news

Our Priorities Are Totally Wrong

On 6/8/2010, In news, By Will

Limewire, the file sharing service thousands of people have used for trading music illegally (and legally), is on the hook for over $1 billion. BP is on the hook for $69 million for what looks to be the largest man-made catastrophe the Earth has ever seen (aside from The Backstreet Boys).

“The amount of statutory damages awarded in this case easily could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars (if not over a billion dollars),” the RIAA wrote to Wood, in seeking a court order to freeze LimeWire’s assets (.pdf). The Napster case eventually settled for more than $300 million.”

How did this happen?

Today’s Mind-Blowing Factoid

On 2/27/2010, In Cool, news, By Will

Amount that the U.S. wedding industry would gain each year if gays wed at the same rate as straights: $17,000,000,000

Amount that U.S. divorce attorneys would gain if gays also divorced at the same rate: $1,900,000,000

via The Searchable Harper’s Index.

How’s that for something mind boggling?

Bush: ‘Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over’

On 2/19/2010, In news, By Will

Somehow, The Onion made one of the finest predictions ever in January 2001.

Bush: ‘Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over’.

Not as funny as it was when I first read it.

A Facebook Analysis of How things work in Washington, D.C.

On 2/9/2010, In Politics, funny, news, By Will

What Your Internet Plan Will Look Like Without Net Neutrality

On 10/28/2009, In Internet, Politics, Tech, news, By Will

If Senator John McCain has way by defeating the FCC’s move to support Net Neutrality with his “Internet Freedom Act”, this is what your Internet plan options could easily look like:

Say “goodbye” to experiencing the World Wide Web as you know it, and say “hello” to experiencing it as you do your cable TV, with restrictions on what you get unless you want to pay more, and unless the content providers pay more to be listed there.

As usual, the notion that a “government takeover” and a “marxist plot” are being bantered around to generate support for McCain’s bill through fear and ignorance. It goes without saying that McCain was the biggest beneficiary of telco/ISP money in 2008, to the tune of $894,379.

Picture courtesy of some quink at Reddit. Click the pic for the full-size image.

Local Restaurant Scam

On 4/8/2009, In Security, news, By Will

The Buncombe County web site is reporting that scammers have been targeting area restaurants, telling them they need to pay $19.95 each for “hand washing” signs which are required to be posted in restrooms.

An interesting, if not original scam, probably concocted while someone was using the restroom, saw the sign, and got the bright idea. Fascinating.

Will Chatham