CNN: Prosecutors drop Lance Armstrong doping investigation.
Free, but probably won’t be the last. Whether you believe or not, some will forever dog him.
Reuters: The French breast implant scandal.
“Maybe it’s shameful, but there you go. [snip] We live in a capitalist world.” And that says it all, doesn’t it?
SF New Mexican: Sandia Labs engineers create ‘self-guided’ bullet.
“According to Sandia Labs engineers, the bullet twists and turns to guide itself toward a laser-directed point. It can make up to thirty corrections per second while in the air, officials said.” I would assume that, at 2400fps, the amount of maneuverability isn’t high. They talk about accuracy at distance.
The National Press Club: Attorney details backlash against photojournalists.
“The problem is, you’ve got this catch-and-release program going on, which basically stops photographers from doing what they’re supposed to be doing, which is record the news.” Great quote - I’m going to use that ‘catch-and-release’ phrase.
ReadWriteWeb: How Pinterest Uses Your Content Without Violating Copyright Laws.
SF New Mexican: State to hold tours of 1980 prison riot site.
“The idea for the 90-minute tours followed Gov. Susana Martinez’s request that all state government departments organize public events in connection with the state’s Centennial celebration this year, Corrections Department spokeswoman Rosie Sais said.” Well, that’s one way to celebrate, I suppose. I would like to get in there and take some harrowing photographs.
Forbes: Did U.K. Tourists Deported Due To Tweet About ‘Destroying America’ Get Pranked?
“DHS is fairly new to this whole social media monitoring thing. Let’s hope that, with time, the folks doing this develop an appreciation for context.” Just following up on yesterday’s news item, given the source.
Here’s a kicker: Wonder if ‘destroy’ had been the fault of autocorrect?
Independent.UK: Driver ‘said he provided protection for the Murdochs’, court told.
“Part of the job of a former driver for News International was to ‘hand over packets to various police officers’ that were part of a “corrupt payments” system ...” Is anyone in America still paying attention to this? Good grief.
Creative Loafing Atlanta: In defense of copyright.
A photo editor comments on SOPA and PIPA.
After experiencing the one-click linking interfaces of Tumblr and Pinterest, I expect this is going to explode again rather soon ... photographers and media companies with libraries of work (libraries they want to monetize) are not going to be pleased. Granted they only have a short time to monetize their images, given the swiftly falling value of a photo [I can hear Jeremiah knocking on my cranium going, “Do I have to mention Napster to you, AGAIN?!"]. Yet historical photos will, I expect, retain a value over and above the endless low-cost digital snowflurries produced today. They can’t be replaced by modern equivalents.
Thinking out loud a bit.
Mail Online.UK: British tourists arrested in America on terror charges over Twitter jokes.
The DHS and TSA have lost it. Read the article. Apparently our security systems can’t handle British humor. Beyond that, and to cap it off, Marilyn isn’t *buried*. She’s in a crypt, for God’s sake. Even the news folks should have picked up on that. ‘Looking for shovels’ ... I ask you.
If this is the way things are, I’d best not risk flying ever again. Lord knows what I’ve expressed that could be considered ‘suspicious’ over 12 years of posts.
DP Review: Similar, but not copied, image found to breach copyright.
See the links in the comments below. Seems the judge needed to get out a bit more ... perhaps buy some postcards.
NY Times: Police Use of G.P.S. Is Ruled Unconstitutional.
WaPo: Marine reaches plea deal in deaths of civilians at Haditha.
“The case doesn’t end with a bang, it ends with a whimper and a pretty weak whimper at that. [snip] When you have 24 dead bodies and you get dereliction of duty, that’s pretty good defense work.”
SF New Mexican: Access to legal abortions increasingly limited.
Sickening. Defend your rights, ladies, or it’s back to the Dark Ages for you. Yearly pregnancy and early death.
Is abortion death? Yes. Death is a part of birth - the older the woman, the more fertilized embryos (in conservative religious parlance, ‘lives’) are passed through the uterus without implanting (in conservative religious parlance, ‘murder’). As they get towards their late ‘30’s, women can have ~9 non-implantations (9 ‘murders’) for every one successful pregnancy. Noone mentions this, noone touches this fact with a ten-foot pole. Don’t believe me? Walk into any women’s health center or fertility clinic and ask.
