSM. However, the number of recent threads alluding to Miss Hilton led me to question the presumption of her political irrelevance—and after some thought, it came to me that her recent travails just might be the harbinger of a significant shift in the public zeitgeist. (Bear with me now....)
Read more here.
I agree with much of what he has to say, but I also lay a large portion of the blame at the feet of her extremely dim witted "fans" to take anything this woman does seriously.
Most frightening quote by a "fan" recently, in a blog's comments:
Well I for one feel sorry for Paris. I happen to love her. She's young, rich, gorgeous, famous, blonde, dumb as a fetus, and LOVES to party!
Here ends Western Civilization
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
House of Commons Demands Takedown of YouTube Video
From michaelgeist.ca:
Earlier this month, I wrote a column highlighting the requirement to obtain permission from the Speaker of the House of Commons to use political clips that air on CPAC. The column argued that the current rules do not protect parody and should be scrapped by granting broad leeway to reuse clips for a broad range of non-commercial purposes. As if on cue, the Tea Makers Blog reports that the House of Commons (presumably acting on behalf of the Speaker) sent a notice and takedown notification to YouTube, asking it to remove a parody video of a Parliamentary committee hearing appearance by CBC President Robert Rabinovitz. The clip has been reposted to MySpace, yet the incident highlights the fact that the concerns associated with this form of online speech are real. Without a change to the rules, takedown notices involving political speech are likely to become more common in Canada.
I agree. This is a dangerous move by our government, and I urge all to repost the video (even if it is not really funny)
CSPAM
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Earlier this month, I wrote a column highlighting the requirement to obtain permission from the Speaker of the House of Commons to use political clips that air on CPAC. The column argued that the current rules do not protect parody and should be scrapped by granting broad leeway to reuse clips for a broad range of non-commercial purposes. As if on cue, the Tea Makers Blog reports that the House of Commons (presumably acting on behalf of the Speaker) sent a notice and takedown notification to YouTube, asking it to remove a parody video of a Parliamentary committee hearing appearance by CBC President Robert Rabinovitz. The clip has been reposted to MySpace, yet the incident highlights the fact that the concerns associated with this form of online speech are real. Without a change to the rules, takedown notices involving political speech are likely to become more common in Canada.
I agree. This is a dangerous move by our government, and I urge all to repost the video (even if it is not really funny)
CSPAM
Add to My Profile | More Videos
Verschärfte Vernehmung
Please pass this information on to everyone you know...
from Andrew Sullivan:
Here's a link to the blogs that have discussed the fact that the Bush administration's term "enhanced interrogation" was coined in 1937 to describe exactly the same techniques authorized by Bush, Cheney, Tenet, and Rumsfeld. The term was coined by the Gestapo. The original post, with historical documentation, is here. Please read it. Please send it to others. We have to wake people up to what is being done in their name. There is a better way to get intelligence, and before the goons and thugs of the Bush administration, the U.S. used to practise it. We still can return to honor and excellence in interrogation - instead of shame and failure.
from Andrew Sullivan:
Here's a link to the blogs that have discussed the fact that the Bush administration's term "enhanced interrogation" was coined in 1937 to describe exactly the same techniques authorized by Bush, Cheney, Tenet, and Rumsfeld. The term was coined by the Gestapo. The original post, with historical documentation, is here. Please read it. Please send it to others. We have to wake people up to what is being done in their name. There is a better way to get intelligence, and before the goons and thugs of the Bush administration, the U.S. used to practise it. We still can return to honor and excellence in interrogation - instead of shame and failure.
Friday, May 25, 2007
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Motley Crue: Throw Paris Hilton In Jail
Oh yeah baby.
Motley Crue have made it known that they’re not big fans of “shitty porn star” Paris Hilton by supporting a ‘Throw Paris Hilton In Jail’ petition.
In answer to an online petition asking the Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, to show leniency, the aging rockers have put their full support behind a rival petition asking the Governor to ensure Paris serves her full 45-day sentence.
Read more here, though note the article seems to be just the teeniest bit on Hilton's side.
Motley Crue have made it known that they’re not big fans of “shitty porn star” Paris Hilton by supporting a ‘Throw Paris Hilton In Jail’ petition.
