Archive for 2010
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[ 1 Comment ]Posted on August 9, 2010 by admin in Editorial & Opinion
Monday, August 9th, 2010Why we’re instituting a “Don’t Link, Don’t Share” policy. Please do not view, link to, or share these links.
As we mentioned last week, there’s something funny about the way some people develop a sense of ownership when sharing a link, to the extent that “decent” people will add a “via” credit when re-sharing the link. This is especially funny given that the web is, when all is said and done, NOTHING BUT A SERIES OF LINKS. It’s also amusing that this kind of “link valor” still exists at a time when all you find at the top of most Google search results are Scraper Sites. Obviously, some people not only don’t care who’s link they’re sharing, they don’t particularly care who’s content they’re sharing. Which is why I’m going to have to point out that this brief article and the links within it are subject to copyright. So please do not share them. You may review our detailed terms of service and linking policy here. Actually, that’s Ticketmaster UK’s legal page, but we like the way they phrased things. So just replace “Ticketmaster” with “Dissociated Press” wherever it’s appropriate. And especially mind the bit that says “”You also agree not to deep-link to the site for any purpose, unless specifically authorised by Ticketmaster Dissociated Press to do so.” And if you think we’re crazy for instituting these policies, check out this collection of sites that ban you from linking to them. If a policy’s good enough for Jimmy Choo, it’s good enough for us. So on with de linking… Read the rest of this entry »
No Tax Cuts For The Rich Until They Buy More Stuff
[ Comments Off ]Posted on August 8, 2010 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture
Sunday, August 8th, 2010In fact, if more of them don’t get on board with Warren Buffet and Bill Gates’ GivingPledge.org idea, maybe we should just eat them.
 When you look at the numbers it’s a no-brainer. |
I find it a little difficult to stomach that there’s any kind of debate about extending the Bush tax cuts for the rich. With a stalled economy, 2.5 trillion in debt still laying around from when we “fixed” it, a 16.5% unemployment rate, and 1 in 8 Americans actually struggling to eat, what kind of psychology makes it possible for someone who already has hundreds of times more than they need to sit by the pool fretting about whether or not they’re losing the tax breaks they probably didn’t deserve in the first place? Even Timothy Geithner thinks that we should let them expire. And while the wealthiest are figuring out how to adjust their budget, they better figure out how to spend some money, because their tightwad behavior is wrecking any hope for a recovery that we have. In fact, I’ve got a better idea. Well, it’s actually Bill Gates’ and Warren Buffet’s idea too, but like you probably did, I thought of this a long time ago. How about they just GIVE ALL THAT EXTRA MONEY AWAY? That GivingPledge.org site is even inspiring Dicks named Larry to get off his yacht long enough to get on board. It’s a great idea, because the money pledged doesn’t go to a specific cause or charity, and the person pledging doesn’t really have to do anything, they just have to say they will, which inspires a lot of dialogue, and therefore, inevitably, guilt. Which eventually is bound to result in some actual philanthropy. If more wealthy people can’t get the hang of this, I say we eat them. How about you?
Why 7 Year Old Julie Murphy Should Go To Jail
[ Comments Off ]Posted on August 7, 2010 by admin in Editorial & Opinion
Saturday, August 7th, 2010Lemonade stands have recently become an excellent symbol for everything that’s wrong with America.
