text:
Mar 31, 2008
Copyrights and the Pirate party
1. Total legalization and freeing of copying and use of copyrighted materials for private, non-commercial purposes.
2. Restricting copyright terms for commercial purposes to five years
3. A complete ban on all DRM systems
4. A complete ban on program and medical patents
5. Securing the privacy of all citizens in face of increasing demands for surveillance and control in the war on terrorism
I personally want to lobby for including two further points: transparency and openness of government and freedom of speech and expression online. That's in the future, though.
Privacy and copyright law are two strongly interrelated points. They also present a very powerful reason why everyone should care about copyright law. Finland's Tekijänoikeuden tiedotus- ja valvontakeskus ry ("Copyright information and surveillance center", www.antipiracy.fi) gave a statement to the EU just this March on their views on measures to combat piratism. They support filtering all Internet traffic to stop downloads of illegal material.
In France, plans to force ISPs to filter all traffic for illegal material are already underway:
ars technica: France's plan to turn ISPs into copyright cops on track
ars technica: The insanity of France's anti-file-sharing plan: L'État, c'est IFPI
Similarly, the Recording Industry Association of America has launched a huge campaign to deny Internet users their privacy by subpoenaing ISPs to reveal the identities of the holders of IP numbers. This has been heavily criticised by, among others, the ACLU.
If our TTVK has their way, Finland will follow suit. The organization's members inlude Teosto, Gramex, ÄKT and just about every Finnish copyright-holders' alliance worth mentioning.
Think about the implications of all ISPs installing technology for filtering all Internet traffic. The possibilities for all kinds of abuse are amazing. Also, the potential follow-up effects may very easily get out of control. Our ISPs are already very close to being forced to ban access to sites on a secret police blacklist, and if TTVK can succesfully lobby for it, next they'll be forced to filter for copyrighted material. This February, Finland's ÄKT (ääni- ja kuvatallennetuottajat ry) announced they will begin lobbying for access to P2P sites to be blocked.
We've already seen the police flagrantly abuse the "child pornography" black list. What's the guarantee that the same won't happen with some creative definitions of copyrighted material?
Even worse, once the government starts regulating Internet use, who can say where it will end? In February, Tietokone magazine polled Finnish party leaders on whether Finnish Internet censorship should be extended beyond "child pornography" (I put it in quotes because that's not what is actually being censored in the name of child porn censorship). Several party leaders supported extending Internet censorship beyond child porn, into such topics as "violent websites" (?) and terrorism.
If it becomes acceptable to censor Internet traffic for copyrighted music, who's to say they won't start looking for child porn next? Or reading your e-mails to see if you're planning to bomb something?
In short, there is a significant industrial lobby in Finland that wants to use the excuse of fighting piratism to drastically reduce our privacy.
Not only that, but current "piracy" laws are being used to extract totally disproportionate penalties from anyone who is caught violating copyright. For example, in the Capitol vs Thomas case, a single mother from Minnesota was found guilty of distributing several copyrighted tracks on Kazaa. She was found guilty, and a jury awarded damages of over $9,000 per song to the copyright holder, a record label. In total, she is being forced to pay over $200,000 in damages.
Is a fine of over $9,000 a just and reasonable punishment for uploading a song to the Internet? Let alone a punishment of $200,000 for uploading 22 of them? Copyright holders are taking cases to court and claiming huge damages based on incredibly inflated calculations of how much they have supposedly suffered from one Minnesota mother uploading 22 songs.
She has applied against the damages, citing for evidence the fact that each song can be purchased legally online for 75 cents. For her to have caused $9,000 worth of damage by uploading a song, it would have had to have been downloaded over 10,000 times by users who would otherwise have bought it. That seems unlikely.
Meanwhile, some sensible ideas are being floated, like this one:
ars technica: Warner Music floats ISP surcharge idea for unlimited P2P music
An idea by Warner where Internet users could elect to pay a small monthly fee to their ISPs, which would be forwarded to recording artists, in exchange for unlimited access to P2P music. Jim Griffin and Warner Music say:
"Instead of suing handfuls of file-sharers, Griffin and Warner Music believe that the industry should be putting its time and effort into attempting to monetize P2P activity. The idea that music is a product that can be purchased and stolen needs to fall to the wayside, according to Griffin, saying that the industry needs to embrace the idea that music can be provided as a service."
Unfortunately, because of a global campaign to implement Internet filtering, ideas like this are themselves falling by the wayside in favor of heavy-handed censorship and surveillance.
As for copyrights in general, a recent study pegs the ideal time for a copyright to last at 14 years:
Researcher: Optimal copyright term is 14 years
It's worth thinking about whether the current scheme of indefinitely long copyrights are actually sensible, and whether they're doing anyone any good.
Mar 29, 2008
Blues, diving and Amin Asikainen
I've been watching so little of the SM-liiga this season that I forgot how spectacular the diving in the league is. Blues got themselves a power play in the second period with one of the most spectacular dives I've seen all season. Later, Oskar Osala lost a fan (me) when he grabbed and held Robert Kantor in the same period; Kantor gave him a little shot with his left hand as they unentagled. Osala sold it like he'd been shot, dove to the ice and played dead. It was truly pathetic, and the refs bought it hook, line and sinker, and Kantor went to the box for roughing. Osala came straight up onto his feet and played on the first power play shift. There was nothing wrong with him.
In the SM-liiga, the refs will simply never call diving penalties, so it's always worth embellishing. I'm both sad and happy Jokerit, as a rule, never do this; happy because I hate diving, and sad because they're giving up a comparative advantage. Kärpät get huge mileage out of their dives and embellishments, which adds to the already-existing, documented, referee bias.
Of course, nothing has yet rivalled this.
Although to be honest, that second period dive today came close.
I was also watching Amin Asikainen on MTV3's poker program, Pokeritähti.
"72,5-kiloisten Euroopanmestarin Amin Asikaisen mukaan nyrkkeily ei ole tappelemista vaan tanssia, joka ei sovi naisille eikä homoille."
In translation:
"According to the 72,5-kilogram European Champion Amin Asikainen, boxing isn't fighting, it's a dance, but one that isn't for women or gays."
Not exactly one of my favorite people, thanks to statements like this. I understand being hit in the head for a living can do that to you, but it's absolutely stupid and irresponsible for a public figure to promote opinions like that.
The level of play on Pokeritähti was all right, to my surprise. Martina Aitolehti is playing well, which makes me happy. I watched her on Big Brother Finland, and I found her a surprisingly sympathetic person. She's looking beautiful on Pokeritähti, and playing good poker! Go Martina.
Mar 28, 2008
Wrong opinions are illegal in Finland - Mikko Ellilä sentenced
In translation, the Espoo district court has found a man from Espoo guilty of "ethnic agitation". According to Hesari, he wrote about Africans in such a derogatory and insulting way in his blog that the court decided to fine him and order him to remove the text from the Internet.
According to the district court, he only wrote his offensive statements for purposes of slandering and insulting the ethnic groups in question, and this was decisive in him being found guilty.
I wrote about this whole sorry mess earlier in Finland and the Freedom of Expression - part I, and I am unsurprised but saddened that the court case has run to its expected conclusion.
Ellilä's offending blog post can still be viewed, for the moment at least, here. What does he say in it?
Yes, he makes unfair generalizations about black people and Asian people. Yes, he says things that can certainly be considered rude, inconsiderate and even racist.
He states his opinion on Finnish and EU immigration policy, and cites facts, figures and statistics to support it. According to the Finnish justice system, when that opinion is wrong, it's racism and is a crime.
This is not a free society.
Mar 27, 2008
They start them early
The Windsor Star writes:
"It's clear as day and (Stamkos) doesn't get a penalty or anything," Spitfires head coach Bob Boughner said.
"It's black and white on the tape," Boughner said. "There was a vicious cross check and there's no reprimand for it. I guarantee if (Windsor's) Richard Greenop did the same thing he'd get five games."
I don't doubt he's right. A cross-check to the head is a pretty vicious play, and dangerous. It's a well-established Canadian tradition in hockey, though, to never give their star players any real punishment. I just didn't know they start that early.
In the big league, there are two rulebooks: one for the stars and one for the rest. This covers two main things. First, suspensions.
Earlier this season, Chris Simon stomped on Jarkko Ruutu's foot with his skate, which I blagged about at the time. Simon was suspended for thirty games. He's a repeat offender, and the fact that he got only thirty games led the Hockey News's Adam Proteau to ask: What does it take to get a lifetime ban? I don't know. The thirty-game suspension was Chris Simon's eighth, and he had just recently returned from a 25-game suspension for attacking his opponent with his stick.
As far as I can tell, in order to get a lifetime suspension a player is probably going to have to bring a gun to the rink and shoot someone. Although if you're a star player, that might not do it, either.
Just this month, Anaheim Ducks captain Chris Pronger stomped on Vancouver's Ryan Kesler with his skate. Although the situation wasn't exactly identical, a stomp is a stomp, and it's a play no hockey player in the world has any business making. The NHL's disciplinarians stated that they considered Pronger a repeat offender, which is only fair as he already had seven suspensions behind him, the same amount as Chris Simon had, icluding two in last year's playoffs. This also wasn't Pronger's first skate-related incident, as he was suspended in 2004 for kicking Ville Nieminen.
Having said all this, no-one should be too surprised that the league suspended Pronger for a total of eight games. I have to say that Pronger's stomp wasn't nearly as heinous as Simon's, but still, it's amazing to me that one is worth 30 games and the other 8.
It's not just for Canadians, either. Last season, Alexander Ovechkin checked Daniel Briere from behind and sent him headfirst into the boards in one of the most dangerous and downright reckless plays of the season. Naturally, the league decided not to suspend him.
It basically goes without saying that in the NHL, a star player can get away with a lot, and will generally speaking not be suspended, no matter what they do. In the case of Sidney Crosby, the refs won't even call penalties on him for blatant fouls. Crosby knows he's a superstar, so he gets amazingly riled up if he's checked or fouled, and will start going off on his opponents like crazy. He plays like an NHL 2K7 enforcer when he's pissed off, and the refs will only very rarely call penalties on him.
Crosby segues nicely into the other way in which it's good to be a star in the NHL. There's a culture of star player worship in North America, and especially in Canada, where if you're a star, you play by a totally different set of rules. Your fellow Canadians won't check you, they won't try to take the puck away from you or in any way interfere with your play.
