Happy Holidays, from WalMart.

The Junior's Department at Walmart is selling these interesting panties, suggesting, to put in clearly, that young girls don't need credit cards, because they have a more valuable asset within their knickers. Christ.










From Feministing, through Jezebel. Good lord- I've just churned through about 5 books about marketers defining teens, and pushing sexuality to young girls as part of KGOY (Kids Growing Older Younger) strategies, but this is ridiculous to the extreme and unspeakably offensive.

Link to Feministing's original rant on this, complete with contact info at Walmart, should you feel sufficiently outraged/disgusted to spend a few seconds letting them know. These are the people who censor cd's, for the love of Pete.

Libraries sidestepping GoogleBooks

"Several major research libraries have rebuffed offers from Google and Microsoft to scan their books into computer databases, saying they are put off by restrictions these companies want to place on the new digital collections.

The research libraries, including a large consortium in the Boston area, are instead signing on with the Open Content Alliance, a nonprofit effort aimed at making their materials broadly available."

Link to interesting NYT article

Scary, sexy marketing to children.

This is sick stuff, people. On the advice of kids (the eldest who recommended this site was 11, his older brother at 13 said that it was "for kids" and that he likes MySpace better) I visited Gaia Online. Wow. It was eerie for me, and really pushed a lot of buttons.

The main thing that freaked me out was how the site is all about shopping to define your identity. I know that sounds like, Oh, there goes Lexicat freaking out about material culture replacing theoretical culture again, or, as one girl sighed to me years ago when we were having a long talk about religion, "This isn't going to be as complicated as your feelings about shopping, is it?" But well, anyway.

When you join Gaia, a NPC called Moira comes to greet you and show you around. Moira was pretty nice, very cute, very sexy, and totally OBSESSED with making you go shopping.

So there I go, following the beginner's quests (which were pretty much about choosing my avatar- I enjoyed that, and was happy when I was done- my avatar has spiky hair, a

blue t shirt, a black skirt and black boots), and then up pops Moira with a message. She wants me to play the Daily Chance, to see if I win something good. I'm up for it, why not? So I click on it, and win 25 gold. Sweet, right?

Then I continue trying to explore Gaia. I am trying to get a feel of the map, when Moira pops back up. She's bossy.

Moira says "Ooh, let's go spend it! Shopping spreeeee! Don't worry about throwing a little gold around, you can always get more [by playing on Gaia]"

I tried not to go shopping. I kept clicking off Moira, and trying to navigate the site. She kept coming back. Over and over and over.

Now Moira says "Have you bought anything cool yet? That money must be burning a hole in your pocket by now!" She's so perky, and cute, and my only friend in this new world. So Ok, Moira, let's go shopping.

We go to Barton Boutique, and I scope out the clothes. Wow, lots of choices. All of the free clothes you get when you start were pretty gender neutral, but I hadn't thought much of it- although I did admire Moira's cleavage, belly ring, and unfastened(?) jeans. but wow- shopping was surprising.

For a mere 2 gold, I could buy another blue T-shirt from Rufus, the cute cat who runs that shop.

Hey, it's "A warm fitted top with a super cute design." Sounds good to me, so I buy it. Then I realise, oh, hey, it said Gender: Any. Huh. Ok, I am kind of amused because IRL I do wear lots of guys' T-shirts and hoodies, but I think about being a preteen/tween whatever, and how much I would want to make it clear that I was a girl. I keep browsing.

And lo and behold, the first top that I found that wasn't Gender: Any, makes it very clear that this is a top for a womanly woman. Look at those! Also, it is 160 gold. (Remember, the gender neutral top is 2 gold.) I keep browsing.

There are some skirts- how about the Dark Mistress Skirt? The advertising copy reads "When this skirt came down, so did he." Now, I am not even sure what happened to him, or why the skirt came down, as opposed to going up, but it sounds, well, racy. Only 600 gold to be a sexy dark mistress! The Red Goth Skirt is "A crimson skirt for the emotionally disturbed." Emotional disturbance, too is 600 gold. The Leather Tube Top is 1300 gold. The advertising copy is simple and to the point. "Tease Men". (Yeah, men, not boys. Tease men.)

