WINDROWS (Wayne's Ironic News: Deconstructing Reportage Others Would Shun)1st Page
This commentary on the news is brought to you as a public disservice by WINDROWS (Wayne's Ironic News: Deconstructing Reportage Others Would Shun)
My writings are in black. Plagiarized text is in maroon, sometimes highlighted by me in red.
. . . A face in the crowd
. . .Cyborgotomy -- Cyborgotomy: a neologism?
. . . . . . Example of usage of 'cyborgotomy' ___ World's first cyborg, and neologism 'cyborgotomy'?
. . . . . . 'Cyborgotomy' added to Pseudodictionary
How you 'frame' a photo could have legal consequences
. . . If socialized medicine doesn't work, don't fix it. Just change its image
. . . Myth that exercise reduces weight ___ Paying lip service to LBA (Lip Balm Anonymous)?
. . . Shoot before you say howdy, cowboy!
. . . Snoozing screener lucky that British Marines were not on horizon!
ACLU Report Discredits Facial Recognition Technology. The use of biometric facial recognition technology, along with video surveillance on the streets of Tampa, Florida is an overhyped failure that has been seemingly abandoned by police officials, according to a report released by the American Civil Liberties Union. System logs obtained by the ACLU through Florida's open-records law show that the system never identified even a single individual contained in the department's database of photographs.
Maybe they all moved to Boca Raton? The above is one of the current items on the site Privacy International.
Given the very poor quality of surveillance videos that I have seen on TV on such programs as America's Stupidest Criminals, the above does not surprise me. Given that, however, such systems have been very effective -- even for automatic recognition of faces from databases -- in Las Vegas casinos and in UK department stores. It is said that in downtown London, one is on a new video camera once every six minutes, on average. There is at least one camera (probably at least four of them) at every intersection recording pedestrians, not to mention one in or above every Automatic Teller Machine (ATM). What is obviously missing from all of these high-tech systems is mothers. After all, have you never heard the expression only a mother would recognize (or love) that face? The moral to this story? Always smile when you're in public -- because you never know . . . !
How you 'frame' a photo could have legal consequences
This message is brought to you as a public disservice by WINDROWS (Wayne's Ironic News: Deconstructing Reportage Others Would Shun) I use the word 'frame' here in a very broad sense, as denoting the context in which a work of art is to be presented.
In 1982, the Eaton Centre in Toronto had a bright idea as to how to add a bit more Christmas charm to its center. It had purchased from the internationally renowned Canadian artist Michael Snow an original sculpture of sixty Canada Geese on the wing (titled 'Flight Stop'), which were now suspended high in the shopping mall -- just as the artist had prescribed. Eaton decided to add a red ribbon around the neck of each of the big birds. Snow went to court to have the ribbons removed -- given that some gentle persuasion had failed to dissuade Eaton management. The following is extracted from an excellent article about Snow and another case, at: Moral Right or Moral Slight? Understanding when modified artwork can get you in legal hot water: http://advertisinglawyer.wld.com/news-mag-1999-04.htm Eric Swetsky's** legal column published in Marketing Magazine, April 1999. **MBA, LLB, Barrister and Solicitor. In court, Snow was
"adamant in his belief that his naturalistic composition (had) been made to look ridiculous by the addition of the ribbons and suggest(ed) it is not unlike dangling earrings from the Venus de Milo."
Evidence introduced into court showed that Snow's opinions were shared by other well-respected artists and people knowledgeable in the field. The judge deciding the matter said:
"the ribbons do distort or modify (Snow's) work and (Snow's) concern (that) this will be prejudicial to his honour or reputation is reasonable under the circumstances."
What is of interest here is that, although the artist had sold the sculpture (including ownership of title to it) to Eaton, he retained moral rights to the work.
Moral rights form part of Canada's Copyright Act, and are of two types. The first is the "moral right of paternity," that is, the right of a creator to be associated with his or her work, or the right to remain anonymous. The second right is the "moral right of integrity," which is designed to prevent a creator's work from being distorted, mutilated or modified if the effect is to prejudice the creator's honour or reputation.
This judgement in favor of Snow was a precedent-setting case, constituting a victory for artists in the control of the context of how their works are presented. (I had some involvement with several lawyers about moral rights as applying to contracting for the development of original works of intellectual property.)
The case set out below is not based on the same principles; however, it is of interest, for different reasons.
Reuters Breaking News from Around the Globe: http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=humannews&StoryID=634414 Magazine Fined for Photo of Women Praying. Feb. 26, 2002. PARIS (Reuters) - A French court on Monday ordered news magazine L'Express to pay $1,309 each to two Roman Catholic women for publishing what it called was an out-of-context" photo of them praying.
The ruling prompted fresh complaints from the media against tough new rules following restrictions introduced after the death of Britain's Princess Diana in a Paris car crash in 1997.
The photograph was published by L'Express two years ago with an article arguing that women played a secondary or insignificant role in major world religions compared with men and that women accepted this as a fact.
The French judges ruled that the publication misrepresented the image of the women . . .
Beside the article and a caption, the photo "made it seem as if Anne-Sophie Henry and Anne Couvreur were women who accepted the role" attributed to them, the judges said in their ruling.
The picture was taken by photo agency Magnum and sold to L'Express. Charges against Magnum were dropped.
The judges said journalists could take photos in public places but the pictures should not be published out of context. . . .
The verdict came a couple of years after tough restrictions were introduced on news photographers to protect the dignity of crime suspects and victims of tragedy. . . .
The moral? Choose your picture frame wisely -- and with some ethical considerations in mind!
If socialized medicine doesn't work, don't fix it. Just change its image
SocietyGuardian.co.uk Society NHS plans spin revolution: http://society.guardian.co.uk/nhsplan/story/0,7991,650320,00.html NHS plans spin revolution Patrick Butler Feb. 14, 2002. The NHS is to spend millions of pounds hiring a new army of highly paid spin doctors as part of a massive overhaul of communications aimed at keeping the lid on "bad news".
New guidance issued by the NHS chief executive, Nigel Crisp, orders health authorities and trusts to build up powerful, private sector-style public relations teams to manage news and prevent internal health service squabbles becoming public.
The guidance calls for top level communications directors with the power to influence board decisions to be appointed to work alongside chief executives and chairmen in each NHS organisation.
The shakeup is likely to see dozens of senior press officer jobs upgraded to director level -- potentially adding thousands of pounds to salaries and requiring hundreds of new communications posts to be filled.
The move reflects growing ministerial frustration at the NHS's failure to control the constant stream of negative stories about the health service and a determination to put news management and public relations at the heart of everyday NHS management. . . .
There are currently only a handful of NHS press officers with executive responsibility. Normally, in large acute trusts or national organisations such as CHI, they typically earn between £40,000-£50,000. The new director-level posts could see top salaries rise to £70,000-£80,000.
"Anyone responsible for managing the reputation **of their organisation should be acting as a combination of trouble shooter and ambassador," says a description of the press officer's role in guidance issued today . . .
[ ** Maybe I should have gone for that MRSM degree after all! (Master of Reputation Spin Management) Perhaps with the minor in Creative Doublespeak?]
Paying lip service to LBA (Lip Balm Anonymous)?
I am going to mention a service as politely, and in as non-threatening a manner as I can, and which you might avail yourself of. With all due respect, it may be that this service (LBA) is not for you, in which case, no harm done. Otherwise, no harm done either, I suppose.
First, you might not even be eligible for this service if you answer yes to any of the following questions.
1. In the cool, dry air of this winter your lips have cracks in them reminiscent of a NASA photo of eroded hillsides on Mars showing water erosion. See http://www.xerog.com/xerog/chemistry/Chem101-winter2002/layout/mainframe/home/topics/molecules/water.htm. No wonder you haven't been kissed lately!
2. Your beloved is no longer fond of kissing you -- not after that last episode under the Mistletoe, in which his/her (are we sure?) lips were bleeding so badly he/she thought he/she had kissed the Mistletoe instead.
3. You haven't been able to whistle since it last rained -- and you were in it.
4. Your nickname is no longer Luscious lips.
If, alas, none of the above have been afflicting you, it just may be that you have sought solace from more than just the Balm of Gilead. Yes, my friend, it might just be that you have been, shall we say, over-indulging in balm of another kind: lip balm, that is. But don't get alarmed just yet. Visit the following site, where you will find a more sophisticated questionnaire than my simple screening set out above.
Lip Balm Anonymous Home Page: http://www.kevdo.com/lipbalm/home.html Our primary purpose is to stay free from lip balm and to help others achieve the same freedom. For a start, visit the following sub-page: . . . . . . Self Evaluation and Testimony of Addiction See if you have a problem with lip balm dependency.
The rest I leave up to you. As for anonymity? My lips, of course, are sealed.
One closing thought, though. I was shocked and appalled upon viewing the gallery of lips at the following site: Blistex Includes a complete list of World's Most Beautiful Lips.
You cannot imagine my grief in noting that the list did not include Britney Spears! Maybe it was because they thought she was just too intellectual a nerd? But how could they? Just because she has an Honors B.Sc. in semiconductor physics from MIT? Now, it is true, alas, that she did not invent a new semiconductor device. However, she did initiate a whole new fashion trend: SCANTY:TUMY (Semi-Curvaceous Absolutely Nice Tummy,Youngsters: Totally Upsetting Matronly Yentas) -- and all set to music, too! Just how disarmingly sweet can you get?
Shoot before you say howdy, cowboy!
We are dealing here not with Britain invading Spain, as in a previous saga, but with a seemingly foreign force invading a sheriff's territory in the Carolinas. Perhaps what we have in this telling example is a failure to communicate? I thought that even Boy Scouts had secret finger salutes by which they could communicate. I'm sure that Osama bin Laden and his gang have. But, maybe Green Berets don't have to have been Eagle Scouts.
Soldier killed in N.C.: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002/02/25/usat-nc-shooting.htm Nation. 02/25/2002. Soldier killed in N.C. By Dave Moniz, USA TODAY
Two students at an Army Green Beret school were shot, one of them fatally, by a North Carolina sheriff's deputy who did not realize they were on a role-playing exercise in civilians' clothing, officials said Sunday.
The soldiers believed Deputy Sheriff Randall Butler, who had pulled their car** over on a rural road, was part of the exercise and attempted to disarm him, the sheriff's department said.
[** Another source indicates that they were driving a pick-up truck, with one soldier in the open back, in pouring rain -- which is what raised the trooper's suspicion. One or both soldiers then tried to access the rifle in the bag. Even from my limited knowledge -- gained from old Western movies -- I thought that it was unhealthy to reach into a duffel bag for a machine gun while a sheriff was pointing a gun at you.]
"Both of the soldiers were dressed in civilian clothes and riding in a civilian vehicle with no indication of being in the military," a statement from the Moore County Sheriff's Office said. "At the time of the incident the deputy believed that the two individuals intended on killing him."
The exercise is the final event in training for Special Forces candidates at Fort Bragg ++. The shooting occurred about 2:30 p.m. Saturday about 25 miles from the base.
[++ No, they are not going to change the name to Fort Brag. Even they realize that there's not much to brag about here!]
Butler was placed on administrative leave with pay. . . .
The soldiers were carrying a disassembled**** M-4 carbine rifle in a bag, Army spokesman Maj. Gary Kolb said.
[**** Surely it is ridiculous to carry around a gun that is not ready for use. Otherwise why carry a gun? If you are carrying it for self-defense, it has to be loaded and ready for use -- ideally, with the safety switch off -- in order to be of any use at all. If we had a well-trained army, the sheriff would be dead. As it is, we have an even smarter sheriff, and the soldier is dead!]
The Army told the Moore County Sheriff's Office about the exercise but did not coordinate any of its specific activities ***, Kolb said. . . .
[*** Nor any of its general activities, it would seem.]
Contributing: The Associated Press
Snoozing screener lucky that British Marines were not on horizon!
CNN.com - 15 flights delayed by snoozing screener - February 19, 2002: http://www.cnn.com/2002/TRAVEL/NEWS/02/19/dozing.airport.screener/index.html WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Fifteen flights were delayed and about a thousand passengers re-screened Tuesday morning at Louisville International Airport in Kentucky after a security screener was discovered asleep at his post. . . . The screener was immediately relieved of his duties, an alert went up, and all concourses were evacuated so that all passengers could be re-screened . . . One American Airlines flight with passengers already on board was also emptied and its passengers re-screened. . . .
A spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) says the screener, an employee of Globe Aviation Security, was immediately dismissed.
The TSA is the new federal agency which Sunday assumed responsibility for security at the nation's airports.
Experts are now examining the possibility that our snoozing screener was not himself, of course, at fault. Oh, no. Not in these enlightened times, in which every faux pas must be either the symptom of a disease** or someone else's fault. The primary suspect, according to BEE (Behaviour Excuse Experts), appears to be CDS (Coffee Deficiency Syndrome). Our snoozer is set to sue someone, if only he could figure out who. Storebucks might be a good start!
(** See Stanton's Bookstore - Diseasing of America: http://www.peele.net/bookstore/diseasing.html Diseasing of America: How We Allowed Recovery Zealots and the Treatment Industry to Convince Us We Are Out of Control.
A popular book explaining the movement in America toward disease theories of behaviors and their negative consequences for law, morality, and social and individual health. Widely reviewed, largely positively, including JAMA, Health Affairs, American Health, Psychology Today, Psychiatric News, and JSA.)
It would seem that the snoozing screener showed just as little alertness as did the national security system of the USA when, on Sep. 11, airliners strayed off course for many minutes before anyone either noticed or did anything about it, in spite of explicit warnings by at least one expert three years earlier that suicide bombings of that sort by the Osama gang of pranksters could occur and that they were most likely to be aimed at the financial district of New York City.
See, for example the following prediction by a former CIA security expert in 1994, which was ignored:
Peter Probst predicted WTC-type attack.
To return to our story of the hapless snoozing screener, one can only stand in mute apprehension at the thought of what might have happened had a foreign military force chose to invade Louisville at that moment. Contemplate, for example, that after all of these decades of festering resentment on the part of Britain upon having lost its American colonies in the New World, it had launched a military takeover strike against the upstart USA -- even if by mistake. Think you that such a mistaken attack could not occur? Consider the following frightening incident. We are lucky that no missiles were launched! Comprendo Espagnol, mis amigos?
Guardian Unlimited Special reports Tell it to the marines ... we've invaded the wrong country: http://www.guardian.co.uk/gibraltar/story/0,11525,652616,00.html (I thought it best to get the news straight from over Home this time, rather than from out trusty CNN.)
Tell it to the
marines... we've invaded the wrong country Giles Tremlett in
Madrid Feb. 19, 2002.
The Guardian.
An attempt to show off their prowess at dawn assaults went badly wrong for a unit of heavily armed British Royal Marines at the weekend when they accidentally invaded the wrong country.
The platoon of some 30 marines stormed from a landing craft on to the San Felipe beach in the Spanish town of La Linea, carrying 60 mm mortars and SA80 assault rifles, and took up defensive positions on the sand.
Instead of being fired on with blank rounds by fellow British soldiers pretending to be the enemy, the marines found themselves being stared at by startled local fishermen.
The enemy, when they appeared, turned out to be two blue-uniformed officers from La Linea's municipal police force, who informed the detachment of marines that they were not, as they had thought, in Gibraltar. . . .
The marines beat a hasty retreat and went off to find the real Gibraltar. This, locals observed, was easily recognisable because it had a 1,398 ft high rock sticking out of it.
Embarrassed Ministry of Defence officials in London admitted yesterday that the invading force, which had come from the helicopter carrier HMS Ocean, had got lost in bad weather on Sunday morning and ended up "attacking" a different country. . . .
Video.
Watch as British military personnel temporarily
"invade" Spain during a training exercise: http://www.cnn.com/
Can't you just hear it now, as the conquering heroes of the British Royal Marines, upon approaching the White Cliffs of Dover, are greeted by brass bands and a sea of waving Union Jacks? Can't you but now hear the strains of Land of Hope and Glory? Ah, what patriotism must stir in the noble British breast!
Can you imagine just what might have happened had Louisville been taken? First we take Louisville, then we take Manhattan! It might stir the hearts of loyal monarchists everywhere to anticipate the new Commander in Chief and Sovereign of the USBNA*** Queen Hillary I, by the grace of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. (*** Untidy States of British North America)
See the following for a picture of the first stamp in the new reign of Hillary Regina.
0cents Stamp Products Clearance Sale!:
http://0cents.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=0CP&Category_Code=CS
Does that meet your stamp of approval?
World's first cyborg, and neologism 'cyborgotomy'?
WINDROWS alert! World's first 'cyborgotomy' operation?
This message is brought to you as a public disservice by WINDROWS (Wayne's Ironic News: Deconstructing Reportage Others Would Shun)
This story speaks of a very interesting first, and one that could lead to great advances. A first, also, I think, is my neologism, cyborgotomy, to describe this type of operation of surgically interfacing a computer to the human nervous system. It is a neologism in the sense that the word does not exist in Google space. I will put that word on my Web site to make it happen. I will also try to send this to the Editor of the Canadian Oxford English Dictionary, published in 1998, but currently still under revision, I think.
CNN.com - Scientists test first human cyborg - March 22, 2002: http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/science/03/22/human.cyborg/index.html
March 22, 2002
OXFORD, England -- A British university professor has been fitted with cyborg technology enabling his nervous system to be linked to a computer.
The ground-breaking surgery on Professor Kevin Warwick effectively makes him the world's first cyborg -- part human, part machine. . . .
© 2002 Cable News
Network LP, LLLP.
An AOL Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved.
And here I thought that I was well-connected to the Net. Just wait 'till he gets hooked up!
This message is being sent by e-mail on 22 Mar 2002, with a copy to myself.
Wayne
See Cyborgotomy: a neologism? below for searches to establish cyborgotomy as a neologism.
23 Mar 02 On this day of 23 March 2002, I shall start keeping a record here of my efforts to establish whether, by way of my message sent out on the Internet yesterday (22 March 2002), my use of the word cyborgotomy is a neologism invented and first used online by me yesterday. That message is set out in the above, at: World's first cyborg, and neologism 'cyborgotomy'? .
No record of the word cyborgotomy was found in the following:
American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language Fourth Edition (http://bartleby.com/61/).
All categories of Bartleby.com (http://bartleby.com/61/).
Oxford English Dictionary (http://www.oed.com/) was not searched. I am not a serious enough logophile to be willing to pay US$550 per year to have access to it.
http://www.yourdictionary.com/
Google (http://www.google.com/advanced_search).
Copernic 2001 Pro, using about 8 or 9 search engines, selected out of its 400 available. http://www.google.com/.
23 Mar 02 Wanted Words portion of the show This Morning on CBC Radio One (http://radio.cbc.ca/programs/thismorning/wantedwords/index.html).
Standard English claims
more than a million 'lexemes',
but each Thursday, This Morning
listeners explore its shortcomings and add a few much needed
words to that most accommodating and promiscuous of languages.
As you may
have heard on the show, Wanted Words
host and creator Jane Farrow
has passed the torch to This Morning
colleague Sean Foley.
I have today submitted to the Wanted Words show (mailto:wantedwords@cbc.ca) (wantedwords@cbc.ca) the word 'cyborgotomy' as an example of a word describing the surgical operation in which a human nervous system is interfaced to a computer. Listeners to CBC Radio One would then be invited to create their own alternative 'neologisms' or 'lexemes'.
6 Apr 02: I
heard an interview with the cyborg Kevin Warwick,
on 6 Apr 02 on 580 AM, CFRA, Ottawa, on the Art
Bell phone-in show. Kevin has a
home page, where you can see nasty details of his operation and
of his books, at:
kevinwarwick.com: http://www.kevinwarwick.com.
27 Dec 02 A search on cyborgotomy using Google yielded only the following:
WINDROWS page 10
... Does that meet
your stamp of approval? World's first cyborg, and neologism 'cyborgotomy'?
WINDROWS alert! World's first 'cyborgotomy' operation? ...
waynepaulson.topcities.com/WINDR10.htm
- 56k -
The same single result was found by using Copernic Agent Pro, using at least six search engines.
28 Mar 03 A search on cyborgotomy using Google yielded only the following:
Wayne's home page
... Annual message,
Christmas, 2002 (and fractal image of Xmas tree). Cyborgotomy:
a
neologism? ... World's first cyborg, and neologism 'cyborgotomy'?
(Added 22 Mar 02. ...
waynepaulson.topcities.com/Index.htm
- 101k -
WINDROWS page 10
... Does that meet your stamp of approval? World's first cyborg, and neologism 'cyborgotomy'?
WINDROWS alert! World's first 'cyborgotomy' operation? ...
waynepaulson.topcities.com/WINDR10.htm - 55k -
The same result was found by using Copernic Agent Pro, using at least six search engines.
Example of usage of 'cyborgotomy'
Ever since Fred had that chip implanted in his wrist in that cyborgotomy operation, his toes curl up whenever he eats ice cream.
'Cyborgotomy' added to Pseudodictionary
My neologism -- cyborgotomy -- has been added to a dictionary, er, well, to at least a pseudo dictionary. I have just received confirmation that a neologism which I coined -- cyborgotomy -- has been added to the following, after my submission of this morning, 28 Mar 03 (it gets about 100 submissions per day):
pseudodictionary - the dictionary for words that wouldn't make it into dictionaries v2.0: http://www.pseudodictionary.com/index.php . . . the place where words you've made up can become part of an actual online dictionary! I had already put that word onto my site a year ago, on 23 Mar 02.
You can view that entry
by going to:
http://www.pseudodictionary.com/word.php?id=17243
Go Home. ___ Go up to WINDROWS contents.
You can e-mail me at waynerp@sympatico.ca.