Sidney Crosby is obviously the most blatant example of this garbage. He was probably checked a total of five times last season. When he's on the ice, the entire Pittsburgh power play revolves around him, and his teammates constantly pass him the puck. Almost every play goes through Sidney. Wouldn't you think it would make sense to try to take him out of the game by having a player cover him? Instead, in every single regular season game, the opposing team leaves him completely alone. No-one checks him, no-one tries to take the puck away from him. Almost everyone only defends against him half-heartedly.
Anyone who doesn't think this is true only needs to compare the way Ottawa played against Pittsburgh in last year's regular season and the way they played in the playoffs. In the playoffs, suddenly it was OK to check Crosby and he didn't have all the time and space in the world to make his plays.
I blagged about another instance of the same mentality earlier this season in Jarkko Ruutu hits Ilya Kovalchuk, which really explains itself. I remarked on this Crosby nonsense there as well.
Earlier this season, there were a few instances of Hockey News contributors coming out against some of the aspects of this stupid star-worship culture. Ryan Dixon blogged on the foolishness of the culture where if you hit a "skill" player, you have to drop the gloves and fight that team's enforcer (THN.com Blog: Five for a clean hit). The blog article is fine, and it comes complete with reader comments like "This piece goes against what a big piece of the game of hockey is all about.".
I'm sorry, but the idea that you're not allowed to check certain players (the goaltender apart, obviously) has nothing to do with hockey.
Not everyone agrees. In February, Colorado's Ian Laperriere checked Detroit's Nicklas Lidström into the boards in a hard but legal hit. Several people were very upset, and Detroit's Aaron Downey went after Laperriere immediately. Brian Costello blogged for the Hockey News with a well-chosen title: THN.com Blog: What's next, eliminate hitting?.
In today's NHL, there are two different rulebooks. If you're a star player, you're treated differently by everyone else on the ice, including the referees, and you're handed suspensions on a different basis than the others. In my humble opinion, this isn't hockey, it's bullshit. I'd like to see how many 100-point seasons Sidney Crosby could have if his opponents actually played against him properly. This cult of the star player is the single most annoying thing for me in the NHL.
Then again, other leagues have it worse. I noticed the lousy attendance numbers for Monday's Blues-Jokerit semifinal, and now Jokerit-Blues drew only 7,000 attendees although the Jokerit arena can hold 13,500. MTV3 noticed (SM-liigan pudotuspelit kiinnostavat odotettua vähemmän), and it really is a telling statement on how interesting the nation at large finds the SM-liiga playoffs when regular season games draw bigger crowds than the league semifinals.
There are a number of reasons why I suppose that happens. One of them is a general lack of interest in the playoffs because of how dominant Kärpät are. I blagged about why that is earlier, but suffice to say that a combination of dishonest financing and league bias have gotten Kärpät to the top, and with a bigger player budget than any other team in the league, they do dominate, which frankly makes for a boring playoffs.
The single biggest reason has to be the league's insane TV rights agreement. They sold exclusive TV rights to the league to Canal+, which is a pay-TV channel. One national channel, Nelonen, showed one regular season game per month, which they didn't advertise in any way. I make an effort to keep up with sports programming in this country, and they mostly took even me by surprise.
The hit in national visibility the league took was huge, and I suppose most people, especially in the 20% of the population that lives in the Greater Helsinki area, just don't really care about hockey any more. That's a really sad thing to say, but the attendance numbers are in.
There are a number of big reasons the league is stale. Kärpät is one, but the general divide in the league between the big budget teams, the mid-range teams and the low-budget teams is very deep, and there are few upsets. Mostly it's the same teams in the final stages of the playoffs, which creates the truly boring playoff situation where one team is usually a huge favorite and the other is an underdog. This could be somewhat rectified with some kind of salary cap, but above all the SM-liiga is too big and has too many weak teams.
The league has been closed ever since 2000, with the single exception of KalPa returning to the league a few years back, and that means even though a team has a horrible year and finishes dead last in the league (Ässät) or consistently fails to produce the level of play where they might have the slightest chance of making the playoffs (KalPa), they still keep hanging around. It's really hard to be interested in a Jokerit-KalPa game, where either our team will win (the expected result, and a boring game) or we'll lose humiliatingly (not something I want to be around to see).
Also, it's really hard to develop any emotional investment in a playoff series when it's more than likely that you haven't seen a single game by the other team all year, let alone one against your team. I don't remember seeing a single Blues game this season, and even though I've been seeing plenty of them as they're my "hometown team" (that I don't root for) and I'm basically very interested in whether Blues or Jokerit goes through, I can't muster the energy to go to any games myself.
In a time where hockey has to compete with other forms of entertainment more and more, the SM-liiga is killing itself. The NHL responded to the total disaster of the lockout with rule changes and aggressive marketing; if the past is anything to go by, the SM-liiga will do nothing at all.
Mar 26, 2008
Happy birthday Keira Knightley!
No, seriously, she was in Star Wars. Click on the link.
Lest we forget, in addition to being a Star Wars actor, she was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in Pride and Prejudice (2005).
I have to admit that I was perfectly prepared to hate that movie. I loved the BBC TV version that seemingly typecast Colin Firth for the rest of his life, and the idea of a remake starring Keira Knightley wasn't very high on my list of good ideas. As it happens, I was wrong, and it's a great movie.
Happy birthday, Keira!
Mar 25, 2008
Malaysian GP thoughts
Felipe Massa sucks. Seriously speaking, I respect anyone who's a good enough driver to have made their way to F1 and Ferrari, but Massa has been left playing second fiddle to both his Ferrari team-mates to date, simply because they've both driven far better than him. The problem is that Massa is simply rubbish as a number two driver. He lacks consistency and reliability, as amply demonstrated in Malaysia by his spinout, which destroyed a Ferrari double win that would have put them right back in the fight for the constructors' championship.
When Michael Schumacher was racing Fernando Alonso for the championship, Felipe was practically useless as a number-two driver, a glaring contrast to his predecessor Rubens Barrichello. Giancarlo Fisichella was a far better number two driver for Alonso than Massa ever was, and now that Massa is tanking another season, I almost wish Ferrari could get Barrichello back.
Fisichella is doing a great job with the Force India car, finishing 12th, which really isn't bad for them. As Fisico is a far better number two driver than Massa, and clearly his racing days aren't behind him yet, I'd say there was a trade to be made there. If this was hockey, Massa to Force India for Fisichella and a draft pick.
Williams and expectations. Says f1.com: "Lowly placings were certainly not what Williams expected as they travelled from Australia's podium." I don't know, I quite distinctly remember Nico Rosberg telling the Finnish media very clearly that Williams can't reasonably expect to make the podium again, and are going to be fighting for "best of the rest" behind BMW. To me, that's lowly placings, although admittedly Nico's P14 and Nakajima's dead last finish were a disappointment.
The back end. Meaning Honda, Super Aguri, Force India and Toro Rosso. I already mentioned Fisico lighting up with Force India, and as they're doing better than expected, I note that Toro Rosso needs to work out how to keep their Ferrari engines from exploding. I was expecting Toro Rosso to do well with Vettel and Bourdais, but so far Vettel keeps exploding and Bourdais hasn't exactly been sensational.
Props to Super Aguri for reliability; unlike Toro Rosso, they don't keep exploding this season. If they can get some capital from their new part-owners, more championship points might be possible this season. Honda is also doing encouragingly well after last season's debacle, which was a shame because I quite liked the exceptional paintwork last year. It would've deserved a better season.
Heikki Kovalainen madness. As I complained earlier, those of us at the mercy of MTV3's Finnish-language broadcasts are suffering from commentator Oskari Saari's McLaren fanboyism. Last season, he couldn't go a single race without a hundred different ways of telling us how brilliant, fantastic and wonderful Lewis Hamilton is. Now that Heikki Kovalainen's driving for McLaren, the madness has gotten even worse. Now it's not so much about how supercalifragilisticexplialidocious Lewis is, but about how Heikki Kovalainen has already as good as won the F1 championship for the next 20 years.
Given what went on last year, I was sort of expecting this, but Osku surprised even me. He insisted, and continues to insist, that without the safety car episodes at the Australian GP, Heikki Kovalainen would have won it. I, and seemingly just about everyone else, think this is at best a considerable stretch, and at worst just rubbish. He carried on with this all the way into the Malaysian GP, and I'm sure we'll hear about it in Bahrain. I can just see how the Heikki Kovalainen legend is going to be built: the plucky Finnish driver does far better than the nefarious Brit, but then Scum Hamilton is rescued by a "convenient" safety car. For a while, that would be fun after last season's Hamilton hype, but it's would get really old really fast. I'm afraid we're going to find out how fast.
Osku also seems to think F1 is a national series with Finland driving against the world. I wish someone would share an insight with him: F1 is a team sport. There is no national series; Finland isn't driving in F1, Ferrari and McLaren are. According to the MTV3 team, Malaysia is the best ever Finnish GP result, with one Finnish driver winning and another placing third. Fair enough, but some of us are actually rooting for the teams involved, not for the drivers' nationalities. I'm a diehard Ferrari fan, and after last year's espionage scandal and McLaren's disgusting conduct in it, in my humble opinion McLaren shouldn't be allowed to race at all right now. Therefore I'm less than thrilled by having Heikki Kovalainen shoved down my throat.
Can you imagine what an NHL game would be like if it was called the way F1 is in Finland? We'd get a Dallas-Detroit game where the commentators ignore the standings and score, and concentrate on pointing out every time Jere Lehtinen has a good shift and on Valtteri Filppula's faceoff percentage. No-one would watch garbage like that.
A far larger issue is that I'm simply opposed to nationalism in sports. F1 brings a huge number of nations together for a common cause: driving really quick. As a Ferrari fan, I'm rooting for an Italian team with a Finnish driver and a Brazilian driver. I have a great deal of sympathy for, among others, the Indian team with a Brazilian and German driving. F1 is a great place to look beyond the flags and see real multinational co-operation and coming together. Instead, some commentators put the nationalist blinkers on even tighter and try to turn this great international event into an "us against them" race. That just makes me sad.
The hockey analogy is Don Cherry, eternally spouting off about how Canadians are the greatest hockey players ever and all those foreigners are scum. I wish MTV3, and Oskari Saari especially, would stop calling a Kovalainen and Räikkönen versus the world race and in Bahrain actually give us a Ferrari-McLaren race.
