November 20, 2010

TSA'S TRUE ROLE IS TO CIRCUMVENT CONSTITUTION IN WAR ON DRUGS


by Anonymous Cowardon Friday November 19, @05:40PM (#34286548)
John Pistole (head of TSA) tipped his hand when bragging about the effectiveness of the screening.
His brag is that he has thwarted terrorists, by siezing terror tools such as marijuana and a heroin needle.
Now, marijuana and a heroin needle will not bring down a plane, so what's really happening here?
A DEA agent, or police officer, cant run around shoving his hand down everyones pants looking for drugs. Without cause, that would be an illegal search, and the evidence obtained would be useful.
However, when the illegal search is made privately (I shove my hand down a strangers pants, then call the cops when i find a baggie of weed), the evidence is admissable. I may be charged with assault or something, but the point is the DEA has now made an end run around the 4rth amendment.
That is what this is. The TSA are *not* police, the search is obstensibly for security purposes, but when they find that baggie of weed, it's turned over to the cops and DEA who do their whole civil forfeiture routine.
You might remember a scheme to have postal employees 'on the lookout for terror' right after 9/11. Same thing there. The dumb old constitution limits police power, and they fucking hate it.
The country is bankrupt. They need to sieze more houses, cars, and boats. This is just a loophole through the constitution, and a brand new (illegal) battlefield for the War on Drugs, which is much more profitable than the War on Terror. More people die in a day crossing the road than have ever died of terrorism in the USA. They know there's no real threat.
So, once this is accepted, the TSA will move the road show to train and subway stations, and then start random roadside searches of cars. Look to see more bullshit agencies created by executive order, to illegally search - i mean safety screen - you in other venues as well. After all, a Phish concert certainly is a decent terrorist target, right? We want all those people to be safe, after all.
IANAL, and perhaps a real one could clarify what I'm saying, or tell me why I'm wrong.

Source: http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1876316&cid=34286548

TSA WASTING THE EQUIVALENT OF 1000 LIVES PER YEAR


by redelm (54142)on Friday November 19, @05:44PM (#34286600Homepage
The TSA searches are causing greater loss of useable lifetime than terrorists ever could. Each year, about 800 million people have to arrive one hour earlier at the airport to wait in lines and now suffer increased humiliation. Human beings only live for 700,000 hours. The TSA is wasting over 1000 lifetimes each year.

Source: http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1876316&cid=34286600

November 17, 2010

TODAY IN NYC: MOMENT OF SILENCE FOR FOUR LOKO

Today, Wednesday, November 17 at 7pm, a moment of silence and candlelight vigil will be observed on the steps of Union Square in Manhattan to protest New York City's ban of the Four Loko beverage.  Local NYC band Anamanaguchi will be performing an acoustic set.

Links:
Facebook event page (Facebook login required)
Screen capture of Facebook event page

August 31, 2010

HOW TO ALLOW FANS TO TAG YOUR FAN PAGE PHOTOS ON FACEBOOK

  1. Go to your Facebook Page.
  2. Directly below your Page's Profile photo, click on "Edit Page".
  3. In your browser's URL, note the number that comes AFTER 'edit/?id=' That number is your Page ID.
  4. Go to this URL, but change REPLACEME to your Page ID from step 3: http://www.facebook.com/pages/edit/app_settings.php?id=REPLACEME&aid=2305272732
  5. Click the setting for "Allow All Fans to Tag Photos"
  6. Save your settings.
In case anyone wants to know why this works, all it is doing is accessing the "Photo Application" settings by using the Application ID (the Facebook Photos Application ID is '2305272732').

(Source:  Nick Coleman on http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=10381469571&topic=3794#topic_top)

August 3, 2010

THOUGHTS ON WRITING + A "'SHOP JOB" "DISASTER"

Economy of words is important in written communication.  The point of writing is to transfer as many ideas with as much depth and as broad an application to the reader as quickly as possible.  People that lack the most understanding are also going to be the ones who have the shortest attention span.  Busy people are only going to skim what you write, and only read if they have to.  People who are smarter than you are going to stop reading shortly after you start to come across as pedantic to them. 

 Thanks to Frederick's of Hollywood customer L.R. in MI.

July 2, 2010

WILSON VAN DE MOORTELE AND DEMI-DEMI

I just read this interview with Wilson van de Moortele, mostly about his Demi-Demi fashion concept:  http://www.viceland.com/blogs/en/2010/07/01/demi-demi/#more-17105.




I was inspired to do some research and found the video referred to in the interview and his own Demi Demi website.  The video is in a foreign language.  It's worth watching to see the clothes he models.



