It's Only Funny Because We Thought Of It First:

In response to the latest DRM flap, my friend Peter Cassidy remarked:

[T]he RIAA has a patent for placing DRM in ear canals. Apparently, they're going to present new parents with a demand leter at the birth of every child. Install the system, or pay the estimated value of all the music the child will steal in a lifetime. The congressmen from Disney will be considering the legislation for a moment or two before passing it unamended sometime this year.

Posted by mikki at 03:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ABA To President Bush: Watch What You're Watching (Denise Howell):

In a letter and recommendations of yesterday's date, the American Bar Associationurged* President Bush, among other things, to avoid "any future electronic surveillance inside the United States by any U.S. government agency for foreign intelligence purposes that does not comply with the provisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, 50 U.S.C. §§ 1801 et. seq. (FISA)," and "to seek appropriate new amendments or new legislation rather than acting without explicit statutory authorization[.]" The Electronic Frontier Foundation has a concise summary of how and why it believes the administration's domestic electronic surveillance actions have run afoul of "the Fourth Amendment, FISA, the Wiretap Act, [] most likely the Electronic Communications Privacy Act," and the executive power authority granted by the Constitution.

*PDFs available at that link.

[Update:] More from Ernie Svenson;

Posted by mikki at 08:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So why did the airplane crash in the field? The simple explanation is "gravity." But, of course, there is much more to it. The stark headline from WTOP said, "BOWIE, Md. - Two men are dead and a woman is critically injured after their small plane crashed nose first into a field at Freeway Airport Wednesday during heavy snow." Again, that doesn't tell the whole story.

Why do I care? I didn't know any of the people involved in the crash. I didn't see it. It didn't occur at my airport. I didn't have a dream foretelling it. But I am a pilot, and as a pilot I have been confronted with many decisions, any one of which can begin a failure chain which could result in a similar fatal accident killing everyone in the aircraft. That, and someone I knew attempted to make that airport in similar bad weather, also chose not to go to a larger alternate airport, and also died.

So what happened here? In simple terms, a pilot chose to leave an airport in Warrenton, VA in a snow storm with very low clouds, enroute to Freeway Airport, located near Bowie, Maryland. He had two people on board a Cessna 172, and flew northeast, into weather that was not forecast to be very good. The pilot chose Freeway because he had a passenger to pick up there, despite the fact that Freeway airport's runway is 2400 feet long by 40 feet wide, which is not wide enough to include the wings on most aircraft. It is obstructed on one side by power lines. On a good day, it is a challenging airport. On a day with very low visibility in instrument conditions, it is not an airport I would even consider.

Today's pilot decided to fly what is called a "non precision" approach to this airport. A non precision approach is one where you must use instruments to bring you into the vicinity of the airport, where you then descend to the minimum descent altitude, and look out the window to see if you can see the airport. If you do not, you are required to "miss the approach" which means you must climb as quickly as you can and then either go to another airport, or try the approach again.

When the pilot radioed his intention to shoot the approach and land at Freeway, the Chief Flight Instructor at the airport told the news crew that he radioed back that it would not be advisable to attempt to land, and that the pilot should divert to Baltimore Washington International (which had a precision approach which guides the airplane to the runway by use of both direction and altitude guides).

The news reported that the aircraft "missed" the first approach, then came around for a second one. During the second approach, the pilot, likely because he could not see the runway, powered up to either go around again, or go to another airport. Approximately 300 feet from the end of the runway, the wreckage was found nose down, tail pointed at approximately a 45 degree angle.

I see Doug, asking me if he can help me pull my airplane out. Smiling, so excited he was flying traffic reporters. He wanted my approval for his great new job. He almost skipped away, walking on air. It was later that the plane he was flying with a reporter on board crashed while trying to reach Freeway Airport as fog was closing in. I saw the coverage of the accident, the flowers at our home airport where he flew out of, and the sad people wondering why.

I examined that accident, went over and over what perhaps Doug was thinking, why he would choose that place to put down when in danger instead of going to BWI. "Why didn't he just divert? Why did he try this tiny airport? Why did he die and the reporter live? Why?"

