So, And Thus...

The License

Funny!

Another example of how marriage has changed over time.

AP - APathetic

Ok. This really pisses me off. How can the AP offer their videos on YouTube (for free!) with the "embed" option turned on (their choice), then turn around and say that they will sue websites/ blogs that use their footage without permission.

AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth: AP is now threatening to sue people who embed AP's YouTube videos that, of course, have their own embed code that AP declined to turn off

AP is publishing their videos on a Web site whose sole purpose is to show those videos for free, and then AP is enabling a feature that permits - nay, a feature whose only purpose is to have you post their videos on your own Web site - and then AP is threatening to sue anyone who does what AP has affirmatively invited you to do.

Of course, AP is now threatening to sue anyone who hyperlinks to an AP story, so this kind of hyper-litigious goofiness is starting to become par for the course.

And then they are going to sue if you link to one of their stories?! Have they become the news Nazis? First it was the Obama graphic image from the election, now this?

Next they are going to sue us for reading their news stories. Geeeeeeezzzzzzz.

An About Face(book)?

For those of you on Facebook, it's been pretty clear that a lot of people do not like the new layout/ design/ function. A fair share of user updates have been dedicated to the ongoing disappointment of this change. Some "I hate the new Facebook" groups have become overwhelmingly popular.

There may be hope.

Facebook changes coming in response to user complaints | Digital Media - CNET News

Facebook has been deluged with feedback on its new layout, much of it negative but constructive, according to a blog posted Tuesday by Product Director Christopher Cox. Hundreds of thousands of people gave the redesign a thumbs-down in a user poll. And groups like "MEMBERS WANT THE OLD FACEBOOK BACK!" have formed to voice their discontent.

While the social network isn't reverting back to the old page design, they are making a handful of changes to appease some of the outraged masses, according to Cox, who has also worked as director of human resources and software engineer at the company.

Some of the changes already in the works include:

* Live updating: Users will have the ability to turn on auto updating so they don't have to refresh the page to see what's new.

* Photo tags: Facebook will add photos tagged with a person's friends to her stream.

* Applications: Users will have the ability to cut down on the application-related content that's showing up in streams.

* Highlights: This section in the right-hand column will update more frequently and show more content so it'll be more like the old News Feed.

* Requests: Friend requests and event invites will be moved to the top of the right-hand column so they're more prominent.

* Friends lists: Users will be able to create a new list of friends with which to filter their streams.

From the post: "Over time, we'll continue to give you more control over what's in your main stream and how you consume it. We have the eventual goal of building filters that summarize this activity so you can see a more condensed view of what's been going on. We're also thinking about ways of filtering out some of the Wall posts and content directed to specific people to focus more on posts shared with everyone."

No specific timeframe was mentioned for most of the updates, though they did say the photo tag update would happen "in the coming weeks."

It's going to be impossible to please everyone on Facebook. I would say that they need to concentrate on giving the user control on the interface.

Grow Up Before Getting Married?!?!

It's really unfortunate that the full force of the Republican party got involved in life of these kids. Any decision they wanted to make (including the baby, marriage, etc...) was taken away from them because of how Bristol's mother, Sarah Palin, would come across to the voting public.

AP News | Culpeper Star-Exponent

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- The former fiance of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's daughter says he hopes they can reconcile at some point.

Levi Johnston told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Monday that he and 18-year-old Bristol Palin ended their engagement after deciding it would be better if they separated for a while.

The two are the parents of an infant son, Tripp, born on Dec. 27. Johnston says the couple needed time to grow up before following through on marriage plans.

New Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Album To Be Released Ahead Of Schedule

Ai-Yai-Yai!

Yeah Yeah Yeahs Bump Up 'It's Blitz' Release After Leak

New York's Yeah Yeah Yeahs have moved up the digital release date of "It's Blitz!," their latest Interscope album, to next Tuesday (March 10) following an internet leak last month. The CD is due in stores March 31.

"The cat's out of the bag after "It's Blitz!" escaped from our clutches into the big bad world last week. Why should some have and some have-not?" the band said in a posting on their website. "YYYs have been brimming with nervous excitement in anticipation of releasing this record to the world! Leaks are NO FUN but it's out of our hands."

At least the album was finished before it got leaked. It's hard to have control of something since it passes through so many hands.

I do have to admit that I've had this album for a few weeks already and didn't know it wasn't released yet!

Be On Time For Your Flights

How could this even be real?

I Thought I Felt A Breeze...

He can definitely stop now.

Woman Locks Herself In Car With Her 22 Dogs

This is how you show that you love your dogs?

pnj.com | National News | Pensacola News Journal

POTTSBORO, Texas (AP) -- North Texas authorities seized 22 dogs found crammed inside a station wagon with their owner. The owner locked the car doors and refused to come out when a constable tried to serve her a warrant for the seizure of the dogs early Monday, said SPCA spokeswoman Maura Davies.

Two puppies and 20 dogs were taken to a shelter until a judge decides who gets custody, the SPCA said. A hearing on the custody of the animals is set for Feb. 16 in Denison.

