Randomn3ss

I just logged into MySpace today to, well to check MySpace out and saw something kind of unusual an Amber Alert. Back in January I told you that MySpace was going to add Amber Alerts, Right above where it says Hello, Mike Panic (once you are logged in, above your default photo on the left) was a link that said,

ATTENTION: There is an Amber Alert in your area.
Please CLICK HERE to find out more information.

Now I’m very aware that MySpace is far from secure and peoples accounts get hacked or taken over on a daily basis, usually due to password phishing, but I know I didn’t login anywhere unusual. Intrigued, I clicked the link and the screenshot to the right came into view. Please note that the screenshot I took is real, those kids are missing, it is not false information.

This is a great thing for MySpace to offer to utilize this system, there are millions of people online daily and hopefully this will bring more attention to child kidnappings. It is sad to see it actually in effect now though.
Offical Amber Alert website: http://www.amberalert.gov/

I hate waiting at red lights just as much as the next guy, but apparently down in Tennessee they do things just a wee bit different. They also don’t seem to be fans of big brother watching down on their every move either. While I can admit that I am not a fan of video cameras in public, it has proven to both reduce crime and help incarcerate criminals in different parts of the country as well as the world.

Okay, so last night I’m chillin’ on my couch, drinking beer 2 of 3, watching god only knows what on TV.  Seriously, couldn’t even tell you which channel I was watching at the time.  I’m zoning out and then this trippy, possibly-funny public service announcement comes on.  Now, there’s some pretty laughable drug-related PSAs as of late: the one where the car full of high kids hits the girl on the bike, the one where the high kid shoots the other high kid as a joke, and the most recent scary-ass one from Canada about kitchen safety (okay, if you’re going to watch the last one, please note that the last 2.5 seconds will burn a hole into your memory.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you).  But this most recent one I saw last night is… something special.  Not only is it stupid, but it blames everyday people for shit they can’t possibly prevent.

The video below - on meth labs, which are apparently running rampany in this country, although personally I think meth is really 1997 and totally un-glamorous, which is probably why it’s so prevalent in parts of the country where there’s nothing to do - takes the cake for both ridiculous shock-value and improbability.  It’s also really poorly done and I just feel bad for the guy in it because 1) he’s just trying to eat his breakfast and 2) how the fuck does he know there’s a meth lab next door?

Okay, give it a watch:

Basically, the lesson is: if you mind your own fucking business, you will get blown up by your neighbor’s meth lab.  So start spying on your neighbors, because according to the powers that be, if you get blown up by someone else’s meth lab, it’s your own fucking fault for not reporting them to the police who are supposed to investigate and save you from other people’s meth labs.  I’m jus’ sayin’…

1. 4 people, 1 bottle Captain Morgan, west San Francisco, 8pm
2. Best long island ever, Amber, Castro 8:30pm
3. Gay Bar, “officially drunk” thank you for the free drinks “Chad”! 9pm
4. Gay Bar, dancing, more drinks, french man, french kiss.
5. Burrito at the expense of gay booty call 11pm
6. 10 minutes of hell in friend’s 4 inch heels
7. Gay Bar, dancing, drinking…. Bars close… “WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!?!?!?!?!?”
8. Flirting with cab driver gets me to The Tranni Shack.
9. Drinks, dancing.
10. Too drunk to notice drive by… busy.    (making out in middle of street)
11. Leave friend with police…
12. Pass out in hallway
13. Breathalizer, 10am…         .15

*No persons were harmed in the making of this glorious, glorious evening*

What may have been one of the largest collections of amazing music and programs in bittorrent format was raided last night and shut down.  Mega torrent tracker OiNK, which had a near fight club attitude to advertising and was available to users only on an invite basis, seems to have been shut down for good.  Excerpts from the IFPI press release,

British and Dutch police today shut down the world’s biggest source of illegal pre-release chart albums and arrested a 24-year old man in an operation coordinated between Middlesbrough and Amsterdam.

The site, with an estimated membership of 180,000, has been used by many hardcore file-sharers to violate the rights of artists and producers by obtaining copyrighted recordings and making them available on the internet.

The site’s servers, based in Amsterdam, were seized in a series of raids last week. OiNK’s operator allegedly made money by setting up a donations account on the site facilitated by PayPal.

