City Commissioner Modifies "Racist"

After a series of meetings about filling a vacancy on the High Springs (FL) City Commission, where the need for diversity had been discussed, Commissioner Eric May posted the following to his blog;

I really hope our Commission can move past these type of racist and genderist remarks and select the candidate who suits our city the best.

Naturally, Commissioner Larry Travis took issue with the comment because not only is he proud of his record on women's and minority rights, but he had pushed for a black woman to fill the board's vacancy.

After hearing from several members of the community, Commissioner May clarified that he felt any discussion of race and gender would be racist or genderist, but because most people define "racist" as a hatred for those of another race, he modified his blogpost to say;

"I really hope our Commission can move past these type of remarks which could be easily construed as racist and genderist remarks and select the candidate who suits our city the best.

At their March 25th meeting, the High Springs City Commission voted to seat John Hill, with Commissioner Travis being the only dissenting vote and earlier that day, the High Springs Herald labeled Eric May's blog writings a good use of technology, yet "divisive".

Yahoo! is Still Kicking and They Can Evolve

I assume that most of the pointers to the New York Times article about the rebirth of former Jane editor, Brandon Holley, as a blogger are going to focus on the insidery Condé Nast angle, but I took a couple of other things from the piece.

First of all, despite the memes to the contrary, Yahoo! retains a vaunted position in the industry with an almost unrivaled power to launch a high-traffic site. And, they've finally learned a lesson that I've been screaming about for more than a decade; If one of the world's largest internet companies can't embrace the telecommute, then why should anyone else try?

Unfortunately, they may have learned that last lesson a little late, but due to what we know from the first, it could be too early to say die.

Keeping Schools Safe or Spying on Students?

Obviously reporter Emily Turner of Fox affiliate WGMB has a point of view and the gratuitous shot of her in the police car is a little much, but her report about a Louisiana's school district's reluctance to give police direct access to school surveillance cameras raises an interesting question about privacy rights.

It also brought to mind the recent case from Pennsylvania, where the camera in a student's school-issued laptop was remotely initialized and the student confronted by an administrator on the issue of possible drug sales from home. Not to mention, the subsequent revelation that the school district had setup a website to share captured images from other cases with local police.

ChatRoulette: Filmmaker Science

chat roulette from Casey Neistat on Vimeo.

(If player fails to load, click post title)

(via The Awl)

Scam Artist Spams Judge

Ubiquitous, late night, informercial staple Kevin Trudeau has been found in contempt by a Chicago area judge for the second time and forced to post a $50,000 bond, plus surrender his passport, while awaiting sentencing on at least one of the charges, next week.

In open court, U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman said that he'll likely require jail time and a fine because Mr. Trudeau bombarded his email with letters of support from his followers, some of which could be considered threatening and all of which are undergoing analysis by the U.S. Marshals Service in a first of its kind investigation.

Trudeau, who previously served two years on a 1991 conviction for credit card fraud, where he charged more than $122,000 to the cards of eleven customers from one of his prior schemes is currently awaiting final sentencing for this most recent act of contempt, and a previous conviction after he successfully appealed the judge's amended punishment for violating a 2004 court order.

After run-ins with the SEC, the FTC and eight states for pyramid schemes and selling products using false and misleading statements, Trudeau settled an action by the Federal Trade Commission in 2004, by paying a $2 million dollar fine and agreeing to a lifetime ban "from appearing in, producing, or disseminating future infomercials that advertise any type of product, service, or program to the public, except for truthful infomercials for informational publications".

In 2007, the FTC charged that some of the marketing statements for a book titled The Weight Loss Cure 'They' Don't Want You to Know About were misleading because its infomercial claimed that the weight loss program was something easy, consumers could do at home without exercise and would allow them to eat anything they want, while the actual publication outlined a complex plan with lifetime dietary restrictions and exercise requirements, daily injections of a growth hormone available only by prescription and regular colonics, which must be administered by a licensed practitioner.

Mr. Trudeau was found guilty of making "patently false" statements to sell his weight loss book, thus putting him in violation of the '04 order.

Initially, Judge Gettleman sentenced him to pay a fine of more than $5 million dollars and imposed a three year moratorium on appearing in any informercial for a product in which he holds an interest, but both Mr. Trudeau and the FTC asked him to reconsider the sentence. After less than a month's time, the judge decided to keep the three year moratorium, but upped the fine to more than $37 million dollars, which is what the Federal Trade Commission alleges Mr. Trudeau had received from the estimated 32,000 times the infomercial ran.

