The Airing of Grievances

So This Seems A Bit Extreme, No?

I have to admit...I had no idea what the hell SOPA and PIPA (Stop On-line Privacy Act & Pro-IP Act) were until this morning when I noticed a bunch of websites are shutting themselves down in protest. So I suppose that the intentions here are good ones as we are well aware that creators of all types of media frequently have their content viewed for free when it was not their intention. I may have even benefitted from this practice before. Hell...there are probably 50 youtube videos on this site alone that this applies to.

Of course the other side of this argument is that these people wouldn't be paying for this shit anyway and in many cases just the exposure will get you some good word of mouth and open up opportunities to make money where they previously wouldn't exist. Anyway, this has been an ongoing fight since the days of Napster and it certainly doesn't appear as if though online piracy is going anywhere. It's okay though, because apparently the government is going to fix it.

I'll do a far shittier job of explaining this than this video that I stole from Vimeo but on the surface; this a little scary...

 

Caveat Dumbass

File this under "A senile dude and his family fortune are soon parted" - from todays LA Times:

A renowned psychiatrist from UC Irvine was duped into squandering at least $1.3 million of his family's fortune on a Nigeria Internet scam, according to a lawsuit recently filed by his son.

The son, also an Orange County doctor, said his father — Dr. Louis A. Gottschalk — gave as much as $3 million over a 10-year period in response to an Internet plea that promised the doctor a generous cut of a huge sum of cash trapped in African bank accounts in exchange for money advances.

Yeah, that's right.  A "renowned" psychiatrist from UC Irvine responded to one of those letters from "Upperclassmen G. Alamogordo" and got cleaned out of almost $3 million.  Worse than that - apparently, there were over 290 people who fell for this last year.  Amazing.

Personally, I don't care how old or feeble-minded this guy is.  Knowing that this guy is a Dr. and can presumably read, I just think the court should just rule this as an "equitable distribution of wealth from a man to stupid to have it."

(Shot of 184 Proof Scotch to the Swamp's Kegtron for shining a light on somebody actually falling for this.)

What Would You Do Without It?

Me? I'd be quite alright. I mean really, where does it end? First they came with the fax machines, and no one said a peep. Then they came with the e-mail, nothing. Next they came the cell phones, silence. And then they came with the crackberries, nada. And whether it's some patent lawyers (whatever their real intentions may be) or something else, unless somebody does something soon, they'll come for us, literally. Yeah, I understand all of these things can be extremely useful in both one's personal and professional life, but at some point, especially with the professional, don't we just have to say "look it, this is getting totally outta control, i need a moment to myself, i need some time to relax, i'm not a friggin' doctor, i'm not on call, this is not what i signed up for, Just Leave Me The Fuck Alone?"

Just In Case You Needed Another Time Sink

Fantasy Football for geeks and freaks?

Blogshares not liquid enough for you?

Hoodie's Goldstrike giving you carpal tunnel?

Well then this is your wake-up call, buddy boy. 

It Is So Choice

Not to go all Bill Simmons on you, but after my first quarter of the NFL in widescreen, high-definition TV, the results are overwhelmingly positive. The clarity is amazing - secondary formations, names and numbers on the back of the jerseys, the intricate detailing on Ricky Williams' Graffix Sideline Special, you can see it all!

Money well spent.

All This Science, I Don't Understand

Question for you car owners out there: how frequently would you drive if there was a 1% likelihood that you would be killed in a car accident? Personally, I'd limit it to absolute life-or-death emergencies. Still might be inclined to drive? Well, now assume the model of car that you drive has a 40% chance of blowing up while performing its most routine procedures. Actually scratch that 40% - it could be as high as a 50% chance, given that the silly car company who makes your fine automobile actually decided to increase production when 25% of its outstanding models had blown up in action. At which point, another 25% of its remaining vehicles on the road blew up. Still think it's worthwhile to drive?

Of course not. But then, you, Dear AofG Reader, are a rational entity and NASA, in all of its glorified porkiness and obedience to corporate America, ain't. Which is why, even with a very real and publically acknowledged possiblity of having yet another catastrophic disaster on its hands, NASA officials are moving ahead with the launch of the Discovery shuttle, consequences be damned!

The Space Shuttle program is all well and good for 10 year old science students to gawk at, but when it comes down to brass tacks, it's a colossal waste of money, given the very slight value the program has added in its 25+ years of use. I was and am as pro-science as they come, but my thoughts on the Shuttle were forever changed, first by this prescient article, written in 1980 by Gregg Easterbrook and by his follow-up to the Columbia disaster in 2003, reprinted here. We don't need to waste any more money or lives on this failure.

Now, for some positive thoughts on space travel, I give you William Shatner and Stewie Griffin.

From The 'It Was Only A Matter Of Time' File

Porncasting.

No matter how loud people in this country seem to be thumping the bible, I can always take heart in our insatiable desire for porn in its many wonderful varities. Kudos, America!

Take That, Murdoch

The Post pulled down their registration policies yesterday.

For their part, the rival Daily News couldn't be happier.

AofG Extra: If you read down, the Friar's are offering Laura Bush an honorary membership for her horse milking comments to the White House Press Club last week.  Good stuff - ever since Alan King died, that place has gotten its sense of humor back.

Entertaining Spam

If you're like Cozmo, next-generation spammers have figured out a way to get more spam on your computer.  And if you are like Cozmo, you are psyched that these new spammers have a great sense of humor.

My favorite spam development of the past year is the ridiculous names that the spammers give their accounts to sneak them through filters.  They almost always follow the same format - [Noun] [Middle Initial] [Adjective or Adverb].  Here is a sample of some of the funnier ones:

• Tabernacle Q. Candidate
• Glove O. Worthwhile
• Library S. Surmises
• Chronic G. Anyway
• Flotsam N. Alarming
• Lawbreakers O. Toddled
• Jackie P. Chiles (just kidding, but he does email alot)
• Finally, my personal favorite & the University of New Mexico's new starting point guard - Upperclassman G. Alamogordo

So, what about you, AofGers?  Any great spam names to report?

I Can Definitely Dig That

Some more props for New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. The man's going after what has to be one of the lowest life forms out there: spyware promoters. From Spitzer: "Spyware and adware are more than an annoyance. These fraudulent programs foul machines, undermine productivity and in many cases frustrate consumers' efforts to remove them from their computers...It's not a victimless attack on our computers, because it comes at a tremendous cost, taking up valuable time and energy when you go online." Amen. Go get 'em Spitz.