June 27, 2008
Prince sues tributers..,
So, Prince turned 50, and some folks who really like his music made a tribute album. Prince wasn't happy, and he wants to collect damages as well as destroy every copy of the album.
I figure he's just going through a mid-life crisis. Turning 50 does things to you.
The Supreme Court does something smart
They've finally realized that the 2nd amendment means what it says.
People actually do have the right to bear arms, and the gun ban on D.C. residents has been overturned. This is a day of rejoicing, for sure. Vive le Constitution!
June 25, 2008
From somewhere out there... comes our next president
George Noory, host of Coast to Coast AM, the radio show about all things paranormal, supernatural, and extraterrestrial, is apparently planning to run for president in 2012. Why? Well, anyone who listens to his show knows that 2012 is an important year, and George knows it, too. He knows it so well that he's willing to run as a Democrat if the incumbent is a Republican and as a Republican if the incumbent is a Democrat. He will be president in 2012, no matter what. Or so he says.
June 23, 2008
I signed up for PayPerPost...
Yes, yes indeed, I signed up for PayPerPost. I needed a little extra money, and it seemed to be the best way to make it from this particular blog. I didn't want to put a bunch of ads on the site, and they don't pay off very well anyway, and I wanted a good return. So, there will be some "sponsored" posts from now on, but not anything that I wouldn't recommend anyway. PayPerPost has a good range of topics and sponsors to choose from, so you can pretty much get paid to post about whatever you want to. Payments range from a few dollars to a few hundred dollars, depending on the sponsor. It has great potential, and you can actually get $20 just for your first post. Seems fair, right?
Your blog must be approved first, which means it has to have a few posts on it already, and it has to be at least a month old. It helps to have a good page rank as well. There's also PayPerPost Direct, where sponsors can contact you directly for you to post sponsored posts. You don't even need PPP approved blog for that.
No, it's not a scam. Yes, I heard about it from reputable sources (check for posts about it on various blogs). It sounds like a great idea for any avid blogger to make a few extra bucks.
MPAA says most ridiculous thing imaginable
So, the MPAA says that they don't need any proof to collect damages for copyright infringement. Yes... they don't need proof to collect damages.
I originally thought this was a joke story. If it was April 1st, I'd know it was. But it's real.
It's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, and the only reason they said it is because it's too hard to find proof. Fine. Let's just jail anyone we think has committed a crime because it's too hard to find evidence to convict them. How about it? I think my neighbor sole $1,000 from me. Proof? Who needs it? It'd be way too hard to find. Just give me my money back.
Is that the way the justice system is going to work now?
June 17, 2008
AP wants to tell bloggers how they can quote thier stories
Apparently, the AP doesn't like the way bloggers are using quotes from their stories. Since this seems dumb, and since I think I should be allowed to quote from however much I want of it, I'll proceed to quote the whole story:
NEW YORK (AP) — The Associated Press, following criticism from bloggers over an AP assertion of copyright, plans to meet this week with a bloggers' group to help form guidelines under which AP news stories could be quoted online.
Jim Kennedy, the AP's director of strategic planning, said Monday that he planned to meet Thursday with Robert Cox, president of the Media Bloggers Association, as part of an effort to create standards for online use of AP stories by bloggers that would protect AP content without discouraging bloggers from legitimately quoting from it.
The meeting comes after AP sent a legal notice last week to Rogers Cadenhead, the author of a blog called the Drudge Retort, a news community site whose name is a parody of the prominent blog the Drudge Report.
The notice called for the blog to remove several postings that AP believed was an improper use of its stories. Other bloggers subsequently lambasted AP for going after a small blogger whom they thought appeared to be engaging in a legally permissible and widely practiced activity protected under "fair use" provisions of copyright law.
In response, the AP indicated it would seek to create guidelines, though even that idea triggered further protests. Michael Arrington wrote on his TechCrunch blog Monday that AP "doesn't get to make its own rules about how its content is used, if those rules are stricter than the law allows."
Wendy Seltzer, a legal scholar and a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, said it was encouraging that AP wanted to find an arrangement with bloggers to facilitate a mutually agreeable way for them to use AP content.
