Security Updates for Villains: Playstation Network

PlayStation Network to return in full this week

By Andrew Webster | Published about 13 hours ago

Two weeks ago the PlayStation Network was restored, but much of the functionality still isn't in place, most notably the ability to buy games and other content from the PlayStation Store. Though a specific date still isn't known, Sony nows says that full functionality will be returned to PSN at some point this week.
The full list of features that will be returning includes the PS Store, in-game commerce, the ability to redeem vouchers and codes, the "music unlimited" service from Qriocity, and full functionality for the Media Go PC software. The timeline of this week affects PSN users in the Americas, as well as Europe and much of Asia; Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea will see full service restored at some point in the future.
Sony also says that the service will be getting some security and infrastructure upgrades, above and beyond the recently announced complimentary year of identity theft protection.
"We have been conducting additional testing and further security verification of our commerce functions in order to bring the PlayStation Network completely back online so that our fans can again enjoy the first class entertainment experience they have come to love," Sony executive President Kazuo Hirai said in a statement on the PlayStation Blog. "We appreciate the patience and support shown during this time."
When the store does go up, users will finally be able to access the Welcome Back packages from Sony, which include two free games, as well as other freebies like virtual items in PlayStation Home and extended subscriptions for PS+ users.

Shameless Screen Grab courtesy of Ars Technica

Torchwood Teaser

Coming soon to STARZ premiering Friday July 8th, 2011




Jack Harkness? He's a Villain. Oh yes, he is.

French Batman - with Wolverine!

You'll note, that early on, it's mentioned that in Gotham City, there's a murder every 45minutes. Maybe if Batman wasn't glory hogging and interfering with laws and due process, the police could get out and do what they're paid to do, and enforce the laws. But no, allowing Batman to even operate at all demonstrates that in the fictional city of Gotham, if you accept superheroes, you accept crime at horrific levels.


BATMAN DELIVRANCE from Atomic Production on Vimeo.

The masked vigilante with the stun gun dies.

Villains are Everywhere

When Superheroes Smell a Little Fame

***Warning: The following video has some crude material and language***




Hawkward courtesy Frog Island on Youtube

Superheroes are drawn to fame. Like moths to a flame.

Superhero Crimes

Sunday Runaround: Spider-Man Robs 7-11

Submitted by Mark Seifert on May 29, 2011 – 5:26 am (0) comments

First Real Life Deadpool, now this. A man in a Spider-Man mask was part of an armed robbery of a Wilmington, Delaware 7-11 Friday night.  Dana DiFilippo of the Philadelphia Daily News had the most interesting take on this, saying:

A man in a Spider-Man mask stormed a Wilmington 7-Eleven early yesterday morning and ordered the young clerk to hand over the contents of the cash register. The clerk complied, and the robber shot webs out of his hands and escaped by swinging from skyscraper to skyscraper. Actually, that didn’t happen. He and an armed accomplice in a boring black face mask

And concluding in a similar tone that tipsters should call the Daily Bugle if they have more information.  Setting aside for the moment the idea that armed robbery is no joke, the only flaw in her theme here is that she didn’t title the article Spider-Man: Threat Or Menace?, but perhaps she couldn’t get that past her editor.



Shameless Screen Grab courtesy of Bleeding Cool

Please, man dressed in a superhero mask, don't kill anyone!

Found: Citizen Science Quarterly

Citizen Science Quarterly: CC-licensed journal for citizen science

Cory Doctorow at 8:44 AM Sun 

I've finally gotten around to reading the inaugural edition of the Citizen Science Quarterly, a reader-support, Creative Commons licensed journal devoted to nonexpert experimentation and discovery. It's an extremely eclectic read, with a good mix of editorial, experimental writeups, polemics, practical HOWTOs and miscellania. I really enjoyed Andrew Hessel's op-ed on bioinformatics and fabrication, which explored the idea that cells can be thought of as bio-fabricators, 3D printers whose operating system we have yet to master. I was also engrossed by a brief "molecular gastronomy" HOWTO, a piece on culturing yeast, information on sourcing supplies for DIY bioscience, and a manifesto for involving patients' experiments and input in medical research. The copyediting and writing are a little uneven, but that just lends CSQ a nice, homespun feeling. All in all, this is an exciting new journal and a treat to read.
Citizen Science Quarterly




Shameless Screen Grab courtesy of Cory Doctorow on Boing Boing. Find the Journal here.

Washington Finds Its ZetaReplacement

The Deadpool Of Wenatachee, Washington

Submitted by Rich Johnston on May 28, 2011 – 9:00 am

Some Real Life Super Heroes spend a lot of time constructing their superherois identity, making it as distinct as possible with a name and attitude that suits their own specific view of life. And others… well, just take an existing trademark. Like Deadpool of Wenatchee, Washington. Putting up flyers around the town (above) explaining what he’s about and offering his services by e-mail. Wenatchee’s The World emailed him and discovered an anonymous dogooder, to whom not everything goes to plan;

“I tried to help a woman out of the rain the other day and she didn’t really want to take my umbrella,” he said. “I think she was kind of intimidated.” But this Deadpool is not going too far out of his way. “Should I witness a crime in progress or one that just occurred, I will do my civil duty by calling the police and placing the criminal under citizen’s arrest until the police have arrived. I only mean to help the community, not to stir up more trouble than I seek to relieve. The police have enough trouble without a superhero taking the law into his own hands.”


Photo by Don Seabrook

Shameless Screen Grab Courtesy of Bleeding Cool

And reposted and enhanced on IO9

real-life superheroes

A real-life Deadpool is patrolling a small city in Washington state

Cyriaque Lamar —

Real superheroes usually create their own crime-fighting monikers, but one freelance do-gooder in Wenatchee, Washington (a.k.a. "The Apple Capital of the World") has assumed the mantle of Marvel Comics' "Merc With A Mouth," the deranged assassin Deadpool. Malefactors beware.

