In our world today -> The amazing Boing Boing
I am really starting to love boingboing.net. ^_^ I know I may have gone slightly over board on sharing the articles. My only request is that if you look at this at all, please at the very least, watch the very last video that links over to youtube. It may appear at first as though it is going on forever and your attention may waver. Stick with it. It really is worth watching. Then if you want to let me know what you think I'd really appreciate it. I'd love to discuss this with someone.
And now, our feature presentation...
Google founder regrets censoring China
Google founder Sergey Brin told an interviewer that censoring China's search-results at the behest of the totalitarian government in Beijing was a "net negative" for Google. Before this, Google's position on China was the a kind of Orwellian doublespeak: "We have to censor China because they have lots of money and we can't have any without participating in censorship" and "If we censor China but tell Chinese people when they're being censored, they'll clamor for democracy." (Um... yeah... What about if you just send uncensored web-results to China about democracy? Wouldn't that aid the cause of democracy more?)
Since moving into China, Google has been compared to Microsoft because of its dominant position and power. "We are very sensitive to people talking about us in that way," said Mr Brin. Mr Page described the differences between the two technology companies by saying "we have very open partnerships, we are very clear about being fair with revenues."
Link New mom, 67, lied about her age to clinic
Carmela Bousada, the 67-year-old woman who gave birth to twins in December, lied to the Los Angeles fertility clinic about her age. She said she was 55, the cut-off for woman who are allowed to receive fertility treatment. Bousada, a Spaniard, sold her home in Spain to raise 30,000 pounds ($60,000) to pay for the treatment in the United States. She chose donor eggs from a "pretty, brown-haired 18-year-old" and sperm from a blond, blue-eyed Italian American.
"I picked them from photos in a catalog. It was a bit like studying an estate agent's brochure and choosing a house," the paper quoted her as saying.
First she went through hormone therapy, which allowed her to have periods for the first time in 18 years. She became pregnant on the first attempt.
Link
Iguana's penis removed
Mozart, an iguana at the Aquatopia in Antwerp, Beligum, had his penis amputated. Apparently, he was suffering from a week-long erection that interfered with his mobility. From Metro News: Remedies from cold water to introducing female iguanas into his enclosure all failed and it was decided that an operation was the only solution to the problem...
A spokesman at the zoo, speaking with the casual, blasé manner of someone who hasn't just had their penis cut off, said: 'Male iguanas - including Mozart - have two penises, so this is unlikely to be a big problem for him.'
Link
Baby Meat facts pamphlet, and soylent infant snausages.
A couple of weeks ago, I started a personal experiment: go vegan, with a diet composed mostly of local produce and unprocessed whole foods. Partly out of curiosity, also to see what the health impact might be, and to explore what daily life is like when you're able to eliminate specific products produced by means you don't want to support. If it felt good (and it has), I'd planned to continue indefinitely.
Well, screw all that -- I should have read this first. PDF Link to "BABY: Eat Healthy, Live Healthy." A contemporary take on Swift's "Modest Proposal," or perhaps the work of this dude.
And it appears the babetarian foods movement already has a mantra: Link
Jewish porno can't use kosher symbol, says upset Rabbi
"Assraelis" (nsfw) producer Oren Cohen shot his adult film in Hebrew with an all-Israeli cast. He stuck the the Hebrew letter kof, with a “k” tucked inside, on the cover. Then came the rabbinic nastygram:
“As a leading company in the area of kosher food certification, companies are only contractually authorized to utilize the Kof-K trademark to promote and/or market their food products,” the letter said.
The symbol is the trademarked property of the Kof-K company, which is based in Teaneck, N.J., and certifies food like bread, juice and cookies as
abiding by kosher standards. Those who observe Jewish dietary laws consider any food lacking one of a handful of such symbols, known as
hechsherim, as treif, or unkosher.
Mr. Cohen, the son of a Moroccan Israeli and the third generation of his family involved in the pornography industry, was a bit perplexed. “I thought, what - they own a letter?” Mr. Cohen said in an interview.
They do. And they have for more than 30 years, said Rabbi Yehuda Rosenbaum, the administrative director of the company.
Link
(Jews are allowed to watch pron?!) Japan's health minister: Women are "birth-giving machines"
Japan's 71-year-old health minister Hakuo Yanagisawa gave a speech in which he called Japanese women "birth-giving machines" and called on them to "do their best per head." The number of women aged between 15 and 50 is fixed. Because the number of birth-giving machines and devices is fixed, all we can ask for is for them to do their best per head, although it may not be so appropriate to call them machines.
Link
(Damn. Japan is so screwed. er... yeah... They weren't wanting to have babies before, now they think calling them machines is going to help the situation? Maybe now they wont have children just to spite the guy.) Autistic person translates from her language
"In My Language" is a youtube video in which a non-verbal person with autism "speaks in her own language" -- a combination of sounds and visual cues and gestures -- and then explains what this all means by means of a text-to-speech program. It's a fascinating and compelling statement from someone who's given the problem of communication a lot of good thought.