The dogs were in the car along with a pot of water, blankets and waste.

"The car was soaked with urine and covered in feces. The ammonia level in the vehicle was 23 parts per million even after the doors had been opened for several minutes. As a frame of reference, humans start experiencing health issues at 12 parts per million," Courtney Stevens, SPCA of Texas rescue and investigations supervisor, said in a news release.

Talk about a bitch in heat!

A Koala In Need Is A Freind With Tree

These fires in Australia have been devastating. It makes me sad to know that so many lives have been taken.

I saw this pictures quite a few times yesterday, and being that I'm a koala lover, I had to post it.

pnj.com | National News | Pensacola News Journal

SYDNEY (AP) -- It was a chance encounter in the charred landscape of Australia's deadly wildfires: A koala sips water from a bottle offered by a firefighter. David Tree noticed the koala moving gingerly on scorched paws as his fire patrol passed. Clearly in pain, the animal stopped when it saw Tree.

"It was amazing, he turned around, sat on his bum and sort of looked at me with (a look) like, put me out of my misery," Tree told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "I yelled out for a bottle of water. I unscrewed the bottle, tipped it up on his lips and he just took it naturally.

"He kept reaching for the bottle, almost like a baby."

The team called animal welfare officers to pick up the koala Sunday, the day after deadly firestorms swept southern Victoria state.

Wall-E Should Have Been Nominated for "Best Picture"

I'm not the only one who thinks that Wall-E deserved to be in the "Best Picture" category for this year's Oscars. Here's a snippet (okay, a little more than a snippet. What is a snippet anyway?) of a commentary by a film critic who questions why Wall-E was left out of the category:

Best picture? If ‘WALL-E’ couldn’t do it… - Oscars 2009- msnbc.com

By Alonso Duralde
Film critic
msnbc.com contributor
updated 2:24 p.m. ET, Tues., Jan. 27, 2009


Alonso Duralde
Film critic
It seems like a million years ago, sometimes, but it was really fewer than 20: In 1991, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences made “Beauty and the Beast” the very first animated feature in the history of the Academy Awards to be nominated for best picture.

Ten years later, the Academy recognized the importance of animation in world cinema by creating the best animated feature category in 2001. While the gesture was certainly appreciated by animators and their advocates, some are questioning whether or not the best animated feature category has become a ghetto from which no animated film can ever escape.

The reason for this speculation comes on the heels of “WALL-E” being left out of the best picture category despite being one of the most well-reviewed films of the year. (So was “The Dark Knight,” of course, but that’s another discussion altogether.) “WALL-E” was honored as best picture by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (of which I am a member) and rated a 96 percent “Fresh” on RottenTomatoes.com, making it the highest-ranked film of 2008 on the critic-tracking Web site.
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Film critic and animation expert Charles Solomon says the genre constantly gets short shrift from Hollywood, despite its popularity with both audiences and critics. “Animation remains at the forefront of contemporary filmmaking — four of the 10 highest-grossing films in the U.S. last year were animated,” he notes, citing the success of not only “WALL-E” but also “Kung Fu Panda,” “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa” and “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!”

And while no one expects the Academy to pay attention to box office — unless they decide to nominate something like “Ghost” or “The Sixth Sense” for best picture — many of today’s animated films rank among the most acclaimed movies of our generation. If you look at Rotten Tomatoes’ honor roll of the best-reviewed films from the years in which the site has been tracking reviews, one animated title after another pops up: “Ratatouille,” “Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit,” “The Incredibles,” “Finding Nemo,” “Spirited Away,” “Monsters, Inc.,” “Shrek” and “Chicken Run” were all at or near the top of the list in their respective years of release.

But when it came time for the Oscars to select the five best films of the year, none of them made the cut.

“A lot of it has to do with the box that animation has been slipped into,” says Dean DeBlois, co-director of the Oscar-nominated “Lilo & Stitch.” “Just the fact that animation is referred to as a ‘genre’ unto itself is cause enough to question the perception. Animated features come in as many genres as their live-action counterparts; their stories have as much potential to move, frighten, delight and provoke their audiences as any other medium. (The recent Japanese animated feature) ‘Paprika,’ for example, is as much a sophisticated, high-concept thriller as most live-action films of its genre, but few in the U.S. recognize it beyond the boundaries of ‘anime’ or ‘cartoon kiddie flick.’ It could simply be our society’s stigma on animation as entertainment for young people.”

Of course, Wall-E is going to win the "Best Animated Feature" category, but that doesn't do the film justice. I truly feel that this film is a masterpiece. To be able to covey a story with so few words and to be able to create characters (robots!) that emotionally affect you is just amazing.

I didn't watch the film as an "animation", but as a love story between two characters. The emotional reaction I had was real. I really did feel for the characters.

But I have to give props to the entire animation team. Flawless!

The only thing I thought that would make the film better would be a scene where Wall-E reunites with his long lost sister, Sheila.