His website is demi-demi.tk (English translation).



I also came across an article reporting on mugging he was victim to in 2007:  original / English translation.  In it, he is described as an ex-accordionist, singer and miniature builder and is said to ride a moped wearing a distinctive helmet. 

This 2006 article from the same site is about his Demi-Demi clothing concept and also mentions his helmet:  original / English translation.


This blog from 2008 mentions that he is a professional electrician:  original / English translation.

There are two facebook pages dedicated to Demi-Demi: Demi Demi (Wilson) and De officieuze Demi-Demi Fanclub!

June 21, 2010

The Carlocks

At 5 minutes after 5, Odum Carlock cranked down the driver's & passenger's side windows to get some relief from the sweltering hot air trapped inside his late 80s model chevrolet and pulled out of his space at the ancillary gravel parking lot at United Engineering.  He gently guided his car over the insufficiently sloped curb onto the street and took a left two blocks down where he usually goes straight to the highway.  He was going to stop at a flower shop before coming home to get a bouquet of flowers for his wife to celebrate the promotion he was offered at a meeting with his supervisor earlier that day.

Odum arrived at his house and pulled the car into his driveway, avoiding his neighbor's empty garbage can that had been thrown there and left laying on it's side, halfway on his driveway after the usual Friday morning trash pickup.  He put the car in park and looked up when he heard the garage door starting to open.  He could see his wife's feet step up behind the the rising door and wait for a second until it was low enough for her to duck under.

"You goddamn son of a bitch!" she screamed, striding towards him, glaring at him, as he stepped out of his car.  "What the hell is wrong with you?  How many times did I remind you last night to take the trash out? How many?"

"HOW MANY?!"  she repeated as she rapped three times on the bald spot just above his forehead with her knuckles, adding extra force to the last one, before he pulled his head away.

Odum took a step back and lifted his left forearm to defend himself while rubbing the pink mark on his forehead with his right, uselessly trying to disperse the stinging sensation.  "This is the third fucking week in a row!  It's not going to fucking walk itself out of the garage!  I've fucking had it!" she kept on.

Odum remembered the flowers and reached into his car to get them.  "Here, Bonnie," he said.  "I got these for you."   He held the flowers out towards here.

She stared straight into his eyes and he could see tears welling up in hers, the fierceness in them beginning a slow lapse into sorrow. She looked down at the flowers and for a quick instance he saw her brow gather into a confused expression.  Odum noticed the the flowers had partially wilted in the heat inside his car. 

"You son of a bitch," she said, crying.  "It's too late.  It's too late, Odum."

"Bonnie, you know I . . . love . . .," he stammered, wondering how hollow those words sounded.  "You know I . . ."

"I can smell it . . . in the kitchen."  She sobbed softly, finding it more difficult to force her words out until her voice reached a broken whisper.  "The garbage, Odum, . . . the garbage."

June 13, 2010

June 1, 2010

FREE THONG!!!

American Apparel is offering a free thong if you sign up for their email updates.

http://www.americanapparel.net/storefront/free-thong/

This is a no-brainer if you're into thongs.

EDIT:  No more free thongs.

May 22, 2010

May 14, 2010

NEW POSTS COMING SOON

Just a heads up to let you know that some new entries will be posted on this blog soon.

April 22, 2010

EMINEM ENGAGES IN KOOKY HIJINKS

From http://www.xmradio.com/shade45:

Haven't had a chance to listen to this, but it seems like Eminem is still doing crazy, hilarious stuff.

March 8, 2010

UBISOFT CENSORS RUSSIAN CUSTOMERS

Following yesterday's Assassin's Creed 2/DRM disaster, Ubisoft this morning deleted a discussion by their Russian customers in the Assassin's Creed General Discussion forum.  The first four pages of the thread are archived here:

Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4

There seems to be a pattern of discrimination against Russian users by Ubisoft.




