F**k Joe Paterno (Final Important Update, please read <3) And hey, while I'm on a roll here, I'd just like to say this too-Fuck you[redacted]. I know I'm not supposed to say your name out loud, because you were never convicted of anything, and innocent until proven guilty and all that, and because you are dead but you know what? Fuck you. Because you killed this kid right here That girl on the right,and probably the one on the left too but I can't speak for her. No, I can't speak for her-because you took her away from me. Do you know what it is like to be 10 years old, and get fucked by a grown man? Do you know what it is like to pray for your best friend to get raped? And I'll always wonder if she felt the same way. It's more than just the fact that you killed that girl though- it's what you turned her into. That's me, less than a year after that first picture was taken.
You see this girl? That's the second reincarnation of the little girl you killed. There are other pictures, ones I have lost or destroyed or never taken. Now to the criticisms. MPAA Directly & Publicly Threatens Politicians Who Aren't Corrupt Enough To Stay Bought. Reinforcing the fact that Chris Dodd really does not get what's happening, and showing just how disgustingly corrupt the MPAA relationship is with politicians, Chris Dodd went on Fox News to explicitly threaten politicians who accept MPAA campaign donations that they'd better pass Hollywood's favorite legislation... or else: "Those who count on quote 'Hollywood' for support need to understand that this industry is watching very carefully who's going to stand up for them when their job is at stake.
Don't ask me to write a check for you when you think your job is at risk and then don't pay any attention to me when my job is at stake," This certainly follows what many people assumed was happening, and fits with the anonymous comments from studio execs that they will stop contributing to Obama, but to be so blatant about this kind of corruption and money-for-laws politics in the face of an extremely angry public is a really, really, really tone deaf response from Dodd. High-Frequency Trading Inspires a Formula. In a new working paper, Godfrey Cadogan, of Toronto’s Ryerson University, offers a stock-price formula designed to capture the “empirical regularities of high frequency trading.”
As is often the case, though, the discussion can leave those of us outside the quant world confused: does the rendering of facts as a formula make them clearer, or does it just create a potentially misleading patina of precision? Given Cadogan’s ambitious-sounding program, linking HFT, bubbles, and crashes all into one formula, one remarkable feature of the result is his formula’s extreme simplicity or, as Cadogan puts it, its “parsimony.” I was reminded of the warnings in Emanuel Derman’s recent book, Models.Behaving.Badly, that the “simple models” of finance economists have failed “to reflect the complex reality of the world around them,” More… MPAA attacks Ars for "challenging efforts to curb content theft" The Motion Picture Association of America doesn't like us.
According to the MPAA blog on Tuesday, "Arts Technica" is a "tech blog with a long history of challenging efforts to curb content theft. " (If so, we're the only such tech blog that actually encouraged a now-current MPAA lawyer to do copyright coverage for our site and that recommended the pro-rightsholder book Free Ride in this year's holiday guide.) One can see why MPAA staffers might think this way. "Ars Technica opposes our attempt to gain 'broadcast flag' control over people's digital devices," they might say. Put this way, the problem becomes clear: it's a simple conflation of our opposition to absolutely freaking insane (you'll forgive the slight hyperbole) approaches to copyright enforcement with opposition to enforcement of any kind.
It's a lot like saying, thirty years ago, that anyone who supported the VCR and its nefarious, time-shifting ways was to copyright holders what the Boston Strangler was to women home alone. Electronics : Service Manual free download,schematics,datasheets,eeprom bins,pcb,repair info for test equipment and electronics. tJeLP. Let’s Start Paying College Athletes. The greatest trick Apple ever pulled was making you think it’s YOUR fault | Roee Adler's Clown College. As we (Soluto) move into the Mac world, it became clear to me that I, a proud PC guy, have to become a Mac user for a while in order to be able to get inside the heads of Mac users. So at the risk of letting my soul get sucked into the fanboi dark side, I bought the cheapest MacBook Pro and started working with it as my main machine. There are things I like and there are things I don’t, but the purpose of this post is not to provide a pros/cons chart.
