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02 Jun 2011 14:18

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Tech: Tennessee lawmakers pass stupid anti-password-sharing law

  • Share your password on Netflix? If you live in Tennessee, you should stop. They just passed a law that makes it illegal to share your password to sites like Netflix and Rhapsody — even with permission. They’re the first state to do this. While you don’t have to worry about sharing within the same house, you might have to worry if you have a son or daughter in college, because they just might be sharing your password with everyone on their floor in their dorm. This is because the language of the law is super-vague and punishes mostly innocuous uses of password-sharing. And the punishments are steep too — up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine for $500 or less of “theft,” which the law treats as a misdemeanor. The recording industry, as you might guess, is behind this stupid law — and they hope other states will follow suit after this. source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Jun 2011 13:57

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Tech: Meme theft drama: The Oatmeal takes on FunnyJunk

  • In one of the great battles of Memedom, this one might be remembered as the “War of Attribution.” What happens when a guy who draws a ton of memeworthy comics goes up against a site that aggregates comics just like his without any attribution whatsoever? Drama. That’s what happened when the guy behind The Oatmeal merely asked for a little credit for his work from the site FunnyJunk — after they stole all his content.
  • Many lulz, no attribution Matthew Inman, the creator of the famous webcomic The Oatmeal has a huge issue with FunnyJunk.com. Users of that site have been taking his comics, removing all forms of attribution, and posting them on the ad-laden site. He’s tried unsuccessfully to get them removed, but they keep showing up. “I realize that trying to police copyright infringement on the internet is like strolling into the Vietnamese jungle circa 1964 and politely asking everyone to use squirt guns,” Inman wrote, but he feels he needs to protect his rights.
  • Reasonable vs. immature All sorts of problems arose came from Inman just asking for FJ to link to his site — not exactly a huge thing — and the whole mess turned into a giant dramabomb that spread beyond The Oatmeal and FunnyJunk and hit Reddit and Facebook. It’s an interesting copyright battle that takes on some of the touches of YouTube vs. Viacom, except with more uses of anti-gay slurs and meme-talk. Honestly … we’re with Inman. And the guy who runs FunnyJunk is kind of an immature baby who tried to turn his entire userbase on Inman. source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Jun 2011 12:33

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Politics: Recalled Wisconsin State Senator: Let’s hope Dems are “sleeping”

  • We’ve got tons of government workers in my district — tons. From La Crosse to Prairie du Chien and to Viroqua and to Ontario and to Hillsboro, you can go on and on and on. We have to overcome that. We gotta hope that they, kind of, are sleeping on July 12th — or whenever the (election) date is.
  • Wisconsin State Sen. Dan Kapanke • Expressing fear that he might get recalled due to the fact that his district has a lot of public-sector union workers in it. A secret recording caught Kapanke saying this along with a few other things. He noted in the clip, taped last week at the Cedar Creek Golf Club in Onalaska, Wisc., that two other state senators were in serious danger of losing their seats, too, and offered up this harbinger: “If they gain control of the Senate, it might be over for us. Because redistricting will play a role, as you know, and we lose that power.” Well, that doesn’t sound optimistic, does it? (h/t ThinkProgress) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Jun 2011 11:03

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Tech: Windows 8 in action: Microsoft gives the mothership a shake-up

  • A refresh of “Start Menu” dynamics: Microsoft’s upcoming refresh of Windows is a bold reboot of an OS way-better known for its incremental updates. WIth an interface that’s closer to Windows Phone 7 than anything that the desktop OS has done, the GUI appears to be touch-first, mouse-second, but done in such a way that doesn’t necessarily turn off the mouse crowd. Honestly, this is the most-impressive GUI we’ve ever seen from Microsoft, if for no other reason than that most of their operating systems have been terrible, in our humble opinion. The ball’s in your court, Steve Jobs — whaddya got for us at WWDC? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Jun 2011 10:37

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World: Rare German strain of E.coli “more virulent and toxin-producing”

  • This is a unique strain that has never been isolated from patients before … [it has] various characteristics that make it more virulent and toxin-producing.
  • World Health Organization food safety expert Hilde Kruse • Describing what makes the mutant strain of E.coli — the one found mostly in Germany at this point — much more dangerous than previous versions. The disease, which sickened more than 1,500 and left nearly 500 with a rare type of kidney failure, is the third-largest outbreak of E.coli ever. So, where did it come from? “One should think of an animal source,” Kruse suggested. “Many animals are hosts of various types of toxin-producing E. coli.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Jun 2011 10:25

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World: Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan still has some confidence left

Amid the Japanese earthquake, Kan survived a no-confidence vote and will likely outlast all of his recent predecessors, despite promising to resign after the crisis. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Jun 2011 02:30

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Politics: Palin not popular in Obama states, swing states, McCain states

  • We have now polled on Palin’s favorability in 31 states. Voters in all 31 of those states have a negative opinion of her.
  • Public Policy Polling’s Tom Jensen • Palin’s support has always been miles deep but inches wide; even so, the results of PPP’s polling really paint a dire picture of her electoral prospects. Alaskans disapprove of her by a twenty five-point margin; not a huge surprise, as constituents generally don’t like when their governors quit mid-term for no good reason. But in McCain states, she faces a sixteen point deficit, and West Virginia, which “likes” her the most, still dislikes her by six percent. If she runs, it’ll be a really steep climb. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

02 Jun 2011 01:47

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Politics: Republican budget plan falls flat with the public

  • Is it just us, or was Paul Ryan foolish to start using the word “Mediscare” to describe the Democrats’ opposition to his plan? Because when you hear “Mediscare,” you don’t think, “Oh, the Democrats are just trying to scare me. I’m sure the Ryan budget is perfectly innocuous.” No; you think, “Oh no! Someone’s trying to take my Medicare away, and I’m scared!” Anyway, this is a shocking, rare PR victory for the Democrats, so let’s let them cherish it for the ten minutes it’ll take before they inevitably blow it and do something stupid. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Jun 2011 00:30

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U.S.: Latest attempt to defund Planned Parenthood fails

  • plan In preparation for his aborted presidential run, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels signed a bill blocking Medicaid recipients from using Planned Parenthood’s services.
  • problem The Health and Human Services Department has informed Daniels that the bill he signed is in violation of federal Medicaid law, and thus can’t be implemented. source
  • » What was wrong with the bill? Well, from a moral standpoint, a lot. But from a legislative standpoint, the issue is that Medicaid beneficiaries are legally permitted to use their Medicaid anywhere they want, so long as they do so at a “qualified service provider.” The bill Daniels discriminates against Planned Parenthood for reasons unrelated to its qualifications. Proponents of the bill correctly pointed out that the Hyde Act makes it illegal for federal funds to pay for abortions; however, only 3% of Planned Parenthood’s services are abortive, and for low-income Hoosiers to be blocked from Planned Parenthood’s other services simply because the governor once wanted to run for president is not only wrong–it’s against the law.
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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