Archive for topic “sundry”

Purging the 2009 story hopper

For various reasons, these stories and videos never made their way into posts this year, though they were all worthy. This is in no way intended as your typical PR, tactical news dump. These are important stories that I actually want you to read. I just needed to clean out the hopper for the new year. So, please take your time and dig through these links and videos. There’s even some “feel good” links mixed in for good measure! Happy New Year!

Monsanto: Farmer suicides in India

The World According To Monsanto, Part 1

Elizabeth Warren on the Economy

Bill to “ban” organic farming

Monsanto’s dream bill

Buy “The World According To Monsanto”

Making the TransAfghanistan pipeline safe for democracy

Stop making sense by digby

In search of morale: are Americans too broken for the truth to set us free?

Who should resist and who will become serfs?

Why is America apathetic? Aww, screw it. Who cares?

From EFF’s secret files: Anatomy of a bogus subpoena

What do ISPs charge the law to spy on you?

Vienna students march on US embassy (in solidarity with UC students)

Waterboarding the rule of law

Spain investigates what America should

Amy Goodman and Canada’s Olympic Paranoia

Time Warner and Embarq can’t compete with city-owned ISP, trying to outlaw it

Cablevision power play: 101 Mbps Internet, no caps, $99

Parkinson’s Dirty Deal, Part 1

Student hoaxes world’s media on Wikipedia

Buggy ’smart meters’ open door to power-grid botnet

Time Warner cable cannot possibly compete with the small city of Wilson, North Carolina

Literary Lessons: Authors, Poet write the news

FCC to examine mobile phone exclusives

Comics artist Mark Sable detained for Unthinkable acts

Should linking be illegal?

Bush’s secret NSA spying may have tainted prosecutions, report warns

Free the patents and laws, activist tells the Feds

Birth of new species witnessed by scientists [evolution in action]

Clinic with two doors, a symbol of two-tier care

Corporations rule (II): Walmart can close stores in Canada to block unions

Democracy Now! covers Olympic security

US forgoes billions in tax on Citi

Feds ‘pinged’ Sprint GPS data 8 million times over a year

American’s consume 34 Gb of content per day

Millions of missing Bush administration emails found

Scott Demuth’ statement on facing terrorism charges [graduate student charged as terrorist for not revealing his research sources]

The credit card’s newest trick: 79.9 percent interest

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Please forgive the temporary look

I upgraded Wordpress to 2.9 and there was a delayed reaction to my old theme that I’m sure you noticed if you tried to access the site over the last couple days. It was virtually unusable. Since I’m going to be away from the site for the next couple days, this is the temporary look that may grow into something more permanent. Leave your thoughts on it here. Obviously, there will be bugs here and there, so please excuse the dust. Thanks for your patience!

[Ed: New year's eve...I'm settling into the new look and growing to like it now. Still some bugs, but those will get ironed out shortly. Good riddance 2009! Onward and upward to 2010!]

Deep, cleansing breaths

After the disgust of the Pittsburgh police state, I had to take a step back for a couple days and catch my breath. I’ve been camped out over at Digital Newsgathering, my good friend Girl Journalist’s Journalism 226 class at San Francisco State University. I’m a com/mentor for the students’ blogs. So far, so good. Feel free to follow the development of these burgeoning journalists (the student blogs are listed in the blogroll at the main site).

You also may have noticed the enhancements I’ve made around here over the past week or so (thanks for putting up with any loose code you may have seen laying around while visiting the site). I moved the mantras up in the sidebar, added a “Feature” section to highlight critical issues/stories, created a permanent place for viewing each new daily episode of Democracy Now! and added a bigger “Subscribe” button to the header (and a social “gutter” under each post). I’m very pleased with how it all came together, but let me know what you think in the comments section.

We now resume our regular blogging schedule.

