Archive for the ‘Potpourri’ Category
Thursday, July 3rd, 2008
A US Federal court has ruled that Google must hand over
Youtube usage logs to
Viacom. Those logs include the following information.
- Log in ID of users
- IP addresses of users computers
- Details of the video clips uploaded and viewed
Viacom is the parent company of Paramount pictures and MTV. They accuse YouTube of “massive copyright infringement”. A few other international companies are looking to join in on the lawsuit as part of a possible class-action against Google. One such company is The UK’s Premier League association which contends that Youtube has allowed the viewing of football (soccer) match highlights.
Clearly the lawsuit isn’t something new as it has been in litigation for over a year now, but these developments are troubling to say the least. This order opens a wide path not to just go after Google as a company, but also individual users of the YouTube service. I wonder if a person views copyrighted material, knowing it is copyrighted have they violated the law as well as those who supply it?
What are your thoughts on this? Do you feel violated? Does it concern you that by embedding copyrighted material on a website or blog via YouTube that could possibly be considered an issue of copyright infringement?
Additional information:
- EFF thoughts on the matter
- Google has been ordered to turn over all the REMOVED videos as well. Google had argued that Viacom should have to specify the individual videos, but the judge disagreed
- Google responded by saying:
“We are pleased the court put some limits on discovery,” Google said in the statement, “including refusing to allow Viacom to access users’ private videos and our search technology. We are disappointed the court granted Viacom’s overreaching demand for viewing history. We are asking Viacom to respect users’ privacy and allow us to anonymize the logs before producing them under the court’s order.”
Has Viacom gone too far?
- Yes (100%, 2 Votes)
- No (0%, 0 Votes)
- Not Sure (0%, 0 Votes)
Total Voters: 2
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Posted in News and Politics, Potpourri | 3 Comments »
Monday, June 30th, 2008
I just renewed the domain name for this site! Please note that the
jealous line forms over there —-> Thanks. A Blog about Nothing will be around for at LEAST another year. And what a year it will be! Over the course of the next 12 months you can look forward to (with eager anticipation if you don’t mind) more posts like
this. Of course we can’t forget
this post, nor
this one.
So what does that mean for you? Not much aside from the fact I intend to do my level headed best to keep this blog interesting and “off-topic” at least as much as I am able.
There will some changes however. Because without change I’d bore myself to death. So stay tuned for future posts! Yes, I do feel like cheesy commercial after typing that.
And just for the record, no I don’t think the above linked posts were my best work, but it’s 11pm and I’m not much inclined to find the best posts I’ve written. Though to be honest the Shoemoney vs. Rowse one is worth a chuckle or two. Unless you’re dead and even then you’d need to be especially dead.
Posted in Potpourri | No Comments »
Saturday, June 28th, 2008
Normally this isn’t something I do, but I’ve decided I should respond publicly to an email I received from two emails I received from a reader. First of all this particular reader has posted a couple of comments on my post about ball pythons.
You’ll find this person posting both as “Monty” and as “Brianne”. Which for some reason she thought was clever or something, but apparently didn’t account for the IP address being the same. But whatever. I played the game and responded to both personalities “in character” and called out BS when I read it in the comments. Then I got two emails from this person. The first email says:
BRIANNE () wrote:
I’m also a little confused with this crap you’re trying to tell my readers
about the snake burying it’s head in the back of the mouse’s neck to sense
the pulse. That is complete and utter garbage. A total fabrication that no
doubt someone lied to you about. A BP is constrictor. You throw a f/t rat in
with it and it will still strike and constrict. There’s no pulse to be found
and it still goes at it with the same gusto.
HERE THIS IS WHAT YOU WROTE ME, I HAVE FUCKIN WATCHED MY SNAKE DO THIS
FUCKIN PRICK
Ok easy enough. Apparently my dear friend Brianne thinks I’m telling her that her snake doesn’t bury it’s nose in the back of the mouses neck. Two of my snakes do it all the time. What she misses, by a country mile is the fact that I’m telling her that doing so to sense a pulse is utter garbage. How can I be so sure? Because like I said in my response to her comment on the blog was that it does this regardless of if the mouse is alive or dead.
And her second email (because it seems that one isn’t enough to describe how upset she really is)
Brianne Moore () wrote:
Hi im the one with the name”monty” i thought i would just ask you a little
question. how can you be a fucking know it all, and at first i was impressed
with the info you were letting others know, but your personal life and blog
scene really doesn’t have anything to do with ball pythons, i think someone just
brought it up and you went with it, cuz now that i think of it everything that
you have said so far is stuff i already read off the internet and you didnt
really help. but hey there is a lot of fake people in the world and your just
another one of them. i think that your one of those insecure weirdos who think
that having a big famous blog will make you special or something, i mean damn
you were named after a fish maybe you should look into a blog about fish. well
im never this mean but something you said when you wrote to monty being me
“brianne” really set me off, you’re like one of those rich little fucks that
think they fucking know everything, damn im so pissed that you turned out to be
a fake jerk i cant even say anymore!
Brianne let me ask you this, publicly. How did you miss that this is a PERSONAL blog? Because you seem pretty surprised when you realize that my personal life and “blog scene” has nothing to do with Ball Pythons. This blog has nothing to do with Ball Pythons aside from the fact I felt like posting something about them on here. Which apparently in your economy is a crime.
You’re absolutely right someone just brought it up and I went with it. That’s how life works. You find something that interests you and you “go with it”. Welcome to reality.
