Atkray's Favorite Techdirt Posts Of The Week
from the theme-o'-the-week dept
This week's favorites post come from Atkray.I get asked about it, so for those who wonder, Atkray combines the ATK from the motorcycle company, not the rocket engine manufacturer, with Ray my given name. I am grateful for this opportunity to give back a little and hope that my reflections on the past week will be of value or entertainment to some of you.
By Sunday night, I find that I have stared at the favorites, the most insightful, and funny posts long enough. Consequently, by Monday morning I am ready to see what the new week brings. This week I skipped the first post and went straight to the monkeys writing Shakespeare. I was a tad disappointed to see the output was not what I expected and for some reason the side note about the real monkeys typing mostly the letter "s" and then urinating on the keyboards left me wondering if, for the sake of authenticity, it is necessary to program the virtual monkey to do the same. Unfortunately, the comments deteriorated to personal attacks rather quickly before changing to a most interesting discussion of infinite and near infinite. I can see monkeys writing Shakespeare becoming the next folding@home.
Behaving more like monkeys than officers, NYPD kicked off what became the theme for the week, cops being caught on video and lying.
Building on that theme, on Tuesday we had the Canadians getting involved with a face-tasing, as well as the bonus multi-angle feature of the Wall Street incident from Monday. On Wednesday the police in Chicago felt left out, so we got the story of cops disrupting funeral processions and then lying about it. I really enjoyed the position put forth by an AC that it is only a small percentage of the cops that are bad so we shouldn’t worry. On Thursday, the entire state of Illinois joined the theme and decided to appeal a ruling that filming police is protected by that pesky old Constitution. Of course allowing the focus to shift westward is unacceptable to New Yorkers so they started rounding up people with cameras and hauling them off in the paddy wagon, prompting an epic comment from Dark Helmet (widely rumored to live in or around Chicago) that made me go digging through old boxes so I could watch Ghostbusters again. Friday returned back to Illinois with the story of a guy being threatened with a felony and 15 years in jail for filming a traffic stop.
It is a rare week when we don’t get more news from Righthaven, and I find it entertaining to see the Karma boomerang in action -- although it appears that even the judges involved may be feeling a little pity for Righthaven and the beating it is taking.
The seemingly inevitable arrival of the police state was shown to us by officials at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, where officials decided to censor a professor by misunderstanding (totally) a poster he put up. Nice to see that freedom of thought and expression won’t be interfering with the indoctrinations. This story was my favorite of the week with the second poster the professor put up making me literally laugh out loud.
I was disappointed to see Governor Moonbeam (disclosure: I lived in the state when he and Linda were an item) has the opportunity to help out the citizens by protecting their 4th Amendment rights on traffic stops, but appears to be bought and paid for by the law enforcement lobbyists.
The news that Direct TV sees that the prices Hollywood dictates are not the prices customers are willing to pay gave me a glimmer of hope. But then Time Warner's belief that no one is cutting the cord snapped me back to reality. Even the little old ladies in my neighborhood are talking about dropping cable.
The Friday afternoon downer that (as expected) the US will be signing ACTA still wasn’t enough to overcome the unexpected surprise that at least 2 Senators on the Judiciary Committee believe that TOS violations should not be a crime. I fired off another email to Senator Hatch telling him to listen to his colleagues, but figure I’ll get another form letter in about 3 weeks.
I want to close with an observation. Mike posted about a conference and mentioned a discount for TD readers. It was a nice gesture and the conference may appeal to visitors here. As can be expected, the usual group of ACs promptly chimed in with derogatory remarks and personal attacks. This is common and as mentioned here is not indicative of all ACs. Mike undergoes daily personal attacks by those who seem incapable of expressing themselves in an articulate and adult manner. Others are frequently attacked as well. Those attacking resort to third-grade playground bully tactics and run away when confronted. They truly are cowards. To those who insist on trying to degrade Techdirt, you only show others your true colors. I appreciate when someone with an opposing view brings a valid and well thought out disagreement, but unfortunately that seems to be an increasingly rare event. To those who do, I thank you. While I may not agree with you, at least I can respect you and should I meet you in person I would enjoy sitting down over lunch and having a conversation... You keep all ACs from being painted with the broadbrush of trolling.
Thank you to Mike for this opportunity to share.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
I think they're all still here, Itshay.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I think they're all still here, Itshay.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Face substitution in realtime.
http://vimeo.com/29348533
http://vimeo.com/29279198
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Mike doesn't get "personally attacked", he gets his ideas and his opinions attacked. Since Mike doesn't separate himself from the ideas, it ends up being person. Honestly, Mike has in the past made some of the most scathing and personal attacks in Techdirt history, so he gets back the respect he gives to others.
More over, because Mike plays the weasel word game, and tries to act like things aren't his opinion, just those of others. Yet he posts and defends them like his own, until the cracks appear. Then suddenly it's "not his opinion".
Can we forget the wonderful use of "opinions stated as questions", you know:
As a result of all the weasel wording, is it clear that Mike Masnick is an asshole?
See? I didn't call Mike an asshole (others may have), but I left that dangling question out there. Most people in reading the question will see it as a statement of fact, which is why Mike uses it so often. There is plausible deniability if it turns out to be false, but can be referenced by the classic "we have already shown that" links that pepper his post.
