Archive for 2010
« Older Entries | Newer Entries »You Can Run, But You Can’t Hide From Human Flesh Search Engines & Your Cell Phone
[ 2 Comments ]Posted on March 5, 2010 by admin in Technology
Friday, March 5th, 2010You might as well come out come out wherever you are, because between Human Flesh Search Engines, cell phone GPS, social network analysis, and erosion of privacy rights, they’re gonna find you anyway. Unless of course you’re Osama Bin Laden.
 I wish this were a parody graphic. It’s from Google China’s Human Flesh Search page. |
If you’re not paranoid or have nothing to hide, things like the UK’s millions of security cameras, the TSA subjecting you to cavity searches, and Google tracking everything you do won’t bother you, and may even comfort you somehow. Personally, although I’m not doing anything particularly questionable with my time, and am not ashamed of the questionable activities I do engage in, I enjoy the ability to say “none of your businesss” and go off into the forest to sit on a rock and think for awhile. Back in 2002, the fact that cell phone providers were going to add the GPS-powered E911 feature to phones raised the question what do they plan to do with this information? Well the answers are finally in. If you’re the Iranian government, they’ll help you prosecute and arrest political protesters. If you’re the FBI or the White House, they’ll help you track callers without a warrant, because the current administration – much like the Bush gang – believes that cell phone users have “no reasonable expectation of privacy” when using a cell phone. “So”, you say to yourself, “I’ll just ditch my cell phone then”. Ha. Forget it. They (whoever “they” are) will still find you, either using social networking like they did with Saddam Hussein , or with the latest in reverse lookups, disturbingly referred to in China as Human Flesh Search Engines. Interested in working part time as a “Google Human Flesh Searcher”? Explore your options here. I wonder if this would work for catching Osama Bin Laden? Read the rest of this entry »
False Profits Of The Econopocalypse
[ Comments Off ]Posted on March 4, 2010 by admin in Politics
Thursday, March 4th, 2010We’re in the midst of a great opportunity to create real change, and we’re blowing it, because bankers are smarter than we are.
 Maybe these banker guys just have better connections than the rest of us do |
I’ve often said that two of the best jobs in the world to have are Economist or Weatherman. Who else gets paid so much to be wrong so often? I was reminded of this recently while reading Busted: Dean Baker On The Price We’re Still Paying For The Housing Bubble in The Sun Magazine. Granted, The Sun is about is hippy-dippy liberal as publications get, but Baker says some insightful things in the piece, key amongst them being that “Economists think they’re doing their job if they are saying the same thing everyone else is saying“. He points out that economists tend to say what their bosses want to hear, for risk of damaging their careers; a couple of classic examples of this being of course demi-god Alan Greenspan, who finally fessed up about how wrong he was, and Ben Bernanke, who’s been saying there’s no bubble since 2005. Guess who still has the sweet job? Bernanke just began his second term as Chairman of the Federal Reserve on February 1. What boggles my mind at this point is that now that we KNOW top-level government and banking experts were so wrong, why do they still have jobs? If you were to make a series of decisions that bankrupted the company you work for, what would you expect to happen? The answer is obvious, so why do we – as a people – tolerate the ongoing abuse of the very banks we bailed out? Why didn’t the taxpayers get profit sharing and bonuses for bailing out the banks, instead of the CEO’s that caused the mess? I’ve been whining about the bailouts since day one, and have remained astounded at how little coverage the Quiet Coup has gotten. That Atlantic article just linked to explores what’s really happening in America right now, pointing out that “…the finance industry has effectively captured our government…” and that “…recovery will fail unless we break the financial oligarchy that is blocking essential reform…”. Which is why I’m glad some doomsayers are still saying that we’re Running On Empty or asking if maybe the government is Hiding How it Bailed Out AIG and Goldman. And finally congress at least seems to be looking at it this all as a problem. If you haven’t quite come to understand or accept the fact that your government has been “hijacked by the oligarchs” read this lengthy but level-headed Bill Moyers interview with Simon Johnson. You might start thinking that healthcare is the least of your worries.
