ABOUT CLICKED

The modern news consumer ignores Weblogs and online citizen journalism at his own peril. But not everyone has the time to keep track of what's going on the Web. With this blog we hope to track the highlights of what's being discussed online so when news breaks from the Web, we're ready.

Will Femia is a Weblog enthusiast who, through good fortune and dumb luck, was introduced to the form as his position as chat producer for MSNBC.com careered into obsolescence. On any given day, Will can be found having already spent an unhealthy amount of time squinting at a computer screen.

Send a message to Will at spotter@msnbc.com



My new boob tubes

Posted: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 7:16 PM by Will Femia
Filed Under:

NBC Says that P2P is Robbing Poor Corn Farmers - I don't actually have any contact with whatever department or lawyers are in charge of making this case so I don't have much to contribute to this report.  The argument is that if people weren't stealing movies online they'd be going to theaters and buying popcorn which would be helping corn farmers. Actually, I'm more likely to buy a bag of Smartfood to eat while I watch a movie on my computer than I am to buy movie theater popcorn that requires a bank loan to afford.

Speaking of which, after watching Sunday's Flight of the Conchords on my DVR last night I went to YouTube to call up their stage clips. On a whim I finally plugged my laptop's video and audio outputs into my new HDTV.  YouTube is not exactly a high definition experience but watching computer video on a big clear TV while sitting on the couch was a good time.  (P.S. I spent forever trying to find the Flight of the Conchords "Make sweet love" song only to finally figure out that it's by a group called Tripod. Are groovy singing comedy groups common in that part of the world?)

Speaking of watching at home, have you seen this site? I only poked around a little but I found a surprisingly few dead links. (And I didn't know Robert Englund was in V - The series.)

Meanwhile... "The median U.S. download speed now is 1.97 megabits per second — a fraction of the 61 megabits per second enjoyed by consumers in Japan, says the report released Monday. Other speedy countries include South Korea (median 45 megabits), France (17 megabits) and Canada (7 megabits)." Can you imagine how much downloading would be going on if we were 30 times faster? Not to be a conspiracy theorist but I bet someone in the content business has and they're not happy about it.

Speaking of being unhappy about downloading, Commuter Click: Record sales are tanking, and there's no hope in sight: How it all went wrong - this is the follow-up. I think the recording industry would be in trouble even if there was no illegal downloading.  Home recording, new social networks and means of distribution all mean bad things for musical middlemen.

Japanese sneak pitch

Shut up about the iPhone already - Too late.  It looks like Pogue's video review ruled the day. By the way, they started lining up for the iPhone yesterday.

Sort of related: Mac or PC rap

Roll the block. A nice puzzle with a limited number of levels so you have something to work toward.

I never heard of Grand Central and if Google is buying it I guess that doesn't matter but the idea of consolidating my numbers into a single number and never having to change them again has some real appeal.

90+ Online Photography Tools and Resources - A lot of them have duplicate functionality but this is still handy, especially if you're looking for free tools.

If ever there was a demonstration of just how boring prison is, it's this guy doodling all over himself. And it's also pretty funny that a white supremacist ends up tattooing himself blue to advertise his views.  Blue power?

The baby from the Nirvana album cover is 17.

This blogger has spotted the same guy showing up in a lot of Muslim protest photos. I guess he just makes a good angry face that photographers like. I wonder if news photographers take this kind of thing into account.  I remember a while ago when the ten commandments were being taken out of the court house down south and a bunch of Christians gathered to protest.  Their protest was totally peaceful and respectful and basically prayerful.  But of course there was one guy who was yelling and being generally insane and ranting.  So of course, all the cameras ran over to him.  Eventually the scene we saw was of other Christian protestors beseeching the crazy guy to calm down because he was casting the whole event in a bad light. I don't know how well this particular Muslim protestor represents the cause he's associating himself with but that's what comes to mind when I see the same guy showing up in all these photos.

Cocaine-addled driver destroys entire cornfield on run from police - It's the photo you want to see.

Moon over Manhattan - What did you think, it just floats around up there?

