I’m a big fan of Jon Stewart’s work on The Daily Show, so when someone mentioned at a BBQ this weekend that he was the commencement speaker at William and Mary this year, I went hunting to see if i could find a transcript. It wasn’t all that hard to find, theres quite a bit of buzz about it, becuase it’s both extremely funny, and extremely astute “Lets talk about the real world for a moment: … I’ll be blunt. We broke it.”

I mean seriously, when was the last time you laughed while reading a speech that used the word “ennui” ?

(This isn’t the usual lies.com fare, but I have a pulpit and I feel compelled to use it. Besides, I’ve never mocked jbc’s LOTR and Winona fetishes, so hopefully he’ll humor me on this.)

Simply put, I want to spread the word that people should boycott the movie “I, Robot” during its opening week in protest of 20th Century Fox’s blatant abuse and misuse of Isaac Asimov’s classic book. I don’t expect that anything I say will make a dent in the movie’s bottom line, but maybe — just maybe — the studio will get the message: don’t mislead your audience.

(more…)

I always hate posting links from other “meta-news blogs” — but FCC regulations is a topic that tends to irk me, so this seems like just the kind of thing to share with the world: Cartoon Guide to Federal Spectrum Policy.

Chocked full of simple, easy to follow explanations of how radio frequencies are regulated, and why it may not be the best way to do things. This was prepared by the “New America Foundation”, an organization I’m not familiar with, but they seem to have quite a collection of articles under their belt, that I’m going to try and remember to check out later.

Aparently, I forgot to post a story back in March about the Oprah episode discussing a lot of explicit sexual acts that aired as a re-run on March 18th of this year; and that March 18th happened to be the same day that the FCC fined Howard Stern for a 2001 show discussing a lot of explicit sex acts; or that Jimmy Kimmel stired things up by pointing out the double standard; or that Stern’s network censored him and bleeped the ‘indecient’ portions of the Oprah clip when he tried to play it on his show.

(See what happens when you don’t post things when they’re current — you have to re-cap later.)

Anyway, I mention all of that, so that I can mention this: Apparently Kimmel and Stern got through to some people. The FCC has been flooded with emails complaining about Oprah, which are now available for public consumption thanks to the FOIA. Some of these letters seem a little over the top, but it certainly seems to be raising awareness about the hypocrisy of the FCC’s rule(ing)s.

I just saw a clip of this on the Daily Show: At a recent daily breifing of the DoD, Rumsfeld fielded the following question…

Q: Mr. Secretary, a number of times from the podium you’ve said U.S. troops do not torture individuals. There was a joking colloquy one time here about the iron maiden, remarks — I mean, does this report undercut your notion that the U.S. doesn’t torture, this is — is this one of those rare exceptions here that torture took place?

RUMSFELD: I think that — I’m not a lawyer. My impression is that what has been charged thus far is abuse, which I believe technically is different from torture.

So, I’m not a lawyer either, but it got me wondering … what the fuck difference does it make? Some are calling this “torture” others prefer calling this “abuse” — am I really out on a limb here thinking that both words seem to apply?

• Torture: an act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person … for a purpose such as obtaining information or a confession, punishment, intimidation or coercion (UN Convention against Torture)
• Abuse: When another person does something on purpose that causes you mental or physical harm or pain (Medicare Glossary)

I saw this little ditty in IMDB’s Movie News, I’ll lay off the personal commentary, and just link to Mike’s Message and cite a few passages from the NY Times Article…

… Disney executives indicated that they would not budge from their position forbidding Miramax to be the distributor of the film in North America. …

…

Mr. Moore’s agent, Ari Emanuel, said Michael D. Eisner, Disney’s chief executive, asked him last spring to pull out of the deal with Miramax. Mr. Emanuel said Mr. Eisner expressed particular concern that it would endanger tax breaks Disney receives for its theme park, hotels and other ventures in Florida, where Mr. Bush’s brother, Jeb, is governor.

…

A senior Disney executive elaborated that the company had the right to quash Miramax’s distribution of films if it deemed their distribution to be against the interests of the company. The executive said Mr. Moore’s film is deemed to be against Disney’s interests not because of the company’s business dealings with the government but because Disney caters to families of all political stripes and believes Mr. Moore’s film, which does not have a release date, could alienate many.