As a postscript, I apologize for missing Alyson Hannigan's birthday yesterday. As the actress who played a Jewish lesbian on one of the more prominent TV series of the last decade, she deserves our notice.
Mar 22, 2008
They can't do that!
Let me just make the point: Lewis Hamilton was given a penalty for breaking the rules in F1.
Anyone who watched F1 last season will know how shocking this is. Could it be that he's finally beginning to lose some of his untouchable status? Are race stewards now allowed to assees penalties against Hamilton?
It's much more likely the FIA will decide that although Hamilton broke the rules, he's Lewis Hamilton, and will be given pole position to compensate for the terrible injustice of someone suggesting it's possible he can break rules.
Alonso, naturally, will be disqualified.
Mar 20, 2008
Happy birthday Valtteri Filppula!
Valtteri Filppula at the 2004 World Junior championships
Valtteri scored the game winner, and Finland went on to win the bronze medal. In hindsight from 2008: try to spot NHL players in that clip. Sean Bergenheim is there, and that's Hannu Toivonen in goal.
Sami Lepistö and Valtteri Filppula, both from Jokerit, were tournament all-stars. This year, Sami made the NHL too, with the Washington Capitals. My feeling is that Sami's going to need at least one full season in the AHL before he graduates to a good puck-moving defenceman on the NHL level, so next year or the year after, expect good things from him!
Valtteri made the big time with Jokerit in 2003-04, the lockout season, and I had the priviledge of watching him play all the way to the finals that year. The NHL, unsurprisingly, came calling, and in 2004-05 Valtteri became the first Finnish player to play for the Detroit Red Wings.
Valtteri's first NHL goal! Sweet.
This year, he's scored 19+17=36 points and is a very respectable +20.
Scoring on Tomas Vokoun
He kicks ass. Valtteri's making a name for himself as a top-six forward with Detroit, and is on his way to becoming a fairly rare player: a bona-fide Finnish center. There aren't that many of those around.
Happy birthday Valtteri!
Mar 19, 2008
The next protests are scheduled for April 12th. The theme is Operation Reconnect, and the goal to show support for people cut off from their families by Scientology's disconnection policy.
Mar 17, 2008
Happy St. Patrick's day!
Also, on the topic of Youtube, here's a song that was played at the Lahti Scientology protests. Strangely enjoyable!
Last but not least:
Mar 15, 2008
Hail Xenu!
Media coverage:
Helsingin Sanomat: Skientologiaa vastaan osoitettiin mieltä Lahdessa
I'm very proud to have participated in rickrolling Scientology in
Mar 14, 2008
Smew porn
Yes, smews. Sort of.
Note: DEFINITELY NOT WORK SAFE. Not for minors or anyone who doesn't want to see, well, a porn movie trailer.
Most. Amazing. Thing. Ever. Thank you, Something Awful forums.
Mar 13, 2008
Pirates! (yar!)
The goal is to found a party modeled on the lines of Sweden's Pirate party, campaigning for more liberal intellectual property rights and freedom of speech and privacy on the Internet. Anyone interested should check out the above link.
On the topic, here's a good read from Wired magazine:
Chris Anderson: Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business
Mar 12, 2008
LOL Xenu
Another reminder that it really is important to demonstrate against Scientology, to tell people that we, the rest of the world, don't approve of their oppressive policies. Remember:
This is serious stuff we're talking about. Show up at Lahti on Saturday if you can. There's a bus from Helsinki, leaving at 10:45.
The website for the demonstration:
By the by, I've looked at the law, and as near as I can tell, it will be legal to wear a disguise of some sort for the demonstration. Here's what the Finnish penal code has to say:
Section 13a - Illegal wearing of a disguise (1006/2004)
A person who, in connection with a public meeting or a public event arranged in a public place or other public assembly arranged in a public place, wears a disguise so that he/she cannot be recognised and clearly intends to employ violence against a person or cause damage to property shall be sentenced for illegal wearing of a disguise to a fine or imprisonment for a maximum of three months.
As long as we don't "clearly intend to employ violence", we should be OK. This is just in case someone doesn't want their mugshot taken by scientologists.
Hail Xenu!
Mar 11, 2008
Undefined feelings toward a machine
Atro Kahiluoto:
Sananvapauden periaate ei ole mikään kaikki muut periaatteet ylittävä superperiaate. Tässä tapauksessa sananvapauden periaatetta on sovitettava yhteen sen periaatteen kanssa, että yhteiskunnan pitää suojella hyväksikäytöltä sellaisia jäseniään, jotka eivät siihen itse kykene. Yhteensovittaminen on kompromissia, jossa molemmista periaatteista on todennäköisesti tingittävä jotain.
Could someone finally explain to me how censoring pictures of a crime protects the victims of the crime? How will these stupid police blacklists protect a single child from abuse?
Several other respondents were quite ferocious in advancing their opinions that child pornography can't be allowed on the Internet. I agree. None of them apparently understand the difference between censoring something and prosecuting the people responsible for it.
Antti Tuuri:
Uskon, että ilman lapsipornoa tullaan toimeen. Ja jos sen sensuroinnin mukana jokunen muu pornosivu lipsahtaa hukkaan, niin eiköhän niitä sittenkin ole riittävästi saatavilla.
I so sincerely hope the police decide to censor his books. After all, if it's for a good cause, what does it matter if some Finnish novelists' books are burnt by accident? There are plenty of authors in Finland, after all.
Markku Valkonen:
Sensuuri on ruma sana ja vielä rumempaa on erilaisten vapauksien sensurointi. Jos rikollisuuden torjuntaa aletaan oitis kutsua sensuuriksi, saadaan tietenkin rajoitustoimet näyttämään vapauden loukkauksilta ja suorastaan rikollisilta teoilta.
Ah, it's only censorship because we *call* it that.
Silja Rantanen, a Finnish painter:
"Internetin rajoitukset uhkaavat sananvapautta" kuulostaa kognitiiviselta väittämältä, vaikka kysymys on oikeastaan koneeseen kohdistuvista hämäristä tunteista. Kognitiivisiksi naamioiduilla väittämillä yritetään poliittisessa ja tieteellisessä retoriikassa tyrmätä vastaväitteet.
["undefined feelings toward a machine"]
Internetiin on alettu sijoittaa tunteita, koska se on meille nykyisin niin keskeinen impulssien lähde.
Tavallista on, että poliittisessa puheessa, siis puheessa, hypätään moraalisten kysymysten yli suoraan tekniikkaan, koska siten päästään ottamasta kantaa vaikeisiin moraalisiin kysymyksiin. Eikö lapsipornoa kannata sensuroida, kun ei ole varmaa onnistuuko sensuuri? Ajatuskulku on sama kuin jos henkirikoksia arvioitaisiin sen perusteella, kuinka epävarmoja niiden torjumiseen käytetyt menetelmät ovat.
The first paragraph always leaves me speechless. Plenty of other people took the same line she takes later on; it doesn't matter if the means used are inefficient, as long as the goal is good.
Of course, there's inefficient and there's inefficient. The kind of inefficient we're dealing with here is the kind where the Constitution is completely ignored, the police block access to websites that criticize them and police officials and politicians lie to the media. But I guess that's okay, then.
Also, notice that she says political speech avoids questions of morality. Did you notice how she completely avoided any questions of the morality of censorship?
Anja Snellman:
Kirjoittaessani viime vuonna ilmestynyttä romaanini Lemmikkikaupan tyttöjä tutustuin perinpohjin internetin tarjontaan tässä asiassa.
Siksikin olen ehdottomasti sitä mieltä että lapsipornosivujen suodatuslistat ja operaattoreiden velvoittaminen niiden käyttämiseen ovat välttämättömiä.
Asian yleistä seurantaa pitäisi tiukentaa ja kansalaiskeskustelun tulisi olla avointa ja ajan tasalla. Kauhistelu ja torjunta eivät auta.
Tämä ei ole sananvapauskysymys vaan ihmisoikeuskysymys.
I wonder what qualifies as a question of the freedom of speech, if flagrantly violating a constitutional ban on censorship doesn't? Although obviously she knows better than me; I mean, she's been on the Internet! She's actually looked at it!
Kudos to Antti Alanen, professor Kari Enqvist, Sofi Oksanen and several others who opposed censorship and presented intelligent arguments against it. Their fellow "intellectuals", however, typify everything that's wrong with this discussion, this issue and this country. These people are supposed to be intelligent, civilized, influential people, yet when you say "child pornography" to them they go berserk and will support anything.
Notice that none of these people are displaying the slightest understanding of what the issue is. They don't seem to have any idea that there's a problem with censorship, or indeed any idea that the Finnish constitution bans it. Most of them seem to believe that censoring child pornography will actually help. I don't understand how. They thoroughly confuse censoring somethnig with preventing it and taking actual steps to fight it.
Judging from their answers, most of the Helsingin Sanomat panel would be perfectly happy if the police covered all crime scenes with a blanket so we couldn't see them. For them, that's fighting crime.
I could go on about this forever, but it would be easier if you looked at their answers yourselves. Then again, that would probably only make you as angry as I am right now, so you can save yourselves the trouble.
The fundamental problem is that Finland pretends it's a Western democracy, but our culture and attitudes are far from it. Here, again, there's an obvious conflict between our human rights and the government's policy, and it only occurs to a scattered handful of these "intellectuals" to even bring up our freedom of speech. Indeed, we get several of them telling us that something that violates our constitutional rights isn't an issue of constitutional rights.
Of course, Finnish intellectuals are notoriously confused. Here's a column from Helsingin Sanomat, where professor Erkki Sevänen tells us that child pornography and teenage prostitution are caused by the market economy. (my thanks to http://fi-anccap.blogspot.com/ for the link)
As a minor victory, professor of law Tuomas Ojanen told tietokone.fi that the law is against the constitution: Nettisensuuri voi rikkoa perustuslakia. Of course, this same opinion was presented a number of times before the law was passed, so what difference will this make? None.
The reason we have such a dismal human rights situation in Finland, compared to, say, the other Nordic countries, is that there is simply no concept of human rights in Finland. As soon as our basic human rights come into conflict with anything, human rights are jettisoned. Finland likes to talk about human rights, at least until you bring up censorship, conscription or anything else that might pose a moral dilemma.