Fortunately for the citizens of Wenatchee, their Deadpool is a mercenary of munificence who just wants to help folks in need. The Wenatchee World recently interviewed the hero (via pay phone) and learned why he became the protector of this north-central Washington city of approximately 30,000 residents:

Wenatchee's Deadpool said he chose his character "because I allied with his humor and his ideal that what once was bad can become something better and good. .... And not his outlook on heroism or his methods." [...] Deadpool said the idea to dress up and help people "just came to me one day."
He acknowledged, however, that the costume thing has its drawbacks. It makes him hot when the sun's out, and it seems to put some people off.
"I tried to help a woman out of the rain the other day and she didn't really want to take my umbrella," he said. "I think she was kind of intimidated."

But why did this 20-to-30-year-old Wanatchee resident assume the identity of an unhinged murderer? To become a beacon of hope to others, of course.

Full size

"It takes a certain kind of crazy to do this," he said, "But it takes a certain kind of sanity to help others. I want to inspire people to what a model citizen could be and what a helping hand can be like."

If you're in the Wenatachee metro area, you can summon Deadpool and his crime-fighting prowess by sending him an electronic mail on the world wide web:

Deadpool has been putting up flyers around town so people know what he's up to and won't be alarmed when he rushes to help them. He asks anyone who needs help with just about anything to contact him via email at ncwdeadpool@hotmail.com.

I'm convinced this is actually the Deadpool from comic books. He finally broke through the fourth wall and was in the mood for a Golden Delicious. Also, I hope we soon see a Cable-inspired vigilante who's grafted a carburetor onto his bicep and fights crime with a panoply of pouches festooned about his torso.

[Spotted on Bleeding Cool. Photos by Don Seabrook.]

Another Shameless Screen Grab Courtesy of IO9

For the Henchmen; More Troopers!

Henchmen in the Future are still bumbling along



Courtesy of College Humor

Towel Day Explained with Examples!

10 Hoopy Froods Who Really Know Where Their Towel Is

by The Mary Sue Staff | 12:55 pm, May 24th

Allow Us To Explain

May 25th, while not the most logical of dates on the face of it, nevertheless is a holiday known to many geeks as Towel Day. It commemorates the life and creative work of a medium sized ape-descended life form from an utterly insignificant little blue-green planet orbiting a small unregarded yellow sun in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy named Douglas Adams. Towel Day does not occur on either of the days in which Adams entered or unexpectedly left this universe, nor does it occur on any numerological significant date relating to his books, radio, television, video games, or movies. It happens every year two weeks after the anniversary of his death.

So it goes — Wait, wrong author.

On Towel Day, all of Adams’ fans are encouraged to carry a towel around with them, or to at least know where their towel is, following the great tradition of hitchhiking, traveling, managing, and adventuring laid out in his work. Naturally, this got us to thinking about all the hoopy (really together guy) froods (really amazingly together guys) that we know in fiction that really know where their towels are. You know, the characters who you could drop off anywhere and anywhen in the space time continuum, and come back in an hour and they’d already be lounging in perfect confidence and opulence, knocking back something highly alcoholic. Any one who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is, is clearly a person to be reckoned with.
This grid is dedicated to the many runners up, including, but not limited to Han Solo, Spider Jerusalem, Jack Harkness, Hob Gadling, Odysseus, Wesley, Moist Von Lipwig, Gambit, and Mal Reynolds.

Ash

He might not like it, and you can bet he’s going to complain about it, but no matter what situation he finds himself in, Ash will figure out a way to deal with it. Because it has to be dealt with. And once he’s done dispatching the zombies, flying beasties, and the Necronomicon, you can find him chilling out for as long as the evil he’s battling will allow him. Which usually isn’t very long. And that annoys him greatly. Ash, while encountering various Deadites and basement witches, only loses control once. The rest of the time, he just deals with it. Because if he doesn’t, it’s going to come back to bother him again.
And somehow, even though it takes a few tries, Ash always figures it out. In the Evil Dead movies, he is the epitome of “fake it till you make it,” but is he really faking? Maybe he’s been somehow endowed with this vast knowledge of the Deadites and the supernatural. Maybe there’s a reason he’s worshiped as a god in Army of Darkness …or maybe he’s just a dude who always realized he can manipulate any situation if just acts like he knows what he’s doing. (Yup — probably that.)

Coraline

Coraline Jones, originally of Neil Gaiman’s excellent, can’t-believe-it’s-for-kids novella, has the distinction on this list of traveling a long way without going very far. Sporting an iconic yellow raincoat and blue hair in the 2009 stop-motion adaptation, Coraline explores the multi-family house she’s been moved to by her workaholic parents, as well the surrounding rainy woodlands. Her knowledge of the property’s geography becomes necessary, however, when she’s transported through a portal in her new living room into a dark mirror dimension. Curious, but not naive, Coraline soon realizes the idealistic world she’s stumbled upon isn’t ideal at all. Narrowly escaping a first time from the clutches of the Other Mother (who earned a spot on our Worst Mothers in Geekdom PowerGrid), Coraline returns to the real world, only to discover that her parents have been kidnapped and held as hostages to ensure her return.

So, Japanese academy cap firmly in place and decked out in camping gear, Coraline fearlessly goes back to the Other World, to play a deadly game for her parents’ lives. That’s some big stones for a little girl. No matter what locale she ends up in, this world or the Other one, Coraline’s prepared to handle whatever Gothic horrors are thrown her way.