I am getting kind of freaked out clothes shopping (as y'all can tell, because I took a ton of screencaps) so I go furniture shopping, something I enjoy more in real life too. I don't have much money, so I click to search for the cheapest stuff there is. After lamps and wall clocks, I come to chairs. One of the cheaper choices (and I do want to say that there are many other choices) was a "Redwood Bar Chair", ad copy reading "This chair was made for drinkin', and that's just what it'll do". Really? The chair will go out drinkin'? Now, that's a fancy chair. Gives new meaning to the 'hollow leg' thing.

Anyway, the shopping saga was giving me agita. Moira was proud of me that I had bought something. "Hey, you went shopping! Isn't it fun? Watch out, you might get addicted! I'd better give you a little bit more gold so you don't go broke!" Moira gives me 25 more gold.

I went looking for the kids, the real kids who had finished their shopping, and were hanging out, connecting, bonding in their social network. (I must say that the main reason that I was at Gaia was because I am co-hosting a meeting about social networking, youth, and libraries)

Imagine, if you will, my delight when I found the forums. Here, I hoped, I might find the justification I was looking for, for why we shouldn't keep this crap out of the libraries, for why it might be valuable.

Recent topics

* All about the butt-secks

* Enter Topic Here

* Igamer64 waz here

* Come and chill :D

*Django bought this area

* if ur name is garaa come here

* CAKED IS YUM (:

* Queer Land by Leland

* Enter Topic Here

Yeah. Soooo not feeling up to the "All about the butt-secks" conversation (love that "the", by the way, stylewise- the headline just wouldn't be as powerful and attention getting if it was just "All about butt-secks". Also, am horrified/amused that this phrase ( I know it from Fark forums) has become a seemingly universal way to discuss anal sex while bypassing filters that would block 'anal' or 'sex'.)

So I went fishing. I didn't catch much though, a few guppies and an old boot.

The guy at the fishing shack suggested that my chances might be better if I bought an expensive new, fancy fishing rod and some Grade A bait - my 'free' Basic rod and 'free' Grade F bait weren't doing it.

So I logged off. Damn. So doomed.

Um, that bug is following me.

SPOOKY stuff, just in time for Halloween.





Robot bugs. Robot spy bugs. Remote control robot spy bugs. Scared yet?

Follow the LINK for the full horror.

Ever feel like somebody's watching you? Senate blocks use of ID implants in employees

For now. How long do you think it will be before Homeland Security requires this?

"Tackling a dilemma right out of a science fiction novel, the state Senate passed legislation Thursday that would bar employers from requiring workers to have identification devices implanted below their skin.

State Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) proposed the measure after at least one company began marketing radio frequency identification devices (RFID) for use in humans. The devices, as small as a grain of rice, can be used by employers to identify workers. A scanner passing over a body part implanted with one can instantly identify the person.

"RFID is a minor miracle, with all sorts of good uses," Simitian said. "But we shouldn't condone forced 'tagging' of humans. It's the ultimate invasion of privacy."
LINK

jesus wept.

"NEW YORK (AP) — So many brides say they want to look like a princess on their wedding day — and now we're about to find out if they really mean it.

The Walt Disney Co. has teamed with bridal designer Kirstie Kelly to create a collection of gowns inspired by the favorite Disney princess characters, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Ariel from The Little Mermaid, Belle from Beauty and The Beast and Jasmine from Aladdin." LINK

Monsanto really are evil

"Genetically modified potatoes developed by Monsanto, the multinational biotech company, have been fed to sick patients in an experiment. Rats that ate similar potatoes in the research suffered reductions in the weight of their hearts and prostate glands.

Dr Michael Antoniou, reader in molecular genetics at Guy's, King's and St Thomas' School of Medicine, said use of humans was "irresponsible and totally unethical, especially when already ill subjects were enrolled. These people truly were guinea pigs." Other scientists said the trials were too short, on too few people, to give meaningful results of long-term effects.

Monsanto said the vegetables were safe, and the researchers conducting the experiment said effects on the rats were within "permissible" limits."
LINK

This makes my head ache.

