"Murphy was an optimist!"
What does the Google subpoena mean? January 22, 2006 11:05 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : News, Of Interest, Politics, Touchy Subjects, United StatesHere is a fantastic summation of the Google subpoena. In short, the government is once again trying to pass a law with vague terms in the name of protecting our children.
The Child Online Protection Act makes it a crime for a commercial Web site to post material that some jurors might find “harmful” if a minor stumbled across it.
The problem comes in deciding just what is harmful.
even portions of a “collection of Renaissance artwork” could be viewed as harmful to minors if a prosecutor was sufficiently zealous.
So, people that believe in abstinance teaching may find medical information about the male and female bodies offense while people trying to teach their children about sex may find that same information very important.
We should not be creating laws to make up for bad parenting! Parents should be talking to their children. The Internet is a reflection of the real world and while we can keep our children from seeing adult magazines and movies in our own houses that does not prevent them from going to a friend’s house, cracking open a beer, sitting down with a Playboy magazine (since it makes you go blind, nice of them to publish in Braille), and watching a hardcore sex dvd. Only through talking to our children and teaching them can we give them the tools to make the right choices and police themselves.
If we let our government become too involved in dictating morals to the people, the generation that grows up under such government will know nothing different and when that generation steps up to run our country they will see no problem in further limiting rights and civil liberties in the name of “protecting the people” and it will dominoe us right out of democracy!
see also: White House: DOJ Request for Google Data Is ‘Narrow’ “You know… “Narrow†like a wedge is narrow on one end.”
add a commentAre you smart? January 21, 2006 12:12 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Games/Puzzles, Of InterestHere is a site with the answers to the “Are you smart” post. Of the ones I didn’t get, all but 2 I should have figured out.
Matt points out the real Mensa site.
add a commentHousing Boom January 20, 2006 3:08 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : News, Of Interest2 room 200 square foot house (15’6″ x 12’8″) by railroad track with cloth roof and no electricity has kitchen and sleeps 3. Includes outdoor, chemical toilet. Put on market for $145,000 USD. Don’t miss this opportunity!
add a commentLost Details January 20, 2006 1:52 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Lost, Of Interest, TV / MoviesSome details I absolutely missed when the Jack, Locke and Sawyer encountered Zeke. Man I would have been pouring out questions if I were Jack! “Where is this island?” “Keep the island! How do we get off?” and so forth.
1 comment so farWhite House: DOJ Request For Google Data Is ‘Narrow’ January 20, 2006 12:16 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : News, Of Interest, Politics, Technology, Touchy Subjects, United StatesToday’s headline regarding Bush’s realization of Orwell’s world:
“White House: DOJ Request For Google Data Is ‘Narrow’”
You know… “Narrow” like a wedge is narrow on one end. Remember, the goal here is to censor the Internet on the premise that we are fighting child pornography. So far the government’s approach online has been to scare people in the pornography industry (or anything that might have to do with nudity) into self-policing but that would be like scaring Borders into not selling any books that show a baby’s butt (most parenting books and magazines) for fear of prosecution.
1 comment so farDealing with sharks January 20, 2006 12:02 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Of InterestTerreus has posted some great? advice about shark encounters.
Be sure to read his related post on the Thames.
add a commentTired of spam? January 20, 2006 11:44 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : HumorSpamusement has poorly drawn cartoons based on actual spam subject lines
add a commentAre you smart? January 20, 2006 8:27 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Games/Puzzles, Of InterestI had fun with this test. Got 16 17 18 19 20 out of 33 (without cheating) before I had to give up and get back to work. I think I can get to 19. Is this really a mensa test? I don’t know. But it is fun!
6commentsAccording to MENSA, if you get 19 + of these, you are a “genius”.
Only 2 MENSA members achieved full marks. See how well you do.
January 20, 2006 7:42 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily LifeIt looks like a good day for a meltdown said the ice cube to the sun.
add a commentOf Grasshoppers January 19, 2006 7:10 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Of Grasshoppers, PhilosophyStudent: If I can just make it around the next bend.
Master: Just take one more step.
Student project: Mood-phone for Aspergers patients January 19, 2006 7:07 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Aspergers, Of Interestadd a commentMotorola has given an award to John Finan, who created a conceptual “mood-phone” that would help Asperger’s Syndrome patients determine the mood of the people they’re addressing. Asperger’s Syndrome famously afflicts sufferers by impairing their ability to pick up on social cues, and the mood-phone would makes those cues explicit, thus enabling Asperger’s patients to communicate more readily.
Ah! Happiness January 19, 2006 3:33 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily LifeI needed that.
add a commentMark Michael’s Map January 19, 2006 3:30 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily LifeIf you read Big Orange Michael, be sure to wish him a happy birthday today and mark yourself on his frappr map. If you don’t read him regularly, you must at least read his Lost reviews on Thursdays!
add a commentMayor Nagin of New Orleans January 19, 2006 3:09 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Humor, PhilosophySeen the latest publicity poster for New Orleans?
add a commentThought you’d heard it all? January 19, 2006 3:02 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Of Interest, Science, TechnologySo I was thinking I was the master of all knowledge and then someone showed me the nasal douche!
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