President Says You Should Criticise the President?

Bush didn't say it, Hell, He'd have you arrested for thinking it. (Thoughtcrime is doubleplusungood).There seems to be this growing belief in America that to question authority is Un-American. To question the loss of civil liberties after 9/11 is immoral and unpatriotic. Bullshit. Allow me to quote: "To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." - Theodore Roosevelt, 1918 [What Do You Think? Comment on this Post!]

Parody 101: Google vs. Booble

Google Says:
We have recently become aware of your website at http://www.booble.com (the Domain Name). This Domain Name is confusingly similar to the famous GOOGLE trademark. Your web site is a pornographic web site. Your web site improperly duplicates the distinctive and proprietary overall look and feel of Google's website, including Google's trade dress and the GOOGLE logo.

In view of your infringement of Google's rights, we must demand that you provide written assurances within 7days that you will immediately:

Disable the http://www.booble.com website and discontinue any and all use of the Domain Name;

Take steps to transfer the Domain Name to Google;

Identify and agree to transfer to Google any other domain names registered by you that contain the GOOGLE or are confusingly similar to the GOOGLE marks;

Permanently refrain from any use of the term GOOGLE or any variation thereof that is likely to cause confusion or dilution;

Immediately and permanently cease and desist from using the Google trade dress.

But Booble Says:
In the present case, consumers are highly unlikely to be confused as to the source of services for several reasons, including the following:
the domain names are entirely different;

the BOOBLE web site searches only provide content related to Adult web sites, including TGP sites, Adult stores, and Adult-related products like browser cleaners, pop-up filters, etc.; and

the BOOBLE mark is distinct from the GOOGLE mark in that it differs in sound, appearance, commercial impression, and other relevant aspects:

it features a woman's chest;

it uses the phrase, 'The Adult Search Engine;'

it posts a warning that the web site contains explicit content; and

it disclaims any association with Google.com.

Moreover, Booble's web site is an adult search engine, not 'a pornographic site,' as referred to in your letter. In fact, entering the terms "porn" and "sex" in the Google search engine return 98,400,000 hits and 269,000,000 hits, respectively, while entering these same terms in the Booble adult search engine return 268 hits and 291 hits, respectively. Therefore, the Google mark - which has a longstanding association with pornographic terms and material - is obviously not tarnished. OUCH! Touche![What Do You Think? Comment on this Post!]

Warspying - Got Cameras?

I wrote about this a few years back - time for a reminder since I see it's hitting the press again. A how-to in 2600 magazine coined the phrase "warspying" to describe the sport of driving or walking around to sniff out wireless video signals from X10s and other cameras that share the unlicensed 2.4GHz band.

If you have a wireless camera - you can be warspied.[What Do You Think? Comment on this Post!]

Prayer Requests and Shotgun Posts

Our Fine Schools
Americans continue to be divided over the wisdom of "zero tolerance" laws that require heavy punishment even for slight, technical violations, especially as applied to public school students. In December, for example, the Bossier Parish, La., School Board voted to uphold the year-long expulsion of a tenth-grade girl for "drug" possession, specifically an Advil tablet. And in January, a Rio Rancho, N.Mex., middle school student was drug- suspended for five days for possession of a Gas-X tablet. (National media attention eventually caused both school districts to lessen the penalties.)

Think Fast!
A16-year-old boy, after holding a week-long series of parties while his father and stepmother were away, and seeing the damage done to the $380,000 house, burned it down to hide the destruction, according to police.

Oops!
State (Sanford) Judge Gene Stephenson, 70, on a rape trial and viewing a photo of the 57-yr-old battered victim, mused, "Why would he want to rape her? She doesn't look like a day at the beach."

Jackass.
No wonder the California legislature is in crisis. The big news this week was that Assemblyman Leland Y. Yee of San Francisco is pressing the state building standards commission to start factoring in feng shui principles in its approval processes. Said Yee, "We need to allow the expression of one's culture. That's why people come to California."