If this pilot today had read the reports of Doug's accident in 1998, perhaps he would have diverted to Baltimore rather than trying to land at Freeway. Perhaps he and his front seat passenger would be alive today, although inconveniencing his friend who was waiting to be picked up. Perhaps the woman from the back of the aircraft would not be in ICU right now. Perhaps a lot of things are possible. Unfortunately we'll never know what might have been. I can only hope that the next pilot may read THIS accident report before duplicating this accident.

Posted by mikki at 03:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Republicans everywhere are running for cover since Dick Cheney found himself delusional, believing them all to be Quayles. After this weekend's bagging of a Pseudo Quayle attorney in Texas, Cheney escaped his Secret Service trained minders and made his way to the hospital to finish off his quarry, but was thwarted in his attempt by PETA activists bashing him about the head and shoulders with rubber chickens. "I have never seen such fowl carnage," one doctor was reported as saying.

The Secret Service remains mum, obviously embarrassed by their charge finding a way to escape their clutches, taking his shotgun and hiding in an undisclosed location called Mt. Canary. Thankfully, no Republicans, Quayles or otherwise, are reported to live in that location.

An emergency meeting of NRA firearms instructors unanimously voted Vice President Cheney as "Most Likely To Need Remedial Training." No word on whether that is because he shot his friend, or because he didn't aim well.

Posted by mikki at 02:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, yesterday we were buried in snow with much unhappiness. Power was out for about 10 hours. We got over a foot and 1/2 or so. Now, coming from the frozen tundra of NH, a foot and a 1/2 of snow is generally "no big deal." Well are these special "issues" in the VA area. Generally, when you weather conducive to snow, it is because the temperature is slightly below freezing. In later days, the temperature rises enough to melt the snow in the daytime, then freezes at night, making ice. Ice is a problem. Snow is not. You can see what our place looked like filled with snow at this handy link.

Any bits of snow forecast or real causes rushes on supermarkets by those chanting "bread, milk, toilet paper" which occurred all over the East Coast this time, because it was a real storm.

Schools are closed. We're "dug out." Our power is back. We are ok. Hope y'all are also ok. Hang in there.

Posted by mikki at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ok, the real situation is not funny, but this headline is utterly hilarious! Shades of sending UN peacekeepers to stop Terrance and Philip from farting at each other, Itchy and Scratchy from running over each other with bulldozers, and the Roadrunner from directing the Coyote off cliffs. Arrest them all, I tell you!

Bush urges end to cartoon violence:


President Bush today urged governments around the world to help end the deadly violence sparked by protests over publication of cartoons depicting the Islamic Prophet Mohammed. "I call upon the governments around the world to stop the violence, to be respectful, to protect property and protect the lives of innocent diplomats who are serving their countries overseas," Bush said.

Posted by mikki at 01:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Trekkie turns flat into Starship Voyager | The Register:


Obsessive Trekkie Tony Alleyne has spent so much cash turning his flat into a replica of the Star Trek Voyager that he's had to declare himself bankrupt.
Alleyne spent £12,000 converting his flat in Hinckley, Leicestershire, into a detailed replica of the Voyager spaceship. The flat has its own transporter room (not functioning), blue downlights (to give the illusion of being 'beamed up'), touch sensitive control screens, and portholes in place of windows. Last week he was declared bankrupt at Coventry Crown Court with debts of £166,000.

Posted by mikki at 12:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

iPod v. Broadcast Flag, or Innovation v. Government Mandates:


While the Senate Commerce Committee was considering the broadcast flag proposed by the Motion Picture Association
of America, and the audio flag proposed by the Recording Industry of America, Sen. John Sununu, R. NH remarked:

"The suggestion is that if we don't do this, it will stifle creativity. Well...we have now an unprecedented wave of creativity and product and content development...new business models, and new methodologies for distributing this content. The history of government mandates is that it always restricts innovation...why would we think that this one special time, we're going to impose a statutory government mandate on technology, and it will actually encourage innovation?"