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Destino

'Destino' by Walt Disney and Salvador Dali

Destino serves as a reminder of what a magical and mind-blowing place the Disney vault must be. This is the long-lost collaboration between Walt Disney and Salvador Dali. The work began in 1945 but was not completed until 2003. No time to dilly-dally! Watch this before Disney pulls it from YouTube. Absolutely gorgeous and not available on DVD.

Thanks, Ranjit!

Edit: It has been pulled. I hope you enjoyed it while you could!

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Oops. Wordpress 2.8 isn’t playing nicely.

Sorry for the missing sidebar content. I haven’t had time to dig in and fix this yet. Thankfully, the rest of the site is functional. Please excuse the mess. Fixed via downgrade to 2.7.1. More thoughts after the jump! Read the rest of this entry »

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Happy new year!

I’ve been on a holiday hiatus and didn’t even bother to let you know I’d be gone for more than three days as per the terms of my e-lease. I’m glad to come back and find that the pipes didn’t burst in my absence. I hope you all had the chance to take some time away from your daily lives and celebrate life with those you care about. All the best of the New Year to you!

Ooh, almost forgot my fun news: BofA just increased my credit limit again on an account I don’t use. This is the third time since the bailouts began (1, 2). Looks like Conglomobank is desperate for my debt business in ‘09. Clearly, the bailout worked!

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Happy Thanksgiving, but remember…

Image: someecards

Never forget!

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If you are so inclined, the tip jar is open

Dear reader,
I’ve been getting some decent traffic levels and have been trying to figure out if I should advertise on the site or set up a tip jar or what. I’ve had requests to advertise on the site, but the deals never panned out. I’ve also had inquiries about a tip jar. Recently, Jon Taplin was facing a similar dilemma and he went with a tip jar. His rationale makes a lot of sense to me. “…When I look at some friend’s blogs with Google ads, it just seems stupid. As we talk about the sub prime mortgage crisis, ads would appear offering sub prime mortgages.”

That wouldn’t jibe with my philosophy, either. So, I am now the proud owner of a PayPal tip jar. You can find it above the search box. I cannot stress this enough: no pressure. If you like what you are seeing and want to throw some e-coin my way, wonderful. If you love what you are seeing and don’t want to give me a dime, wonderful. I do this for the benefit of humanity. Any filthy lucre would just be gravy. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,
Me

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New feature: Mantras

Those of you that have the unique pleasure of knowing me personally have, in all likelihood, heard me ranting and raving about the ineffective state of modern, mainstream journalism. During the days after the initial invasion and occupation of Iraq, I was heard saying, “Why doesn’t the New York Times just print, as a banner headline, every single day, ‘Where are the WMDs?’ What about ‘George Bush lied about WMD’ or ‘Colin Powell lied about WMD’?”

The argument from the msm and associated apologists is that it is biased to call the Bushies (or any politico) liars; it is assumed that politicians will lie. That is a load of crap. If you have a man saying something that you know to be patently false, anyone is within their logical rights (and if you are a member of the fourth estate, you have a responsibility) to call that person a liar. To this day, mine is a valid question, but this is not what is drilled into the American public’s collective consciousness. It occurred to me today that I wasn’t putting my 0’s and 1’s where my mouth is. That changes, starting now.

You will notice a new addition to the top of the sidebar: Mantras.

A mantra (or mantram) is a religious or mystical syllable or poem, typically from the Sanskrit language. Their use varies according to the school and philosophy associated with the mantra. They are primarily used as spiritual conduits, words or vibrations that instill one-pointed concentration in the devotee. Other purposes have included religious ceremonies to accumulate wealth, avoid danger, or eliminate enemies.Wikipedia: Mantra

These are key questions or comments, pertinent to American society, that until remedied should not leave the collective conscience. They aren’t all going to be political, but I’m feeling a bit feisty right now, so that’s where I will start, righting my old wrongs. If you have suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments section.

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Absence makes the heart grow fonder

I’ve been out of the loop of late and therefore haven’t been posting. I’m still here and still paying attention. More to come…real soon.