Archive for November, 2010
FCC Commissioner Blasts “Bloated Profits” of Verizon/Google Internet Plan
FCC Commissioner Michael Copps just announced that the public shouldn’t stand for deals “that exchange Internet freedom for bloated profits. And he forcefully mocked the tiered-data plans of the “Verizon-Google gaggle,” accusing them of wanting “gated communities for the affluent.”
Instead of letting Verizon create a ghetto of reduced-quality internet service, the commissioner warns the audience against proposals that would “vastly diminish” the internet’s importance, blasting “special interests and gatekeepers and toll-booth collectors who will short-circuit what this great new technology can do for our country.” He concludes by acknowledging that “you can’t blame companies for seeking to protect their own interests. But you can blame policy-makers if we let them get away with it!””
Rape Culture 101
Melissa McEwan writes on shakesville:
Frequently, I receive requests to provide a definition of the term “rape culture”…
Rape culture is rape being used as a weapon, a tool of war and genocide and oppression. Rape culture is rape being used as a corrective to “cure” queer women. Rape culture is a militarized culture and “the natural product of all wars, everywhere, at all times, in all forms.”
Rape culture is 1 in 33 men being sexually assaulted in their lifetimes. Rape culture is encouraging men to use the language of rape to establish dominance over one another (”I’ll make you my bitch”). Rape culture is making rape a ubiquitous part of male-exclusive bonding. Rape culture is ignoring the cavernous need for men’s prison reform in part because the threat of being raped in prison is considered an acceptable deterrent to committing crime, and the threat only works if actual men are actually being raped.
Rape culture is 1…
Chances Are, They’re Not Nazis
Aaron Cynic writes at Diatribe Media:
Back in the halcyon days following George W Bush’s inauguration, detractors and opponents of many stripes referred to W and his administration as Nazi’s. Even before the days of borderline fascist government policies like the PATRIOT ACT or warrantless wiretapping and torture apologists, lefties and others handed out poorly Xeroxed pamphlets featuring W’s face with a Hitler mustache.
Now, the jack boot is on the left foot, with hard line right wing conservatives dropping the Nazi card when referring to all things not Right as some form or another of Nazism. Most recently, Fox News chief Roger Ailes called the top brass at NPR “the left wing of Nazism” and said they have a “Nazi attitude.” Allies’ comments refer to the firing of NPR news analyst Juan Williams, after he told Bill O’Reilly that Muslims make him “nervous.”
It seems somewhere along the line the word “Nazi” devolved to…
6 Secret Monopolies You Didn’t Know Ruled the World
Cracked has a cool way of introducing a line of thought for the internet fanboys … here’s a recent article from Christina H. on Cracked.com:
Whether You’re a Mac or a PC, You’re Probably a Quanta
Start any Mac vs. PC debate and sooner or later someone will bring up how Macs’ “highest quality components” make the choice equivalent to “Porsche vs. Camry.” Of course, Apple likes to play up this perception, invoking the picture of PCs made sloppily in sweatshops while Macs are put together in sparkling white labs by Apple store employees.
Not only are the laptops you’re arguing about both put together in Taiwan, but very likely even by the same company. Taiwan’s Quanta Computer makes 33 percent of all laptops in the world, including Dells, HPs, Sonys, Toshibas and yes, Macs.
Tightwads and Spendthrifts: A Black Friday Tradition
Black Friday shoppers at Walmart. Photo: Dustin (CC)
From ScienceDaily:
Every year about this time, on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving that traditionally begins the holiday shopping season, early-morning consumers stand in long lines eager to purchase some sought after prize. From the outside, it looks as if these holiday shoppers can’t wait to plunk down their cash, but University of Michigan Marketing Professor Scott Rick says consumers often behave differently than they would ideally like to behave.
“Some consumers chronically spend more than they would like, and some consumers chronically spend less than they would like,” he says. Where an individual falls within the range of desiring to spend more or less largely determines whether he or she is a tightwad or a spendthrift, characteristics that determine quite a bit about a person’s spending habits.
Rick says anticipating the psychological pain that goes along with paying money drives some people to spend…
Is Wisconsin the Epicenter of an American Death Cult?* Part I
Did Jack Torrance stumble upon a truth much deeper and more primal than he knew when he wrote, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”? My girlfriend seemed to say as much a couple of weeks back and subsequent events in Winnebago County, Wisconsin lead me to believe that she just may have a point.
Aviva kicked me out. Said I was “no fucking fun anymore” since I started crusading against the Brylcreem Brigade1 and their weird rhetorical war on the middle class and just plain common sense. “Goddamn it, Liam, it was funny at first, but it’s getting old. Now you’re starting to sound more like my econ professor than the writer I thought I was living with.”
I guess I could see where she was coming from. When we’d met at a mutual friend’s holiday party last December I was riding high on the crest of a fresh wave of creativity. I couldn’t stop blabbing about this novel I’d planned to write. It was a Kabbalistic parody of contemporary American religious culture centering on a cabal of ambitious up-and-coming angels who set up to hit God’s target numbers of human souls by dealing in volume rather than quality….