History and Senator Stevens' iPod,
Danny O'Brien,
January 25, 2006,
EFF Deeplinks

But it took an older Senator to save the day.

Sen. Ted Stevens, R. Alaska, who had helped get the proceedings going by saying he was against piracy,
later asked whether the proposed broadcast flag would interfere with his use of the iPod
his daughter bought him for Christmas.
When he was informed that it would, the subcommittee found better things to do.

-jsq

Posted by mikki at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Interesting to find that someone who wished to squelch science isn't even a scientist. Not surprising, but interesting none the less.

From Slashdot

"George C. Deutsch, who tried to muzzle top NASA climate scientist James Hansen and ordered NASA web designers to add the word 'theory' to every mention of the Big Bang, has resigned. the New York Times reports that NASA declines to discuss the reasons for his resignation, but that it came the same day that Texas A&M University, from which Deutsch claimed on his resume to have graduated, revealed that he had attended the university but did not complete his degree."

The New York Times reports it today, but as of yesterday, it was the Times that had unquestioningly passed along the falsehood of Deutsch's graduation, and it was the blog Scientific Activist whose investigation revealed he'd left before graduating to work on the Bush reelection campaign. For more on the 24-year-old political appointee's interesting viewpoints, see World O'Crap on Monday,we covered the anger over his attempts to squelch science-- something that, sadly, Jim Hansen has gotten used to .

Posted by mikki at 12:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Seems that there is still at least one place on earth that hasn't been cleared, burned, plowed under, polluted, or otherwise destroyed by human greed. They found it in Indonesia, along with many "new" species of animal that we haven't seen before. Hopefully finding it will not mean that it will soon be plundered.

Story from CNN

Posted by mikki at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Now this is about the best ass action you can possibly get. I wonder if our friend Attorney General Gonzales will come after me for revealing this all important link to the whole world. The good news is that it's on a foreign website so that it can't be easily shut down due to shock and horror of the Administration.

Go to this all important ass link

Posted by mikki at 03:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Feb. 3, 2006 Contact: Valerie Collins (202) 588-7742 Paul Levy (202) 588-1000

Trademark Bill Would Severely Limit Speech of Artists, Small Business Owners, Others; Groups Urge Against Passage Judiciary Committee to Consider Trademark Dilution Revision Act Later This Month

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Several consumer, arts and public interest groups today jointly sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee condemning provisions in the Trademark Dilution Revision Act (H.R. 683) that weaken protections for individuals and small businesses that refer to companies by their trademarks. The groups - the American Library Association, Public Citizen, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Public Knowledge, Professional Photographers of America, the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators, and National Video Resources - also suggested minor changes to the bill that would maintain protection against big companies when people cite their trademarks. Consumers and artists are currently protected from being sued for trademark infringement by companies if the use of the trademark is for "fair use" - a use that must meet a complex legal test - for news reporting/commentary, or for non-commercial use, but the recently passed House version of H.R. 683 eliminates the current non-commercial protection that the public receives. For instance, when Don McLean sang about driving his Chevy to the levee and finding the levee dry, the songwriter could have been sued for trademark dilution under the current language of the bill. Or when Walter Mondale criticized Gary Hart during the 1984 primaries by using Wendy's slogan, "Where's the beef," the remarks could be considered a trademark violation under the bill as passed by the House. According to the groups, this measure would severely limit small business owners, artists, photographers, illustrators and consumers from mentioning or using references to companies' trademarks. The result would force individuals who are being sued by companies to use a defense that is more difficult to prove. "Unfortunately, some trademark owners are not content with using trademarks to inform consumers of their sponsorship, but would like to expand the trademark laws to interfere with robust commentary," the letter from the groups said. To read the letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee, visit .