But she cautioned that the news organization, a not-for-profit cooperative owned by its member newspapers and broadcasters, should not try to go beyond what's legally permissible.
"If they take those guidelines and start using them to refine the way they make complaints, and if they closely match the law, then it's helpful — it's a restraint on their own legal department," Seltzer said.
"If they were on the other hand to say, you may use 10 words only and any time you use 11 we'll send a takedown notice, that wouldn't be helpful," Seltzer said.
Kennedy said the AP had no intention of making such strict rules or setting any kind of legal standard. He also said AP was reconsidering how and when to send legal notices to bloggers in hopes of giving them "a little more leeway."
Kennedy also said the AP felt Cadenhead had complied with AP's request to take down the offending material and didn't plan any other legal action.
Kennedy said the AP had both a journalistic concern about preventing AP news from being quoted out of context and also a business concern about protecting the value of AP's news from being diluted if its key elements are made available from places that aren't licensed.
"We need to protect our content, no matter who's using it, but we also recognize that the bloggers perform a really important function on the Internet in terms of increasing the engagement of the audience online, and we want to facilitate that," Kennedy said.
Cadenhead, the author of several computer books who also publishes a sports blog, said he was eager to get more clarity about what constitutes permissible use of AP or other news stories online so as not to trigger further legal action.
Short quotations of copyrighted material are allowed under the "fair use" provision of copyright law, but the law can be murky, Cadenhead said. "It's not like a small fish like the Retort is going to be able to hammer through its case in court."
Cadenhead said he was glad the meeting between AP and the blogging group was happening and was "guardedly optimistic at this point about a positive outcome."
Cox, the head of the bloggers' association, said there needed to be a clearer understanding among bloggers about what kinds of use of AP stories would or would not trigger legal complaints.
"Up until now there hasn't' been a concrete articulation of what they expect," Cox said. "I think that would go a long way to pre-empting problems," he said, adding that "I think the desire is there on both sides to get this sorted out."
So, there.
June 15, 2008
Improbable happenings
Indeed, an extremely improbable happening.
A girl got struck by lightning, survived, and then won the lottery. Okay, she only won $20, so that's not the most improbable thing... that would be if she won millions in the lottery... but I think it still counts for something. To get any more improbable than that, she'd have to be attacked by a shark when she went to the beach later that day.
Wedding Rant...
...from the bride's perspective:
Now, if you want the groom's perspective, well... I can't say any groom really cares about all the fuss of the wedding. Thankfully, my bride, who I'll be wedding next May, wants it to be nice, but not as expensive as a lot of weddings these days. I mean... for a couple that's just starting out, and probably has no money, is it really smart to go for the crazy expensive wedding...? Well, I guess, if your parents are paying for all of it... but still...
June 13, 2008
Ron Paul suspends campaign, begins "revolution"
Heh, I'd forgotten he was still running.
Bah, am I blogging about politics? I promised I wasn't going to do that, huh? Well, Ron Paul just amuses me, and he finally gave up. But, hey, he lasted longer than Hillary, so that must count for something.
Oh, and he's apparently starting a new "revolution." Good luck with that, Ron.
The smarter you are, the less you need God...
...or so says Professor Richard Lynn at Ulster University. His opinion comes from a survey of members of the Royal Society and the American National Academy of Sciences, where only a small percentage believe in God. His sentiments echo a study done a while back (which I wrote on) that says as people become more educated, they cast off the "myths" of religion.
Now, there's the point right there: It's not intelligence that makes you cast off religion, but education. Not just any type of education, either. It's the educational system which tells people that only stupid people believe in God. I know plenty of very intelligent, educated, and accomplished people who believe in God, and I can tell you that their education has only strengthened their belief. Any study that says smarter people don't believe in God or religion is flawed.
June 12, 2008
Americans are offensive, and the Constitution lets it be so
A good article from the New York Times:
I must give it props for mentioning Hitler and the Ku Klux Klan in one article. Whether they're relevant to the discussion or not (and whether Godwin's Law must be invoked) is up for debate, but I think the sentiment is good. America defends people's right to say offensive things, as well as stupid things. Now, if you say things like that, be prepared for other people to not like what you say. However, people speaking out against your speech is, contrary to popular belief, not suppressing free speech. It is only exercising it.
