A Blog Rondo is a rare thing these days, as I seem to have trouble remembering all the gems that come through with the rest of the stuff in my RSS feeds. But, after spending an hour cleaning out my Google Reader starred items, this morning, I think I might be able to manage one of these things without too much effort on my part – a key determinant as to whether or not I’ll try something. So. Let’s Rondo.
- Hey, remember how I said that AIG was a shoo-in to take top honors in The Consumerist’s Worst Company In America contest? Nailed it. Well, me and about 600,000,000 other people – we nailed it.
- Did you know that little boys have tons of homosexual experiences that are so darn fun, that it makes them susceptible to recruitment? Well, if you are a member of the Maine state legislature you do, thanks to a helpful email from a colleague. Allegedly.
- More chilling warnings to parents, this time from the Baroness. No, not that Baroness, this one.
- Techdirt’s had a productive day. First up is a link to a Cory Doctorow piece that asks why there isn’t a fan-use exemption to the copyright law? As with many of these sorts of essays against strict copyright laws, there’s a lot of talk about how strict copyrights are financially hurting content-owners, which makes sense. Hit them where they live, right? Surely they’ll come around when they realize that they can make more money off their intellectual property if it was more useful to consumers; strict copyrights make content less useful. However, pragmatic as it seems, essays focused on media companies’ bottom lines often elide a couple of critical factors: big-ass multinational corporations don’t like change, and they don’t like uncertainty. They don’t want to throw their content to the mob, which would force them to experiment with business models that may or may not work, or might require inspired, creative tweaking. They want sure things, guaranteed number-one smash hits, and the same tight-fisted control over the right to sell the same thing a million times over. Eloquence aside, you’ll never convince the business that its wrong about rights-issues. The bankruptcies will do that. Or, they’ll legislate themselves into a gilded immortality.
- Another one from Techdirt: “Mathew Ingram points out that at a recent panel discussion the CEO of Sony Pictures, Michael Lynton, said: ‘I’m a guy who doesn’t see anything good having come from the internet. Period.’”
Not a fan of porn then, Mr. Ingram? No? Well, here’s part of a more serious response to the errant crap-train that apparently derailed and escaped from Ingram’s mouth; from Mike Masnick: “I recently wrote up something for Open Forum talking about how every threat is really an opportunity. A threat just means that someone else may have figured out how to serve your customers/community better. That should be seen as an opportunity for you to serve your community/customers better.” I love how copyright reformers keep giving rights-holders the benefit of the doubt by suggesting that those holders give one toot about serving their customers better. It’s so cute!
- From Slashdot comes a link to a pretty harrowing news story: A video has emerged of a lawyer Rodrigo Rosenberg accusing Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom of corruption, money laundering, and the murder of one Rodrigo Rosenberg. The video was taped some time before Rosenberg’s assassination, and was handed out by his family at his funeral. Expect to get sick of the phrase “beyond the grave” over the next week or two.
- Also from Slashdot: Cold-war KGB files are now available online. And, coming soon, science books. Who said nothing good has come from the Internet?
- Zulkey.com has an interview with William Lobdell, author of Losing My Religion: How I Lost My Faith Reporting on Religion in America-and Found Unexpected Peace. It’s fascinating reading. In fact, I’d heard a radio interview with Lobdell a while back that made me want to read his book, but I completely forgot about it until I saw this latest interview. Thank you Zulkey.com – who says nothing good has come from the – no, wait, I’ve done that one already. Good think I went back and checked! Who says bloggers don’t revise?
- A book about invented languages? Count me in! Well, I mean, if it’s any good. Oh, and the author wrote about the history of the Klingon language for Slate, recently. Hey, did you know that there’s a new Star Trek movie out?! How did I miss that?!!!?
- Lydia Kiesling at the Millions blog likes Neuromancer. We agree. And, um, have nothing to add.
- At the Guardian, Kathryn Hughes spotlights The Marvellous Hairy Girls, by Merry Wiesner-Hanks. It’s a book about the Gonzales sisters, three women afflicted with hypertrichosis universalis, a disease that causes abnormal hair-growth all over the human body. This book: Scientific interest or freak-show voyeurism, which? It sounds science-y, but I haven’t seen the word furry appear in text that often since I stopped reading Something Awful every day. (Oddly enough, my workplace blocks it, so I have to catch up with it on the weekends.)
Well, I certainly hope you enjoyed seeing all of these news stories again – I certainly did! Have a nice weekend.
