October 4, 2006

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More Links Than You Can Count On One Hand If You've Had A Finger Chopped Off In A Kitchen Accident

• Just a reminder: EatFoo exists. I'm not cross-posting unless it involves pretty pictures of mine. If you aren't checking it, you missed my ridiculously delicious Butternut Squash and Crab Bisque.
• Jeanette complains about exuberant individuals not respecting peoples' personal spaces at a recent concert at the Black Cat. I disagree with her opinion that their behavior is improper. In my view, if you are standing right in front of the stage, no more than two or three rows of bodies back, you are in the "space waiver zone." You have voluntarily given up any right you had to personal space by choosing to stand in the most desirable location in the venue. If people are so excited by the concert that they are induced to dance (and it takes a lot for those emotion-eschewing hipsters to get to that stage), then they have every right to dance up front, even if someone else is located immediately behind them and to each side of them. They can dance wildly, wave their arms in the air, and even bump into people around them, because if the people up front don't like it, they can move.

  By the way, Architecture In Helsinki is great live. I've seen them twice now and they've been awesome both times.

• Andy Carvin points out an article in the hard-hitting journalism rag Delta-Sky Magazine on our country's first newspaper. It's very interesting, particularly when taken in the context of Andy's analysis of the newspaper's prescient foray into citizen journalism. The newspaper was titled Publick Occurences Both Forreign and Domestick.
  

  In the inaugural issue, Harris stated that he would publish the paper once a month, though would consider doing so more often "if any Glut of Occurrences happen."

• CNN is now offering a new video service called CNN Pipeline (including the new citizen journalism offering iReport [link to Daily Show segment about iReport]). In terms of interface and user-friendliness, the service is horribly designed. After twenty minutes of solid effort, I still couldn't get it to work with the web-based viewer or the Windows viewer (both of which they supply), and I'm a friggin' expert on the intertubes! Anyway, that's not what I want to discuss about it. CNN Pipeline is a subscription service, like many web sites these days. But unlike many, if you just want a one-day pass (for instance, you want to see a particular video to which someone has linked), you can have that—for $0.99! Yep. I know that I am entirely willing to pay a buck when I want to see something on the internet, and I'm really happy that they offer this option.

  I am very excited by the prospect of coming systems of micropayment. Eventually, I'd like to be able to surf the internet, and have it silently charge my bank account half a cent for every NYT article I view, for instance, or one cent for every YouTube video I watch. When we get to the point where that is feasible, considering transaction costs, it will create a fertile ground for profitable innovation in which things that are of little marginal value (like newspaper articles) will nevertheless have a way to make good on their enormous overall value. It'll be a whole new internet.

• Rep. Mark Foley is getting what he deserves, and not because of his electronic tête-á-tête. My opinion on this subject is already spread all around the blogosphere like the common cold, but I just want to post it on here as well. The Foley story is not an exposé of pedophilia, it is an exposé of hypocrisy. Martin points out that Foley lobbied for tougher laws on internet sex crimes, and was successful—to the point that the penalties are worse for internet chatting with someone underage than if one were actually to engage in sexual intercourse with someone underage.

  I think that sixteen year olds can competently consent to sexual activity with a partner of any age, so anything re: him talking to a sixteen year-old is guiltless in my book, at least insofar as the conduct itself. When taken in the context of his position, it becomes a big problem. And when taken in the context of his "family values" stance and specific role lobbying for tougher penalties for sex crimes, it's a really big problem.

  Sex laws in this country are already so horrible. A friend of mine currently has a family member being charged with statutory rape for having had consensual sex with a girl he met at an 18+ club, and who claimed she was over 18. It turns out she is 15. Oops. Now he'll be labeled a sex offender, won't be able to get any jobs, won't be able to live within a certain distance of schools, and may even have to walk around his neighborhood letting everyone know that he is a sex offender. All because a man in his early twenties had consensual sex with a young woman. I think that's ridiculous.

Posted at October 4, 2006 5:39 AM | Comments (9)

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