“Oh, god!” – Tweek Among the not unreasonably paranoid, it has long been assumed that every piece of electronic communications is intercepted and stored. From e-mails to cellphone calls, the ease with which digital things can be invisibly copied means that such copying is happening. It’s almost axiomatic that an organization with the practically unlimited [...]
Archive for May 2011
Still Afraid of Monsters Under the Bed
Cutting Off the Digital Nose to Spite Copyright’s Face
“Man must learn to think of these horrible outcomes before he acts selfishly, or else I fear recording artists will be forever doomed to a life of only semi-luxury.” – South Park Detective As better internet connections find their way into more homes each year, the purveyors of print, radio and television, the decades old [...]
Netanyahu Government Deathwatch: Day 782
“Everything lasts forever.” – Homer Simpson Amid the pomp and commentary about Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu’s dueling statements this week, and with the Palestinian plan to declare statehood later this year looming in the background, something very fundamental has been missed. When Obama says that a peace deal must be based on the 1967 [...]
It’s Official: Colbert > Stewart
“And as my final newscast draws to a close, I’m reminded of a few of the events that brought me closer to you: the collapse of the Soviet Union, premium ice cream price wars, dogs that were mistakenly issued major credit cards, and others who weren’t so lucky. And so, farewell. And, uh, don’t forget [...]
Give Them Something for Their Money
“The finger thing means the taxes.” – Springfield PTA Meeting Attendee In a guest post at The Infrastructurist, author and infrastructure geek Scott Huler recounts his dispiriting experiences touring the country and talking about our dire need to improve the grimy physical foundations of our marvelous futuristic society: People usually enjoy the beginnings of my [...]
Rollo Tamasi in Loafers
“Your honor, my client has instructed me to remind the court how rich and important he is, and that he is not like other men.” – Lawyer “I should be able to run over as many kids as I want!” – C.M. Burns In 1997’s brilliant L.A. Confidential, Guy Pearce’s recently disillusioned straight laced cop [...]
The Sustainability of Total Opposition
Shell Shock Nation
“It’s my nerves, sir. I just can’t stand the barking anymore.” – Springfield Kid Even without unmistakable physical signs, it’s often plainly obvious when a cat or a dog has been abused by a former owner. They’ll be jumpy and skittish, they’ll piss and shit out of even mild fear, they’re very slow to trust. [...]
Malaise Forever
“I give you our thirty-ninth president, Jimmy Carter.” – Mayor Quimby “Aw, come on.” – Man in Crowd #1 “He’s history’s greatest monster!” – Man in Crowd #2 Wednesday of this week saw the Birther nonsense. Thursday bathed in the reaction, as well as grim economic news and a front page story in The New [...]