Paul Alan Levy
Public Citizen Litigation Group
1600 - 20th Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20009
(202) 588-1000
http://www.citizen.org/litigation

Posted by mikki at 11:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is highly disturbing. If it is actually true that these illegal wiretaps have revealed very little from these supposed "known terrorists" then it is no wonder that the Administration wouldn't even go through the virtual rubber stamp of the FISA court. Even in THAT court you must show a teeny tiny smidgeon of evidence before the warrant is granted, and if Homeland Security can't even reach THAT tiny standard it's no wonder their illegal doings haven't yielded anything of use.

The "only tapping phones when US Citizens are speaking to known terrorists" is also quite problematic if you consider that Homeland Security found a kooky vegan picketing a ham shop enough to warrant a full investigation, we can only imagine what their criteria for "known terrorists" is.

Secret laws, secret lists, secret surveillance, secret trials, secret evidence, secret regulations, etc. When is this going to stop? Not until someone with power and money is caught in this secret net? Ok, one won't count because most people might not notice, maybe it will take a few hundred.

Surveillance Net Yields Few Suspects:


Intelligence officers who eavesdropped on thousands of Americans in overseas calls under authority from President Bush have dismissed nearly all of them as potential suspects after hearing nothing pertinent to a terrorist threat, according to accounts from current and former government officials and private-sector sources with knowledge of the technologies in use.

Posted by mikki at 05:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

How badly has the Bush Administration foiled its own plans for stopping terrorism by breaking the law? How many potential REAL terrorists will be released because the government couldn't be bothered to go to the FISA court either before or after the fact to get a warrant? And how many regular Americans were listened in on? Problem is, we'll never know because it's all "classified."

U.S. man charged in bridge destruction plot seeks to throw out case based on illegal government spying:


(AP) - COLUMBUS, Ohio-A lawyer for an Ohio trucker who pleaded guilty to plotting to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge has prepared a motion asking a federal judge to throw out the case on the grounds that the government illegally spied on him.

Posted by mikki at 01:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Congress Extends PATRIOT Act For Another Five Weeks:


Having failed to reach a deal on PATRIOT Act reform in January, the House and Senate voted to extend the sixteen expiring provisions of the Act for another five weeks, giving civil liberties advocates an additional opportunity to push for reforms. CDT has repeatedly called on Congress to include the common sense privacy and civil liberties protections passed unanimously by the Senate in the final version of the PATRIOT Act extension.

Posted by mikki at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yes, definitely... those ham picketing vegans are just SO dangerous. Why aren't they catching us some uh... terrorists? Maybe criminals? Even a jaywalker or two?

Boing Boing: Department of Homeland Security: ever-vigilant against vegan menace:


Department of Homeland Security: ever-vigilant against vegan menace
A vegan who picketed a ham store was surveilled by a Homeland Security spook, who arrested her for taking down his license-plate number. Tax-dollars well-spent. Nation well-defended. Once every person with a nonstandard dietary preference has been imprisoned, I'm sure we'll be able to leave our shoes on in the airport again.
An undercover DeKalb County Homeland Security detective was assigned to conduct surveillance of the protest and the protestors, and take the photographs. The detective arrested Childs and another protester after he saw Childs approach him and write down, on a piece of paper, the license plate number of his unmarked government car.
"They told me if I didn't give over the piece of paper I would go to jail and I refused and I went to jail, and the piece of paper was taken away from me at the jail and the officer who transferred me said that was why I was arrested," Childs said on Wednesday...

"We believe that spying on American citizens for no good reason is fundamentally un-American, that it's not the place of the goverment or the best use of resources to spy on its own citizens and we want it to stop. We want the spies in our government to pack their bags, close up their notebooks, take their cameras home and not engage in the spying anymore," Gerald Weber of the ACLU of Georgia said during a news conference.

Posted by mikki at 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Why do these guys remind me of Beavis and Butthead?

Morons in the News: RIAA Sues Woman Who Has No Computer:


Who or what are they going to sue next? Perhaps they'd like to
sue my toaster or my cat...

Suing the wrong person isn't a new thing for the RIAA. In 2003
they sued a 66-year-old sculptor with a Macintosh computer for
supposedly sharing Trick Daddy's "I'm a Thug" with Kazaa (which
at the time of that writing only ran on PC's with Windows)....

