Multinational Political Party

It seems that pirates are more concerned about preserving civil liberties than most political parties. On January 1, 2006 the Swedish political party Piratpartiet (Pirate Party) was founded to address three issues:

• Reform of copyright law
• An abolished patent system
• Respect for the right to privacy

Since then Pirate Parties have been founded in many other countries, including the US, Italy, Germany and Austria, and PP International has been created to unite them.

In a recent interview with OUT-LAW.COM Rick Falvinge, founder of Piratpartiet, had this to say
“The entertainment industry is what drives today's witch hunt on civil liberties, DRM technologies is the large media cartels' way of writing their own laws to circumvent copyright laws and we do have an elected parliament to write such laws.”

Read more at The Register or hear the interview at OUT-LAW Radio.

Disclosure: I have volunteered to help PP International with web development. No, I didn’t design the logo. That was done by proj0.

Tags: Politics, Pirate Party, Piratpartiet, Internet, Copyright, Intellectual Property, DRM, Privacy, patent

Ted Stevens, Stupid or Corrupt?

Ted Stevens is either stupid or corrupt, maybe a little of both. He claims that the results of a poll, funded by his owner, “…finds that an overwhelming majority of American voters favor video choice over onerous “Net Neutrality” regulations”.

Here is the question he’s referring to from the poll:

Which of the following two items do you think is the most important to you:
Delivering the benefits of new TV and video choice so consumers will see increased competition and lower prices for cable TV

OR

Enhancing Internet neutrality by barring high speed internet providers from offering specialized services like faster speed and increased security for a fee

Only an idiot, or someone who is more committed to Verizon than they are to the American people, would consider this question of any statistical use.

I wonder how much the telcos paid for Ted.

You can find the poll here, the press release here and another story about this here.

Tags: Politics, Idiot, Corruption, Congress, Senate, Ted Stevens, Net Neutrality

Those Crazy Muslims

the Daily Mail story

Islamic leaders consistently state that Islam is a religion of peace. Yet when something offends them, and they are offended very easily, they react with violence.

When Islamic leaders consistently condemn acts of terrorism done in the name of Islam, and stop calling for jihad every time someone even remotely criticizes Islam, then maybe I will believe Islam is a religion of peace.

The current message they are sending is “We are a religion of peace and if you imply otherwise we will start a holy war!”

Tags: Islam, Terrorism, Politics, Religion, Religion, Hate, War, Jihad

Many Parasites

“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.”

— Groucho Marx

Tags: Art, Politics, Entertainment, Culture, Groucho Marx, Famous Quotes

Night Curve

For some reason I like this view at night. So I shot it.

Tags: Photography , Photos , Art , Personal

Rusty Perspective

In Jr. High School my journalism teacher taught me how to use a camera. I was hooked, and have been ever since. A few years ago, when the rest of the photography world went digital, my life fell completely apart.

Now I have a new digital camera. I'm a little rusty, but I took some photos, and I'm still hooked. Here's a sample.

Tags: Photography, Photos, Art, Personal, Life, technology, Flowers

NFL opening day

'Nuff said.

Tags: Steelers, NFL, Football, Sports, Pittsburgh

Amarin Thai Cuisine

We tried a new (well, new to us) restaurant yesterday. I decided to go there based on a post, and its comments, on Uneasy Rhetoric. We didn’t go to Gaesorn, the restaurant the post was about, but we’ll have to try that one someday.

We went to Amarin on 12th and I. The service was excellent. It was a good value. For pricing check their online menu. The food was very good.

For an appetizer we had Shrimp in a Blanket. It’s a good blend of flavors and for those of you who can’t eat spicy food, it’s not spicy.

The Garlic Lover Shrimp was good and they give you about a dozen big shrimp. The garlic sauce was very good and the shrimp was cooked perfectly. It’s great over rice.

The Path Tha-Le was excellent. It’s spicy, especially if you eat the Thai peppers. I love Thai peppers. If you’re not a big seafood fan, you won’t like it, however if you like seafood and Thai food, try it.

We will definitely eat there again. However we might try Gaesorn first.

Tags: Review, restaurant, Thai, Food, Asian, Sacramento, Seafood