Reuters has a quote from one of the people who works for IFPI,

“OiNK was central to the illegal distribution of pre-release music online,” said Jeremy Banks, head of the anti-piracy unit at the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), which helped in the investigation.

I am saddened to see OiNK go, if it truly is gone forever.  Over the last two years or so I was introduced to countless amounts of new music that I otherwise may have never heard before.  In my opinion, the music industry needs to figure out a better way to distribute music, with CD sales falling every year; one would think they get the drift.  My opinion is that the $1 per song download through iTunes and similar sites is not the answer either.

My heart goes out to this guy, he had a good idea, bad intent, executed every so wrongly. Down in Tennessee, where things are supposed to be a bit slower, more hometown and just nicer, a man still couldn’t pass up the temptation of free money.

The United Press International published

Damon Armagost, of Smryna, pleaded guilty Friday to printing $1,400 in counterfeit bills from the image of $100 bill he downloaded on his computer

What’s worse, he had what was one of the best places to pass fakes at,

spent $600 in counterfeit money in April on strippers who became suspicious and called police, who recognized the counterfeit bills as all having the same number as fake money passed elsewhere in the country

Now a few things bother me about this. No one takes $100’s to a strip club, not unless you are in a major city and you are seriously ballin’. A few twenties will get you a nice stack of ones at the door for the ladies and you should be good for a night of fun. Maybe you give a $5 or 10 out now and again, perhaps even a $20 tip for a lap dance, but who really gives strippers $100 bills? Additionally, who knew strippers were so up on counterfeit numbers being circulated around in the country? That just takes the cake for me. I’m more willing to believe that the paper felt weird, it wasn’t cut squarely on the corners, almost anything other than the fact that they were aware of the serial numbers being used on other bills in the country.

Downloading photos of money from the internet? Guess it doesn’t grow on trees but it sure does get around the ‘net.

August 15, 2007 marked the first day that I, Adrienne, have been to court…

TRAFFIC COURT, that is!

In mid-July, I was pulled over on my way to work for “failure to obey a steady red.” In layman’s terms, that means I ran a red light (…which I didn’t). I wasn’t speeding at the time; I mean, seriously, I was on my way to my former job, there’s no way I would speed to get there. But two cars behind me were speeding and ran the red after I went through the yellow and did they get pulled over?? Nooooooooo. Of course not.

Whatever, so I get off the main road, get my ticket issued, and cry a little bit (I’m Catholic and have a guilt complex, so although I pay for everything, I am still certain my parents are going to kill me). I also remember as I am pulling over that I had gotten my license picture taken the day before and chose to put my hair in a side ponytail and wear a sweatband for it (stay classy, Philadelphia!). But the police officer was very nice and actually kinda cute (in fact, if you’re reading this Officer Matt and you pulled over the chick in the Acura coupe, call me!). He was the one who suggested that I plead “not guilty” and he would “see what he could do about the points.”

Points???? Oh, hell yeah, I’m pleading not guilty!!

So I did and today I made an appearance at the district court for Montgomery County. My appointment was for 9:45am so I showed up at 9:30am. Of course, I had to pay for parking at a meter so I put in every nickel I could find in my ride. Jerks. I walk in to a crowded waiting room which I expected to be filled with vagrants. Then I remember that I’m on the Main Line and everyone has more money than I do. I immediately make up, in my head, all the crap they are in for to entertain myself, but pretty much it’s all traffic violations. And soon enough, it’s just going to be me and another person in the waiting room, as everyone else gets called and processed.

I approach the counter, sign in… and I wait. And wait. And wait. It gets to the point that the 75-year-old man at the counter quips “I’m getting sick and tired of looking at you” (in a joking way, of course, because made sure to look hot, in case the cop did show up and wanted to ask me out). An hour later, he gives my citation to another officer who takes me in as a mercy case and we head to the court room. He’s not bad looking, but he’s definitely married with kids. I can tell these things.

Now, let me tell you… despite the fact that it’s a district court, it’s still kinda intimidating. The judge is all in her robes and shit and she’s definitely holding a gavel and the cop is on the side of the courtroom where the good guys on Law & Order sit and I’m just kinda shaking a little bit on the “bad people left hand side.” So we’re all sitting and smiling and verifying my name and the cop is like “Are you worried about the points?” and I was like “Uh, I’m kinda worried about everything. I just got fired so I don’t have any money either.” And then the officer was like “I recommend that we withdraw the charges.” And the judge was like “Sounds good to me, especially since Miss Isaac waited for an hour.” And I was like “Fuck yeah, rock on!” Just kidding, I was like “Thank you officer, your honor, I won’t ever do anything wrong ever again.”

