We know where you are. We know where you’ve been. We can more or less know what you’re thinking about.
- Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, quoted in The Atlantic. (via The Quotation of the Day Mailing List)
Privacy quote of the day
Reply
Category Archives: culture
1986 in twelve minutes
(via Andrew Sullivan)
I hate Facebook
And here is why…
Brassft Punk
Tomorrow, the new album from Daft Punk, Random Access Memories, will be released.
But today, check out Brassft Punk, a Daft Punk cover band that performs using brass instruments of all types.
An emotional Bill Gates describes his last meeting with Steve Jobs
(video requires Flash)
TSA bomb-sniffing dog takes pat-downs to a new level
A TSA-trained bomb-sniffing dog understandably confused an Atlanta woman’s stomach for a bomb. Or a steak. Or something. Hey mistakes happen. Remember 911!
Great Leno show prank
Dumb ass of the week
Stupid is as stupid does.
The theater manager at a Jefferson City, MO, theater decided it would be a good idea to arrange to have a man in full body armor with fake guns walk into a movie theater on the night of the release of the latest Iron Man movie. Needless to say, chaos reigned.
“We received a series of 911 calls stating that a man dressed in all black and body armor and a rifle was walking into Capital 8 Theaters,” said [Jefferson City Police] Capt. Doug Shoemaker.
Officers thought they were responding to an active shooter investigation.
“Everything was in place, it’s the opening night of a superhero movie, it’s somebody walking in all-dark clothes, everything pointed to bad things about to happen,” said Shoemaker. “There’s really no good that can come of this.”
Instead, it was all part of a publicity stunt for the movie opening. The man in tactical gear was an actor carrying a fake gun.
Capital 8 Theaters manager Bob Wilkins told ABC 17 News this was planned months in advance and only a few people were upset, but hundreds were entertained.
How popular is Netflix?
On a normal weeknight, Netflix accounts for almost a third of all Internet traffic entering North American homes. That’s more than YouTube, Hulu, Amazon.com, HBO Go, iTunes, and BitTorrent combined. Traffic to Netflix usually peaks at around 10 p.m. in each time zone, at which point a chart of Internet consumption looks like a python that swallowed a cow. By midnight Pacific time, streaming volume falls off dramatically.
– Ashlee Vance writing in BloombergBusinessweek.
When did you choose to be straight?
Some believe that sexual orientation is a choice. So why not ask some straight people when they decided to be straight?
(via Dangerous Minds)
Past time to amend the DMCA
The Digital Millenium Copyright Act, enacted on October 12, 1998, made it a crime to bypass digital rights management (DRM) applied to copyrighted works, among other things. Thus, as an example, if you purchased a commercial DVD, it would be a crime to rip the disc as you can an audio CD. Recently, as a result of a decision by the Library of Congress, the DMCA made it illegal to unlock a cellphone to move it to another carrier, even after the full term of the contract with the original carrier expired. Ridiculous.
Many have argued that when a customer purchases a product the customer should be entitled to service it, copy it, and manage it, even if doing so would break DRM. And now, finally, this might well change:
New legislation sponsored by Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Thomas Massie (R-KY), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), and Jared Polis (D-CO) takes a broader approach to the issue. In addition to explicitly legalizing cell phone unlocking, the Unlocking Technology Act of 2013 also modifies the DMCA to make clear that unlocking copy-protected content is only illegal if it’s done in order to “facilitate the infringement of a copyright.” If a circumvention technology is “primarily designed or produced for the purpose of facilitating noninfringing uses,” that would not be a violation of copyright.
For example, Lofgren’s bill would likely make it legal for consumers to rip DVDs for personal use in much the same way they’ve long ripped CDs. It would remove legal impediments to making versions of copyrighted works that are accessible to blind users. And it would ensure that car owners have the freedom to service their vehicles without running afoul of copyright law.
More info, and a way to take action, here.
Related articles
- New Bipartisan Bill Proposes Real Fixes to Bad Copyright Law (eff.org)
- Bill would guarantee ability to unlock smartphones, tablets (latimes.com)
- Latest cellphone unlocking bill proposes significant digital copyright reform (theverge.com)
- New Bill Legalizing Cellphone Unlocking Introduced in House (mashable.com)
Ender’s Game – the movie
Ender’s Game, a sic-fi novel written by Orson Scott Card, has been made into a movie that will premier on November 1, 2013.
The first trailer for the film just came out and it looks good to me.
Charles Ramsey: hero
Charles Ramsey helped rescue the three kidnapped women in Cleveland earlier this week. He is a real American character, and Jimmy Kimmel captured his ability to tell a story.
Google Glass gets the SNL treatment
Rhode Island makes it 10
On thursday, Rhode Island became the 10th State to recognize the legality of same-sex marriage. Good news, right?
Well, not so fast.
Rhode Island’s Catholic Bishop Thomas J. Tobin immediately penned a “pastoral letter” to all Catholics in the state in response to the legalization of same-sex marriage. And what a touching, warm-hearted letter it is. In part, it reads as follows:
As I have emphasized consistently in the past, the Catholic Church has respect, love and pastoral concern for our brothers and sisters who have same-sex attraction. I sincerely pray for God’s blessings upon them, that they will enjoy much health, happiness and peace. We also offer our prayerful support to families, especially parents, who often struggle with this issue when it occurs in their own homes.
Our respect and pastoral care, however, does not mean that we are free to endorse or ignore immoral or destructive behavior, whenever or however it occurs. Indeed, as St. Paul urges us, we are required to “speak the truth in love.” (Eph 4:15)
At this moment of cultural change, it is important to affirm the teaching of the Church, based on God’s word, that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered,” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, #2357) and always sinful. And because “same-sex marriages” are clearly contrary to God’s plan for the human family, and therefore objectively sinful, Catholics should examine their consciences very carefully before deciding whether or not to endorse same-sex relationships or attend same-sex ceremonies, realizing that to do so might harm their relationship with God and cause significant scandal to others.
So let me get this straight (to coin a phrase), the Catholic Church has “respect, love and pastoral concern” for gay people. But gay people are “intrinsically disordered” and acting on their feelings is “always sinful.” Further, all good Catholics should refuse to recognize members of their own family and friends who choose to participate in or endorse same-sex unions. This is hate, pure and simple. It is also an attempt at intrusion by a religion on the secular, civil recognition of marriage. In this country, no religion can impose its views on the state.