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Friday Open Thread

by In Wales Fri Aug 17th, 2012 at 11:57:56 AM EST

For your views and observations


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We've spent much of the day dissecting how evil Disney is.  Highly recommend the South Park episode - The Ring (Season 13).

Ad astra per aspera
by In Wales (inwales aaat eurotrib.com) on Fri Aug 17th, 2012 at 12:00:02 PM EST
Were you guys prompted by this?

Europeans think a hundred miles is a long way. Americans think a hundred years is a long time.
by Bernard on Fri Aug 17th, 2012 at 12:19:55 PM EST
[ Parent ]
As it happens, yes!  It doesn't take long to find plenty of critiques of the Disney empire if you look around online.

Ad astra per aspera
by In Wales (inwales aaat eurotrib.com) on Fri Aug 17th, 2012 at 12:22:26 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Looks like I am to be the defender of Disney against the Luddites...
by asdf on Fri Aug 17th, 2012 at 12:29:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Enough quantative difference creates a qualitative difference.

In this case you go from being recognised part of the time to being recognised all the time. Also, there is a power difference as long as the technology for practical purposes is limited to one side. You can recognise and interact with an employee that recognises you. Can't say the same for cameras with facial recognition.

A vote for PES is a vote for EPP! A vote for EPP is a vote for PES! Support the coalition, vote EPP-PES in 2009!

by A swedish kind of death on Fri Aug 17th, 2012 at 02:49:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Yes, and that is the case for a lot of current technology. People are shocked when they are shown how much of their lives are exposed by their Facebook and Twitter accounts. And they aren't even aware of what is already considered a public record.

In the U.S., property ownership records are public, including the price paid, some of the loan information, and the names of the owners. If you can't remember the name of the guy down the street, you can look him up in the county records.

It used to be a hassle to do that, because you had to go into the office and dig through a filing cabinet. And if you went in there every day, after a while the clerk would ask what you were digging for. But now you can go on line and get the information easily, and you can build up a database of the house costs, and by extrapolation, incomes, of a neighborhood--with names associated. You don't even need to pay for it, or need any facial recognition software or anything complicated like that.

Should that be legal? What's the difference?

by asdf on Fri Aug 17th, 2012 at 03:28:25 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Moscow Times: Live Blog: Pussy Riot Members Sentenced to Two Years in Prison (17 August 2012)
6:01 p.m., Defendants Receive Two-Year Prison Sentences: Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina, and Yekaterina Samutsevich have been sentenced to two years in prison each on charges of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred.

5:56 p.m., Judge Says Prison Sentence Necessary: Judge Marina Syrova said the women may be corrected "only with a real [prison] sentence."

Bloggers took particular note earlier of Syrova's describing one of the defendants' "mixed psychological disorders," including, according to Time magazine correspondent Simon Shuster writing on Twitter, "individualism, stubborn expression of opinions, unwillingness to cede positions."

...

5:06 p.m., Kasparov Bit Policeman, Report Says: Opposition leader Garry Kasparov, who was detained earlier by police, bit an officer, the head of the public chamber of the Moscow bailiffs service, Anton Tsvetkov, told Interfax. The policeman has gone to receive a medical examination, the news agency said.

...

4:33 p.m., 'The Dances Were Not Church Dances': One of those who claim moral injury whose testimony is being cited by judge Marina Syrova said the dances of the Pussy Riot women during their Feb. 21 performance were "not church [dances] and insulted Orthodox believers."

...

4:21 p.m., Excerpts From the Verdict: Judge Marina Syrova is currently reading evidence of people offended as Orthodox believers by the Feb. 21 performance by Pussy Riot in Christ the Savior Cathedral. As legal news agency Rapsi notes, in the testimony of all the victims, it is noted that the women were dressed in bright, provocative clothing, which is "prohibited in church." Rapsi also cited the testimony of one of the cathedral security guards, who said the Pussy Riot women during their performance yelled "Virgin Mary, become a feminist!"

...

3:40 p.m., Judge Says Pussy Riot Women 'Expressed Manifest Disrespect to Society': Interfax cites the verdict currently being read by the judge: "Members of the group Pussy Riot ... criminally colluded to commit a flagrant violation of social order, expressing manifest disrespect to society." The verdict says that the women, motivated by "religious hatred and hostility . . . committed provocative and insulting actions in a religious building with the involvement of a wide range of religious citizens."



If you are not convinced, try it on someone who has not been entirely debauched by economics. — Piero Sraffa
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Aug 17th, 2012 at 12:43:01 PM EST
What is it with the sitting in a glass cage, though?

by asdf on Fri Aug 17th, 2012 at 12:55:20 PM EST
[ Parent ]
So they don't throw stones out of it.

If you are not convinced, try it on someone who has not been entirely debauched by economics. — Piero Sraffa
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Aug 17th, 2012 at 12:58:27 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Ok, I am lost. Is this how accused prisoners are held while waiting for sentencing? There is no American equivalent that I am aware of...
by asdf on Fri Aug 17th, 2012 at 01:03:15 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Jeebus, they should have been jailed for making bad music, not blasphemy!



If you are not convinced, try it on someone who has not been entirely debauched by economics. — Piero Sraffa

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Aug 17th, 2012 at 02:06:27 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Meanwhile in England:

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Fri Aug 17th, 2012 at 03:19:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Not going to work out well for Putin.  When he falls, "Pussy whipped Putin" will just be too easy not to be used.
by Marie2 on Fri Aug 17th, 2012 at 05:29:28 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Make a t-shirt. Sell it in Moscow. Instant millionaire.

Or in that funky glass cage...

by asdf on Fri Aug 17th, 2012 at 09:28:06 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Oh, I think the budding capitalists in Russia don't need any help from me.  

Twenty-five years ago in a long conversation with a visiting Russian doctor, he kept saying "we do business together" and couldn't grasp that anything other than the word "business" was required.

by Marie2 on Fri Aug 17th, 2012 at 10:00:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Half day of work.  Now for a six-hour drive to South Florida and a weekend helping my brother and sister get packed and ready to start college.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.
by Drew J Jones (pedobear@pennstatefootball.com) on Fri Aug 17th, 2012 at 12:43:46 PM EST
by asdf on Fri Aug 17th, 2012 at 03:29:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Alas, no.  But we did pass by the area each way on Friday and Saturday.

Frankly, I've never understood the appeal of retiring there.  It's in the middle of nowhere in Central Florida between Orlando and Ocala.  Central Florida is one of the most miserable places on Earth -- as hot and nasty (with no breeze) as the Gulf; as flat, swampy and soulless as South Florida.

If it hadn't been for Walt Disney, we'd have sold it back to Spain.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

by Drew J Jones (pedobear@pennstatefootball.com) on Mon Aug 20th, 2012 at 12:50:21 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Hi all, I am still alive, although I needed a few days to recover from the four day techno festival I was at in the woods of southeastern BC. I am in Boise resting and resupplying to do some actual off-roading over to Wyoming (dodging fires where needed) and then south into Colorado. Getting a new dirt-oriented rear tire tomorrow along with some food and I'll be ready to go.

you are the media you consume.

by MillMan (millguy at gmail) on Fri Aug 17th, 2012 at 08:27:22 PM EST


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