Monday, November 29, 2010
Please watch this.
Andre Johnson gets the game ball
Andre Johnson beat a bully's ass on Sunday and handled himself like an adult, despite the brawl. The man apologizes for beating Finnegan's ass because, while arguably morally justified, it wasn't how he should have handled himself. Finnegan is a notoriously dirty player who pushed Johnson a little too far. Check out this video of the fight. Johnson regulates like Warren G.
This was also Johnson's 8th straight season with over 60 catches. So when he got the game ball on Sunday after the game, it was supposedly for this. But let's be real. We all know why he got it.
This was also Johnson's 8th straight season with over 60 catches. So when he got the game ball on Sunday after the game, it was supposedly for this. But let's be real. We all know why he got it.
What to make of Wikileaks?
I don't know how to react to the latest Wikileaks batch of secret documents, nor am I sure that this is speech that should be protected. There is something alarming about having secret government communications thrown into broad daylight. While I support government transparency, there is surely a difference between being open with your citizenry and exposing the inner-mechanisms at all times. Perhaps Wikileaks hopes to prevent the US from ever hiding its cards? Seems like a cruel object to strive for, especially since there are no reciprocal diplomatic disclosures from other countries. Additionally, I am not sure what goal this furthers aside from that of brutal transparency. This isn't about permitting the voters to make more informed decisions. This isn't about uncovering some high-level, nefarious plot. This just seems to be about giant killing; about doing reckless damage to the US and its ability to conduct itself on the world stage, regardless of outcome. While I find the Wikileaks disclosures to be very interesting, I know they are the technological equivalent of an anarchist's pipe bomb, meant to disrupt and destroy. Only it is less clear where this shrapnel will land.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Cyber-Bullying is the SEO
Check out this amazing story in the NY Times Magazine about an eyeglasses company that has used negative reviews of its company to gain more business. No big deal, you say? I doubt you'd leave the article with the same impression. The owner commits fraud, threatens acts of sexual violence against unhappy customers, takes (and emails) photos of apartment buildings where the customers stay, and looks up phone numbers to make harassing calls. Why? Well, the answer is as clear as Google's ranking algorithm. There are so many factors, external to a website, that effect ranking and bad reviews provide a website links and references. Even if they are scathing, it helps. A company usually cares, but I guess that caring isn't universal.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Graph comparing the North and South Korean Armies
There are a lot of great sources to get news on the Korean conflict, but the BBC has produced a nice chart comparing the military resources of the two countries at the bottom of this article. Check it out.
Friday, November 26, 2010
The Golden Triangle
Check out this sweet study from Enquiro about Google's Golden Triangle, or the portion of the site people actually see and spend time on when they receive a search result. Not only do we care about rankings, we also care about putting our best foot forward. Relevant title tags first and solid meta descriptions are not only important, they may explain the dramatic difference in click-through rates for the top 5.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
The NFL has no desire to curb big hits
#1 With Racists
I don't really watch the Simpsons much anymore, so I definitely missed the episode that gave rise to O'Reilly's response. Two things: The Simpsons have made so much money for Fox, O'Reilly should thank the writers on behalf of the entire Fox empire; also, when they said “Not Racist, But #1 With Racists," that was pretty dead on.
Go Back To Pequods!
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Thank you lord
Now let's try to do this on the other 364 days.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
File under obvious and enjoyable
"Here is some very obvious criticism of Kanye West as an artist. This is a dead horse, but whatever. I find it interesting.
Ed: The writer kills his credibility by both comparing Kanye's rapping ability to Jay-Z's and then suggesting, in more than one place, that Kanye has trumped Jay-Z on a verse or a turn of phrase. Such suggestions are completely absurd.
On Monday Mr. West, who is 33, will release his fifth album, “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” (Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam), and it’s terrific — of course it’s terrific — a startlingly maximalist take on East Coast rap traditionalism. And yet that doesn’t matter nearly as much as it should, at least partly because of Mr. West’s insistence on his own greatness. By not allowing for responses to his work other than awe, the value of the work itself is diminished; it becomes an object of admiration, not of study. Instead the focus is on the whole of Mr. West’s persona and character, which is more fractured, and subject to a far wider range of responses. The result is that Mr. West becomes a polarizing public figure who happens to be the most artful pop musician of the day, not the other way around
Ed: The writer kills his credibility by both comparing Kanye's rapping ability to Jay-Z's and then suggesting, in more than one place, that Kanye has trumped Jay-Z on a verse or a turn of phrase. Such suggestions are completely absurd.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
This is sick...
