Mutual Film Corporation v. Industrial Commission of Ohio, 236 U.S. 230 (1915), was a court case decided by the United States Supreme Court in 1915, in which, in a 9-0 vote, the Court ruled that the free speech protection of the Ohio Constitution — which was substantially similar to the First Amendment of the United States Constitution — did not extend to motion pictures.

And this stood for nearly half a century.

Mutual Film Corporation v. Industrial Commission of Ohio - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The nation's centralized watch list has grown to include 755,000 names suspected of having terrorist ties, resulting in nearly 20,000 positive matches of persons against the list in 2006, according to a new report from Congress's investigative reporting arm. Since the list is now used in nearly all routine police stops and for domestic airline travel, Americans made up the bulk of those matches.

The numbers appear to be a bit fuzzy, but there is now a centralized federal list of people who are not suspected of a crime that is checked everytime you have an enounter with a police officer. The size of the list is rapidly growing as are the places it is used. Inevitably the sort of people who are placed on it will evolve as well.

(For those who don't get it, yes terrorism is a crime, but there is a significant difference between a most wanted list that looks for people who are suspected of having committed crimes in the past and a watch list that looks for people who are suspected of being capable of committing crimes in the future. What is required to establish such suspicion? Could it merely be adherence to a particular political view?)

860,000 Name Long Terror Watch List Scrutinizes Americans Most on Threat Level

This morning saw the most substantial attack on the site by spammers in it's operating history. I am about 50% done with some changes to the site that will make it easier to use for regular users while preventing new users from getting their content on the main page. I hope to be able to post an update this weekend. Until that time, new account registration has been disabled.

Just 10 years ago, the proposed merger of SABMiller and Molson Coors into MillerCoors would have worried craft brewers. Back then, "American beer" was thought of as a cheap product with very little beer flavor.

Today the United States has by far the most exciting beer culture in the world, and America's 1,500 craft brewers are undaunted by the prospect of a juggernaut that would have more than 30 percent of the domestic market. The age of American industrial brewing is over.
...
Now Americans are moving away from spongy industrial bread, watery coffee, plasticized "cheese" and other wonders of modern food science. The top maker of white supermarket bread went bankrupt a few years ago.

ubernoir says:
just as France turns more American
let's celebrate something French
quality of life

I'll drink to that!

Don't fear Big Beer - International Herald Tribune

For three decades Vice President Dick Cheney conducted a secretive, behind-closed-doors campaign to give the president virtually unlimited wartime power. Finally, in the aftermath of 9/11, the Justice Department and the White House made a number of controversial legal decisions. Orchestrated by Cheney and his lawyer David Addington, the department interpreted executive power in an expansive and extraordinary way, granting President George W. Bush the power to detain, interrogate, torture, wiretap and spy -- without congressional approval or judicial review.

This was widely discussed at Phreaknic. Watch online...

FRONTLINE: cheney's law | PBS

As noteworthy kindly reminded me, earlier this year, I memed about Soul Dracula....a must for any sort of halloween activity. The video is also quite priceless. Clearly, people did a lot of drugs in the 70s.

YouTube - hot blood - soul dracula

While I sat at my desk one day, two of my classmates figured out how to overwrite the entire screen, which seemed kinda naughty at the time. They giggled, did it again, then giggled some more. From curious children, hackers were born.

Forward 40: What Became of the LOGO Programming Language? on Wired Science

MemeStreams is an early social networking website, online community, and blog host that was established in 2001 by Industrial Memetics,[1] and particularly prominent among computer professionals.[2][3] It was cowritten by Tom Cross and Nick Levay.[3][4] The site employs a reputation system.[5]

Someone finally made a Wikipedia article about MemeStreams. If you're bored, give it an edit...

MemeStreams - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Talking to my daughter about search engines and the necessity for a 10-year-old to question texts online led me to think that computer literacy programs that left out critical thinking were missing an important point. But I discovered when I talked to teachers in my local schools that "critical thinking" is regarded by some as a plot to incite children to question authority. At that point, I saw education - the means by which young people learn the skills necessary to succeed in their place and time - as diverging from schooling.

See also these posts from the archive:

If indeed the Web and microprocessors have brought us to the doorstep of a Marshall McLuhan-meets-Milton Friedman world of individual choice as a personal ideology, then record companies, newspapers and old TV networks aren't the only empires at risk. Public-school systems run by static teachers unions may find themselves abandoned by young parents, "accessing" K-8 education in unforeseen ways.

Don't use the word "fun" to describe what will go on in the Game School, a proposed New York City public school that will use "game design and game-inspired methods" to educate sixth through 12th graders.

The school day should be split in two. The first half is what you might call a required, common curriculum, taught by schools. The second half is an individual curriculum in which many outside organizations take part -- work organizations, community organizations. These activities may be organized by the school, but they may or may not take place in school. The school becomes a kind of broker for learning.

"We must allow our students to ask why, not just keep on telling them how."

Homeland security efforts through magnet safe haven programs are a significant part of our Nation's effort to achieve victory in the war on terror and help to ensure equal martyrdom opportunities for all terrorists.

The 75 students in the Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness magnet program will study cybersecurity and geospatial intelligence, respond to mock terror attacks, and receive limited security clearances at the nearby Army chemical warfare lab. Students will choose one of three specialized tracks: information and communication technology, criminal justice and law enforcement, or "homeland security science." David Volrath, executive director of secondary education for Harford County Public Schools, says the school also hopes to offer "Arabic or some other nontraditional, Third World-type language." "The school's built around the marketplace that surrounds the defense industry, but the program's not involved in war or peace. Still, there are some realities about good guys and bad guys that will surely be discussed."

Howard Rheingold, on schooling

Featuring more than 100 pieces by local and national artists, "When Robots Ruled the Earth" is the debut show for the Gallery at East Atlanta Tattoo, a new space next door to the long-standing skin art shop. From comedic paintings inspired by "The Jetsons" to 3-D pieces that literally burst from their frames and morph into sculptures, the 'bots range from friendly to menacing.

While robots are the theme in all the works, the interpretations of that theme are as different as C-3PO and R2-D2. Works of pop surrealism by artists such as Samuel Parker and Shane Morton take a retro approach, with giant machines wreaking havoc on puny humans. Others, such as Trish Chenard's series of classic Catholic images and Eric Joyner's "Smackdown," with Rock'em Sock'em Robots in the roles of Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston, put robots into divinely recognizable human roles.

• THE 411: "When Robots Ruled the Earth." Free. 5-8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays or by appointment through Oct. 20. The Gallery at East Atlanta Tattoo, 1188-B Glenwood Ave., East Atlanta. 404-226-2279, www.lowbrowgalleryatlanta.com.

Warning! Warning! Robots rule planet