First Looks category archive

Glomarization wrote it up so I don’t have to.

It is not unreasonable to call tea partiers “scary.”

Follow the link for her reasoning.

The internet is a public place. The principles of civil discourse apply (if you can afford the lawyer).

The singer (Courtney Love–ed.) has agreed to pay Dawn Simorangkir $430,000, plus interest, to settle a lawsuit the designer filed in March 2009 over comments Love made on Twitter and her MySpace blog.

While the case didn’t go to a jury, First Amendment experts say it highlights the need for celebrities and average people to watch what they say online.

(snip)

“The laws controlling what is and isn’t libelous are the same regardless of the medium in which the statements appear,” (First Amendment Attorney Doug Mirell) said.

In a parallel vein, the local rag has banned anonymous comments on opinion pieces (not on news stories) and considers the experiment a success. From the editor of the editorial page:

Before the switch to verified commenting, we would regularly find it necessary to delete trollish or racist or otherwise inappropriate comments. Since the switch, we’ve had to do almost none of that. That’s all the more impressive because comments at the Opinion channel are posted automatically and are longer than on the rest of PilotOnline.com.

The content of the comments on letters, editorials and columns has been so uniformly better, in fact, that we’ve been running them regularly in our letters column.

There is a difference between being intense and being insulting.

Linus Torvalds:

Intelligence is the ability to avoid doing work, yet getting the work done.

Via Funny or Die.

The calendar says it’s too early for this.

Who cares?

Off to drink liberally.

Date: Saturday, February 26th

Time: 9-11 a. m.

Special Guest Speaker: Louisa Strayhorn, the last African American to serve on the Virginia Beach City Council

Location: Bubba’s Deli & BBQ, 3600 Dam Neck Rd, Virginia Beach (Map).

Cost: Adults $10.00, Under 12 $6.00 for all-you-can-eat buffet (it’s a pretty good buffet, too–plenty of variety).

More information here.

Struggling start-up needs your help.

When: Thursday, February 24, 6 p

Where:

One Fish Two Fish
Long Point Bay Marina
2109 West Great Neck Road
(Four blocks south of Shore Drive)
Virginia Beach, Va. (Map)

Showing up (and paying your own check) is the only qualification for membership.

State of Maryland demands prison guard job applicant’s social networking login information and reads his posts and messages.

This goes beyond being careful, which is wise, to being creepy. The State of Maryland is confusing itself with the TSA.

The ACLU has more details, plus a petition to the Secretary of Public Safety of Maryland for you to sign.

Addendum, the Next Day:

The policy has been suspended for 45 days pending review.

Harry Shearer tells of his encounter with TSA en-pants-ed patdowns on Sunday’s Le Show (the story’s in the first few minutes of the show; you can listen at the link).

He silently put up with it because he wanted to make his plane.

He strikes back:

Break time.

• What: Virginia Beach Democratic Committee Third Thursday Dinner
• When: February 17th, 6:00 PM
• Where: Kelly’s Hilltop Tavern, 1936 Laskin Road, Virginia Beach, VA 23454 (map), in the nonsmoking section.

Show up, order off the menu (separate checks), socialize, and talk politics–or whatever else interests you.

I have attended several of these. They tend to be smaller gatherings, highly informal, and a lot of fun. Don’t know whether I’ll make it this week, though–a cold seems to have caught me.

For more information, email VaBeachBoy@aol.com

Who cares?

Every time you watch Jersey Shore . . .

Via Funny or Die.