Apple Inc. is named ringleader in bullying of book readers.
Apple Inc. is no longer just a monster; it’s more like the Eye of Sauron.
US District Judge Denise Côte ruled against Apple Inc. last week, confirming that Apple, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Penguin, Macmillan, and News Corp. ganged up on readers to fix e-book prices. Last year, Bad Apple settled a separate antitrust case over e-book price-fixing with the European Commission without admitting any wrongdoing. Here in America, the company maintains the role of iSavior, insisting it was just trying to break Amazon’s control of the publishing industry.
I’ve been watching this story irregularly, as these are unhappy events.
Back in the mid-90s, Apple Inc. was a failing company, so much so that by 1996-97 it was forced to swallow its meager pride and borrow loads of money from Bill Gates and Microsoft to stay afloat. Steve Jobs got $95 million in operating capital by selling $150 million in non-voting Apple stock to Microsoft, and he sweetened the deal with Apple’s silence over allegations that Microsoft had stolen its intellectual property in building Windows. Read more
It’s a dream house built by an artist for a man in a cage…
Isn’t it just when you find something you want to record that you encounter holes in your cable package? This became an issue for me when I attempted to DVR “Herman’s House,” a documentary airing tonight on the PBS series “POV.”
Turns out AT&T U-verse, my provider, isn’t much of a friend to public television; they don’t actually carry the non-profit public broadcast network, PBS. I find that unfortunate and insulting, since they carry loads of useless crap.
At any rate, Herman Wallace is an imprisoned member of the Angola 3 who has been living his life – 41 years and counting – in solitary confinement. He’s maintained correspondence with artist Jackie Sumell for many years; it’s with her help (and at her urging) that Wallace has conjured his “dream house.” The journey began when Sumell asked Wallace in a letter, “What kind of house does a man who has lived in a six-foot-by-nine-foot box for over 30 years dream of?” Read more
Video clip of Egyptian 12 year old goes viral, shames us all
In a street interview conducted by Egypt’s El Wady newspaper, this 12 year old proves that privileged Westerners should consider arming their children — not with credit cards, guns, and Ramones t-shirts, but with information about our changing world.
Good Men Project cracks the spine of Where Excuses Go to Die
As of today, there are three publicly available chapters excerpted from Where Excuses Go to Die. Two are located here, and the latest, over at The Good Men Project, where I’ve been invited to contribute.
If you’re interested in getting air-dropped right into “Big Forehead” Ernie’s world of interstate Grand Theft Auto, check out:
Lucky are the children who think (and rock) for themselves.
Okay, how cool are fantasy tour dates!? Never mind the gold stars; here’s our show rider!
The thing that thrills me about Malcolm Brickhouse and Jarad Dawkins isn’t that they play so well, or that they’re so determined to jam. What’s cool is their combined and individual grace. They clearly choose their words in a manner that best serves their intentions and goals rather than making them sound hip and defiant. And it’s almost as if you can see ’em processing their way through adolescent confusion – without the defeatism that accompanies juvenile martyrdom. It’s called metacognition and it’s incredible to witness in kids this young – bonus that’s it’s too much metal for one hand.
I’m jealous. I certainly wish I’d been able to explain –even to myself– my own ideas and dreams so well at their age. I’m both enamored with Malcolm and Jarad and in admiration of them. Some may dismiss the heavy metal genre they’ve chosen (which would say more about the dismisser than the style preference) or the fact that it’s a kid holding the guitar. But these two are future lawyers, teachers, engineers, or future Vernon Reids or Greg Graffins, so it really doesn’t matter how they rock.
They just rock.
Still, some might assume Jarad and Malcolm are being played by parents aiming for fast cash or fame they couldn’t achieve themselves. And while that’s often a bullseye, the difference between a kid whose heart isn’t in it and a kid who is being pulled along by his heart is obvious. And not once in this video do we catch an adult speaking for either boy like a hovering stage-parent.
