Holy crap!

I am completely boggled. Both of those guys (including the pilot) are clearly insane.

OMGWTFBBQ

I guess if you stand in the right place and squint your eyes just right, it kind of sort of looks like something that could resemble a strategy: some loser company making crappy copy-protection software is sending cease-and-desist letters to Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, and Real Systems. "What did these companies do to run afoul of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act?" I'll pretend you asked. Why, they didn't buy some low-rent techie's copy-protection software, which some lawyer is going to claim is circumventing an access control mechanism.

Once again, Jesus H. Christ on a pogo stick.

Well played, sir

I'm glad to see that the Governator's office is treating the petition with all the seriousness it deserves.

So now both of you have come right out and said that?

11 House Republicans told President Bush that the war is bad for the GOP. Let me repeat that, in case the stupidity wasn't clear enough

They said the WAR is bad for the GOP.

Jesus H. Christ on a pogo stick.

Who's making this crap?

So I'm watching American Idol last night, and was once again completely apoplectic at the obvious incompetence of the sound engineer(s) on this show. How are they not getting fired? They don't seem to be getting any better, so clearly their on-the-job training isn't working out so well. I've lost count of the number of times I've complained to Kathy that the background singers or the band is too hot for the lead vocal mike. Does the sound engineer not listen to the mix during the show? Seriously?

The director and/or D.P. sucks too, but at least he's/they're sucking less than he/they did at the first part of the season. Yes, dude, we know you have a crane; that doesn't mean you need to make Every! Single! Cut! a crane shot. I understand that the contestants don't necessarily know how to be visually interesting while singing just yet, and so you have to help them out, but howzabout you learn another couple of techniques? Plzkthxbai!

I'm also pretty much over the "SteadiCam-enabled circular dolly around the vocalist" trick. There's a reason why three-camera setups are so common, and it's because they don't make the audience motion sick. Also they provide plenty of visual interest without drawing attention to the fact that a camera is involved.

When Gwen Stefani was performing a few weeks ago, her natural visual-intensive performance was completely ruined by the director's insistence on trying to gin up visual interest via pull-zoom and crane shots. Ms. Stefani just needed close-up, medium, and establishing shots. The rest of it was irritating and distracting.

Ooooh! Shiny!

I need one of these, don't you think?

Maybe I don't miss shopping at "Best Buy" after all

I swear "Best Buy" didn't used to suck, but that was before they "merged" with "Media Play". Now, they suck.

more plzkthxbai

An essay on lolcatz etymology? "Not pedantic enough," he says.

We were warned!

Brave prescient activists warned us that if George W. Bush was re-elected, we'd see professors fired over trumped-up charges of ideological nonconformity. THEY WERE RIGHT!!!!!

Thank you to Professor Reynolds for this incredibly timely find.

Take that, AACS

Heh heh ... "redacted," it says. I'll have to order one of these, I think.

David Brin was right

The NSA has been watching all (or a significant portion of) Internet traffic sans warrant for years, according to a former AT&T network technician.

How the mouse works

Takes a moment to load up, but it's worth it.

It's like mechanical steroids

Not that I exercise or anything, but still ... this might convince me to start.

Wow. Just ... wow

An actual essay on the origins of locatz, from one of the geniuses at I Can Has Cheezburger. I'm floored.

And another thing

The Tennessean ignited a small storm when they published an online database of concealed carry permit holders. The implication was that gun owners need to be tracked like sex offenders. KnoxNews.com points out the absurdity of that comparison including reference to studies showing the lawfulness of CCW holders as compared to the general population.

Lovely essay, that

Fred Thompson, writing about George Tenet's appearance on Meet The Press.

Something's wrong with the world

Something is seriously up when I find myself expressing admiration for a French politician, which I did just yesterday to my buddy Krish. I'll pretend you asked why, and point to this quick hit from Jules Crittendon in response.

Want to edit a film?

Want to edit a film? I'll just quote from their page:

OpenSourceCinema is a collaborative documentary project to create a feature film about copyright in the digital age. We want you to create parts of the film.

Sound like fun? I think so, too.

Melancholy Elephants

Spider Robinson has posted a short story, Melancholy Elephants, on his web site. This story explores what it means to continue extending copyright on artistic works for longer and longer periods. It's short, as I mentioned, and well worth your time to read.

Pluto Tells All

Never mind the Geico cavemen; recently-demoted dwarf planet Pluto airs it all out.

Sure, we printed a retraction

The NYT has now admitted that President Bush did not call himself "the Commander Guy". Roughly 1.2M other websites now have to be similarly retracted. I'm holding my breath.

And thank you to Neptunus Lex for finding this and writing the joke.

Wait ... what?

Seriously ... WTF?

World's Bravest Cat

World's Bravest Cat