..and you know him. Check out this song by Andrew Solomon that he is likely too humble to post here himself.
Axis of Depression
Krugman's new piece is both disturbing and insightful. There are many entities that benefit from America's economic hardship. For an easy read on China's currency manipulation and their opposition to quantitative easing, check this article out.
Friday, November 19, 2010
As if you needed a reason, much less a list
But in case you did need a reason to love Chicago, here are a few.
Expenditures, by billions, in simple chart
Rustie's Hyperthrust
Even though it is the "free track" on the album, I think Hyperthrust might be one of the best. I love the way it blows up in this frantic flurry of eighth notes and elongates the pre-established bounce of the song.
All right, this is good
I begrudgingly like the new Girl Talk. Not love, but it's good.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
One more reason to hate baby boomers
Lou Ferrigno Hates Immigrants
On an unrelated note, here is a young, insecure Lou Ferrigno yelling "Arnold" while training for the 1975 Mr. Olympia. It's from the movie Pumping Iron. In scenes leading up the contest, Arnold mocks Lou and Lou's dad expresses the utmost admiration for Arnold and seems to harbor some doubts about his son. Oh well. Lou loses, becomes the Incredible Hulk, claims it was a bad experience, and toils in obscurity for the remainder of his life. I guess he has a lot of emotions he needs to take out on someone.
Palin for 2012
Palin's running in 2012. It is sort of a moot point, however, because 2012 is also the apocalypse. Oh well. Either way, we're fucked.
The Redemptive Power of Success
How long do you hate a man convicted of running a multi-state dogfighting ring? Only as long as it takes for him to score 6 touchdowns in one game. I agree it is time to forgive, but not because he is an unstoppable monster. He went to prison, has repeatedly apologized, and spends his free time giving back to the community, educating (and implicitly apologizing to) children about the horrors of dogfighting, and working to repair the damage he did to society. Short of spite, I am not sure there is any reason to continue to try to ostracize the man.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Accusations that the BCS has killed sportsmanship
This article does a good job of discussing the University Wisconsin football team's 83-20 crushing of Indiana this past weekend. The author is right in that the mysterious BCS standings encourage coaches to run up the score and otherwise brutalize their opponents. The author is incorrect in asserting this has anything to do with a lack of respect or sportsmanship. If I am not mistaken, the Badgers had their backup backups in. The offense is supposed to score points. Everything you do and learn as an offensive player is based on scoring points. Now we have to tell the offense to stop scoring points? That is insane, and I say that as someone who once lost a high school football game 64-0.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Ny Time Op-Ed on how to curb meth use
The proposed answer to the country's meth problem? Just keep a key ingredient, pseudoephedrine, out of the hands of meth producers. I have to admit, it is a decent article, although some of the statistics feel fast and loose. That said, surely there would be some preventative effect in creating a prescription requirement for pseudoephedrine. Additionally, I understand that this op-ed was limited in its scope. However, what we really need are better jobs in middle America (or jobs at all) and treatment and counseling facilities, not to mention drug prevention programs that teach children the actual dangers of these harmful narcotics.
If there is no other way to earn an income in Kentucky, people will find a way to make and sell meth. They have to. To allege otherwise is to argue that people will opt for poverty and destitution in the face of a profitable, if not harmful and illegal, alternative.
Additionally, to tamper recidivism and relapse rates, we need better counseling and a stronger emphasis on problem-solving courts, as opposed to throwing people into the criminal justice system. If a court is either unable or unwilling to order a perpetrator to receive counseling, spend part of his or her sentence in a halfway house, and address the sort of underlying psychological problems that are so prevalent in our criminal populations, we won't see a dramatic decrease in our crime rates.