Faye Valentine

The character that launched a thousand ill-conceived ComicCon costumes is a clever, sweet-talking troublemaker residing in the Crapsack Anime World that is Cowboy Bebop. A professional bounty hunter by trade, though plenty of other things when need be, Faye is a tough and creative solo player who can always find her way out of a jam. Not only does she hold the distinction of stealing from Jet Black and Spike Spiegel and living to zip around the cosmos another day, but she later got them to pick her up again when she needed help. We’re pretty sure their lingering instinct to not shoot her out of the sky has more to do with personality than with vinyl yellow hotpants. This is all excluding her highly spoilery, but head-whippingly interesting origin story, revealed later on in the series.

By the end of Cowboy Bebop, no matter your feelings on her gray-area dealings, it’s hard not to like Faye for both her silly points, and for her legitimate survival skills. She might not be firing on all engines all the time, but she’s got it where it counts. (Plus, would you really mess with an interstellar con artist who can clean out a fridge in one sitting?)
See you, space cowboy.

Leeloo

You’d think that the planet-hopping traveler we’d pick from 1997′s cult classic The Fifth Element would be Korben Dallas. Beleaguered, ex-military, and driving a cab in what looks like the most frightening traffic prediction of the future one could conceive of are all points in his favor.
But the award for most adaptable easily goes to his fiery-haired lady love, Earth-defending Perfect Weapon, Leeloo. Leeloo, after all, has been genetically engineered so that, no matter when awakened, she is able to survive and kick some ass on behalf of the light side of the universe. Yes, she’s kooky. We’re not sure she knows where her towel is, or cares, but anyone who can defeat a room of heavily armed guys without a weapon, learn English (not to mention the entire history of the planet) in a matter of hours, and can rock thermal bandages given no other options, earns a page in our hitchhiking books. Doesn’t matter if a maneuver involves flying cars or getting under Bruce Willis’ skin, we’d get out of her cheerful way.

Chihiro

In the world of geeky fiction, child-age heroes absolutely hold their own. They are spunky, resourceful, and often braver than the adults around them. After all, how many of the season travelers listed here wouldn’t freak out if their companions – their own parents – were transformed into boars and they were threatened with being eaten by a bathhouse-worth of Shinto spirits? In Spirited Away, Chihiro, a.k.a., Sen, does what any self-respecting Hayao Miyazaki heroine would do in the situation. She goes to work in the bathhouse, signing a contract with the evil witch (not an exaggeration) who owns the place and requires she relinquish part of her identity. Chihiro befriends nearly everyone, including the fiercesome No-Face demon, and Haku, a young man who’s actually a river dragon, solving innumerable problems and doing a lot of real dirty work to get her parents back. Even when she’s scared right out of her rice balls, she always manages to rise to the challenge before her, and, ultimately, to triumph.
Wherever she’s moving to with her parents after this spirit-ridden episode, we have no doubts that she’ll be able to handle it just fine. Compared to tangling with demons for the lives of your loved ones, middle school looks like a piece of sweet mochi.

Ferris Bueller

What a horrible role model, yet someone from whom we could all learn a lesson about seizing the day. Ferris Bueller wakes up one morning and decides that he’s not going to school today. This will take work, but he’s prepared for that. But today will be his day off. And no matter what goes down, Ferris will be ready to improvise if needed. Because, you know, life moves pretty fast and such.
The Tao of Bueller states that if it looks like a good time, do it. If it might get you in trouble, there’s always a way out of it. Even if your friend’s dad’s incredibly expensive car gets completely wrecked — it’s all going to be okay.

Gonff

Gonff is the cheeky mousetheif of Brian Jaques’ second novel in the Redwall series, Mossflower. It is his talent not only for breaking, entering, scheming, ‘scaping, and imitating voices; but also is unflappable optimism in the face of oppressive wildcat rule that landed him a place here.
We are practically introduced to Gonff in such a hazardous place: when he is thrown into prison alongside the starving hero Martin the Warrior, who has been wasting in a cell all winter. Within a day, Gonff has busted himself and Martin from the cell, made a daring escape, and is home in time for tea and stories with young hedgehogs. Later on, when most of the other characters believe him to be dead, Gonff has, in fact, survived falling down a waterfall and washing through an underwater cave system, only to be captured by toads and thrown into a well with a living, hungry eel in it… which he sweet talked into not eating him in exchange for its freedom.
Even later, he dances with a crab and woos a lovely mouselady. Because he is Gonff.

Jack Sparrow

Our opinion on the fourth installment of his adventures notwithstanding, you’ve got to hand it to Captain Jack Sparrow for being the slipperiest fish in the Seven Seas. Single-shot blunderbuss firmly in hand (or waist-scarf), Captain Jack has shown us time and again that he can be dropped off anywhere in the wild world and, in the blink of an eye, will be lounging on something, drinking rum, and ruling the natives (for good or ill). His magic compass and waterlogged wit ensure that he’ll get what he wants, no matter who he’s up against. A terrible captain, but a talented con, thief, and pastry-snatcher (again, not actually innuendo), Jack will do whatever is necessary to secure a future for himself and his One True Love, the pirate ship The Black Pearl. The dreadlocked wonder is something of an accidental escape genius, evading guards, other pirates, and untwisting from bonds, shackles, jail cells, and a marooning (or three) countless times. That’s not even talking about that time he impersonated a member of the clergy.

Here’s to Jack, sorry, Captain, Sparrow, for getting by any scrape. He’s pretty much the only character in a den of liars and murderers who always, always comes out on top of the heap. That is, as long as the rum’s not gone.

The Doctor

Here is a character without whom this list would be incomplete. Perhaps our only choice who is more versed in travel across the universe and through time than Ford Prefect himself: the Doctor, the last of the Time Lords.

He’s seen the end of the universe, and the beginning of time, slaughtered races and watched them be reborn, danced, loved, sighed, screamed, ran, and raged a battle for “the triumph of intellect and romance over brute force and cynicism.” He may not appear with a towel very often, but he always knows where his TARDIS is, and usually has a cotton on the whereabouts of his sonic screwdriver as well.

