Italian legal ruling suggests ALL Italian blogs are illegal

By Mark O’Neill
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

An Italian judge has used a 1948 law to convict a local historian and author of the crime of “stampa clandestina”.   This is basically the crime of running a newspaper without first officially registering with the local authorities.   But by convicting him, the judge has also opened the door to a much bigger Pandora’s Box.

What was this newspaper that Carlo Ruta was running?   His blog.    The judge ruled that since his blog had a headline, that qualified it as a newspaper and since he hadn’t registered it, he was guilty of “stampa clandestina”.   Simple.   Guilty as charged.   He was fined and told to take down his blog.  Next case.

Ruta simply took down the blog and put up a new one.    But now he is a convicted criminal and he has lost all his original blog material which is obviously a big deal.

Italian bloggers are understandably outraged and are also asking why prosecutors are bringing cases now.   There are potentially 5 million Italian blogs out there and Ruta was the first one to be charged.   Blogs were folded into the “stampa clandestina” law back in 2001.   Why was Ruta now singled out after 7 years?   Was it perhaps because his blog is all about links between politics and the mafia?   Hmmm…

The “stampa clandestina” law was actually set up back in 1948 with good intentions.   It was just after the end of the war and the new government, with the help of the Allied occupation forces, wanted to stop Fascist sympathisers from starting up their own publications to stir up trouble.   So they forced all new publishers to register with the local authorities so they could control things.    But obviously now 60 years later, with the internet bursting onto the scenes and the likelihood of Fascists seizing power in Italy diminishing to zero, that law is becoming increasingly unworkable and needs to be revised.    Plus let’s not forget the fact that Italy is a member of the European Union and freedom of the press is enshrined in the EU.

This conviction, if allowed to stand, is a dangerous legal precedent because it suggests that all Italian blogs are illegal because they are not registered.    If anyone blogs anything in Italy that someone doesn’t like, a judge can order that blog to be shut down immediately under the “stampa clandestina” law.    Plus if the Italian government starts demanding that blogs be registered, will bloggers comply?   I sincerely doubt it.



If You Missed “The Mentalist,” You Might Give it a Second Look

By Jimmy Rogers
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

I hope you got a chance to see Casey’s Geek Guide for the Fall TV Season.  On it she lists some of the new shows that should be real winners for the geek crowd.  After finally catching up with all the pilots, one show stood out for me that sadly didn’t make the list.  Let’s make up for some lost time!

Red John Behind Patrick JaneThe Mentalist is one of the least hyped shows of the Fall.  Aside from commercials that reminded me of The Dead Zone, the pilot received almost no attention.  At first glance it looked like a rehash of an old idea (the hyper-observant detective) that might fall somewhere between Monk and Psych.  When I was planning my “premier week” watching schedule, I didn’t even add The Mentalist to my list.  In fact, I only remembered it after its pilot had already aired, forcing me to find it on the internet.  After viewing it last night, I have to say that I was pretty impressed.

The premise of the show is that a one-time psychic uses his powers of observation and manipulation to solve intricate mysteries.  If you ever saw Crossing Over with John Edward, the protagonist, Patrick Jane, was pretty much that guy until a tragedy occurred in his family.  After that, he quit his career as a cold reading con-man and began helping the California Bureau of Investigation with their major cases.  To say much more about Patrick Jane would give away much of the plot, but let’s just say that it’s certainly no clone of Monk and it’s a far darker story than Psych.  In fact, the last scene of the pilot is very dark and really ties together the whole episode.  Consequently I’m hooked for the rest of the season.

I was completely prepared for this show to be either terrible and over-the-top or dry and boring as paste.  It turns out I was completely mistaken.  If you saw the pilot, share your expert opinion in the comments!

The Geek Guide to New Fall TV

by Casey Lynn
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

Maybe it’s due to the success of shows like Heroes, but there seems to be a lot of science fiction in this year’s new television line-up. No complaints here!  This past week was a big one for debuts, and most of the rest of these shows will be premiering in October.  So here’s a few words about some of the new geek-friendly shows that are showing up on a television near you.

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Man flies across English Channel with jet-propelled wing

A Swiss man has become the first man to fly across the English Channel, using nothing except a homemade jet-propelled wing, earning him the nickname “The Human Jet”.

Yves Rossy flew 22 miles from France to England in 13 minutes.   He leapt from a plane a mile and a half from the ground and fired up his jets.    He managed to get across to England without any problems and parachuted into a field beyond the famous white cliffs of Dover.

