Archive for the ‘News’ Category

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Hey, I almost got sued by the New York Times!


2008
08.08

I got this letter today, and modified my “infringing” posts to comply with the (surprisingly very friendly) New York Times legal team who contacted me. Ironically, one of the infringing posts was entitled:

You’re not paranoid if they are really after you!

:-)

August 8, 2008

VIA Email: contact@neobeans.com
and U.S. Mail

Mr. Charles Medley
130 Hedgewood Drive
Greenbelt, MD 20770

Re: Infringing Use of New York Times Materials on

http://www.neobeans.com/blog/

Dear Mr. Medley:

I am with the Legal Department of The New York Times Company. Continuously for more than one hundred years, The Times has published the world famous newspaper The New York Times. We are the owner of U.S. Registration No. 227,904 for our trademark “The New York Times”, which registration is now incontestable.

It has come to my attention that you have posted on your web site a screen grab showing an nytimes.com page containing an article entitled “Russian Gang Hijacking PC’s In Vast Scheme”, written by John Markoff and published in The New York Times newspaper on August 5, 2008 (at http://www.neobeans.com/blog/) and an article entitled “The Secret Curse of Expert Archers” written by Katie Thomas and published in the newspaper on August 1, 2008 (at http://www.neobeans.com/blog/2008/07/31/cant-shoot/) (collectively, the “Materials”). We have no record that you ever obtained permission to post the Materials

Please note, The New York Times Company owns the copyright in and to all of the material published in The New York Times newspaper. We encourage linking and you can find our guidelines for doing so appropriately at http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/linkingfaq.html. Also, if you wish to post a legal eprint of any New York Times article(s) on your web site, we invite you to contact Leigh Russo at PARS International (phone: 212-xxx-xxxx, xXXX / email: leigh.russo@xxxxxxxx.xxx), who will be happy to assist you.

However, your current use of the Materials constitutes an infringement of The Times’s rights under U.S. Copyright and Trademark law. Accordingly, we hereby demand that you immediately cease and desist from any further use of the Materials in any manner whatsoever and immediately remove the Materials from your site.

If we do not hear from you within three (3) business days of receipt of this letter, we will have no choice but to pursue all available remedies, both civil and criminal. The demands made herein shall not prejudice or waive any right or remedies that The Times may have in respect of the subject matter set forth herein, all of which rights and remedies are hereby expressly reserved.

Sincerely,

Deborah Beshaw
Legal Department
The New York Times Company
620 Eighth Avenue, 18th Floor
New York, NY 10018
212-xxx-xxxx
(f) 212-xxx-xxxx

cc: Tom Jolly
Richard S. Samson, Esq

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It’s not paranoia if they are really out to get you!


2008
08.07

A lot of my friends are not computer-savvy. A lot of my friends also run Windows in one of its many incarnations, and when they have bizarre problems with their computers, I hear about them.

One friend (who shall remain nameless) had a weird issue where her keyboard would spew random characters every so often. As she was describing the problem, I checked a few websites and found that there actually was a virus circulating that matched her symptoms to a tee.

Her response?

“Oh well, it’s no big deal. It’s kind of cute!”

Then I launched in to a whole explanation about how having a lackadaisical approach to securing her computer could leave her compromised — and she could become a pawn of nebulous Eastern European hacker groups who get paid to turn your computer in to part of a botnet and use it for purposes such as spamming everyone with Viagra ads.

My friend politely listened as if I’d just said, “We have to wear the tin foil hats to keep the aliens from controlling our minds!”, but finally… FINALLY… a “mainstream” source of news has covered this topic.

From The New York Times.

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Don’t go swimming in New York…


2008
08.02


The Montauk Monster

The Montauk Monster


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Begun, the smear campaigns have…


2008
07.26

(Just imagine the title being spoken aloud with Yoda’s voice… Hmmmmmm!)

From snopes.com, which is my preferred source for facts when I hear rumors on the internet that seem unbelievable… but the latest one, about Obama dissing soliders during a visit seemed like a classic smear campaign, until I read more and found that there was a lot going on beneath the surface…


Snopes.com:  Obama in Afghanistan

Snopes.com: Obama in Afghanistan


As mentioned in the Snopes entry, the interesting twist is that the person who wrote the letter is a *real* member of the military whose e-mail to his family was made public. Then, the story began to circulate, stirring up all kinds of reactions from people.

Now, people are arguing the fine details of whether Obama was actually mingling with the troops at the base the original e-mailer wrote from or not, but it seems that Obama has had no problem mingling with our service people in other locations, as you can see below:


Obama eating breafkast with servicemembers

Obama eating breafkast with servicemembers

Obama shaking hands with troops in Afghanistan

Obama shaking hands with troops in Afghanistan

The only sad thing is that people are now picking at every nuanced move of a candidate to determine if they are “correct”, instead of looking for a leader. This is why I try to ignore all the crap about McCain’s age, Obama’s middle name (Hussein), and silly meaningless details that get stirred up.

I’m more interested in whether we’ll have a real energy policy so that the economy is not held captive by foreign oil interests who happen to be the breeding grounds for terrorists. I’m more interested in whether the housing bust is going to roll back the gains we’ve seen in the real estate market. I’m wondering if either candidate has a real plan for balancing the need to allow American companies to compete globally versus protecting American jobs.

But God forbid if one of the candidates forgets how to walk like a geisha while balancing image and substance!

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The Perfect Party On Father’s Day


2008
06.15


Don\'t have a taser party, bro!

From CNN.com