No one forgets him. But everyone leaves. And he’s the only one who remembers.

Ford Prefect

What, did you think we would forget about him? He’s the original hoopy frood, and he definitely knows where his nutrient enriched towel is. That is when it’s not being used as a rope, or a tent, or a sponge to sop up that last Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster.

Yes, Ford appears, in his Earthen life, to be something of a flake, a dreamer, and quite possibly a liar whose dubious career as an actor can never really be confirmed. It’s only after the destruction of the Earth (and if that was a spoiler to you, you should really know better) that his human acquaintance Arthur Dent finds out that he is actually something of a restaurant reviewer for the greatest Zagat guide the galaxy has ever known. So long as you take “restaurant” to mean “planet.”
To this end, Ford can drink, fight, run away, reason, fly, Scrabble, reprogram, and, most importantly, recover from a hangover with the best of them. And he knows everything about everything about hitchhiking across the universe on less than thirty altairian dollars a day. It starts with knowing where your towel is.

Shameless Screen Grab(s) courtesy of the Mary Sue

Kurt Vonnegut Turns Cinderella Into An Equation

10:00 am

May 26, 2011

by Robert Krulwich

Man is a pattern-finding animal. There are folks who look at a scene like this...

Abstruse Goose

And what they see...is this...

Abstruse Goose

Or so I'm told. I'm not one of their tribe, but scientists and mathematicians, I imagine, do this compulsively. They can't help themselves. They are pattern addicts. They can't stop finding the abstract in the particular.
All of us, even if we have no knack for science, look at the weather, at our children, at our markets, at the sky, and we see rhythms and patterns that seem to repeat, that give us the ability to predict. "Billy's a good kid, he'll be fine," thinks the teacher. "Take this and you'll feel better," says the doctor. Pattern recognition.
Do any of us live beyond pattern? Do great musicians, breakthrough artists, great athletes operate pattern free? Pattern indifferent?
I don't think so. Artists may be, oddly, the most pattern-aware. Case in point: The totally unpredictable, one-of-a-kind novelist Kurt Vonnegut (Slaughterhouse-Five, Cat's Cradle, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater) once gave a lecture in which he presented — in graphic form — the basic plots of all the world's great stories. Every story you've ever heard, he said, are reflections of a few, classic story shapes. They are so elementary, he said, he could draw them on an X/Y axis.
Which he then did. Here are three of them. I think you'll recognize the third one rather quickly.

Source: YouTube

---

Thanks to Hokumberg Goombah and Gig Thurmond for noticing this; and to Abstruse Goose, a web-based comic strip drawn by I'm not sure who (the author signs his name *******) for our bunny-eats-a-carrot illustrations. The great Kurt Vonnegut died in 2007; this lecture appears on You Tube.

Shameless Screen Grab courtesy of NPR, Robert Krulwich, and the late Kurt Vonnegut

And Now, Back To Our Regularly Scheduled Programming (Not Really)

Too busy talking to his fans, a superhero lets the monster stomp the city behind him. Typical.





Courtesy of Danebo on Youtube

Want.

Secret Decoder Ring

Decoding Power!

Functional and Stylish

• 
• 
• 
• 

Code and decode secret messages on your finger

Big Brother is watching. Listening. Reading your notes. What can you do? The tinfoil hat only protects your brain from the aliens. Once you put your ideas down on paper, anyone can read them. ANYONE. Possibly even the aliens with their x-ray beams. But definitely Big Brother since you're 99% sure that your house is bugged for video and audio. How else does Google find out you want to bake spam casserole?
Paranoid much? (It's not paranoia if they really are out to get you.) Pick up a pair of Secret Decoder Rings and you'll be able to encrypt your most personal messages, like the sticky notes you leave on your significant other's lunch bag. Nobody needs to know that she calls you Pookiepants and you call her Snoshmuffin. Simply remove the ring from your finger, twist the interlocking bands and you'll be able to code and decode your messages in a jiffy.

Product Features

• Code and decode secret messages with your jewelry
• Made of stainless steel
• Three sizes available:
• Small (size 6) - 16.5mm diameter - for slight ladies (or wearing on a chain)
• Medium (size 10) - 19.8mm diameter
• Large (size 12) - 21.3mm diameter 

Shameless (mangled) Screen Grab from Think Geek for a very reasonable $15.99. What Villain doesn't want a Secret Decoder Ring? 

Dislike.

As Dread Lord of the Colorado Holdfast, and master of the Malignomobile, One has had encounters with traffic law enforcement agencies. The usual games of stealth and skill have been somewhat adequate (ok, One has a binder of speeding tickets), but now the California constabularies are advancing their technologies (which, by the way, about time. This was in fiction in the 80s).



Taking a ride in a police squad car is typically an unenviable experience, but not today. Bradley teams up with our friends at the LAPD to check the tech on the all new Chevrolet Caprice PPV (Police Patrol Vehicle). From an infrared night vision camera to an automated license plate scanner, this Caprice cop car puts Robocop's '86 Taurus LX to shame.

Shameless Screen Grab courtesy of Translogic (which is where Transportation meets technology)

In the Wake of Towel Day...

A New Hitchhiker’s Guide Game?

The hoopy froods over at Hothead Games know exactly when to time their announcements. Yesterday, which, as you all should know, was Towel Day, they revealed that they will be bringing a brand new Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy game to the salivating masses.
At least, as far as we can tell. From their press release, or, rather, Megadodo Publications’ press release:

Hail people of Earth! Megadodo Publications is pleased to announce that we are working with the interactive entertainment development team Hothead Games to bring The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the standard repository for all knowledge and wisdom, to the farthest uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy. This new edition of The Guide will be available not only on your planet but also on all nearby systems including Alpha Centauri.

“We’re super excited to be involved with such a legendary creation as The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The quirky and hilarious universe that Douglas Adams created became an instant classic for so many. All the hoopiest froods here at Hothead jumped on the chance to work on the project,” commented excitable Hothead human, Joel DeYoung.

