The US government is scrambling to find a way to close a loophole that allows convicted rapists and other high-risk sex offenders to receive Viagra at taxpayer expense.
so that’s what you meant by “no kill”
A woman who founded a “no-kill” animal shelter has been charged with numerous violations after 200 dead cats were discovered rotting in garbage bags in her backyard.
DHS to go low-tech
The Homeland Security Authorization Act requires that more than 50 percent of the components in any end product bought by the Department of Homeland Security be produced or manufactured in the U.S. Oops:
“With this purchasing prohibition, I guess (the department) will have to learn to do without computers and cell phones,” ITAA President Harris Miller said in a statement. “I cannot think of a single U.S. manufacturer that could meet this 50 percent threshold for these devices, and I doubt that those charged with protecting our safety here at home can either.”
CRIA gets bitch-slapped, lies about it
Everyone’s favourite Canadian law professor Michael Geist calls attention to the recent Federal Court of Appeal decision on file sharing.
Graham Henderson of the CRIA says:
The judge has determined that uploading, downloading, it’s illegal.
But, wait! It’s not true:
Actually, the court did no such thing. Concluding its copyright discussion at paragraph 54, the court says:
“I make no such findings here and wish to make it clear that if this case proceeds further, it should be done on the basis that no findings to date on the issue of infringement have been made.”
15 Answers to Creationist Nonsense
An old (but good) article from Scientific American: 15 Answers to Creationist Nonsense.
UPV caves in to spanish recording industry
Jorge Cortell, who had taught at Polytechnic University of Valencia UPV in Spain for five years was forced to resign after the Dean caved in to pressure from the Spanish Recording Industry Association and the MPAA.
google factory tour
Houston Chronicle 1, Bill O’Reilly 0
Fox blabbermouth Bill O’Reilly started ranting about a Houston Chronicle editorial. Except he made the whole thing up:
On The O’Reilly Factor cable television program Tuesday night, the popular host included a segment that took the Houston Chronicle to task for an editorial that had run the same day. The editorial was entitled Cold comfort: Florida’s sex offender law has emotional appeal, but it’s not the best way to stop sexual predators from preying on children.
…
At the start of the segment, O’Reilly stated that the Chronicle had “taken a lot of shots at me, so it must be left of center.” O’Reilly’s name has appeared only once in a Chronicle editorial, which concerned not O’Reilly, but Fox News’ suit against Al Franken for his use of the phrase “fair and balanced.” The suit was thrown out of court.
…
O’Reilly then read what he said was a quote from the editorial. Unfortunately, not one word of what O’Reilly read appeared in the Chronicle editorial or anywhere else in the paper. He and his staff apparently confused someone else’s commentary with the Chronicle’s.
CBGBs t-shirts explained
from wikipedia, of course:
CBGB, also CBGB’s or CB’s is a legendary club in the Manhattan Bowery district of New York City, New York. The full name is CBGB OMFUG which stands for “Country, Bluegrass, and Blues and Other Music For Uplifting Gormandizers”.
flickr tools
handy list of flickr-related tools.