Monday, August 30, 2004

Keeping America Safe from Bea Arthur Do not taunt Happy Fun TSA! Bea Arthur's fight against the Transport Security Agency. Cory Doctorow: Bea Arthur forgot to take her pocketknife out of her purse last week at Logan airport and when the TSA found it, she ran around screaming, "The terrorists! The terrorists put a knife in my purse! We're all doomed!" She was being funny -- it's what she does. She's the funniest of all the Golden Girls, that's for sure. The TSA didn't take it well. Kur5hin has an appreciation of Ms Arthur and her sense of humor today: It should be obvious to us that an 81-year old woman committed a crime by making a snide remark when hassled for carrying a pocket knife? I'm just glad that she had the guts to call the security guards out for their ridiculous behavior, even if most Americans think she's crazy for making a joke. As such, I present a simple proposition: Bea Arthur for President! Link [Boing Boing] 7:51:22 PM     Categories: Keeping America Safe LiveJournal Keeping America Safe from The Supreme Court If the citizenry really knew what went on in the Supreme Counrt, they'd all be in trouble. Justice Dept censors Supreme Court ruling. Cory Doctorow: Becky sez, "The Justice Dept. blacked out (censored) the part of a Supreme Court decision that calls into question the willy-nilly use of the vague notion of 'domestic security' to suppress dissent. Oy." Ostensibly, they would use their powers of censorship only to remove material that truly could jeopardize US operations. But in reality, what did they do? They blacked out a quotation from a Supreme Court decision: "The danger to political dissent is acute where the Government attempts to act under so vague a concept as the power to protect 'domestic security.' Given the difficulty of defining the domestic security interest, the danger of abuse in acting to protect that interest becomes apparent." The mind reels at such a blatant abuse of power (and at the sheer chutzpah of using national security as an excuse to censor a quotation about using national security as an excuse to stifle dissent). Link (Thanks, Becky!) [Boing Boing] 7:50:16 PM     Categories: Keeping America Safe LiveJournal

© Copyright 2004 Matthew Ernest. Last update: 8/30/2004; 7:51:35 PM. hT This theme is based on the SoundWaves (blue) Manila theme.

radaR's LiveJournal   7:50PM PST Geek gamers rejoice. Finally, a hot chick they can score with. Video game vampire to go topless in October Playboy Ernest Miller sez, "Videogame character BloodRayne (a red-headed 'Dhampir' who hunts supernatural baddies for the 'Brimstone Society') will be topless in October's Playboy. According to her creators, 'This is a first in videogame history and trust us when we say that Rayne does not disappoint.'" Link (Thanks, Ernest!) [Boing Boing] By radar@poboxes.com. Keeping America Safe from wireless internet. AKMA gets hassled by the man: So Weirdly Wrong: And I walked back to the studio, dumbfounded that someone just rousted me for picking an open wireless signal in public — indeed (as it turns out) for using a laptop within a wireless signal’s range of the library. Weird. We should all be glad that the local contstabulary are able to invent federal laws at a moments notice to save us from the scourge of freely available internet access. However, those godless commie librarians seem to have gotten off scott free. By radar@poboxes.com. Keeping America Safe from Ted Kennedy. Ted Kennedy's name is similar to an alias of some "evil doer". Proof that this list only catches the innocent is left as an exercise for the reader. If Senators are allowed to roam freely about the country, then the terrorists have already won! Reuters. Kennedy -- one of the most recognizable figures in American politics -- told a Senate committee hearing on Thursday he had been blocked several times from boarding commercial airline flights because his name was on a "no-fly" list intended to exclude potential terrorists. [John Robb's Weblog] By radar@poboxes.com. Any sufficiently nice person is indistinguishable from someone who likes you. Yet again, I find I have underestimated just how deep into pathetic geekdom I am when confronted by others of the species. We're pointed that this damning refelction by Joey de Villa, an actual example of the cool geek that the rest of us pretend that we could possibly be but really can't. I don't know how I ended up looking at a page in Everything2 (imagine a less academic Wikipedia written by LiveJournalers), but someone has come up with a geek lament treatment of the Clarke Axiom: Any sufficiently nice person is indistinguishable from someone who likes you. [The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century :: Joey deVilla's Weblog] By radar@poboxes.com. fun Fun FUN. Whee... isn't working late fun? Someone bring be some dinner, okay? By radar@poboxes.com.