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17 Oct 2009 21:55

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Politics: Standing up for Shepard Fairey: Yeah, the guy still has a case

  • Let’s look at The AP’s actual claim. They’re saying that you can’t create ANYTHING that uses their content as mere reference material without paying them. They’ve done similar things with bloggers in the past, and their policies are, in a word, nuts.
  • True/Slant blogger Justin Gardner • On the nature of Shepard Fairey’s fair use claims against the Associated Press for creating the Obama “Hope” poster. Regarding Fairey’s end of the bargain, he says, “Yes, Fairey lying about this was wrong, stupid, etc. Shame on him for that.” Even so, “that doesn’t make his use of the photo copyright infringement.” Gardner goes further to point out that the AP sent the photographer there to shoot GEORGE CLOONEY, not Barack Obama. Because, at the time, Obama wasn’t this iconic political superhero that he is now (or he was in January). • source
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17 Oct 2009 21:37

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U.S.: Balloon Boy’s parents are probably gonna get charged

  • Great news everyone! For wasting everyone’s time, for wasting taxpayer’s money, for making internet memes, for being named Richard Heene, for embarrassing Fort Collins, for showing us Falcon’s vomit, for keeping up amused, and for eating up the news, you’re damn right the parents are gonna get charged. (But not arrested.) source
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17 Oct 2009 19:47

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Tech: Canabalt is the biggest dead-simple time-sucking game ever

Canabalt
  • Canabalt makes us want to stop everything we’re doing and just play it for six hours. But we couldn’t do that to you guys. The game, originally designed for the Experimental Gameplay Project, somehow turns a one-button game into the most-exciting duck-and-jump adventure this side of “Die Hard.” Best part? There’s an iPhone version that’s just as exciting (and simply-designed) as the Flash game. source
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17 Oct 2009 18:34

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Culture, Tech: Happy birthday, IMDb: You’re almost old enough to drink

  • 19
    years     the amount of time the movie-data-centric site has been online – it predates the Web, even
  • 57 million the number of visitors that go to the site every single freaking month, mostly failed actors source
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17 Oct 2009 18:26

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Offbeat: Pimps up, hos down: An alcohol-maker sullies Snow White

Ho White and the Seven Dwarves
Don't mess with Disney. Ever. Let's say you're an Australian alcohol company. And you want to get some attention. Maybe co-opting an image might work. How about one from an iconic kid-friendly storybook. Actually, the popular film version. And now, you know why Jamieson's Raspberry Ale is facing legal attention from the big, evil mouse. SOURCE
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17 Oct 2009 17:55

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World: In Rio de Janeiro, gangs shoot down police helicopters. (Holy crap!)

  • Dang it, Associated Press. This is simply too crazy to not post. We’re going to feel guilty about breaking the boycott for this article, but this is some Ikari Warriors action going on in Rio de Janeiro. So, Chicago’s looking a lot better now in 2016, eh, International Olympic Committee? (Oh wait, we forgot how crazy this was.) source
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17 Oct 2009 16:14

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World: Pakistan’s trying to weed out Taliban militants en masse

  • 28,000 soldiers are on the case in South Waziristan source
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17 Oct 2009 15:53

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U.S.: George Bush the elder totally has Obama’s back

  • Politics is politics. But some things are bigger than that. He, like other Americans, would like to see the president be successful.
  • Former White House political director Ron Kaufman • Describing the warm relationship George H.W. Bush has with Barack Obama. Bush held an event honoring Obama’s public service last night, and despite the protests outside the Texas auditorium, it was a warm, festive affair inside. The elder Bush said that in challenging times, “the R or D next to your name is irrelevant.” Obama agreed. • source
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17 Oct 2009 15:15

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U.S.: The 1989 Bay Area quake, 20 years later: A live-on-TV disaster

Loma Prieta Earthquake, 1989

Twenty years ago today, one of the scariest events to hit the West Coast in the 20th century – the Loma Prieta Earthquake – hit the Bay Area. It was in the midst of a World Series that pitted the Oakland A's against the San Francisco Giants, so it literally happened live. (Al Michaels called the play-by-play on the incident. Or at least he tried.)
  • What happened? The quake was an iconic piece of the late ’80s. Among other things, it took out the Oakland Bay Bridge, a heavily trafficked bridge, at a time it was being heavily used. Despite the incident’s $7 billion in damage, only 63 people died. That’s because it hit in the less-densely-populated Santa Clara County, away from major urban areas. In a way, they got lucky.
  • What to learn Many lessons were taken from the incident – new buildings have to be made to code, for example, and much work is being done to inform people ahead of time – though the technology isn’t there yet. But many in-danger areas that haven’t had quakes in hundreds of years – St. Louis and Seattle, most notably – haven’t done enough to prepare. source
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17 Oct 2009 14:16

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Music: This week’s Saturday Mixtape covers some of 2004’s best tunes



OK, we're halfway through the naughts after this week. In case you haven't noticed, we've been going through some of our favorite songs of this decade, year-by-year, since August. Once every other week or so. This week, we hit 2004. (Want to hear the others? Click here: 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000)
  • 1. If we had to pick one song of the decade, this would be it. In four and a half minutes, The Walkmen’s “The Rat” nailed the unnecessary gravitas and self-seriousness that defined this decade. No other song has come close to best defining it.
    2. Animal Collective essentially did the opposite of what Radiohead did to become famous. Starting out as a strange, dense, openly experimental band, they found themselves making pop music by the beginning of 2009. We still heart 2004’s “Sung Tongs,” though, and “Who Could Win a Rabbit?” is the bridge between the two sounds.
    3. The Arcade Fire suffered greatly at the hands of overhype, like many other perfectly-good bands of the era – Bloc Party or Vampire Weekend, anyone? But they deserved every bit of the hype they got, especially on “Neighborhood #3 (Power Out).”
    4. The Streets – aka Mike Skinner – nailed the best album of his career in 2002 with “Original Pirate Material,” but as far as singles go, “Fit But You Know It” is easily his best. With that roughshod beat – the kind of beat that Lily Allen rides up the charts nowadays – backing a story of a drunk ticked about the unattainable hottie in front of him, it synthesizes the best of Skinner’s sound and storytelling.
    5. The great secret of Sufjan Stevens’ “Seven Swans” – an album openly loaded with religious imagery – was that you didn’t need to be Christian to be deeply affected by it. “The Transfiguration” is beautiful on its own terms, but not without questioning its listener: “Consider what he says to you, consider what’s to come.” source
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