Last, there needs to be an open dialogue about drug use that begins in the schools. The danger of using scare tactics with children is that, once those scare tactics are exposed, the message and the messenger lose legitimacy. When I was a kid, my class listened to several speakers between first and twelfth grade. It was a lot of talk about addicts living on the street, peer pressure, gateway drugs, and accidentally overdosing on your first usage. There was never a word mentioned about the dangers of alcohol. As we now know, this message was more than misleading, it was largely incorrect. We can't lie to kids about some drugs and expect them to believe us about others. Curbing meth use may mean accepting that kids experiment with drugs in college or that many high school and college kids know more about prescription pill abuse than you might expect. Then again, we could just keep doing what we're doing, right?
If there is no other way to earn an income in Kentucky, people will find a way to make and sell meth. They have to. To allege otherwise is to argue that people will opt for poverty and destitution in the face of a profitable, if not harmful and illegal, alternative.
Additionally, to tamper recidivism and relapse rates, we need better counseling and a stronger emphasis on problem-solving courts, as opposed to throwing people into the criminal justice system. If a court is either unable or unwilling to order a perpetrator to receive counseling, spend part of his or her sentence in a halfway house, and address the sort of underlying psychological problems that are so prevalent in our criminal populations, we won't see a dramatic decrease in our crime rates.
Last, there needs to be an open dialogue about drug use that begins in the schools. The danger of using scare tactics with children is that, once those scare tactics are exposed, the message and the messenger lose legitimacy. When I was a kid, my class listened to several speakers between first and twelfth grade. It was a lot of talk about addicts living on the street, peer pressure, gateway drugs, and accidentally overdosing on your first usage. There was never a word mentioned about the dangers of alcohol. As we now know, this message was more than misleading, it was largely incorrect. We can't lie to kids about some drugs and expect them to believe us about others. Curbing meth use may mean accepting that kids experiment with drugs in college or that many high school and college kids know more about prescription pill abuse than you might expect. Then again, we could just keep doing what we're doing, right?
Monday, November 15, 2010
Frodus' The Awesome Machine
Frodus' "The Awesome Machine" has been melting my face off since I got a hold of And We Washed Our Weapons In The Sea (big thanks to Andy Strickland). The live video below does not do it justice. The original recorded version is so raw, intense, and smart. The bass growls like someone's hitting fresh strings with a heavy pick and 2,000 lbs of force. The song has a strong groove and doesn't get lost in the breakdown. This is a one-trick pony by any measure, but it is a hell of a trick.
Sounds pretty reasonable, right? It's not an anti-technology song. It's much more nuanced. I appreciate that. You can be passionate, even zealous about your views without subscribing to extreme positions.
The Machines Never Died . The Recurring Threat Of Technology Can Be Used To Confine Populations . It's Not A Reason To Reject It All . Just The Minds Who Abuse The Knowledge . Saw It Once In A Dream . Buildings Extend . Mankind The Sea . It'll Happen- Culture Mesh Into One . See It Now As We Open Our Eyes . We Will Traverse The Empty Season Of Now . We Will Be Vindicated
Sounds pretty reasonable, right? It's not an anti-technology song. It's much more nuanced. I appreciate that. You can be passionate, even zealous about your views without subscribing to extreme positions.
Rat Patrol
From this Chicago Tribune story.
A coyote loping along the South Loop streets this morning was probably at his job searching out rodents, according to city animal welfare officials.
A video shot overnight shows the coyote running down State Street as cars and a moving truck pass by.
Brad Block, a supervisor for the Chicago Commission on Animal Care and Control, said the animal has the run of the Loop to help deal with rats and mice. He said no one has called today to complain.
"He's not a threat...He's not going to pick up your children," Block said. "His job is to deal with all of the nuisance problems, like mice, rats and rabbits."
Block said he believes the coyote is one of those fitted with a GPS device to monitor its whereabouts. He said the coyote is pretty timid and stays away from people.
The state has fitted a few coyotes with GPS and has allowed them to run wild in Chicago to deal with the rodent population. It was unclear whether this coyote is part of that program. The animal was not captured.
Earlier this year, another coyote was found in a park near the Chicago River and would return there to scavenge for food, he said.
That animal had to be removed because it had become accustomed to people and their handouts. It was eventually taken to a wildlife center.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Keith Richards' "Life"
Glenn or Glenn?
Check out this AV Club article listing quotes from Danzig and Glenn Beck. Can you guess which Glenn said which (hint: it's not that hard).
NOOOOOO!