So… I guess they’re making a video game? At some point? I think I speak for a lot of people when I say that I hope it is an adventure game easier than the BBC one. Although Starship Titanic or Myst IV levels of difficulty would be perfectly appropriate.

Anyway, there’s no release date and paltry details, but there is a website, therefore it must be happening.

Shameless Screen Grab courtesy of The Mary Sue

Facebook Survey Analysis

10 fascinating Facebook facts -- and what they say about us

By Pete Cashmore, Special to CNN May 26, 2011 10:12 a.m. EDT | Filed under: Social Media

Mashable's Pete Cashmore says Facebook surveys provide intriguing insights into our online behaviors.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Mashable's Pete Cashmore offers 10 fun facts about Facebook, which 600 million use
• No privacy controls for quarter of households with Facebook account, Consumer Reports say
• Another survey finds 48% say they look at their ex's Facebook profile too often

RELATED TOPICS

• Culture and Lifestyle
• Facebook Inc.
• Internet Privacy
• Relationships

Editor's note: Pete Cashmore is founder and CEO of Mashable, a popular tech-news blog. He writes occasional columns about social networking and tech for CNN.com.

(CNN) -- A study released this week revealed that 47% of Facebook users have swear words on their pages. A survey last week, meanwhile, showed that undergraduate men who talk about alcohol on Facebook tend to have more friends -- the study hypothesized that references to booze may lead to more social acceptance by peers.
Whether it's our level of tolerance for swearing or the link between alcohol and bonding with friends, these Facebook studies provide intriguing insights into our online behaviors.
And yet I'd argue that Facebook surveys have a more fundamental role. With more than 600 million people actively using Facebook, these studies in fact provide a deeper understanding of our evolving cultural norms: our values, our morals and our changing relationships between one another.
Don't believe me? Here are some fascinating Facebook facts that just might serve as a peek into our 21st-century values.
1. 56% of Americans think it's irresponsible to friend your boss on Facebook
A survey released in February 2010 showed the majority of Americans don't find it socially acceptable to be Facebook friends with their boss. The study of 1,000 people by Liberty Mutual's Responsibility Project suggests that despite an increasing overlap between our work and home lives, we continue to value a separation between the two.
Meanwhile, 62% of those surveyed said it's wrong for a manager to befriend an employee on Facebook. And yet 76% of respondents said it was acceptable to befriend a peer on Facebook, suggesting what we truly value is that our work be judged on its merits rather than getting ahead based on personal relationships.
2. Facebook links about sex are shared 90% more than average
Facebook confirms the adage: Sex sells. From February until May 2010, social media scientist Dan Zarrella processed 12,000 links to news sites and blogs. He discovered that links about sex were 90% more likely to be shared on Facebook than any other subject matter.
He also discovered that links with positive sentiment were more likely to be shared on Facebook than those with negative viewpoints.
3. People in Facebook relationships are happier than single people
In February 2010, Facebook marked Valentine's Day by comparing the relationship status of its users to their happiness -- this was surmised based on the level of positive or negative sentiment in the user's Facebook updates.
The result: Those in relationships were found to be slightly happier than single people. Those who were married or engaged were also happier than single people on average.
However, Facebook users in an "open relationship" -- where the partners are not exclusive to one another -- were significantly less happy than single people. Monogamy, it seems, makes us happy.
4. 21% of people would break up via Facebook
A June 2010 survey of 1,000 Facebook users -- 70% of whom were male -- found that 25% had been "dumped" via Facebook (via their significant other updating his or her relationship status).
Twenty-one percent of those surveyed said they would end a relationship by changing their Facebook relationship statuses to "single." While worrisome, the survey does show the majority of people do not split up via Facebook.
For this uncomfortable task, it seems, we still turn to more personal forms of communication. This particular study also appears to suffer from a little male bias -- a July 2010 survey found that 9% of women have initiated a breakup via Facebook, versus 24% of men.
5. 85% of women are annoyed by their Facebook friends
For women on Facebook, friends can sometimes be irritating. In a March study conducted by Eversave, 85% admitted to having been annoyed by their Facebook friends. Of these annoyances, the most cited was "complaining all the time" (63%).
Other pet peeves included "sharing unsolicited political views" (42%) and "bragging about seemingly perfect lives" (32%).
While I've yet to see a similar survey focused on men, it's probably safe to assume these feelings are universal: Our friends are a source of joy and occasional irritation.
6. 25% of households with a Facebook account don't use privacy controls
A June 2010 survey from Consumer Reports stated that "in one of four households with a Facebook account, users weren't aware of or didn't choose to use the service's privacy controls."
While Consumer Reports chose to interpret this finding in a negative light, I'd propose a contrary view: Seventy-five percent of households did take the time to understand Facebook's privacy controls, suggesting that privacy remains important to our society.
The same study stated that "Twenty-six percent of Facebook users with children had potentially exposed them to predators by posting the children's photos and names."
Again, the positive view would be that 74% of Facebook users with children did not post their photos and names -- suggesting that we value privacy.
7. 48% of parents friend their kids on Facebook
On the question of whether it's OK to friend your kids on Facebook, parents are roughly split down the middle -- 48% have chosen to do so. Respondents in a May 2010 survey by Retrevo admitted that this could be "awkward at times."
Parents were also asked about the minimum age at which their children should be allowed to sign up for Facebook or MySpace. Twenty-six percent of parents replied "over 18," 36% said "16 to 18," 30% said "13 to 15" and 8% said "under 13."
Opinions may be changing rapidly, however. A Consumer Reports survey released this month says the majority of parents of kids 10 and under "seemed largely unconcerned by their children's use" of Facebook.
8. 47% of Facebook users have profanity on their walls
As previously mentioned, a new study by the reputation management service Reppler has found that 47% of Facebook users have swear words on their walls, with these profanities being posted by a friend 56% of the time.
In other words: Nearly half of Facebook users are comfortable with swearing. The most common profanity on Facebook? No prizes for guessing: It's the "F-word."
9. 48% of people say they look at their ex's Facebook profile too often
In a January study by YouTango, 48% of respondents said they look at their ex's Facebook or other social-networking profile too often. The statistic illustrates one danger of social-networking profiles -- ex-partners are more accessible than ever.
But the survey also points to a degree of self-awareness among the respondents. While new technologies provide new temptations, it seems that many of us are able to control these behaviors.
10. 36% of under-35s check Facebook, Twitter or texts after sex
An October 2009 study by Retrevo suggested that social networks are becoming an increasingly important part of young people's lives. Among under-35s, 36% admitted to "tweeting, texting and checking Facebook after sex." Forty percent of respondents admitted to doing so while driving, 64% said they do so at work, and 65% use these communication channels while on vacation.
Here, we might conclude that the next generation is driving society into a less desirable direction: a world in which digital devices are never put down, even in the most inappropriate of situations.
And yet if Facebook is our guide, I'd say our cultural norms have remained intact. We continue to value professionalism. We find great rewards in human relationships -- and most of us try to exit them honorably.