The paradox of choice is something I often wonder about when I hear Web forecasters talking about the demise of media giants. While there's a lot to appreciate in the diversity and opportunity of the Web, at some point do people just log off and go watch TV?  Will a "mainstream media" be a useful means of narrowing the choices?

Speaking of narrowing choices, How Web 2.0 really works versus how we think it works. Given some of the responses every time I mention "wisdom of the crowds" I'd say how it really works is exactly how a lot of people think it works.

Do you remember a few years back there was a mini-scandal when some high school kids visited the president wearing flip-flops?  Now high school kids are showing up at the White House and handing him a letter asking him to end torture.

Spinning Silhouette Optical Illusion - I broke my brain on this.

"Tetrachromat Females - The title is just a fancy way of saying that some women seem to have four colour receptors in their eyes rather than the usual three." Women seeing extra colors?  Plus last week I read about supertasters being able to taste more than the average human. Was X-men fiction or forecast?

Microsoft hired a former Google employee and asked him about what it's like to work at Google (and how to compete with Google for new hires).  The answers are much more interesting than the video tours I've seen of scooters and the giant white board.

Slide show: Inside China's Vast Factories - I don't know why, but I would have expected more mechanical automation.

Speaking of mechanical automation, Farms Fund Robots to Replace Migrant Fruit Pickers - Of course, if you think illegal immigrants are stealing jobs from Americans, this still isn't very good news.

Virginia Introduces $3550 Speeding Ticket - It's actually a weird mix of a huge ticket fine plus a mandatory tax and then other penalties to boot. The article slips in the point that traffic lawyers will see new business as more people fight huge tickets.  (Also interesting to note that this is a site about the politics of driving.  New one to me.)

This story has been on TV all day but it seems appropriate for us to check out here.  A guy was stuck on a plane that couldn't take off because of bad weather. He happens to run a video camera business and taped an interview with the pilots. This is an interesting side of the "shout it from the rooftops" theme I mentioned yesterday.  Versions of this story credit the videotaping and "citizen journalism" with drawing the attention of authorities and eventually getting the people off the plane. P.S. I love the part where the pilot is lecturing him on security with the cockpit doors wide open.  There's a certain national disaster that would have been completely avoided had pilots kept their cockpits secure and here's this guy acting like he sitting in his minivan.  Nice. **ADDING: There's been some objection to my implied blame of the 9/11 pilots.  See the comments for further discussion.

Speaking of keeping your video camera handy, I reckon if you looked hard enough at prehistoric cave paintings you'd find renderings of cops chasing skateboarders. Some things never change.

Map of Europe, Year 1000

Speaking of maps, Where On Earth Was Middle-earth?

"As the material is zapped at the appropriate wavelength, part of the hydrocarbons that make up the plastic and rubber in the material are broken down into diesel oil and combustible gas." I know the point is recycling but it sounds like it'd make a great evil genius ray gun.

Token Paris Hilton links:

  • The Learning Annex is going to pay her a million bucks to give a seminar on how to build your brand. I'd be interested to know how strategic she is about the stunts she pulls.  Not interested enough to pay money to hear her speak, but if someone bootlegs it I'd probably download it out of curiosity.
  • Given recent evidence I reckon watching her on video is better than reading her writing.

"These guys take 30,000 matchstick tops and drop them in a bucket. When they finally light them the explosion actually creates a small mushroom cloud over the bucket."

How to become invisible... Tricks of urban camouflage

Pearl the cursing baby retires after one last video with Will Farrell.

Top 10 Uses For Used Coffee Grounds - If you're going to ask someone to rub used coffee grounds and oil on their butt and thighs and wrap them in shrink wrap, you're going to need to offer more reassurance than "it just might work."

You may have seen that there's a video of a groundhog or somesuch rodent with one eyebrow raised that's been circulating online. I didn't think much of it but it appears to be catching on as the latest silly Web viral icon.  Some examples.

"The thing to understand at this point is the intention and concept behind current ops in Iraq: if you grasp this, you can tell for yourself how the operations are going, without relying on armchair pundits."