Posted by mikki at 12:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

EFF Sues AT&T to Stop Illegal Surveillance:

Telecom Collaborated with NSA to Spy on Customers

San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed a class-action lawsuit against AT&T Tuesday, accusing the telecom giant of violating the law and the privacy of its customers by collaborating with the National Security Agency (NSA) in its massive and illegal program to wiretap and data-mine Americans' communications.

The NSA program came to light in December, when the New York Times reported that the president had authorized the agency to intercept telephone and Internet communications inside the United States without the authorization of any court. Over the ensuing weeks, it became clear that the NSA program has been intercepting and analyzing millions of Americans' communications, with the help of the country's largest phone and Internet companies.

Reporting has also indicated that those same companies—and AT&T specifically—have given the NSA direct access to their vast databases of communications records, including information about whom their customers have phoned or emailed with in the past. And yet little has been accomplished by this illegal spying: recent reports have shown that the data from this wholesale surveillance has done little more than waste FBI resources on dead leads.

"The NSA program is apparently the biggest fishing expedition ever devised, scanning millions of ordinary Americans' phone calls and emails for 'suspicious' patterns, and it's the collaboration of US telecom companies like AT&T that makes it possible," said EFF Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston. "When the government defends spying on Americans by saying, 'If you're talking to terrorists we want to know about it,' that's not even close to the whole story."

In the lawsuit, EFF alleges that AT&T, in addition to allowing the NSA direct access to the phone and Internet communications passing over its network, has given the government unfettered access to its over 300 terabyte "Daytona" database of caller information—one of the largest databases in the world.

"AT&T's customers reasonably expect that their communications are private and have long trusted AT&T to follow the law and protect that privacy. Unfortunately, AT&T has betrayed that trust," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Lee Tien. "At the NSA's request, AT&T eviscerated the legal safeguards required by Congress and the courts with a keystroke."

By opening its network and databases to unrestricted spying by the government, EFF alleges that AT&T has violated the privacy of AT&T customers and the people they call and email, as well as broken longstanding communications privacy laws.

While other organizations are suing the government directly, EFF is seeking to protect Americans' privacy by stopping the collaboration of AT&T with the illegal NSA spying program and making it economically impossible for AT&T to continue to give its customers' information to the government.

"Congress has set up strong laws protecting the privacy of your communications, strictly limiting when telephone and Internet companies can subject your phone calls to government scrutiny," said EFF Staff Attorney Kurt Opsahl. "The companies that have betrayed their customers' trust by illegally handing the NSA direct access to their networks and databases must be brought to account. AT&T needs to put a sign on its door that reads, 'Come Back With a Warrant.'"

In the suit filed Tuesday, EFF is representing the class of all AT&T customers nationwide. EFF is seeking an injunction to stop AT&T participation in the illegal NSA program, as well as billions of dollars in damages for violation of federal privacy laws. Working with EFF in the lawsuit are the law firms Traber & Voorhees, and Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP.

For the full complaint:
http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/att/att-complaint.pdf

For more on EFF's suit:
http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/att/

Contact:

Rebecca Jeschke
Media Coordinator
Electronic Frontier Foundation
rebecca@eff.org

Posted by mikki at 12:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Footnote 3:

Take a look at Footnote 3 in Gillmore
vs Gonzales.

Apparently a three judge panel of the 9th circuit accepts, and accepts
without even a hint of protest, the proposition that the US is now a nation in
which citizens can be compelled to abide by secret laws.

Apparently the US Congress gave an Undersecretary (an under
secretary, not even the full Secretary!) of the Department of
"Homeland" Security the power to declare certain limited class of
"information" to be "sensitive security information" or
"SSI".

OK, I'll accept the premise that "information" like the deployment
of security checkpoints, the sensitivity of monitoring devices, or the energy
yield of a bar of marshmallows, chocolate, and Rice Krispies might be
appropriate to be kept locked away in some ugly Steelcase file cabinet
underneath Pennsylvania Avenue.