It’s to tell a short tale that goes much deeper. You see, a little while after I started using my new MacBook Pro (as in a few hours after I unboxed it and started using it), its fan started working. And it was loud. Not a clicky-ti-click-somehing’s-stuck-there noisy, but just a higher volume than what I’m used to with my $599 Asus laptop. This raised a flag in my brain, so I went to a couple more smart people and told them off-hand that my MacBook has a surprisingly loud fan. TSA Arrests Me for Using the Fourth Amendment as a Weapon (Tales from the Edge of a Revolution #2)
I'm speaking loud and clear so those around me can hear. Before I get to "unreasonable search" a man in an ill-fitting suit and a tie marches up to me. He tells me I was disrupting his operation. I have no idea what his position is. He stands in front of the metal detector--the first place they usually screen me. He asks me to go with him to some undisclosed location to “talk”. He asks me what airline I'm on.
I say as loudly and clearly as I can, "I am being told I can not fly for reading you the Fourth Amendment. " He says, "If you keep this up I'll call the police. " I say as loud as I can, "You are going to arrest me for reading the Constitution? " "You are disrupting the screening process, and yes we will arrest you. " Again, I say I will be screened but not by the machine. The police do come, two of them. I look behind him to the startled mass of silent passengers. They jack hammer questions at me, name, where am I from, phone number, etc. Guy with a Tie tells the cops I won't be flying. G.O.P. Monetary Madness. Volkswagen turns off Blackberry email after work hours.
RIAA Whines That Google Won't Let It Program Google's Search Algorithm. There's been some discussion about the RIAA's ridiculous report card on Google's "progress" in dealing with infringement. Remember, a year ago, Google promised to take steps to appease the RIAA, even though it wasn't required to under the law. Both Ars Technica and TorrentFreak have good coverage of the ridiculousness of the report card, but I wanted to dive into a few of the specific claims, which just seem laughable. Let's start with the really ridiculous claim that Google isn't doing enough to remove search terms from "autocomplete. " As we noted at the time of Google's announcement, this seemed silly and pointless. How would you figure out what words to choose? For example, 10 years ago, the industry would be upset about mp3 -- but now everyone sells unencrypted mp3s. And, indeed, the RIAA seems to believe that certain words that aren't illegal should be associated with infringement: Now that's interesting.
Drug Laws Harm Teens More Than Pot Does - Room for Debate. Joseph D. McNamara, retired police chief of San Jose, Calif., is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. The appearance of any new study indicating an increase in marijuana use by youth is always a prelude to a renewed government surge in America’s war on drugs. But let’s be realistic about our options. It's not as though tough enforcement keeps kids away from marijuana. Usage goes up and down no matter what we do. By keeping marijuana illegal, we nudge youngsters into contact with real criminals engaged in the drug trade. We should be asking: Is the drug war worth fighting? We shouldn't, of course, recommend to kids that they get high on pot instead of drunk on booze or blasted on coke, but recognizing that they may not be the perfect children that we were, the following facts speak for themselves: No one ever died from using marijuana, unlike alcohol or cocaine.
UMG claims "right to block or remove" YouTube videos it doesn't own. Universal Music Group has responded to Megaupload's request for a temporary restraining order barring the music giant from further interference with the distribution of its "Mega Song. " UMG insists that it had a right to take down the video—not under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, as Megaupload had assumed, but under a private contractual arrangement between UMG and YouTube. UMG's filing raises more questions than it answers. Most obviously, the firm has not explained why it took down the video in the first place. But the filing also raises deeper questions about UMG's effort to essentially opt out of the DMCA takedown rules.
UMG seems to believe it can take down videos even if it doesn't hold the copyright to them, and that when UMG takes a video down from YouTube, the owner of that video can't avail herself of even the weak protections against takedown abuse provided by the DMCA. A different kind of takedown "Not limited to copyright infringement"
Universal Music claims it has a private deal with Google to take down YouTube videos it doesn't own. The saga of Universal Music's war on the Mega Song (a song and video recorded by several major artists in support of the online service MegaUpload, which Universal is trying to have censored in the USA through its support of the Stop Online Piracy Act) just got weirder. Many of us were baffled that Universal kept telling YouTube to take down this video, even though it was clear they didn't hold a copyright to it -- a fact reinforced by artists like will.i.am, who insisted that he hadn't authorized Universal to send the takedown notice. Now, a court filing in the matter from Universal claims that the takedown wasn't issued because Universal claims a copyright in the Mega Song, but rather, they claim that they have a private contract with Google giving them the power to take down videos they dislike, regardless of whether they are the rightsholder.
