Monthly Archives: March 2007

British Sailors and Marines Seized by Iran

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Well this will be good for the stability of the Middle East.  With U.N. approval, British Navy personnel have been stopping and boarding ships in Iraqi waters to search for supplies being smuggled from Iran to the Iraqi insurgents.  Earlier today, shortly after stopping and searching a merchant ship, the British suddenly found themselves surrounded by Iranian naval vessels.  The British were detained and escorted into Iranian territorial waters.

Navy personnel captured at gunpoint (The Scotsman Evening News):
…A journalist on board the ship, Ian Pannell, said that they had just boarded a dhow, a traditional Arabian sailing vessel.

Mr Pannell said: “While they were on board, a number of Iranian boats approached the waters in which they were operating – the Royal Navy are insistent that they were operating in Iraqi waters and not Iranian waters – and essentially captured the Royal Navy and Royal Marine personnel at gunpoint.”…

Basically a large British naval vessel (in this case the HMS Cornwall) stops a passing ship, and then sends over teams of inspectors, in this case two small inflatable boats with a total of 15 British sailors and marines.  It's not clear but it sounds like the British may have completed the inspection when the Iranian vessels surrounded the two small inflatable boats and forced the sailors and marines to return with them to Iranian waters.  Details are sketchy at this point, and I haven't heard any news reports explaining why the Iranians captured the British, but presumably the claim will be that the British were in Iranian territorial waters.

Iran has been promising to respond to the capture of Iranian diplomats in Iraq, which has happened more than once.  The Iranian President has not been mincing words in his rhetoric–the holocaust was a myth, Israel should be wiped off the map, the US and Britain are enemies of Iran, etc.  Not surprising I suppose, our President hasn't had sunny things to say about them either… “axis of evil” and all that.

The last time Iran seized British Navy personnel the British men were held for 3 days, blindfolded, and displayed on Iranian television.  Considering how much more tense things are right now with the Iranians enriching uranium (and likely supporting the Iraqi insurgency), this was not exactly a bright move on their part.  All it does is strengthen the position of American and British hardliners who think a war with Iran is inevitable and necessary.

It looks like today is not going to be a good day.

Swimming in Raw Sueage

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Viacom Sues Google

You probably know that the media giant Viacom recently sued the internet giant Google over Viacom content which appears on YouTube.  People who watch big companies like these have been saying that as soon as YouTube got purchased, the lawsuits would come.  Mostly because YouTube didn't have a lot of money, so suing them for damages wouldn't net much.

Now that YouTube is owned by Google, there's money to be had, and so now a company isn't limited to seeking injunctions so their content can't be shown on YouTube, now they can seek damages–quite a bit of damages actually.  Viacom claims Google owes it 1 billion dollars, which is pretty hefty.

Google for its part has been trying to negotiate with Viacom, to work out some sort of deal where Viacom content can be shown on YouTube.  The lawsuit may just be another way that Viacom is choosing to negotiate, so it may never actually go to court.

Viacom seems less interested in allowing YouTube to show Viacom content, and more interested in having all of its content taken off YouTube.  The sticking point, from what I've heard, has been the filtering of any future Viacom content from YouTube.  In order to prevent any more Colbert or South Park or whatever from appearing on YouTube, people would need to actively view every posted video and delete content owned by Viacom (which is a pretty wide variety of stuff).

Google has basically said “when you want something taken down, just send us a list and we'll take it down.”  But that isn't good enough for Viacom, and they want Google to actively filter the material.  To which Google has indicated for that kind of service they would need some sort of compensation.  Of course Viacom is not going to pay Google to take down content which belongs to Viacom in the first place!

The complexity of such filtering, while perhaps not immediately appreciated by Viacom, is certainly appreciated now.  MoveOn.org and a number of other groups have sued Viacom for asking Google to remove videos which were not Viacom content, but parodies of Viacom content and therefore protected under fair use.  You see, it's not as simple as searching for “Colbert” and printing a list.  Duh.

All that aside, I think Viacom has a good case against Google.  The content really does belong to Viacom, and it is copyrighted.  The “we can't control what our users do” argument didn't work for Napster and I wouldn't expect it to work here, even though the content here is partial clips instead of entire songs.  The hope therefore is that Viacom will instead work out a deal with Google so that the case doesn't go to court.