But some weenie in the Dep't of 'Homeland" Security shredded the law so badly that the regulations that purport to merely restate and clarify that law end up saying that pretty much any "program" or "plan" can be labeled as SSI, including, apparently, programs and plans that amount to secret constraints on what a citizen may or may not do and on how he or she may do it.  Talk about the old cliché of giving an inch and taking a mile!

To top it off, the court (in the main text leading to footnote 3) tells us that these secret laws change weekly, are not even written down, and vary from place to place!

We have a president who stomps around the countryside bewailing the tendency of courts to act as legislatures.  Well, here we have a situation in which one of his own administrative agencies has undertaken to stretch the plain words of a statute beyond the breaking point and along the way creating, in our Land of the Free, a system of secret laws.  One can only wonder whether the secret laws also came with a secret police.

My government has raised hypocrisy to a new level. On one hand it illegally spies on us, the citizens, demands that we present "our papers" when we fly (and, I hear, also when we use a bus, or take a train), and has required, via its ICANN, that those who engage in activity on the internet abandon all hope of privacy.

My government now sticks its nose into the affairs of citizens as a dog sticks its nose into a crotch - without permission, without reservation, and without shame.

And the same government that is dismantling the right of the people to be secure against unreasonable government intrusion into their homes and papers has the audacity to say that it can rewrite an act of Congress to create a system of secret laws that Citizens can not know but must abide else suffer consequences.

Kafka lives - in the Department of Homeland Security.  And real conservatives, like Barry Goldwater, must be spinning at in their graves at this new DC regime that presses for not merely unlimited government, but government that is done in secret so that the citizens and voters can not learn what is being done in their names.

The death of the American Way will not come at the hands of a foreigner, it will come from the paranoia of our own government and the apathy of voters.  The 2006 mid-term Congressional elections will occur this fall.  We may not be able to change the executive of the United States until 2008, but we certainly can kick-out those in Congress who are fellow travelers in the executive's endeavor to destroy our nation's principles and integrity.

Posted by mikki at 12:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NTP = No Tenable Patents:


Research in Motion executives are grinning into their coffee mugs this morning now that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has rejected the last of five patents central to the ongoing legal spat between RIM and NTP. In a statement,...

Posted by mikki at 12:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

CNN.com - Women sue Wal-Mart over contraception - Feb 1, 2006:


BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) -- Three Massachusetts women backed by pro-abortion rights groups sued Wal-Mart on Wednesday, saying the retail giant violated state law by failing to stock emergency contraception pills in its pharmacies.

The suit filed in Suffolk Superior Court seeks a court order compelling the company to stock the so-called "morning after pill," in its 48 Massachusetts pharmacies.

"Wal-Mart apparently thinks it is above the law," said Sam Perkins, a lawyer for the three plaintiffs.

A new state law that took effect late last year following heated debate among lawmakers requires all hospitals to provide the morning-after pill to rape victims. It also allows pharmacists to dispense the pill without a prescription, but does not require it.

The lawsuit, backed by abortion rights groups Planned Parenthood of Massachusetts, NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts and Jane Doe Inc., argues Wal-Mart is violating a state policy that requires pharmacies to provide all "commonly prescribed medicines." They are suing to force compliance with the regulation through the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act.

Posted by mikki at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Besides the novel and absolutely brilliant idea that turning the volume lower is better for your hearing, there is another iPod issue brewing in our nation's schools and colleges. Those evil iPods are being used to cheat on tests. I used to think that my law school was being totally paranoid when they made us take our typewriters to the technical department to be cleared as not having hidden memory or other functions to cheat on exams with. However, apparently my daughter's high school found that students were using their iPods to cheat by recording answers and then uploading them to the iPods. Students WERE allowed to use their iPods to block out distractions. Not anymore. A notice was sent home to parents telling us that the kids could no longer use iPods in class.

I have to wonder...if these students put as much effort into studying as they put into cheating, perhaps they wouldn't have to cheat....

