The Domesticated Primate

Well, a little while ago, Miro 2.0 made a big splash. Of course, within a day or two, I downloaded it, especially because I read it was supposed to be less of a hog (the older one often made my laptop overheat and shutdown, but a lot of apps do that to my laptop, to be honest).

Anyway, I installed it, and had a problem right away. It simply wouldn't run, and told me to check the log. I posted about it on their feedback site, and got a suggestion to try one of the nightly builds.

I did so, and that one works. I like what I see so far. I like how the video can now be split off from the main screen - however, I don't like that the controls for the video stay with the main screen. Maybe there is an option to change this; I haven't looked yet.

But here's one thing I found out how to do, and this is pretty cool: you can build your own RSS feeds via this site Ubeek.com, and add them as a channel to Miro. I don't think this is a new feature of 2.0, per se, but still, pretty cool.

Youtube needs to open things up to Miro and let it work directly with Miro, but in the long term, I wonder how viable Youtube will be, anyway, at least for the more knowledgeable digerati.

They seem to be opting for the walled garden approach, and cranking up the censorship, and there are lots of alternatives to them, anyway.

I still like searching for some documentaries on video.google.com, but, if given the choice, I'd much rather queue up things via something like Miro and watch them offline. I also want an app to start building up things I like and start recommending things, and do it in one place, and be agnostic to any one website, such as Youtube and/or video.google.com. Something like StumbleUpon, but instead of just for websites in general, to do it for videos (and maybe audio) in particular.

It looks like Miro is starting down that path, but from what I can tell, it's for channels, not down to the video.

This is a great documentary. It covers global warming issues - dealing a lot with the global warming denialists and the people that fund them, for one. It also deals with how science was meddled with under the W regime.

You can view the trailer here:

Everything's Cool trailer

I wouldn't go so far as to say that some neoliberal/conservative/libertarian notions about the economy are dead, per se, but they are probably notions that people will want to set aside for a while.

Warning: NOT safe for work!

Obama is tired of your "stuff".

But...very hilarious.

A great deal of Americans have been kicking around this notion of "well, Bush and crew may have committed war crimes, but we really don't have the time and/or inclination to investigate him for war crimes", or it would "be too divisive", etc.

I wonder if people would be able to use this same logic on, say, the trial of OJ Simpson? Wasn't that also "divisive"?

I think we can walk and chew gum at the same time. Besides, as Jack Clark's podcast points out, we are legally obligated, as a country, to investigate Bush and crew for possible war crimes he committed.

The transcript is here: Rule Of Law: A Criminal Investigation Of The Bush Administration's Torture Program Is Legally Required

...and the mp3 is here.

Happy reading/listening. Here's a taste:

To start off with, listen to Attorney General Eric Holder being questioned at his confirmation hearing by Vermont Senator Pat Leahy:



audio: Eric Holder and Pat Leahy

LEAHY: Water boarding has been recognized to be torture since the time of Spanish Inquisition. The United States has prosecuted American soldiers for using this technique. Earlier in the last century, they prosecuted Japanese soldiers for using it on Americans in World War II. But the two most recent nominees to serve as attorney general of the United States hedged on the question of water boarding.

They would not say that if an American were water boarded by some other government or terrorist anywhere in the world, whether it would be torture and illegal. They maintained it would depend upon the circumstances.

Do you agree with me that water boarding is torture and illegal?

HOLDER: If you look at the history of the use of that technique used by the Khmer Rouge, used in the Inquisition, used by the Japanese and prosecuted by us as war crimes. We prosecuted our own soldiers for using it in Vietnam.

I agree with you, Mr. Chairman, water boarding is torture.

OK, got that? Holder says point blank, water boarding is torture.



Now listen to excerpts of Dick Cheney recently being interviewed by ABC News:



audio: Dick Cheney

KARL: Did you authorize the tactics that were used against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed?

CHENEY: I was aware of the program, certainly, and involved in helping get the process cleared, that is the agency in effect came in and wanted to know what they could and couldn't do. And they talked to me, as well as others, to explain what they wanted to do. And I supported it.

KARL: In hindsight, do you think any of those tactics that were used against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and others went too far?

CHENEY: I don't.

[…]

KARL: [O]n KSM, one of those tactics, of course, widely reported was waterboarding. And that seems to be a tactic we no longer use. Even that you think was appropriate?

CHENEY: I do.

Sounds like an admission to me. Doesn’t it to you?

I ran across a writeup on The True Meaning of Liberal, Leftist and Conservative, and thought it was really quite excellent. I've grown pretty weary of how abused these terms are.

It gets interesting when he discusses the antonyms of liberal:

If you're not ‘LIBERAL,’ what are you? By definition using antonyms, you are: uneducated, unintellectual, closed of heart, selfish, narrow, contracted, mean, small, fascist, racist, bigoted, homophobic, stingy, closed-minded, supportive of monarchies and slavery, against FREEdom of religious expression and speech, low in birth and mind, anti-American.

If you've been out bashing ‘liberals’, you're probably all of these things, as this would perfectly describe someone who would go out ‘liberal bashing’ (FREEdom bashing), which is also known as ‘liberticide’ – the destruction of civil liberties. (Webster's International Dictionary, 1893)

'Liber' (as in liberal), is also the root word of ‘liberty’ (FREEdom from restraint); ‘Libertarian’ (one who holds to FREE will); ‘libertine’ (a FREEd man); ‘liberalism’ (the principles of liberals); ‘liberalist’ (one who is a liberal, or who favors the principles of liberals.); ‘liberalized’ (FREEd from narrow views and prejudices); ‘liberate’ (to make FREE); and several others. Liber is Latin for "FREE."

In fact, the root word ‘liber’ is also the Latin word for ‘book’. This is because many ancient philosophies believed you could only FREE your mind through education and reading by learning the ‘logos’ (thought to be the written word of God). Where you FREEd your mind was in the universities and/or libraries, which held the books.

If we believe the stories told to us by our high school his-story books, then LIBERAL is what this country’s forefathers were and wanted!
(Note: I'm intentionally excluding the works of Howard Zinn, James Lowen, Michael Parenti, Gore Vidal, Noam Chomsky etc. in order to make a point.)