In many ways it is good for a company to have clips of it's content appear on YouTube.  For example, I was never a big Family Guy watcher.  But after laughing my ass off to some clips on YouTube, I went out and bought the first season of Family Guy on DVD, and now I own seasons 1-4 on DVD.  The YouTube clips made the owners of Family Guy some money in my case.  It's really a form of free advertising, and some companies have embraced that.

Ultimately if the case goes to court, I expect Viacom will win, and YouTube will have to change dramatically.  I hope that doesn't happen.

Carol Burnett Sues “Family Guy” Creators

In one of the recent seasons of family guy there is an 18-second clip featuring Carol Burnett's famous cleaning-lady character mopping up the floor of a pornography shop.  Ms. Burnett has responded to this parody of her character by suing the creators of Family Guy for copyright infringement, and is seeking 2 million dollars in damages.

When I was a kid, I loved the Carol Burnett show.  I watched it all the time (even in reruns) with my family and laughed myself silly.  What I find odd is that many times the show included parodies of movies, TV shows, or novels.  So clearly, Ms. Burnett understands the use of parody, particularly in comedy.  One would think that to see her trademark character remembered after all these years would be flattering.

Guess not.

There's no way she is going to win.  It's obviously parody and is protected.  I can't see how she would not know this and so I'm assuming she just needs the money and is hoping for some sort of settlement.  It's depressing really, because I've always liked Carol Burnett.

Cool Guy

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So I've been taking my body temperature every half hour or so since Sunday, monitoring myself for any signs of fever, and I'll tell you something, if I show a temperature of 98.6?  I'm running hot.  I say this because my body temperature seems to be low all the time, usually between 97.4 and 97.9 but much lower when I first wake up.  Yesterday my waking temperature was 96.4, today it was 96.6.  If I have to move around a lot and exert myself, then my temperature slides up into the 98's, but that's the only time.  All the more evidence that when I show a fever of 99.9 using the same thermometers I've been using to measure all these 96's and 97's, it's probably a more serious than it might be for an average person.

No fevers yet by the way, just my normal low temperatures.

I guess I'm a cool guy after all.

Further Evidence That I Don't Know What The Heck I'm Doing

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Alright you bloggers out there.  I need help, and I can summarize the problem in five words: my categories are for shite.

What are Categories?

Feel free to skip this section if you already know what weblog categories are.  BlogHarbor, my provider, like other providers, supports the concept of categories.  Do not confuse categories with “keywords”.  Keywords are just that, key words that you can attach to an article for use by certain aggregators and search engines.  A way of telling such an entity that “this post is about Star Trek” without ever mentioning the words ”Star Trek” in the actual post.  Categories are different, they are organizational.

In some ways, visiting a categorized blog is like visiting a bookstore or a library.  Although all the articles are there to see, you can choose to only see articles grouped by subject matter, just as if you went to the “Horror” section in a bookstore to find the scary books, and then you went to the “Home Improvement” section to find a book about fixing your deck.  So it is here.

My categories appear over in the left sidebar under the word “Topics”.  For example, this article is in the “Blogging” category, which is a subcategory of the “Internet” category.  If you were to click the “Internet” link in the topics sidebar on the left, the list of displayed articles would change to show only the articles that have something to do with the internet.  The topics list would also change to reflect the fact that there are subcategories under “Internet”, of which one is “Blogging”.  If you were to click that category link, the topics list would disappear altogether, beause there are no subcategories under “Blogging” and the list of displayed articles would show only those in the “Blogging” category.  When you first come to the blog you are on a category called “Main Page”, and call categories are subcategories of “Main Page”.  So as you navigate through subcategories you will see a changing header at the top of the page that shows you what category you are in, and gives you links to get back to higher categories.  The header only appears once you enter a category.  So when you click “Internet” you will see “Main Page >> Internet” at the top of the page, just under the banner.  If you then click “Blogging” in the topics list, the header will change to “Main Page >> Internet >> Blogging”.  Each of the displayed category names are links, so you can get back to “Internet” or “Main Page” by clicking on those links.

On a blog, there's the added advantage that an article can be in multiple categories so that it appears in multiple places.  A news story about a stolen piece of artwork might appear in both the “Art” and “News” categories for example.  If I go hiking in the woods and come across a bunch of trash dumped by some jerk, I might post an article in the “Science / Nature” category and the “Personal / Pet Peeves” category.