To Serve Man (Video)
Originally a short story by Damon Knight and one of the best episodes of The Twilight Zone, and in my opinion, one of the best half-hours on television.
In you’re truly interested in “serving man” this Thanksgiving Meredith Woerner has a great post on io9.com all about that. Enjoy!
If TSA Security Measures Were Even More Invasive
Fun with Photoshop at the expense of the now thoroughly ridiculed TSA. As an aside, I actually feel sorry for the agents who are required to enforce the new rules — the Daily Mail quotes an agent saying “We hate obese passengers and people with personal hygiene issues” — definitely enough to put you off your Thanksgiving dinner just thinking about it. From Cracked:
That was number 9. Check out 16 more at Cracked
Who’s Afraid of a Beautiful Woman?
Via the First Church of Mutterhals:
There’s some exhibit at a museum in Pittsburgh featuring never before seen photos of Marilyn Monroe. Now, I’m not some retrograde star fucker who pines for the golden age of Hollywood when all the men were either latent homosexuals or confirmed rapists and all the women were hopped up on pills. But seeing Monroe’s ethereally beautiful mug plastered all over this city quickly became one of a few bright spots on my otherwise dreary morning commute.
To my horror, this morning I saw that someone defaced one of the billboards touting the exhibit. Under the copy, in awkward, sloppy lettering, stood the hastily spray painted profundity ‘women are not objects’ followed by some bastard amalgam of an anarchy sign and the symbol for female. I guess the self defense class let out early last night and someone was feeling frisky.
I’d like to address the trog that…
Peaceful Countries Do Not Celebrate Thanksgiving
"The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth" by Jennie A. Brownscombe (1914).
Thanksgiving commemorates the successful harvest and a time the Pilgrims gathered to give thanks, sharing a feast with their Native American neighbors, who had made possible their survival in the New England wilderness.
“Come, Ye Thankful People, Come” written by Henry “Dean” Alford, the gifted Christian leader of the 19th century and distinguished theologian and scholar, is considered to be one of the finest harvest and Thanksgiving hymns in all of the hymnals of Christian singing.
Writers and textbook publishers of American history have generally omitted or, if mentioned at all, glossed over historic accounts of genocide and inhumane treatment of American Indian populations.
The mythology of the American Revolution, the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights is a national story of great significance to the way the United States views itself.
The United States of America was founded on the fundamental principle…
China And Russia Quit The American Dollar
Photo: Ria Novosti
Via The China Daily:
St. Petersburg, Russia – China and Russia have decided to renounce the US dollar and resort to using their own currencies for bilateral trade, Premier Wen Jiabao and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin announced late on Tuesday.
Chinese experts said the move reflected closer relations between Beijing and Moscow and is not aimed at challenging the dollar, but to protect their domestic economies.
“About trade settlement, we have decided to use our own currencies,” Putin said at a joint news conference with Wen in St. Petersburg.
The two countries were accustomed to using other currencies, especially the dollar, for bilateral trade. Since the financial crisis, however, high-ranking officials on both sides began to explore other possibilities.
[Continues at The China Daily]
The Worst Thanksgiving Days in History
Author John Marr takes a dark look at a holiday tradition of “good old all-American chaos” on 10 Zen Monkeys:
Founding of the Ku Klux Klan, Atlanta, 1915: At 35, failed preacher William Simmons had found his true calling as a fraternal lodge leader. In addition to commanding five regiments of the Woodmen, he was a heavy in several Masonic orders and a Knight Templar.
But his dream was to have his own personal fraternal organization. And he wanted more than funny hats and secret handshakes — he wanted to revive the Ku Klux Klan. His dream came to fruition Thanksgiving Eve when 40 handpicked men gathered to re-launch the Klan. A group of 15 stalwarts recessed to the top of nearby Stone Mountain for an early morning cross-burning. Simmons tied his first recruitment drive in with D.W. Griffith’s famous film The Birth of a Nation, which opened in Atlanta the following week.…
Some Gov’t Officials Can Skip Airport Security: One Set of Rules for the Ruling Class; Another Set of Rules for the Masses
Eileen Sullivan reports on the AP via Yahoo News:
WASHINGTON — Cabinet secretaries, top congressional leaders and an exclusive group of senior U.S. officials are exempt from toughened new airport screening procedures when they fly commercially with government-approved federal security details.
Aviation security officials would not name those who can skip the controversial screening, but other officials said those VIPs range from top officials like Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and FBI Director Robert Mueller to congressional leaders like incoming House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, who avoided security before a recent flight from Washington’s Reagan National Airport.
The heightened new security procedures by the Transportation Security Administration, which involve either a scan by a full-body detector or an intimate personal pat-down, have spurred passenger outrage in the lead-up to the Thanksgiving holiday airport crush.
