Titans of Industry category archive
TOS POS
0
Pretty soon, you won’t be able to own anything. Everything will be licensed. From the EFF:
The document purports to govern “any Software, data files, documentation, engine calibration tables, proprietary data messages, and controller area network (CAN) data messages that are in or communicated to or from any” covered product. Many of these items are numerical values that do not contain any copyrightable expression. The document forbids you to, among other things, “modify,” “reverse engineer,” or “reproduce” the covered information. These are necessary steps to understanding, repairing, and improving upon your equipment.
Everybody Must Get Fracked 1
Farron rips on President Obama for not doing anything about fracking. He may have a point, but given the Congress of the last six years, it’s a very small one.
German Engineering 0
Aside:
In the rush to market shiny new computerized things, marketing trumps computer security every day of the week and twice on Sundays.
North Carolina Bows before the Duke of Hazardous 0
This is, natch, in no way related to N. C. Governor Perry’s having been employed by the Duke of Hazardous for three decades. Such a connection would be highly improp–oh, never mind.
The Associated Press obtained a copy of the 220-page deposition given last month by toxicologist Ken Rudo as part of a lawsuit filed against Duke by a coalition of environmental groups. The nation’s largest electricity company has asked a federal judge to seal the record, claiming its public disclosure would potentially prejudice jurors.
Spill Here, Spill Now, Cleanup Never 0
Buccaneer Petroleum, the Legacy: Public health makes a corexit, stage right.
Where There’s Fire, There’s Smoke
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In the Bangor Daily News, Philip Duffy reports that some Congresspersons want to take jurisdiction over the laws of chemistry, likely at the behest of the lumber industry (emphasis added):
The amendment would mandate that all federal agencies treat the burning of wood from forests as a “renewable energy resource” that is “carbon neutral,” meaning it does not add carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Reality is more complex, but forest bioenergy certainly is not carbon neutral. The carbon footprint of bioenergy should be measured scientifically on a case-by-case basis rather than broadly specified by legislation.
Follow the link to see Duffy delve into the lamer rationale for this endeavor.
I don’t quite know what’s worse about this: the stupid or the craven.
Lies, Damned Lies, and Press Releases 0
Follow this link and read the story, then look below the fold to see what I think is the most outrageous statement in it.
Crafty Beers 0
You know that craft brewery? There’s a good chance it’s not. Fred Grimm describes how he got gulled.
What I didn’t notice, as I stormed the ramparts – supposed microbrew in hand – was that the Blue Moon Brewing Co. actually belongs to MillerCoors, which was sold to Molson Coors by SABMiller last year so the Justice Department would look kindly on SABMiller’s giant merger with Anheuser-Busch InBev. And all that.
. . . I’ve been an unwitting consumer of America’s leading anti-craft beer, taken in by an international conglomerate’s ploy to fend off these upstart microbreweries.
I reckon the message is that, if you want to be a been snob, know what you are being snobbish about. Me, I’ll stick to Scotch.
“Don’t Drink the Water” 0
The Duke of Hazardous still holds sway in North Carolina, much as the Old Dominion is now the dominion of Dominion Power, which used to call itself VEPCO (emphasis added).
It should not surprise that McCrory was on the payroll of the Duke of Hazardous for 28 years.
Follow the link and read the rest.
This Is Your FDA on Big Pharma 0
Have you wondered why these days you see all those TV commercials from law firms asking, “Have you taken this drug/used this device/had this treatment?” Watch this and wonder not.