On the whole, we continue to value privacy. We try to look out for our kids. And as we have been since time immemorial, we continue to be fascinated by sex -- after which we go straight to Facebook to find out what our exes are up to.

Shameless Screen Grab from CNN 

Want.

How Cool is this?
Want



John Wayne - Stainless Steel Water Bottle

• Stainless steel water bottle with screenprinted graphic of John Wayne
• Backside: "A man's got to have a code, a creed to live by"
• New flip top design - easy to use
• Holds 27 oz (800 ml)
• Handwash recommended
• Size: 2-3/4" dia. x 10" (7 cm x 25 cm)

Sale Price: $11.95

Ready to place an order? Visit us at http://www.neatoshop.com/product/John-Wayne-Stainless-Steel-Water-Bottle or call(877) 632-8370 (or 1-661-298-1206 if outside the United States) M-F 10AM to 5PM. We'll be happy to help!

Sale Price: $11.95

Courtesy of Neatoshop where you can purchase one of these, and intimidate all the health conscious people. John Wayne (the Character) - he was a Villain too. Sure he wore a white hat, but just how many fights was he in? How many times did he stand up to authority, fight overwhelming foes, against terrible odds? Almost always. A Code?! That sounds like Rules!

Towel Day

Today is Towel Day in recognition of the Life and Works of Douglas Adams, author of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books. Know where your towel is? You should.

Shameless Screen Grab from Wiki;

The original quotation that referenced the importance of towels is found in Chapter 3 of Adams's work The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

“	A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-bogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough. More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have "lost". What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with. Hence a phrase that has passed into hitchhiking slang, as in "Hey, you sass that hoopy Ford Prefect? There's a frood who really knows where his towel is." (Sass: know, be aware of, meet, have sex with; hoopy: really together guy; frood: really amazingly together guy.)[3]	”
	— Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Find more at these links;

Towelday.org (which has no present Index page from front page)

The Index Page to TowelDay.org

Wiki on Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (the Novel). 

News for Towel Day

Towel-day.com

Lord Malignance always knows where his towel is, and One hopes you do too. 

Things That Make No Sense

This Makes No Sense!



Whaaaat?

Courtesy of Axe Cop: Episode 93 at College Humor

Security Update for Villains: Mac

Apple acknowledges Mac Defender malware, promises software update

By Jacqui Cheng | Published about 15 hours agoLast updated about 14 hours ago

Apple has decided to publicly acknowledge the Mac Defender malware that seems to be creeping onto Mac users' computers. The company posted an online support document Tuesday evening that outlines how to identify and get rid of the program, which attempts to trick users into handing over their credit card information. The company also promised to issue a software update soon that will specifically hunt out and remove Mac Defender and its variants.

"A recent phishing scam has targeted Mac users by redirecting them from legitimate websites to fake websites which tell them that their computer is infected with a virus," Apple wrote in its support document. "In the coming days, Apple will deliver a Mac OS X software update that will automatically find and remove Mac Defender malware and its known variants. The update will also help protect users by providing an explicit warning if they download this malware."

The much-welcome acknowledgement from Apple comes less than a week after it came out that real users were beginning to see this malware in the wild a little more often than usual. When we investigated the issue, we were told by several Apple Store Geniuses that they had also seen a spike—one Genius at a large Apple Store said he had seen malware reports in his store go from approximately 0.2 to percent to 5.8 percent in a matter of weeks, with the large majority of those being Mac Defender or its variants, often known as Mac Security or Mac Protector. (Smaller, third-party support folks were somewhat split on whether there had been a spike in malware reports.)

At the time, one of the more controversial aspects of Apple's reaction was that there was none—Apple had instructed its AppleCare and retail staff not to even acknowledge Mac Defender's existence, and not to remove it from users' infected computers.

Now, however, the company has apparently had a change of heart. In the support doc, Apple says to trash the app immediately if you haven't installed it yet, but if you have, there's a series of steps to follow in order to get rid of it. And, of course, there's also the lazy route: if you have Mac Defender installed but haven't given it your credit card information yet, you could just wait for Apple to issue its software update and have it removed automatically. Or, you can use the Mac Defender removal tool from Icrontic.

Shameless Screen Grab courtesy of Jacqui Cheng on ars technica

A Light Switch for Neurons

This is really interesting, but it IS 18minutes long. If you can spare the time, it will be very rewarding. It starts simply enough, and then after 7minutes it becomes jaw dropping. It involves retro engineering a virus as a genetic vector for gene manipulation. There's whole science that has sprung from this called "Optic Genetics", and the potential for research is big. Big of course is an understatement.



