These Birds are Mocking Me

Grok Headline matches for These Birds are Mocking Me

Mocking Woody Guthrie's Memory

Mocking Woody Guthrie's Memory 07/27/2004 09:17 PM
The late, great Woody Guthrie is surely spinning in his grave today, in fury over what is happening with one of his most memorable songs, "This Land is Your Land." But Guthrie would not be even slightly unhappy at the use of his immortal tune by the JibJab folks, whose brilliant satire of George Bush and John Kerry has become one of the most popular animations ever to hit the Web or any other medium. No, Guthrie would be thrilled. He was a folk singer. Like all other folk singers he borrowed from others to create his art. As his son, Arlo, onc e said:

"We've heard some of the people talk about some of the songs he wrote tonight. And the truth is, he did steal old songs from other places. He took the old gospel songs, he took the old traditional ballads, and he put his words to them like we heard tonight. People still called it stealing. Plagarism, bad words like that, 'til Pete Seeger come along and renamed it the folk process. I think my dad's theory was that if you wanted people to be singing along with you on your new song, it'd be a hell of a start if they already knew the tune. Or even some of words."

Woody Guthrie wrote scathingly of people who steal more with fountain pens than guns. He would have loathed the people who abuse copyright so much today, trying to restrict all kinds of fair use, of which parody is an absolutely protected example. Guthrie wanted credit for what he wrote, but he had contempt for severe legal restrictions on what others might do with it. According to Pete Seeger, in this account (widely acknowledged in the folk world to be true) from the Museum of Musical Instruments, when Guthrie was singing on the radio in Los Angeles during the Depression, he'd mail mimeographed songs to listeners, and wrote on one:

"“This song is Copyrighted in U.S., under Seal of Copyright # 154085, for a period of 28 years, and anybody caught singin’ it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ourn, cause we don’t give a dern. Publish it. Write it. Sing it. Swing to it. Yodel it. We wrote it, that’s all we wanted to do.”

I'll bet, therefore, that Woody would be horrified -- and angered -- by the behavior of an outfit called The Richmond Organization, which controls the copyright to his music. This humor-impaired crew has gone ballistic and has lau nched legal threats (CNN) at JibJab. The Richmond Organization is dishonoring Woody Guthrie's memory, not that it seems to care. But it's giving us one more example of how the copyright system has abandoned common sense.

DJs Ousted for Mocking Beheading
(Reuters)

DJs Ousted for Mocking Beheading
(Reuters) 05/17/2004 11:49 AM
Reuters - Two Portland, Oregon, DJs were fired for making jokes as they aired a recording of American Nick Berg's beheading in Iraq, station management said, calling their actions "beyond comprehension."

Perl Code Kata: Mocking Objects

Perl Code Kata: Mocking Objects 04/07/2005 10:33 PM
One problem with many examples of writing test code is that they fake up a nice, perfect, self-contained world and proceed to test it as if real programs weren't occasionally messy. Real programs have to deal with external dependencies and work around odd failures, for example. How do you test that? In this Perl Code Kata, Stevan Little presents exercises in using Test::MockObject to make the messy real world more testable.

Bush's Mocking Drowns Out Kerry's
Explanation of Iraq Vote

Bush's Mocking Drowns Out Kerry's
Explanation of Iraq Vote 08/11/2004 10:51 PM
President Bush has challenged John Kerry for a yes-or-no answer on a critical campaign issue on which Mr. Kerry must maintain a difficult balance.

PS2 Birds with One Moan

PS2 Birds with One Moan 09/24/2004 03:29 PM
PS2 Vibrator for Her Pleasure (NSFW, suggestive pictures)
Friday Fun: A new add-on for the PlayStation 2 does pretty well nothing but give your girlfriend something to enjoy while you waste hours killing pixelated beasts.
A review by Game Girl Advance gives it a very big and satisfied thumbs up. via As I Lay Laughing

Why Birds Don 't Ask For Directions

Why Birds Don 't Ask For Directions 04/16/2004 02:26 AM
CBS News Apr 16 2004 6:52AM GMT

Why Birds Don't Ask For Directions

Why Birds Don't Ask For Directions 04/16/2004 03:29 AM
CBS News Apr 16 2004 7:52AM GMT

Ore. Boy Raises 72 Birds (AP)

Ore. Boy Raises 72 Birds (AP) 08/09/2004 06:30 PM
AP - The self-described Bird Boy has everything from chukars and pheasants to exotic ducks in his collection — and he's still hoping to increase his brood.