I haven't mentioned it much but folks online have been talking about Facebook the way they used to talk about Google (see the first half of this piece). The real kick came when they opened their platform to developers so that anyone could build a Facebook tool or widget. Lately I've been seeing discussion of what is being called The Facebook Problem.  What happens when you make an application for Facebook and it's wildly successful with tens or even hundreds of thousands of users?  “I have 250,000 users, now what?”  More discussion here - and lest you think this doesn't matter to you if you aren't a widget maker, keep in mind that as soon as these guys figure out how to make money from what they make they're going to be trying to get you to pay it.

The Washington Post series on Dick Cheney that you've no doubt been hearing about is here. It is long as heck, which is probably part of why it's making so much news. Here's some really amazing insight into that series. What a gift it would be to read the news with this kind of perspective.

And the Cheney series has sparked a new wave of activity from the 9/11 Truth folks.  I don't have much time for their open ended questions on the physics of building materials but they definitely do a thorough job of sifting through official accounts.

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Comments

You're absolutely right about the movies, Will.  Whether I watch them at home or at the theater, I buy my snacks at the grocery store.  Ridiculous theater vending prices caused me to start getting creative.  The only thing I've bought at the theater concession is a drink, and that's only because I couldn't think of a way to get one in successfully.

I don't feel bad for corn farmers, either.  Corn provides almost no nutrition to humans, and the use of corn syrup in just about everything we eat has been a major factor in Americans' health problems and poor diets.  I have a friend who's actually allergic to corn, and because it's so ubiquitous she has had a horrible time trying to avoid it.  Whether shopping to cook at home or trying to eat out, most of the options are off-limits for her.  And the incidence of corn allergy is growing.  Frankly, the farmers - who these days are mostly corporations anyway - should be growing crops that will actually do us some good to eat.

I had to say something about the blue white supremacist too.  I started out wanting to make a Smurf joke, but the fact that he inked himself calls to mind one of the funniest lines from the late, great "Arrested Development":   "I'm afraid I just blue myself."

LV (Sent Wednesday, June 27, 2007 10:04 PM)

re: matchstick bomb

BORRRRRIIINNNGGGGG

Alex, Lawrence, KS (Sent Wednesday, June 27, 2007 11:10 PM)

I can't say how grateful I am that we have such wonderful cops to save us from the evil teenage skateboarders. (Yes, that was sarcasm.) That kind of use of force on children was totally unwarranted and that policeman looked a complete fool. I hope that police department is suitably embarrassed and does some re-training. A well-trained officer could have handled that situation far more effectively.

A Haunold (Sent Thursday, June 28, 2007 2:17 AM)

Them those corn farmers are making a killin' with ethanol. It's the theater folks that might get hurt the
most, for which they richly(NPI)deserve.
Guess if i put dried coffee grounds between my sheets at
night, i'd wake up with perfect skin tone and a tan, flealess and little elvis might have grown.

See At Alls Best (Sent Thursday, June 28, 2007 6:45 AM)

When some ass makes a 3500 dollar speeding ticket for 15 miles over the speed limit, it gets close to the point of people not putting up with it will OFF the said politician.  This is disgusting, everyone might as well buy a Yugo.  Big 3 get out your mouse powered engines.  Next thing yiou know there will be a 3500 dollar ticket for farting.

bh, Detroit Mi (Sent Thursday, June 28, 2007 7:13 AM)

I can only see the silhouette spin in one direction... I blame the nipples for that.

Sean, NY (Sent Thursday, June 28, 2007 8:34 AM)

For more sites like tv-links.co.uk, go to ovguide.com. If you discover a show that has been on the air for a few months but you missed the first 12 episodes, this is a great way to catch up (I know you can read a recap of previous episodes, but if I wanted to read I would get a book). Some networks show previous episodes on their web site, which they show with some commercials. However, the choices are limited. If the networks included more shows, they would get a better idea of how many people watch. Apparently, they were surprised by the response to the cancellation of Jericho, which was on the network web-site, but that was not included in determining how many people watch the show.

