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7.30.2004
Ringmaster

On the floor of the Democratic National Convention, Slate's Timothy Noah asks Jerry Springer about his plans to run for governor of Ohio in 2006.



7.29.2004
Cannes'd

Heidi MacDonald has a great summation of how the annual Nerd Prom, aka the San Diego Comic-Con, has become a defacto Sundance-type festival, or "Cannes for Fans", at once a celebration of pop culture (as personified by comics) and a complete and utter rejection of the source material (as evidenced by those comics' segregation in the outermost wildernesses of the convention and the pricing out of the people who basically built the convention itself...)



7.28.2004
A Superstitious, Cowardly Lot



You've Been Induced!

I love this story so much, I keep coming back to it.

Remember the INDUCE Act? Well, so did the Home Recording Rights Coalition. So when the current owners of the copyright to Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" claimed that the now-infamous JibJab cartoon featuring President Bush and John Kerry violated that copyright by using the song without permission, the HRRC issued a press release pointing out that every national television network that ran a story on the cartoon probably "induced" thousands more people to seek out and download the "infringing" cartoon, and under the INDUCE Act would be liable for each violation.

Thus, one could assume, were the act to be in effect today, the liability from its enforcement in this instance might potentially bankrupt the entire national news media out of business entirely.

Ooops.

Tell me again that there's a good reason for this law to pass. I dare you.



I Think He's Headed for That Small Moon



7.25.2004
Toof

My son, the night owl, at midnight:



Also: Houston, we have a tooth:









7.23.2004
Escape-A-Date

Everyone has a "bad date" story. You know exactly what I mean: you're out with someone boring, rude, stinky, whatever--and painfully stealing glances at your watch, trying desperately to manufacture the perfect excuse for escape. For me, one from a few years ago stands out in particular. I agreed to a blind date of sorts, showing a friend-of-a-friend around Washington. After a mediocre dinner, a failed attempt to get into the ice skating rink on the mall, and generally bland conversation, I suggested we go to ESPN Zone. After purchasing $20 game passes at the ticket counter, I turned to my date and offered in my best chipper-date voice, "what game should we play first?" to which he replied, "I don't know, I really don't like video games."

Well, fret no more, single minions. Now Cingular has a service that can help you escape the hell that is a bad date. Only $4.95 per month. Just try and keep a straight face when it calls you.



Did You Know You've Been Breaking the Law for Twenty Years?

Holy crap; today seems to be the day the copyright world goes crazy. Marybeth Peters, the Register of Copyrights at the US Copyright Office, apparently testified before Congress regarding the completely insane INDUCE Act now before the Senate, during which time she not only urged the Senate to approve the bill but argued that a twenty year-old case which found that VCRs were not per se copyright violating tools should be legislatively overturned. No kidding:
While you have carefully crafted this bill to preserve the 20-year-old decision in the Sony case, it may become necessary to consider whether that decision is overly protective of manufacturers and marketers of infringement tools, especially in today's digital environment. If the Sony precedent continues to be an impediment to obtaining effective relief against those who profit by providing the means to engage in mass infringement, it should be replaced by a more flexible rule that is more meaningful in the technological age, but that still vindicates the Court's goal to balance effective "and not merely symbolic" protection of copyright with the rights of others to engage in substantially unrelated areas of commerce.

While that might seem to be a bunch of gobbledygook, it basically indicates Peters' belief that the Sony decision -- which found that the mere existence of a Betamax (and by extension VCR) did not infringe on broadcasters' copyrights, and became the basis of the long-standing tradition that taping shows off of television for personal use was A-okay -- ought to be kicked to the curb. Arguing that such a decision is "overly protective of manufacturers and marketers of infringement tools" a) implies that the VCR is by definition an infringement tool and b) suggests that there should be strict limits and/or penalties on individuals or companies who devise new technologies or innovations regarding the delivery of copyrightable media or content.

Which is far and away the most ridiculously extreme position on copyright a person could take in this day and age. You know those lunatics who argue that the Federal Constitution doesn't require that you pay income taxes -- the ones everyone laughs at, because they're as nuts as Art Bell's audience? Peters' argument is about as extreme and just as unfounded in reality as theirs.

Read Ernest Miller's detailed, well-written summary and criticism of Peters' testimony at Corante.

[all via boingboing, whew!]



You'll Take My TiVo Away When You Pry It Out of My Cold, Dead Hands

What's that, TiVo? You saw what happened when big media corporations sued ReplayTV into oblivion? You've been cooperating with the media giants' demands about potential copyright violations with respect to sharing digital recordings between TiVo units? And you've gone out of your way to place technological limits on how many different TiVos and/or TVs can access a show copied on one TiVo, just like they asked? All because you wanted to work with those companies, not against them?

Well, here's a message from the media giants to you, TiVo: screw you anyways.



7.21.2004
What do you want to be when you grow up?

So since I've always truly struggled with this question--what should I REALLY do with my life--I thought the best thing to do would be to leave it in the hands of the experts.

According to the Job Predictor, my ideal job is a dietician.

Who knew. Maybe I shouldn't have wasted so much time on this whole PR gig. Pass me the fritos.

A few others you should try:
Tony Knowles
Grover Norquist
and finally... Carl George. Was there ever any doubt?




Wordplay

As one of only five people in the country who thought THE DA VINCI CODE was a pretty rotten book, full of pompous art history lectures and generally bad writing, I am now nevertheless curious to read Dan Brown's ANGELS & DEMONS, after having learned of one particular element of Brown's novel: ambigrams, or words that can be read the same from many different angles, including upside-down. I didn't believe that such a thing was possible -- until I saw Word.net's Ambigram.Matic, which allows you to make one yourself.