Mar 10, 2008
Penalty shots
Of course, Finnish hockey fans shouldn't be surprised; most of us saw Bäckström spectacularly lose Finland's quarterfinal game at the 2005 World Championships. The game went to a shootout only because Russia's Maxim Sokolov didn't exactly bring his best game in net either. Bäckström let in some spectacularly bad goals throughout regulation, and the game went on to this shootout.
Again, the only time the puck didn't end up in the net behind Bäckström was when it missed altogether. The fact that Bäckström managed to win the Crozier trophy and co-win the Jennings last season is testament to how "great" the Minnesota trap really is.
Mar 8, 2008
Happy birthday Andrea Parker!
Since today is International Women's Day, it seems appropriate to celebrate a woman's birthday. Andrea Parker, born March 8th, 1969, in Monterey, California, turns a number of years today.
People who watch silly TV shows remember her from NBC's The Pretender, where she was hot. Below she's being evil in Pretender.
The rest of the world saw her as Julia Roberts' legs in the opening scene of Pretty Woman; one of the great stunt performances of all time. Being a ballet dancer is good for your legs, I guess. Lest you think she's just a pretty face, according to Wikipedia she's also trained as a stunt driver. Later she also traded in the ballet shoes for a handgun and took up shooting.
Needless to say, I'm a fan. Happy birthday!
Mar 7, 2008
Visors, Veltto Virtanen and Jenna Miscavige
The AHL has been forcing its players to wear visors since the beginning of the 2006-07 season, and now some of the data is in.
"Basically, there's no longer any real argument for not wearing a visor," said AHL commissioner Dave Andrews.
Story by thestar.com
Current Scientology leader David Miscavige's niece speaks out on Scientology and their policy of disconnection. Scientology breaks up families by forcing them to break all contacts with family members who aren't members of the Church of Scientology.
Also, here's some fun YouTube footage from the February protests.
Veltto Virtanen
Finnish MP Veltto Virtanen has posted a rebuttal to the bad reception his speech at Tuesday's protest got.
I had to check, and I did: that is actually his website. (if you go to the parliament web page and find Veltto, the link to his personal site does actually direct you to that)
Mar 6, 2008
Political Compass
The Political Compass
Measure your political opinions and find out what you think. Won't take more than a few minutes, and it's worth it.
My score:
According to this test, I'm more libertarian than Milton Friedman.
Here, "right" means economic liberalism, which they confusingly call neo-liberalism, and "left" means economic anti-liberalism.
Give it a shot!
Mar 5, 2008
A successful demonstration
Picture from yle.fi.
Original photo from http://torax.pp.fi/images/album/Mielenosoitus/
Original photo from http://torax.pp.fi/images/album/Mielenosoitus/
Picture from http://tukijaverkosto.org/sensuurimiekkari/DSC_1015.html, copyright Tuomas Venhola 2008, reproduced under Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.
Some 500 people showed up, which in this country is a huge success. We made the news, too:
TV news:
YLE TV news (YouTube)
MTV3 news at seven (YouTube)
Nelonen (YouTube)
You can actually spot us in both clips. Hooray! I've been on television!
Tietokone: Mielenosoittajat muistuttivat eduskuntaa sananvapaudesta
Tietokone: Videokooste sensuurimielenosoituksesta
YLE: Internetin ennakkosensuurin vastustajat osoittivat mieltään
In related news, Suvi Lindén still has absolutely no idea what's going on.
Viestintäministeri puolustaa yhä estoa lapsipornosivuille (YouTube)
A-studio 27.2.08 (YouTube)
We heard several politicians speak, and no-one seems to have the slightest clue what the problem is. Not one mention was made of the Constitution of Finland, which the law flagrantly violates.
Meanwhile, the police are straightforwardly lying about their censorship. In the A-studio program I linked to above, the now infamous inspector Henriksson has the nerve to claim that all the blocked sites contain child pornography. Apparently he can't distinguish between a domain and a website, and makes a complete fool of himself in claiming that all blocked sites contain child pornography.
He also has absolutely no problem with the fact that the police have used a law that allows for the blocking of foreign sites to block a Finnish website. Henriksson says this is because the site owner is suspected of a crime, but that doesn't give the police any authority to block his website.
What have we learned? The Finnish Constitution isn't worth the paper it's written on, and the police have zero respect for the law and our human rights.
Welcome to Finland!
Mar 4, 2008
What's wrong here?
To recap, in February, the NBI blocked access to Matti Nikki's website, http://lapsiporno.info, which contained information on and discussion about the police's scheme to ban certain websites that allegedly contain child pornography. Nikki was highly critical of the scheme and demonstrated that many of the blocked websites had nothing to do with child pornography. In response, the police blocked his website.
Inspector Lars Henriksson of the NBI recently threatened Finnish internet users who are hosting mirrors of Nikki's site. "People with these kinds of sites should be wise, and think, and consult with a lawyer about what would be a wise solution," he said. He didn't want to specify the consequences that might be involved, but said: "There are smarter ways to discuss things."
Tietokone magazine brought up the public criticism of banning Nikki's site; if it contains something illegal, the correct procedure would be to get a court order to close it down and charge the site owner with the crime. The magazine asked Henriksson why the appropriate legal steps haven't been taken.
"We're seeing to one thing at a time, there isn't time for everything. We'll see what happens," he replied.
We've now come to this: in 2008, the police are interpreting a law intended against foreign child pornography websites to ban a Finnish site critical of them. They then publicly threaten their critics.
Let me run down what's wrong with the NBI's censorship:
1) the police are reinterpreting the law far beyond what it was intended for
The law on preventing the distribution of child pornography (1.12.2006/1068) gives the police the authority to compile lists of foreign websites that distribute child pornography. Nikki's website is not a foreign website (it is hosted in Finland) and it has never contained child pornography.
In a public debate with Nikki, Finnish minister of communications Suvi Lindén insisted that the law has not been restricted to only foreign-based websites.
Again, that's not what the law says. The introduction to the law very clearly specifies that its purpose is to prevent access to foreign websites. According to a Finnish minister, when the law says foreign, it doesn't mean foreign. Certainly the police are interpreting the law in the same way she is.
Inspector Lars Henriksson of the NBI told Finnish magazine Tekniikka & Talous (quoted in Iltalehti) that although Nikki's site is hosted in Finland, the law gives the police authority to block sites that have functioning links to child pornography.
The law, which can be read in Finnish at finlex.fi, says no such thing. The police are arguing that posting a link to a banned website constitutes distributing child pornography, which is outrageous and is entirely their own invention. Certainly the law says nothing about links.
The same inspector told Ilta-Sanomat that part of the problem is that people don't seem to understand that "teen porn" is, in fact, child pornography. In fact, nearly all "teen porn" websites on the Internet carry disclaimers that state the models depicted on the site were 18 years old or older at the time the photos were taken. If the Finnish police has actual, actionable information that this is not true, then why are they blocking the sites instead of telling the police of whatever country the sites are based in that there is a child pornography website hosted in their country? Could the reason be that the police have no such evidence?
As per a post in the EFFI.org blog, the police's list of blocked sites contains several commercial websites in the United States, the Netherlands and Germany. If the police have evidence that they contain child pornography, why haven't they informed those countries and had the websites taken down? If they don't contain child pornography, why are they blocked?
What this boils down to is that a law that enables blocking foreign websites that contain child pornography is being interpreted by the police in a way that totally diverges from what was originally written into law. They are blocking sites without regard for what they contain or where they're based. The next point deals with why this is potentially a huge problem.
2) the police are using the law as a measure to bypass the Finnish justice system completely.
The list of blocked sites is maintained by the NBI, and it is secret. The law that allows for setting up the list says it may be used to block sites that contain child pornography. The police, however, is not obligated to demonstrate to anyone that the sites do, in fact, contain child pornography. There is no process of review for what websites end up on the list. In fact, because the list is secret, the police won't answer questions about whether specific sites are on it.
In the case of Matti Nikki, the police claim his website contains child pornography. Since his website is hosted in Finland, if its contents are breaking the law, the correct procedure would be for police to get a warrant for the closure of the website and charge its owner. This hasn't been done; instead, the police have blocked access to Nikki's site.
If they went to court, they would have to demonstrate that Nikki has posted links to websites that contain actual child pornography. They would also have to make a succesful case that posting a link to a website that contains criminal material is a crime. This is how the Finnish justice system works. Instead of taking this route, the police's extremely liberal interpretation of the law allows them to bypass the justice system completely and simply block the website. This way, they don't have to demonstrate anything to anyone, and can simply block access to the site.
If evidence for a site containing child pornography was required for the police to block it, some of the most infamous examples of blocked sites wouldn't have made it onto the list. Some of them are listed here; they include businesses selling hearing aids and dolls. Clearly the police haven't amassed enough evidence to make a case in court that these sites contain child pornography. Their blocking has apparently been completely arbitrary.
3) the police are using the law as a weapon to silence criticism
The idea that posting a link to a site that allegedly (as mentioned out in the previous point, no evidence is required) contains child pornography constitutes distributing child pornography is outrageous and ridiculous. The police, however, treat their own interpretation as law, and have used this rationale to block a website that criticises their censorship.
Not one representative of the police has admitted that there is anything wrong with blocking a site that criticizes the government. The Finnish minister for communications, Suvi Lindén, has constantly maintained that the only issue at hand is that child pornography must be stopped. She even released an official communique via the Ministry of Communications and Trade that says it is unacceptable that the distribution of child pornography is being treated as a question of free speech.
The police are using the excuse of fighting child pornography to censor their critics.
4) the law places the police's internet censorship above and beyond democratic contol
There is no process of appeal against the police's decision to censor websites because the process is secret. The police are using a law to give themselves powers far beyond the intentions and even far beyon the actual text of the law, and
The aforementioned Inspector Henriksson told Ilta-Sanomat that if people start accusing the police of breaking the law, they have to provide proof. Apparently an inspector in the Finnish central national police is under the impression that the police doesn't need to justify their actions.
According to Henriksson, "few people" have specified any blocked websites that don't contain child pornography. It's outrageous and offensive to the most basic principles of democracy that the Finnish police expect to be allowed to do whatever they like unless someone can prove they're breaking the law.
Also, Finnish politicians are resisting the idea that it would be their job to provide some kind of oversight. Minister for Communications Suvi Lindén told Aamulehti that it isn't her job to doubt the police. She continues to insist that all the banned sites contain child pornography, even when it has been repeatedly demonstrated that this is not true.