March 5, 2010

INTERVIEW WITH AN EXTREME CRAPPER

chrysler5thavenue: why is it again that you crapped in bags?
crapper: Because I lived in a motel full of crack heads and only had a public bathroom and the door didn't lock
crapper: You can't defend yourself if you're shitting
chrysler5thavenue: did you also say you crapped into your cereal bowl?
crapper: No o_O
crapper: I only had one bowl
crapper: It was for FOOD
chrysler5thavenue: i thought you said you crapped into that bowl, then put the turds in a bag, and then washed the bowl & ate oatmeal out of it
crapper: Nooooo
crapper: Steamer I never used
crapper: I did that sometimes
chrysler5thavenue: you crapped into a steamer?
crapper: Until I figured out the correct way to shit in the bag without it touching me
crapper: Yeah
crapper: I never used it!
crapper: I had gotten it for broccoli
crapper: But the broccoli smelled weird
crapper: Chemicalish
crapper: It shouldn't smell like chemicals
chrysler5thavenue: did you steam your crap?
crapper: -.-
crapper: No
chrysler5thavenue: why do i remember you telling me you crapped into your breakfast bowl? i would've remembered if you told me you crapped into a steamer.
crapper: I just called the steamer a bowl
crapper: It's bowl shaped
crapper: And I didn't have a breakfast bowl
crapper: I had a small little campfire bowl thing
chrysler5thavenue: did you eat breakfast out of it?
crapper: I don't think I ever really ATE breakfast
crapper: I lived on ramen, pasta, etc
chrysler5thavenue: oatmeal
chrysler5thavenue: you ate oatmeal
crapper: Not for breakfast usually
chrysler5thavenue: you ate ramen for breakfast and oatmeal for dinner?
crapper: I didn't really eat breakfast
crapper: I ate later in the day
chrysler5thavenue: just because you're asleep in the morning when everyone eats breakfast doesn't mean you don't eat breakfast
crapper: I DID NOT SHIT IN THE BOWL I ATE OUT OF
crapper: Kthnx

February 24, 2010

CNN REQUESTED PERMISSION TO GO HOGWILD ON MY PC TODAY

Today I followed a link to a live video stream on CNN.com. To watch it, I had to give permission to have "Octoshape" installed on my computer.  Here's how Octoshape defines itself:
The Octoshape software utilizes a grid streaming technology. With grid streaming technology, parts of the video and audio stream you watch may be delivered to your personal computer system via the personal computer systems of other end users of the software, and the personal computer system on which you install the Software may also be used to deliver parts of the video and audio stream to other end users of the Software only while you are viewing the same respective stream.
This basically means that I'll download the stream at the same time upload the downloaded data to someone else that is requesting it.  That way CNN doesn't have to upload it to everyone that wants to see it.  The people that download the content will pass it on to other people.  It's similar to the concept behind bit torrent software.

Here's all it said about the licensing terms on that same informational page that was offered before installing the software:
By installing the Octoshape software you are granting permission for Octoshape, the website and other end users of the software to utilize and share the processor and bandwidth of your personal computer system for the limited purpose of facilitating the communication between you and other end users of the software, including Octoshape and the website, and improving bandwidth efficiency in order to provide you the content.
I didn't install it because it didn't specify that my computer would only be used to serve the data that I had specifically requested and that I would have control of how much of their data my computer would serve.  It seemed like these terms are so broad as to allow them to use my computer as a server at will.  I was only willing to pass on the content of theirs that I knowingly downloaded and only using the same amount of bandwidth as I used to download it, no more.  I decided not to install it.

I told someone about this and they linked me to a list of criticisms of this software from Wikipedia:
Octoshape has been criticized [7] for its "ludicrous license terms". Octoshape's EULA, amongst other things, for protection against reverse engineering the Octoshape software prohibits the user utilizing the records that their firewall or anti-virus software may record .
Other points of criticism:
  • Being closed source software prevents the internal functions of the software from being publicly examined for hidden functions and other security problems.
  • Shifts the broadcaster's share of the cost of bandwidth to the listeners instead by running servers on the listeners' machines.
  • Octoshape reserves the right to expand the scope of what its software does on listeners' computers. [8]
This seems to be a common problem with software provided by large media content providers like CNN. Having a large audience, they can afford to alienate technologically savvy visitors to take advantage of the vast majority who do not understand the technology.  Content providers that built their business on the internet are generally better about having fair and clear terms of service because their initial rise in popularity depends on acceptance by people who are more familiar with the internet.  Be on the lookout for mass media content providers trying to screw you over.

February 23, 2010

GAWKER.COM INADVERTENTLY OUTS SECRET CELEBRITY PARTY PAD

Today gawker.com published a post profiling a secret NYC party pad where celebrities hang out with strippers and smoke indoors, while saying "we're not mentioning [the owner's] full name, or the location, or running any pictures that might give away either, so as not to ruin perhaps the last refuge for New York debauchery in the era of smoking bans and wealthy neighbors who expect perfect quiet downtown."

Commenter exifhunter pointed out that the GPS coordinates  (+40° 43.64′ -73° 59.62′) in the embedded EXIF data on the iPhone photo of a pickle cabinet within the apartment that the author, Ravi Somaiya, published in the story, placed it at this location.   Commenter ModernMindOfM then gave the address of the location as "12 Great Jones St. The red door under the red awning at the base of the 6 story brick building. Acme Bakery resides in front."


