RKNet Blog... Thing

I’ve seen the new (proposed) layout for Ectomo! It’s gorgeous! It’s terrifying! It’s truly a wonder to behold! And… I’m not gonna share.

Nope, you’ll just have to wait. It should debut soon when Ectomo moves to better, more stable hosting. It’s their surprise and I’m not going to spoil it. (Man, I’d never make it at Valleywag, eh?) I think the proposed move date is rapidly approaching, but anybody who has ever run a WordPress blog will tell you, it’s never as simple as it seems.

Of course, while you’re waiting for the glorious unveiling of the new and improved Ectomo, you could always consider beating yourself repeatedly over missing our contest. Hell hath no fury like a fun idea gone down the toilet! Except for Dr. Hypercube. He gets a free pass.

Hint: To see this miraculous thing early, you could also just do what I did and spend more time in #ectomo on efnet!

Wired’s Underwire blog has just delivered quite the scoop!

The Burning Man festival’s traditional “burning man” figure burst into flames a full 5 days ahead of schedule, during last night’s total lunar eclipse.

Keep your eyes on their article, as they’ll update when they have more information as to whether this was a technical issue or arson.

Check out the article now for a huge picture of them hosing down the traditional figure after the incident.

Owen Wilson was brought to the hospital today via ambulance. It is unknown at this time why exactly, but he has already released a statement regarding this incident, stating:

“I respectfully ask that the media allow me to receive care and heal in private during this difficult time,” the 38-year-old actor said in a statement released through publicist Ina Treciokas.Via Yahoo! News

Naturally the news is abuzz with this event. It is this author’s opinion that there will be a great deal of journalists who will not do as he requests and simply allow him privacy during this time - and I don’t just mean the obviously opportunistic tabloid types. There are already a great deal of articles running that he “reportedly tried to commit suicide”. The real questions are, how can they so casually include this hearsay, and how much worse will it get before the end of the day?

This internet rag, known as the National Ledger, has already gone so far as to claim knowledge of “a slit wrist and ingestion of a bottle of pills”; this bit being written just before a complete breakdown of his astrological chart. There were also no sources cited for their claim. Splendid detective work, National Ledger, now get back to your charts and your remarkable slew of banner ads.

Give me a break, people. The guy went to the hospital. It happens to thousands, for various reasons. I sincerely hope that this base speculation is as far as the majority of the media goes into prying into his not-very-private-right-now life. Good luck to you, Owen Wilson, in what may be a difficult time. I for one wish you swift and peaceful healing.

If you’re in the mood to unearth evidence of spin control and disinformation on that internet bastion (or bastard depending on one’s viewpoint) of information, Wikipedia, then Wired’s blog Threat Level has just the post for you.

Here they provide links to Virgil Griffith’s Wikipedia Scanner. A tool specifically designed to out a lot of the suspect editors out there in the Wikiverse.

The commentors on the Wired post have dug up tons of dirt already.

Here’s a goody from their “Wall of Shame”:

scientology removes criticism by Anonymous

removed: Its relationship with the city has repeatedly moved between “friendly” and “hostile,” as the church has worked with the city to establish better relations; while at the same time actively opposing the local ”[[St. Petersburg Times]]” and even protesting the Clearwater police department

Via the rumor mill and Snopes:
There has been a lot of buzz surrounding “2007 as the year we may lose Equal Rights Voting”. As per usual, Snopes has been kind enough to illustrate thatthis simply is not true.
The right to vote for all (males) regardless of color was secured with the Fifteenth Amendment to the US Constitution.
See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amendment_15
And: http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#Am15

Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was established to allow for Federal enforcement of equal-rights voting within the individual States. This was renewed for 25 years by Congress and signed by President Bush last year, well in advance of the 2007 expiry date.

“The prohibition of voting rights discrimination on the basis of race, color, or previous condition of slavery was first codified by the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1870. Soon after the failure of Reconstruction, southern states found other means besides those enumerated in the Fifteenth Amendment to deny the vote to blacks, through violence, intimidation, via Jim Crow laws that included literacy tests, poll taxes, and also grandfather clauses that permitted otherwise disqualified voters whose grandfathers voted (thus allowing some white illiterates to vote), all with the aim and effect of re-imposing racially motivated restrictions on the voting process that prevented blacks from having political and economic power.”

— Source: Wikipedia article on The Voting Rights Act of 1965

Even though we live in some dark and troubled times of suspect legislation and shadowy government actions, the looming threat of equal-rights voting being allowed to expire is one monster-under-the-bed we can truly see as the pile of stuff (and nonsense) that it truly is.

Stay sharp, and stay educated, because knowledge is power.