The Finnish police are placing themselves above any kind of democratic oversight, and Finnish politicians are going along with it.
5) the law itself is unconstitutional
I quote at length from a statement by the University of Turku, given to the Ministry of Trade and Communications before the passing of the law:
Lausuntopyynnön pohjana oleva ehdotus on ilmeisellä tavalla perustuslainvastainen. Ehdotuksen mukaisella lailla säädettäisiin salainen ennakkosensuurijärjestelmä, joka perustuisi ehdotuksen mukaan internet-operaattorien vapaaehtoiseen toimintaan, mutta jonka tarkoituksena olisi viranomaistoimin estää poliisiviranomaisen lainvastaiseksi epäilemän viestin vastaanottaminen. Sensuurin sisältö perustuisi poliisiviranomaisen ylläpitämään listaan internet-osoitteista. Järjestelmä esitetään operaattoreille vapaaehtoisena, mutta mikäli operaattorit eivät sensuuria toteuttaisi, säädettäisiin operaattoreita velvoittava sensuurijärjestelmä.
Vaikka esityksen tavoite lasta esittävän pornografisen aineiston levittämisen estämisestä on sinällään legitiimi, on huomattava, että esityksen tarkoituksena on nimenomaisesti ja julkilausutusti poliisin avustuksella toteutettava, tietyn viestin sisältöön perustuva, mutta tietyn sisällöntuottajan olemassa olevaan ja tulevaan aineistoon kokonaisuudessaan kohdistuva ennakkosensuuri. Vaikka estosta esityksen mukaan huolehtisikin teleoperaattori "vapaaehtoisesti", on huomattava vakiintuneesti katsotun, että PL 12 §:n sisältämää ennakkosensuurin kieltoa ei voida kiertää osoittamalla ennakkotarkastustehtävät yksityisille. Kun lisäksi otetaan huomioon esitykseen sisältyvä ajatus siitä, että mikäli operaattorit eivät vapaaehtoisesti toteuta ennakkosensuuria poliisin rekisterin perusteella, harkitsee ministeriö "velvoittavia lainsäädäntötoimia", on kyseessä oleva sääntely kokonaisuudessaan arvioituna PL 12 §:n sanamuodon vastainen. Kyseessä ei ole säännöksessä tarkoitettu sananvapauden käytön sääntely, vaan PL 12 §:n ehdottomasti kieltämä ennakkosensuuri. Ennakollisten esteiden osalta PL 12 §:n kvalifioitu lakivaraus mahdollistaa tavallisella lailla säädettävän vain kuvaohjelmia koskevia lasten suojelemiseksi välttämättömiä rajoituksia.
Edelleen on huomattava, että RL 17:19 § kriminalisoi ainoastaan siinä tarkoitetun aineiston hallussapidon, eikä säännöksen mukaan pelkkä katselu ole rangaistavaa. Kun esitykseen ei liioin sisälly selvitystä siitä, miten varmistutaan siitä, että viestin lähettäminen on vastoin lähetysmaan lakia, on epäselvää, mihin esityksessä artikuloitu perustelu siitä, että palveluntarjoajalla ei ole velvollisuutta sietää omistamansa verkon käyttöä rikoksen tekemisessä viittaa. Lisäksi on huomattava, että esityksessä tarkoitettu poliisin rekisteri sisältää sellaisia osoitteita, joiden sisältöä ei ole tuomioistuinmenettelyssä todettu esityksessä tarkoitetuin tavoin lainvastaiseksi, vaan olemassa on ainoastaan poliisin epäily niiden sisällön lainvastaisuudesta. Edelleen on huomattava, että listan sisältö olisi - tietosuojavaltuutetun tarkastusoikeudesta huolimatta – lain perusteella salassa pidettävänä sääntely-yhteys huomioonottaen asianmukaisen ja perustuslain edellyttämän oikeudellisen ja PL 12.2 §:n sekä sitä konkretisoivan julkisuuslainsäädännön turvaaman viranomaistoiminnan julkisen kontrollin ulkopuolella.
Esityksestä puuttuu myös menettely, jolla listalle joutunut sisällöntuottaja saisi tiedon häneen kohdistuneesta rekisterimerkinnästä sekä sääntely sisällöntuottajan käytössä olevista oikeusturvakeinoista, mikäli sisällöntuottaja katsoo päätyneensä listalle väärin perustein.
They covered all the bases. Firstly, the Finnish Constitution:
Section 12 - Freedom of expression and right of access to information
Everyone has the freedom of expression. Freedom of expression entails the right to express, disseminate and receive information, opinions and other communications without prior prevention by anyone.
Clearly, the law constitutes prior prevention. Also, Finnish law at present does not criminalize the viewing of child pornography, only its possession and distribution. Therefore, as viewing child pornography is not a crime, the law is designed to prevent an activity that is not a crime.
The University of Turku also draws attention to the fact that the law will prevent access to websites that the police suspects contain child pornography, instead of preventing accecss to websites that have been found to contain illegal material. They also point out that there is no mechanism for informing a site owner that access to their website is blocked in Finland, and that there is no process of appeal.
All valid points; it makes you wonder how the law could have been passed.
The statement also refers to what happened prior to passing the law; Finnish ISPs were publicly and explicitly threatened. They were told that if they did not implement the "voluntary" censorship required by the police, a law would be passed making it mandatory.
6) the police's actions constitute a direct attack on free speech and the free flow of information
In summary, I believe I've demonstrated here that the actions of the police are based on a law that is unconstitutional, and they are exceeding even that authority. The censorship of suspected child pornography sites is unconstitutional and entirely outside the control of the judiciary and of Finnish democracy. The police have gone as far as to use the law to censor a website that criticizes their actions, and remain impervious to public protests.
The people whose websites are blocked are being deprived of their constitutional rights of free expression and due process before the law. The police are flagrantly violating the constitution, and are being backed up in doing it by Finnish politicians.
A turnout of several hundred is expected at today's demonstration against Internet censorship. I'll be there.
Mar 3, 2008
Jessica Biel and Internet censorship
Today is Jessica Biel's birthday, so happy birthday! Above, she looks gorgeous in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Born on March 3rd, 1982, Jessica is an American actress whose career got off the ground in the WB series 7th Heaven. She's since been seen in several Hollywood films, including The Rules of Attraction, The Illusionist, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, and Blade: Trinity. The last of those is actually quite a good movie!
She made 5th place in Maxim's "Hot 100" in 2007, and Stuff magazine ranked her the sexiest woman of 2007. Esquire Magazine named her the Sexiest Woman Alive in 2005. They may be exaggerating, but not by much.
Also, there's a demonstration against the Finnish police's Internet censorship tomorrow. Why is it important? Tietokone magazine asked Finnish party leaders how they felt about blocking websites.
Their question was: should Internet sites be blocked by the police if they contain:
1) child pornography (already "implemented")
2) violence (not specified further)
3) intellectual property rights violations
4) Internet poker or other gambling
5) content that encourages terrorism
6) other harmful or criminal websites
All parties were in favor of the current censorship scheme, and several party leaders were at least lukewarm about expanding censorship. The Finnish Christian party wants to also block websites containing "extreme violence", and several parties were in favor of blocking websites that violate intellectual property rights. Only one party, Kokoomus, even mentioned the idea that Finnish citizens' rights to free expression and flow of information might be violated.
As I wrote earlier, there doesn't seem to be the slightest hint of the idea that censoring the Internet would violate our rights as Finnish citizens. If we don't kick up some noise about this, we're going to find ourselves behind our own version of the Great Firewall of China.
In other news, an animation recently released in Finland that mocks Marshal Mannerheim and portrays him as homosexual is causing controversy in Finland. Finnish arch-conservative Raimo Ilaskivi wants the makers' "heads on the block", to ensure the honor of Finland's historical dignitaries and the correct writing of Finnish history.
Yes, heaven preserve us from "incorrect history"! Earlier, former Commander of the Finnish Defence Forces Gustav Hägglund said the animators should be "ashamed of themselves", and a decorated war veteran demanded to know how something like this can be permitted in Finland.
Hägglund compared the image of Mannerheim presented in the animation to the one presented in Soviet propaganda. Certainly, men with medals demanding something they don't like be banned brings the Soviet Union to mind.
Finnish history writing is still an extension of Finnish patriotism. Any representation of Mannerheim or similar notables of Finnish history that isn't respectful and patriotic, and thus completely one-sided, is "incorrect history" and should not be presented at all.
There's nothing wrong with public figures expressing distaste of a work of art; that's their right. There is a lot wrong with asking for art to be banned because it violates your political sensibilities, and there is something wrong with furthering the kind of mentality where anything that doesn't accord with the patriotic interpretation of Finnish history is "wrong".
The most unfortunate results come when this idea carries over into historical research and teaching. In consequence, Finnish history books mostly contain nothing but patriotic drivel about the Second World War and Cold War, and any attempts in Finland to change the public perception of patriotically important events or persons is met with this kind of statements about how that kind of history is "wrong".
I'm finishing off with something nice: another picture of Jessica Biel. Tomorrow I'll be demonstrating in favor of a free society in Finland.
Mar 1, 2008
Israeli minister threatens Palestinians with holocaust
Whether it's just a horrible choice of words or pure insanity, Israel is preparing to invade the Gaza strip. The deputy minister's comments came a day after a single Israeli civilian was killed by a rocket attack. In retaliation for the rocket attacks, Israeli air strikes have already killed 30 Palestinians.
For Israel, a 30-to-1 casualty ratio clearly isn't enough. Although the BBC says polls suggest a majority of Israeli citizens are in favor of a truce with Hamas, the government is preparing to invade Gaza.
All through its independence, Israel has practiced a policy of reprisals on the civilian population to fight their enemies, from Ariel Sharon's commando unit that attacked refugee camps and villages to the current Gaza air strikes. Given that this policy has never worked, it's a miracle Israel is still going on with it, or then there's more truth to the shoah comment than they'll admit.
Israel continues to be a nation that prosecutes foreign policy by killing "enemy" civilians.


text:
compelling findings in animals or human beings, the committee finds no justification for any conclusion other than that magnetic fields with field strengths from 0.01 to 1.0 µT have no significant effects in cultured cell systems.