Courtesy of Ed Boyden on TED where you can find incredible presentations on a vast range of subjects.

Superheroes and Guns

Greetings,

On the subject of Villainous groups needing to take on the responsibilities of Online Vigilantism because superheroes were carrying guns/were going to carry guns, and/or advocating that superheroes carry guns, One has stated previously One's held belief that No superheroes were this stupid. The rational mind tells me that dressing up in capes and spray painted motocross armor and carrying real guns with intent to use, were incompatible. One asked the source of this fear being spread previously, to his online face (in chat and in Facebook) to provide any single shred of evidence that this was true. None could be provided, and so One felt confident that superheroes had at least some small measure of being in touch with reality.

Sure, the New York Reavers carry beating sticks and sharp objects to intimidate the citizens they may encounter. The Black Monday Society in Utah dress as nightmares to frighten the good people of Salt Lake City into their homes cowering. And Master Legend, to find a new way to climb on top of the crazy heap, declares himself Metatron (the Voice of God for all of you unsure of that name's origin). But No superhero could possible cross the line into any more dangerous stupidity than Phoenix Jones and his assaulting and brawling with citizens, who are all innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

This belief, this faith in the Rational Mind, was yet again, One's undoing. It turns out as Agent Wraith has found, that superheroes ARE in fact carrying guns. Now that's not enough proof for Oneself. A suspicion, a rumor, an understanding of something said that could be misinterpreted. One had to go and find out, to pursue the truth to the source. One asked the superhero Superhero these questions and received answers. (This is a public conversation on Youtube, and you can find it here, so no confidences were broken). The comments - while can be seen as 10, are not visible to me for some reason. They may have been deleted? Their cut and paste originals are still visible in Agent Wraith's comments and are factually acurate as One remembers them.

Not only does he himself carry a gun, in a low slung on his hip, DVD carrier, but he indicates quite a few other heroes do to. This is no fringer ne'er do well of the RLSH, this is one of their Tangen Superstars. In costume, advocating the carrying of guns. When exactly does helping people and being a role model involve the advertising and prepared use of deadly force?

Does this mean that villains must now be afraid that heroes are coming to kill them with their guns? That trolls are coming to kill them with their guns? No, it does NOT. Villainy has consistently beaten the heroes at every turn because we have been BETTER than they are. We are Not vigilantes. We are Not crazy people without personal lives. We are Not losing sight of reality. We Are Villains. We are better than this. We don't need to carry guns and live in fear because unknown people are out to get us. Because we believe in laws, and justice and the civilization and the hopes and aspirations of our brightest minds. We don't want to live in a Mad Max dystopian future of lawless gangs running their crazy and deadly games of unaccountable play-pretend justice. We want a future we can be proud to live in.

One didn't think the opinion of superheroes and their troll mascots could sink any further, with their frequently carried beating sticks and electric shock (taser, cattleprods, stun guns, etc) attack weapons. One was unfortunately wrong. Stupid superheroes do indeed carry guns. Because they are so very, very afraid citizens will bend them over and rape them. Citizens really, really will, and we citizens call this "The Law". Oh, you might hide behind your constitutional rights to carry a gun for self defense, but the very first time you use that gun, you will be going to court, and unless you have a clear open and shut case for why you needed deadly force to protect yourself from a clear and present danger to your life, where you had no alternative, and this includes running away, you will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. You and your family, and friends, will pay enormous legal fees, and if you are found guilty - as a felon, you will never be allowed to own a gun again. And you get to make new and exciting friends in prison, and learn new skills. And lifestyle choices.

Here's some Googleables for people wishing to find this page and find out more about superheroes;

Some superheroes carry guns

Maybe some Real Life Superheroes (RLSH) carry guns

Superhero advocates carrying a gun

Stun guns not enough for some superhero cowards who now carry firearms to intimidate citizens

Too afraid running in gangs at night in masks, some superheroes now carry guns

New superhero poster text: "Take this damn sandwich or I'll blow your freaking head off".

Krav Maga and cage fighters, Cattleprods shuriken, and beating sticks not enough for superheroes. Now they need to carry guns. What's next? Firefights in malls with suspected evil doers? All while surrounded by children. Because party clowns/Real Life Superheroes dress for the children.

Some superhero cut from the same cloth as Master Legend, aka Metatron, the "Voice of God". With a gun. Now he knows what God tells him to do, and has the power of life and death to do it.

Florida, is it the most embarrassing state?

Pasty bald doughboys are really popular in prison.

Superhero and Open Carry in Florida. Then you can wear your six shooters like a real cowboy. You know, if this really was the 1850s and not actually the 21st Century. And if you had the courage to actually face your own death in a shootout man to man, and not hope to sneak up on some bank robber from behind instead.


Does this change the need for a Fourth Estate - a developmental sandbox for Villains who wish to stretch and develop content for Villains by Villains? No, it does not. In fact, quite the opposite. It makes it all the more imperative as a safe harbor until this idiocy blows over and all the vigilantes take each other out. "If you roll around with pigs, you get dirty like a pig, and the pigs don't care".

No apologies here. No evidence until now, could be offered, and verified, which One had to do Oneself. The statements "One does not know of any superhero carrying a gun" was factually accurate. One now knows better, to the shame of superheroes everywhere.

-Lord Malignance

The Future is Villainous

New Medievalism: The Future Is Less AI and More Godfather 2

Posted by kinglux on Wednesday, May 11, 2011

• 

Future Human got to talking about the future of mankind during a recent “interactive debate” at the Book Club in Hoxton.

