Next up: a law that requires IMDB to replace headshots with blank, gray avatars, so actors' race won't be disclosed. Sure cure for racism in Hollywood!
Typographically, those two "T's" aren't the same... in fact, I would suspect the Bacardi designer didn't draw a character by hand, but used an existing font. No, I can't magically find it among the hundreds of thousands out there; but take a look at this search for old-west style fonts... at least a third have that pointy accent in the middle of any vertical strokes.
One thing it does bear a striking resemblance to? The letter "T".
The last big flap over unnecessary automated FB censorship targeted a Copenhagen statue... what is it about these Scandinavians? Semi-naked mermaids, fully-naked napalm victims... must be a burning curiosity to see what's under everyone's cable knit sweaters. Thanks be to Woden that we have Facebook to purge these prurient interests.
If the app is really going to serve as a substitute for an open standards STB, here's what I need it to do: pay me $12 a month, every month, in perpetuity.
"MPs warned that social media websites are becoming the 'vehicle of choice' for spreading terrorist propaganda..."
Because MP's know ALL that cool stuff! What's hip-hop 'n' happenin' amongst the bearded elite of the world's terror communities. Not only are they not pathetically isolated from their own constituents, they know all the social media foibles of evildoers everywhere.
Not a very busy member of the bar, apparently... that filing took an awful lot of typing.
And I don't read too many such filings, but I can't say I've seen anyone spend as much time reciting the statutes' various requirements and intentions; there's this "hey, I just read what RICO means!" kind of quality to that voluminous prose. Bet the judge will be thankful Counselor Roy was able to explain all this complex stuff for him.
Thirty years ago, when computers first appeared in cars, a few highly-publicized throttle failures in GM vehicles prompted defense contractor Martin Marietta to try to market surplus data processing capabilities to developers of such mission-critical code. For a fee, you could run massive simulations on their mighty Cray supercomputers, testing every combination of control setting and sensor readings, to look for anomalous behaviors that might result. They'd done that for the Challenger postmortem - weeks of round-the-clock Cray runs inputting every permutation of every fractional pressure and temperature value, every throttle setting, and so on - and felt by automating the wringing-out process, developers and manufacturers could mitigate risk and control product liability.
The self-driving guys face this same issues, but with unimaginably complex multipliers: variables introduced by random, erratic humans... fellow drivers and pedestrians. And don't forget factors like weather, crappy pavement condition and marginal road markings.
It just feels like self-driving technologies are being implemented quickly and, perhaps, without the incredibly thorough validation required. Sure, we've got post-millennial innovation and entrepreneurial enthusiasm driving us forward, but there's this YOLO thing lurking behind it... "trust us, what have you got to lose?" I'd like a little more hard data, I think.
Like the proverbial frog in the pot of water, cable won't acknowledge there's a problem until about 90 seconds before it's fully poached; with a high-stakes, cash-cow business model, they're fully committed to believing their own line of shit, no matter what.
But one good indicator of a sea change... recognizing reality... is when everyone stops putting scare quotes around "OTT" -- or, better yet, drops the term altogether. It's no longer "over the top"... our current day blend of streaming, mobile and a whiff of broadcast is the new normal, and it doesn't need a label, because we're all living it.
Another missed opportunity. I could have achieved the same results for a fraction of that $500K!
However, a talented spiritualist such as myself might be able to tweak her karma a bit to avoid further troubles. Does she still have that big pocketbook with her?
That's the way I first read that. But you're right... expecting energy to flow through the ether, from the generation source (consumers' wallets) to the load (Comcast bank accounts) despite never having established a tangible connection between them. And, as a result, seeming like a crazy person, howling at the moon, when it doesn't go according to this wacky, disconnected theory.
You've got a BUNCH of shortin' to do... the researchers apparently disclosed to VW (who has responded energetically) late last year, but is still working through the disclosure-and-response process with several other manufacturers.
It's always amusing to seen a screen cap of a Google results page attached as an exhibit in a filing... Exhibit 1, no less! Say, counselor, didn't your middle school teacher warn you about using web search results as reference sources?
One of the core issues here is a variant on the fundamental question, "What's worth preserving?"
For most of us, the answer would be "everything". I get a kick out of reading mundane, slice-of-life moments from PDF's of old regional newspapers, probably more than from viewing a digitized image of the Magna Carta. The value we assign to preservation, i.e., archiving, is a floating quantity.
But, as always, perceived value needs to be matched by monetary value. Even the monks who hand-duplicated ancient manuscripts had to be fed and sheltered... there's always a cost. Librarians and archivists working primarily with paper archives faced this, too, but it only occurred at long intervals; today, our proliferation of digital formats means that the archivist's job is nearly continuous. As soon as a collection has been fully migrated from one fading medium to the next, greatest platform, you can bet that the process will begin again, as new technology becomes old. Preservation cycles formerly measured in centuries are now measured, at best, in decades.
And someone needs to pay. Continuously.
As a result, archiving efforts for the biggest, most prestigious collections are funded, because we can all agree on that question of value. Not so much, though, for media of secondary interest; those are likely to be ignored until hardware vanishes, file formats disappear or magnetic coercivity fades into oblivion. Sometimes, content's best hope is that it will drop below that secondary threshold, into the realm of "quirky ephemera", where oddballs like me might step in and volunteer to migrate the media.
So maybe that's the next great role for the world's underused, underappreciated network of public libraries -- archiving and preservation of mid-value content. Makerspaces and 3D printers are nice, but professional librarians all have advanced degrees in the fields that would make them indispensible to this effort.