The first part is in my "native language The first part is in my "native language," and then the second part provides a translation, or at least an explanation. This is not a look-at-the-autie gawking freakshow as much as it is a statement about what gets considered thought, intelligence, personhood, language, and communication, and what does not.
Link
And now, our feature presentation...
Google founder regrets censoring China
Google founder Sergey Brin told an interviewer that censoring China's search-results at the behest of the totalitarian government in Beijing was a "net negative" for Google. Before this, Google's position on China was the a kind of Orwellian doublespeak: "We have to censor China because they have lots of money and we can't have any without participating in censorship" and "If we censor China but tell Chinese people when they're being censored, they'll clamor for democracy." (Um... yeah... What about if you just send uncensored web-results to China about democracy? Wouldn't that aid the cause of democracy more?)
Since moving into China, Google has been compared to Microsoft because of its dominant position and power. "We are very sensitive to people talking about us in that way," said Mr Brin. Mr Page described the differences between the two technology companies by saying "we have very open partnerships, we are very clear about being fair with revenues."
Link New mom, 67, lied about her age to clinic
Carmela Bousada, the 67-year-old woman who gave birth to twins in December, lied to the Los Angeles fertility clinic about her age. She said she was 55, the cut-off for woman who are allowed to receive fertility treatment. Bousada, a Spaniard, sold her home in Spain to raise 30,000 pounds ($60,000) to pay for the treatment in the United States. She chose donor eggs from a "pretty, brown-haired 18-year-old" and sperm from a blond, blue-eyed Italian American.
"I picked them from photos in a catalog. It was a bit like studying an estate agent's brochure and choosing a house," the paper quoted her as saying.
First she went through hormone therapy, which allowed her to have periods for the first time in 18 years. She became pregnant on the first attempt.
Link
Iguana's penis removed
Mozart, an iguana at the Aquatopia in Antwerp, Beligum, had his penis amputated. Apparently, he was suffering from a week-long erection that interfered with his mobility. From Metro News: Remedies from cold water to introducing female iguanas into his enclosure all failed and it was decided that an operation was the only solution to the problem...
A spokesman at the zoo, speaking with the casual, blasé manner of someone who hasn't just had their penis cut off, said: 'Male iguanas - including Mozart - have two penises, so this is unlikely to be a big problem for him.'
Link
Baby Meat facts pamphlet, and soylent infant snausages.
A couple of weeks ago, I started a personal experiment: go vegan, with a diet composed mostly of local produce and unprocessed whole foods. Partly out of curiosity, also to see what the health impact might be, and to explore what daily life is like when you're able to eliminate specific products produced by means you don't want to support. If it felt good (and it has), I'd planned to continue indefinitely.
Well, screw all that -- I should have read this first. PDF Link to "BABY: Eat Healthy, Live Healthy." A contemporary take on Swift's "Modest Proposal," or perhaps the work of this dude.
And it appears the babetarian foods movement already has a mantra: Link
Jewish porno can't use kosher symbol, says upset Rabbi
"Assraelis" (nsfw) producer Oren Cohen shot his adult film in Hebrew with an all-Israeli cast. He stuck the the Hebrew letter kof, with a “k” tucked inside, on the cover. Then came the rabbinic nastygram:
“As a leading company in the area of kosher food certification, companies are only contractually authorized to utilize the Kof-K trademark to promote and/or market their food products,” the letter said.
The symbol is the trademarked property of the Kof-K company, which is based in Teaneck, N.J., and certifies food like bread, juice and cookies as
abiding by kosher standards. Those who observe Jewish dietary laws consider any food lacking one of a handful of such symbols, known as
hechsherim, as treif, or unkosher.
Mr. Cohen, the son of a Moroccan Israeli and the third generation of his family involved in the pornography industry, was a bit perplexed. “I thought, what - they own a letter?” Mr. Cohen said in an interview.
They do. And they have for more than 30 years, said Rabbi Yehuda Rosenbaum, the administrative director of the company.
Link
(Jews are allowed to watch pron?!) Japan's health minister: Women are "birth-giving machines"
Japan's 71-year-old health minister Hakuo Yanagisawa gave a speech in which he called Japanese women "birth-giving machines" and called on them to "do their best per head." The number of women aged between 15 and 50 is fixed. Because the number of birth-giving machines and devices is fixed, all we can ask for is for them to do their best per head, although it may not be so appropriate to call them machines.
Link
(Damn. Japan is so screwed. er... yeah... They weren't wanting to have babies before, now they think calling them machines is going to help the situation? Maybe now they wont have children just to spite the guy.) Autistic person translates from her language
"In My Language" is a youtube video in which a non-verbal person with autism "speaks in her own language" -- a combination of sounds and visual cues and gestures -- and then explains what this all means by means of a text-to-speech program. It's a fascinating and compelling statement from someone who's given the problem of communication a lot of good thought.
The first part is in my "native language The first part is in my "native language," and then the second part provides a translation, or at least an explanation. This is not a look-at-the-autie gawking freakshow as much as it is a statement about what gets considered thought, intelligence, personhood, language, and communication, and what does not.
Link