Jarad and Malcolm aren’t just processing their young emotions, they’re channeling their frustrations at being picked on in school through lyrics, stagecraft, and chords. They’re not making excuses for altercations, broken windows, or self isolation; they’re using viable tools to communicate what it feels like to be in their shoes. And they’re learning to derive pleasure from a sustained relationship with delayed gratification (i.e. practice makes perfect) rather than posing or primping. That’s rare in society generally — even more so among kids this age, who usually still need adults to teach them how it’s done.
Getting picked on for thinking for yourself is the worst thing ever, but fortunately for people like these two, it just strengthens resolve. It’s cool that Jarad and Malcolm’s outlet is rock ‘n roll, too, but if it were painting, chemistry, or anything else, I’d look up to them just the same. Most of us would. Nobody seems to be putting words into their mouths, but apparently someone has already instilled some quality coping skills. My fingers are crossed that the world around them doesn’t manage to undo their impressive drive and dedication, ’cause with the path they’re on, these kids can become some seriously heavy hitters.
Nothing sells better than the manifestation of exclusivity
Let’s get something straight. While there may be good reason to be angry about new revelations related to our civil liberties, arguing over whether NSA leaker Edward Snowden is a traitor or a hero isn’t where our focus should be.
Right before our eyes we’re watching ground being broken for a new marketplace: our recent national lack-of-privacy fear just created a commercial demand for PRIVACY™
Get it?
The conservative drumbeat that ObamaCare, Benghazi, the IRS scandal, and the Justice Department’s seizure of journalists’ phone records represent expanded abusive government and/or a “continuation of policies” is a diversion. And CNN’s idiotic prizefights between privacy advocates and backers of the doozy that started it all – the Patriot Act, are distracting millions from the real government data collection issue. In fact, the part of this week’s surveillance state revelations that stinks the most is the one thing we’re not hearing about: money.
Fact is, telecom corporations don’t need to listen to your phone calls for you to fear they’re listening to your phone calls. They only need you to think that the tools and laws are in place in order to sell you a federally guaranteed “communication plan” or Internet “privacy.” Yup: this whole controversy is about the future of the Internet and monetizing our civil liberties. Anyone who thinks differently is naïve – or not paying attention. (On the other hand, considering that sales of Orwell’s 1984 rose by 7,000% this week, at least some are trying to widen their perception.) Read more
For those unfamiliar with the Vivian Maier story, it’s a simple one that never changes. Vivian was a professional nanny who, in her off time, wandered around bad neighborhoods and metropolises snapping pictures of just about everyone from derelicts to fashionable women, cops, and lots of kids. Before she died in a Chicago nursing home in 2009, Maier had amassed over 120,000 images of strangers in streets, slums, and shadows. An extremely secretive woman, she never shared her activities, travels abroad, or any of her photos. With anyone. Not in fifty years of practicing street photography.
At the time of her passing, Maier was in possession of none of her work – not a single negative. This is to say, reel after reel of 8 and 16 mm film; personal writings and cassette tapes containing her voice recordings; personal observations on you-name-it; and seven hundred rolls of undeveloped color film. In 2007, it all had been forfeited to a storage company due to unpaid fees, for Vivian had begun this century almost destitute. She was powerless to stop the contents of the unit from being sold to a Chicago auction firm.
To those who knew her, or thought they did (namely, the grown children she’d cared for), she was a recluse, a hoarder, and a peculiar spirit. But to the many who now consider her one of the most prolific and talented street photographers in the history of the medium, she is an ambiguous monolith of isolation, genius, and resolve. Read more
Two holier-than-thou cowards win one for the good guys.
As you watch the hugely viral video attributed to the Surprise Shower Guys of Allentown, Pennsylvania, what’s your assessment of the people being sprayed with revenge water? I bet you’re glad to be dry, for one, but you’re probably happy you’re not in their shoes for other reasons as well. Folks urinating in backstreet doorways must be in pretty bad shape, right? They’re probably not good people.
