Meme Scholar with Madness (PhD)

[EndtheMadnessNow]

Word of the Day (and everyday till election) is 'malversation' (16th century): corrupt or fraudulent behaviour by someone in a position of power.


October 22, 1910: Walter Stauffer McIlhenny was born. Heir to his family's hot sauce company, "Tabasco Mac" served as a Marine officer during WWII. His helmet and the Japanese shin guntō sword that dented it during the Battle of Guadalcanal are on exhibit at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was awarded the Navy Cross, Silver Star and Purple Heart (2). He retired from the Marines as a brigadier general. He was a co-founder, trustee, and president emeritus of the Marine Military Academy in Harlingen, Texas. Served as president of McIlhenny Company, maker of Tabasco brand pepper sauce, from 1949 until his death in 1985.

In 1981 the US Army began to issue Meals Ready to Eat, aka "MREs". Each MRE includes a miniature bottle of McIlhenny Tabasco sauce.




October 22, 1962: Pres John F. Kennedy addresses the nation about the Cuban Missile Crisis.



Audio/transcript  | Reading copy  | Video


JFK secret victory map of Soviet missile sites on Cuba, this week 1962.


This item sold at the April 11, 2018 auction for $138,798 – well above its estimated value of $20,000. RR Auction Company described the map’s new owner as “a collector in Los Angeles with a deep appreciation for American history.”

The map’s letter of provenance quotes Defense Secretary Robert McNamara as saying “the President pored over this map before deciding to delay the attack,” the auction house said.

After the crisis, President Kennedy reportedly gave the map to McNamara – calling it the “victory map.”

The letter says it was the only time McNamara “ever heard Kennedy say anything that sounded like gloating about how the crisis ended.”


BEGIN THE THIRTEEN DAYS

Nuclear Crisis Lasted 59 Days, Not Just 13


What do ya know, Mr. holier than thou Comey...


Website in court over sale of JFK map


The GILLIGAN'S ISLAND Packard Bell model AR-851 table-top AM radio tuned to CONELRAD...


The antenna and handle were added for the show, they were not originally part of the radio. The Packard Bell name badge on the lower right was blacked out, but the PB logo on the upper left was left on.

The same week as John F. Kennedy’s speech, the book "Fail-Safe" was published and the movies "The Manchurian Candidate" and "We’ll Bury You!" had their premieres. Tense times!!




October 22, 1964: the controversial Barry Goldwater morality campaign film CHOICE was scheduled to air nationwide on NBC. Goldwater cancelled it at the last minute, but you can watch it below. This is really a wild 'Choice' (NSFW) video for 1964. WoW! Directed by Dinesh D'dsouza's grandfather.





October 22, 1976: The 1st episode of ITV series, The New Avengers, was broadcast. It was a sequel to the 1960s series, The Avengers. The stars were Patrick Macnee as John Steed, Joanna Lumley as Purdie and Gareth Hunt as Mike Gambit. There were 26 episodes.


Secret agent Steed, working for an unnamed branch of British intelligence, is teamed up with two partners to fight evil plots for world domination, dealing with suspended animation, biological warfare, robotics, and other threats.


October 22, 2019: the United States House of Representatives voted 410 to 6 (16 abstained) in favor of the CASE Act- dubbed the "Anti-Meme law" by its critics. The "Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act of 2019" was introduced by Representative Hakeem Jeffries (Democrat, New York) on January 5th, 2019. The bill’s purpose was to help content creators utilize a small claims court for copyright infringement, as the current law means copyright disputes must go through the more expensive federal courts.

This would create a Copyright Office who would have a tribunal of "Copyright Claims Officers" to work with both parties in an infringement lawsuit. Damages would be $15,000 at maximum for each infringed work, and a total of $30,000.


The Verge: Jeffries stated “The internet has provided many benefits to society. It is a wonderful thing, but it cannot be allowed to function as if it is the Wild West with absolutely no rules. We have seen that there are bad actors throughout society and the world who take advantage of the internet as a platform in a variety of ways. We cannot allow it.”

The Electronic Frontier Federation (EFF) Senior Legislative Counsel Ernesto Falcon shared his concerns on October 21st:

    “Supporters of the bill insist there’s no problem, because $30,000 isn’t that much money. They even laughed about it. We know the reality: when nearly half of this country would struggle to afford an emergency $400 expense, the penalties in this bill are deadly serious. What’s worse, they’ll be imposed not by an experienced judge, but instead by a committee of unaccountable bureaucrats.

    The CASE Act creates a new tribunal separate from the federal judiciary (this is part of the constitutional problem) and places it within the Copyright Office. This agency has a sad history of industry capture, and often takes its cues from major content companies as opposed to average Americans. The new tribunals will receive complaints from rightsholders (anyone that has taken a photo, video, or written something) and will issue a “notice” to the party being sued.

    We don’t actually know what this notice will look like. It could be an email, a text message, a phone call with voice mail, or a letter in the mail. Once the notice goes out, the targeted user has to respond within a tight deadline. Fail to respond in time means you’ll automatically lose, and are on the hook for $30,000. That’s why EFF is concerned that this law will easily be abused by copyright trolls. The trolls will cast a wide net, in hopes of catching Internet users unaware. Corporations with lawyers will be able to avoid all this, because they’ll have paid employees in charge of opting out of the CASE Act. But regular Americans with kids, jobs, and other real-life obligations could easily miss those notices, and lose out.”

Falcon also expressed his concern that how under the current law “if you copy a work that isn’t registered—meaning, the vast majority of things that are shared by users every single day—you’re only on the hook for the copyright owner’s actual economic loss. This is called “actual damages,” and very often, it’s $0. Under CASE, however, every copyrighted work will automatically eligible for $30,000 in damages—whether or not the owner has bothered to register it.”

The proposed bill has similar concern to Europe’s Article 11 and 13, both heavily criticized for using A.I algorithms to detect copyright infringement, and even taxing posting a hyperlink. The US’ DARPA is also developing AI to detect “deep-fake” videos and audio, though  some have expressed concern even memes not intended to deceive (i.e. parody) would be at risk.

Signed into law by President Donald Trump on December 27, 2020.


LOL, Snopes felt obligated to let you know...






Lost in Motion II explores the spectrum of emotions experienced by an Artist as they bare their soul for all to see. The film showcases the Artist's state of mind by depicting her within an ominous yet atmospheric environment where she dances in solitude. Adorned in a vibrant red dress that reflects the iconic stage curtains of the theatre, she pushes herself to the limits of her seemingly solitude performance. As the film draws to a close, we see that the dancer has in fact been performing on stage the entire time, and that the visual world is a fantasy one created by her imagination.
Song: Avalanche (1971)
Artist/writer: Leonard Cohen