Mary, Fort Myers, FL (Sent Thursday, June 28, 2007 8:51 AM)

LV, if you want to sneak in drinks to the movie theater, it's easy. Just tuck a couple of unopened cans of soda, juice, or whatever into your coat pocket. You can also do this with plastic drink bottles, although they take up more room. I usually have my hubby put the stuff in HIS coat pocket, since men's coats always seem to have those nifty inside pockets. He can put several cans of soda in his pockets (he's a big bulky guy anyway!) and no one has ever noticed. Of course, the coat trick only works when it's cold enough to wear a coat. But you could also tuck cans or bottles into a handbag.

JE, Detroit (Sent Thursday, June 28, 2007 9:03 AM)

"There's a certain national disaster that would have been completely avoided had pilots kept their cockpits secure..."

Will, I'm a loyal reader and will remain so in spite of this comment.  I even accept your overall point. Still -- how hard did you think about this comment before you posted it?  It reads like you believe the pilots are to blame for 9/11, that if they'd just kept the cockpit doors shut nothing would have happened.  Is there evidence that the doors were even open when those flights were hijacked?  I haven't seen any, and in at least one case (Flight 93) the timeline suggests that warnings about other hijackings in process were given in time to close the door.  It's much more likely that the doors simply weren't strong enough to withstand the assaults.

Pilots are not and have never been responsible for installing reinforced cockpit doors; airlines are.  The Air Line Pilots Association advocated better cockpit security before and after 9/11.  As a private pilot, I'm not ALPA's biggest fan, but it bothers me to see any pilots, especially those who died doing their jobs, take an unwarranted amount of hindsight criticism just because a couple of guys trying to keep delayed passengers happy made a questionable decision.

Dawn, Ohio (Sent Thursday, June 28, 2007 11:09 AM)

Yep. Robert Englund was the "friendly lizard" for the V Series. One of many great Sci-Fi Made for TV during that decade. The Martian Chronicles was really good as well.

Larry C, Memphis, TN (Sent Thursday, June 28, 2007 11:12 AM)

Will, please check out "John Lee, Supertaster" by They Might Be Giants.  Its my four-year-old's favorite song.  Its educational.

Chris, Stillwater. MN (Sent Thursday, June 28, 2007 11:29 AM)

$3500 speeding ticket? Amazing times we live in when they are brash enough to write the words right into the law. I guess Virgina should also apply for a grant to have the words "To serve and protect" removed from the sides of their patrol cars, and replace it with the truth - "To generate revenue"

Doug, Thankfully NOT in Virginia (Sent Thursday, June 28, 2007 12:00 PM)

Alex, yeah, for the work it must have taken to cut all those match heads they could have had a much bigger bang for much less effort. I included it mostly because the other day I linked to that story about the tennis ball full of match heads.  At least now we can imagine what that looks like when it goes off.

Will Femia (Sent Thursday, June 28, 2007 12:54 PM)

One night, as a break from finals, I started clipping all the matchstick heads I had into a mason jar.  Later in the evening I decided to light it.  As a (laughable) safety precaution I was wearing an oven mit and holding it out a window.

A blue-white flame lept up past my visual range, so I dropped it into the alley below and ran to a friend's room.  People were later talking in the dorm about the mysterious lightning.

Charles Few, Rockville, MD (Sent Thursday, June 28, 2007 1:09 PM)

Dawn, given your background I think you view the matter more specifically than I do.  I tend to think of the airline industry as one large greedy mass, so it's definitely not like I'm walking around wearing an "I blame Burlingame" t-shirt. I also recognize the argument that no one ever considered such an attack since hijackers usually just took planes to places and didn't take them over to crash them. And I recognize that pilots have to eat and pee so the doors would have to open at some point no matter what.

Having said all that, in my heart, and admittedly with no small amount of emotion attached, I look at an industry that leaves passengers on planes for hours, loses luggage, etc. and I can't avoid targeting them with "none of this would have happened if..." thoughts.

Regarding your question about whether the 9/11 cockpit doors were open, from what I understand, none of the 9/11 cockpit doors were broken through. The hijackers used the element of surprise on the pilots, so either the door was open, unlocked, or the hijackers were able to get the key, perhaps taken from a flight attendant.  

