Fear & Loathing http://manishin.com/wp WordPress Fri, 17 May 2013 16:04:25 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 Is Obama A Lame Duck Already? http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103500 http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103500#comments Fri, 17 May 2013 16:03:22 +0000 glennm http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103500 image

I think we’re all agreed the president is fading — failing to lead, to break through, to show he’s not at the mercy of events but, to some degree at least, in command of them. He couldn’t get a win on gun control with 90% public support. When he speaks on immigration reform you get the sense he’s setting it back. He’s floundering on Syria…. Mr. Obama’s brilliant sequester strategy — scare the American public into supporting me—flopped.

Peggy Noonan | WSJ.

 

]]> http://manishin.com/wp/?feed=rss2&p=103500 0 The Pres Bites As a Golfer http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103494 http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103494#comments Mon, 06 May 2013 21:46:55 +0000 glennm http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103494 After 121 rounds in five seasons, he still chips right over an easy green. Sh#t, even I could beat this guy. Stick to basketball, Mr. President!

Mr. Obama, who according to CBS News’ Mark Knoller has played 121 rounds of golf during his presidency, hasn’t often had congressional company. This is the fourth time he has invited a member of Congress to be part of his golf foursome. Twice he has invited Rep. Jim Clyburn, R-S.C., and once he’s invited House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

Obama extends GOP outreach to the golf course | CBS News.
 

]]> http://manishin.com/wp/?feed=rss2&p=103494 0 The Ring of Fire Annular Eclipse http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103479 http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103479#comments Mon, 06 May 2013 20:14:48 +0000 glennm http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103479 A rather cool-looking solar eclipse. Wish I could be there.

How to Catch This Week’s ‘Ring of Fire’ Annular Eclipse | Science.

]]> http://manishin.com/wp/?feed=rss2&p=103479 0 Twitter Digest for 05-05-2013 http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103477 http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103477#comments Mon, 06 May 2013 16:16:41 +0000 glennm http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103477 twitter_logo

 

]]> http://manishin.com/wp/?feed=rss2&p=103477 0 Lawyers, Can We Go Home? http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103470 http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103470#comments Sat, 04 May 2013 00:50:31 +0000 glennm http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103470 Great theme, but produced from a brick-and-mortar, “face time” perspective. Get with it lawyers!

Lawyers' Code

Tamara McNutly @ Facebook.
 

]]> http://manishin.com/wp/?feed=rss2&p=103470 0 2,084 Days http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103466 http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103466#comments Thu, 02 May 2013 15:44:50 +0000 glennm http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103466

I joined twitter 2,084 days ago whendidyoujointwitter.com? #wdyjt

— Glenn Manishin (@glennm) May 1, 2013

]]> http://manishin.com/wp/?feed=rss2&p=103466 0 Pro-Environment Labels Turn Off Conservative Buyers http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103459 http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103459#comments Wed, 01 May 2013 22:24:38 +0000 glennm http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103459 Light bulbs

When light bulbs are compared side-by-side, some conservative consumers are turned off by labeling that stresses the environmental benefits of efficient choices, a study finds.

And would you expect any other reaction? Conservatives have been railing against “tree hugging” liberals for years.

via National Geographic.

 

]]> http://manishin.com/wp/?feed=rss2&p=103459 0 Ayrton Senna http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103449 http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103449#comments Wed, 01 May 2013 05:05:10 +0000 glennm http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103449 It was 19 years ago today that the legendary Ayrton Senna was lost at Imola. RIP.

senna2

Aytron Senna | Formula One Art & Genius.

 

]]> http://manishin.com/wp/?feed=rss2&p=103449 0 Does Antimatter Fall Up? http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103422 http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103422#comments Wed, 01 May 2013 00:58:39 +0000 glennm http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103422 Antimatter

How deep does the asymmetry between matter and antimatter go? Each type of particle (electrons, protons, etc.) have antimatter partners: positrons, antiprotons, and so forth. These antiparticles have an opposite electric charge (unless they’re neutral), but otherwise behave much like their matter counterparts. But one interesting question remains unanswered: does antimatter possess antigravity, experiencing a repulsive force when matter experiences attraction? And, even if antimatter experiences plain old gravity, does it behave in exactly the same way as matter does?

glenn’s tumblr | Does antimatter fall up?.

I’ve been a fan of theoretical physics for years. It stared with Albert Einstein’s book Relativity: The Special and General Theory and continued — now decades ago — with God And the New Physics by Paul Davies. To even consider that humankind could harness the power of antimatter to overcome the force of gravity (the weakest of the four fundamental forces, but the one we know best) is barely comprehensible.

