Joining and Using http://emilie.hermit.net

Clay Shirky: Why SOPA is a bad idea

[Fritz] I found this really well presented and understandable, yet unsettling.

 

The one thing Israel and the USA agree on - Iran is not building a nuclear device. Now can somebody please tell the media FFS!

Source: Antiwar.com
Credits:
Dated: 2012-01-26

US, Israel Agree: Iran Not Building Nukes

Source: Antiwar.com
Credits: John Glaser
Dated: 2012-01-25

Saudi Official Calls for Nuclear Weapons-Free Zone in Mideast

Prince Turki Al Faisal warned of a nuclear arms race without a region-wide agreement

A prominent member of the Saudi royal family has called for a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East, warning of the potential for a nuclear arms race in the region.

Prince Turki Al Faisal urged the five permanent U.N. Security Council members to guarantee a nuclear security umbrella for Mideast countries that agree to a nuclear weapons-free zone and impose sanctions on countries that develop or maintain nuclear weapons.

2012-01-18 More Voices of Doom - This time the World Bank

Source: The Atlantic
Credits: Derek Thompson
Dated: 2012-01-18

World Bank to World: 'Prepare for the Worst'

developingcountriesrelyexternalfinancing.pngIf the euro zone finally loses its grip on its super-slo-mo meltdown, the countries paying the highest price might not be the ones confined to the euro, according the World Bank's new morbid report on the global economy.

"Developing countries need to prepare for the worst," the Bank said, describing how the European sovereign debt crisis could spread to every corner of the globe. "In this highly uncertain environment, developing countries should evaluate their vulnerabilities and prepare contingencies to deal with both the immediate and longer-term effects of a downturn."

The good old days .....

... when we glowed in the dark to sell skin cream Cool

 

Decoding The Right : "Local decisions are better" now decoded by UK practice as more "Screw the poor"

Source: The Guardian
Credits: Polly Toynbee
Dated: 2012-01-23

Welfare cuts: now they're slamming the door on the truly desperate

After a dismal day in the Lords comes the cruellest cut to the welfare state, in which emergency loans go over to 'local' control

St Mungo's

St Mungo's hostel in London. Emergency loans are clawed back from subsequent payments. Photocredits: David Levene/Guardian

No, said the Department for Work and Pensions, you can't visit a jobcentre to talk to social fund claimants. That's the first no I've ever had from the DWP's press officers, always helpful under both Labour and Tory governments. I have frequently sat in on interviews, so long as claimants were willing. But the Iain Duncan Smith-Chris Grayling regime has pulled down the shutters.

2012-01-24 George Soros on the Coming U.S. Class War - Warns of ‘Riots,‘ ’Brutal’ Clampdowns & Possible Total Economic Collapse

[ Emilie says : Soros, freaking the mildly right and the rabid-right with an interview which somewhat understates the current situation. And still the musicians fiddled on. ]

Source: The Daily Beast
Credits:
Dated: 2012-01-23

George Soros on the Coming U.S. Class War

'The situation is about as serious and difficult as I've experienced in my career.'

You know George Soros. He’s the investor’s investor—the man who still holds the record for making more money in a single day’s trading than anyone. He pocketed $1 billion betting against the British pound on “Black Wednesday” in 1992, when sterling lost 20 percent of its value in less than 24 hours and crashed out of the European exchange-rate mechanism. No wonder Brits call him, with a mix of awe and annoyance, “the man who broke the Bank of England.”

2012-01-24 Genocidal American war criminals deserve three months in jail. Two if they behave well while there.

