YouTube Drops Radical Cleric Awlaki's Videos

"Popular video-sharing site YouTube has removed videos featuring calls to holy war by an Al Qaeda-linked Muslim cleric after pressure from British and U.S. officials.

YouTube spokeswoman Victoria Grand said the videos by Anwar al-Awlaki violated the site's guidelines prohibiting "incitement to commit violent acts," The New York Times reported Wednesday. 

American and British officials had been pressuring the Google-owned company to take down the videos, fearing that Awlaki's Internet preaching would radicalize Muslims."  See the rest HERE

 

You know, this really bugs me. I get that YouTube is a business and Google has the right to do what they want with it, what pisses me off though is that "American and British officials have been pressuring the Google-owned company to take down the videos". It's called free speech... sure the guy might not be a U.S. citizen or even in the U.S. but our founding fathers decided we as human beings, not Americans, had certain unalieable rights. Anwar al-Awlaki is a human being and has the right to those. It's not the government's business (I speak only for the U.S. Government, the Brits can do what they want) to dictate what videos can and can't go on YouTube (If you are ever in the U.K. try to find YouTube videos of firearms, you won't... their government won't allow it). This is blatant censorship and oppression. Period.

Online dating and real life

"Online dating is like reading the National Enquirer in a dentist's office, performing in community theater or watching six consecutive hours of "Antiques Roadshow": Tons of people have done it, but no one wants to talk about it.

People do it furtively, with sheepishness showing even on their profiles.("My most humbling experience: Trying online dating, of course.")" See the rest HERE

 

I don't see why people get so embarassed. It's no secret I've been a user of online-dating for 7 years and change now. When we live in a world where you see youre friends more on facebook or myspace, then what's so shameful about meeting your date online... I mean, you have no issue meeting them in some dark, smokey, seedy bar so what's the problem of meeting them online?

We've come along way since video-dating, and village matchmakers so if you are single and looking... get out there and check out online dating. Don't be afraid, don't be ashamed. If you have an internet presence and are single & looking you really need to give online dating a try. Of course, it's not a miracle service as yours truly is still single after 7 years of looking... but maybe you'll have a better time at it.

On the frontline of cyber warfare

"In the future, warfare may shift from a battlefield to a keyboard.

Superpowers might deem a nuclear exchange too destructive, but already they are developing Weapons of Mass Disruption; software viruses that are designed to cripple the operating systems of power stations, dams, traffic lights and public transport."  see the rest HERE

 

You see, cyberwarefare scares me more than conventional warfare. It's one thing to drop some bombs, or put some gun toting troops on the ground... but taking out a powerstation by corrupting it's software, you don't just hurt a military. You start killing the elderly, the sick, the young... anyone that requires that electricity to stay alive. The collateral damage that comes with taking out things like power plants via cyberwarfare to me is unacceptable.

Save 'Caprica' campaign will bombard Syfy with apples

I don't agree with the following article at all. Caprica should be renewed for a second season, even if it means going pay-per-episode, or moves to another network.

 

 

"Caprica is a family melodrama about robots, religion, big business, virtual reality, immigrant space-gangsters, and a sport called Pyramid that plays like Rugby crossed with Calvinball. For some reason, this did not resonate with the public at large, and the Battlestar Galactica spin-off/prequel was canceled last week. But fandom springs eternal, and the “Save Caprica” campaign has announced a plan to attack the Syfy offices with apples (a reference to the show’s original advertising). This is reminiscent to the famous “Peanuts” incident, when fans of Jericho bombarded CBS with peanuts. That campaign actually succeeded. Will the Caprica apples sway Syfy?  "

 

See the rest HERE

Boa constrictor mom gives 'virgin birth'

 

"A boa constrictor mother has given "virgin birth" to 22 female offspring, all of which have no father and are half-clones of their mother, according to new research.

The discovery adds boa constrictors to the list of animals that can give fatherless birth. The list so far includes other snakes, at least three species of sharks, the Komodo dragon and some other monitor lizards, certain termites, and more."



See the rest HERE

Pretty cool really. I think parthenogenesis is cool stuff.

Save 'Caprica' Movement Begins

 

"Fans plan to deliver apples to NBC in protest of Syfy's recent cancellation of the series. 

by Blair Marnell
Nov 03, 2010

Last week, Syfy canceled the "Battlestar Galactica" prequel "Caprica" after it failed to ignite on Tuesday nights. However, fans of the series are not ready to give up on it.

A fan named Rosemary Medrano has started a Save Caprica campaign that plans to deliver a large shipment of apples to Syfy's corporate office in response to the cancellation. According to Medrano, the apples were chosen because an apple was used in the initial advertising for 'Caprica' as an allegory to humanity's decent into sin from The Bible, which was a critical theme of the series."

See the rest of the article HERE

 

I"m helping in this movement myself. I really love this show and hate to see it off the air. I urge you all to head over to the various CAMPAIGNS and help us save this show. If you've never seen it before then I urge you to go buy the pilot and/or first episodes on DVD and watch! Also, if any Browncoats are out there reading this, we need your help saving this show!