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March 10, 2008

A water treatment plant supervisor in Emporia, Kansas, declining to state whether the water had been tested for pharmaceuticals:

Well, it’s because of 9/11. We want everybody to guess. … We’re not putting out more information than we have to put out.

That just gives the bad guys a 50/50 chance of getting it right. Thanks a lot. (See also: security through obscurity.)

September 3, 2007

In a filing with the FCC, NBC explains how P2P file sharing hurts the corn growers’ bottom line:

These losses do not merely harm elite, wealthy enclaves of film producers in New York and Los Angeles. Because of our nation’s interlocking economy, two-thirds of the lost earnings and lost jobs are in industries other than motion picture production. For example, in the absence of movie piracy, video retailers would sell and rent more titles. Movie theaters would sell more tickets and popcorn. Corn growers would earn greater profits and buy more farm equipment.

The filing cites this report from the Institute for Policy Innovation, which elucidates:

In sum, motion picture piracy affects not only the movie studios, but all the various businesses that supply the industry or buy from the industry, and the people who work in those businesses. Thus, the impact of movie piracy extends well beyond movie stars, all the way to the teenager selling popcorn and candy at the theater, the company that markets the candy, the farmer that grows the corn, and the workers that pick the farmer’s crop.

In other words, they think it goes full circle: the teenager selling popcorn at a movie theater will be out of a job thanks to his friends downloading movies. Art Brodsky of Public Knowledge debunks this corny load of FUD.

Via John Gruber.

December 7, 2006

CSists will get this: “REST for toddlers”:

305 Use Proxy
“Did Mommy say it was OK?”

My addition to the list:

414 Request-URI Too Long
“Only if you stop crying.”

  1. True/false question
  2. File sharing hurts the American farmer
  3. Daddy says
  4. Musical instructions
  5. Proof of innocence
  6. This is your final, final, final chance
  7. A punch in the mouth
  8. Human error
  9. Most incoherent
  10. From a napkin
  11. When reason triumphs
  12. Patents for the Belgians
  13. Inversely proportional
  14. The facilitation of learning
  15. Incandescent servant
  16. Two moons in your moccasins
  17. Not yet
  18. Grammatical fallacy
  19. What I want
  20. Four
  21. Worth 117 words
  22. The Big Uneasy
  23. House!
  24. Devalued
  25. Anything you can do I can do better
  26. For those too familiar with e
  27. On security
  28. Day One
  29. Parasitism?
  30. Am I there yet?
  31. Cahill’s Quotables
  32. Bison burgers
  33. Killer app
  34. Linux-users like pain
  35. Beluans
  36. Beef
  37. Quitely
  38. ¡Demasiado temprano!
  39. Moore’s Law
  40. Harjus’ Quote of the Day, plus…
  41. Re-Count
  42. Pat’s Wisdom for Today
  43. Bananas for sale
  44. Ether-way
  45. Directions
  46. QuoteMaster Sethi
  47. Clicks for me
  48. Bushism of the Day
  49. Hail to the Chief
  50. The Ramblings of a Lunatic
  51. Strange Paradox
  52. PBJ
  53. Harjus’ (!) Quote of the Day
  54. Speak-Like-a-Pirate-Day!
  55. Harjus’ Quote of the Day (or not)
  56. Slacking Off
  57. Harjus’s… err, James’ Quote of the Day
  58. Harjus’ Word of the Day
  59. Maybe a Duck
  60. Ambidextrosity
  61. Harjus’ Quote of the Day