…

Miramax is free to seek another distributor in North America, but such a deal would force it to share profits and be a blow to Harvey Weinstein, a big donor to Democrats.

I don’t remember what show I was watching yesterday, but I caught the tail end of an interview with Davy Rothbart, the founder and editor of FOUND magazine. I’d never heard of the magazine until then, but it sounds pretty cool. You see a few years ago, Davy found a strange note on his car (it was a case of mistaken identity) that spawned a fascination with “found items”, the random snippets of paper, photos, and other objects that litter the streets everywhere we go, telling a tale about society and the people in it. He turned his hobby into a magazine, and from there it’s spawned a new Book and a 50 state tour in which he’s driving all over the country, hosting parties to show of cool stuff, and encouraging people to bring in their own finds.

If nothing else, spend a few minutes checking out the website … they showcase some pretty kooky stuff.

I can’t say it any better then they do….
On April 16, take some time to think when you take your time to stink. Think of yourself on your toilet, and George W. Bush on his, and Saddam and Osama on theirs. Think about the children of Iraq and the children of America, and realize that while their skins are different colors and their gods have different names, their daily ritual is exactly the same. We all poop, which means we’re all human, which means we’re all brothers and sisters. Any other differences are arbitrary — we are all united in the daily struggle against the tyranny of the bowel.

The newest fashion craze has been unleashed upon the world, starting in Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Eyeball Jewelry. Tiny pieces of specially made metal, in various shapes, can actually be surgicly implanted in the “interpalpebral conjunctiva” of a persons eyeball (the white part). Yahoo has photos of two different women who have had the proceedure done, and the Netherlands Institute for Innovative Ocular Surgery which is pioneering the procedure has a third picture. (I’m not sure if it’s one of the same women)

My challenge to the lies.com army: Find More Pictures. I mean, come on!, the Institue says they have made all different shapped implants, but all three pictures are of hearts — where/who are the other 4 people who have had this proceedure done?

From the AP, via USA Today: “A 15-year-old girl has been arrested for taking nude photographs of her self and posting them on the Internet, police said. … She has been charged with sexual abuse of children, possession of child pornography and dissemination of child pornography.”

What’s next, arresting a 14 year old boy caught masturbating for child molestation?

I really love the whole concept of HyperText.

As a member of the Sum41 Fan Club, I got an email the other day letting me know about Rock Against Bush Vol .1. It sounds like it will be a sweet rock/punk CD, packed full of some great songs you know, and a ton of new tracks written by bands who (as Canadian Sum41 put it in their newsletter) feel they “just can’t sit quietly and watch that idiot fuck up your country and the rest of the world.”

So why do I love HyperText?

While preparing this little blurb, I noticed the link to PunkVoter.com, where I discovered:

• there’s a whole Rock Against Bush Concert Tour
• that Bush ‘s campaign shirts are made in Burma, a country Bush has imposed sanctions against
• that Urban Outfiters tried selling shirts that say “voting is for old people”, which has prompted the Vote F*cker T-Shirt

God bless the Internet, and God bless America Burma

I was flying back from Vegas this afternoon, and I found a copy of AA’s AmericanWay Magazine in the boarding area for SWA. I flipped through it while waiting to board (because I was too lazy to get my book out of my carry on bag), and found the most compelling argument against online music downloads (legal or otherwise) I’ve ever heard.

I think more people should apply this argument to more things.

One of the advantages of working at a really large company is finding interesting stuff in the printer bin.

This particular item apparently made the blog rounds allready, but just in case you missed it: 12 Reasons Same-Sex Marriage will Ruin Society. The Gator Gay-Straight Alliance “Flash!” site is fairly intolerable, but I think I might be Straight is easily the best flyer I’ve seen from a college organization, and the Not-A-Cutout project seems pretty cool.