Obama storms the Mormons
So, Barack Obama is going to Utah to campaign for president. Well, we know the Democrats there support him, since he won the Primary, and we know that real, self-respecting Republicans would be too smart to vote for McCain, because he's not a real conservative... so, I predict that Mitt Romney will win Utah from write-in votes.
Ethanol from Algae...
Well... there won't be any more complaining about making fuel from food, unless there are any hardcore algae eaters out there.
It makes more ethanol than corn. If this is actually cost-effective, then the debate won't be about food anymore, it'll just be about whether ethanol is really a good idea or not. Judge for yourself.
Seven Deadly Glasses
Found this via boingboing:
Seven wine glasses, with shapes alluding to each of the seven deadly sins. My favorite is definitely Envy (check the second page), which apparently can never be filled. Very profound and artistic.
Firefox 3 out next week!
The wait is almost over.
Firefox 3 is coming out next Tuesday, and they're going to try to break a Guinness World Record for the most people to download a piece of software in a single day. I'm signed up, and excited. Bring it on!
June 11, 2008
So long, and thanks for all the fish
Sad story, though I was immediately reminded of Douglas Adams when I read it. Perhaps it means the end of the world is coming?
More "Yeah, we knew that already" science
Why do I love writing about science and sex? Well, it's just so interesting...
A new male "condition," termed "the bikini effect," has been "discovered" by scientists (don't mind all the quotation marks in the preceding sentence). Apparently, when men are sexually aroused, they have their minds set only on the present, and on satisfying their desires. Now, the study found that it's not only sexual desires they wish to satisfy, but any natural desire they have. So, if I read it correctly, if a man is sexually aroused, his mind would be satisfied with either hot sex or a cheeseburger (sounds like a man to me....). Most interesting, I think, is that if men feel they have lots of money, the influence of the sexual arousal is diminished. If men feel poor, then they'll want satisfaction sooner.
I learn more about myself everyday, I tell you.
The truth about fortune cookies
Snopes has finally put up an article about fortune cookies. I've known this for a while, having been to Taiwan, and discovering that they have only a small clue what fortune cookies are.
Not only are they not Chinese, they were invented by a Japanese-American guy in San Francisco. The funniest part to me about the article is the part about the guy in Hong Kong who imported them and put them in his restaurants, and called them "Genuine American Fortune Cookies."
June 04, 2008
Apparently, children are to be seen, not heard...
I banged my head against a wall so hard when I read this story. It happened in Utah, of all places. Come on, you Mormons, I thought you were smarter than this!
Being a Mormon myself, I think I have a license to say that, too. But anyway...
Yes, it's a story about sex ed, and yes, it's a story about angry parents and educators. Well, more like stupid parents and educators. Apparently, there's a certain sex ed curriculum that teachers are supposed to follow, by law, and it's a criminal offense to deviate from it one bit. The dumbest thing about it is that this is true even if a student asks a question about something that isn't in the curriculum, and the teacher answers it. That's exactly what happened, and that's why everyone's angry. Because students were curious, and went to school to learn, so they asked questions.
*bangs head against wall*
Seriously, isn't that the whole point of school? I mean, if the teacher answered the questions inappropriately, I can understand, but I can't imagine that happened in this case. What is the teacher supposed to do, say, "I'm sorry, I'm not allowed to talk about that"? Kids don't take that for any kind of answer. The article says the students are even protesting the criminal ruling, saying that it was them who asked the questions, so the teacher shouldn't be punished. So, what do the educators say to that? They don't want to be divisive over the issue, as if they're pushing aside the students' opinions.
*bangs head against the wall some more*
Look, kids are curious about things. Kids want to know. Obviously, these are things their parents had never taught them, and are most likely embarrassed to talk about. Their parents probably wouldn't ever say anything to their kids about them at all, given a choice. So, they get angry when kids want to know about them. Well, what would they do if their child asked them about it? Probably the same thing they want the teacher to say. "I'm not allowed to talk about that, and you shouldn't know anything about that, either."
Argh.
In other news... it's my birthday today. :)