Can we pause to note that this paper is from 1986?

Over twenty years ago this was being researched, and yet there is still no aisle in Target today that features these devices in an array of pleasing colors and battery sizes. Ok Science, get with it here already....

It sounds like a good read, though I wonder if the issue isn't more about how it has grown increasingly difficult to remain non-partisan on most issues. Or perhaps I've been reading too many election coverage articles discussing these "undecided" centrist voters, and I feel baffled trying to imagine who these people are. Things feel (to me) so much more polarized in the US now, and I think that makes it easier for people to ignore the facts and just go with what they have always believed (on both sides).

I'd like to know whether someone from USAID or the Federal government actually told Popline "censor abortion" or if they did it voluntarily. Both are inexcusable, but if they're doing this voluntarily (as it would appear), and not as a condition of their funding, I have little sympathy for them. Make the censors censor you; don't do their jobs for them.
This kind of story should be getting much more press than it's receiving now.

I did read the article, and I'd have liked to see an experiment where a fish chose between a group of four small fish and a group of three rather large fish. I have a feeling this has a lot more to do with perceived mass of the group than the actual count.

If someone who did not work for the government accessed these files, would they be charged with a crime? Certainly. So why is it different for these contractors? They accessed private government info without being asked to by the government. Some would call that treason. Some would call it curiosity.

Whatever the case, they broke the law. It's as simple as that. Whether they looked at your files or those of a presidential candidate, what they did is illegal, and no one is even talking about arresting these people. As a result, you can bet it will happen again and keep happening.

Really nice work. Hated to see it end so soon, actually. And agree with previous comments about the paypal links going directly to the authors.

Must note the "I Killed Adolf Hitler" graphic novel by the Norwegian artist known only as Jason, which is quite good (as is most all of his work).

Most of the professional photographers I know are quite odd, even bizarre.

These posters are disgusting. Expect them in the US any day now.

Based upon the name and the box art, I assumed it was a tablet that gave me the ability to pass along airborne contagions to others while out in the world, thereby slowly thinning the crowds at commute time and on airplanes. So yeah, I'm on board with the false advertising thing--I took it for weeks to no avail. Though I did not catch a cold, I would note.

If their in-store security is so bad that Best Buy needs to check bagged items, that's just lazy, and I shouldn't have to pay for that with my time.

Reminds me of the days when grocery stores would have a person there to bag your groceries at every register and the bagger would then walk you to your car, or at least to the door. It was service for you and security for the store.

Of course, stores have to pay baggers. And these days, I'm lucky if I don't have to scan my own damn groceries. Fact is, retail companies in the US just don't care about anything but making the most by using the least. That's the longtail of free-market capitalism in an unregulated democracy, and it's only going to get worse--at least until online sales outpace b&m, and the b&m's amp up their customer service to make you like shopping there.

#16: Touche, Teresa, touche.

Leave it to a mod to complain about a 3-paragraph "grammar lecture" : )

#1--Songe: As you allude, "disconnect" is a verb, not a noun. I don't know specifically when the slang usage of it as a noun started , but it has been within the past 3 years or so in the US, and it is commonly believed that it began within corporate environments (aka business slang).

This trend is the opposite of what has often happened with words in the US (including "contact" for instance, which began as a noun and devolved into a verb, and, more recently, "impact", a noun that is being used as a verb in US print and speech lately as well).

In a large majority of the cases where people incorrectly use "disconnect" as a noun, the word "misunderstanding" would fit much more appropriately (as is the case in Cory's piece). These kinds of language degradations make English grow increasingly more difficult to teach, especially to ESOL students (one would never use "connect" as a noun, after all). And for writers or public speakers, it's just lazy grammar.

Cory, as both of those, should know better.

--If the ad in question wasn't for M$ or some other company that BB had previously taken to task on occasion, would so many people be upset?

--If the ad in question weren't appearing embedded in the content box (and thus not able to be blocked), would so many people be upset?

--Do 60+ comments really equate to "so many people" given the stratospheric number of BB readers?

--If the answer to the previous question is "no", do the first two questions even matter? What number of comments would make them matter? 100? 200? 500?

I wonder what Ms. Murphy's middle name is and why she's not interested in using that as her band name. Or even her last name. Or her initials. Could it be because she knows she'll benefit from the name recognition of a dead celebrity?

I also wonder what said dead celebrity himself would have to say about this. IANJL, but I suspect the man who once proclaimed his band as bigger than Jesus would tell everyone to ignore this manipulative little attention grabbing marketing ploy and realize everyone will forget who she is in a few years or less.

Yoko, for all her faults, appears content to let Ms. Murphy release music under whatever name she wants, as long as it doesn't threaten Yoko's ability to release her husband's music under his actual name (for whom Ms. Murphy was named in tribute to) as well. It's hard for me to see any fault in that.

