In other news, water found to be wet
Posted by Shane Smith in Bigotry, Conservatives, Internet, Racism, Society on January 27, 2012
In a study sure to upset no one at all…..
There’s no gentle way to put it: People who give in to racism and prejudice may simply be dumb, according to a new study that is bound to stir public controversy.
This is a great opening line to an article, not just because of what it says, but because of what it doesn’t say. It implies that this article will offend some people, and that controversy will abound, but then says something that has been pretty uncontroversial for some time. And avoids stating the link that will really piss people off.
The research finds that children with low intelligence are more likely to hold prejudiced attitudes as adults. These findings point to a vicious cycle, according to lead researcher Gordon Hodson, a psychologist at Brock University in Ontario. Low-intelligence adults tend to gravitate toward socially conservative ideologies, the study found. Those ideologies, in turn, stress hierarchy and resistance to change, attitudes that can contribute to prejudice, Hodson wrote in an email to LiveScience.
PIPA SOPA ACTA and TPP Designed to Eliminate Safe Harbors
Posted by Ken Bingham in censorship, copyright on January 26, 2012
Since then Hollywood, the music industry, and the media have vowed to either eliminate Safe Harbors completely or render it meaningless. Bills such as SOPA and PIPA are designed to do just that. Now we have ACTA and TPP and other international agreements that are designed to do the same thing without any input from the public, effected industries, or civil liberties groups and even sidestep Congress and government bodies around the world.
The gist of the matter is if we lose Safe Harbors we have lost the Internet.
Present Law Works; Just Not Well Enough I Guess
Posted by Larry Bergan in congress, copyright, Free Speech, Intellectual Property, Internet, This Blog on January 26, 2012
A young man asked me how I was doing today and I said I was OK, but mad at the government. He said he was too and asked if I ever used the internet. 
He said the government had just shut down a website called Megaupload. I have never heard of this site, but – sure enough – when I got home I typed in the URL and saw this screen which has been reproduced at Wikipedia along with an article about the Megaupload site:
Apparently the site, originally based in Hong Kong was taken down one day after the recent internet blackout protest meant to sway congressmen from voting for the SOPA/PIPA bills.
I am against internet piracy for the sake of profiting off other artists and if this was done for that sake, I have no problem with the shutdown.
My question is this:
If they already have tools to go after copyright theft in other countries, why the new bills? Is the government getting tired of going through the regular legal channels?
3D Printing, the Next Battleground Over IP
Posted by Ken Bingham in copyright on January 26, 2012
3D printing will be the next battleground over IP. This technology will change the world more profoundly than the Internet has thus far. Once the cost of the printers and materials for copying are down to consumer levels the applications will be limitless. Imagine printing car parts, clothing, any physical object? It will have applications we cannot even imagine right now. This is the precursor to a Star Trek like replicator.
Unlike the movie and music industries that failed to see the implications of the Internet and did not act until it was too late the manufacturing industries can already see this coming. They can either see the potential and enthusiastically embrace it or they can circle the wagons ala RIAA and try and sue the technology out of existence in its infancy and/or create laws that will make criminals out of anyone but industry using such a device.
This is why the copyright wars of today are critical to the future because they will set the stage for how things will be done in the future.
Once the genie is out of the bottle there is no turning back so the smart move will be for industries to adapt. Those that do will be the power companies of tomorrow and those that don’t will be left behind as they fight an endless and fruitless battle to put the genie back in the bottle which has always failed throughout history.
http://harvardcollegetechreview.com/2011…
Photo Attribution: Flickr
Senator Hatch is Lucky SOPA/PIPA Didn’t Pass. Used Image Without Permission.
Posted by Ken Bingham in censorship, copyright on January 25, 2012
Michael Jolley took a photo of Orrin Hatch and posted it on Facebook and his Flickr page with a Creative Commons Licence which allows other users to use the photo as long as they give attribution. As you know Senator Hatch has always been a crusader on copyright protection so you would think the Senator would be sensitive on copyright issues. However, Senator Hatch and/or his campaign lifted the image and placed it on both Sentor Hatch’s Flickr page and their campaign website without attribution nor permission from Jolley.
Not only did they lift it but added their own © All rights reserved to a photo they did not own with no attribution.
On Facebook’s Utah Republican Party – Official Group, Michael Jolley took Senator Hatch to task and made the observation that SOPA like laws could cause Hatch to lose his entire website for posting copyrighted materials without permission. Mr Jolly demanded a news conference where Senator Hatch would publicly apologize. Hatch’s campaign manager, Dave Hansen, gave a terse response basically saying what Hatch did was no big deal because Jolley uploaded the photo to Facebook and tagged the Photo as if this somehow gave the Senator permission to use the photo as he saw fit even claiming “all rights reserved”.
Dave Hansen on Facebook ~ “Now let me get this straight Michael. You took a picture of the Senator, then tagged it to his facebook account in effect saying “Here is a picture I took of you, without any reference to a copyright, now months later you are whining about “copyright infringment”. You will have a long, cold wait for a press conference of apology. Get a life.”
People have been sued by Righthaven and others for doing the same thing Senator Hatch did. The penalties for copyright infringement can be up to $190,000 per infringement. These draconian laws were not just passed by the Senator but championed by him. He needs to practice what he legislates lest he find himself on the receiving end of these draconian laws.