A panel of speakers including BBC Radio 4 business journalist, Peter Day, BAFTA award-winning documentary maker, Amelia Hann, and Foreign Affairs magazine writer, John Rapley discussed the possibilities of a return to local pseudo-governments reminiscent of medieval times—with a digital twist.
The story of New Medievalism as a blueprint for the evolution of economic and governmental rule that began in Kingston, Jamaica, with a ruthless yet socially-minded Don, Christopher “Dudus” Coke. In the vacuum created by rising taxes and lowered public services, the strongman offered employment, crime “management” and social favors to the disenfranchised people under his protection. Shop owners could get their stolen goods recovered and women could walk the streets at night. In a dubious truce, local police thanked the Don for making their jobs easier.
Communication technologies and the Jamaican diaspora allowed for global trade routes of Colombian cocaine, firearms and people trafficking. The result being that informal revenue sources and power structures were able to grow more efficiently than ever previously imagined.
Extrapolating this line of thinking to the British Isles, and the parallel threat of government cutbacks and mass unemployment mean that something similar could happen here.

Present Examples

“Don of the PayPal Mafia” Peter Thiel, who it is claimed sought to create a global currency beyond the reach of taxation or central bank policy , has stated that “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.”
This is a basic tenet of New Medievalism–take power from the existing establishment and create new, more nimble structures that serve local communities, sidestepping the present tawdry beauracracy that barely answers to anonymous, nationwide statistics.
The audience seemed to concur. When asked what the ideal crowd-sourced microstate of their collective wildest dreams would look like, it was quickly agreed that a benevolent dictator would be the most pleasant solution. He would rule over his nationstate of an off-shore oil rig, it’s main revenue stream would be private, floating data banks, he would dabble in legalised, commercialised, drug dealing and offer service station facilities to nearby pirates.
A suitably middle class, fascist-sounding name was found for the neo-country—“Battenburg”—Imagining a desirable soft fascism makes JG Ballard’s Millennium People read like a convincing party political broadcast.
In reality, things aren’t so simple. The long-established, independent “autonomous neighborhood" of Christiana, in Copenhagen, has survived hand grenades, murder, sanctioned drug dealing and Hell’s Angels. Only to be shut down in a recent government crackdown.
The characteristcally modest British equivalent of Christiana is the suburban terrace micronation of Austenasia. Could the twee Brixton Pound represent the future of local currency?
Undeniably, in Kenya, a vibrant part of the economy is cellphone payment sytems that bypass the turbulence of inflation. The failed state of Somalia, has no government but three or four cellphone networks. Perhaps the future lies not in politcians but in mobile phone ownership?

Power of government

On reflection, the New Medievalism philosophy can operate, but only if it keeps a low profile whilst tickling the belly of the beast. An intriguing idea for micronations could be to exist only for half an hour. Perhaps they could expose some kind of legal loophole and then vanish with impunity?
Meanwhile, the Jamaican Don has been extradited and jailed in the US, (causing a state of emergency in Kingston and the death of more than seventy five people) and even the Brixton pound will be taxed by Her Majesty’s Revenue Collection.
Will New Medievalism be the way to vote in the forthcoming elections? Probably not, according to Peter Day, “One should never underestimate the powers that be, they have amazing sticking power".
Kinglux is a Motherboard contributing writer, posting from the UK.


Shameless Screen Grab courtesy of  Mother Board

Dark Lord of the Sith, and Rapper.

Lord Vader has much more rap ability than Lord Malignance. Lots of fun, and really good character work.



Galactic Empire State of Mind courtesy of College Humor

Batman Has A Drinking Problem

Start your (early) weekend off with a Smile: Tomorrow might just be the end of the world! **



Courtesy of College Humor

** It won't be.

Raptors

Click to Enlarge

Courtesy of XKCD

War of Lawyers!

***Disclaimer****
There is a profane word used. It's small potatoes, and is intelligently used and for very humorously effect.

Legal rebuttal: "vade et caca in pilleum et ipse traheatur super aures tuo"

Cory Doctorow at 5:07 AM Thursday, May 19, 2011 

Eric Tukewitz, a New York lawblogger, was one of many, many people who wrote about a badly managed legal defense from an inexperienced lawyer representing an accused murderer. The defense was handled very badly, and resulted in a mistrial, and then observers remarked in depth on the website of Joseph Rakofsky, the inexperienced lawyer in question, and on the erroneous impression of vast experience that the website created.
Rakofsky has responded by suing everyone involved, from the Washington Post, who covered the story (in which they quote the judge in the case, remarking unfavorably on Rakofsky's legal prowess), to the American Bar Association, to the large number of lawbloggers who wrote about him.
Tukewitz is just one of the lawbloggers in question, but he's come up with a legal rebuttal to Rakofsky's suit, which he considers baseless: "vade et caca in pilleum et ipse traheatur super aures tuo," which, loosely translated, means "Go shit in a hat and pull it down over your ears" (lit., "go shit in a [knit] hat & let that same hat itself be pulled over your ears.").
Now that's the law at its finest!

What was Rakofsky thinking? That a bunch of lawyers that make their living in the well of the courtroom, accustomed to walking a high-wire without a net as we cross-examine hostile witnesses, would somehow cower in fear at an utterly frivolous lawsuit? Did he think that those of us that write blogs, for all to see, might not somehow have a basic grasp of the First Amendment? Didn't he know, well before he even went to law school, that people have a right to set forth their opinions? How could he survive law school and pass a bar exam without knowing constitutional fundamentals? Perhaps the better question, why wasn't he thinking of what would happen in response to such a suit? Was he a spoiled child that got everything he wanted simply by throwing a tantrum? And those of us that are practicing lawyers are the small fries, compared with our co-defendants Washington Post, American Bar Association and Thompson Reuters. Like they are going to roll over and pull down their articles? Good grief. 

Shameless Screen Grab courtesy of Boing Boing. Story attributed to Cory Doctorow and image of Joseph Rakofsky.

Read more of the story at the New York Personal Injury Law Blog

Great Legal Humor website "Lowering the Bar".