A number of elite Gawker star commenters were awed by exifhunter's supernatural ability to read EXIF data:
@exifhunter: Dude, I want you on my side
Pretty amazing. Somewhere Joan Allen is using his guy to find Jason Bourne.
@exifhunter: I'm just going to offer to buy the movie rights to your life right now, no questions asked.
@MisterLumpyDough: @nirreskeya: @exifhunter: Holy crap. Can you people see me right now?

February 7, 2010

Super Bowl XLIVeblog

Starts at 6pm EST on this page. Colts generally favored by 5.  Check here for spreads as low as 3.5 and up to 6.  Live streams of the game available at atdhe.net.  Anyone can take part in this by commenting in the liveblog window.

EDIT:  The liveblog is now archived for your enjoyment.

January 22, 2010

LIVEBLOG: New York Jets vs. Indianapolis Colts AFC Playoff

Colts are favored by 8 and the Over/Under is 39.5 (via bodog.com).  We'll be liveblogging this Sunday at 3 pm!  Bookmark this page and join us right here at your internet liveblogging destination! 

EDIT:  The liveblog is now archived for your enjoyment.

January 20, 2010

Is it OK to make Haiti jokes or is it better to wait for the dust to settle?

A Haitian man walks into a bar--it collapses.

I dumped my Haitian girlfriend the other day, she was crushed.

January 17, 2010

January 16, 2010

ARIZONA CARDINALS VS. NEW ORLEANS SAINTS LIVEBLOG

We'll be liveblogging the game today.  You can participate.  Hopefully you'll have a TV to watch along with.  Be here at 4:30pm.  If you don't know what liveblogging is, it'll blow your freaking mind.  Don't say you weren't warned!  LIVE-BLOGGING 2010!  F*** Yea!

EDIT:  The liveblog is now archived for your enjoyment.

January 14, 2010

YOUTUBE COMMENTER PREDICTED JAY REATARD'S DEATH



This uncanny prediction of Jay Reatard's death can be found in the comments of this video of him urinating on a band member:

M.I.A. - THERE'S SPACE FOR OL DAT I SEE

New video from M.I.A. posted on her twitter.



unofficial MP3:  http://www.mediafire.com/?mw0fo1imwxg

EDIT:  The song is called "Odyssey" and the beats are by Rusko.

January 13, 2010

JAY REATARD DIES; EDITOR TAKES OPPORTUNITY TO PROMOTE HIS MAGAZINE

Indie rock star Jay Reatard was found dead today around 3:30 a.m. at the age of 29.  No cause of death has been reported. 

In an attempt to promote his magazine's cover story on Reatard, the editor of Death + Taxes commented on BrooklynVegan.com saying:
I'm the editor of the Death+Taxes magazine. Jay Reatard is our current on-stands cover story and I had the opportunity to spend some time with him this fall.
He was a great talent and his passing is a big loss to the music world. We'll continue to celebrate Watch Me Fall as one of the best records of 2009 and remember him fondly.
He was honest and revealing in his cover story, and we appreciate the special access we were given to one of the great songwriters of our generation.
If you'd like to join us in remembering him, you can read the cover story here: http://www.deathandtaxesmagazine.com/?p=1445
The crass timing of the comment incensed several anonymous commenters who stated:
i love how the editor of Death+Taxes magazine just used this as a way to promote their publication. stay classy.
and:
To all the people either making jokes about his death or speculating on the cause go fuck yourself you are seriously the scum of the earth.
 Same goes for you Death & Taxes Editor, using this to promote your mag is disgusting.
We at chrysler5thavenue.blogspot.com find theeditor's of Death + Taxes statement to be tasteless and inappropriate.

UPDATE (7:21pm EST):  The R.I.P Jay Reatard bebo skin has surpassed 1000 downloads.



January 4, 2010

THE SCIENTIFIC CONSENSUS REGARDING HUMAN-INDUCED CLIMATE CHANGE

Here is a graph posted by informationisbeautiful.net:

Here is a breakdown of the skeptics by their field:

The article further states:
In fact, when you adjust the PetitionProject’s odd categorisation – they filed ‘chemical engineers’ as chemists and physical engineers as ‘physicists’ – the total number of engineers who signed the petition, by our reckoning, jumps to 49%
Why so many engineers?
I think it's because engineers tend to work for the industries that are being challenged to change their practices to lessen their impact on climate change.  Their stance is based on politics, not science.