"PALMER, Alaska, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- Free wireless Internet service at a public library in Palmer, Alaska, doesn't mean its available for use after hours.
A Palmer man has been waiting to see if he'll be charged with criminal wrongdoing after a patrolling police officer seized the laptop he was using to play online video games in the parking lot.
Authorities told the Anchorage Daily News Saturday that Brian Tanner, 21, had been chased out of a number of locations around Palmer where he had been latching on to wireless service.
Police said that although Tanner was using an essentially free service, there are library rules governing its use and Tanner wasn't following them." LINK

Pushing the limits?

"Those amusing YouTube video clips that Internet users send to friends gobble up large chunks of bandwidth and may cause the Net to crash, some elements of the telecom industry warn.

It's an admonition many dismiss as political posturing intended to dissuade lawmakers from restricting the freedom of phone companies to manage Internet traffic as they wish.

But no one disagrees that the Web's capacity is being pushed to its limits."We don't see anything catastrophic near term, but over the next few years there's this fundamental wall we're heading towards," said Pieter Poll, chief technology officer at Qwest Communications International Inc., one of the operators of the Internet backbones, which are the big pipes at the network's center." LINK

Second Life Revolution- Is virtual terrorism terrorism? Is Linden a government?

Man, so many of these stories out of Second Life feel so surreal, but they raise important questions.

People are demanding a right to vote in Second Life, and are turning to violence.

"Cahill saw a bleak future, but he felt powerless to stop them. So he detonated an atomic bomb outside an American Apparel outlet. Then another outside a Reebok store."

The army has staged a number of protests in Second Life to publicize its position. Three gun-toting members shot customers outside American Apparel — bullet wounds in Second Life are not fatal but merely disrupt a user's experience — and Reebok stores last year.Then they stepped up the campaign, exploding nukes, which manifested themselves in swirling fireballs that thrust users at the scene into motionless limbo."
LINK

OLPC kicking a**, taking names in every possible way.

"For example, there is no reason why your copy of Solitaire should be able to browse through your tax records and send interesting tidbits to organized criminals in Russia. Today's generation of antivirus, antispyware programs work by having a list of all these bad programs and scanning for them. The OLPC approach is to simply deny your Solitare program from being able to access the network or browse your files. Why should it need those capabilities, anyway?"
LINK to article about the security systems on the OLPCs.

Despite laws saying that Government docs are public domain, lawyer finds drm block

I hate PDFs with the fire of a thousand suns, but this goes far beyond that.
"DMCA makes it illegal for me to use works that are completely in the public domain...it tells me that I have permission to read and print the document, but not to copy from it. Because there is no copyright, the government has no right to prevent me from copying...I have no hacking skills; I'm just a non-profit lawyer trying to read a government document. Normally I'd buy some software utility that would let me do this, but such a utility is something the DMCA definitely prohibits. I better start writing my petition for a Copyright Office exemption next time they grant them in two years."
LINK

Soon, Disney will just own Childhood™®

Hm. Disney is always scary, but this is something else.

"You probably are not aware that earlier this month Disney applied to the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand for sweeping trade mark protection around works that Disney did not create.
You may be astonished at the breadth of the application being lodged by a company that has done no more, in this case, than produce adaptations of classic works of children's literature. Ditto for Snow White, Peter Pan, Pinocchio and a list of characters from those works.

This is not trivial. It would be understandable for Disney to try and protect its interpretations of existing characters, but its application for so-called "word marks" implies something much more than that: it implies exclusive rights to use all those characters. There have been at least 14 English-language films based on Carlo Collodi's 1883 novel The Adventures of Pinocchio (which itself drew on classical sources), and many more in other languages. If Disney was to obtain such trade marks (which cover "motion picture films"), would it then become impossible to make - or at least market - another one without Disney's permission? Would it be a copyright lockout via the back door?"

LINK

Equal access to information? Not in U.S. public schools, no sir!

Wow- this is a scary one.
Schools around the country are using "acceptable use policies" to block student access to the open internet. If kids who might not have computers at home aren't able to use the internet at school, they are being denied education. A child without internet skills in America is a child who does not know how to fish.

"School administrators in the Houston-area school district were prohibiting the use of search engines in classrooms. Kids were only allowed to visit specific sites that were approved by the technology department. Techies—not media specialists—were calling the shots when it came to sanctioning sites for students. If teachers or librarians wanted kids to visit an unapproved site, they had to submit a request to the tech specialist. Call me old-fashioned, but when did techies become information specialists with the credentials to choose appropriate sites for students?