Magnetic-field exposures of approximately 100 µT (1 G) have been observed in independently replicated studies to produce effects on ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) activity, one of the membrane-mediated signal-transduction pathways, and numerous peer-reviewed reports have been done on the effects of magnetic fields on other components of the signal-transduction pathways. However, a mechanism through which these magnetic fields produce such biologic effects is unknown.
Positive results in the field-strength range of 50 to 500 µT (0.5 to 5.0 G) have been observed and reproduced for only the signal-transduction effect on ODC activity. For other effects—genotoxicity, intracellular calcium concentrations, and general patterns of gene expression—no convincing and reproducible results have been observed.
Magnetic-field strengths greater than 500 µT (5 G) have induced changes in intracellular calcium concentrations and general patterns of gene expression as well as in several components of signal transduction. However, no reproducible genotoxicity is observed at any field strength.
Again, effects of the sort seen here are typical of many experimental manipulations and do not, per se, indicate a health hazard. For the positive results that have been observed, as in the bone-healing studies, the effects cannot be extrapolated to lower field strengths; therefore, it is not known whether the effects observed at higher field strengths are induced by mechanisms distinctly different from those that might cause effects at residential and occupational field strengths.
The committee's overall conclusion based on analysis of in vitro experimentation is that magnetic-field exposures at 50-60 Hz have been shown to induce changes in cultured cells only at field strengths that exceed residential exposure levels by factors of 1,000 to 100,000.
In vitro studies are useful for documenting responses of selected cell systems to chemical and physical agents. Interpreting probable responses of cells in culture in terms of potential or putative target-cell response in the body is problematic, however, and requires similar exposures and appropriate surrogates for target-cell populations in vivo. For example, a number of extracellular signals induce a common set of early-response genes. The early response is not, however, sufficient to determine the biologic outcome. The initial response of cells to the phorbol ester 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA) is activation of protein kinase C (PKC) and induction of the early-response genes fos, myc, and jun. Phorbol esters were originally identified as promoters of papilloma development

subset: commoncrawl


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You can now invite anyone to meet at your favorite Starbucks.
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30 year old man | East Watertown, MA, USA | Seeking women 24-29 within 8 miles of Watertown, MA
I once broke my eye.
I keep disabling and restoring my account because I still don't know how I feel about online dating. Not that I have some weird fear of commitment to a profile or something. I love commitment. I started watching the Buffalo Sabres as a kid and have continuously had my heart broken and I keep watching games. So.... actually, maybe that's a whole other issue. Anyway. I think online stuff in general is weird. I like to have conversations in person, experience things out in the real world. And my sense of humor works better in person. It's all about inflection. And body language. And inserting little laughs so you know I'm joking in some situations because it just comes across as super lame online- but oh yeah. toooooottally trying to go for lame. haha But, I work in a small department of people pretty much older than I am and all of my friends are married or getting married or have kids or live outside of the city etc etc so I figure I'll try to actually put forth more effort in expanding my network. Not a new year's resolution. My resolution is to get more career work done. Which, has been lacking and been ruined by getting previous (non-career) projects finished up. I work a 9-5 dealing with the weird intricacies of government grant guidelines trying to get a lot of money so that my department and I have a reason to work for six years at a time. Real exciting. On the side I do video production. Which includes a little writing, working with clients, scheduling shoots, a little editing, a little hauling gear around, driving to sites, cleaning lenses, plugging lights in... oh, and sometimes I actually turn a camera on and point it at things. I could go into more, but I'm totally ruining first date conversation. And then I have hobbies! They involve putting various things on my feet specific to certain activities. Some of which include sliding down snow covered mountains, pushing a little ball around with a stick, and working my way up a wall on oddly shaped rock-like things to reach nothing in particular. I like to try and cook when I'm not busy too, but I have no special shoes for that. yikes I wrote a lot.
Camping , Coffee and conversation , Dining out , Playing cards , Playing sports , Watching sports , Wine tasting
Billiards / Pool, Bowling, Hockey, Running, Skiing
I exercise 1-2 times per week.
I like Dogs
Dogs are more my speed. Almost got one a year or so ago, but things fell through. And then I moved and the new place doesn't allow dogs. That made me sad. One of these days. Husky.
Any place that has good food, good atmosphere, and good people (which is usually good friends, and we can move around... I don't have spots where I hang out with regulars)
hockey (Sabres. Sorry,), good food, thanksgiving... TV shows, music, movies, books, foods... etc... 250 characters isn't enough. Oh, but cheesecake. Not spiders.
Playing hockey when I can, pretending to cook, hanging out with friends at a cool place- preferably outdoors or over home cooked stuff, lawn games.
Where'd You Go Bernadette. Cooked. My two recent favorites.
Z{{Cta}} {{#if HasMoreInfo}} ?{{CtaSecondary}} {{/if}}
|What he is looking for
|5'9" (175cms)
|5'1" (154cms) to 5'6" (167cms)
|Body type:
|About average
|Slender, About average, Athletic and toned
|No preference
|Dark brown
|Dark brown
|No Way
|No Way
|Social Drinker
|No preference
|Artistic / Creative / Performance
|No preference
|I'll tell you later
|No preference
|Never Married
|No preference
|Have kids:
|Wants kids:
|I'll tell you later
|No preference
|White / Caucasian
|White / Caucasian
|Christian / Catholic
|No preference
Not so much practicing. Also not a fan of some of the church's beliefs, so I guess I'm not all the way catholic. Was raised catholic, so that's my background. I believe in something guiding all this nonsense, but not in a way that needs organization.
|Bachelors degree
|Bachelors degree, Graduate degree, PhD / Post Doctoral
Studied audio/radio production when I first got to college since I couldn't get into the studio recording program (needed classical music training), and did more TV/film stuff. Then decided I didn't like that and majored in philosophy. Super useful.


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EA downloader 2hrs to go until..
View Single Post
Registered User
Join Date: May 2007
Location: UK
Posts: 6,365
Re: EA downloader 2hrs to go until..
The EA BS continues...
The game finally unlocked while I was at work yesterday, so I got started with the decrypting. That was fine, but while decompressing the game I got an error. So I tried again, and again, and again. It didn't work.
I deleted the files and started from scratch. Downloaded the game, this time I got an error while decrypting. So I deleted the file and tried a third time. Again, errors. I tried one last time, but this time at was downloading at about 5kbps. I was quite pissed off at this point.
I've sent EA an email asking for my money back (PayPal and credit card) and told them I was just going to pick up a copy in town. At this point I've paid THREE TIMES. If they don't refund me i'm gonna kick-off.
How do they get away with this crap. I've read allsorts on the web about people having the same troubles. Never again will I buy online
It wouldn't be so bad if I could call em up and sort it out, but you have to sort it through email, which I hate having to do. They said to expect a responce within 24 hrs. I guess we'll see what happens.
View Public Profile
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Three Brooklyn store owners, two of them Orthodox Jews, have been murdered at work by the same gunman, according to New York police.
The latest murder was on Nov. 16 in the Flatbush store of Rahmatolla Vahidipour, 78, of Great Neck, N.Y., in suburban Long Island. Vahidipour was shot in the head and chest in his She She Boutique, and then dragged to the back of the store and covered with clothes, according to the New York Daily News.
The newspaper cited police sources as saying the shell casings from the murder matched those of two other Brooklyn store owners who also were found dragged to the backs of their stores.
Vahidipour, who came to the United States from Iran, was scheduled to attend the bar mitzvah of one of his nine grandchildren, according to the newspaper.
In August, Isaac Kadare, 59, an Orthodox Jew born in Egypt, was shot in the head and stabbed in the neck in his Amazing 99 Cent Deals store in Bensonhurst.
A month earlier, Mohammed Gebeli, 65, a Muslim originally from Egypt, was shot in the neck and killed in his clothing store in Bay Ridge.
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Permission to Pause is a career column written for Drexel alumni by Naketa Thigpen '00. Naketa is President and Co-owner of Thigpen's Professionals, LLC, a life management and professional development services company.
Alumni are encouraged to send comments, questions or suggestions for future column topics to email@example.com.
The Justification is Over
September 2014
Every day is unpredictable. No one can deny that. Does knowing that give you license to refrain from making plans to get up in the morning, pull back the sheets and prepare for work? Does the lack of certainty in waking up in the morning shine an exit sign on your responsibilities as a parent, lover, spouse, caretaker or the like? If not, then why do we often whisper sweet impossibilities into our lives when it's time to plan time for ourselves?
These are not questions to make you think hard or bang your head in shame against a wall. More so, they are simply thoughts that tickle my frontal lobe whenever I have a client murmur that he or she can't take time out for themselves because of the million and one things that occur in their day because of the nature of their profession. Although my coaching style is no less than direct and framed with the best intentions to deliver the message with gentle honesty, it often rolls off my tongue in a manner similar to this:
If you're tired of making excuses and justifying your cant's, then I have a few suggestions:
About the Author
As President and co-owner of Thigpen's Professionals, LLC, Naketa Thigpen '00 is a Leadership Development Strategist, Life Management Consultant, Success Business Coach, Empowerment Speaker, and Author with a charge to guide professional creatives who aim to impact the world from idle to awesome as they push through transition and into a positive transformation of purposeful success. Thigpen's Professionals, LLC is a for-profit life management and professional development services company with a mission to promote sustainability that will ultimately empower professionals, burgeoning leaders and entrepreneurs to break barriers and execute their ideas effectively through a development of systems and services that infuse work life balance into the core of their business.
Mrs. Thigpen's professional foundation is built on her success and respectable reputation as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), Ph.D. candidate at Walden University, Public Health-Community Health Education/Corporate Wellness & Employee Retention; graduate of Bryn Mawr College Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research and obtained her Bachelors of Science degree in Psychology, Sociology, and Anthropology from Drexel University. She has published several books including Leadership Essentials Kit for the Busy Be, Barrier Breakers Reference Guide & Workbook, Leading A Balanced Life: A Workbook for Time Limited Professionals, and Careerpreneurs Kickstart: 25 Ways to Subtract Fear and Add Success to Your Business.
Honored by the NAACP in 2013 as one of 104 Most Influential Black Women In Philadelphia and recently nominated for an Authentic Servant Leadership Award in 2014, Mrs. Thigpen has earned several post-graduate certifications, and is active in the community. As a founding member of W.O.V.E.N (Women of Vision Empowerment Network and President of the Philadelphia Chapter of National Association of Professional Women, Mrs. Thigpen is purposed to empower!
