News & Media
Detective Baylor, DC Police, winner of this month's Rod Farva award
Yeah, when a cop pulls a gun at a snowball fight, he deserves the Rod Farva award. (source)
Close call
On Friday, April 13, 2029, the Apophis asteroid will come within 18,300 miles of the Earth’s surface. To compare, the moon is 238,857 miles away. (source)
McCain's Memory…
McCain is outraged at the damn kids these days in the Senate. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUEypqnjufw] John seems to have forgotten this.
The Sexbot revolution (hopefully) will not be televised
By J. DeVoy It’s coming! As far back as 2007, Marc blogged about the coming of full artificial intimacy. The topic has been hotly debated in some spheres, and predicted to be the great equalizer for men who choose not to date the women available to them. In just a few short years, the technology needed for these electric mistresses has improved drastically. At In Mala Fide, Ferdinand Bardamu discusses this recent piece in h+ Magazine. It turns out that the technology’s promise is better than ever. Remember the most convulsive, brain-ripping climax you ever had? The one that left you with “I could die happy now” satiety? Sexbots will electrocute our flesh with climaxes twice as gigantic because they’ll be more desirable,
Your Right of Publicity Violation of the Day
It was inevitable. Tiger Condoms. Pretty clearly a violation of Florida Statute Sect. 540.08. H/T: E.S.
Alan Grayson, asshat — unfit to serve in Congress
I really used to like Alan Grayson. It was nice to see that there was one democrat who had a pair of balls. Grayson seemed to stand up at times that other Democrats would cower and wimper like the typically spineless little bunnies that they are. Grayson seemed to be a man of convictions and courage — something I can’t really say the democratic party has had in a very long time. Say what you want about George W. Bush, Jesse Helms, and Orrin Hatch… at least they stood for something and stood up for it (even if that something was disgusting and objectionable). It was nice to see a Democrat who stood for something, and who wasn’t a goddamned
Random Thoughts
Someone stole the Arbeit Macht Frei sign from Auschwitz. What in the hell are they going to DO with it? Put it on the mantle? Observers are calling it an act of anti-semitism, which seems a little bit strange to me. It is anti-semitic to wreck a piece of a concentration camp? Who knew. I welcome our new Persian overlords. Okay, not really… but it seems that some Iranians hacked into Twitter and shut it down for a little while. My only complaint? That they didn’t just shut the stupid fad down permanently. Not only is gay marriage now legal in the District of Columbia, but Mayor Fenty signed the bill in a church. Of course, Congress has the authority
Tennessee Court of Appeals requires specificity in group libel cases
By J. DeVoy First addressed by Eugene Volokh, the Tennessee Court of Appeals recently affirmed the lower court’s dismissal of the plaintiffs’ claims in a group libel case because they were not specifically identified by the defendant’s statements. The plaintiffs, a cabaret and three performers, sued Shelby County Commissioner Michael Ritz for comments he made about the nature of adult entertainment. Among other things, he said that the women involved “almost without exception” have “an addiction to drugs or alcohol” and “were sexually abused by a family member.” More, Ritz said that strip clubs “feed on that,” creating a “vicious cycle” The Court of Appeals found the plaintiffs did not allege that Ritz’s statements identified the plaintiffs by “reasonable implication.”
The Fort
Gloucester will always be home. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfe5cYA_bHQ]
Ruins of ancient internet civilization discovered
Online archaeologists have discovered the ruins of a lost online civilization. Fascinating.
Avast! The Pirate Bay's Intellectual Property's Been Boarded!
If you haven’t heard of The Pirate Bay by now, you may want to emerge from that cave, wipe the sleepies from your eyes, and start getting caught up on your backed up WIRED magazines in the bathroom. The Pirate Bay (TPB) is a website run by a few Swedish intellectual property anarchists. TPB provides a comprehensive indexing service for BitTorrent files. In plain English, TPB is the backbone of one of the most comprehensive copyright infringement schemes to ever exist. And, TPB isn’t just about “free information,” as it makes a significant income from sponsored ads on its webpage, to the tune of about $65,000 per month. TPB denies that it makes very much money, claiming that most of
Route 60 Hyundai in Vero Beach, Flori-duh, I would like to introduce you to the Streisand Effect
Same old story. Consumer goes to a car dealership. Consumer is unhappy with how he is treated at car dealership. Consumer bitches about car dealership on the internet. Car dealership deals with consumer and makes the situation right calls up attorney. Attorney sends really ill-advised letter to consumer, and then consumer’s complaint about car dealership goes from being heard by 40 people to being heard by 4,000,000 people. (source) Morons. UPDATE: If anyone out there can find a copy of the demand letter, I would love to a) read it, and b) give it a fair critique. The letter is here. Not much to critique.