As unsettling as it sounds, some districts ban Internet use altogether—and they’re getting away with it. It’s not just happening in repressive countries like China and Iran—it’s happening right here in places like New York, Texas, and Minnesota. Let’s not lose sight that this extreme “solution” to prevent students from accessing undesirable sites violates their First Amendment rights. I know of several elementary schools in a nearby Texas district in which the principal prohibits any Web use—even for teachers. One teacher said she was saddened by the fact that she could no longer visit Literacy Center, a wonderful site for kids learning to speak English as a second language."
LINK to article- an interesting and thought provoking read!

Thanks to the fabulous Kristin for the tip! And hmmmm...
(From the article) "One librarian on the East Coast says that her students aren’t allowed to check the Web for weather reports even though many of them travel to and from school each day by ferry."

Thailand breaking patents to create affordable Aids drugs

Thailand's latest coup hardly fluttered the news, but the new government is up to stuff- and this is fantastic.

"Thailand's health ministry says it has approved the production of cheaper versions of patented anti-Aids and heart disease drugs.

He said at current prices, Thailand could only afford anti-Aids medicine for a fifth of the country's HIV sufferers.

The minister said the move was permissible under international trade rules in the event of national public health emergencies." LINK

Response from the BigPharma companies whose drugs are being reproduced, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co and Abbot Laboratories, is predictably angry. They, naturally, would prefer to make money than to save lives. Looking out for their investors, you see. It's all about the economy, baby!

China looking at registering real names of bloggers

"China Internet Association Councilor Hu Qiheng said bloggers may have to identify themselves when they register, but can continue to write their blogs under a pseudonym.

By the end of 2006, the number of bloggers in China had reached 20.8 million, of whom 3.15 million are active writers, according to the China Internet Survey Report 2007 released earlier this month.

China had 137 million people online by the end of last year, up by almost a quarter from 2005, according to the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC)." LINK

Scientists pressured, censored by Bush White House.

"The Bush administration has been accused of routinely misleading the public over the threat of global warming and of orchestrating efforts to try to suppress scientific findings that highlight the reality of climate change.
Meanwhile, two pressure groups provided survey findings to the committee that suggested almost half of federal climate scientists who responded said they had experienced pressure to eliminate the words "climate change" or "global warming" from their writings. One third said they had experienced officials at their agencies making public statements that misrepresented their findings." LINK

Man is shocked- SHOCKED, I tell you, about non-censored internet at the library.

I do kind of feel for this guy, because I'm not a huge fan of the porn, but still, censorship is not cool.

"The rules and regulations when using a computer inside an El Paso library is simply showing a picture ID and signing in at the information desk. Librarians said there are no restrictions on what information you access on the Internet.

"In fact, there are privacy laws in this state that protect people's use to library resources to a certain extent. In that regard, we do not monitor what people are looking at on the computer," said Carol Brey-Casiano, director of El Paso Public Libraries.

"That's not acceptable. Opening all of these brand-new libraries with our taxes and everything, there has to be some kind of software that blocks that," Leyva said."
LINK

Dirty, dirty PR guy taking on open-access information

Free information is threatening traditional journal publishers. The Association of American Publishers (AAP) would apparently, rather charge $14,000 (not kidding at all) for a year's subscription to an Elsevier publication* than share that knowledge with the world, and they have hired a dirty hired gun to go after the open access movement.

"Although Dezenhall declines to comment on Skilling and his other clients, his firm, Dezenhall Resources, was also reported by Business Week to have used money from oil giant ExxonMobil to criticize the environmental group Greenpeace. "He's the pit bull of public relations," says Kevin McCauley, an editor at the magazine O'Dwyer's PR Report.

Now, Nature has learned, a group of big scientific publishers has hired the pit bull to take on the free-information movement, which campaigns for scientific results to be made freely available. Some traditional journals, which depend on subscription charges, say that open-access journals and public databases of scientific papers such as the National Institutes of Health's (NIH's) PubMed Central, threaten their livelihoods." LINK

*fact: Biochemica et Biophysica Acta (published by Elsevier) averaged 300 pages in the 1990s; today they are averaging 200 pages. Price in 1993 was $7,700; this year we paid $14,000. (source: R.Wilson, UC Berkeley Library) LINK