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Posted on 01.19.09 by Widge @ 3:21 am
Comments on this: 2 so far. Add your own.  At Needcoffee, politics really isn't our bag. First up, because we are read all over the world, and it gets a little silly if we're trying to talk about stuff that affects America all the time--the people in Brazil or Canada, while amused, probably don't care beyond that. And secondly, even though I think that 80% of people in America are not as blisteringly either left wing or right wing and I bet if you talked to them you'd see they were reasonable people who might differ in opinion on the finer points, but for the most part just want to be left alone to enjoy life. And we don't want anybody to get their coffee filters in a twist. But sometimes...sometimes the government does something so incredibly dumb that we think the only people who will be backing the government's play is...the government. And then we have to say something. Especially when you've got legislation that could wind up banning kids from libraries, putting Etsy stores who make stuff for kids out of business (search for "CPSIA sale"), and forcing anybody who makes anything for kids spend craploads of money testing everything they have for lead. Because anything that goes to kids under the age of 12 is fair game. And what I want to know is this: when was the last kid who was hospitalized because they had a book with lead in it? How many children's books have been shown to have lead in them...at all? There might be answers for both of those that go above the number zero--I'm honestly, seriously, asking. How many diapers have been shown to have lead in them? Categorized as: Rants
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Posted on 12.27.08 by Widge @ 10:52 pm
Comments on this: none yet. Add your own.  Okay, here it comes. UK Culture Secretary Andy Burnham wants to work with the Obama administration to apply "new standards of decency" to the Web. Read this next paragraph carefully. For the full context, here's the article. "There is content that should just not be available to be viewed. That is my view. Absolutely categorical. This is not a campaign against free speech, far from it; it is simply there is a wider public interest at stake when it involves harm to other people. We have got to get better at defining where the public interest lies and being clear about it."
How can you tell somebody is against free speech? Because they say that there should be stuff that you shouldn't get to see in the same breath that they claim they're not attacking free speech. Categorized as: Rants
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Posted on 12.27.08 by Widge @ 5:58 am
Comments on this: none yet. Add your own.  You know, there are few people who start talking and I automatically sit up and pay attention. Ask my parents, for example. I paid attention to them as a kid but only after the beatings. But seriously, there are lots of people who I find interesting, lots of people I think are brilliant--and there are a few who are both and when they speak, they speak gobs of truth. So when Larry Lessig, papa of the Creative Commons movement (the method by which I've chosen to release my books into the world), starts talking about how the new American Presidential administration should abolish the FCC--then you get me all excited. Read the whole article here. For our readers outside the U.S., the FCC is that brilliant organization that fakes information when it feels like it, admits that that's just the way they do things, and spend their free time freaking out about Janet Jackson's nipple. Yes--you remember the useless org we're talking about now, don't you? Categorized as: Rants
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Posted on 11.05.07 by Tuffley @ 1:31 am
Comments on this: none yet. Add your own.  Well, it's official--barring any last second deals, the Writers Guild of America is set to walk out on their jobs today. The top concern this go round seems to revolve around the writers seeking higher royalties for DVD sales and receiving any payment at all for internet streaming of their material. But you really don't care about the plight of the writers, do you? After all, should the strike go long enough--most of the writing staffs of both Lost and Heroes could simply go back to writing comics. And really, being paid for written material on the internet? That's just ridiculous. What you really want to know about the impending strike is how your precious television serials and movies will be affected by all this work stopping action. Well, the answer is: depends on who you ask, and depends and what you watch. Categorized as: Rants
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Posted on 10.12.07 by Tuffley @ 2:22 am
Comments on this: none yet. Add your own.  To the Stargate and Doctor Who fandoms: At certain points over recent years, I may have referred to one or both of you as being "the whiniest bitches on the internet". However, I've come to realize I might have been far too hasty in making that proclamation. No, I'm not apologizing. Many of are you still whiny bitches. But you're just not the whiniest bitches on the Internet. The new drama queens have moved in. And man, Radiohead fans are anal--aren't they? There. Someone needed to say it. A mere day after the "grand experiment" and the Internets are awash with complaints: everything from the "lowly" 160 kbps bit rate to being "used" by the band and its management to promote the physical release of the In Rainbows CD. For those of you feeling ripped off or used by Radiohead, I present the following reality check: Categorized as: Rants
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