Okay So What's Wrong with Unbecoming Levity's Categories?

My list of categories isn't planned like a library's or the yellow pages, but has grown organically and haphazardly.  As a result, some of the categories are in strange places.  Some articles are filed under categories that really aren't the best place for them.  Take “geocaching” for example.  Geocaching is internet-driven–learning about new caches, and reporting finds all takes place on the internet–that's why the “geocaching” category is a subcategory of “internet”.  But once you are geocaching you are out wandering in the wilderness somewhere… and as an outdoor activity, maybe it belongs in the “Nature” category which is under “Science”.  Or perhaps it should go in the “Entertainment” category because it is something you do for fun.  Ultimately the article I write might end up filed under all these categories.  It just all seems very confusing.

I suppose I shouldn't feel such angst over it… this ain't no library.  I write about whatever I feel like writing about, and not all of it is easily categorizable.  But I regularly find myself saying “this doesn't really fit into these categories… I need a new one”.  So then I create a new one, and then there is a desire to go back through Unbecoming Levity's growing list of articles (2,149 and counting) to check for other articles that should go into that category.  This is an expensive proposition, timewise, and I usually end up quitting before I get too far in.

Today's new category was “Justice System” and under that “Court Cases”, and yes, I went back and stuck old articles into that category.  I did this because I wanted to write an article about a couple lawsuits that have been in the news.  Instead I spent the time reorganizing old articles and then writing this whiny dreck.

So how do you organize your blog articles into categories?  Do you even bother?  Is there a better way for me to organize my blog?  I'll close with a hierarchical listing of my categories (which doesn't include my photo albums which is another organizational nightmare). 

  • Art
  • Civics, Ethics, & Behavior
    • Humanity
    • Inhumanity
  • Entertainment
    • Books
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Video Games
    • Magic: the Gathering
    • Celebrities
  • Humor
  • Internet
    • Blogging
    • Discussion Groups
    • Geocaching
    • Webworking
  • Justice System
    • Court Cases
  • Love, Joy, & Happiness
  • Media
  • News
    • FYI
    • Obituaries
  • Personal
    • Birthdays
    • Family
    • Pet Peeves
    • Vanessa
    • Writing
      • Poetry
      • Fiction
  • Photography
    • Photoshop
  • Politics
    • Abortion
    • China
    • Creationism & Intelligent Design
    • Elections
    • Gay Rights
    • Iraq
    • North Korea
  • Random
    • Cool
    • Cute
    • Gross
    • Weird
  • Religion & Spirituality
    • Atheism
  • Science
    • Anthropology
    • Astronomy
    • Health
    • Language and Etymology
    • Math
      • Economics
    • Nature
      • Climate Change
    • Technology
  • Sorrow

Equal Night

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8:07 PM EDT today, March 20, marks the Vernal Equinox and the official start of Spring 2007.  Today at that time the sun will pass over the equator from the southern hemisphere to the northern.   This is what you probably already know.

But I learned a couple of things today that I didn't know.  First is that “equinox” means “equal night”, which makes sense because on the equinoxes the length of day and night are exactly equal.  Here in the northern hemisphere the days will continue to get longer until the Summer Solstice at 12:06 PM EDT on June 21, 2007.  Since the last Autumnal Equinox we in the northern hemisphere have been getting less direct light than the southern hemisphere.  As of 8:07 we will officially begin receiving more direct light than the southern hemisphere.

The other thing I should have known is that, for the southern hemisphere, this time will mark the Autumnal Equinox.  I mean, I was aware that the seasons of the south are the reverse of the seasons of the north, winter here summer there, fall here spring there, but it just never occurred to me that the solstices and equinoxes were similarly flipped.  Silly that should never have occurred to me.

Oh, one other little thing I learned is that “solstice” means “sun stands still”.  Since the solstice marks when the sun stops moving north or south and reverses direction, that's a very sensible thing to call it.

Another interesting tidbit, apparently the great Sphinx of Egypt is oriented so that it exactly faces the sunrise on the morning of the Vernal Equinox.

I'm Gonna Be Rich, I Just Have to Send Money to Nigeria

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If I said that to like… um… anyone who cared about me, they'd probably fall all over themselves to warn me that I was falling for an extremely well known scam.  You get an e-mail from some nice person in Nigeria who says that he has millions in the bank, but he can't get at it due to government corruption and fees.  If you will help him pay the fees and bribes so that he can get the money out, he in turn will pay you back and give you a share of his fortune.  You transfer the money and Mbutu Ndunga disappears and never contacts you again, except to ask for more money.