News Break

At the risk of repeating myself or turning this into the All Jon Stewart All the Time blog: did you happen to hear that Comedy Central's THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART was awarded the OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN NEWS AND INFORMATION award, over respectable news stalwarts FRONTLINE and NIGHTLINE, by the Television Critics Association this past weekend?

THE DAILY SHOW. Appearing on Comedy Central. A fake news show.

How can you not love this country sometimes?




7.20.2004
Sen. Palpatine, I presume

A few weeks ago, Vic raised the interesting prospect that Joe Lieberman, is, in fact, Senator Palpatine. So I offer you this for consideration. Talk amongst yourselves.





Punk'd

Apparently, it has come as a big shock to, like, everyone that a show billing itself as an unauthorized documentary of filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan was really a guerilla marketing hoax designed to promote Night's new movie, THE VILLAGE.

Well, crap. But at least I know that THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT was real. I swear. There was a show about it on Sci Fi and everything.



Time Waster

Here you go: typoGenerator, which creates art by taking input text combining it with random images and backgrounds scoured from Google Images using that particular string of words. Neat in a weird sort of Photoshop-shortcut kind of way.

(via metafilter)




7.19.2004
This Tape Will Not Self-Destruct in Five Seconds

What the hell? Sandy Berger, President Clinton's national security advisor, is under criminal investigation for allegedly removing some form of classified documents from a secure reading room prior to participating in the 9/11 Commission hearings. Unclear whether these were actual documents, handwritten notes detailing the same, or copies of the documents (which shouldn't have been removed either, apparently.)

Weird. Joshua Marshall has more details.



The Limey



This One's For Jess and Bart

Here you go: Jon Stewart manages to be funny and summarizes America's apathetic and lazy political attention span in less than sixty seconds:

JON STEWART: "Talking points. That's how we learn things. But how will I absorb a talking point like 'Edwards and Kerry are out of the mainstream' unless I get it jack hammered into my skull? That's where television lends a hand."


Read the partial/whole transcript here (found via Wonkette.)



7.18.2004
Wake Up



New photos, ha ha.

By the way, we're back from vacation.




7.09.2004
So Hard to Get Good Cleaning Help These Days

Shock, horror -- crucial microfilm which could resolve the lingering questions surrounding President Bush's Vietnam-era National Guard service was inadvertently destroyed during a project to salvage deteriorating microfilm.



It Must Be True Because They Said So

The Republican-led House bowed to a White House veto threat Thursday and stood by the USA Patriot Act, defeating an effort to block the part of the anti-terrorism law that helps the government investigate people's reading habits.

The effort to defy Bush and bridle the law's powers lost by 210-210, with a majority needed to prevail. The amendment appeared on its way to victory as the roll call's normal 15-minute time limit expired, but GOP leaders kept the vote open for 23 more minutes as they persuaded about 10 Republicans who initially supported the provision to change their votes.

"Shame, shame, shame," Democrats chanted as the minutes passed and votes were switched. The tactic was reminiscent of last year's House passage of the Medicare overhaul measure, when GOP leaders held the vote open for an extra three hours until they got the votes they needed.

...Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., said he switched his initial "yes" vote to "no" after being shown Justice Department documents asserting that terrorists have communicated over the Internet via public library computers.

...Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., read a letter from the Justice Department stating that "as recently as this past winter and spring, a member of a terrorist group closely affiliated with al-Qaida" had used Internet services at a public library. The letter mentioned no specifics, Wolf said.

"If we can stop what took place in my area," said Wolf, whose district is near the Pentagon, a Sept. 11 target, "then I want to stop that, because we've gone to enough funerals."

[more]



7.08.2004
I Don't Know Nuthin' 'Bout Buryin' No Bodies

Triple slaying at N.M. ranch stuns Sam Donaldson

HONDO, N.M. - ABC newsman Sam Donaldson described Delbert Paul Posey, his wife and children as an all-American ranch family. So Donaldson knew something terrible had happened at his Chavez Canyon Ranch in New Mexico when he went to check on the family and discovered what Lincoln County Sheriff Tom Sullivan called an "obvious crime scene."

After deputies found three bodies in a shallow grave on the ranch, Posey's 14-year-old son, Cody, was arrested Wednesday on charges of killing his father, stepmother and stepsister, authorities said. An initial court appearance was scheduled for Thursday, Sullivan said.

...The Donaldsons were in Santa Fe in northern New Mexico during the Fourth of July weekend, when the slayings apparently occurred. Sullivan said the case is still being investigated but it appeared the three had been shot Saturday.

"We didn't see them Tuesday morning or Tuesday afternoon, so I went over - and on the porch was a large stain that was instantly recognizable," Donaldson told Albuquerque television station KOB-TV.




Trusted newsman or no, I still think that guy LOOKS like he's up to no good. Look at those eyebrows!



7.07.2004
My Spidey Senses are Tingling

Why couldn't we ever pull off something like this with our Legos when we were kids, eh?? (Load time is slow!)

Anyone seen the real movie yet? Is it as good as everyone is saying it is?





Two Men Enter, One Man Leaves

VS.

OK. In the wake of yesterday's announcement by John Kerry that John Edwards would be running with him as the Democratic candidate for Vice President, everyone started talking about how exciting the inevitable Veep Debate between Edwards and Dick Cheney would be.

So be honest: am I the only one in the world who pictures it like this?





7.06.2004



7.05.2004
From the Links

My dad just got back from a three-week trip to Scotland:









7.03.2004
Carl's First Red White and Boom

1088932707glow.jpg


via phonecam



Carl inspects his first glow necklace at his mommy's favorite event of the year.
He watched most of the display but was mostly interested at watching the people around us cheer. Excellent first fireworks.



Red White and Boom



Red White and Boom



Red White and Boom

1088931876megnose.jpg


via phonecam



Megan models her new magnetic blinkers



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