Madness Factor

Poor ol’ Trey Anastasio has landed himself in a bit of trouble. I’m sad to see it. The guys in Phish ran in the same circle I did when I was in college — I never got to know any of them very well, but I talked to them at parties and attended their shows when they were still playing bars. Word from folks I knew who were better acquainted with them was that even after they hit it big, they remained down-to-earth. I guess Trey’s situation shouldn’t surprise me too much, but I honestly never imagined any of them would get into anything more than run-of-the-mill psychedelics…or possibly huffing hoover bags.

I’ve been busy these days, so making time to blog has been difficult. Until I have time to write a proper post, I will take the easy way out by posting items that take very little time. Tonight it’s a photo.

Here is my cat, in the very position which I discovered him when I returned from getting myself a glass of water. I thought maybe he was surfing for kitty porn, but turns out he was just reading the news.

I’m not sure if I can still call Reggie Watts a Seattleite — I think he lives here part-time — but either way, he sure does some impressive things with just a microphone and a tape loop echo unit (Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler, methinks?):

Reggie Watts: Out Of Control on Vimeo

As if substitute teachers didn’t have it hard enough already. A former one from Connecticut may be going to jail because of spyware. From the Washington Post blog post:

Local prosecutors charged that the teacher was caught red-handed surfing for porn in the presence of seventh graders. The defense claimed the graphic images were pop-up ads generated by spyware already present on the computer prior to the teacher’s arrival. The jury sided with the prosecution and convicted her of four counts of endangering a child, a crime that brings a punishment of up to 10 years per count. She is due to be sentenced on March 2.

The prosecution neglected to mention the outdated browser on the school computer, and the school’s lapsed anti-virus software subscription. They didn’t even do a scan of the hard-drive to see if there was any spyware installed; according to the defense, their own scans of the PC revealed the presence of two adware programs and at least one Trojan horse program, but they were not allowed to present this evidence in the trial. This is a gross miscarriage of justice. I hope enough folks kick up a stink and the accused either gets the conviction vacated, or at the very least is granted a new trial. Read the full post here.

(madfac note: This MF entry added to after original post.) 

I’ve don’t usually do linkdumps, but I’ve come across enough interesting stuff on the internets today that I feel like, hey, what the hell. Without further ado…

• From an article in the New York Times, billboards that address you personally. (Via Mental Floss.)
• More proof some of us prefer ignorant bliss: 13 percent of Americans have not heard of global warming. (Via Digg.)
• The exceedingly polite, handwritten missives of a passive-aggressive neighbor, posted and analyzed by the recipient in a blog post, which in turn served as the basis for a class project. (Via MeFi. )
• At last, for we companion animal caretakers: Peternity leave! (Via Fark.)
• “Safe sex? That just means she’s been declawed.” (Via Fark.)
• From the world of the Wii come the celebrity Miis. (Old post, but new to me!)
• And in case you missed this, the cutest sneeze ever. (YouTube.)