Back in July, Terry Savage of the Chicago Sun-Times posted this amusing piece about little girls that were (brace yourself) GIVING AWAY lemonade and candy bars at their lemonade stand in some unidentified “upscale neighborhood”. The gist of what he was saying was summed up well in the sidebar of the piece, which read: “Three girls giving away free lemonade isn’t cute, it’s indicative of the lack of economic responsibility we’re passing on to future generations“. Which I personally disagreed with in many ways; if these were children of today’s nouveau riche who have little sense of how their wealth obligates them to a certain amount social responsibility and leadership-by-example, then the kids were actually teaching their ignorant yuppy parents a lesson in sharing your excess for the good of the community that helped make you wealthy. There’s nothing wrong with being rich, but historically in America, those who have possessed the most enduring wealth have always understood the importance of giving back some of the prosperity they enjoy. All of which may lead you to believe that I’m some sort of socialist hippy tree hugger that would support the recent goings on in Portland, Oregon, in which the local health department shut down poor little 7-year-old Julie Murphy’s lemonade stand (sending her home crying), because it was operating without proper permits. Well, Oregon being Oregon, the public outcry forced the health department to reverse their decision, and now we have former accused criminal Murphy saying she’s not bitter about the whole thing. Not bitter? This is like Karl Rove saying he’s not bitter about the failed subpoenas against him when he hid behind executive privilege in the Bush era. No, I think Julie Murphy and her mom should go to jail. They were not only violating public health laws, there’s a good chance they were violating child labor laws as well. Who knows what – if anything – little Julie Murphy was getting paid, or if appropriate taxes were being levied against the lemonade stand’s gross revenue or the staff’s income. And the local health department bowing to public sentiment is yet another example of what’s wrong with America today. Good governing is based on reasoned public discourse and letting knowledgeable leaders present sensible options to the public to vote on, not knee-jerk regulatory reactions to public sentiment. If you don’t already doubt the wisdom of the crowd theory, just ponder American Idol, YouTube, MySpace, Yahoo Answers, or read this piece by Fark.com‘s creator to see where this kind of “wisdom” takes us. Letting these lawbreakers continue to operate unregulated sets a horrible precedent. Soon you’ll have companies like British Petroleum setting up oil rigs without proper permits, manning them with children, and claiming that it was the kids’ idea and that they saw nothing wrong with paying children the several hundred dollars a day a typical rig worker gets paid. Read the rest of this entry »
269 Reasons Why Wyclef Shouldn’t Run For President Of Haiti
[ Comments Off ]Posted on August 6, 2010 by admin in Politics
Friday, August 6th, 2010Someone needs to tell Wyclef that Autotune doesn’t work on countries.
 Reason 269: This Hat |
How about every second of this video, which is basically an advertisement for a company that among other things tries to screw its own artists and sue its customers, and features the aging white master of third world exploitation famous for screwing pretty much every artist involved in the making of Graceland. Or maybe reason #268, which is that he may not qualify as a candidate anyway. I say this all in jest of course – who knows, maybe Wyclef as the president of Haiti is a great idea. Maybe the devastated island nation would actually benefit somehow from the excessive use of autotune. But joking aside, Wyclef as president of any nation sounds like a bad idea to me for the same reason that Bono, Bob Geldof, or Peter Gabriel as a nation’s leader sounds like a bad idea. No matter how much one may admire the artist or their philanthropic activities, they are still – at their core – people who made their living shilling corporate products in one of the most greed-driven and image conscious industries on the planet. What do YOU think? Is Wyclef as president a good idea? Read the rest of this entry »
Public Transit Gets Personal
[ Comments Off ]Posted on August 5, 2010 by admin in Clean & Green
Thursday, August 5th, 2010Would you trade your car for this kind of personalized point to point mass transit?
 Okay. Maybe they’ll have to sex up the look a little. This DOES look kind of like an external hard drive for your Mac. |
As someone who for most of his adult life has thought of the personal automobile as one of the stupidest inventions in the history of mankind, I’m always looking for a convincing alternative to present to my oil-addicted car owner friends. It doesn’t help when clever Chinese engineers come up with creative but ultimately nutty ideas like huge rail-dependent “straddle buses” that cars can drive under (video below). And while the Commutapult is one creative idea for personal rapid transit, it’s perhaps a bit too rapid. Even if they do provide a stabilizer for your latte, as pictured here. In spite of the humor of that concept, the fact is that Personal Rapid Transit is probably the smartest, most viable idea out there that has any hope of replacing the automobile, or in some cases – like with the Synchrotrain concept – partially replacing it, while incorporating a sensible way for cars to ride piggyback. Personal Rapid Transit concepts are probably the only mass-transit ideas that have any hope of addressing that one big obstacle to public acceptance, i.e.: our ego-driven need to go where we want, when we want. There are a number of systems in various stages of planning and construction, and two systems actually in or near operation, one at Heathrow Airport and one in Morgantown, West Virginia. There are also arguments against the viability of these systems, but it seems fairly obvious to me that most who oppose the idea vehemently overlook what recent technology and innovative thinking can bring to the mix. What do you think? Would you give up your car to ride these things? Videos of various concepts below. Read the rest of this entry »