As far as originality goes I don’t recall saying it was original information. It doesn’t need to be original information. You might have found it elsewhere on the internet but judging by your comments and questions on the post in question you didn’t manage to do much with that information. Aside from make some stupid comments like the one about your snake checking for a pulse.
A blog about fish? Hmm interesting. Maybe I could make a video tutorial on tying flies or proper casting techniques? Oh wait someone already has done it so that wouldn’t do for you at all. After all a simple internet search turns up the same information. Not to mention the monetization when it comes to fishing as a topic isn’t so hot. But thanks all the same for the idea.
It’s ok to be pissed Brianne. We all do it. It’s not ok to be pissed without reason though and that’s exactly what you are doing. So let’s review what Brianne has done wrong:
- Mistook a personal blog for a topical blog
- Missed the fact that a blog (personal or topical) will be rife with opinion. That’s why it’s a blog. It’s not meant to be a newspaper
- Failed to read the blog she was commenting on (this one) beyond on article. Has she read more than just one article there would have been no confusion on her part
- Needs to learn a little something about IP addresses and Word Press technology before assuming she has pulled one over on anyone by commenting under two different names
Really we could go on and on but there’s no need to list everything out. So you might wonder why I’m airing dirty laundry for the world to see. A few reasons.
- It serves as a good object lesson
- Any communications sent to me either by email or via blog comment is fair game. How’s that for a privacy policy?
- I feel like it
I don’t generally post emails online from readers. Usually I just respond to the email itself and leave well enough alone, but I decided it would make sense to turn a bad situation into a new post.
Posted in Potpourri | 2 Comments »
Saturday, June 28th, 2008
As I was watching Courtney Tuttle’s latest video guide about
choosing a profitable blog topic I got a little sidetracked by the price of gas. He mentioned the
keyword tool and I decided to test it out. Again. I can personally vouch for the tools effectiveness if used properly. So anyhow I tried a few different topics and one thing led to another and I ended up at a site called
Gas Buddy.
If you’ve never heard of the site before you should check it out. It’s a big database of gas stations across the United States and their prices. Basically it is designed to help you find cheap affordable gas and get an idea of how much you’ll be paying in a particular area. You can actually search by zip code and narrow it right down to where you are. In today’s economy when fuel prices are through the roof spending a few extra minutes planning where you’ll buy your gas isn’t a bad idea.
One other neat feature is the gas price temperature map. This allows you to see at a glance just how much you’re being ripped off compared to the rest of the country.
Just click the image above and it will take you to the live version of the map. Then put in your zipcode and have a look around at the prices in your area. It can differ as much as a dollar just by going one or two towns over. Sometimes the extra half-mile drive is worth it. Sometimes it’s not. There’s also a heat map for Canada
Now it’s time to go back and actually watch that video Court put so much effort into. Unless I get sidetracked again.
Posted in Blogging, Potpourri | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 28th, 2008
We all have ideas. Some good, many
bad terrible, but one thing people often lack is the ability to move from having an idea to making it a reality. Here are a few tips that have helped me in turning various ideas I’ve had into a reality.
- Put your idea aside
- One thing I’ve found to be a real blessing in disguise is to let an idea set for at least a month after my initial excitement for it. 95% of the time I find that my enthusiasm for that particular idea is all but non-existent after waiting that long.
The idea might still be good, but if after a month a month you aren’t as enthralled with it as you were to begin with how do you expect to be enthralled with it a year or two down the road. Put it aside for at least a month and then go back to it. If the passion is still there then you have something to work with.
- Be brutally honest
- This is a tall order for most people when it comes to evaluating themselves and their ideas. What seems like a good idea at first glance is often found to be lacking upon further review. When you’re taking a look at an idea you’ve had with a critical eye ask a few questions and be brutally honest in your answers. I like to start with a short list of questions that look a lot like the following -
- Is my idea original and if not how unoriginal is it?
- Am I willing to put the time and effort into developing the idea?
- Do I actually have the skills to make this idea work or know people who do?
- Am I able to invest both time and capital into the idea?
- How much time am I willing to invest in this idea?
My simple rule is that if I answer no to two or more of those questions I squash the idea and leave it dead. If I answer no to one question I think long and hard about it before moving forward. If I answer yes to all of those questions I’m much more comfortable and willing to move forward.
- Everyone has a role to play
- In movies there are the main actors and actresses. They are the big name stars that get millions of dollars just to show up on the set. Behind those people are the ones who actually make the movie work. They are the supporting cast and crew. It might be your idea and you might be the big “star”, but don’t forget to surround yourself with a supporting cast and crew that can make your idea shine.
- Fresh eyes are the best eyes
- Despite being honest with ourselves there are going to be times when we’ll insist on biting off more than we can chew. We become like little kids trying to get the square peg into the round hole. They can’t see it doesn’t work but everyone else can. No amount of coaxing or coaching will convince them otherwise. They have to experience it for themselves.
Refusing to allow others to give input to our ideas is a lot like that. The idea we have is square and we’re trying to stuff it into a round hole. It doesn’t fit and for the life of us we can’t figure out why. If we’d only take a moment to ask those around us for help we might be surprised how much easier it is to put the right peg into the right hole.
- Knowing when to call it quits
- Reality is a cruel master at times, but it is also a very necessary master. If your idea simply isn’t working out don’t try to make it work. Abandon it. If you’re the only one who is excited about it you might as well just give up on it altogether. There’s really no point in beating a dead horse. It’s dead no matter how hard you kick and a bad idea is a bad idea regardless of how many times you try to make it something else
Posted in Potpourri | 5 Comments »