Friday, November 12, 2010
Dear lord, tell me I am dreaming...
...because any world in which this exists is not a world I want to live in.
...and here's your Friday anger
Glenn Beck isn't an anti-semite, he just says anti-semitic things about Jewish people to denigrate them and cast a critical light on unrelated aspects of their lives. No biggie.
On a different note, this Onion video has yet to become realized prophecy. Oh well.
Victim In Fatal Car Accident Tragically Not Glenn Beck
On Tuesday on his Fox program, watched by about 2.8 million people, Mr. Beck said that during the Holocaust, the 14-year-old Mr. Soros “used to go around with this anti-Semite and deliver papers to the Jews and confiscate their property and then ship them off.”
Mr. Beck continued: “I am certainly not saying that George Soros enjoyed that, even had a choice. I mean, he’s 14 years old. He was surviving. So I’m not making a judgment. That’s between him and God.” He also said that “many people” would call Mr. Soros “an anti-Semite,” though “I will not.”
On a different note, this Onion video has yet to become realized prophecy. Oh well.
Victim In Fatal Car Accident Tragically Not Glenn Beck
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Tom Geoghegan and your iPhone
I heard a great interview with Tom Geoghegan on NPR yesterday. In it, he spoke about the benefits of Europe's more relaxed take on the work week. Specifically, he mentioned that while France and Germany have a lower GDP per capita, their workers surely enjoy a higher standard of living. However, what I found especially interesting was the notion that government-protected time away from work and pensions improves both productivity and ingenuity by permitting workers to feel secure in their livelihood, thereby permitting them to pursue creative interests. The average workweek in the US keeps going up and, as Krugman has recently pointed out, the average life expectancy for people at the top of the income bracket has grown at a dramatically faster rate than it has for people at the lower end of the income bracket. That is to say, people are working harder and not everyone is reaping the benefits. Of those low wage workers who will toil for longer days and more years, how many have passions, interests, and important ideas that will never be pursued? For our janitors, does the country benefit from another hour of cleaning or an hour of them taking care of their family, ensuring their kids get to and from school safely, and learning something new that they are interested in? Why are the calls for innovation never accompanied by the calls for more free time and government support?
Anyway, another thing that really struck me was that the discussion about being consumed by your work at the expense of creative downtime sounded an awful lot like this NY Times article about the effect of multitasking on creativity and cognitive functioning.
Surely always being worried about work, spending longer periods of time in the office, and constantly checking your iPhone or Blackberry has a similar effect. I am not saying they are the same problem, but they certainly seem to produce similar results.
Anyway, another thing that really struck me was that the discussion about being consumed by your work at the expense of creative downtime sounded an awful lot like this NY Times article about the effect of multitasking on creativity and cognitive functioning.
Scientists say juggling e-mail, phone calls and other incoming information can change how people think and behave. They say our ability to focus is being undermined by bursts of information.
These play to a primitive impulse to respond to immediate opportunities and threats. The stimulation provokes excitement — a dopamine squirt — that researchers say can be addictive. In its absence, people feel bored.
The resulting distractions can have deadly consequences, as when cellphone-wielding drivers and train engineers cause wrecks. And for millions of people like Mr. Campbell, these urges can inflict nicks and cuts on creativity and deep thought, interrupting work and family life.
Surely always being worried about work, spending longer periods of time in the office, and constantly checking your iPhone or Blackberry has a similar effect. I am not saying they are the same problem, but they certainly seem to produce similar results.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Anadama Bread
Anadama bread is a traditional bread of New England made with white flour, cornmeal, molasses and sometimes rye flour.
I'm still trying to bake my way through the Bread Baker's Apprentice and, since I keep getting sidetracked by my desire to improve my baguettes and sourdough, I've decided to go through the book alphabetically and tackle each bread at least once. It isn't as crazy as it sounds. The book organizes its recipes alphabetically and I am still debating whether I want to bake variations on the different recipes in there (how much Greek celebration bread do you need?). The real dream is to polish off the BBA and then tackle Michel Suas' Advanced Bread and Pastry.
