This is a little dated, but Pope Benedict isn’t a fan of Harry Potter. Go figure, eh?
“It is good, that you enlighten people about Harry Potter, because those are subtle seductions, which act unnoticed and by this deeply distort Christianity in the soul, before it can grow properly,” wrote Cardinal Ratzinger.
I’m sure sales will tank on the news.
Fire up your BitTorrent client before the nasty classical music companies invoke copyright somehow on these public domain works which none of their artists performed.
I can think of a few University departments that subscribe to the same customer service manual that Michael Dell does.
Dell has closed their public support forums because of the rising anti-Dell rhetoric going on on the boards. They even gave notice with this little re-history:
The Customer Service boards on the Dell Community Forum will be retiring at 3:30pm this Friday, July 8th. … Customer Service FAQs will still be available to help answer your questions. If you need further assistance, you may contact our customer service team via Chat for any non-technical issue you may have.
Of course, lots of Blogistanians are heralding Jeff Jarvis for this. While I’m sure Mr. Jarvis would love to take credit, Dell hasn’t been providing the world’s greatest support either. Jeff’s snit is representative of the experience of many. (Sidenote: Anyone who thinks Jarvis should have gotten special treatment because he’s an “A-list” blogger is completely missing the point (as Ed Bott so eloquently points out).)
I’m glad I build mine; at least I know who to blame when the power source goes pfhewt.
Some guy has posted direct links to many of the AOL-hosted Live 8 performances. The Pink Floyd clips are excellent, as is the R.E.M. performance.
Check it out and sign the list at the Live 8 website.
Blogging has been (and will continue to be) light due to the overwhelming nature of buying a house.
Since sleep is one of the first things sacrificed in the rush to move, I present a recipe to make 9 cups of concentrated, cold-press coffee.
Just remember, some guy in Brighton thinks he knows better than you. Invoking the “For the Children” mantra, Representative Chris Ward of Brighton introduced a bill to ban shipments of wine both in-state and into the state. All shipments would be banned unless, of course, you pay for a distributorship. Good luck getting one though.
Oh, and if you’re a small winery who depends on not being under the predatory pricing that distributors use as standard operating procedure, now would be a very good time to start explaining to your customers what this bill would mean; the State is not your friend.
Pam Byrnes, the MI House representative for Ann Arbor, Chelsea, and much of Washtenaw country, co-sponsored the bill, House Bill 4959. You can contact Rep. Barnes at:
Phone: 517-373-0828
Fax: 517-373-5783
Her website is here.
Aside from the pretty pictures and faux spy-craft, I don’t see a market for earth.google.com. I’m not saying I won’t play with it, I just don’t see where they make money from me. Maybe all will be clear when I can install it (damn lowest privileged user account!).
With the Tom Cruise/Katie Holmes distraction going on (I refuse to link to that idiocy), I figured War of the Worlds would suck. But if Spielberg is comparing his movie to 9/11… wow, that’s gotta be one hell of a stinker of a movie.
So, it was a banner day for the legal process here in the States. Our Supreme Court managed to tell everyone in the world that, in the most uncertain terms, they’re pretty sure that, maybe, file sharing is bad, unless you meet an “intent” test, after which you might be sued. Ernest Miller has a good round up and opinion. What the Court didn’t manage to do was draw the line from the famous Sony decision up through, say, 1990, so that computers can find a place in that ruling.
Further missing the point, the Court also handed down a mind-bogglingly stupid decision on line sharing for cable providers. You know, like DSL is forced to do. Oh, and if you think the Grokster decision was scary, this one will make you crap your pants. Brand X basically allows the FCC to control all internet protocols via cable by classifying any and all communications as either telecommunication service or information service. By classifying cable modems and the internet service they provide as an information service, the FCC retains control over any protocol used via cable modem. All. Of. Them. IM, email, http, ftp, gopher, telnet… they all now fall under the control and regulation of the FCC. Happy dreams.
In yet another ruling (non-tech related but just as ass-backwards as the rest), the Court legitimized all of our fears that the court system only works for those with the money to help themselves by stating that local law enforcement cannot be sued in Federal court for failing to protect people with restraining orders. This quote, from the NY Times, says it all: “Jessica Gonzales did not have a constitutional right to police enforcement of the court order against her husband, the court said in a 7-2 opinion.” Brilliant, that should make all the battered wives and threatened families feel much better. Why didn’t they just make restraining orders illegal and get it over with?
And just to round out the day by stepping on someone else, the Court refused to rule on whether reporters can use anonymous sources for stories. Judith Miller of the New York Times and Matthew Cooper of Time Magazine will face up to 18 months in prison for contempt of court charges stemming from a twisty path around WMDs, Iraq, and CIA operative. Robert Novak, who coughed up Valerie Plame as a CIA spook, walked.