So does this mean BB readers all get free Hondas? I'll take mine in black, thanks.

I use adblock+ and didn't know anything about this, and I'm sort of surprised more readers aren't using that too, actually. It's extremely effective and free (as in beer) (and as in boingboing, for that matter).

#16: Our own country already makes us go through long-time-wasting forms and drills and such; why would the other countries bother?

#41's comment is pretty much dead on. It would be nice to see the TSA be a little more transparent about who's behind the blog, and it might help them to try and associate a human identity (or multiple humans) with their own postings. Assuming they really do want this to work as a blog and not just as some temporary PR thing, riding this whole new-fangled 'blogesphere' wave. That was maybe too harsh, but you see what I mean.

I don't think I ever knew that "butter or margarine" (from pg 6 of the booklet) was considered an essential food group. Was this sponsored by the bariatrics industry?
And I don't understand the crazy swirly eyes thing either.

I've flown back and forth from Dulles to SFO during the past month and have not had this experience. My laptop needed to be separate, as per usual, but my digital camera, PSP, and cellphone (and various extra batteries, recharge cables, etc) all went through the belt in my backpack together and in their own cases with no hassle.
I think it's painfully obvious at this point that the system is not a system, but an arbitrary bunch of loosely related rules that change from agent to agent, hour to hour, and airport to airport. Most of the time, I readily admit, the TSA agents do a fantastic job. But there are periodically agents who are bullies and/or simply do not actually know the rules or have the proper training.
Ways to fix the problems noted here and in many other postings are through better (and ongoing/regularly updated) training, public postings at the security gates of ALL carry-on rules, and the establishment of a TSA board to field complaints from travelers and deal out real consequences for agents and airports who abuse passengers.
I'd love to see other suggestions as well as ideas about what congresspeople and senators would be most likely to embrace these ideas and create/sponsor an appropriate bill.

IANAL, but the article strongly implies that actual proof of selective network tampering exists, which would mean that this can be taken to court, and Comcast (and any other ISP doing the same thing) can be class actioned for breach of contract at the very least.
Am I wrong or missing some important point? Just surprised that no one else has brought this up in this longish thread so far, as that would seem the most effective way of getting this more media attention and solving the problem.

I'm not going to get involved in the oil prices=food prices discussion, but I will note one stat from the article quoted that rings more than true:
"Some commodities brokers are now betting on oil going to $200 a barrel within a decade."
IANACB, but I'd say their bet is a pretty safe one. I would be very, very surprised if oil didn't reach $200 a barrel within 5 years, in fact, much less in a decade.
And I have no idea what that means for food prices.

No matter how much this sort of thing happens, I see zero likelihood that the police in this country will ever give up their new taser toys (or actually learn to use and respect them as the potentially lethal weapons they really are). Welcome to everyday occurrences in America, circa 2012 or so.

Like most things she's done in the public eye, Rowling is going about this the wrong way. Were I the author in question, I'd have given the fan-based encyclopedia my blessing or at least offered no public comment about it.
Meanwhile, I'd talk to my publisher and tell them about the fan-encyclopedia and suggest to them that they go out and talk to the major retailers and discourage them from carrying it or be penalized when my own special authorized encyclopedia comes out in three years. Imagine all Border's stores getting their copies of my book a week later than every other bookstore on the planet. Not likely something Border's would want to risk.
Problem solved, and I (as the author) still look like a good guy publicly.
Seriously, it's as though no one has ever sat JK down for an afternoon and explained PR.

Some great comments and some fine examples of the MPAA's hypocrisy regarding violent movie marketing. But I think it's important to understand that the real issue is not specifically about the implied violence of the image. I very strongly suspect that the image of soldiers taking a man away in handcuffs would be perfectly acceptable to the MPAA--were it not attached to the American flag. And I'd be very curious to see whether the poster would be approved if, as an experiment, the designers removed that aspect (an aspect that I would agree is essential to the message of the film, from what I understand of it, of course).

To my eyes, this is a "private" agency doing the government's (illegal) dirty work. What's truly sad about it is that a) they're doing it voluntarily, and b) unless the mass-mainstream media gets involved (hello, Entertainment Weekly?), most people who would care will never know.

johnnyweird:
I appreciate production requirements may be a bit less accessible for musicians than writers, but I'm not sure how that entitles one to greater or lesser copyright control than the other. It's all creative work, right?
As for your statement that "musicians have a set of skills that are not universal", I heartily agree, but so do writers.

tom: I like the honor system too. I just wish I could trust it to work for any given creative offering. Thanks for the blog link.

Cory, I find it mildly interesting that you appear to support the idea of musicians keeping tight control of all publishing and copyright restrictions regarding their work, given your stance on writing and creative commons. Obviously, music and text have different restrictions associated with their (re)publication and copyrights, but I'm inclined to make a comment regarding goose and gander here....