Anyway, the Anadama bread was pretty straight forward. The recipe calls for a cornmeal soaker (my first) and I have to say, soakers obviously hold a lot of potential, but this one was boring. I just mixed cornmeal and water and let it sit. In fact, the bread was delicious and easy to make, which I both like and dislike. It is a simple loaf bread, so you don't have to do much shaping and you obviously don't have to score it. The molasses is present but not overpowering and the vegetable shortening gives the bread a spongy, almost cake-like chewiness. The cornmeal soaker softened the cornmeal, but its texture still stood out in the bread, giving each bite an interesting and enjoyable mouthfeel. The crust was nice out of the oven, but since I didn't get it out until 11:30 or so, I only had one slice of it fresh. The bread is keeping well because, like most sandwich breads, the crust doesn't need to be preserved and thus the bread can be stored in plastic wrap. The nicest thing about this bread is that it was quick to make. With the exception of the soaker, this is a one day bread and no special gluten development techniques were necessary.
Next up: bagels.
Kanye Does An Impromptu, Acapella Rendition Of 2007.
From the A.V. Club:
Amy says no one cares. I disagree. I care only because Kanye has become a parody of the egotistical rapper. He might be the only MC who actually believes what he says about himself in his music, and even that might be him being modest. Check out the video in the above link. I was once stuck on a plane and they put on some horrible Sandra Bullock romantic comedy. This has to be worse, and I say that as a Kanye fan.
According to an eyewitness account, Kanye was sitting in first class “with a little drink in his hand,” when he suddenly jumped up, commandeered the loudspeaker, said, “Yo, this your n*gga, Kanye,” upon which everyone put down their copy of The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest to listen to his brief medley of “The Good Life” and “Gold Digger,”
Amy says no one cares. I disagree. I care only because Kanye has become a parody of the egotistical rapper. He might be the only MC who actually believes what he says about himself in his music, and even that might be him being modest. Check out the video in the above link. I was once stuck on a plane and they put on some horrible Sandra Bullock romantic comedy. This has to be worse, and I say that as a Kanye fan.
Is this even a question?
The answer is whichever group contributed to one of the greatest economic collapses in history. Also, there should be way more people in suits in the left frame.


Monday, November 8, 2010
Money Can Buy Everything
I am not sure how this happened, but a wealthy banker was able to hit a bicyclist with his car and then flee the scene and, amazingly enough, avoid a felony prosecution. What makes this so impressive is that the prosecutor cites the banker's profession as the primary reason to avoid felony charges, stating that such a prosecution would have a dramatic impact on his ability to earn money. I have literally never heard that rationale before. Even more interesting is the fact that the victim was begging for charges to be pressed. Of course, the victim is not a party to a criminal case (the state takes his roll), but you rarely hear about such horrific crimes going unpunished when there is sufficient evidence, cooperation, and attention. Oh well. A more pessimistic man would say that the wealthy own this society and the rest of us are just playing supporting roles. A rational man would just keep his mouth shut.
Who wants to loan me 300K?
So I can buy this.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Olbermann is suspended?
Keith Olbermann, the only authority on the worst people in the universe, has been suspended for making political contributions. I guess MSNBC was worried he might come across as biased. In other news, it seems like Fox News is supportive of Republicans.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
If you don't know
now you know... about the Wisdom of Children.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
November 2010 Mix
I put a mix together after work today. It's a bunch of records I've been into lately, some new, some slightly older. Please enjoy.
http://www.percussionlab.com/sets/andrew_solomon/november_2010_mix
raime - retread - blackest ever black
milton bradley - end000 a1 - the end of all existence
frozen border - fb04 a2 - frozen border
forward strategy group - applied generics b - forward strategy group
dino sabatini - scylla - prologue
donor/truss - sude 3 - thema
traversable wormhole - superliminal - traversable wormhole
reality or nothing - female mix - rsb
mike dehnert - treillis - echocord colour
marcel dettmann - lattice - marcel dettmann records
james ruskin - massk - blueprint records
traversable wormhole - exiting the milky way (surgeon remix) - create learn realize
obtane - gemini - sonic groove
Recorded with vinyl on my fucked up turntables.
http://www.percussionlab.com/sets/andrew_solomon/november_2010_mix
raime - retread - blackest ever black
milton bradley - end000 a1 - the end of all existence
frozen border - fb04 a2 - frozen border
forward strategy group - applied generics b - forward strategy group
dino sabatini - scylla - prologue
donor/truss - sude 3 - thema
traversable wormhole - superliminal - traversable wormhole
reality or nothing - female mix - rsb
mike dehnert - treillis - echocord colour
marcel dettmann - lattice - marcel dettmann records
james ruskin - massk - blueprint records
traversable wormhole - exiting the milky way (surgeon remix) - create learn realize
obtane - gemini - sonic groove
Recorded with vinyl on my fucked up turntables.
