Contentmafia

But he is reluctant to publish the somewhat bizarre story of the rest of his life because, thanks to a legal quirk, he no longer owns the rights to the characters. According to the agreement under which the rights to The Graduate were sold, Canal Plus, the French media company [and new owner], would be able to make a film of Home School without his consent.

So they bully authors into giving away all rights to current and future works. They have no rights to get morally about copying films...
The Graduate's sequel a tale of hard times | World Wide Weird | The Australian

Fuck, this is cool

So cool

And anybody suggesting this is something similar to a DELL notebook should be shot.

Don't make the haystack bigger

IMHO this bottom-up approach of uncloaking a network is more effective than a top down search for the terrorist needle in the public haystack -- and it is less invasive of the general population, resulting in far fewer "false positives".

Connect the Dots -- Social Network Analysis and 9-11
(via telepolis)

Don't scar on the first cut

Policies are codified overreactions to unlikely-to-happen-again situations. A collective punishment for the wrong-doings of a one-off. And unless you want to treat the people in your environment as five year-olds, “Because The Policy Said So” is not a valid answer.

Don't scar on the first cut - Signal vs. Noise (by 37signals)

the "Pentagon missile" hoax?

none saw a cruise missile, Global Hawk robot plane, smaller plane or flying saucer piloted by giant lizards

the "Pentagon missile" hoax distracts and discredits the 9/11 skeptics

(via fefe)

We need more Nukes on TV

After seeing so many lone heroes fighting the ceaseless onslaught of nuclear bomb wielding Arab terrorists at the US, I hereby predict the next hits for US TV.

Friends: Ross sees that Ugly Naked Guy is building a nuclear device. See how Phoebe helps him to dismantle the device and almost causes a 3rd World War and how Monica thinks that Chandler has a relation with the Ugly Naked Guy. Don't miss Joey using Plutonium for a BBQ.

Seinfeld: George gets arrested by Homeland Security because they believe he is a Arab terrorist building a nuclear device. In prison he gets to know an actual Arab terrorist and his plans to destroy the US. George and Kramer are able to find the HQ of the Arab terrorists, but almost fail without the help of Jerry. See Elaine discussing her relationship problems with Mahmud Eppersani, the leader of the Arab terrorists.

Law & Order: See the gripping legal drama between good and bad as a small team from the New York City homicide department and lawyers from the Manhattan District Attorney's office try to prove that the explosion of a nuclear device in NYC was not a case of self defense.

Walker, Texas Ranger: See Walker beat the hell out of Arab terrorists. Oh, and he dismantles a nuclear device with an elegant Low Kick.

Herbie: See Herbie talk a nuclear device out of exploding. Simply lovable.

Magnum, P.I.: An Navy Admiral and old friend of Magnum from the Vietnam war claims that the Vietnamese want to kill him. As Magnum investigates, he finds evidence that his friend is betraying the US by smuggling nuclear material stolen from the Vietnamese and selling it to Arab terrorists. Together with the Vietnamese Secret Service they are able to recover the nuclear material and apprehend the US traitor. Don't miss Higgins telling a story how he build a nuclear grenade while serving in south east Asia and Rick trying to sell the nuclear material to some tourists.

Home Improvement: Tim builds by accident a nuclear device, while improving his hot rod. After consulting with Wilson he decides to dismantle it only to discover it stolen by Arab terrorists. See Tim recover the nuclear device with the help of Al. Don't miss Jill talking about how she build a civil nuclear reactor for school when she was a girl.

Star Trek: The crew of the Enterprise fly back in time to save the US from a attack with nuclear devices by Arab terrorists. Don't miss Spock swimming with nuclear submarines and Pavel Andreievich Chekov stealing a nuclear wessel while James T. Kirk tries to win over a 20th century woman.

ER: An Arab terrorist is brought to the ER with abdominal pain. While operating, Dr. John Carter discovers a nuclear device. See how the amazing Dr. Kerry Weaver keeps everything under control. Don't miss Nurse Carol Hathaway giving birth to quadruplets.

X-Files: Mulder discovers that aliens are using Arab terrorists to attack the US with nuclear bombs. Don't miss the unconscious Scully missing how Mulder dismantles the bombs before they are beamed away by other aliens.

NCSI Nevada - Nuclear Crime Scene Investigation: See these experts determine the cause of every nuclear explosion in the US with criminologist perfection.

The West Wing: See U.S. President Bartlet ordering a preemptive strike on a Arab country building nuclear weapons.

"OMG! PATTERNS!"

Developers who actively seek to apply patterns to every coding problem are adding unnecessary complexity. Far from being something you look to add to your code, you should feel bad every time you are forced to code up another design pattern, it means you are doing busy work that makes things more complex and is of dubious benefit. But hey, your code has design patterns, and no one can take that from you.

Damien Katz: Signs You're a Crappy Programmer (and don't know it)

What makes me hate firefox

Stupid.