Source: Associated Press via Yahoo.com
Credits: Julie Watson (AP, Author), Barbara Surk (AP, Baghdad, Contrib), Mazin Yahya (AP, Baghdad, Contrib), Elliot Spagat (AP, San Diego, Contrib), Raquel Dillon (AP, Los Angeles, Contrib)
Dated: 2012-01-24

Marine faces 3 months in brig for Iraqi deaths

[ Emilie wonders : So mayhem on a grand scale, including responsibility for 19 known murders (but of arabs, which apparently doesn't count for much in US courts) in breach of International and American law, is worth 3 months in jail for one person. This, while sharing one file in breach of copyright is, in the minds of SOPA's congressional supporters, worth 5 years in jail, and while saying nasty things about the US, in Obama's opinion, makes it ok to kill you (and anyone else in your vicinity). Are Americans who claim to have "values" the laughingstock of the civilised world yet, or is this merely an exposition of the kind of "values" to which Americans aspire? I would say that the outcome of this trrial is, in fact, another war crime. If I am correct, this outcome will undoubtedly strengthen the hands of the prosecuters elsewhere in the world trying to bring Americans to justice for their role in war crimes in the Middle East, as one of the primary reasons for making war crimes general crimes (i.e. prosecutable in any jurisdiction), is because war criminals are frequently not prosecuted or merely, as here, given a token slap on the wrist, by their own countries. ]

Obama to explain his right to murder Americans and their children*

Source: Antiwar.com (Antiwar Forum)
Credits: John Glaser
Dated: 2012-01-12

Obama to ‘Explain’ Legal Reasoning Behind Awlaki Killing

Daily Beast:

After months of internal debate, the Obama administration is planning to reveal publicly the legal reasoning behind its decision to kill the American-born leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Anwar al-Awlaki.

Marcy Wheeler:

The problem–the problem that strikes at the very heart of democratic accountability–is that the Administration plans to keep secret the details that would prove (or not) that Awlaki was what the Administration happily claims he is under the veil of anonymity, all while claiming that precisely that information is a state secret.

John Glaser:

Batch optimization of graphics for the web

Source: http://blog.sudobits.com/2012/01/18/batch-png-optimizer-for-ubuntu-linux/
Credits: Ramesh Jha
Dated: 2012-01-18

Batch png Optimizer for Ubuntu/Linux

PNG (Portable Network Graphics) is one of the most popular image format used over the web - most of the graphics designers uses png format for designing logo of a website or in computer artwork (because PNG is more suitable for computer generated images). Optimizing image is a good practice in modern web development/work because it will allow the pages to load much faster due to reduced image size. Google also recommends all web masters to use optimized images for faster loading of pages and you may already know that SPEED is one of the most important thing to consider while designing a website or a web application.

Now, you understand the importance of optimize image – but there should be a balance between the quality and the size of an image. Loss-less compression is what most people prefer while compressing/optimizing an image. On Linux based operating systems such as Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Fedora, OpenSuse, PCLinuxOS etc you can also use GIMP with save for web plugin to optimize png images (it also supports other popular image formats such as JPG, GIF etc).

Having sold out voters to corporations, this Supreme Court rules that Congress can sell out public domain too

Source: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/01/supreme-court-rules-congress-can-re-copyright-public-domain-works.ars
Credits:
Dated: 2012-01-19

Supreme Court rules Congress can re-copyright public domain works

Supreme Court rules Congress can re-copyright public domain works

Congress may take books, musical compositions and other works out of the public domain, where they can be freely used and adapted, and grant them copyright status again, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

In a 6-2 ruling, the court ruled that just because material enters the public domain, it is not “territory that works may never exit.” (PDF)

The top court was ruling on a petition by a group of orchestra conductors, educators, performers, publishers and film archivists who urged the justices to reverse an appellate court that ruled against the group, which has relied on artistic works in the public domain for their livelihoods.

Getting rid of Unity and adding useful apps and interfaces

We've had more unbelievable computer issues. And lost 3 drives including the boot drive, so it was time to upgrade from the no-longer-supported Fedora 12 to something else. Meshed Gears thought that running Ubuntu might let me get back into Second Life so he installed 11.10 - a bunch of times due to hardware issues - but the Unity desktop offended me to my inner core. It was as if somebody had unloaded a steaming turd across both monitors and every time I touched anything I got it on my hands and smeared it on the screens.

So we wrestled with it a bit to get back the Gnomish environment I like.