Labels: andrew solomon, deep, dj set, dub, industrial, minimal, mix, techno
This is old news by now...
but in case you haven't seen What The Fuck Has Obama Done So Far, you should check it out. Who knew that slightly-liberal, disorganized, cowardly fools Democrats accomplished so much? Too bad they didn't tell anyone.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
VIOLENCE IS OBSCENE!
Yet it can not be regulated under SCOTUS' Ginsberg ruling because that test only applies to sexual material. Before a tirade, here is this reported exchange, appearing in today's New York Times
Let's do a quick review. The Ginsberg case arose as a result of an undercover police bust in New York.
The Court stated that "We do not regard New York's regulation in defining obscenity on the basis of its appeal to minors under 17 as involving an invasion of such minors' constitutionally protected freedoms."
The Court explained that
The Court went on to explain that the state has an interest in the safety and upbringing of its minors. Blah, blah, blah.
Can you imagine a world where boys, with access to credit cards, the internet, older siblings, etc. could access pornography? Why, the very moral fabric of our society would crumble. But, as the court explained so clearly, there are prevailing interests here and keeping obscene material from minors does not infringe upon their First Amendment freedoms.
Yet here we are in Schwarzenegger v. Entertainment Merchants Association and we are hearing the same arguments all over again. Except this time, the minors have more rights? I don't understand.
What?! Maybe someone who knows more about Con Law can explain this to me. I am pretty sure the Miller obscenity test (still good law) doesn't explicitly describe what is an obscene depiction of sex. The test is
So somehow that test gives Scalia a clear idea of what is obscene ("Petitioner applies the incorrect metric in determining relevant nipple exposure") but the proposed standard does not? If only the madness stopped there.
A few members of the court even suggested that the law might be over-broad because it "makes no distinctions among minors, be they 10 years old or 17." For real. Is there a category of sexually explicit material that can be sold to 17 year olds and not to 10 year olds? We have broad categories for TV shows and movies, but those encompass all material contained in those shows/films. They are catchalls for generic forms of entertainment. When it comes to sexual entertainment, there is a bright-line rule at age 18, with very serious consequences for those who violate it. When it comes to graphically violent entertainment, there is a sticker, a bored clerk, and no enforcement.
I am actually going to agree with Alito and Roberts.
Ah. Reason. And an application of prior case law. Who would have thought. Maybe Scalia doesn't understand the impact of violent video games. Oh wait. He most certainly does.
Ugh. Whatever. At least be honest about it. Just say "The Court holds that it is uncomfortable with its sexuality and would rather not talk about it anymore."
Paul M. Smith, a lawyer for the video game industry, faced a barrage of hostile questions from those three justices, who elicited from him, after some back and forth, the acknowledgment that there was nothing states could do to regulate the sale of, in Justice Alito’s words, “the most violent, sadistic, graphic video game that can be developed.”
Let's do a quick review. The Ginsberg case arose as a result of an undercover police bust in New York.
Appellant and his wife operate "Sam's Stationery and Luncheonette" in Bellmore, Long Island. They have a lunch counter, and, among other things, also sell magazines including some so-called "girlie" magazines. Appellant was prosecuted under two informations, each in two counts, which charged that he personally sold a 16-year-old boy two "girlie" magazines on each of two dates in October 1965, in violation of § 484-h of the New York Penal Law
The Court stated that "We do not regard New York's regulation in defining obscenity on the basis of its appeal to minors under 17 as involving an invasion of such minors' constitutionally protected freedoms."