Preset.

That.

Makes.

My.

Computer.

Hang.

Every.

Time.

I.

Download.

Something.

Fuck.

Firefox hangs - MozillaZine Knowledge Base - Hang downloading files

Ann Xprt? Shhhure!

newswireless.net .:. Blog .:. Really, what matters is that the BBC ...

(watch the WMV video here)

Feds Search Home, Office of CIA Official

The CIA's third ranking official, Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, has been under investigation by the FBI, IRS, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the CIA's inspector general and the U.S. attorney's office in San Diego, said FBI spokeswoman April Langwell in San Diego.

Fefe's Blog

Wired News: DOJ Drops Wiretap Investigation

The government has abruptly ended an inquiry into the warrantless eavesdropping program because the National Security Agency refused to grant Justice Department lawyers security clearance.

The Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility, or OPR, sent a fax Wednesday to Democratic Rep. Maurice Hinchey of New York saying it was closing its inquiry because without clearance it could not examine department lawyers' role in the program.

"We have been unable to make any meaningful progress in our investigation because OPR has been denied security clearances for access to information about the NSA program," OPR counsel H. Marshall Jarrett wrote to Hinchey. Hinchey's office shared the letter with The Associated Press.

Wired News: DOJ Drops Wiretap Investigation

Danger, Windows Developer!

Dangers you are not aware of when writing software for Windows...
The Old New Thing : Subtle ways your innocent program can be Internet-facing

WTF is in Pleasanton ???

Google Trends: flickr

A Clockwork Red White Blue - This is getting boring

Really. This is getting boring. The NSA has phone call records of tens of millions of Americans? Is this a bad Hollywood action movie staring Tom Cruise?

USATODAY.com - NSA has massive database of Americans' phone calls

The US is not a country

The US is fucking joke. It has a monkey instead of a president, company representatives for a parlament, a army where others have a employment program and machines in place of voters.
Schneier on Security: Major Vulnerability Found in Diebold Election Machines

A Clockwork Red White Blue - No photos please!

"Some of it is pretty scary with some of the things that have happened," said Robert Lee, regional security manager for Valero. "Surveillance is one of the ways these terrorist units conduct their planning. These things have to be investigated."

What things have happend? What terrorist units?

By the way, if I want to do surveillance on the Valero refinery, I would go here...
Measure calls for picture security

Electronic Nirvana

Just stumbled over Sheryl Crow on a website and I was thinking, nice, I would like to hear a song from her again, when iTunes' Party-Jukebox decides to play, tada, Sheryl Crow.

Defintly a glitch in the matrix, but makes me glad to have taken the blue pill.

Some people in the US are angy

I’m angry about the shredding of the constitution…illegal wiretaps…falsified intelligence…secret prisons… use of torture as an accepted means of interrogation…Terry Schiavo…the war on science…denial of Global Warming…the fascistic secrecy of our elected officials… presidential signings that declare the President above the law…the breakdown of the wall between church and state…the outing of a clandestine CIA agent for purely partisan political gain…the corrupting influence of K Street… the total sell-out of the legislative process to corporate interests… appointments of unqualified cronies at every level of government…Harriet Miers…Brownie…Abu Ghraib… Scooter …the complete mismanagement of the war in Iraq…the lies about the complete mismanagement of the war in Iraq…the grotesque budget deficits… the pathetic response to Katrina… a civil rights division dedicated to undermining civil rights…an environmental protection agency that refuses to protect the environment… (Take a breath, Angry Liberal Guy.)

And I’m angry about a smug, simple-minded, incompetent, unqualified President, and a press that denies the obvious fact that we have a smug, simple-minded, incompetent unqualified President.

If these things don’t make you angry, I have to ask -- what the hell is the matter with you?

And what would it take to make you angry?

I think it is good to be angry. Angry about the right things.
Boing Boing: Angry liberal guy rant

Why We Know

that Iraq Iran the US is Lying.

Many questions remain about Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs.

But the US is not going to give honest answers for these questions.

"Why We Know Iraq is Lying" A Column by Dr. Condoleezza Rice

It's always game time

adbeast screening room

A reason why the British are in Iraq?

The British still own the US money. For WWI. That is the world war before WWII.

BBC NEWS | Magazine | What's a little debt between friends?

US wants to smuggle 200,000 AK47s from Bosnia to Iraq

And looses them?!? 99 tons of weapons?

Mirror.co.uk - News - HAVE 200,000 AK47S FALLEN INTO THE HANDS OF IRAQ TERRORISTS?

(via fefe)

Why Don't Ad Agencies Advertise?

IF ADVERTISING is so effective, why don't ad agencies advertise? PR firms tout themselves in releases. Event planners throw their own parties. E-marketers use the Internet. These folks all believe in the effectiveness of their disciplines. Do ad agencies disagree?

Re:Focus: Why Don't Ad Agencies Advertise?
(via 37signals)