I sat here and typed a whole story and when I went to post it blogger dropped the damn thing. AAARRRRGHHH! Well, I’m not redoing it tonight. You don’t even get the finger blogger…you get the su-fi:

You know, I think plagiarism is horrible, and it really irks me when I hear people talking about downloading papers off the internet. I work my butt off on the papers I write, and I resent people that just copy someone else’s work and pass it off as their own. That being said this little story struck me as particularly mean.

Here’s a synopsis of the story: A guy is on his computer and receives an IM. It is a student asking for his help on a paper (information in his profile led her to IM). He holds a degree in English and is offended that someone would plagiarize so blatantly. He resolves to seriously mess with the girl. And he does. Massively. Egregiously.

This is a link to a page that has all the blog entries detailing this little debacle. Start at the bottom of the page then work your way up, or just read this one then this one.

The guy actually writes the paper, and the idiot turns it in. His bogus paper (which is on the Hindu religion) contains lines such as:

“Your actions in each lifetime affect your karma, and if a Shudra watches dharma and greg, it will have a positive effect on his karma, perhaps elevating him into a class in which she will be allowed to study the Vedas and progress along its spiritual path.”

Non sequiturs such as: “I made a doody” are sprinkled throughout the paper.

I really don’t know why I find smoking dolls so damn funny.

The law that made this possible was personally approved by George Bush Jr. while he was the governor of Texas.*

I guess the whole situation is different when it has to do with your dad, and not about publicity, huh Tom?

*I hawked that article from the Dallas Morning News so you wouldn’t have to register with their stupid site. Click here if you don’t believe me, or you want to see it for yourself…The registrations is free…but kind of a pain in the ass.

For years we’ve heard about all the atrocities that have occurred in “Red” China. The People’s Daily English Edition has just published an article that exhaustively chronicles the atrocities that have occurred in the U.S. It’s interesting to see a view of our country through the eyes of a foreigner. The rhetorical strategy of demonizing every incident for maximum emotional effect seems misplaced when applied to the U.S.

For some reason that article reminded me of a piece in George Carlin’s new book When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops:
NOTHING CHANGES
Dear Political Activists,

All your chanting, marching, voting, picketing, boycotting and letter-writing will not change a thing; you will never right the wrongs of this world. The only thing your activity will accomplish is to make some of you feel better. Such activity makes powerless people feel useful, and provides them the illusion that they’re making a difference. But it doesn’t work. Nothing changes. The powerful keep the power. That’s why they’re called the powerful.

This is similar to people’s belief that love can overcome everything, that it has some special power. It doesn’t. except one on one. One on one, love is incredibly powerful. It is a beautiful thing. But if love had any power to change the world, it would have prevailed by now. Love can’t change the world. It’s nice. It’s pleasant. It’s better than hate. But it has no special power over things. It just feels good. Love yourself, find another person to love and feel good.

Love, George



And on that note,
Love, Mark

Tomorrow, March 29, the Supreme Court will hear MGM vs Grokster. The case will decide the fate of file-sharing services such as Gnutella, Kaaza, Morphues, et al.

Anyone who has any interest in the internet will no doubt know what a file-sharing system (P2P) is about, so I won’t waste any time explaining it.

I’ve been following this case for quite a while and I’m excited the Supreme Court will be hearing it.

One thing I didn’t know was that Mark Cuban (billionaire owner of Dallas Mavericks amongst other things) has been financially backing the legal team representing Grokster. From Mark’s blog:

“We are a digital company that is platform agnostic. Bits are bits. We dont care how they are distributed, just that they are. We want our content to get to the customer in the way the customer wants to receive it, when they want to receive it, at a price that is of value to them. Simple business.
[...]
Thats what happens if the RIAA is able to convince the Supreme Court of the USA that rather than the truth, which is , Software doesnt steal content, people steal content, they convince them that if it can impact the music business, it should be outlawed because somehow it will. It doesnt matter that the RIAA has been wrong about innovations and the perceived threat to their industry, EVERY SINGLE TIME. It just matters that they can spend more then everyone else on lawyers. Thats not the way it should be. ”

While I am quite aware that sharing copywritten material is illegal, the culpability should lie with the party sharing the material, and not with the technology the offending party uses to share said material. Stated another way, Xerox is not responsible when you copy 15 pages of a cookbook recipe that you want to share with your family. The act is copyright infringement, but the legal infraction rests on the person doing the copying, not the manufacturer of the copy machine.

What has to be weighed are the benefits of the technology against the legal infractions enabled by said technology. Of course, the legal team representing MGM will attempt to show that Grokser not only allowed illegal activity to occur on its network, it encouraged it.

Here is a transcript of the appeal that was held before the 9th circuit of appeals.

My favorite part (I know its mentioned in the intro to the transcript) is the section in which Judge Noonan admonishes the counsel for the plaintiff because of the inflammatory language he has been using in describing Grokster:

“Let me say what your problem is. You can use these harsh terms, but you are dealing with something new. And the question is, Does the statutory monopoly that Congress has given you reach out to that something new? And that’s a very debatable question. You don’t solve it by calling it theft. You have to show why this court should extend a statutory monopoly to cover the new thing. That’s your problem. ”

I know this has been a long, long, nerdy post. I thought it important, and I’ll probably post on it again, too.

Remember when all Amazon sold was books? Well, that day is long gone my friends.

WARNING: This link is extremely juvenile, sophomoric, and scatalogical. Click at your own risk, and don’t blame me…Amazon listed it. (I know you’ll click it, so don’t forget to read the user comments about the item. They’re the funniest part.)

I hope everyone had a good holiday weekend.

We celebrated Easter with my fiance’s family this year, and had a great time. I hope that everyone had a safe weekend and was able to spend some time with loved ones. We decided to do something fun this year and have an atypical Easter dinner. Baked Ham? Naaah. A casserole of some sort? Sissy nonsense. We had a crawfish boil. Here’s the aftermath:

We devoured thirty-seven pounds.

I hope a coupla vegans just passed out.

If you don’t watch The Daily Show…well you should. Here is Jon’s attack on the media’s feeding frenzy regarding the Schiavo trial. (Just click the play button on the media player in the middle of your screen)

My favorite quote from that segment? Pat Robertson saying, “Well I think the Rabbi is exactly right?” and then Jon’s reaction to it.

I threw up in my mouth a little bit after I saw this ebay auction.