Two Birds, Many Candles

Two Birds, Many Candles 05/28/2004 02:03 AM
Recently, while digging through old photos of tourist attractions, I ran across a few taken in Chartres. This small town, 96km southwest of Paris (the train is fast and comfy) holds a cathedral that has been, for the last 800 years or so, arguably the most beautiful structure on the planet...

Nuclear Plant Goes To The Birds

Nuclear Plant Goes To The Birds 07/22/2004 04:39 AM
CBS News Jul 22 2004 8:48AM GMT

Borders, Boundaries, and Birds

Borders, Boundaries, and Birds 01/01/2004 04:27 AM

weblog.burningbird.net/fires/connecting/borders_boundaries_and_bird s.htm#comment8530
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More Than 80 Birds Found at Ind. Home
(AP)

More Than 80 Birds Found at Ind. Home
(AP) 08/30/2004 07:05 PM
AP - Animal control officers found more than 80 birds inside a home filled with bird droppings and have ordered the owner to find new homes for them.

Flock of Birds Library 1.0.2

Flock of Birds Library 1.0.2 12/16/2003 04:06 PM
An interface to the Flock of Birds position and orientation measurement system.

Berries, Beans and Birds

Berries, Beans and Birds 06/23/2004 05:17 PM

A few fun and odd summer reading titles. Finnish class is over and we have a week off before the next class begins so I'm glad to have a bit of a break and I fully intend to read something completely fluffy without any fuzzy a's or disappearing k's. :)

• The Berry Bible : With 175 Recipes Using Cultivated and Wild, Fresh and Frozen Berries ≈ Berries are big here. Real big.
• The Eater's Guide to Chinese Characters ≈ I hope that there's an appendix for ways to deal with deciphering what the popular dishes really contain.
• Going Nucular: Language, Politics, and Culture in Controversial Times ≈ There could probably be an entire book written on the usage of the word "Freedom" over the past 4 years alone. :)
• Field Guide to the North American Bird ≈ To complement The F-Word book.
• Vanill a: Travels in Search of the Ice Cream Orchid ≈ The micro-topic history books just keep on coming.
• Twenti eth Century Sprawl: Highways and the Reshaping of the American Landscape ≈ The US Interstates revolutionised travel in the US as well as altered the landscape of small town America forever.

A Dinosaur Theory for the Birds

A Dinosaur Theory for the Birds 04/16/2005 04:53 AM
Intact eggs discovered inside a dinosaur shed new light on reproductive biology and bolster the argument that birds evolved from dinosaurs.

Birds sing, MP3s accompany

Birds sing, MP3s accompany 12/28/2004 05:35 AM
Los Angeles Times Dec 28 2004 8:29AM GMT

Global warming hits UK birds.

Global warming hits UK birds. 07/30/2004 07:34 PM
Global warming hits UK birds. The year without young. Have we hit the bottleneck?

Minds of Their Own: Birds Gain Respect

Minds of Their Own: Birds Gain Respect 02/01/2005 09:41 PM
Scientists are arguing that the avian brain is as complex, flexible and inventive as any mammalian brain.

Parasitic birds 'happy to share'

Parasitic birds 'happy to share' 08/06/2004 06:30 AM
A type of parasitic bird, which is reared by unrelated host "parents", is happy to share its nest with the host's babies, Science magazine reports.

Lots Of Early Birds In California

Lots Of Early Birds In California 04/14/2005 01:23 PM
ElvisTrooper writes in with this store report: Thought I would send this pic over for fun. A buddy and I were in a Walmart in Turlock, CA (central valley) and they had a bin over flowing with these things. I also get the same report from a friend up in Sacramento CA.

Zoo to inseminate "love" birds (Reuters)

Zoo to inseminate "love" birds (Reuters) 12/24/2004 01:13 PM
Reuters - Johannesburg zoo plans to artificially inseminate a pair of female birds who appear to be lovers to help boost dwindling numbers of the endangered wattled crane species.

RSS Birds-of-a-Feather at WWDC tonight

RSS Birds-of-a-Feather at WWDC tonight 06/30/2004 02:25 PM

If you’re at WWDC, and you’re interested in RSS, please come by the RSS Birds of a Feather discussion tonight.

It’s at 7:30 p.m. in Community 2, Level 2. It’s moderated by Fraser Speirs, and I’ll be on the panel along with Michael McCracken and Steven Frank.

(It’s possible that after the BoF we’ll have to go get some beers.)