The Court explained that
The well-being of its children is of course a subject within the State's constitutional power to regulate, and, in our view, two interests justify the limitations in § 484-h upon the availability of sex material to minors under 17, at least if it was rational for the legislature to find that the minors' exposure to such material might be harmful. First of all, constitutional interpretation has consistently recognized that the parents' claim to authority in their own household to direct the rearing of their children is basic in the structure of our society.... The legislature could properly conclude that parents and others, teachers for example, who have this primary responsibility for children's well-being are entitled to the support of laws designed to aid discharge of that responsibility.
The Court went on to explain that the state has an interest in the safety and upbringing of its minors. Blah, blah, blah.
Can you imagine a world where boys, with access to credit cards, the internet, older siblings, etc. could access pornography? Why, the very moral fabric of our society would crumble. But, as the court explained so clearly, there are prevailing interests here and keeping obscene material from minors does not infringe upon their First Amendment freedoms.
Yet here we are in Schwarzenegger v. Entertainment Merchants Association and we are hearing the same arguments all over again. Except this time, the minors have more rights? I don't understand.
The law would impose $1,000 fines on stores that sell violent video games to people under 18. It defined violent games as those “in which the range of options available to a player includes killing, maiming, dismembering or sexually assaulting an image of a human being” in a way that is “patently offensive,” appeals to minors’ “deviant or morbid interests” and lacks “serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.”
“What’s a deviant violent video game?” asked Justice Antonin Scalia, who was the law’s most vocal opponent on Tuesday. “As opposed to what? A normal violent video game?”
What?! Maybe someone who knows more about Con Law can explain this to me. I am pretty sure the Miller obscenity test (still good law) doesn't explicitly describe what is an obscene depiction of sex. The test is
Whether "the average person, applying contemporary community standards", would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest,
Whether the work depicts/describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by applicable state law,
Whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.
So somehow that test gives Scalia a clear idea of what is obscene ("Petitioner applies the incorrect metric in determining relevant nipple exposure") but the proposed standard does not? If only the madness stopped there.
A few members of the court even suggested that the law might be over-broad because it "makes no distinctions among minors, be they 10 years old or 17." For real. Is there a category of sexually explicit material that can be sold to 17 year olds and not to 10 year olds? We have broad categories for TV shows and movies, but those encompass all material contained in those shows/films. They are catchalls for generic forms of entertainment. When it comes to sexual entertainment, there is a bright-line rule at age 18, with very serious consequences for those who violate it. When it comes to graphically violent entertainment, there is a sticker, a bored clerk, and no enforcement.
I am actually going to agree with Alito and Roberts.
Justice Alito and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. were, along with Justice Breyer, the members of the court who seemed most inclined to try to find a way to uphold the law.
Justice Alito said the experience of playing a video game was different in kind from reading a book or seeing a movie. He described a game in which players throw their enemies into a meat grinder.
“Reading that is one thing,” he said. “Seeing it as graphically portrayed” is another thing.
“And doing it is still a third thing,” he added.
Chief Justice Roberts said the law might be needed because “any 13-year-old can bypass parental controls” on game consoles “in about five minutes.”
Ah. Reason. And an application of prior case law. Who would have thought. Maybe Scalia doesn't understand the impact of violent video games. Oh wait. He most certainly does.
Morazzini [CA's Attorney General] said California's interest was in helping parents keep some images from their children. He cited studies that have shown videos to be different from other media in that the player is actually involved in directing the violence depicted on the screen.
Ugh. Whatever. At least be honest about it. Just say "The Court holds that it is uncomfortable with its sexuality and would rather not talk about it anymore."
Listen to me, I was hungover
No seriously. I was epically hungover on Sunday (I blame drinking on an empty stomach). I took it as definitive proof that alcohol is dangerous. Then again, this study published in Lancet, reported in the Washington Post, helps.
British experts evaluated substances including alcohol, cocaine, heroin, ecstasy and marijuana, ranking them based on how destructive they are to the individual who takes them and to society as a whole.
Researchers analyzed how addictive a drug is and how it harms the human body, in addition to other criteria like environmental damage caused by the drug, its role in breaking up families and its economic costs, such as health care, social services, and prison.
Heroin, crack cocaine and methamphetamine, or crystal meth, were the most lethal to individuals. When considering their wider social effects, alcohol, heroin and crack cocaine were the deadliest. But overall, alcohol outranked all other substances, followed by heroin and crack cocaine. Marijuana, ecstasy and LSD scored far lower.
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