Posted by mikki at 10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A very important doctrine that I try to follow as best I can is called the "Ethic of Self-Responsibility." That ethic basically states that, for example, if there's something YOU can do to protect yourself from physical, emotional, or psychological damage, do it! Don't expect someone else to do it for you.

So it is with true annoyance that I read this bit about some dumbass, who HIMSELF has not suffered ANY hearing loss, has filed a class action suit because iPods might cause hearing damage.

Ya know...I am well aware that some people in the United States expect that everyone but themselves has the responsibility to keep them from harm. But let's be real here...if you use that little VOLUME CONTROL device, you will be safe.



How many more "warning labels" do we need now? "Danger - driving a car may result in an accident." "Danger - filing too many lawsuits makes the whole legal system useless." "Danger - going outside without your coat and mittens may cause a cold." Let's get OVER ourselves already.

Apple faces suit over iPod-related hearing loss:


A Louisiana man is suing the Mac maker, saying the iPod music player can cause irreparable hearing loss.


A Louisiana man has filed a class action suit against Apple Computer, saying the computer maker has failed to take adequate steps to prevent hearing loss among iPod users.


The suit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif., charges that the iPod music player can produce sounds of up to 115 decibels even though some studies suggest that listening to music at that level for 28 seconds a day can cause damage over time. The suit, filed on behalf of John Kiel Patterson and all other iPod buyers, seeks monetary damages to compensate for the hearing loss suffered by iPod users, as well as a share of Apple's iPod profits.

Posted by mikki at 05:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A reasonable result in an unreasonable request.
----------
Tuesday, January 31, 2006

FBI Agents Back Down When Librarian Refuses to Let Them Seize 30 Computers Without a Warrant

By ANDREA L. FOSTER

An e-mail threat that prompted the evacuation of more than a dozen Brandeis University buildings on January 18 led to an unusual standoff in a public library in Newton, Mass., a few miles from the Brandeis campus.

Federal Bureau of Investigation agents tried to seize 30 of the library's computers without a warrant, saying someone had used the library's Internet connection to send the threat to Brandeis. But the library director, Kathy Glick-Weil, told the agents they could not take the machines unless they got a warrant first. Newton's mayor, David Cohen, backed Ms. Glick-Weil up.

After a brief standoff, FBI officials relented and sought a warrant from a judge. Meanwhile, Ms. Glick-Weil allowed an FBI computer-forensics examiner to work with information-technology specialists at the library to narrow down which computers might have been used to send the threatening message. They determined that three computers were implicated in the alleged crime.

Late that evening, the FBI received a warrant to cart away the three computers. According to Mayor Cohen, the warrant allows the FBI to view only the threatening e-mail message and the messages sent immediately before and after that message.

Mr. Cohen said in an interview on Monday that he and Ms. Glick-Weil demanded the warrant because the FBI agents did not indicate that anyone at Brandeis faced a "clear and present danger." If there had been such a danger, Mr. Cohen added, agents probably would have seized the computers without even asking for them.

"We were able to both protect public safety and also protect the rights of people, the sense of privacy of many...

Posted by mikki at 02:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Comment: King George | The Progressive:


There comes a time when the nakedness of the emperor can no longer be denied. Such a time is now.

George Bush’s policy of eavesdropping on U.S. citizens without a warrant proves he has placed himself above the law. Add this to the long list of other impeachable offenses—lying the country into war, torturing prisoners, exporting detainees for torture, paying columnists to propagandize the American public—that George W. Bush has committed, and put it at the top.
The President swears an oath of office that he will uphold the Constitution and faithfully execute the laws of the land.

But he has been brazenly flouting the law that prohibits domestic spying without a warrant.

“When The New York Times revealed on December 16 (after sitting on the story for a year and then omitting details at the request of Administration officials!) that Bush ordered the National Security Agency to monitor “the international telephone calls and international e-mail messages of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people inside the United States without warrants over the past three years,” I expected Bush to deny it or to say he was going to review the policy. Instead, he has been vehemently defending that policy, citing both his authority under the Constitution as commander in chief and Congress’s authorization to go after Al Qaeda.

Posted by mikki at 10:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)