Think Fast Part 2
In Miami, Fla., Raymond Jessi Snyder, who was listening in court as his lawyer strenuously argued against prosecutors' attempt to have him locked up pending sentencing because he was a "flight risk," used the distraction to flight right out the courtroom door and made it across the street before bailiffs ran him down.

And Finally - Nice Try.
Teresa Jones Smith was arrested while visiting her boyfriend in the Lexington, N.C., jail, where visitors and inmates are separated by a Plexiglas wall. She had brought a small blowtorch and was attempting to melt the wall. [What Do You Think? Comment on this Post!]

What Happens if You Eat Fast Food for a Month?

The New Zealand Herald: One man decided to demonstrate what happens when you confine your diet to a steady consumption of fast food, and the results are a film that is making waves at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Using himself as a guinea pig, Spurlock spent a full month eating nothing but food from McDonald's three times a day, while a film crew and a team of three doctors monitored him. In the end, it wrecked havoc on his health, overwhelmed his liver with saturated fats, and nearly killed him!"

McDonald's has finally been forced to comment. "Consumers can achieve balance in their daily dining decisions by choosing from our array of quality offerings and range of portion sizes to meet their taste and nutrition goals," it said in a statement last week.

Read the whole article. Spurlock claims that the goal was not to attack McDonald's as such. Among the issues he highlights is the willingness of schools to feed students nothing but burgers and pizza.[What Do You Think? Comment on this Post!]

Hubble Saved From Demolition

Wired: Faced with the impending loss of the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers and space enthusiasts raged mightily against the dying of the light. Now it appears their efforts to save Hubble, along with political pressure, may be paying off.

NASA decreed two weeks ago that, in the interest of astronaut safety, no more shuttle missions will service the famous orbiting telescope. That pronouncement consigned the Hubble to a fiery descent and violent plunge into the Pacific Ocean just a few years from now.

Traffic to the site Save The Hubble has risen rapidly, said Michael Paolucci, president of Slooh, who estimates that new daily sign-ups now number in the hundreds or even thousands.

"My argument is that we need to stimulate a debate that should have been stimulated by NASA," he said. "Instead, they made a decision behind closed doors. Something as monumental as the fate of the Hubble should have public involvement." Get involved! [What Do You Think? Comment on this Post!]

Oh What A Feeling - The Force!

Wait a minute - she works at Hooters? [What Do You Think? Comment on this Post!]

Attack on Atkins Worse Than Atkins Itself?

FoxNews: Already-confused dieters are no doubt reeling from reports this week of a new study linking a high-carbohydrate diet with weight loss. Rather than well-conducted scientific research, though, the new study appears to be merely a junk science-fueled attack by government nannies on politically incorrect low-carbohydrate regimens like the Atkins Diet (search).

“In the midst of the low-carb craze, a new study suggests that by eating lots of carbohydrates and little fat, it is possible to lose weight without actually cutting calories ? and without exercising, either,” reported The Associated Press this week. “Revenge of the High-Carb Diet ? Ha! It Works, Too” was the Reuters headline.

But unlike the sensationalistic media, which tend to limit their reporting of new study claims to regurgitated press releases and sound bites from study authors, Steven Milloy, the publisher of JunkScience.com actually read the study in the Jan. 26 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

It didn’t take long to discover why study subjects on the high-carbohydrate diet lost weight ? they ate fewer calories! [What Do You Think? Comment on this Post!]

Free Books and DVDs for Soldiers

If you are a soldier currently serving in Iraq and would like a free copy of either Dude, Where's My Country or a Bowling for Columbine DVD, please send an email including your full name, your address in Iraq and all other information we need in order to get it to you. [What Do You Think? Comment on this Post!]

Michael Moore on Clark, Jamal, Democratic Presidential Debate and More

Democracy Now: Academy award-winning documentary filmmaker, television producer and author Michael Moore joins us in our firehouse studios to discuss his endorsement of Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark, hearing his name during the Democratic presidential debate in New Hampshire, the controversy surrounding the mention of death row prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal in his latest book, and much more. [What Do You Think? Comment on this Post!]