Early tax birds flock on line

Early tax birds flock on line 02/05/2005 09:43 PM
bizjournals.com Feb 4 2005 5:10PM GMT

Nine Birds Stolen From Aviary in
Wisconsin (AP)

Nine Birds Stolen From Aviary in
Wisconsin (AP) 06/15/2004 10:22 AM
AP - A foul robber has made off with a fowl haul. Nine birds — including a screech owl that is blind in one eye, three ring-necked pheasants and five quail — were snatched by someone who broke into a local zoo's Wisconsin Native Bird Aviary.

Best Flappy Birds bl0g category

Best Flappy Birds bl0g category 12/08/2003 08:02 AM
click on this link here .. 2003 Weblog Awards

wizbangblog.com/poll.php#BFBB
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Wind Turbines Kill a Few Birds

Wind Turbines Kill a Few Birds 12/30/2003 05:18 PM

Burningbird: Borders, Boundaries, and
Birds

Burningbird: Borders, Boundaries, and
Birds 01/02/2004 07:08 AM

weblog.burningbird.net/fires/connecting/borders_boundaries_and_bird s.htm
track this site | 5 links

* Tainan birds nose in on the Internet

* Tainan birds nose in on the Internet 01/06/2004 03:16 AM
Taipei Times Online Jan 6 2004 1:50AM ET

Birds mutilated in 'sick' attack

Birds mutilated in 'sick' attack 06/06/2004 06:51 AM
Seventeen birds at a wildlife rescue centre near Stafford are killed or mutilated in a break-in.

Cool comic about birds and death and
stuff.

Cool comic about birds and death and
stuff. 03/08/2004 11:03 PM
Susa nnah spotted this lovely comic art piece by this guy (via Keaner).
Link

Birds of a Feather to take flight at
Macworld Boston

Birds of a Feather to take flight at
Macworld Boston 05/18/2004 10:11 AM
Interactive Birds of a Feather Meetings (BOFs) sessions at this summer's Macworld Conference & Expo in Boston will cover topics ranging from digital photography to AppleScript to Mac consulting...

Dick Cheney shoots 70 pen-raised birds

Dick Cheney shoots 70 pen-raised birds 12/10/2003 03:02 PM
Poor Dick Cheney. Those defered-salary payments he receives from Halliburton Oil (which has been importing oil into Iraq -- at taxpayer expense -- at twice the rate other companies have been trucking it in from Kuwait) must not be enough to pay for groceries. He has to go out and shoot his food. Read about his exciting bird hunting trip, where he shot 70 "pen-raised animals that cannot escape." He sure must be hungry. Li nk

[etech] My birds of a feather on
taxonomy and tags

[etech] My birds of a feather on
taxonomy and tags 03/19/2005 03:28 AM
One last report on etech. I led a "birds of a feather" discussion on Tuesday night, a circle-the-chairs sort of thing for thirty people. The topic was "From Trees to Tags," and I began with about 12 minutes on the topic. This is from the speaking notes I took into the session, so what follows is highly approximate. It's also highly redundant with other blog posts of mine: I'm writing a book called "Everything Is Miscellaneous," so I convened this BoF selflishly, in order to use you and what you know. One way of getting at what the book is...

Study says birds feed other birds' young

Study says birds feed other birds' young 08/05/2004 04:04 PM

Man Accused of Mailing Dead Rats, Birds
(AP)

Man Accused of Mailing Dead Rats, Birds
(AP) 12/28/2004 05:07 PM
AP - A former state worker has been charged with second-degree stalking, accused of mailing dead rats, dead birds and used condoms as part of a pattern of harassment against 14 people.

Birds of a Feather sessions coming to
Macworld Expo

Birds of a Feather sessions coming to
Macworld Expo 05/18/2004 10:11 AM
IDG World Expo announced Tuesday that July's Macworld Conference & Expo in Boston, Mass. will feature Birds of a Feather (BOF) meetings that will cover topics ranging from digital photography to AppleScript.

Chirping Birds Save 2 Iranian Children
from Ruins

Chirping Birds Save 2 Iranian Children
from Ruins 12/30/2003 07:19 AM
Reuters via Wired News Dec 30 2003 6:42AM ET

Strange China stories strictly for the
birds (Reuters)

Strange China stories strictly for the
birds (Reuters) 02/10/2004 02:56 AM
Reuters - Sick birds are causing a flap in China in more ways than one.