And I will harshly remind idiotic anti-abortionists, that late-term abortions are NECESSARY (for many reasons, not just that single one). [Do NOT view if you are squeamish.]
There is no gentle way to educate on this subject, unfortunately. I respect the religious moral stance of individuals, but I will not agree to having their mores applied to nonbelievers.
SF New Mexican: City bumps pay floor to national high.
“The city announced Thursday that the wage floor will increase to $10.29 an hour — up from the $9.85 imposed on employers for the last two years and a nickel higher than San Francisco’s.” It’s difficult to discern the direct effects of the living wage, other than portion sizes going down, quality going down, and prices go up at local ‘affordable’ restaurants. Perhaps fewer sales clerks in small retail stores. Businesses that used to skim by on the edge of profitability are largely gone. I see a lot of moving, looking for cheaper rental spaces.
SF New Mexican:Suspected drunken driver hogtied by man.
“The 22-year-old pulled over next to a convenience store, where he was confronted by several witnesses who had followed him into the store’s parking lot. Canuto became belligerent and tried to run away, prompting another man to tackle and hogtie him before sheriff’s deputies arrived ...” We don’t like drunk drivers around here. Too many innocents have been killed. You drink, you drive ... you get hogtied. Great.
ars technica: PIPA support collapses, with 13 new Senators opposed.
Surprisingly, the Right is moving more than the Left. Does Hollywood have such a stranglehold on the Dems?
NY Times: Cruise Industry Weighs Effect of Costa Concordia’s Grounding.
There’s an elephant in the room, I find, that’s not being talked about. Some of the victims of this sinking were trapped in their rooms when the power went out on board. The electronic door locks failed, and apparently wouldn’t release. I saw it in an article yesterday - one article. See if you see others today.
What a horrible way to die.
New Scientist: Cruise ships shouldn’t capsize so fast, says union.
“’It is known in sea trials that these vessels are what we call ‘tender’ in stability terms – they are very stable but have a quick rate of roll when the rudder is moved a few degrees.’ In other words, they are quite sensitive to being upset.”
Outside Online: Lance Armstrong and Livestrong.
“Most people are unaware that there are two Livestrong websites. Livestrong.org is the site for the nonprofit Lance Armstrong Foundation, while Livestrong.com is a somewhat similar-looking page that features the same Livestrong logo and design but is actually a for-profit content farm owned by Demand Media.” Anyone else done searches on health-related items and ended up on this miserable site? I *wondered* what the h-e-double-toothpick was going on, getting crappy health advice mixed with useless banner ads. Ten pages or so; take your time and read the whole thing.
WaPo: 10 reasons the U.S. is no longer the land of the free.
“Even as we pass judgment on countries we consider unfree, Americans remain confident that any definition of a free nation must include their own — the land of free. Yet, the laws and practices of the land should shake that confidence. In the decade since Sept. 11, 2001, this country has comprehensively reduced civil liberties in the name of an expanded security state. The most recent example of this was the National Defense Authorization Act, signed Dec. 31, which allows for the indefinite detention of citizens. At what point does the reduction of individual rights in our country change how we define ourselves?”
CNet: Zappos customer data accessed in security breach.
WaPo: Rick Perry defends Marines accused of urinating on Afghan corpses.
Masking the Right’s disdain for the Geneva Conventions. Soldiers used to honor the GC; perhaps no longer? What do they teach modern warriors?
New Scientist: Red wine researcher accused of fraud.
“Much of his work has been on resveratrol, a compound found in red wine, but in 2008 he published results showing that white wine also improves heart health in rats.” This accusation does not invalidate all benefits of red wine, since there have been other studies, but it certainly puts the kibosh on bathing your liver in red & white wine and beer for purported health effects.
SF New Mexican: Proposal would require background checks on foster parents, relatives.
Unfortunate, but necessary. Gone are the days when “Greatest Generation” families did it for love, not the pittance paid out by child welfare services.