The only good news? Mike hasn't been anywhere near as "troubled" recently in his posts. Too bad that so many court judgements are going against his fundamental beliefs and positions.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[citation needed]
"More over, because Mike plays the weasel word game, and tries to act like things aren't his opinion, just those of others. Yet he posts and defends them like his own, until the cracks appear. Then suddenly it's "not his opinion"."
[citation needed]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
http://www.techdirt.com
Enjoy.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
http://www.techdirt.com
That's what I think this sentence refers to:
"Those attacking resort to third-grade playground bully tactics and run away when confronted."
Because you can't come up with anything specific - because it isn't there.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re:
Jay asked a question that isn't going to get an answer, because I am not going to back through 45,000 posts to tag where Mike has been a bully and attacked people (including me) on a very personal level. The evidence is on the site, you can find it if you want to see it, and if you have been here more than a few weeks, you have probably already seen it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Typical IP maximists, too lazy to do any work. They're so used to holding the 'rights' to everything and having everyone else do all their work for them and paying them to contribute absolutely nothing.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
If you bothered to register, you could see every comment you made and then find the one where Mike touched you in a bad place and then share it with us, the people you are ostensibly trying to convince of Mike's bad actions.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
If it was only me, well, then we would have something. How many people has Mike chased away with scathing comments, rudeness, and insults? More than a few.
You know it, you just ignore it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
... They've chased him away from commenting...
On his own blog which provides new content for free every day...
You really aren't making a lot of sense here...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
On the other hand, Mike does provide facts, figures, and reference that can support or contradict his points. He does so without being a childish prick too. What's my evidence?
http://www.techdirt.com/user/mmasnick
You don't believe me? Go take a look!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
As we keep saying, citation needed.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
If it was anything like as common as you claim then it would be really easy to find ONE example surely!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
So it is fine that courts don't agree and government don't listen in the end, people make things happen and there is absolutely nothing you can do to them to force them to respect you.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
So it is fine that courts don't agree and government don't listen in the end, people make things happen and there is absolutely nothing you can do to them to force them to respect you.
Didn't Phara say that?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
I got my bicycle and go to the AT&T office and others and asked the geeks if they had new games, once in a while a guy with a van appeared and sold some pirated stuff too, I also mailed stuff to my friends in cassette, 8" floppies, 5" floppies.
You see in thousands of years nothing changed, just you now can see how much of it goes on, but nobody on the streets care about you or your content, you bug people enough and they will find an alternative, one that you are not part of.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
http://www.freewaregenius.com/2011/10/02/get-5-great-free-games-at-the-chrome-store-angry-bi rds-fancy-pants-adventure-world-2-cargo-bridge-steambirds-survival-and-canvas-rider/#fancypants2
http://www.freewaregenius.com/2011/09/30/challenge-and-amuse-yourself-with-qwop-and-girp/
http:// ww2.freegames.com/Default.aspx?tabid=455&ItemID=26
http://freegames.org/
You can also go have some free music.
http://www.jamendo.com/en/
Or have some entertainment with
http://www.youtube.com/user/RayWilliamJohnson
Poor ray probably make more than you but who is counting right?
I pirate it all and the beauty of it is that you can't touch this!
Also you can get informed about the latests news others are pirating, through the pirate haven called Miro Blog.
http://blog.getmiro.com/
Where I just found this pirate gems.
http://blog.getmiro.com/2011/07/track-correspondances-with-members-of-congress-through-open congress/
http://cmntv.org/
http://marintv.mirocommunity.org/
http://www.miroguide.com/ (where you can search by license type)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
That's the lamest excuse I've heard in ages. I have no idea how someone is supposed to separate themselves from their ideas and his opinions in such a manner that would prevent these AC clowns from chucking out insults like "chubby" and "slimy". These are personal (but pretty pathetic) insults that are nothing to do with ideas or opinions. They clearly come from someone with either a deep personal grudge or a vested interest in trying to discredit Mike, so they're an utterly worthless contribution to the discussion.
"Honestly, Mike has in the past made some of the most scathing and personal attacks in Techdirt history, so he gets back the respect he gives to others."
You've been asked to provide proof of this claim, and I highly doubt you will. One of the benefits of being an AC is being able to make wild accusations without any evidence and not have to face up to them later. If you posted under one name, even anonymously like most of us do, these things might come back to haunt you...
"More over, because Mike plays the weasel word game, and tries to act like things aren't his opinion, just those of others. Yet he posts and defends them like his own, until the cracks appear. Then suddenly it's "not his opinion"."
Again, feel free to post evidence of this. IMO Mike has always been quite upfront about which opinions of others he agrees with and which ones he doesn't.
"The only good news? Mike hasn't been anywhere near as "troubled" recently in his posts. Too bad that so many court judgements are going against his fundamental beliefs and positions."
Yes, too bad some recent court judgements have been going in favour of a few failing legacy industries at the expense of what's actually best for the public in general. Great news indeed...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: An EA puppet.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
/b is that way ---->
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Even if I don't always remember to sign in, I do my best to make sure I own everything I say.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]