First I found http://blog.sudobits.com/2011/09/08/10-things-to-do-after-installing-ubuntu-11-10/ which is full of smart ideas, and from that learned much of the following, although I am adding a few of my favourite apps to the mix as well:

Open a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + t) and execute the following commands -

sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras
sudo apt-get install libdvdread4 sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh
sudo apt-get install chromium-browser
sudo apt-get install chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra
sudo apt-get install vlc
sudo apt-get install audacity
sudo apt-get install soundconverter
sudo apt-get install transmageddon
sudo apt-get install gimp
sudo apt-get install gimp-data-extras sudo apt-get install gimp-plugin-registry
sudo apt-get install optipng
sudo apt-get install blender
sudo apt-get install inkscape
sudo apt-get install digikam
sudo apt-get install umbrello
sudo apt-get install gnome-shell
sudo apt-get install gnome-tweak-tool

Now log-out, reboot, click the gear wheel to select the classic gnome gui, and finally once you are back in, alt right-click/add to add your favourite widgets back to the panel.

SOPA : What is wrong with America?

 

What is wrong with America Uploading Michael Jackson, 5 years jail. Killing Michael Jackson 4 years jail. Imagecredits: My edit of an image from The Pirate Bay

Imagecredits: Original image from The Pirate Pay read "What is wrong with SOPA" - but in my opinion, SOPA represents what is wrong with America - as does this image. Which is why I adapted it.
Editing: Emilie with "The Gimp"

Life echoes art!

The fossilized skull and teeth of a fanged, shrew-like mammal have been found in Argentina, a new study says.

The new species—dubbed Cronopio dentiacutus for its narrow snout and long fangs—was about 8 to 9 inches (20 to 23 centimeters) long and likely used its pointy teeth to hunt and eat insects.

The second oldest mammal skull ever recovered from South America, C. dentiacutus existed when dinosaurs still roamed Earth—providing a tantalizing glimpse into the history of early mammals, experts say.

A Comfortable Bra?

Source: The Daily Mail
Credits: Liz Hull
Dated: 2012-01-21

The dream wire: Bra that provides the push of an underwire without the pain is unveiled

For years underwire has enjoyed the best supporting role in lingerie. But  wearing an underwired bra is not always the most comfortable experience.

Some women find they can dig into their ribcage or pinch the bust.

The non-underwired types, however, just don’t offer the same uplift.

The Dreamwire bra - in all its glory Look, no wires: The Dreamwire bra claims to be more comfy

Look, no wires: The Dreamwire bra claims to be more comfy and could be a godsend for women everywhere

Brains: Michelle Mone, creator of Ultimo, decided to run with the Dreamwire bra after years of wearing painful underwired bras

Brains: Michelle Mone, creator of Ultimo, decided to run with the Dreamwire bra after years of wearing painful underwired bras

Golshifteh Farahani. Beautiful, Brilliant, Talented, Respected, Exiled. The silly Persians are becoming almost as prudish and misogynistic as the Israelis.

Source: The Telegraph
Credits: , Ahmad Vahdat
Dated: 2012-01-18

[ Emilie says : If you don't know the gorgeous, multitalented pianist, linguist and actress Golshifteh Farahani (also contains lanolin) from many award winning films, you owe it to yourself to view some. ]

Iranian actress banned from homeland after naked magazine shoot

An Iranian actress has been told she is no longer welcome in her homeland after she posed naked in a French news magazine as a symbolic protest against strictures on women.

Iranian actress banned from homeland after naked magazine shoot

Golshifteh Farahani said the government has sent a communication telling her not to travel back to her homeland

Iranian actress banned from homeland after naked magazine shoot

Farahani appeared along Leonardo Di Caprio in the Hollywood film Body of Lies Photocredits: REX

Israel Firsters

Source: The Guardian
Credits: Chris McGreal
Dated: 2012-01-20

[ Meshed Gears says : There has been an awful lot of discussion of late over what that offensive term (though much less offensive than this drek) an "Israel Firster" might be, who might be one, and whether using the term is, to borrow a dreadfully overloaded word, now apparently meaning, not uncritically supportive of anything Israeli, "antisemitic".