Birds and bees inspire micro spy-plane
(Reuters)

Birds and bees inspire micro spy-plane
(Reuters) 02/18/2004 07:40 AM
Reuters - Scientists are studying the mechanics of insect flight in their development of a tiny spy aircraft no bigger than a bee.
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House Inspections Update

House Inspections Update 02/13/2004 02:21 AM
[This is part of a series of posts on the home buying process I'm going thru. To see the full set, visit the house category archives.] I've been lazy (well, busy) when it comes to updating the house stuff. A few days ago the sellers came back and said they weren't thrilled with some of the Section One findings in the termite inspection report. The way our contract works, Section One items are things that the seller must correct before...

Libya Says Will Allow Snap UN Arms
Inspections

Libya Says Will Allow Snap UN Arms
Inspections 12/22/2003 07:50 AM
Reuters via Wired News Dec 22 2003 6:40AM ET

Schools face snap inspections

Schools face snap inspections 02/10/2004 02:55 AM
Schools could face more frequent, "light-touch" inspections, with as little as a day's notice, says the chief inspector of schools.

Plan to beef up food inspections

Plan to beef up food inspections 09/13/2004 06:36 PM
Catering outlets may have to display graded food-safety certificates under new plans.

Libya Accepts Snap Nuclear Inspections

Libya Accepts Snap Nuclear Inspections 12/27/2003 04:09 PM
Reuters via Wired News Dec 27 2003 3:39PM ET

Libya to Allow Snap UN Arms Inspections
- Diplomat

Libya to Allow Snap UN Arms Inspections
- Diplomat 12/21/2003 10:41 PM
Reuters via Wired News Dec 21 2003 9:35PM ET

Libya to Allow Snap UN Arms Inspections
-Diplomat

Libya to Allow Snap UN Arms Inspections
-Diplomat 12/21/2003 01:07 PM
Reuters via Wired News Dec 21 2003 12:35PM ET

UN Watchdog Starts Libya Atomic
Inspections

UN Watchdog Starts Libya Atomic
Inspections 12/28/2003 03:09 PM
Reuters via Wired News Dec 28 2003 12:41PM ET

U.N. Agency to Rebuke Iran for
Obstructing Inspections

U.N. Agency to Rebuke Iran for
Obstructing Inspections 06/18/2004 04:53 AM
The criticism is contained in a resolution which accuses Iran of obstructing the International Atomic Energy Agency's efforts to inspect centrifuge facilities.

Housing Agencies Look to Their Pocket
PCs for Paperless Inspections

Housing Agencies Look to Their Pocket
PCs for Paperless Inspections 12/30/2004 06:52 AM
Pocket PC Thoughts Dec 30 2004 10:54AM GMT

Iran to Sign Up to Snap Nuclear
Inspections in Days

Iran to Sign Up to Snap Nuclear
Inspections in Days 12/13/2003 07:07 AM
Reuters via Wired News Dec 13 2003 6:40AM ET

Iran Signs Protocol on Snap UN Nuclear
Inspections

Iran Signs Protocol on Snap UN Nuclear
Inspections 12/18/2003 07:24 PM
Reuters via Wired News Dec 18 2003 7:13PM ET

Libya Ready to Sign Nuclear Inspections
Protocol

Libya Ready to Sign Nuclear Inspections
Protocol 12/22/2003 07:50 AM
Reuters via Wired News Dec 22 2003 6:40AM ET

After splitting a case of Billy Beer,
Gadhafi agrees to inspections

After splitting a case of Billy Beer,
Gadhafi agrees to inspections 12/20/2003 07:36 AM
Capitulation .. good things .. Fox News

foxnews.com/story/0,2933,106263,00.html
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Another bogus ad

Another bogus ad 05/25/2004 05:49 PM

Israeli Troops Search House-To-House in
Gaza Camp (Reuters)

Israeli Troops Search House-To-House in
Gaza Camp (Reuters) 05/19/2004 02:43 AM
Reuters - Israeli troops carried out house-to-house searches for militants and weapons smuggling tunnels in the Rafah refugee camp on Wednesday as Israel's heaviest raid into the Gaza Strip in years entered a second day.

Bogus Wuffie

Bogus Wuffie 12/03/2003 11:03 PM
Dave Johnson: Curses, foiled again! Carlos has uncovered my secret plan to embezzle huge amounts of bogus wuffie.

Clamp down on bogus colleges

Clamp down on bogus colleges 06/18/2004 06:17 AM
The government gives details of a new register designed to clamp down on the abuse of the immigration system.