Isn’t that the most accurate rendering of a court transcript that you’ve ever read? Yes, clearly I am a master writer.

Actually, I’m just really too excited because I basically just got the best karma boost ever and totally got out of my first traffic violation. I mean, considering all of the other illegal things I’ve never gotten busted for doing, this is freaking awesome. Do any of you have better stories of your brushes with the long arm of the law? I should really go read to blind kids or something to re-boost my karma, but I’m just gonna go lay at my mom’s pool instead. Oh, and obey all traffic signals from here on out.

WOOHOO!!

On Saturday, a video surfaced on mainstream Greek media outlets depicting Greek police officers brutalizing migrant workers. In the video (taken on a camera phone), the officers force the 2 men to beat up one another as well as beatings from the officers themselves.

Apparently, the video has been widely circulated amongst Greek police officers over the past year. The video made it’s way to the “general public” when it was uploaded to a publicly shared site. The ever-vigilant Indymedia.org jumped all over it and delivered it to the worldwide masses.

Currently, Greek Prime Minister Karamanlis is still standing behind his Minister of Public Order. This is understandable as incidents such as these have sadly become commonplace within the Greek police.

Please be advised that the video is rather unsettling. Video Link

Translation of the video can be found here

[Insert deep, resounding sigh here]

Once again, our country just doesn’t get it.

We spend money on this instead of ending the war in Iraq, working to find energy alternatives in the wake of a petroleum price spike, feeding our impoverished, improving urban schools, or making my more heathcare more affordable.  No, no - graffiti is the real problem.  If we stop the graffiti, obviously the gangs will just say “Uh… I guess we should just get rid of these drugs and guns and shit and disband.”  Obviously. 

Although I’m not a fan of graffiti in certain areas (like, say… my new Acura), there is something to be said for graffiti as an urban artform.  It’s relatively cheap to buy the tools with which to tag things and it requires no formal training.  I’ve seen some incredible graffiti around Philadelphia, resulting from both urban renewal projects (those murals you see on 76, which aren’t quite graffiti, but an example of urban art) to the tags of my buddy Rob who used to bring his ink pens around the Main Line on our walks. 

This tracking system also raises issues of American government striving to become “Big Brother.”  I agree with Simon Davies, head of Privacy International, when he says:

“The money they are spending on this should be reinvested in urban regeneration, using graffiti as an art form.  Surveillance tracking destroys self-esteem and there are more effective solutions to urban dysfunction.”

The government isn’t considering the reprocussions of theparanoia that builds within a society that is controlled to this extent.  True, there is little that the government has control of - drugs, organized crime, an unpopular war… but American government is beginning to resemble a stress-induced bulimic - taking control of something completely outside of the problematic situations that are spiraling out of control.

I need to move to Switzerland immediately.

Source: BBC.com (because only news orgs outside this country would comment on this)

As a photographer, I can truly empathize with this article and while I am not a parent, plenty of my friends have children and have asked me to photograph them. Most parents take hundreds of photographs of their children in the first two or three years of their life, with digital the number is now several thousand. It is not uncommon for them to snap photos daily because at that young age, subtle changes happen often.

One of the more common photos parents will take is of their children in a bath tub (often with their spouse or siblings), running around the house naked after just getting out of the tub or sitting on the toilet for the first time. Usually these are kept for the family and occasionally for that first time you go on a date to embarrass you. Things are slowly changing.

The FBI has issued blanket requests to photo processing labs and computer repair shops in some cities to be on the lookout for pictures of kids in compromising positions, urging them to call the authorities whether they’re sure or not about a picture’s legality. The big national chains that have photo processing labs — Costco, CVS, Rite-Aid, and Wal-Mart — have company policies that compel them to notify the police about any criminal activity they see in customers’ photos. And when children are involved, they’re more than willing to err on the side of caution.

Makes sense, right? One would think so, however it is nearly impossible to draw a line in the sand to what is or is not worth calling about, even top executives at major drug store chains who process photographs states that this is near impossible to force.

Where is the line drawn and at what point should the authorities be called?

Source with more information: Popular Photography

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