(I generally hate to blatently repost things Ii saw on another blog but this is just too damn fascinating not to spread the word.)
I have a vague memory of an elementary school teacher telling our class that we should all pay close attention to the laws that congress considers, because you never know what they might do. For example, she said, every year congress re-considers a bill to change US Currency so that the FBI can drive down your street in an unmarked van and detect how much money is in your house: “so they can track down drug dealers”.
It seems I should have paid more attention to that teacher. Alex Jones has found that not only can the security features in new bills allow stores to detect your money, but if you try to nuetralize them your money will explode.

I saw this the other day, but the significance of the claim didn’t really register in my mind untill today. Rick Soloman has filed a lawsuit against “Marvad Corp”, for displaying still shots taken from the well known video of he and Paris Hilton having sex on their web site. The basis of his suit is copyright infringement — which is key to keep in mind, because Marvad’s lawyers have responded by claiming that as “The Producer”, he is commiting fraud by claiming copyright without the consent of Paris Hilton, “The Director”.

From their petition: “Ms Hilton offered directorial comments and physically controlled and directed the camera. Solomon’s failure to identify Ms Hilton as a co-author on the application for copyright registration renders the certificate of registration invalid and fraudulent.”

A recent email forward containing a bunch of made up lawsuits prompted someone to reply with a link to “The True Stella Awards” — which caps off with a real gem of a winner: City sues Taser International because a cop shot a handcuffed suspect with her firearm by mistake.

My favorite new “duh” quote: “…said in a telephone interview that officers no longer carry their handgun and Taser on the same side — something that contributed to the Torres shooting.”

AlterNet has a nice piece by Siva Vaidhyanathan about failing to live up to the legacy of his idol, Woody Guthrie … “This Machine Kills Fascists“.

This is the third or fourth time I’ve been forwarded something from David Faber’s Interesting People mailing list. I’m starting to think I should just subscribe.

This link care of my buddy Wess, who’s always curious about what laws he’s breaking: C.U.D.D.L.E — Cousins United to Defeat Discriminating Laws through Education.

As seen on Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is sueing the company “Sephora” on behalf of several employees of their NYC store. The five women say they were hired because they were bilingual, and are required to assist spanish speaking customers; but they were told they couldn’t speak spanish to each other — even during their lunch break.
Sephora denies having any form of “English Only” policy, so there’s not much detail for the article to go into on this particular case, but it does mention some interesting situations from the past relating to such policies, why some companies have them, who thinks they are good, and how other companies thrive without them.

(I can NOT believe we haven’t mentioned this story on lies.com before)

Armin Meiwes was found guilty of manslaughter in a German court this week, and sentenced to 8.5 years in prison. Armin recieved this sentance for castrating his victim, eating his flesh while the victim bleed to death, and then butchering and freezing his body to eat over the course of several months — all of which he recorded on video for later sexual gratification.

Now brace yourself — none of that is the bizarre part.

The bizarre part is that the victim was a willing participant in the whole experience — and even choose to eat some of his own flesh before dying. (I know, it sounds like i’m plagiarizing “Hannibal” but I’m not.) Like Meiwes, his victim “Bernd-Juergen Brandes” was a cannibalism fetishist, with a Hansel and Gretel obsession, who prepared a very detailed will, and sold most of his property before going to Meiwes’s house and asked to be eaten. The two met had met online, when Brandes responded Meiwes’s Internet chat room post: “Gay male seeks hunks 18-30 to slaughter.”

This all happened back in 1995. Meiwes wasn’t arrested until December of 2002 when police were tiped off by chat room users after Meiwes posted again, looking for another victim.

The German news organization “DW World” seems to have the most comprehensive coverage, so Here’s a breif timeline of their articles…

• Dec13, 2002: German Police Investigate Alleged Cannibal Murder
• Dec14, 2002: German Cannibal Victim’s Will Found
• Dec3, 2003: German Cannibal Trial Opens in Complexity
  
  (RealAudio interview with psychology professor)
• Jan16, 2004: Cannibal Victim Was Willing To Pay To Be Eaten
• Jan30, 2004: Cannibal Convicted of Manslaughter
  
  (RealVideo of reporter covering trial)

(That last video link includes a great straight faced delivery by the News anchor asking the reporter why legal experts are saying that this case is so “unique”).