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20 May 2010 10:13

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Politics: Additional comments on “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!”

  • It’s a noble cause, but right now it feels like trolling. Look, we think free speech is great and want to encourage it, but this whole controversy feels like an excuse not to defuse a free speech issue, but to amplify it. In that NYT article we just posted, there was a quote from Twitter which sort of said it all. “One day,” the user said, “they will ban breathing in Pakistan.” You want to promote free speech? Fight for this guy, who just wants to watch a clip of a dog riding a skateboard. Don’t fight against him. Enable him. People like him will eventually encourage the cause you’re fighting for if you help him out. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 6 Comments • Permalink

20 May 2010 09:46

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World: Pakistan’s Facebook ban extends to YouTube, but not Twitter

Thanks to the high number of Mohammed depictions on the video site, they had to shut that down, too. Again, this was a good idea because … source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 May 2010 01:06

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Music: (Sine) Wave of the future: Multitouch musical instruments

  • what roger linn can do Linn has created a cool new musical instrument that plays music on a touchscreen in a pretty innovative way. The organization (in chromatic scale) is key to this setup being fairly easy to play. The downside: Amazon bought the technology Linn used to make the device.

  • What Bebot can do It’s actually kind of reminiscent of an iPhone app called Bebot, which allows you to play a touch-sensitive synth in a similar fashion. It doesn’t use a scale in the way Linn’s awesome instrument does, but it does have a cool robot who sings your tunes. Hooray!
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 May 2010 00:45

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Politics, World: Thailand’s use of military force may hurt long-term

  • Was the military force used against the Red Shirt protesters a good idea? At least one expert says no. “By opting for a military rather than a security solution, the government has lost the opportunity to craft a settlement for an orderly transition,” said University of Leeds professor of southeast Asian politics Duncan McCargo. McCargo notes that the Red Shirts had lost their leader and the country had the chance for diplomatic talks (including some mediated by the UN), but passed on them them. Now, the country has deep, violent conflicts instead of compromise. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 May 2010 00:40

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World: How volatile is Thailand’s government, anyway? Very

  • 1946 the year King Bhumibol Adulyadej took power
  • 20 number of prime ministers the country has had since then
  • 3.2 the average number of years the prime ministers get to server
  • nine number of coups the country has had during Bhumibol’s reign source
  • » It’s a rough system of government. In 1932, absolute monarchy ended in the country. Since then, 17 constitutions have been drafted. Only two of those allowed for entirely elected (rather than appointed) parliaments. Current Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva was appointed to the job after Thaksin Shinawatra was booted from office during a corruption trial that dissolved his political party. Thaksin was protested against, too. Those protesters wore yellow.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 May 2010 00:24

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World: Thailand tries to pick up the pieces from a day of chaos

  • Physically we can rebuild Bangkok quickly, but I don’t know how long it will take to cure the psychological damage. We will never forget May 19 in our life time.
  • Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra • Regarding the chaos that surrounded the city in a major way yesterday. The chaos left buildings ablaze for hours, left many injured and forced the government to set a curfew for a third of the country. In the wake of the chaos, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said that he would harshly punish the “terrorists” who vandalized Bangkok. Exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whose ouster started this mess in the first place, gave credit to the Red Shirts for surrendering, claiming that the end of the protests saved a lot of lives. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 May 2010 23:49

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U.S.: Louisiana’s wetlands drenched in oil, regulatory failure

Gov. Bobby Jindal on the oil: “We’ve got to stop this cancer from spreading [and] we’d much rather fight it on these coastal barrier islands than inland.” Well-put. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

19 May 2010 23:02

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World: “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!” Tomorrow promises bad things

  • 4/23A misguided artist draws a picture parodying the South Park Mohammed thing and sets 5/20 as a date for everyone to draw Mohammed. It gets attention because she sends it to blogs.
  • 4/24 Afraid of the monster she just created, she disowns the picture she personally sent to the blogs and calls it a joke that got out of hand. It doesn’t matter; the idea has already taken hold.
  • 5/19 Pakistan bans Facebook – the entire site – because of the fan page for this thing which has gotten out of hand in a way only things on the internet can. There are videos, too. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 May 2010 22:16

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Culture: Will Megan Fox return to the Transformers franchise?

  • NO and if Shia LaBoeuf were smart, he’d quit too source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 May 2010 21:13

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World: Be glad you’re not Mongolian, don’t have to clean up this mess

Unless you are. In which case we feel really awful that a rough winter killed all of your livestock. The country’s entire economy could feel the ripple effects of this. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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