Weekend Favs October Twenty Three
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Thursday, October 28, 2010
Weekend Favs October Twenty Three
Parents Telelvision Council Accused Of Dumping Petitions, Just Focused On Cash
We've written a few times about the Parents Television Council, the infamous nonprofit group that sends out alerts any time anything it considers indecent is aired on TV or shows up elsewhere that the PTC doesn't like. Back when Kevin Martin was at the FCC, the PTC actually appeared to have some influence, but since then, its influence has clearly dwindled quite a bit. And with a court recently rejecting the FCC's attempts at fining those who upset the PTC as unconstitutional, the organization is apparently struggling with being relevant. I'd also guess that a growing number of people think that PTC's fear mongering is totally ridiculous and unfounded. For example, its latest grandstanding is about the CBS TV show $#*! My Dad Says. I would guess that most people simply don't care. And that's reflected in the fact that donations are way down to the PTC, and while the group claims 1.3 million members, only about 12,000 people seem to actually be active.
However, the NY Times recently had an article that suggests things are even more screwed up for the PTC than what was already known. It includes accusations from a whistleblower who worked at the PTC that the organization would ignore petitions that were sent in, just taking donations and not doing anything with the material. To understand what apparently happened, you need to understand how the PTC works. It generally sends out hyped up FUD-filled "petitions" that it asks people to sign, with promises that the PTC will pass them on to the FCC or whoever else. Except, the accusations claim that the PTC would take the returned envelopes, take out the cash, but then never pass them on to the FCC.
For a group that tries to present itself as being super ethical, taking money and failing to live up to what you promised to do in exchange for the money seems pretty unethical.
The group's response to this seems to be to attack the whistleblower, trying to turn his request for severance after he left the organization into a claim that he was trying to extort money from them. Unfortunately for the PTC, after the LAPD investigated the accusations of extortion, it found that the guy did not commit extortion. Rather than admitting that, it seems that any time anyone brings up these questions, the PTC goes right back to accusing the guy of extortion. At some point, you'd have to think that if the PTC continues to make such charges, the guy might actually have a decent defamation claim against them....
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However, the NY Times recently had an article that suggests things are even more screwed up for the PTC than what was already known. It includes accusations from a whistleblower who worked at the PTC that the organization would ignore petitions that were sent in, just taking donations and not doing anything with the material. To understand what apparently happened, you need to understand how the PTC works. It generally sends out hyped up FUD-filled "petitions" that it asks people to sign, with promises that the PTC will pass them on to the FCC or whoever else. Except, the accusations claim that the PTC would take the returned envelopes, take out the cash, but then never pass them on to the FCC.
For a group that tries to present itself as being super ethical, taking money and failing to live up to what you promised to do in exchange for the money seems pretty unethical.
The group's response to this seems to be to attack the whistleblower, trying to turn his request for severance after he left the organization into a claim that he was trying to extort money from them. Unfortunately for the PTC, after the LAPD investigated the accusations of extortion, it found that the guy did not commit extortion. Rather than admitting that, it seems that any time anyone brings up these questions, the PTC goes right back to accusing the guy of extortion. At some point, you'd have to think that if the PTC continues to make such charges, the guy might actually have a decent defamation claim against them....
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Model Wins Lawsuit Against French Playboy For Publishing 'Unauthorized' Naked Photos
Erik sent over the the news that Dutch model Lara Stone has apparently won damages against French Playboy for publishing what were referred to as "unauthorized" photos of her in their June issue. Tragically, much of the reporting on this doesn't explain what kind of photos we're talking about (from the description, it almost sounded like photos taken while she was unaware). However, in the interest of understanding the legal implications only (of course), I (ahem) found the photos in question (oh so very NSFW). The photos all appear to be professional studio shots, most likely from a single photoshoot. Stone claims that her main complaint was just that "no woman wants photos of them to be published in Playboy without permission." However, I'm wondering how French Playboy got the photos in the first place, and if it wouldn't have a claim against the photographer, if he had claimed the rights to the photos (and produced a signed model release form). Obviously, the photos themselves were initially taken with permission, since it's clearly a professional photoshoot. So, where in the process did the photos become "unauthorized"?
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Build the Perfect Blog Audience for You
This guest post is by David Risley of DavidRisley.com.
If you could hand-pick your ideal blog reader, who would they be? What are they like? What do they look like?
Have you ever even thought about it?
See, all too often, a blogger sets up a blog and just starts posting with their fingers crossed, hoping somebody will [...]
If you could hand-pick your ideal blog reader, who would they be? What are they like? What do they look like?
Have you ever even thought about it?
See, all too often, a blogger sets up a blog and just starts posting with their fingers crossed, hoping somebody will [...]
Post from: ProBlogger Blog Tips
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Mind-Reading Scanner Could Record and Analyze Dreams, Says Brain Researcher
If you ever have trouble remembering your dreams, you're certainly not alone. Our dreams are as elusive as the mechanisms behind them, few of which are understood completely. But Dr. Moran Cerf wants to develop a system capable of reading and recording your dreams electronically. Cue the "Inception" theme music.
Cerf believes that it's possible to create a system that would allow psychologists to compare patients' recollections of their dreams with an electronic visualization of the activity in their brains, and he's taken the first steps toward doing so via a study that associates specific, individual neurons with specific objects or ideas.
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Science, Clay Dillow, dream recorder, dreams, health, neurons, neuroscienceIt's quite a leap from being able to identify a neuron associated with a specific thought or concept and being able to translate the rich canvas of a dream into an electronic visualization. In fact, more than one person in the fields of psychology and neurology seem to think the idea is far-fetched.
But the idea behind Cerf's research is tantalizing and could lead to better understandings of the brain's function if not a dream recorder. Better brain-machine interfaces are the great promise for those trying to develop systems to enable incommunicative people, such as those with locked-in syndrome, to communicate again. And as brain sensor technology provides higher resolutions and becomes less invasive, a system that can identify and respond to abstract concepts at the neural level could be the basis for thought-controlled machines in the future.
For now, Cerf continues to build his neuron-thought databases. The next step is to monitor the brain activity of his volunteer patients - who already have electrodes implanted in their brains to treat them for brain seizures - as they sleep to see if he can decipher exactly what it is they are dreaming of. By comparing how different brains tie different thoughts and concepts to different neurons, Cerf could learn quite a bit about memories and how the brain organizes the information it collects.
[BBC]
The 5 Foundations of Social Media Success that No One Talks About
As I was sitting down to write my first social media column for ProBlogger I was thinking about the best place to start. Should I do a run through of the basics or jump right into reporting on my latest experiment?
My sense of flow and logic won over and here we are at the beginning, [...]
My sense of flow and logic won over and here we are at the beginning, [...]
Post from: ProBlogger Blog Tips
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