Misanthropic [chat]

All is be misanthropic.

Christmas, O'Reilly, History

O'Reilly declared "victory" in the War on Christmas

Unfortunately, Christmas itself may not be very Christian.

I can't think of an appropriate metaphor.

Bill Moyers: Olbermann

The Bill Moyers interview with Olbermann

Watch it!

16 minutes into it he addresses the, well, "Aren't you just the anti-Bill-O?" question.

"Well, they're better written. The first-- no, I hate to-- I-- it's the most vulnerable point because it bothers me, too. It do-- it's the one criticism that I think is absolutely fair. We're doing the same thing. It is-- it becomes a nation of screechers. It's never a good thing. But emergency rules do apply. I would like nothing better than to go back and do maybe a sportscast every night. But I think the stuff that I'm talking about is so obvious and will be viewed in such terms of certainty by history that this era will be looked at the way we look now at the-- at the presidents and the-- the leaders of this country who rolled back reconstruction. I think it's that obvious. And I think only under those circumstances would I go this far out on a limb and be this vociferous about it."

Calendar.

World of Warcraft "Gear a Day" desk calendar

I think this is a wonderful idea.

(If you get a 404 error just follow the link again.)

Drenched in Dumb.

Warsaw is still not showing Golden Compass for reasons unknown. This morning I voiced my frustration and was inundated by a torrent of dumb which drown me in reminders of why I hate this town:

"Is it not coming to town because of the religious messages?"
"Aren't those books about killing god?"
"How can you kill something which is eternal?"
"You can't see that movie! The author of the books is an atheist!"
"I don't want to see it because if I go I'll want to read the books and they are about killing god."
"This movie is just like those anti-American war movies. We can't support it."

As is the case with a deluge there was no structure. Rather, these comments burst forth as if I had smashed the spigot or decimated the dam of accepted social silence which on most days keeps these thoughts happily contained in their reservoirs of idiocy.

I seem to have a water theme going today.

These critiques were not even assessments of the film itself. Rather, their understanding of the film, gleaned no doubt from a snippet from a half-read article, was subjected to their own rubric.

Atheism bad.
Golden Compass written by Atheist.
Golden Compass bad.

Forget an assessment of the thing itself. Forget the number of other movies written by super-secret atheists. Forget the content of the film (polar bears wearing armor who fight). No, stop at "an atheist wrote the book upon which the movie is based". That is apparently all one need know.

It's not even a sensible world view or life philosophy. It would be like flatly refusing to eat any food which contained or existed within proximity to vegetables; adopting the view that regardless of the entire dish that minute, inconsequential aspect somehow tarnishes the entire experience.

The film is not about atheism. Watching the film does not somehow endorse any religious view any more than viewing a movie based on a book written by someone who smokes pot is somehow an endorsement of pot. It's a movie which contains polar bears wearing armor who fight. Can't we all just focus on that so that I don't have to drive 45 minutes to a city not populated by dipshits with "head-up-ass" disease in order to see the fucking movie?

Please?

PRO IP Act

Helen A.S. Popkin wrote an article that was surprisingly not idiotic about the PRO IP Act, which is surprisngly idiotic.

Since you don't want to read the Bill here is a summary:

* Fines in copyright cases dealing with compilations would be increased. Right now, as in the case of Xoom v. Imageline, the maximum penalty for infringement of one compilation is $30,000. Now courts would be able to make "multiple awards of statutory damages" when compilations are infringed.

* Maximum penalties for repeat copyright offenders would be easier to obtain. Current law says that anyone who "willfully" infringes a copyright by distributing over $1,000 worth of material (including over a peer-to-peer network) is a criminal. The PRO IP Act keeps the 10-year prison term intact for felonious repeat offenders--but, crucially, deletes the requirement that repeat offenders must have distributed at least 10 copyrighted works within 180 days.

* Any computer or network hardware used to "facilitate" a copyright crime could be seized by the Justice Department and auctioned off. The proceeds would be funneled to the agency's budget. The process is called civil asset forfeiture, and typically the owner does not need to be found guilty of a crime for his property to be taken.

Probably the most extensive part of the PRO IP Act is its creation of a new federal bureaucracy called the White House Intellectual Property Enforcement Representative, or WHIPER. The head of WHIPER would be appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.

I'm going to go ahead and say that this is behooves no one except the RIAA.

New Blizzard MMO?

Anything Kotaku can post we can post better.

In response to speculation on the WoW forums about a job posting at Blizzard there was a blue post which said:

No, it is an unannounced Next-Gen MMO.

And that doesn't mean an expansion for World of Warcraft either.

A Next-Gen MMO? Not an expansion for World of Warcraft?

I don't want to play Diablo 3 on a Next-Gen Console and I don't know why Blizzard would release a MMO to compete with WoW.

Thoughts?