One man's masturbatory war against idiocracy
The opening sequence from Idiocracy is, imho, one of the greatest pieces of cinema ever created. And it has always seemed to be an ominous and accurate prediction of where our species is headed. With no natural predators to thin the human herd, the process of natural selection seems to have ground to a halt. In fact, given that homo walmartus (example) seems to reproduce earlier, more often, and with greater genetic diversity than homo sapiens, it seems certain that homo sapiens will, one day, be extinct, and homo walmartus will inherit the earth. But then, I read about this guy who jacked himself 400 offspring. I never considered that artificial insemination might save us from a devolutionary slide.
Springsteen on Marriage Equality
Like many of you who live in New Jersey, I’ve been following the progress of the marriage-equality legislation currently being considered in Trenton. I’ve long believed in and have always spoken out for the rights of same sex couples and fully agree with Governor Corzine when he writes that, “The marriage-equality issue should be recognized for what it truly is — a civil rights issue that must be approved to assure that every citizen is treated equally under the law.” I couldn’t agree more with that statement and urge those who support equal treatment for our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters to let their voices be heard now. (source)
Criminal Law exam question: What if someone smashed in the ABA's head with a chapati pan?
Most criminal law courses require the students to read DPP v. Camplin . In that case, an older guy by the name of Khan raped a 15 year old boy and then taunted him. So, the boy bashed in Khan’s head with a chapati pan. The court held that in deciding whether the charge should be reduced from murder to manslaughter, how a reasonable person in the defendant’s position would react to such provocation. Well, a number of months ago, the ABA did a real Khan on the legal profession by giving the thumbs up to sending legal jobs to India. Thanks ABA, now we lawyers can feel the same degree of indignity suffered by the call center operators. India
Former Rep Ted Klaudt claims "common law copyright" in his name to try and suppress news stories about him being a sick child rapist
We sure do see a lot of intellectual property abuse around here. This has to be the best one yet. Former South Dakota State Representative Ted Klaudt claims that he has a “common law copyright” in his name, and thus any news organization or other publication that uses his name must pay him a licensing fee of $500,000. (source) It gets better. Mr. Klaudt apparently started sending notices of his “common law copyright” to news agencies in order to stop them from reporting on the fact that he is serving time for raping his foster daughters. Klaudt was convicted on four counts of rape for fondling his underage foster daughters in “examinations” that he performed on them under the ruse
Once, twice, three times a loser
By J. DeVoy Straight from the “it could be worse” file, some guy started a facebook group seeking 1,170,000 members so his girlfriend, Caroline, would marry him. While bizarre enough on its own, this is his third and final attempt to win her hand in marriage. He first proposed six months before the group’s creation and again two weeks before starting it. Apparently not taking the hint, Caroline told him she would say yes if he created a facebook group that had 1,170,000 members. What happened next is unclear from timeline of line breaks formed by equal signs and periods. Users contacted the founder’s friends named Caroline – all three of them – and chastised the putative heartbreaker. Caroline then
Rock and Roll, Rest in Peace.
ABBA has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. (source) And the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is hereby inducted into the Asshat Hall of Fame. Are you yanking my taint? ABBA? A-freakin-Buh-Buh???? Neil Young was wrong when he said that Rock and Roll would never die. Rock and Roll died today. December 15, 2009.
Well Said…
And restrained… I think that putting the rights of minorities on the ballot and allowing the forces of intolerance to spend an unlimited amount to demonize and marginalize a population is … unsavory.” So said DC City Council member, David Catania, when interviewed about why he opposes placing marriage equality on the ballot in the District of Columbia, which is expected to legalize same sex marriage this week. (source)
Court slaps down school's punishment for off-campus pwnage
By J. DeVoy From Boston.com: LOS ANGELES – One morning in May 2008, an eighth-grader walked into Janice Hart’s office at a Beverly Hills middle school crying. I love it when stories start that way. Many of my real-life hypotheticals relate to crying, so naturally I love when the mainstream media brings it up. Call it the Eric Cartman effect. At the heart of the matter, a group of eighth graders posted a video to YouTube where they described the upset classmate as “spoiled,” a “brat,” and a “slut.” In response, the school issued a two-day suspension to the girl who posted the video. Last month, though, a Federal District Judge in Los Angeles held that this punishment went too