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Mr. Trudeau's conviction last fall, but directed Judge Gettleman to do more fact-finding to justify the fine. In an attempt to sway the court, Mr. Trudeau reached out to his customers via email and through his website asking them to contact the judge, which caused his email account to become flooded.

This was not only a demonstrable inconvenience to the court, but it also violated the rules governing ex-parte communications.

And because you've most likely seen a Kevin Trudeau infomercial recently, while awaiting the appeal and fact-finding effort, he has been actively marketing Free Money "They" Don't Want You to Know About, a book published in 2009 and a product in which he holds an interest.

This guy will never quit.

Links

• Wikipedia
• Chicago Tribune
• Chicago Sun-Times
• FTC Linklist outlining the entire case

Anonymous Threats Still a Crime

Brian Crouse of Stanfordville NY "anonymously" commented on a story in the Torrington (CT) Register Citizen about a police detective receiving a reprimand for an off-duty confrontation, saying that the officer "needs a bullet between the eyes".

Reportedly within minutes, the newspaper pulled Mr. Crouse's comment and contacted officials with the offending IP, which resulted in an investigation and an order for arrest charging him with "breach of peace, second degree".

NPS Locking Down Mount Rushmore

Cremation Burns Jobs

Officials with Federal Coach, a hearse and limousine manufacturer says that an increase in the popularity of cremation has contributed to a downturn in business, so it makes sense for them to close their Arkansas plant which will result in the loss of 140 jobs.

Stockton (CA) Thinks Outside of the Box

CNN's iReport Gets a YouTube

A 15 year-old Newark (OH) girl has been charged with three misdemeanor counts for punching and restraining another 15 year-old, reportedly because the victim had insulted the Insane Clown Posse.

What makes this case more interesting than any other kid-fight is that video of the alteraction was uploaded to CNN as an iReport, along with a sentence asking police to do something about it.

Note: The full iReport is over four minutes, while the pertinent excerpts are included in a 1:42 video which accompanies the text story.

Blogger Finds Check

Greg Cook, publisher of the "New England Journal of Aesthetic Research", an internet-based arts journal has been awarded a $30,000 Creative Capital/Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant, which was funded by Andy Warhol's estate and created by his will.

Of the 26 honorees this year, Mr. Cook is the only active blogger.

Upcoming Connecticut Suburban Paper War

Late last year, the Journal Register Company shut down three weekly newspapers serving Hartford suburbs, so Melissa Marinan, a former employee launched one to serve the five abandoned communities.

Her free, mailed-delivered Valley Press printed its first edition in February, which was the same month, the Journal Register Company filed for bankruptcy protection.

Now that they have regained their footing, the Journal Register has figured out a way to inexpensively serve three of the affluent suburbs, so they will launching three town-focused papers which will also be distributed free by mail, except it will be wrapped around an ad shopper they have kept going.

Ms. Marinan and her partners are all set to compete against their former employer, but there is a question of having a limited ad-base.

Viv Lazich, who operates a business catering to quilters has faithfully advertised once a month in the Valley Press, but she told the Hartford Courant that she is not looking to do more because she finds greater value in her Facebook page, blog and sending emails to customers.

"Mail Art": Interactive or Manipulative?

In April of 2009, English artists Lenka Clayton and Michael Crowe sent an abstract letter to all 467 resident of an Irish seaside village. Last week, all 620 registerd homeowners on Polish Hill in Pittsburgh also received letters from the artists.

None of the letters had return addresses and each were fairly bizarre. For example, one tells the recipient that all of their refrigerator contents were switched with identical items in Ben Affleck's and another purports to include one of Elton John's hairs.

The artists told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that they hoped it would spur interaction between neighbors and on their blog, where they have posted photos and videos of the letters, they say the "art work consists solely of the discussions between the recipients".

Naturally when these unexplained letters started flooding the neighborhood, residents turned to their civic association, who ran updates on their neighborhood news site and it was there, a filmmaker revealed that she had recently produced a short video about the artists and their project ("Writing Letters to Everyone in the World") for Smithsonian Magazine and links to other press started to appear.

Jumping the Gun

After the May 6th shooting of Wesleyan University student Johanna Justin-Jinich, police identified a suspect and because of a bad records search, they took a photograph of Cornell University professor Stephen L. Morgan to Wesleyan administrators and inquired if he had any connection to their campus.

According to legal papers submitted by Professor Morgan, police did not give the university permission to release the photo, but apparently they gave it to the media, who broadcast his name and photo along with allegations that he was the shooter and may have been partially motivated by a hatred of Jewish people.

Needless to say, Professor Morgan has filed suit against Wesleyan. He alleges that the photo release and university statements branding him a homicidal racist has damaged his reputation in the community.