news aggregator

November 7, 2009

02:13
chill writes "Skype's co-founders, Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom, have agreed to transfer ownership of the remaining Skype technology that eBay didn't own, paving the way for eBay to complete its sale of a majority stake in Skype to an investor consortium. In exchange, Friis and Zennstrom will join the investor consortium and obtain a 14 percent stake in Skype. The other consortium partners, led by Silver Lake, will own a 56 percent stake in Skype, and eBay will hold on to 30 percent, eBay said Friday."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot
00:09
C4st13v4n14 writes "In a sudden outbreak of uncommon sense yesterday, a Norwegian District Court handed down the decision that Telenor, Norway's largest ISP, will not have to block access to The Pirate Bay. Telenor was sued earlier this year by the IFPI after being threatened and not backing down. 'The court ruled that Telenor is not contributing to any infringements of copyright law when its subscribers use The Pirate Bay, and therefore there is no legal basis for forcing the ISP to block access to the site. ... In making its decision, the court also had to examine the repercussions if it ruled that Telenor and other ISPs had to block access to certain websites.'"Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot

November 6, 2009

23:59
It didn’t take the hate-Islam crowd long to start blaming the Ft. Hood shooting on Islam. Almost as soon as the media began reporting on the shooting, Jihad Watch, for instance, started highlighting Nidal Hasan’s Islamic faith, attempting to tie his act of murder to the teachings of the Qur’an.One right-winged blogger described this as “a case of a fully coherent, Muslim man, who also happens to be a diligent practioner [sic] of his Islamic faith. This has nothing to do with ‘bullying’ or feelings of discrimination, but of a pious Muslim acting out on his beliefs.”Click through the hate-o-sphere and you’ll find many similar comments.So it seems that Islam is to blame. It seems that Islam is always to blame. According to the hate-Islam mindset, whenever a Muslim engages in evil—be it an honor killing or act of terrorism—Islam is to blame.Of course, the logic here is atrocious.For example, if Islam is to be blamed when Muslims do evil, then why isn’t it to be praised when Muslims do good? Why, for instance, don’t the Jihad Watch types give kudos to Islam when Palestinians in the West Bank village of Ni’lin engage in nonviolent protests? Why didn’t they feel that this summer’s peaceful protests in Iran in some sense validated Islam?Personal experience has led me to believe that the world contains more—many more—good Muslims than bad Muslims. So why then does the hate-Islam crowd base their conclusions of Islam on the bad minority and not the good majority?Moreover, if the Jihad Watch crowd blames Islam when Muslims do evil, then why don’t they blame Judaism when Jews do evil? If the Ft. Hood shooting discredits Islam, then why doesn’t Israel’s assault in Gaza or why don’t all the incidents of settler violence in the West Bank discredit Judaism?The truth, of course, is that Islam does not promote terrorism. As Bernard Lewis (himself no Islamophile) has written: “At no point do the basic texts of Islam enjoin terrorism and murder. At no point—as far as I am aware—do they even consider the random slaughter of uninvolved bystanders.”Christian Americans are actually more likely to justify terrorism than are those living in many predominantly Muslim countries. That’s right. One in four Americans—and remember, 83% of Americans identify themselves as Christians—one in four Americans believe that “bombing and other attacks intentionally aimed at civilians” are “often or sometimes justified.” The corresponding numbers in Indonesia, Pakistan, and Turkey are 10%, 14%, and 17%.So Islam is not to blame. For the ten billionth time, Islam is not to blame. Just as Sergeant John Russell’s Catholic upbringing was not to blame when he gunned down five fellow soldiers in Baghdad earlier this year.So don’t join the kooks. Don’t condemn the religion of one billion (mostly good-hearted and peace-loving) people because a small number of them commit evil actions. Don’t hate.
Source: Don Emmerich
23:02
... that Michelle Malkin was, once upon a time, the up-and-coming American libertarian editorialist. Back in the late 90s -- right up until 9/11, as a matter of fact -- I awaited her columns eagerly and routinely popped them into Free-Market.Net's database for linking in Freedom News Daily.Over and over again, I find myself coming back to the question of what brought about her transformation (at damn near light speed) into the bedwetting collectivist termagant demagogue she is today. Did 9/11 trigger a full-on mental collapse? Or did she just cynically (and correctly) calculate that there was more money to be made whoring out as a Bushevik propagandist than telling the truth?Crying shame either way, and I guess it's six of one and half a dozen of the other, but I'd really like to know.
Source: Kn@ppster
22:22
22:19
22:17
Federal American Eagle - 110gr FMJ BR/BO/NC
22:07
Jiilik Oiolosse writes "KDE founder Matthias Ettrich was decorated today with the German Federal Cross of Merit for his contributions to Free Software. The Federal Cross of Merit is both the most prestigious as well as the only general decoration awarded by the Federal Republic of Germany. It is awarded by the Federal President for outstanding achievements in the political, economic, cultural, and other fields. Matthias was awarded the medal in recognition of his work spurring innovation and spreading knowledge for the common good."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot
20:56
From this speech on receiving the Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in Cultural Humanism at Harvard University's Memorial Church: "Faith is something we have to embrace. Faith in God means believing, absolutely, in something, with no proof whatsoever. Faith in humanity means believing absolutely in something with a huge amount of proof to the contrary. We are the true believers." -- Joss Whedon
20:25
This is an exciting bunch, if you are in the area check them out.
20:23
It will be progressive-libertarian, says Gerald Celente.
20:23
Kiss your freedoms goodbye, says Judge Napolitano.
20:23
Will Grigg explains why.
20:23
No, it is visited upon us, says Gary North.
20:23
Russ Longcore on what won't be discussed.
20:23
Is it a real Austrian opportunity? Article by Robert Eschauzier.
20:23
And fewer and fewer of them, thanks to our rulers. Article by Peter Schiff.