January 2012
28 posts
Being a pirate is all fun and games 'til somebody...
The GOP primaries are an amusing reality show, but one of these clowns will be the nominee*… and might actually even win!
* Baring a brokered convention, which would also make great TV.
"Human Capital"
In our business metaphors, corporations are people and workers are machines. Things could be worse:
According to WantChinaTimes, Terry Gou, the head of Hon Hai (Foxconn), the largest contract manufacturer in the world, had this to say at a recent meeting with his senior managers:
“Hon Hai has a workforce of over one million worldwide and as human beings are also animals, to manage one...
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Bizarro world
Republicans sense opportunity with SOPA and PIPA to brand Democrats as corporate tools beholden to liberal Hollywood elites. They would not be completely wrong.
Expect to see the GOP line up in opposition, leaving Democrats holding the bag. Can’t the Democrats see they’re being punked?
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All your base are belong to us
What he said:
I think the not quite made enough point about these types of laws [SOPA, PIPA] is that they’re really not about stemming piracy, they’re about big media companies declaring that the internet is ours now, bitches!
— Atrios
I’d add that the major ISPs also prefer a more regulated internet. The more they are required to police, the more they control. The...
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"Corporations are people"
Human rights? Seriously?
Hedge funds have been known to use hardball tactics to make money. Now they have come up with a new one: suing Greece in a human rights court to make good on its bond payments.
— NY Times
You must feed them steak and lobster
As I’ve often remarked, the inner meaning of SOPA and PIPA is a not very subtle message to Silicon Valley companies: “What part of ‘pay to play’ do you not get?”
As long as the entertainment industry spends more money in Washington than the tech industry, bad laws like SOPA and PIPA will appear with frightening regularity. The government will seem ignorant and...
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"Hire a lobbyist like everyone else"
I can’t support these tactics by “Anonymous,” but this congresssional aide’s response speaks volumes.
Lawmakers and their aides have also been targeted. One 25-year-old Congressional aide’s face was superimposed on to pornographic images by a purportedly ‘Anonymous’-affiliated group. Another aide expressed bafflement as to why hackers would resort to these types of...
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WatchDick Dale @ The Blank Club
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File under "level playing field"
Philipp Hildebrand’s (alleged) insider trading is all over the news today. He might be forced to resign, but he probably won’t be prosecuted. Interestingly, the guy who fingered him probably will be:
The bank that allegedly handled the transactions, Banque Sarasin, said an employee had leaked client information by transmitting banking details to a lawyer close to the SVP. It said the...
All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace
I don’t watch much TV, but All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace was great.
Watch here.
December 2011
55 posts
And another thing about rules...
If you’re one of the .01% and you don’t like the rules, you can get them changed or have them waved:
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is intervening in his state’s presidential primary dispute and plans to file emergency legislation to address the inability of most Republican presidential candidates to get their name on the ballot, Fox News has learned.
Meanwhile,...
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Different Rules
Further proof that there are different rules for the .01% than for the rest of us:
Mark Hurd, former Hewlett-Packard chief executive, is accused in a letter made public on Thursday of using company funds to hire a former star of erotic thrillers as a contractor, and pressing her for sex during a two-year campaign of harassment. It is alleged he repeatedly invited her to spend the night with him...
Just World Hypothesis
[Psychologist Melvin] Lerner hypothesized that the belief in a just world is crucially important for people to maintain for their own well-being. However, people are confronted daily with evidence that the world is not just: people suffer without apparent cause. Lerner explained that people use strategies to eliminate threats to their belief in a just world. These strategies can be rational or...
Oh Lord!
A “charismatic” grifter church is colonizing my neighborhood. The opening sermon is “How To Make Every Day Friday.”
The reason they say religion is the opium of the people is that Prozac hadn’t been invented yet.
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Oh, the humanity
The makers of X-Men action figures claim that since the X-Men are not human (mutants, duh!), that the action figures aren’t dolls but, rather, toys and thus qualify for lower import tariffs. Or something!
Customs classified the items as “Dolls representing only human beings and parts and accessories thereof: Dolls whether or not dressed: Other: Not over 33 cm in height,”...
WatchSan Jose parking: Fail
Stevie Oedipus Wonder?
A heartwarming story of a lost blind dog who, through sheer luck and a fortuitous Craigslist post, was reunited with its owner:
Stevie, a dog born without eyes and apparently abused by a previous owner, was found early in 2011 by Gutierrez’s daughter as he wandered near a city duck pond. Instantly, the dog became a part of the family, responding to their voices and dragging Gutierrez out for...
Boxing Day
Apparently Boxing Day was the original Christmas bonus:
Boxing Day is traditionally a day following Christmas when wealthy people in the United Kingdom would give a box containing a gift to their servants.
Best Christmas Movie Ever
Elf.
Deal with it.
NYTimes book reviewer 1, straw man 0
“The scientific revolution was, by any scientific measure, wholly Eurocentric.” Ferguson pays due respect to the intellectual and scientific contributions of China and Islam, but makes it clear that modern science and technology are fundamentally Western products. He asks if any non-Western state can simply acquire scientific knowledge without accepting other key Western institutions like...
Oh dear Santa please!
The Donald is eying an independent bid. Oh please please please!
Billionaire businessman Donald Trump has changed his voter registration in New York state from Republican to unaffiliated to preserve his option of running for president as an independent.
Michael Cohen, special counsel to Trump, said Friday that Trump could enter the race if Republicans fail to nominate a candidate who the real...
Want some comedy with your security theatre?
No? Me neither.
Eggnog can be an alternate to fuel depending on who’s mixing it. Sometimes there’s a fine line between a beverage and hazmat. Just sayin’…Remember the 3-1-1 liquids rule at the checkpoint. Unless it’s in small container (3.4 oz or less), this tasty liquid treat is not allowed.
…
Christmas Sweaters: If you have one of those Christmas sweaters with blinking lights, you...
Solstice
Yay!
An even more cynical view of SOPA
The Stop Online Piracy Act is, of course, a travesty and a power grab by Big Media, but there may be something even more diabolical at work. To me it reads as a clear message to wealthy Silicon Valley companies: “What part of ‘Pay to Play’ do you not understand?”
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Extra White
The blatantly racist crap GOP candidates have been spewing lately has sent me on a little quest to try to better understand racism in our society, and that led me back to the brilliant “Yo, Is this Racist?” tumblr. A recent response there sums it up nicely enough:
Yo man, if there isn’t enough shit in the world to make you feel good about being White, I can’t help you.
He (she?)...