No matter how terrible a President Obama may be, I'm going on record here that we have absolutely unarguable evidence of what an "Israel Firster" looks like - in summary, like most bigotry, it is not very pretty - and that, in this instance at least, some anti-this-editor would seem to be in order.

The Increasingly Desperate, Ever So Unnecessary, Media Companies, their Shills and Contradictions

Source: The Pirate Bay
Credits: Uncredited (The Pirate Bay Blog)
Dated: 2012-01-18

That pipe of trash that someone smoked

PRESS RELEASE, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE.

Over a century ago Thomas Edison got the patent for a device which would "do for the eye what the phonograph does for the ear". He called it the Kinetoscope. He was not only amongst the first to record video, he was also the first person to own the copyright to a motion picture.

Because of Edisons patents for the motion pictures it was close to financially impossible to create motion pictures in the North american east coast. The movie studios therefor relocated to California, and founded what we today call Hollywood. The reason was mostly because there was no patent.

There was also no copyright to speak of, so the studios could copy old stories and make movies out of them - like Fantasia, one of Disneys biggest hits ever.

Exploring the worlds owned by Beaver and Mosquitoes most of the year.

beaver pond 5beaver pond 4beaver pond 3beaver pond 2Beaver Pond 1

How can somebody possibly have so much money when they are apparently so amazingly stupid? And will "AMD" eventually sue her high-priced lawyers and consultants for providing very expensive but amazingly bad advice?

I held off posting this for a day while I thought about the implications of suppressing this entire story, or at least my take on it, and balanced that against the value of any potential lessons for others. I also considered censoring the young lady's identity, as this is clearly what somebody, perhaps the young lady in question, desires - and is clearly prepared to spend a lot of money to achieve. I decided that the last point established a clear "chilling effect" which, in the absence of an American court ruling to the opposite effect, I was reluctant to countenance. I was still not entirely comfortable with "outing" the connection, but on careful consideration decided that anything which is hidden so poorly that less than 30 seconds of digging by a knowledgeable researcher could expose it, was in fact published (and therefore public) information. An additional, though not completely neccessary point, is that as a company director, (which she was not at the time of the court ruling), the young lady in question is a person of public interest somewhat lessening her right to privacy. All of which goes to explain why the stories - and my commentary - follow as I wrote them.

The Sistine Chapel Virtual Tour

Click to Enter the Sistine Chapel Virtual Tour

Temporarily blacking out a Drupal site front page's content

Add <p><img src="PathToSomeGraphicFile-Black-64x64.png" style="width: 100%; height: 32768px; position: absolute; right: 0%; top: 0%; z-index: -1;"></p> (where the graphics file referenced is simply a small square the color of most of your text), to the top of of a pinned article. It will be automagically expanded to fill the screen width and to an enormous depth vertically, probably leaving only headlines, graphics and highlighting visible.

For example, on this site to hide the articles for the SOPA/PIPA protests, I used,

<p><img src="http://emilie.hermit.net/sites/emilie.hermit.net/files/Black-64x64.png" style="width: 100%; height: 16384px; position: absolute; right: 0%; top: 0%; z-index: -1;"></p>

Darwin's Fossil Collection wasn't really lost, so it hasn't really been found even if that is how some reporters have phrased it. A bit like people "finding" Jesus - only more significant.

Source: Planetearth.nerc.ac.uk
Credits: Adele Rackley
Dated: 2012-01-17
Noticed by: DJ dAndroid at the ChurchofVirus

'Lost' Darwin fossils rediscovered

A rare collection of fossils, including some collected by Charles Darwin, has been 'rediscovered' at the British Geological Survey (BGS).

Cross-section of a cone of a monkey-puzzle tree.

This spectacular slide shows the cross-section of a cone of a monkey-puzzle tree.

Fossil wood collected by Darwin

This slide shows a piece of fossil wood that Darwin collected from the Island of Chiloe, Chile in 1834. Tertiary Period, 40 million years old.