Naketa Thigpen has provided Professional Development Training Services for over 2000 professionals. She is quickly making a mark in the professional development world by delivering impactful leadership trainings to professional creatives who impact the world through mediums such as digital and print media, hospitality and consumer advocacy. Utilizing her distinct experiential, informative and highly energetic training style, popular programs such as Balance Beam, Developing Leaders, AlignedMinds Master Class, The Power Of Boundaries In Business, Conflict Resolution, & Professional Development/Self-care Life Management Strategies have wowed audiences of diverse professional backgrounds providing a fresh perspective and message of empowerment that motivates individuals and organizations to implement changes that improve their lives and their bottom line.
For more information please visit www.naketathigpen.com.
Issue Archive
July 2014
Defining and Finding a Break
August 2014
Reflect and Pay It Forward


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Top Stories
- How To Work From Home In The School Holidays (Without Going Insane)
- Your Horrifying Stories Of Working At Startups
- Takeaway Truth: Subway Mexican Chicken Flatbread
- Seven Strategies For Dealing With Toxic People
- What Will Australia's Networking Traffic Look Like In 2019?
- Revealed: The Unhealthiest Fast Food Products In Australia
Index Your Files Catalogues Local And Network Files For Speedy Search
Windows: If all you need is local search you have many great search tools to choose from — like the lightning-fast Everything — but it gets sparser when you look for local and networked. Index Your Files covers both bases effectively.
Site Speed Now A Factor In Google Rankings
Google announced in an official blog post that, a few weeks back, they began considering site response speed in a web page's ranking in search results. Google has been all about speed for some time, but this subtle introduction could eventually mean big things for sites that put a priority on swift loading — and for those that don't seem to care at all.
GoodReader Handles Huge PDFs And Ebooks On iPhones, iPads
QSynergy Makes Multi-System Control Easier And Prettier
Windows/Mac/Linux: It continues to amaze, just how easy it is to control multiple computers with a single keyboard and mouse with Synergy. QSynergy clamps a crisp, generally easy-to-grasp interface onto Synergy, giving it the update its long deserved.
The Case For Ignoring People At Work
37Signals honcho and Rework author Jason Fried explains why his company, and perhaps yours, benefits mightily from making passive tools like web chat, IM and even email a default communication tool, rather than calling meetings, yelling names and knocking on doors.
DIY IKEA Lack Postcard Table
We've highlighted lots of ways to update the humble IKEA Lack table, but here's a neat and cheap option: use free postcards from your local cafe (or your next holiday) and fix them under glass for a cheap, personal customisation.
Change Outlook's Default Appointment Length
A useful but hard-to-locate tweak for Outlook: its calendar defaults to 30-minute appointments, but if you want to break up your day into smaller or larger chunks, you can also choose 5, 6, 10, 15 or 60 minute gaps. Just right-click on the Calendar, choose Other settings and pick your time setting. For more calendar trickery, learn how to customise customise how many days you can see ahead. [via Crabby Office Lady]
The Pros And Cons Of Credit Card Security Revisited
My Road Worrier column on when credit cards go wrong travelling overseas attracted a lot of interesting comments. Here's some further thoughts on the topic, based around my own recent experiences travelling in Europe


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In the interest of full disclosure, I found this recipe on the web three or four years ago; a search prompted by my inability to find a decent coconut pie anywhere.
Pre-heat over to 350 degrees.
Mix: 3 beaten eggs, 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1/2 cup melted butter, 4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice (about 1/2 a lemon's worth), 1 teaspoon vanilla, pinch salt. Then stir in 1 1/3 cups coconut.
Put on a pie crust shield; in other words, take some strips of tin foil wide enough to cover the exposed crust and lightly crimp them over it.
Bake 30 minutes, then remove the shield and bake another 10 to 20 minutes until it sets, i.e., it will no longer jiggle.
Chill thoroughly.
If it seems a bit too sweet that's because a) it is very sweet or b) you were using sweetened coconut. Adjust according to taste. I like to use turbinado sugar, which may make the pie a bit darker and denser, but I like the flavor. The pie will require a sharp knife, firmly wielded.
If you like coconut and appreciate rich food, then you'll probably enjoy this pie.


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This page is no longer being maintained. All of our FREE APPLIQUE PATTERNS can now be found here or by clicking on the applique icon in our menu. Our new gallery will load much faster! Please update your links so you don't miss out on any new applique blocks.
Please note, these have all been designed to fit on a 6in by 6in square. Click here to learn how to Reduce or Enlarge the Patterns to fit all your project needs.
Applique Blocks:
Apple Tree
AURYN Medallion
Autumn Oak
Basic Doll
Babushka Doll
Bear in Water
Bitty Birdie
Black Bird
Bone Numbers
cat - black
Cherry Cluster
Christmas Tree
Crazy Little Bird
Cup of Cocoa
Curved Heart
Falling Leaves
Fleur de Lis
Flower with 5 petal 2 leaves
Fried Egg
Gingerbread Man
Gnome for the Holidays
Heartfelt Valentine Heart
Helping Hands
Ice Cream Cone
Little Birdie
Log Cabin
Maple Leaf
Monkey Head
Moon and Stars
Oak Leaf
Our House Applique Block
Owl - Woodland
Painter's Palette
Patriotic Heart
Peace Sign
Peonies - Valentine
Primitive Angel
Put A Little Love in Your Hear
Rain Boots
Rainbow Flowers
Running Kitty
Running Mouse
Slumbering Owl Applique Block
Spring Flower
Stacking Birdies
Star Trio Applique Block
Sun and Moon
Thanksgiving Turkey
Tree Stump Applique
USAF Roundel Applique
Valentines Heart
Wee Folk Art Mushrooms
Woodland Mushroom
Yarn Ball
OUR "DISCLAIMER"! We are sharing patterns we have designed and made for our own children, families and friends. Every effort is made to share information in a clear and accurate manner. But we are only human, although I often long for superhuman powers, and as humans, mistakes will be made. We offer preemptive apologies for any aforementioned mistakes. Please let us know via comments or emails if you stumble upon a mistake or if you encounter directions that leave you scratching your head! We will rectify the situation as soon as humanly possible! Before beginning any of our patterns, think of yourself as a Beta Tester. We do not have a staff, editors or even volunteers that are crafting our projects before we share them. YOU are the first to have a go at them. As such, other than a heartfelt apology, we accept no responsibility for mistakes made, or in an extreme circumstance, for time or supplies wasted. Please tackle our projects in the same manner that we are sharing them, with a spirit of goodwill and global friendship!
Copyright © Wee Folk Art 2008 - 2014. All rights reserved.
All photos, text and patterns are copyright protected. You may not copy, reproduce or redistribute any material found on WeeFolkArt.com without written permission. Wee Folk Art retains all rights.
Good day, I really love your blog and website, and have gotten many lovely ideas. Do you take requests? My friend collects hedgehogs and I would love to make her something using an applique with a hedgehog on it. Kind regards, Cheryl
I love hedgehogs, too, and I've been meaning to make a hedgehog. I put the request on a post-it on it's now on my wall. I will try to get to it sooner than later :) Watch for it.
Oh My Gosh - what a fabulous way to start my day! I was the one who requested the hedgehog, and would check periodically to see. This morning, I am reading your great post about jacks (don't remember ever playing that, but I want to try it with my grandsons) and there was my hedgie! First plans are to applique it on to two T-shirts for craft camp this year; one for me and one for the Lace teacher. The hedgehog is the international mascot of lacemakers. Much thanks, Cheryl
I didn't know hedgehogs represented such a talented group :) I would love to see photos of your t-shirts when you are done. Glad you like him :)
I love reading through your blog, I wanted to leave a little comment to support you and wish you a good continuation. Your efforts are really appreciate able.
I LOVE love LOVE your website!
Thank so much for sharing these with us! Featured this today on my "Walk Around Blog Land" - http://estherscardcreations.blogspot.com/2011/06/walk-around-blog-land-5...
I came to your site from Lee mentioning it at quilting readers garden who has an applique thursday. Your blocks are so cute!
Thanks for sharing these wonderful blocks
I JUST LOVE YOUR SITE. ALL OF IT. THANKSi
Hey Michelle and Kimara,
for some reason i thought you guys had a rainbow block, but i am mistaken. sooo, if you are thinking of a new design, a rainbow would be fab. ;)
how's the GF transition going?
thank you!
I added a rainbow applique to my post-it board :)
Going gluten free has had a wonderful impact on Fairy. Her problems with dairy have even improved as we stopped taxing her system with gluten. We are still in the discovery stage of converting recipes and making natural substitutions. I must admit at times it is hard, but frankly, I think we are all benefiting from reduced gluten in our diets. Thanks for asking :)
These are so fantasic...the only problem I have is deciding which one to try first!!!! Thank you for the wonderful designs.
so much for trying to be sneaky and make Christmas presents!!! These are soooo beautiful. I am making fall Gnomes right now. Mr 5 year old was hoping for a squirrel applique pattern. I love them myself so I would second that. Thank you so much for your sharing your artistic creations!!!!
Boy, are you in luck :) I had a drawing of squirrel almost done. Tell your son I'll get one up next week :)
I've surfed the net more than three hours today, and your blog was the coolest of all. Thanks a lot, it is really useful to me.
nlp coaching
Thank you so much for such generous sharing! I am delighted, and will be eager to visit your Etsy shop. You are head and shoulders above all the free applique and patterns sites I have seen.
I have been looking for applique designs for so long and after seeing your website ,i think i have found whatever i needed,just wanted to say thankyou to all who contributed for the stuff in this website.All designs are lovely and i can't wait to try them on my neice clothes.
once again thankyou so much for all your hard work.
Though all of them have a beautiful and alluring simplicity. Santa on the bottom, rocks! Hello from us!
I would love to see a pattern for a princess or mermaid applique. Your applique patterns are wonderful.
I have just come upon these appliques - they are wonderful. It is more wonderful that you have made them available to others at no cost and with instructions to make them fit our needs. WoW! Thank-you. Thank-you very very much.
Thanks for sharing this great source. I feel that I found a goldmine :) I am a true art fan and love these kind of stuff.
A brilliant site. Thanks for inspiration when I was getting bored with the same old patterns for applique. Keep going!
Geraldine UK Nov 2012
Cannot believe how inventive you are on this site and I check it at least weekly! If you get some time on your train trip do you think you might design an applique (or peg toy) that is a penguin? I have a dear young lady who collects them and I would love to make one for a shower gift for her.