It's not clear to me whether the Flight 93 door was secured, even with the warning, but the hijackers themselves apparently put the door to use in keeping out the heroic passengers who sought to retake the cockpit, so if they broke down the door to get in in the first place, it wasn't so broken that it couldn't be used to stall the passengers' onslaught.

Will Femia (Sent Thursday, June 28, 2007 1:34 PM)

I took the 9/11 comment as an illustration that pilots often don't employ the one security measure they do control, not as an indictment of the pilots as the single cause of 9/11.  Of course there were many causes.  But if an airplane manufacturer designs a perfectly secure cockpit door and all the airlines buy planes with those doors, and the pilots don't keep them  it won't matter unless the pilots close them.  From my view, the 9/11 point would serve well as a reminder to the pilot who was giving the lecture that he must do his small part to safeguard security as well.

LV (Sent Thursday, June 28, 2007 2:30 PM)

"The baby from the Nirvana album cover is 17."   The baby from Grace Slick and Paul Kantner's "Sunfighter" album cover has been untrustable for 6 years (China Kantner; "Don't trust anyone over 30.")  I remember buying this album. Not with allowance, but with my own income. Shouldn't I be retired by now?

As for tetrachromats, it's not quite accurate to say they can see "extra" colors. More correctly, they have better color resolution -- they can tell the difference between more than the 3.5 million shades us poor trichromats can. And the reason pigeon's don't watch TV has nothing to do with their pentachromaticity. They don't watch it because they don't see motion unless they move their heads. That's why they, and many other birds, jerk their heads forward with each step they take on the ground. We also require our movement to see external movement, but our eyes wobble around in our heads to provide for this (saccadic eye movement). If our eyes muscles are paralyzed (research in this was done years ago using snake venom, forerunner to Botox) and our head held still, it only takes us about 30 seconds to go blind.

Dennis McClain-Furmanski, Dalworthington Gardens, TX (Sent Thursday, June 28, 2007 4:14 PM)

That cop should be given an award. Those "kids" shouldn't have been skateboarding on a downtown city sidewalk that was meant for pedestrians.

Bert, Waterloo, Ontario (Sent Thursday, June 28, 2007 4:20 PM)

$3500 ticket.......IT IS ABOUT TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Obviously, people feel entitled to travel over the speed limit, as clearly seen in the few comments above. Of course it is to generate revenue. There are SO many people in this state who simply drive as fast as they can regardless of the traffic or weather. These folks aren't going to change their habits until something forces them too, and a $90 speeding ticket won't cut it. When you are faced w/ a $3500 fine + taxes on your points, then you will give a 2nd thought to that extra minute you are getting by travelling so fast.
In the end, this new law is going to kill 2 birds w/ 1 stone: create revenue off the idots who just don't get it and continue to travel 15+ over the speed limit; and, give people good reason to slow the heck down.
The only part I don't like is how the lawyers will all be getting richer off this new law. I don't care that my state does, we need the money, but the lawyers don't.

I DO live in Virginia!!!!

C (Sent Thursday, June 28, 2007 4:46 PM)

Some facts about the skateboarding incident.  It occurred in Hot Springs, AR and I read about it in the local paper.  Seems 10-12 "kids" (some over 20), decided to participate in an act of civil disobedience.  Skateboarding is illegal on downtown sidewalks and the city has a skateboard park.  The skateboarders were trying to incite a reaction and they succeeded.  The officer first gave them a warning and told them to leave.  When they came back, they ran several elderly pedestrians into the street and knocked one old lady down.  The cop arrested one of the kids.  While taking him into custody, one of the other kids (a girl) jumped on his back and started hitting him in the head.  That part of the tape was edited out by the skateboarders who posted the video.  Almost everyone in town is supporting the police department on this one.

Steve, Arkansas (Sent Thursday, June 28, 2007 5:49 PM)

Love the cornfield shot.  This is what happens when you combine Lindsay Lohan/Nicole Richie/Mel Gibson and agriculture...they get busted for FUI (Farming Under the Influence).

Michael T, Hollywood, CA (Sent Thursday, June 28, 2007 6:28 PM)

About the cop vs. the skaters:  has anyone bothered to actually get the facts on this or is everyone just reacting to the youtube video?  If you jump on a cop when his  back is turned (as all the actual witnesses reported) because he tells you to stop skating in area that is clearly off limits to skateboards, I think he has the right to beat the living snot out of you...