The fossils, which had been 'lost' for 165 years, have now been photographed and are available to the public through a new online museum exhibit.

Dr Howard Falcon-Lang, a palaeontologist at Royal Holloway, University of London was in the BGS archive looking for carboniferous fossil-wood specimens when he made the discovery.

SOPA is dead. Are you happy now ?

[Fritz] Well at least the IT world and the Politicians are as dysfunctional as every other relationship with the Politicians seems to be ... sigh.

SOPA is dead. Are you happy now?

It was a bad bill, but world needs IP incentive to keep producing

Open ... and Shut In response to internet technology companies leading a rousing protest against SOPA and PIPA, these bills appear to be doomed to ignominious defeat. Even the co-sponsors of these anti-piracy bills are deserting their legislation, leaving the tech world to cheer its success.

But what kind of success did we achieve?

As written, the SOPA and PIPA were bad bills. They deserved criticism and lots of second thoughts. Through protests led by Wikipedia, Google, and others, the anti-SOPA/PIPA crowd managed to get the ear of Congress and, to a lesser degree, the general public, and shout down bad legislation.

And that's the problem, actually. The shouting.

SOPA, PIPA and The Internet Blackout

The "mainstream media" is owned, directly and completely, by the same 0.1% that owns the banks - and the politicians

Which might be why the majority of the "One People Under Educated(TM)" don't yet know about PIPA and SOPA

Perhaps Google's 3 billion hits per day and Wikipedia's 90,000 hits per day will raise awareness of how fast the US has become a fascist state in the hands of politicians who represent themselves, their corporate masters  and the 1%

Time for a new political system - one that represents the 99.9% by allowing everyone to represent themselves yet?

English Speaking Wikipedia is completely blacked out today, January 18, 2012, to alert the world to SOPA and PIPA. Click on this graphic if you are in the USA  to find out how to contact your representatives. And do it. Talk for as long as you can to help get the point across :-)

There is a brilliant analysis of how this bill does NOT help MOST Internet creators by the EFF copied below.

Capture of Wikipedia Home Page 2012-01-18

Bankers are the dictators of the West

Source: The Independent
Credits: Robert Fisk
Dated: 2011-11-10

Bankers are the dictators of the West

Writing from the very region that produces more clichés per square foot than any other "story" – the Middle East – I should perhaps pause before I say I have never read so much garbage, so much utter drivel, as I have about the world financial crisis.

But I will not hold my fire. It seems to me that the reporting of the collapse of capitalism has reached a new low which even the Middle East cannot surpass for sheer unadulterated obedience to the very institutions and Harvard "experts" who have helped to bring about the whole criminal disaster.

George Carlin was right (as well as being awesome)

George Carlin - Religion is bullshit

Scary Stupid - Even the American public is less stupid than their pastors (but only by a little)

Source: CNN.com
CreditsDan Gilgoff (CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor)
Dated: 2012-01-10

Survey: U.S. Protestant pastors reject evolution, split on Earth's age

America’s Protestant pastors overwhelmingly reject the theory of evolution and are evenly split on whether the earth is 6,000 years old, according to a survey released Monday by the Southern Baptist Convention.

When asked if “God used evolution to create people," 73% of pastors disagreed - 64% said they strongly disagreed - compared to 12% who said they agree.

Asked whether the earth is approximately 6,000 years old, 46% agreed, compared to 43% who disagreed.

Men Are From Sears: Women Are From Bloomingdale's.

 [Fritz] This will generate conversations around the dinner table whether you agree or not !

terry o'reilly

Under The Influence
with Terry O'Reilly

There is an odd truism in this world that men generally love The Three Stooges.And the majority of women can't stand them. Yet, an overwhelming percentage of women love romantic stories, and the films made from period pieces that explore issues of the heart: Which, generally speaking, repels men.

MP3 : http://www.cbc.ca/video/news/audioplayer.html?clipid=2185811921

Website : http://www.cbc.ca/undertheinfluence/season-1/2012/01/14/men-are-from-sears-women-are-from-bloomingdales/

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