Did EMI Say OK And Give OK Go A Pass On This Too Shall Pass?
[ Comments Off ]Posted on March 3, 2010 by admin in Music
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010The band OK Go complained about their label blocking the band’s videos on YouTube recently, and now their latest release – This Too Shall Pass – is shareable. But none of the others are. A victory over the label? Or a Rube Goldbergian marketing scheme?
Were the band Ok Go’s recent complaints about EMI’s YouTube sharing policies just part of a sneaky, low-key marketing campaign? Who cares. The band’s new brilliantly Rube Goldbergian video below is way too much fun to quibble about it. More thoughts after the clip.
While taking a look at the RIAA’s peculiar paranoia about Canadian pirates recently, we mentioned how Damian Kulash Jr. of the band OK Go
Who Is Ann Arbor, And Why Are There So Many Movies About Her?
[ 5 Comments ]Posted on March 2, 2010 by admin in Popular Media
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010Ann Arbor is a town, not a woman, and the 48th annual Ann Arbor Film Festival is coming March 23-28, 2010.
Someone actually asked me that once when I lived in San Francisco. For the uninitiated, Ann Arbor isn’t a woman, it’s a small college town in Michigan that at one time was as cool as say, Berkley, California, but has since slowly morphed into a dreary backwater of uptight Republicans and Liberal Elitists. Although it lays claim to being somehow hip and progressive, very little really happens here, and in spite of all the amazingly creative people in the area, nothing clever ever seems to escape the local scene. I jest a bit; I’m probably just being bitter because I’m tired of the place and too lazy to do anything about the fact. It’s actually a pretty cool town considering the fact that it’s only six square blocks surrounded by cornfields and strip malls. Aside from the University of Michigan’s overfunded and underperforming football team, one thing that has put Ann Arbor on the map over the years – and with good reason – is the Ann Arbor Film Festival. The festival began in 1963 as a 16mm film festival operated by the University of Michigan, and grew over the years until 1983, when it started operating on its own as a 501(c)(3) non-profit. The festival has definitely had its ups and downs over the last few decades. One of its high points was probably the 2006 festival, when Christen McArdle became executive director. McArdle not only seemed to bring a new level of professionalism to the festival (she was working for John Cusack’s New Crime Productions in LA prior to taking over), but the festival was lucky to have her at the helm that year, because she stuck to her guns when the Michigan Council for the Arts questioned the festival’s content and threatened to cut funding. The festival told them to keep their money, and managed to raise their own, showing that indy film is indeed alive and kicking. For a detailed account, see this NAMAC article by Jay Nelson. Although I barely met McArdle, anyone who questions her impact on the festival didn’t see her at the Judge’s Dinner her first year. I watched in amazement Read the rest of this entry »
Beware The Ice of March & Other Holidays
[ Comments Off ]Posted on March 1, 2010 by admin in Holidays
Monday, March 1st, 2010Yes, it’s National Frozen Food Month AND National Nutrition Month. But the Peeps got to represent too. And what the hell is an Ide, and why does March have so many?
 I’m not sure this has much to do with nutrition |
There seems to be a little contradiction in the fact that March is both National Frozen Food Month and National Nutrition Month. Especially when we all know that regarding food, March is when Peeps is the one that got to represent, and that because of Easter, it’s really all about chocolate bunnies and spanking. Another contradiction in this month’s holidays is that although it’s Irish-American Heritage Month, on the biggest seemingly-related holiday, you’ll find that many people are drunk and green, but probably not Irish. I’m also a little perplexed as to how my town is going to honor Newspaper In Education Week, since we don’t have one. Speaking of reading, do some on March 2, because it’s Read Across America Day, in honor of Dr Seuss’ birthday. Which again is a little contradictory; I for one always preferred the pictures in Dr. Seuss books, and don’t think all that hop on pop and cat in hat stuff