On the post: New California Law Attempts To Fight Hollywood Ageism By Censoring Third-Party Websites
"Oscars So White" No More
On the post: NYPD Says Releasing Basic Stingray Contract Info Will Result In A Supercriminal Apocalypse
Re:
On the post: Texas Rangers Oppose Bacardi's Logo For Green Tea Spirit Because Of The 'T'
One thing it does bear a striking resemblance to? The letter "T".
On the post: Prenda's Paul Hansmeier Loses His Law License; Won't Be Filing Bogus ADA Lawsuits For Now
On the post: Facebook's Arbitrary Censors Strike Again; Ban Norwegian Newspaper From Posting Iconic Vietnam War Photo
Nordic urges?
On the post: Vox: If The Clinton Email Scandal Has Taught Us Nothing Else, It's That Email Should Be Exempt From FOIA Requests
Kinda like phone conversations, which can be formal, on-the-record statements, or just shootin' the shit.
On the post: After Massive Cable Industry Lobbying And Disinformation Effort, The FCC Is Forced To Weaken Its Cable Box Reform Plan
App equivalence
On the post: AT&T, Poster Child For Government Favoritism, Mocks Google Fiber For Government Favoritism
as opposed to
"... threatened that its lobbyists would stop sending large checks...". That would be the AT&T method.
On the post: UK Gov't Report: Facebook, Twitter, And Google Are Pretty Much Unrepentant Terrorist Supporters
Source, please
Because MP's know ALL that cool stuff! What's hip-hop 'n' happenin' amongst the bearded elite of the world's terror communities. Not only are they not pathetically isolated from their own constituents, they know all the social media foibles of evildoers everywhere.
Either that, or they read it in the tabloids.
On the post: Lawyer Sues Basically All Mainstream Media For RICO Violations For How They Report On Donald Trump
Re:
And I don't read too many such filings, but I can't say I've seen anyone spend as much time reciting the statutes' various requirements and intentions; there's this "hey, I just read what RICO means!" kind of quality to that voluminous prose. Bet the judge will be thankful Counselor Roy was able to explain all this complex stuff for him.
On the post: Uber Wasting No Time: Launching Test Of Self-Driving Cars
Sit back and wait for anomalies
The self-driving guys face this same issues, but with unimaginably complex multipliers: variables introduced by random, erratic humans... fellow drivers and pedestrians. And don't forget factors like weather, crappy pavement condition and marginal road markings.
It just feels like self-driving technologies are being implemented quickly and, perhaps, without the incredibly thorough validation required. Sure, we've got post-millennial innovation and entrepreneurial enthusiasm driving us forward, but there's this YOLO thing lurking behind it... "trust us, what have you got to lose?" I'd like a little more hard data, I think.
On the post: Remember Claims That Cord Cutting Was On The Ropes? It's Actually Worse Than Ever
Drop the label
But one good indicator of a sea change... recognizing reality... is when everyone stops putting scare quotes around "OTT" -- or, better yet, drops the term altogether. It's no longer "over the top"... our current day blend of streaming, mobile and a whiff of broadcast is the new normal, and it doesn't need a label, because we're all living it.
On the post: Former UC Davis Chancellor Katehi Way More Obsessed With Her Online Reputation Than Initially Thought
Fool and her (or someone's) money
However, a talented spiritualist such as myself might be able to tweak her karma a bit to avoid further troubles. Does she still have that big pocketbook with her?
On the post: Comcast Fancies Itself The Tesla Of Cable
They're Nicola Tesla?
(Apologies to the genius of beloved Mr. Tesla.)
On the post: Volkswagen Created A 'Backdoor' To Basically All Its Cars... And Now Hackers Can Open All Of Them
Re:
On the post: FTC Sues 1-800 Contacts For Restricting Competitors From Using Competitive Keyword Advertising
On the post: Another Unfortunate Example Of Facebook Silencing Important Videos
On the post: Archivists Grapple With Problems Of Preserving Recent Culture Held On Tape Cassettes And Floppy Drives
Assigning value
For most of us, the answer would be "everything". I get a kick out of reading mundane, slice-of-life moments from PDF's of old regional newspapers, probably more than from viewing a digitized image of the Magna Carta. The value we assign to preservation, i.e., archiving, is a floating quantity.
But, as always, perceived value needs to be matched by monetary value. Even the monks who hand-duplicated ancient manuscripts had to be fed and sheltered... there's always a cost. Librarians and archivists working primarily with paper archives faced this, too, but it only occurred at long intervals; today, our proliferation of digital formats means that the archivist's job is nearly continuous. As soon as a collection has been fully migrated from one fading medium to the next, greatest platform, you can bet that the process will begin again, as new technology becomes old. Preservation cycles formerly measured in centuries are now measured, at best, in decades.
And someone needs to pay. Continuously.
As a result, archiving efforts for the biggest, most prestigious collections are funded, because we can all agree on that question of value. Not so much, though, for media of secondary interest; those are likely to be ignored until hardware vanishes, file formats disappear or magnetic coercivity fades into oblivion. Sometimes, content's best hope is that it will drop below that secondary threshold, into the realm of "quirky ephemera", where oddballs like me might step in and volunteer to migrate the media.
So maybe that's the next great role for the world's underused, underappreciated network of public libraries -- archiving and preservation of mid-value content. Makerspaces and 3D printers are nice, but professional librarians all have advanced degrees in the fields that would make them indispensible to this effort.
On the post: Your 'Smart' Thermostat Is Now Vulnerable To Ransomware
1) Remove device from wall
2) Too hot? Twist red and green wires together
3) Cooled down nicely? Untwist wires
4) Rinse and repeat
On the post: The Coming Copyright Fight Over Viral News Videos, Such As Police Shootings
Sucks the "intellectual" out of IP
... just like all intellectual property. What's the point of creating something unless you claim ownership and monetize?
/s/
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