Patrick, Greenville, SC (Sent Thursday, June 28, 2007 7:32 PM)

The great Carsoni predicts --- the new fine system in Virginia will generate a huge corruption problem.  The police will be getting solicited and unsolicited bribes and sexual favors.  Clerks, prosecutors, sheriffs and judges will be fixing tickets. It will be selectively applied to certain ethnic and economic groups. It will be used to "get", punish and take revenge.

Russell in Maryland (Sent Thursday, June 28, 2007 11:15 PM)

In response to the color-blindness article:

http://www.vischeck.com/

You can download an application that allows you to transform any image and see what a colorblind person would see.

Sam (Sent Friday, June 29, 2007 9:02 AM)

Why do you even give the 9/11 "Truth" folks one second of your time?  Everything they assert can be disproved by eyewitness accounts and science, and their ONLY argument in response is "You're a dupe for believing The Man."

Eric, Houston (Sent Friday, June 29, 2007 10:14 AM)

I still find it Ironic that to this day Will, you have continued to throw the 9/11 truth info out there but never support it, even talk down about it. confusing... anyway, funny on how nobody comments on the most important incident, in our time, being a mass murder where our VP OBVIOUSLY knew and let it happen. Thats what that link proves. no, will?
New Video for the ADD'ers out there
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6397669727183502193

Loyal reader since '05

vmass20 (Sent Friday, June 29, 2007 11:11 AM)

So, let's see now: one traffic screwup (and who hasn't gone a bit quickly at least once in their lives?) stays on your record for ten years and costs 3500 bucks?  And the law was sponsored by a traffic lawyer to boot?  Seems like a good reason to stay away from Virginia.  There are 49 other states in the Union.

Francois, California (Sent Friday, June 29, 2007 12:58 PM)

vmass, that's well observed. It's a reflection of the conflict I feel in trying to report Web trends without necessarily endorsing everything I link to. I don't buy into most of the 9/11 Truth stuff, but I have to recognize that it's out there, and I do think it's worth at least being aware of the arguments those groups are making.

Will Femia (Sent Friday, June 29, 2007 1:22 PM)

Sorry, Will, but now I'm confused.  If you just misstated or I'm reading something into your last post that isn't intended (my apologies if this is the case), but "I don't buy in to most of the 9/11 Truth stuff"?  Umm...would that be 20%?  30%? 49%? that you do buy into?  You left a door kind of wide open there given the subject matter and where you live.  Given that (supposedly) 45% of New Yokers buy into much of "the Truth", I'd like to believe otherwise, but it's hard to tell these days.  I mean for myself it would be 1%, but I know I'm a bit daft.  Again, I don't mean to jump on a little misstatement, and if you lived in some place like Kansas, I'd feel differently.  And I definitely agree that they shouldn't be ignored, but on the other hand, "the Truth" is as close to truth as creation "science" is to science.

KW (Sent Friday, June 29, 2007 3:44 PM)

BTW, just re-read your post.  Were you replying to "Eric" or was your response really intended for vmass, as you addressed it?  Perhaps that's the confusion...

KW (Sent Friday, June 29, 2007 3:48 PM)

Hey, is that TV-Links site legal? I'm not gonna get a knock on my door by the FBI for illegeal downloads, am I?

Paranoid in the NW (Sent Friday, June 29, 2007 5:18 PM)

Bloxorz is quite the game...check out this game...
http://www.fatbadgergames.com/
my son created it:)  Heather Schlessman

Heather Schlessman, La Grande, OR (Sent Friday, June 29, 2007 10:27 PM)

Don't know why you felt the need to post the TV Links URL, we can look forward to that being shut down now.

Will (Sent Saturday, June 30, 2007 3:47 AM)

Heather, nice job!

Will Femia (Sent Sunday, July 01, 2007 12:59 PM)

"Will," if "you" are shut down you should find a new host where what "you're" doing isn't illegal. It's been demonstrated a billion times, there's no such thing as "secret on the Web."  Furthermore, if it found its way to Clicked, the secret was already out. I review trends here.  I'm not a big news breaker.