It's sad when people (typically elderly people) fall for such a scam.  It's even sadder when they invest other people's money in these scams.  It's even sadder when they are a county treasurer that embezzles taxpayer money in an attempt to cash in on the big Nigerian payout that never comes.

Hard to believe a county treasurer, a person who handles money for a living, would fall for such a scam, particularly after being warned by a bank that what he was investing in is a commonly-known scam.

But that is exactly what happened to Thomas Katona, former County Treasurer for Alcona County, Michigan.  Katona definitely embezzled and invested at least $186,500 in this scam, but Alcona's yearly budget is $4 million, and an audit has revealed that the county has a shortage of $1.2 million.  Katona also apparently kicked $72,000 of his own money into this scam.  Guess it's going to be a public defender for Mr. Katona.  He has been arrested and charged with 8 counts of embezzlement, 1 count of attempted embezzlement, and 2 counts of forgery.

I heard the story mentioned on NPR today.  I'm amazed that it happened at all.  But then, I'm amazed this man was elected as a treasurer in the first place, as Salem News notes:

…Alcona County voters re-elected Katona twice even after he pleaded guilty in 1998 of defrauding clients of his private accounting practice…

References:

Here We Go Again

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Well today is the day we repeat the “no antibiotics” test.  I didn't take any avelox this morning.  Hope I don't get any fevers!  My side still hurts so there is still something going on in my lung, but maybe this time I'll be able to fight it off myself.

UPDATE 3/22/2007: I haven't had a pill since Sunday, and so far, no fevers!  I know it's still a little early, the doctor said it would normally take about 4 days for the fevers to return, but I am starting to hope they won't.  And then maybe I won't need surgery.  But my lung still hurts so something is going on in there.  I have another CAT scan this afternoon.  Hopefully that will show improvement.

Heralds of Spring

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A couple days ago, as I was coming out of the doctor's office, I finally caught on the air the scent that I knew was coming.  For me, Spring is heralded by a smell.  I can't really describe it… it's damp, a little pungent… it smells like the world thawing out and coming back to life.  For me it is typically the otherwise unnoticed boundary that marks the transition from Winter to Spring.  And, as with every joyful moment these days, I was immediately filled with a tremendous sadness that my Dad couldn't be there to enjoy it, that I couldn't phone him up or send him an e-mail about it.

This year I got the feel of Spring approaching even before detecting the scent of it.  We had some unseasonably warm days, lots of snowmelt, and the appearance of robins and other birds I associate with Spring.  A couple days prior to catching the scent I told my wife that I was depressed that Dad didn't get to see the coming of Spring this year.  She smiled and said “don't you remember the robins?”

She was right.  I had forgotten about that.  When I was laid up in bed with pneumonia, my Dad sent me the last e-mail I would ever receive from him, about something he knew I would enjoy.  I'm going to share it with you:

Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2007 11:59:16 EST
Subject: Hey

Hey Chuck,

How are you feeling? Hope your sickness is dissipating. Wanted to tell you about a strange (strange to me) event that took place here last Thursday. You know how robins show up in pairs usually, well we had a flock show up. I don't ever recall seeing such a thing. Grackles, yes, but not robins. Must have been 50 or more birds in the back yard. In fact our neighbor called to inform us. What they came for were the berries on the holly bushes. They just about cleaned them off. They are still, even today, coming by for more, but there's very little left and only a few birds at a time. The unfortunate aspect is the mess they left behind, it's every where. Have to watch where I step outside.

Pictures aren't great. Was hard to get them all without scaring them away, especially through the windows against the afternoon sun. I think I've seen just about every type bird I'm familiar with around these parts already.

Love you, Dad

In a way, these are my father's last words to me.  And upon reflection hearing him say he had seen all the spring birds already, gives me some small solace that Dad got to see this spring.  I can't tell you how much I miss him, and how much it hurts to be without him.  But at least he saw the birds he loved so much one more time before he passed away.  I've started my Spring 2007 photo album, and the first 3 pictures are Dad's robins… some of the photos he sent me when I was sick to help cheer me up.  Have a look, I thought they were pretty good pictures actually.