New airport fondling; no gay military
Two pieces of evidence this week alone that the U.S.A. is still a third-world country ideologically:
- A federal appalling appeals court blocks the people's right to equitability and indefinitely extends, yet again, the country's ban on gays in the military.
- The federal transportation "safety" administration has implemented a new rule requiring the molestation (genital fondling) of any air traveler not wishing to have nude photographs taken of themselves.
Unreal. It's interesting to observe that many of the country's irrational hang-ups involve sexual themes.
Mike Rugnetta’s Little Rights Management Story
Here's a cautionary tale about ASCAP, the musicians' performing rights union in the States (up here, we have a counterpart called SOCAN).
Apparently, they have been actively campaigning against Creative Commons and other similar movements.
Mike Rugnetta, a New York musician, disagrees with their politics — but ASCAP refuses to let him quit his membership!
Goat kills man in Washington state
From the CBC News:
A mountain goat […] fatally gored a hiker, then stood over the man and stared menacingly at people trying to help. […]
Robert Boardman, 63, of Port Angeles died Saturday after he was attacked by the goat while hiking on the subalpine Switchback Trail. The trail is popular with residents of nearby Port Angeles, about 140 kilometres west of Seattle.
[…] "This is a highly unusual. There's no record of anything similar in this park," [said park official Barb Maynes.]
[…] Park officials have posted signs at trailheads warning hikers to be watchful of all goats and to stay at least 30 metres from the animals. Hikers are also warned not to urinate on or near the trail, because goats are attracted to the salt.
A necropsy, or animal autopsy, was conducted on the goat Sunday night by private veterinary pathologists. Park officials are awaiting test results of blood and tissue samples, which may take a couple of weeks, Maynes said.
Pancreas vs. Corn on the Cob
The ornament of her might presents a curiously satisfying comparison.
Retail pants size lies
It is apparently commonplace amongst popular retail clothiers to misrepresent the size of pants.
This revelation both disgusts me, briefly surprises me, and then after a moment of reflection doesn't surprise me at all.
John Roderick on Bob Dylan
John of the Long Winters discusses how he came to know Mr. Zimmerman's music – and his opinion of the circumstances surrounding its popular acceptance – in Myth 61 Revisited, a column for the Seattle Weekly.
Martin Scorsese attends free iMovie demo at Apple Store
Another classic from the Onion.
Scorsese, who is widely regarded as one of the most important artists in the history of American cinema, was reportedly fascinated that iMovie was capable of making footage slow down, speed up, or play backward. The living legend said he was also impressed that, by clicking a single button, a complex tracking shot could be instantly changed into black-and-white to fully emphasize the repugnance of masculine insecurities.
As Gruber observes, often the joke is in the headline; here, it's the accompanying photograph that provides the seed.
The OED has seen its final printing
The London Telegraph reports that the Oxford English Dictionary will not be printed again (apparently not to be confused, though, with the Oxford Dictionary of English which will continue a periodic printing).
Penile plethysmography
Good lord; until today, it was a routine practice by a service of the B.C. Ministry for Children and Family Development to assess a convicted sex offender by "attach[ing] a device to his penis [and then] play[ing] images of adults having sex and of naked children while monitoring the youth's level of arousal".
Sounds like something from the early half of this century.
Update (next day): surprise, surprise; the cancellation of this wacky test came down after somebody realized that one of their technicians had been convicted of sexual assault.
Update (April 26, 2011): The BC Children's Representative just released a report concluding that indeed "the penile sensors are invasive." Well, how's that for some solid government research.