Paranoid, I've never heard of someone getting a knock for watching streaming video.  In fact, even for downloading it's not really common.  The door knocks come to the big sharers - which is why "Will" is so upset. That said, I'm not going to be able to help you if you do get a knock, so only do what you're comfortable with.

Will Femia (Sent Sunday, July 01, 2007 1:06 PM)

KW, I'm not sure the source of our miscommunication and since I don't really know ALL of the 9/11 Truth material I probably couldn't assign a percentage to how much of it I believe. There are two things that make me generally dismissive of the 9/11 Truth arguments:  The first is that most of what I hear them argue is not fact but open-ended questions. They try to make it sound impossible for 9/11 to have happened but unless they're going to cook I-beams in jet fuel on video for me, "how could this be, how could that be" is not a convincing argument for me. The second reason I'm generally dismissive of 9/11 Truth arguments is that I was there and watched the second plane fly into Tower 2. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3080804/ So when they start talking about missiles, etc., I tune out.  I've also read the Popular Mechanics debunkings and find them more credible. http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military_law/1227842.html

I can't find the link but I once saw a thorough debunking of the Pentagon/missile theory in which they show how little substance there is to a plane in the first place and then point out the plane parts in a photo in which conspiracy theorists claim there are no plane parts.  If I find the link I'll add it in here.  ADDING: I think this may have been it: http://911research.wtc7.net/essays/pentagon/index.html 

I don't know if that answers your question. As to vmass's point about Cheney's role or Bush's role, I don't really think about it, mostly because almost nothing about it that could turn out to be true would surprise me.

Will Femia (Sent Sunday, July 01, 2007 1:21 PM)

Will, not only is 'getting a knock' for downloading uncommon, it's nonexistent. I have no idea why the media keeps talking about people getting into trouble for downloading when every single lawsuit was about distribution. I think the general idea is that they don't want to even try to sue for that out of fear they might lose and set a precedent. Of course I don't include you when I say media, I'm talking about the other media, the "evil" one.

Sean, NY (Sent Monday, July 02, 2007 12:09 AM)

Thanks Sean.  That's what I thought, but I wasn't sure if there was some random case I hadn't heard of so I left myself room with "not really common."

Will Femia (Sent Monday, July 02, 2007 11:08 AM)

Sean, I disagree - check out this news link - local for me - http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2007/06/05/tech-riaadropstanyaandersenlawsuit-20070605.html

The knock for her didn't come from the Feds, but from the RIAA. This woman was sued specifically for downloading music.

I made the above comment in jest - but it does happen.

Still a bit paranoid in the NW (Sent Monday, July 02, 2007 2:40 PM)

Since getting an LCD big screen TV for Christmas, I've been hooking up my laptop to watch Friday Night Lights and Medium at NBC.com. The quality is every bit as good as watching it on cable. (Which probably shouldn't be a surprise, but it was to me as well as most anyone I've talked to.) Disclosure: I have no affiliation with NBC at all.

Will, I think I was one of the first to get on you about your er...attention to the 9/11 Truthers. (At least in the comments) I don't like them and I don't like that you do that, BUT I do like you, I respect you, and I realize that you do not agree with everything you post. Part of the reason I come here is to find different points of view. And that means that occasionally I'm going to see some things I don't like.

Keep up the good work.

John (Sent Monday, July 02, 2007 4:31 PM)

That news story is exactly what I meant about media reports. Tanya Andersen was sued for distribution via the Kazaa p2p program, but the story repeatedly says downloading. Do a Google news search for her name to verify this.

Sean, NY (Sent Monday, July 02, 2007 4:41 PM)

Femia: I don't know why you think I am "so upset" about you posting the link, I was just pointing out that doing so is likely to hasten the site being shut down. I don't know that the media companies will tolerate such a site for long, even if it doesn't involve downloading.

And despite your insinuations to the contrary, I'm not a big sharer or distributor of copyrighted material.

Will (Sent Wednesday, July 04, 2007 11:15 PM)



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