**images sent by Michael Jolley with permission to post them**
Embarrassing
Posted by Shane Smith in 2012 Elections, American People, Conservatives on January 25, 2012
Consider for a moment the typical GOP operative. Not the voters, but the “members” of the organization. Everyone from the rank and file to the presidential candidates. The coffee guy to the Mittens.
These are people who argue that the military is less capable today under Obama than at any time in the last hundred years. Because I don’t know about you, but I am sure the Air Force from 1985 (what a good year ’85 was. Great season. And the coaching? Don’t get me started.) could win in a war with todays Air Force. These are people who can look you in the eye and claim that Craig wasn’t soliciting gay sex in a bathroom, but just “has a wide stance,” and not blink. People who can claim to have 30 “jobs bills” that the other party refuses to pass even though, a) they have 27 b) not one of those bills could pass even their own party c) not one of those bills creates a job, even if you count like a republican and think 27 is 30 d) all of the above.
We are talking about people with literally no shame.
Ain’t related to no Monkey
Posted by Shane Smith in American People, Evolution, Religion, Science, This Blog on January 24, 2012
Interesting observation at Dispatches from the Culture Wars. But it really raises more questions than it answers for me.
NPR asks why so many people have trouble accepting the theory of evolution, and reports on survey data that shows a direct correlation with educational achievement. The lower one’s level of formal education, the more likely they are to reject evolution, and vice versa.
Hardly shocking. For one thing it is difficult to see how we can expect someone to support a theory they haven’t been taught. I don’t know how typical it was, but my own junior and senior high experience feature not a single teacher who dared broach the subject of evolution as a subject to be taught. The only teacher who would discuss it at all was vocally against it and referred to it as “the work of the devil.” If you think that didn’t make an impression on students in predominantly LDS Idaho and Utah schools, you didn’t grow up here. Better yet, the teacher was a former bishop.
Swimming in Systems
Posted by Glenden Brown in 2012 Elections, American History, American People, This Blog on January 24, 2012
The US is a system; it is an open system which means the other systems with which it communicates affect it. Internal events have effects as well; the national system is made up of a host of smaller interconnected systems. The Republican primary has got me thinking about systems in actions.
Posted sans comment
Posted by Shane Smith in Gun Control on January 23, 2012
Colorado republicans push bill to allow guns in schools. Alrighty then.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/01…
Family Values
Posted by Shane Smith in This Blog on January 23, 2012
Marc Cenedella, CEO of TheLadders.com and a potential Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in New York, has the family values vote all tied up if he decides to run. And by “family values” I mean “hates women, the GLBT community, and icky ethnic people.” You know, the GOP base. Taking a page from Newt’s book, (you can tell he is pro-family because he has had so many of them) he has decided to wow potential voters with his charisma by posting such headline articles on the company blog as: “Sexy vs Skanky” and “Dating advice for girly girls.”. Which isn’t too bad, until you read about his “mens’ holiday” where women all cook up steak and perform oral sex all day. Remember girly girls, oral doesn’t count! (spoiler alert, that was the message of the “Twilight” series)
The company claims it was a test site, and not his blog. Which makes you wonder about the tech knowledge of a man who runs a .com company but doesn’t know what is posted under his name at his company site.
Look, we get it. The “family values” crowd values everything but family, and wouldn’t know decent behavior towards women or minorities if it bit them, but will they learn this fact and stop campaigning on the “holier than thou” platform? Please?
The Internet and Politics
Posted by Nathan Erkkila in 4th Estate (Media), Society, the Internet on January 23, 2012
The political system and the way we do politics has changed. Since the dawn of time, politicians have been lying. All of them. They lie to boast about their achievements. They lie to slander their opponent and they lie about caring for the less fortunate. But with Youtube, we can shine a light on these liars.
Think about it this way. Occupy has been slandered and blacked out by the media and yet they are still around. It’s because of the Internet. Congress has a small approval rating, from 9% down to 5% last I checked. It’s because of the Internet. The media panders to their corporate masters at the expense of real, unbiased journalism. The Internet allows us to find the truth. That is why the Democrats won in 2006 and 2008. It’s also why they lost in 2010 (And they rightfully deserved it).
Anytime a politician or the media lies to us, then someone out of the 350,000,000 Americans is going to call that person out and they will be seen as a liar or a hypocrite. Truthfully, it comes to no surprise that the Internet is under constant attack from politicians. The system was never accountable to the people, but that is changing. That is why we are seeing politics in a clearer light. SOPA, PIPA, COPE, failed to pass because the web is too strong and we know who to blame if they did pass. So now we are seeing a miracle. The GOP is actually voting in the interest of the people because they can’t get away with abusing us anymore.
Why Choose?
Posted by Shane Smith in 2012 Elections, American People, Democracy, UFO, Voting Rights on January 23, 2012
A friend asked whether I thought it was more likely that the typical GOP candidate knew voter fraud laws just made it harder for certain democrat leaning populations to vote or if they really where dumb enough to think it was a serious problem.
I don’t think this is a one or the other issue.
…but it certainly is bullshit.
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