In answer to an online petition asking the Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, to show leniency, the aging rockers have put their full support behind a rival petition asking the Governor to ensure Paris serves her full 45-day sentence.
Read more here, though note the article seems to be just the teeniest bit on Hilton's side.
New Clovis-Age Comet Impact Theory
Two University of Oregon researchers are on a multi-institutional 26-member team proposing a startling new theory: that an extraterrestrial impact, possibly a comet, set off a 1,000-year-long cold spell and wiped out or fragmented the prehistoric Clovis culture and a variety of animal genera across North America almost 13,000 years ago
Read more here and here.
Read more here and here.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Monday, May 14, 2007
Teachers stage fake gunman attack on sixth-graders
You flaming idiots
Staff members of an elementary school staged a fictitious gun attack on students during a class trip, telling them it was not a drill as the children cried and hid under tables.
The mock attack Thursday night was intended as a learning experience and lasted five minutes during the weeklong trip to a state park, said Scales Elementary School Assistant Principal Don Bartch, who led the trip.
"We got together and discussed what we would have done in a real situation," he said.
Read more here.
Staff members of an elementary school staged a fictitious gun attack on students during a class trip, telling them it was not a drill as the children cried and hid under tables.
The mock attack Thursday night was intended as a learning experience and lasted five minutes during the weeklong trip to a state park, said Scales Elementary School Assistant Principal Don Bartch, who led the trip.
"We got together and discussed what we would have done in a real situation," he said.
Read more here.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Thailand
Thailand's National Legislative Assembly approved a controversial law this week which could seriously effect how Thailand's internet users use the web. The main effect of the bill is to outlaw any attempt at bypassing government censors to access any of the thousands of sites that have been censored due to their moral or political purposes.
Another arrogant government that thinks they know better than their citizens.
Fools
Read more here.
Another arrogant government that thinks they know better than their citizens.
Fools
Read more here.
Jail the Bitch
and throw away the key
"Paris Whitney Hilton is an American celebrity and socialite. She is an heiress to a share of the Hilton Hotel fortune, as well as to the real estate fortune of her father Richard Hilton. She provides hope for young people all over the U.S. and the world. She provides beauty and excitement to (most of) our otherwise mundane lives… We, the American public who support Paris, are shocked, dismayed and appalled by how Paris has been the person to be used as an example that Drunk Driving is wrong… This petition is to ask Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to pardon Paris Hilton for her mistake. Please allow her to her return to her career and life."
Arrogant bitch
"Paris Whitney Hilton is an American celebrity and socialite. She is an heiress to a share of the Hilton Hotel fortune, as well as to the real estate fortune of her father Richard Hilton. She provides hope for young people all over the U.S. and the world. She provides beauty and excitement to (most of) our otherwise mundane lives… We, the American public who support Paris, are shocked, dismayed and appalled by how Paris has been the person to be used as an example that Drunk Driving is wrong… This petition is to ask Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to pardon Paris Hilton for her mistake. Please allow her to her return to her career and life."
Arrogant bitch
Monday, May 07, 2007
Rudolph W. Giuliani
We look upon authority too often and focus over and over again, for 30 or 40 or 50 years, as if there is something wrong with authority. We see only the oppressive side of authority. Maybe it comes out of our history and our background. What we don't see is that freedom is not a concept in which people can do anything they want, be anything they can be. Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do.
What a load of shit.
What a load of shit.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Modern Man, Neanderthals Seen as Kindred Spirits
The article's title is very dumb, it is filled with speculation, and I don't think some "paleoanthropologists" really understand what 10,000 years means, but...
Read more here.
For more guesses...
Climate – and not modern humans – was the cause of the Neanderthal extinction in the Iberian Peninsula.
Read more here.
Read more here.
For more guesses...
Climate – and not modern humans – was the cause of the Neanderthal extinction in the Iberian Peninsula.
Read more here.
Toronto's most expensive condo
Pretension in Toronto hit new highs with the announcement of yet another condo...and its asking price...
A planned condominium building in Yorkville will feature the city's most expensive penthouse --a $16-million unit.
The creation of a 9,000- square-foot space atop the soon to be built Four Seasons Hotel marks a coming of age for Toronto, co-designer Brian Gluckstein said in a recent interview.