You can watch his descent into England here :

and here is a good CNN report about Rossy and his jet-propelled wing :

12 embarrassing photos that got online

By Mark O’Neill
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

MSN has a rather amusing feature about 12 photos that managed to find their way online and subsequently get the subjects into hot water.   They range from the Apple Macs on the Microsoft campus which led to the Microsoft employee getting fired to the guy who pled a family emergency only to dress up as Tinkerbell at a Halloween party (updating his Facebook profile afterwards wasn’t his smartest career move)

Have you had any really embarrassing photos intentionally or unintentionally make their way online?    If so, how did you deal with it?   Have they adversely affected your professional / personal life?  Are they still online?   If not, how difficult was it to get them offline?

Futuretech Powerflux: The Most Expensive Power Cable Ever

If you think Monster Cable is ripping their customers off with their insanely high priced cables, you’ve seen nothing my friend. Future Tech, another company known for its overpriced gear, is selling their Powerflux Power Cord for a measly $1800. ONLY $1800? That’s a real bargain for a simple power cable!

Cable Essentials

Powerflux conductors are 68-strand ? (Alpha) OCC twisted around ?–conductor strands with a special-grade PE insulation or dielectric. (Alpha conductors are fine OCC wire treated with Furutech’s Alpha Cryogenic and Demagnetizing process.) The dielectric is surrounded by an inner sheath of RoHS-compliant PVC incorporating carbon powder that enhances damping, and that in turn is covered by a full ? (Alpha) conductor wire braid shield. Another flexible PVC outer sheath and a Nylon braid jacket finish the job.

Ooohhhh, sounds fancy! At that price, I think I’ll take ten please!

[Product Page | Via OhGizmo!]

The Amazing “Silver Wolf” Rubberband Gun

Based on Metal Gear Solid 4, The “Silver Wolf” semi-automatic rubberband gun is made out of shiny stainless steal and features a laser targetting system, allowing you to devastate your colleagues at that next office war. Looking for some other cool rubber band guns? Amazon.com has tons of other ones right here!

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Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey Pumpkins!

Apparently Pink Ray Gun has a “tradition of providing the geekiest of free pumpkin carving templates.” On this year’s menu? Doctor Who!

You can carve your very own Tenth Doctor with TARDIS pumpkin, or for you Torchwood fans, Captain Jack and Ianto.

Keep an eye on the site because there’s apparently more in the works. You can already also find templates from Supernatural and Lost.  So display your geekiness on your front porch!

Life and Love… in stop motion

I don’t know many geeks who don’t love watching a good animated stop motion movie, and the following one, even if it relates a love story between a young boy and girl, should please most of our audience. To put it simply, the animation really shines by its brilliance, and could even bring a tear to your eye if you’re of the romantic type. Enjoy! – Thanks Vlog!

Russia to ban the Simpsons, Family Guy and South Park?

By Mark O’Neill
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

The Russian parliament, the Duma, is to begin hearings to decide whether to revoke the license of a cartoon TV network because they showed episodes of the Simpsons, Family Guy and South Park.

These three popular US cartoon programmes are being targeted by the Kremlin for termination, but it seems to be South Park which is the main target.  It has been described by Russian politicians as ”pornographic, extremist and immoral” and one episode in particular seems to have got their vodka bottles in a twist – “Mr Hankey’s Christmas Classics“.

In the episode, Mr Hankey leads a show of various Christmas songs with the lyrics all changed to poke fun at organized religion.  The Russian Government feels this “incites religious hatred” and “offends religious people”.

But wait!   They have more complimentary things to say about Eric Cartman and his chums!

There are full of scenes of mutilation and infliction of physical and moral suffering that evoke fear, panic and terror in children.

This media product is of low moral and ethical content and has an extremely negative effect on children, it perverts their moral orientation and increases the danger of panic and neurotic ailments.

So if Mr President-Prime Minister Putin gets his way and there’s no South Park, Simpsons or Family Guy in Russia anymore, what will there be on TV to laugh at instead?

The Russian parliament has decreed that if the cartoon licence is revoked the American cartoons will be replaced with programmes that will teach children patriotism, respect for family values, and the importance of sport.

To quote Cartman, “WHAT?! GODDAMMIT! YOU’RE GOTTA BE KIDDIN’ ME! YOU’RE BUSTING MA BALLS!”

And to show you what all the fuss is about, here’s a clip of “Mr Hankey’s Christmas Classics”.   Don’t send me all the flames.   I didn’t make this episode! I’m merely reporting it.

Russia to ban Simpsons and South Park – Daily Telegraph
Russia attempts to ban South Park – Guardian news blog