The Shrub took time out from his busy schedule to give a speech launching the new football season.
Jimmy Kimmel took time out to chide him a bit for it. Thanks, Jimmy.
This is from the September 4, 2003 program. (I was just lucky to catch it because I came on after the Patriot Act Nightline with Ted Koppel.)
The Shrub’s Football Speech (Small – 2 MB)
Jimmy Kimmel Live Official Web site
Dalai Lama visit provides a subject for scientists
By Gareth Cook for the Boston Globe.
(Thanks, Jon!)
For more than 15 years, the Dalai Lama has been inviting small groups of top Western scientists to his Himalayan home for private discussions about science and its potential links to Buddhist thought. At an MIT auditorium tomorrow, the Tibetan leader will begin presiding over two days of intense discussions — the first ones open to the public — aimed at understanding what happens inside the meditating brain, and what it can reveal about the broader workings of the human mind…
Prominent Western scientists have already begun to find that meditation can have a profound effect on the brain and the body. This month, University of Wisconsin professor Richard J. Davidson published a paper showing that people who meditated were able to mount a stronger fight against the flu — suggesting that teaching the technique could help boost their immune systems.
Meditation, his study showed, appeared to moderate the activity of a part of the brain, the right prefrontal cortex, associated with negative emotions like anger and fear. The meditators who experienced the greatest reduction of activity in this area, the study showed, created the most antibodies to fight the flu…
Such a project could hold the potential to expand the field of neuroscience, suggesting whole new areas of study. Davidson, for example, has embarked on a research program to study compassion, an emotion that is a central concept in Buddhist psychology, but which Western science has largely ignored. If the Buddhists are correct, then Western researchers have missed an important part of the brain’s emotional machinery, one whose cultivation could have profound effects on society.
“We want to place compassion center stage as a focus of legitimate scientific inquiry,” said Davidson. “These guys can turn it on at will.”
We won this one guys! Estrada has removed himself from his bid for the judiciary.
Let this be a lesson to the Shrub Administration that you can’t just instruct people to refuse to cooperate with Congress if you want to be an appellate judge.
This is from the September 4, 2003 program.
Here’s an interview with Adam Schiff (D-CA) of the House Judiciary Committee on Fox News.
Note: As with any effective Dictatorship, this time around, the public will not be informed as to which airlines will be implementing the CAPPS II program. Such information will be kept secret from American citizens.
Soon passengers will be receiving one of three “color codings” based on things like who you’re traveling with and where you’re going. (What’s that got to do with your risk? Your guess is as good as mine.)
I wonder if wearing one of John Gilmore‘s “Suspected Terrorist” buttons bumps up your rating a notch? 🙂
Here’s the Washington Post story on it, and a video clip from KRON news in San Francisco.
In the most aggressive — and, some say, invasive — step yet to protect air travelers, the federal government and the airlines will phase in a computer system next year to measure the risk posed by every passenger on every flight in the United States.
The new Transportation Security Administration system seeks to probe deeper into each passenger’s identity than is currently possible, comparing personal information against criminal records and intelligence information. Passengers will be assigned a color code — green, yellow or red — based in part on their city of departure, destination, traveling companions and date of ticket purchase.
Most people will be coded green and sail through. But up to 8 percent of passengers who board the nation’s 26,000 daily flights will be coded “yellow” and will undergo additional screening at the checkpoint, according to people familiar with the program. An estimated 1 to 2 percent will be labeled “red” and will be prohibited from boarding. These passengers also will face police questioning and may be arrested…
The new system, called Computer Assisted Passenger Pre-screening System II (CAPPS II), has sparked so much controversy among both liberal and conservative groups that the TSA has struggled to get it going. Delta Air Lines backed out of a testing program with the agency earlier this year, and now the TSA will not reveal which airlines will participate when it tests a prototype early next year. If all goes as planned, the TSA will begin the new computer screening of some passengers as early as next summer and eventually it will be used for all domestic travelers.
“This system is going to be replete with errors,” said Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s technology and liberty program. “You could be falsely arrested. You could be delayed. You could lose your ability to travel.”
These two go together. Watch them in order:
(1) a clip from KTVU Channel 2 News on Universal’s announcement of dropping CD sales
and
(2) a clip from Jimmy Kimmel’s new show making a comment about that announcement.