On Friday, the TSA exempted pilots from the new procedures; flight attendants received the same privilege on Tuesday, TSA spokesman Nicholas…
Bible Spouting, Freemason Sword-Wielding ‘Ugly Betty’ Actor Kills His Own Mother
Truly horrific, and the spouting of Bible verses and references to Freemasonry just makes it more disturbing. Via the New York Post:
A crazed bit actor wielding an ornate Freemason sword hacked his mother to death early yesterday in their Brooklyn apartment while screaming out Bible passages and Masonic references, police and witnesses said.
“Repent! Repent! Repent!” Michael Brea, screamed at his 55-year-old mother, Yannick, during his bizarre meltdown and the subsequent bloodbath at their Prospect Heights apartment, neighbors said.
Brea, 31, who had roles in Ugly Betty and the movie Step Up 3D, was heard repeatedly through the door shouting about the “architect of the universe,” a term used by Freemasons to refer to a supreme being. Longtime family friend Sylvan Benoit confirmed that Brea was a member of the Freemasons and had been to a meeting earlier in the evening.
The Masonic sword was 3-feet long and meant for ceremonial use, police sources…
‘Dear Andrew J. Crossley, Are You F—ing Stupid?’
Andrew Crossley's website after hackers targeted it
Thanks to Mark for sending us this story by Paul Kendall in the Telegraph. As the distributor of the film Rip: A Remix Manifesto, which takes a very liberal view of copyright, I want to hate Andrew Crossley as much as the correspondent whose opening line is the title of this post. On the other hand, we can’t pay our filmmakers nearly as much as we used to because of piracy. Where do you stand in this debate?
Andrew Crossley gets a lot of hate mail. Litigants contacting his central London legal practice regularly refer to him as ‘scum’. One particularly abusive email he received recently began: ‘Dear Andrew J Crossley. Are you f—ing stupid?’ before threatening to kill him.
When the young paralegals who work in his office pick up their phones they brace themselves for a tirade of abuse. On the internet, in forums…
FCC May Allow You To Text 911
If you’re unable to speak during an emergency, but still have access to your cell phone, you will soon be able to send a text, picture or video to 911. Although, until 911 dispatchers are up to date with technology you still need to pick up the phone and dial a real operator. The Wall Street Journal reports:
Here’s a public safety message: You can’t text 911.
Not yet, anyway. The Federal Communications Commission says that shortcoming was evident during the Virginia Tech massacre. Students and witnesses tried texting 911 for help. But those texts went unanswered because call centers can’t accept texts or photos.
That doesn’t appear likely to change any time soon, but the government now says it’s ready to explore the possibility of making 911 go mobile. FCC Commissioner Julius Genachowski announced today that the commission will hold a Next Generation 911 proceeding in December, the first step in an inquiry…
The Lobbyists Behind ‘Naked Scanners’
![full.body.scan[1]](http://disinfo.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/full.body.scan1.jpg "full.body.scan[1]")
Wondering what exactly prompted the TSA to adopt the outrage-provoking “nude body scanners”, which are both controversial and of questionable effectiveness? The Washington Examiner explains:
The degradations of passing through full-body scanners that provide naked pictures of you to Transportation Security Administration agents may not mean that the terrorists have won — but they do mark victories for a few politically connected high-tech companies and their revolving-door lobbyists.
Many experts and critics suspect that the full-body “naked scanners” recently deployed at U.S. airports do little to make us more secure, and a lot to make us angry, embarrassed and late. For instance, the scanners can’t see through skin, and so weapons or explosives can be hidden safely in body cavities.
But this is government we’re talking about. A program or product doesn’t need to be effective, it only needs to have a good lobby. And the naked-scanner lobby is small but well-connected.
If you’ve seen…
Tea Party Believes Thanksgiving Pilgrims Were Socialists
'The First Thanksgiving' by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris
This ought to get conversation at your dinner table fired up! Kate Zernike fuels that fire in the New York Times:
Ah, Thanksgiving. A celebration regardless of creed; a time for all Americans to come together after a divisive election year.
But why take a holiday from argument? In these fractious times, even the meaning of Thanksgiving is subject to political debate.
Forget what you learned about the first Thanksgiving being a celebration of a bountiful harvest, or an expression of gratitude to the Indians who helped the Pilgrims through those harsh first months in an unfamiliar land. In the Tea Party view of the holiday, the first settlers were actually early socialists. They realized the error of their collectivist ways and embraced capitalism, producing a bumper year, upon which they decided that it was only right to celebrate the glory of the free market and…
The Science Of Tricking People Into Buying Things
Via the often-surprisingly-good Cracked, a look at a bunch of different ways in which behavioral psychology is used by retailers to increase people’s consumer-item purchasing. For starters, we move in predictable patterns:
After years of analysis of how humans move in a store, they’ve found that we’re as easy to predict as animal migrations. Studies show that Americans like to shop counter-clockwise. We know that rotational patterns like this are common in herd animals, like elephants, but nobody is quite sure why humans do it. Studies have shown that British, Australian or Japanese shoppers tend to go the opposite way (clockwise) through the store, so some have speculated that it’s based on the side of the road you’re most used to driving on.
Knowing you’ll head right, they place the freshest, best-looking stuff they’ve got right in your path. Not the most popular stuff, mind you — they know most of you…
