Playground photo
That's what this is . . . a photo taken on a playground. My own children are among those up there. I lay on my back on the pea gravel to take this.
Flickr the Censorer
Flickr is a private company. Therefore, it is free to censor photos and comments, which it apparently does with pride and gusto. Flickr is a private company, of course, so it is no subject to any legal argument regarding "free speech." At some point, however, after tens of millions of people adopt Flickr as their photo and comment community, it does seem to function like a government. But, again, Flickr is a private company and it can do what it wants. We have the same potential problem with many private entities that now control the flow of huge amounts of information (e.g., Google). It will be interesting to see how this situation evolves, especially to the extent that these private companies seek to distort the flow of information for private gain or for capricious exercise of power. It's not like it hasn't happened before--think of the mass media. But also consider the telecoms: one increasingly hot angle on this issue is net neutrality.
Bugs and their bites
I cleaned out lots of weeds growing in a corner of the yard five days ago, but now I'm paying the price. I've got lots of chigger bites on one of my arms, and do the EVER itch! While looking up recommended treatments--there's not much you can do other than wait and use hydrocortisone cream--I decided to find a photo of a chigger. I found a terrific photo, and much more. If you want to see some excellent photos showing what the most common and most dangerous bugs look like, along with photos of what their bites look like, visit this slideshow by WebMD. You'll see chiggers, mosquitos, brown recluse spiders, black widows, scabies, red ants and much more. It's called the "Bad Bugs Slideshow," which stirs in an unnecessary moral dimension to the topic! But, again, the photos are really well done. You might be interested even if you aren't currently covered with bug bites.
James (Amazing) Randi is still debunking and his $1M challenge fund is still safe
My local alternative weekly newspaper, The Riverfront Times, just published a detailed article on James "The Amazing" Randi, professional magician and debunker of claims of the paranormal. I learned a lot. Here's an excerpt:
Randi has debunked more than 100 psychics and faith healers in a quest to rid the world of hucksters. It also makes him the subject of scorn among purveyors of the paranormal, true believers who say Randi has made himself rich, pulling in nearly $200,000 a year from his foundation, at the expense of others' careers.
Now, however, Randi's work may be in jeopardy. His foundation has been hemorrhaging money, and Randi, who has spent his career challenging the notion of an afterlife, now faces his own mortality. He has intestinal cancer and may not have long to live. Randi has been a commanding presence for four decades, but it's unclear who could fill his role as the face of the skeptic community.
The spammers win one at the 9th Circuit
As I’ve indicated before, I would LOVE to sue the spammers who deluge this site with thousands of fake comments. I’m still researching whether that kind of suit would be possible under the law. Today, I was reminded of my own frustrations with spammers when I read a recent opinion by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, a case titled Gordon v. Virtumundo, Inc. L 2393433, 3 -4 (C.A.9 (C.A.9 (Wash.),2009), 2009 WL 2393433 In Gordon, a professional plaintiff tried to sue spammers based on the federal CAN-SPAM Act, which was enacted in 2004. The Court turned him down because A) he didn’t qualify as an Internet Access Service Provider, B) the Court did not consider him to be “adversely affected” by the statutory violations (the receipt of spam on his email accounts), and C) His state law claims failed because they were precluded by the Act's express preemption clause The "pro-marketing" forces, those who think that they should be allowed to trash my email accounts with special offers for penis enlargement techniques and a wide variety of drugs, are elated by this decision. Here is how the Court sees the overall legal landscape: