Month: October 2003

Three SHAC Activists and Limousine Driver Acquitted of Harassment

Three Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty activists and a fired limousine driver were acquitted in August of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance and pursuing conduct causing fear of violence

Mark Moore, 41, stood accused of giving the names, addresses and phone numbers of Eli Lilly employees to SHAC activists Richard England, 26, Lyndsey Wallace, 29, and Madeline Buckler, 21. England, Wallace and Buckler were accused of using the information to carry out a campaign of harassment against the Eli Lilly employees in 2001

But midway through their trial, Judge Keith Cutler ordered the four acquitted after determining that the government had no solid evidence that the three SHAC activists were behind the harassment. Moore admitted giving the activists the personal information, but Cutler also ordered him acquitted saying the government had not proven that the information was actually acted upon and that, regardless, Moore’s actions did not constitute a violation of the Data Protection Act.

Moore decided to take revenge on Eli Lilly after he was terminated and provided the names and other personal information to SHAC. England, Wallace and Buckler supposedly were responsible for production of a SHAC newsletter which disclosed this information and urged a campaign against the Eli Lilly employees.

But Judge Cutler found that the only evidence against the three SHAC activists was that they had worked with SHAC in varying capacities with no specific evidence suggesting any conspiracy in the particular case of the Eli Lilly employees.

Sources:

Animal rights campaigners cleared. The BBC, September 8, 2003.

Animal rights activists acquitted of ‘hate campaign’. Ananova, September 8, 2003.

Animal activists ‘threatened workers’. Martin Halfpenny, Press Association, August 27, 2003.

Chauffeur’s ‘revenge’ on animal tests firm. Richard Holliday, Evening Standard, August 27, 2003.

Johns Hopkins' School of Public Health's 28 Deans Program — So Committed, They Won't Name Them

The Center for Consumer Freedom pointed out an amusing item involving Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health’s promotion of a “Meatless Monday” campaign which Johns Hopkins said was designed to help Americans reduce their fat consumption.

The Bloomberg School of Public Health distributed a press release in November 2002 claiming that 28 deans of public health schools around the country supported its Meatless Monday program. This claim of support from schools of public health was repeated in a Washington Post news story that opened with this lead,

Meatless Mondays.

That’s what a national consortium of 28 schools of public health want consumers to try as a step toward healthier eating habits, particularly reduction of saturated fat.

The claim that 28 schools of public health support the campaign is also repeated on the Meatless Mondays web site.

The only problem is that neither the media reports nor the Bloomberg School of Public Health’s own press release listed any of the deans or the schools of public health supposedly squarely behind this initiative.

Moreover when the Center for Consumer Freedom inquired to obtain a list of those involved in the campaign,

However, when the Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) called the organizers of Meatless Monday, they would not provide a list of those schools. CCF was told: “The reason that we’re not releasing the schools of public health’s names is that some of the schools would come under pressure.” The individuals who could discuss what kind of pressure that might be, Meatless Monday’s representative said, were on vacation — the day after its most significant press coverage to date.

I have here, the names of 28 schools of public health known or suspected to have Meatless Monday connections . . .

Anyway, the fact that a list of the schools supposedly supporting this campaign is listed anywhere is downright bizarre. For example, in March 2003, Meatless Monday Campaign, Inc. did issue a press release titled “Public Health Schools Whet Appetite for Meatless Monday” that read,

In a strong show of unity, 28 deans from major U.S. public health schools have endorsed “Meatless Monday,” a national public health program to reduce meat and saturated fat consumption by Americans. The Meatless Monday Campaign, Inc., is a non-profit corporation working in association with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health to launch this new national program.

But the only non-Hopkins school listed is the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health. What sort of folks constantly trumpet the 28 schools that support them but then turn around and refuse to offer a list of said schools?

The Bloomberg School of Public Health should either name the 28 schools of public health backing the Meatless Monday campaign, or retract that claim.

Sources:

Public Health Schools Whet Appetite for Meatless Monday. Press Release, MeatlessMonday.Com, March 2003.

FAQ. MeatlessMonday.Com, Undated.

Lean Plate Club: Planting a New Habit. Sally Squires, Washington Post, August 18, 2003.

Johns Hopkins’ Meatless Utopia. Press Release, Center for Consumer Freedom, August 20, 2003.

Respecting the Dignity of Those You Fundamentally Disagree With

Something that continues to amaze and annoy me is how wrapped up some people can get in their ideological wars that they completley jettison any sort of common decency and dignity toward others. Yes, I can enjoy (or start) a flamewar as much as the next guy or gal, but some people seem unable to take even a step back even in the most extreme positions.

What I’m talking about is Pamela Anderson. Now I am not a big fan of Anderson’s — to put it bluntly, aside from everything else I’ve just never thought she was that attractive. Add in the lack of acting ability, extraodinarily poor choice in boyfriends/husbands, etc. and I’m just not sure how this woman ever became a household name of sorts (and no, I don’t think the obvious answer that everyone’s going to suggest explains it either).

Anyway, I normally wouldn’t write anything about Anderson except that she is an animal rights activist and an occasional spokesperson for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. I, to say the least, have a fundamental disagreement with animal rights ideologies, and the few times I’ve ever written anything about Anderson has been about her animal rights activism.

Anderson is also afflicted with Hepatitis-C and fears that the disease may killer her within a decade. Anderson is an idiot for following some herbal regimen instead of interferon treatment, and it’s annoying that she fronts for a group that is opposed to ongoing research with mice and chimpanzees that may one day lead to more effective treatments or even a cure for the 175 million Hepatitis-C sufferers worldwide.

But it’s bizarre to see some folks on mailing lists I subscribe to practically gloat over the news that she may die within ten years. (Actually, it’s rather sickening.)

If Anderson dies from Hepatitis-C that would be a tragedy, just as the 8,000-10,000 annual deaths from the disease in the United States alone is a tragedy (and, sadly, that number is likely to triple over the next 20 years if a better treatment isn’t discovered).

I just don’t understand the sort of person who could gloat over Anderson’s potentially fatal medical problems.

Their Home Are Under Assault!

You just cannot make this stuff up. In August, Earth First! posted the following notice about a rally to protest the FBI’s execution of a search warrant against animal rights activists,

Activist’s homes are under attack, what do we do? When: Saturday 1 PM Where: Balboa Park at the corner of Park Ave. and President’s Way Why: The office of Compassion for Farm Animals and the home of two of its members were raided last week by the FBI. The investigation relates to the act of eco-sabotage in La Jolla last week claimed by the Earth Liberation Front. Obviously desperate and clueless, the FBI raided the animal liberationist’s home for their stated beliefs of putting the lives of animals before corporate gain. After Grand Jury subpoenas and FCC harassment of Free Radio San Diego, it’s time to turn the tables on the government and speak out!

The FBI took computers, documents, phone lists, a video camera and several other items from their home. Who will the FBI harass next? We need to stand up now and speak out against this blatant harassment of activists! Please show up for this rally, the media will definitely be there. Remember, our numbers reflect the amount of support we appear to have! Solidarity Forever!

Yeah, the next thing you know these activists will find people protesting outside their homes, threats of violence directed their way, and even arson directed at their property. Thank goodness these folks have such a long record of opposing harassment of those with different political viewpoints.

Source:

Rally against government repression in San Diego. Press release, Earth First!, August 20, 2003.

ArsTechnica on iTunes for Windows

ArsTechnica has a nice analysis of the pros and cons of iTunes for Windows. The main drawback to the software and service, of course, is the lock-in with the iPod,

Some other issues have been highlighted by competitors out to
deflate Apple’s party balloon. Dave Fester, the General Manager of the
Windows Digital Media Division, surprisingly had little positive to say
about iTMS in a general Q&A on “Choosing a Digital Music Service for Windows Users.” His complaints are not totally without merit, however.

Unless Apple decides to make radical changes to
their service model, a Windows-based version of iTunes will still
remain a closed system, where iPod owners cannot access content from
other services. Additionally, users of iTunes are limited to music from
Apple’s Music Store. As I mentioned earlier, this is a drawback for
Windows users, who expect choice in music services, choice in devices,
and choice in music from a wide-variety of music services to burn to a
CD or put on a portable device. Lastly, if you use Apple’s music store
along with iTunes, you don’t have the ability of using the over 40
different Windows Media-compatible portable music devices.

Obviously this is code speak for “we only like services that use WMP
9,” but the iPod issue is a real one. While some are convinced that
iTMS is really nothing more than a ploy to sell iPods, this would be a
castrating move on Apple’s part. The cost of iPods alone are
prohibitive for many people. Those who do buy are likely to keep their
iPods for a rather long time. iPod saturation is a real concern for
Apple, and while iTMS may spur iPod sales for a while, it alone won’t
be enough to keep people buying them in two years when most interested
folks will already have one. Of course, Apple is the master of selling
expensive hardware through software/service means, but iTMS should
really bite the bullet and support other devices.

Well, There Might be a Total Asshole Company In Here Somewhere

Correction

Seth Dillingham points out that I didn’t do my homework here. Google might be starting out with the Open Directory database, but they are then modifying it apparently using Page Rank.

The bizarre thing is they’ve apparently truncated the listings — the Open Directory database has many more weblog tools listed than does the Google version (unless Google’s version is old and not being updated, which seems unlikely).

In that case, it is indeed odd that Radio Userland doesn’t show up there is odd. It may not be the best or most widely used tool, but it certainly has a significant base, and leaving it out is odd.

This certainly validates part of Winer’s point — that Google’s got a stupid way of producing its directory. It looks like they’re using Page Rank to create a half-human/half-machine created directory which is actually less useful than if they’d just reproduced as-is the Open Directory data.

– Brian

Dave Winer has this (unintentionally) amusing slam at Google over the lack of inclusion of his blogging tools in their directory of blogging tools,

Google’s directory of weblog tools. None of the tools I wrote made the list. Centralized directories on the Web are like buggy whips for cars. Let’s fix this bug.
Google, this makes you look like a total asshole company. Your tool is
listed first, and your competitor’s tools aren’t listed at all. When
will it become too embarassing to support this antiquated mode

But, of course, this is not Google’s directory — they have no responsibility at all over what gets listed here. They’re simply rebranding the Open Directory project whose directory is available to anyone. I guess the Open Directory folks are probably in some sort of conspiracy with Google or something like that.

As far as Open Directory, it’s not a bad directory but runs smack into the main problem that creating a general directory of the Internet is pretty much an unmanageable task at this point. Dave’s got his own proposed solution which doesn’t do anything that I can see to obviate the obvious problems with creating a directory of a network that has millions of sites and billions of pages.

I’m surprised that anybody uses these general directories like Yahoo! or Open Directory anymore. It’s a little like encountering an old card catalog for a library with a sign reading, “Warning: this catalog only indexes 5% of the actual known books in the library.” Would you actually bother to use such a tool? Then why bother with Yahoo! or Open Directory?