KTVU’s Official Web site
Jimmy Kimmel Live Official Web site
 |
Ron Turner of Last Gasp Comix just sent me an invite to this cool book signing going on today in San Francisco. You should come by and check it out if you are so inclined. See you there! |
LOWLIFE PARADISE & EYESORE
Glenn Barr and Firehouse Kustom Rockart Company
This Saturday, September 13, 4-6pm
@ VARNISH FINE ART
77 Natoma St. (between 1st & 2nd St. and Mission & Howard)
SF CA 94105
And now, a bit about the artists…
Glenn Barr’s robots, creatures and vixens live in a seedy yet swinging 1960s universe, drenched in the haze of a post-industrial hangover. Working out of the burgeoning lowbrow movement in Detroit, Barr uses elements of pop culture to infuse familiarity to an otherwise parallel reality, where angels and devils alike share the same urban playground. With a nod to pulp art and cartooning, Barr’s paintings are mesmerizing in both their simplicity and depth.
“Lowlife Paradise,” co-published with La Luz de Jesus Press, is the first ever collection of Glenn Barr’s work. A special edition of the book will be for sale at the signing.
Lowlife Paradise: http://www.lastgasp.com/cgi-bin/results.cfm?author=Glenn%20Barr
The artists of the Firehouse Kustom Rockart Company, aka Chuck Sperry and Ron Donovan, have created posters for numerous major rock bands (Pavement, Pearl Jam, the Beastie Boys, Hole, and the Rolling Stones). But they’ve maintained their street credibility by furnishing posters for such events as Incredibly Strange Wrestling, which mixes punk bands and Mexican wrestlers.
A 100-page full-color book, Eyesore contains a rich sampling of their signature silkscreen technique that blends splendid artistry with impeccable craftsmanship — an eye-popping collection of the rock and roll posters and ephemera that made this studio famous.
Eyesore: http://www.lastgasp.com/cgi-bin/details.cfm?bookid=19645
The venue: Varnish Fine Art is located in the heart of downtown San Francisco at 77 Natoma Street, between 1st and 2nd St. and Mission and Howard. The gallery has a fine wine, beer and sake bar.
www.varnishfineart.com
www.lastgasp.com
I’m sure his blog will be as great as he is!
Damian Griffin wrote me last week to let me know about his own sketch comedy routine that was crafted in the classic The Daily Show fashion. It’s pretty funny! I’m jealous, because one of my secret fantasies is to have a sketch comedy show of my own someday.
Damian is also an animator. His animated short film has been in about 17 festivals across the country.
Here’s the clip (and a bunch of information about it below):
Big Toe Productions – Up To The Minute News
Here’s a description from Damian in his own words:
Like most of you I love the Daily Show and think its the best social satire we have going right now. Jon Stewart is the greatest!
A few months ago I had the opportunity to attempt a Daily Show-esque newscast during a sketch comedy show in Denver. I recently digitized the last newscast I did and decided to post a clip of it to be humiliated by the message board.
But first, a few disclosures about the clip and show.
The Quicktime clip is about 7minutes long and about 18mb. It was done on May 31st, 2003.
This clip has stage lighting, interesting camera work, and is sometimes a little hard to hear.
I am not Jon Stewart and don’t claim to be anywhere in his ballpark. This was just an unpaid gig and was just for fun.
I pretty much wrote the news segment and created the graphics over the course of a few hours on Friday afternoons shortly before the show, with little to no time for rehersal. I found it to be sometimes daunting for one person, but overall extremely rewarding and enjoyable.
There were 28 newscasts in all.
In one of the first major wins against the DMCA since the Elcomsoft Decision, a US Federal Judge has rejected a claim under the DMCA to outlaw a competing garage door opener. Judge Pallmeyer ruled against Chamberlain Group’s argument that Skylink’s universal garage door opener was an illegal circumvention device, stating that a homeowner has a legitimate expectation that she will be able to open the garage door if her Chamberlain transmitter is missing or malfunctions.
IP Justice has just released an information page regarding the landmark decision (Chamberlain v. Skylink). In the decision, the court denied Chamberlain’s motion for summary judgment claiming that the Skylink garage door opener violated the DMCA.
The Court noted amici briefs filed by CCIA and Consumers Union, which pointed out the stifling effect the DMCA has on innovation and competition under Chamberlain’s theory. The Court’s Order, which denied part of Chamberlain Group’s motion for Summary Judgment, is available here. Further case documents are available here.
 |
It’s out — finally!
If you’ve read his novel, then you know that Cory Doctorow really knows how to tell a story. His new short story collection is finally available for purchase, and I promise it won’t let you down. |