Kind regards,
I'd be happy to :) Sticking a post-it up right now "Penguin". I know a couple people that are also penguin fans :)
i would like the ice cream comb pattern and the monkey pattern pls
If you click on the photos above of the ice cream cone and the monkeys, you will be taken to the actual tutorials. Included are links to the actual patterns for the appliques that you can download for free :)
One word: AWESOME!!!!!
If there's a crafting version of salivating, that's what I'm doing - just very quickly scanning these appliqué blocks, I've already fashioned 3 seasonal wall hangings, a baby quilt, a throw pillow and 2 totes - in my mind! Lol
I CANNOT get over these beautifully designed patterns being free, and your sponsor-free site is truly refreshing. I have perused this site from time to time over a few years of home schooling, but I now have you as an icon on my phone, so I can drool any time I have a minute! ;)
Thanks for honouring childhood and family, and giving us such inspiration.
Hehe... thanks for your kind words. Michelle and I love sharing our work with others, and truly, our reward is knowing our designs are used and appreciated by others. As long as you are salivating uncontrollably, I know we are on the right track ;)
Thank you so so much for sharing these lovely patterns...I just started this exciting craft. I wasn't into needle work at all but to be honest I'm quite enjoying the stitching... thank you for the tips as well... you're GREAT!!! Good blessings!!! :)
it's Claire btw
I have just found your blog and I am in love with the many applique items you have. I just wanted to thank you so much for making them available. If you do not mind terribly, I would love to include your blog link on my blog for my readers to find you also, as you have helped me so much with finding some applique patterns that have been very useful to me. With your permission, of course, I would like to share some of my makings on my blogpost in the near future and link to you, so my followers can find the same incredible inventory of tutorials and patterns as I have. Thanks for making this available.
Thanks for all your kind words, Jodi. I'm so glad you have been able to make use of our appliques. Not only is it okay for you to link to our site on your blog, we truly appreciate it. It is the best way for us to make new friends :)
If you do share our appliques on your blog, you may share a picture of them, or, obviously, your own work, and include a link to our site for the specific applique. The only thing you can't do is actually share the pattern on your blog. Please do not link directly to the "free pattern", aka, the pdf. Make sure to let us know when you post something so we can stop by for a visit!
Thank you so much for sharing these lovely patterns. I run a school craft club in England and the children will love these designs.
So glad you are able to use them. Most of them are fairly simple which makes them easy for children to use. Love to hear about school craft clubs. Wish more children had that opportunity.
At Wee Folk Art we combine our love of Wee Folk with our love of Folk Art, creating designs that are uniquely Wee Folk Art! We are a mother/daughter team who share mutual love of crafting and the gentle art of homemaking. Craft along with us or join in our homeschooling adventures!
Thanks for stopping by! To learn more about us at Wee Folk Art, visit our FAQ page.
~ Kimara & Michelle


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In 2004, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth started out on the margins of the presidential race. In an era of Old Media domination, they might have stayed there. When the group's founders held a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington on May 4, there was nothing in the next day's Washington Post, and the episode got scant attention elsewhere. A conservative website, FreeRepublic.com, however, covered the news conference and listed the fax numbers of Establishment news organizations, urging readers to send missives demanding to know why they were "blacking out" the event. A day later, the Post and New York Times carried short stories inside the paper. The Post report included the Kerry campaign's response that the Swift Boat Veterans was a "politically motivated organization with close ties to the Bush administration."
The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth was organized by Vietnam veterans who profoundly resented Kerry's role in the antiwar movement. Some of the men personally had served with Kerry in Vietnam. The group was funded and promoted by prominent Republicans, several of whom had ties to both President Bush and Karl Rove, though no evidence of a coordinated effort ever emerged.
As it happened, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth need not have worried about the amount of coverage they would receive, in either the New Media or the Old. And the spasm of publicity would come at the worst possible time for Kerry. On July 28, one day before Kerry formally accepted the Democratic nomination at the party's national convention in Boston, Drudge touted the imminent release of Un?t for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry. On the morning of Drudge's report, the book was ranked at #1,318 on Amazon.com. The next day it had jumped to #2, and within a couple of days it hit #1.
The book, published by the conservative Regnery Publishing, alleged that key elements of Kerry's account of his Vietnam service were false. Most dramatically, it claimed that Kerry's Bronze Star for heroic service, earned on March 13, 1969, was based on fraud. The group also questioned other aspects of Kerry's versions of his tour of duty and his involvement with the antiwar movement.
Beyond the book, the Swift Boaters started with relatively modest purchases of television advertising time. But their sophisticated political advisers knew that cable TV, talk radio, and, eventually, the Old Media would pick up on the ads themselves as controversial content, and give them the equivalent of millions of dollars in free coverage. This, of course, promoted their message and drove up awareness of their cause, traf?c to their website, and donations to their coffers. In the end, the group was able to purchase additional millions' worth of television ads. Democratic polling showed widespread awareness of the group's message, even in places where the advertisements never aired. The group's work also lit up the blogosphere and talk radio for weeks, giving the Old Media another hook in covering the coverage of the story.


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Women and minorities who want to work in construction-related fields will be eligible for $2,000 in tuition assistance at New Jersey's county colleges under a new scholarship program launched Tuesday.
Gov. Chris Christie unveiled the Governor's Industry Vocations Scholarship for Women and Minorities program at an event at Burlington County Community College in Mount Laurel. The scholarships -- known as NJ-GIVS -- will allow students to enroll in non-degree certificate programs at the state's 19 county colleges.


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Nondies head coach Charles Kanyi with chief guest South African international Butch James
Nondies Gentlemen's dinner underway
Rugby was introduced into Kenya at the beginning of the 20th Century by the British settlers. The first rugby match in Kenya was held in 1909 and in 1923, Nondescripts Rugby Club was born.
The oldest rugby club in Kenya fondly known as Nondies, will be celebrating its 90th anniversary next year. Last weekend, the club marked this year's Nondies Gentlemen's dinner that is held annually at the Ngong Race Course.
Chief guest, South African international rugby & Springboks player Butch James praised the club for setting the pace in the African rugby sport saying, "I am happy to be part of a long and rich rugby history like that of Nondies which is not only big in East Africa but a great achievement in any part of the world", said James.
In attendance were club chairman Thomas Opiyo, vice chair Ben Clay , coach Kanyi Gitonga, former captain Bobby Oyugi, senior player and technical coach Derrick Wamalwa, former director KRFU Branko Ng'inja and other alumni.


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August 15, 2008
New Newsletter Bolsters Intellectual Property MarketingThe first and only monthly newsletter devoted exclusively to improving the marketing of intellectual property was recently launched by BizWorld, Inc. Each issue of Intellectual Property Marketing Advisor focuses on better marketing of valuable but yet-unlicensed IP held by universities, research institutes and government labs.
"This monthly guidance will help spur the commercialization of innovations and other IP," says publisher Leslie C. Norins, M.D., Ph.D. "The need is greatest in the academic and government research sectors. Their budgets are under pressure. But they've got cabinets full of invention disclosures and patented innovations just gathering dust — and bringing in no royalties. More effective, aggressive marketing is the 'missing link' in the commercialization chain that will bring in more licenses and more royalty revenue."
Although millions of research dollars are spent developing innovations in university and government labs, only a tiny fraction ever make it to the marketplace. A big part of the reason, Norins asserts, is that commercialization staff don't have the marketing experience and know-how to find and attract IP buyers. "Plus, they're overloaded with other duties," he adds.
"That where IPMA comes in," says executive editor and CEO David Schwartz. "We apply a down-to-earth, practical formula that we've perfected over 30 years in specialized publishing. We dig up expert, real-world advice, best practices, and successful case studies for our subscribers — and show them how to put these tactics to work in their organizations." Key ingredients are: identifying and contacting all logical prospects, selecting and creating the optimal mix of sales tactics and tools, diligent followup, and getting the deals closed favorably.
A complimentary copy of the inaugural issue is available for review online at www.IPmarketingadvisor.com.


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A few years ago my parents decided to sponsor a child through Compassion. Because my mother spent the first 18 years of her life in Bolivia, my parents decided to sponsor a child from that country. They soon found a little boy from Santa Cruz: Yeison.
Sep 1 2010
Christian Community Outreach in Bolivia
A small shade tree on the street, some borrowed chairs and a lot of enthusiasm from the neighborhood children, is how church La Capilla 20 de Mayo started in 2004.
At that time, Pastor Raul was the youth pastor at a church in the city of Santa Cruz, Bolivia. He started to visit the Normandia neighborhood…


text: |SUMMARY: Nextel's monthly account churn is currently the lowest in the business at just 1.4%. But it wasn't always. In our exclusive interview, meet the leader of Nextel's Customer Lifecycle Management Group. Discover how the team uses analytics to advise marketers, customer service and sales teams on the best way to bring in and keep the most profitable customers. (Interesting note: It turns out the biggest accounts aren't always the most profitable ones).


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All the pieces for the Lindsey Adelman light fixture we'll be building for the dining room arrived this week. Nice of UPS to make sure Finn and the small one had a weekend project, wasn't it? Although our family photo was rained out last weekend and rescheduled for this one, so we'll see if there's still time for a project.
A big thank you to Apartment Therapy for featuring the tall one's room in their Decals on the Ceiling post. So fun! Which reminds me, I need to show you the changes we've made in there. The tall one decided it was feeling a little "babyish", so we've switched out some of the bedding and accessories. In all honesty, I think what she choose is perhaps more childish, but it's flannel and warm, which will be good for the coming months in our less than perfectly heated attic space.
It was a busy week outside of the blogosphere, I felt compelled to document that here. We also looked at projects I'm planning (you know, when I'm bored) and the progress made on Shannon's rooms. This weekend will be full of cleaning and errands. I broke down this week and had our cleaning crew back in to try to help catch up on the very neglected house work. It's a sad state of affairs when the house doesn't really look clean even after the professionals have been in, but that's what's going on here. Probably why that hoarding article above keeps going around my head. At least I know it's only messy now, there are no new life forms lurking in the corners. So a rather mundane weekend of laundry catch-up and groceries ahead, but it will be nice to feel slightly together by the end of it all.
What are your plans this weekend? Hopefully something more exciting than tidying and groceries.