Bogus barcode blunder

Bogus barcode blunder 01/06/2005 02:15 AM
When people say that crimes does not pay, they truly mean it. Take the latest news about a barcode counterfeit scam that was taking place at Walmart. Sure, that the time I am sure that the folks perpetrating the scam thought they had out smarted the system. In reality, it came back to haunt them though….

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Bogus-ify your outgoing caller ID

Bogus-ify your outgoing caller ID 08/31/2004 01:06 AM
Xeni Jardin: Ahoy, stalkers, crank yankers, and evil telemarketer scumbags! Beginning this Wednesday, September 1, US-based online company Star38.com will offer paying subscribers a Caller ID falsification service. Make-believe you're the White House! Or 1-800-CALL-ATT! Or, hell, get your '80s on and vamp out in 867-5309! Kevin Poulsen of SecurityFocus tried it out, and evidently the service checked out as providing what it promised. Users complete an online form with phone number, number they want to call, number they want to appear to be calling from; in a couple of seconds, the system rings back to patch them through to their call destination. But, like, in a secret numeric disguise: call recipients see the spoofed number displayed on Caller ID. Link to Register article (via /., which contains some interesting debate from readers over whether or not the system is a truly effective spoofing mechanism)

Watch out for bogus invoice man

Watch out for bogus invoice man 06/22/2004 04:30 AM
Summertime and the scammin' is easy

"Plame Scandal Bogus! "

"Plame Scandal Bogus! " 12/04/2003 03:49 AM

Roller 1.1 progress and bogus wuffie

Roller 1.1 progress and bogus wuffie 03/31/2005 12:01 AM

We deployed a beta of Roller 1.1 at blogs.sun.com today, featuring the new built-in "Planet Roller" blogs.sun.com aggregator, which includes both BSC hosted and externally hosted Sun bloggers.

On the planet page, we substitute Technorati rankings (via Te chnorati.java) for the normal hot-blogs listing because we don't track hit counts for external blogs.

And, if you're looking at the Technorati rankings and wondering what a bush-league blogger like me is doing up there with MaryMary and Tim Bray? Well, I'm sorry to say, it's all due to bo gus whuffie. At the time, I actually wrote to the Technorati folks to point out to them that my place in the Technorati 100 was undeserved. They have since rejiggered their formulas (sorry to get so technical) and I'm out of the list, but still highly ranked.

PC orders arrest of bogus Mau Mau
veterans

PC orders arrest of bogus Mau Mau
veterans 04/05/2005 05:22 PM
East African Standard Apr 5 2005 9:53PM GMT

eCommerce is 0wned by bogus patents

eCommerce is 0wned by bogus patents 12/05/2003 05:25 PM
Want to get a sense of just how screwed up the patent system is? Check out this mockup of a simple e-commerce page, which is annotated with the twenty patents it violates.

* 24-kids-scannán.ie: é domain name. National characters in domain names: EP1159820
* [Action] [Kids] [Drama] [Adventure]: (tabbed pallettes) EP689133
* Picture link - pop-up window: EP0537100
* Watch - Displaying video through the web: EP0933892
* Download film - Displaying video through the web (same as above):
EP0933892
* mpeg4-format - Widely used video format for video download: More than 40 patents (herunder DK638218)

Link (Thanks, Yoz!)

Bush's bogus race card

Bush's bogus race card 05/03/2004 04:33 PM

Man injured in bogus taxi attack

Man injured in bogus taxi attack 07/24/2004 07:58 AM
A man is attacked in Londonderry after accepting a lift in a car which he thought was a taxi.

Bogus SAS member jailed for rape

Bogus SAS member jailed for rape 05/18/2004 01:35 AM
A builder is sentenced to 20 years in jail for raping two women after convincing them he was an SAS member.

EFF To Proactively Try To Bust Bogus
Patents

EFF To Proactively Try To Bust Bogus
Patents 04/19/2004 04:29 PM
Realizing that any real patent reform is going to take decades, and that everyone is suffering now from bogus patents, it appears that the EFF is setting up a project to try to proactivel y bust bogus patents. It's a great goal, but it remains to be seen how effective they are. Others have tried to do similar things (though, perhaps with different tactics) without much success so far.

Man Charged With Eating Bogus Check (AP)

Man Charged With Eating Bogus Check (AP) 05/28/2004 05:07 PM
AP - A man suspected of trying to cash a bogus check ate the evidence as Bartlett police officers moved in, and they suspect he's been victimizing people all over the state.

These Birds are Mocking Me

The following phrases have been identified by the grok system as matching this entry: "house inspections" bogus