UMG claims "right to block or remove" YouTube videos it doesn't own. ZH9JV. 'Vocal Fry' Creeping Into U.S. Speech. A curious vocal pattern has crept into the speech of young adult women who speak American English: low, creaky vibrations, also called vocal fry. Pop singers, such as Britney Spears, slip vocal fry into their music as a way to reach low notes and add style. Now, a new study of young women in New York state shows that the same guttural vibration—once considered a speech disorder—has become a language fad. Vocal fry, or glottalization, is a low, staccato vibration during speech, produced by a slow fluttering of the vocal cords (listen here).
Since the 1960s, vocal fry has been recognized as the lowest of the three vocal registers, which also include falsetto and modal—the usual speaking register. In the new study, scientists at Long Island University (LIU) in Brookville, New York, investigated the prevalence of vocal fry in college-age women. The study is the first to quantify the prevalence of vocal fry in normal speech, although other researchers have noted the pattern. Send In the Clueless. Think about what it takes to be a viable Republican candidate today. You have to denounce Big Government and high taxes without alienating the older voters who were the key to G.O.P. victories last year — and who, even as they declare their hatred of government, will balk at any hint of cuts to Social Security and Medicare (death panels!).
And you also have to denounce President Obama, who enacted a Republican-designed health reform and killed Osama bin Laden, as a radical socialist who is undermining American security. So what kind of politician can meet these basic G.O.P. requirements? There are only two ways to make the cut: to be totally cynical or totally clueless. Mitt Romney embodies the first option. Mr. Romney’s strategy, in short, is to pretend that he shares the ignorance and misconceptions of the Republican base. Unfortunately from his point of view, however, his acting skills leave something to be desired, and his insincerity shines through. And Mr. Rich People DON'T Create Jobs: 6 Myths That Have to Be Killed for Our Economy to Live.
December 9, 2011 | Like this article? Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. The following article first appeared in Mother Jones. For more great content from Mother Jones, sign up for free email updates here. In the movie Groundhog Day, Bill Murray's character is forced to relive a single day over and over and over—waking up to the same song every morning, meeting the same people, having the same conversations—until, after thousands of repetitions, he finally realizes what a shmo he's been his entire life. With that epiphany, the calendar starts to flip forward again. When it comes to the economy, we're stuck in our own version of Groundhog Day—and this one doesn't seem to be coming to an end. Unfortunately, these zombie talking points aren't just wrong; they're dangerous. For the first four years of his presidency, Franklin Roosevelt tackled the Great Depression with inflation, easy monetary policy, and government spending.
Bust or Boost? Universal Censors Megaupload Song, Gets Branded a “Rogue Label” Earlier today, Megaupload released a pop video featuring mainstream artists who endorse the cyberlocker service. News of the controversial Mega Song even trended on Twitter, but has now been removed from YouTube on copyright grounds by Universal Music. Kim Dotcom says that Megaupload owns everything in the video, and that the label has engaged in dirty tricks in an attempt to sabotage their successful viral campaign. This morning we published an article on a new campaign by cyberlocker service Megaupload. Site founder Kim Dotcom told TorrentFreak he had commissioned a song from producer Printz Board featuring huge recording artists including P Diddy, Will.i.am, Alicia Keys, Kanye West, Snoop Dogg, Chris Brown, The Game and Mary J Blige. These and others were shouting the praises of Megaupload. By this afternoon #megaupload was trending on Twitter as news of the song spread. And then, just a little while ago, the music stopped.
“Those UMG criminals. “Mega owns everything in this video. Untitled. The Republicans' Farcical Candidates: A Club of Liars, Demagogues and Ignoramuses - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International. Africa is a country. In Libya, the Taliban reigns. Muslims are terrorists; most immigrants are criminal; all Occupy protesters are dirty. And women who feel sexually harassed -- well, they shouldn't make such a big deal about it. Welcome to the wonderful world of the US Republicans. As it turns out, there are no limits to how far they will stoop.
It's true that on the road to the White House all sorts of things can happen, and usually do. It's horrifying because these eight so-called, would-be candidates are eagerly ruining not only their own reputations and that of their party, the party of Lincoln lore. 'Freakshow' They lie. "When did the GOP lose touch with reality? " That may be the most appropriate description. Tough times demand tough and smart minds. Factually Challenged And so the farce continues. Take Herman Cain, "businessman. " In the most recent twist, a woman accused Cain of having carried on a 13-year affair with her. No Shortage of Chutzpah The hypocrisy doesn't end here. US Politics | AMERICAblog News. Fliers Still Must Turn Off Devices, but It's Not Clear Why. The Copyright Industry – A Century Of Deceit.