A coming of age! LOLOLOLOLOL
Sorry, I'm better now...
"Before, [Torontonians with money] did not value communal living," Mr. Gluckstein said. "Now people with affluence want this type of lifestyle."
The lifestyle of which he speaks will allow residents to travel freely without worrying about property maintenance; to cater dinner parties from the condo's adjoining restaurant; or to go down a hallway to receive a manicure, pedicure or massage at the 28,000-square-foot spa.
"It's a level of service few people in houses can afford," he said.
Yawn
Read more here.
A planned condominium building in Yorkville will feature the city's most expensive penthouse --a $16-million unit.
The creation of a 9,000- square-foot space atop the soon to be built Four Seasons Hotel marks a coming of age for Toronto, co-designer Brian Gluckstein said in a recent interview.
A coming of age! LOLOLOLOLOL
Sorry, I'm better now...
"Before, [Torontonians with money] did not value communal living," Mr. Gluckstein said. "Now people with affluence want this type of lifestyle."
The lifestyle of which he speaks will allow residents to travel freely without worrying about property maintenance; to cater dinner parties from the condo's adjoining restaurant; or to go down a hallway to receive a manicure, pedicure or massage at the 28,000-square-foot spa.
"It's a level of service few people in houses can afford," he said.
Yawn
Read more here.
Monday, April 30, 2007
In my opinion, it is a complete and total fraud
Gore must know Harper really well...
Al Gore condemned Canada's new plan to reduce greenhouse gases, saying it was "a complete and total fraud" because it lacks specifics and gives industry a way to actually increase emissions.
"It is designed to mislead the Canadian people."
Yes, some of them will be mislead...they voted for Harper after all...
Read more here.
Al Gore condemned Canada's new plan to reduce greenhouse gases, saying it was "a complete and total fraud" because it lacks specifics and gives industry a way to actually increase emissions.
"It is designed to mislead the Canadian people."
Yes, some of them will be mislead...they voted for Harper after all...
Read more here.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Fark can Fuck off
From backingwinds blog:
FARK.com just underwent a major site redesign, and lost among the clutter is their new legal policy. One would intuitively think that simply posting a photograph to the forums over at FARK.com would not mean that one is surrendering their copyright to FARK.com for all time, but it would appear that that is no longer the case:
Fark.com is the legal owner of all copyright interests of Fark.com content. Each and every submission to Fark.com carries with it an implied assignment of the entire copyright interest in the submission. In exchange for the content and publication of that submission on Fark.com, Fark.com grants back to the submitter a non-exclusive, non-transferable and royalty-free license to republish that submission in any and all forms.
Essentially, this means that posting any of your content to FARK, be it photograph, text, or whatever, immediately and forever transfers your copyright ownership to the owners of FARK.com.
Read more here.
FARK.com just underwent a major site redesign, and lost among the clutter is their new legal policy. One would intuitively think that simply posting a photograph to the forums over at FARK.com would not mean that one is surrendering their copyright to FARK.com for all time, but it would appear that that is no longer the case:
Fark.com is the legal owner of all copyright interests of Fark.com content. Each and every submission to Fark.com carries with it an implied assignment of the entire copyright interest in the submission. In exchange for the content and publication of that submission on Fark.com, Fark.com grants back to the submitter a non-exclusive, non-transferable and royalty-free license to republish that submission in any and all forms.
Essentially, this means that posting any of your content to FARK, be it photograph, text, or whatever, immediately and forever transfers your copyright ownership to the owners of FARK.com.
Read more here.
Text reveals more ancient secrets
Experts are "lost for words" to have found that a medieval prayer book has yielded yet another key ancient text buried within its parchment.
Works by mathematician Archimedes and the politician Hyperides had already been found buried within the book, known as the Archimedes Palimpsest.
But now advanced imaging technology has revealed a third text - a commentary on the philosopher Aristotle.
Read more here.
Works by mathematician Archimedes and the politician Hyperides had already been found buried within the book, known as the Archimedes Palimpsest.
But now advanced imaging technology has revealed a third text - a commentary on the philosopher Aristotle.
Read more here.
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