In fact, from the handy voiceover provided by the video’s creators, we know they’re not. Apparently, we know how “these people” think and talk, too: they’re the “animals” we’re always hearing about. And here they are, in their native habitat – an alley.
Look, at first I laughed too. But after the fifth or sixth spray, my gut told me there was something wrong here, and it starts with the arrogance conveyed by the video’s creators. Their camera looks down on people seeking a lousy 40 seconds of relief, and with their belittling, racist voiceovers, they clearly do too. But how many of them – and us – are really above peeing in an alley when the need arises? Read more
Should we call “Blame” and “Fault” special interest groups?
We say, “Change happens” with some resolve. It’s an existential observation, no doubt emanating from the same place that allows us to accept tornado “seasons.” But when did we become a country that assigns blame to the winds of change?
And we have become such a country – my guess is out of fear. With so much of American life shifting historically; with so many institutions, customs, ethnic characteristics, “norms,” and belief-systems being updated (or at least challenged); and with so many fading voices, the reactionary distrust, anger, and gloom is almost palpable in many parts of our “United” States.
People everywhere are looking for someone or something to blame. I’m counting the minutes ‘til some lawyer accuses the Oklahoma sky of negligence. Read more
Creator of the “Palsy Punch” is still swinging that “arm”
In my love of all things standup, near the top of my favorites list is the sterotype-defying Josh Blue, who rose to fame on NBC’s Last Comic Standing. Cerebral palsy may have its grip on Josh, but his audiences see only the spirit and soul of a hundred three-legged horses rushing the corral gate.
Josh works to change our perceptions of people with disabilities by shoving, ‘er shaking, them into the spotlight and relishing the discomfort the rest of us must get past as a result. If you’re not familiar with Blue’s comedy, you’re in for an uplifting surprise – and not like, “oh look, the boy in the wheel chair made a funny!” His bits are as relevant to fans as airport TSA screenings. (His proposed “No Ham, No Fly” screening policy is brilliant.) Blue’s no Zach Galifianakis, which is good, especially since million-dollar paychecks don’t really measure comedic success when your stock-in-trade –an awkward physical presence– isn’t an act. And for the record, no material Galifianakis offers is nearly as original or free of artificiality.
If you subscribe to cable’s Showtime, you can catch Josh Blue: Sticky Change running ’til the end of this month. It’s workman-like, practiced comedic craft. And though no Internet clips can match “Sticky Change” for irreverence and hilarity, YouTube has no shortage of Josh Blue samples for you to check out. The best of ’em, I think, are those that challenge people’s comfort zones, like when Blue pretends to be homeless or approaches a random gangbanger on the street for help with opening a popsicle. “It’s hard to look hard when you’re opening a Popsicle!”
It’s reverse teasing, as he calls it: “I’m makin’ fun you, makin’ fun of me, by making fun of me –again– and somehow cripple comes out on top!” Ah, but don’t confuse Josh Blue’s self-deprecating humor with some condescending “It’s okay to laugh!” tour of your own stereotypes of physical disability. That element is there for those who need it, but everyone is first required to get over their pity reflex. This stuff is funny; not just funny-from-a-guy-with-palsy.
Josh Blue was meant to lead by example and lead he does, sometimes with a middle finger in the air. I can think of no comedian working a microphone today who brings together audiences more diverse than Josh Blue. He’s clever, witty, and tremendously admirable – not least of all for his refusal to make excuses.
US District Judge Denise Côte ruled against Apple Inc. last week, confirming that Apple, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Penguin, Macmillan, and News Corp. ganged up on readers to fix e-book prices. Last year, Bad Apple settled a separate antitrust case over e-book price-fixing with the European Commission without admitting any wrongdoing. Here in America, the company maintains the role of iSavior, insisting it was just trying to break Amazon’s control of the publishing industry.