 

 

]]> http://manishin.com/wp/?feed=rss2&p=103422 0 Twitter Digest for 04-28-2013 http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103418 http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103418#comments Mon, 29 Apr 2013 18:00:21 +0000 glennm http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103418 twitter_logo

 

]]> http://manishin.com/wp/?feed=rss2&p=103418 0 Old Man Honored http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103408 http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103408#comments Sun, 28 Apr 2013 17:12:45 +0000 glennm http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103408 Old Man

This was one of my favorite sights (and sites) as a child. But the rock finally succumbed to old age and the ravages of weather.

It’s been nearly 10 years since the natural rock formation that symbolized New Hampshire tumbled 1,200 feet to the ground. And while the Old Man of the Mountain is little more than a historical footnote to the state’s youngest residents, it remains a beloved family member to others.

NH honors Old Man icon 10 years after statue fell | SFGate.

 

]]> http://manishin.com/wp/?feed=rss2&p=103408 0 Much Truth is Said In Jest http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103402 http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103402#comments Sun, 28 Apr 2013 12:50:03 +0000 glennm http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103402 The old adage was very much in evidence last evening as President Obama poked fun — at himself, the media and the Republicans — at the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

Obama’s full speech at the 2013 White House Correspondents’ Dinner | The Washington Post.

 

]]> http://manishin.com/wp/?feed=rss2&p=103402 0 Ten Years & Still Blogging http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103381 http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103381#comments Thu, 25 Apr 2013 00:52:36 +0000 glennm http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103381 F&L First Post

It is hard to believe I’ve been doing this for ten years, much less that I forgot the 10th year anniversary on March 10th. This is the tentative way it started, even before adopting my “Fear & Loathing” moniker.

One would expect this is a time for reflection. However, I am decidedly ambivalent about the medium — right now at this moment and in general — so a screen shot will have to suffice. (Oh and by the bye, the sharing buttons were certainly not there in ’03.) Sorry, tweeps. Perhaps more to come.

Fear & Loathing » Welcome to My Blog.

Notice the few “related posts” underneath. That means my tags and categories have less than a handful of posts associated with “blogs.” Remarkable in that there are thousands of posts in the archives.

 

]]> http://manishin.com/wp/?feed=rss2&p=103381 0 Twitter Digest for 04-23-2013 http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103377 http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103377#comments Wed, 24 Apr 2013 16:53:19 +0000 glennm http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103377 twitter_logo

 

]]> http://manishin.com/wp/?feed=rss2&p=103377 0 Twitter Digest for 04-14-2013 http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103358 http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103358#comments Mon, 15 Apr 2013 17:25:55 +0000 glennm http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103358 twitter_logo

 

]]> http://manishin.com/wp/?feed=rss2&p=103358 0 Twitter Digest for 04-07-2013 http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103348 http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103348#comments Mon, 08 Apr 2013 15:55:57 +0000 glennm http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103348 twitter_logo

 

]]> http://manishin.com/wp/?feed=rss2&p=103348 0 Schizophrenia On SocMedia http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103350 http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103350#comments Thu, 04 Apr 2013 16:08:07 +0000 glennm http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103350 No, the title is not meant to imply a post about the privacy implications of mobile medical apps for psychotherapy. Instead, we’re taking a look at how the government acts at cross-purposes to itself when it comes to the oh-so-slow development of rules for new technologies and markets. The last few weeks have seen a couple of remarkable announcements, one from the FTC about digital advertising disclaimers and one from the SEC about corporate financial disclosures. Both were presented by the agencies as ways to enable use of social media by corporations — but instead just make things much harder, if not totally impracticable.

Two weeks ago, the Federal Trade Commission basically said “to heck” with form factor and responsive Web design by concluding that disclaimers, caveats and related mandatory advertising disclosures cannot be put into a popup window and must be in the same “conspicuous” format — font size and all — regardless of the device or medium. FTC .Com DisclosuresThe FDA had already cracked down on trailblazing pharma firms that tried Facebook advertisements on the same grounds. Both enforcement decisions demonstrate a complete lack of familiarity with new media and an inability to flexibly apply the principles of regulatory schemes to changing circumstances.

Even if, unlike advertiser contentions, potential “Do Not Track” mandates for Web browsing would not kill the Internet content industry, the FTC has signaled it is prepared unilaterally to dictate the size of social media ads in the guise of consumer protection. The old guidance allowed for “proximity” of disclosures — that is, disclosures that were “near, and when possible, on the same screen.” The new guidance places heightened emphasis on disclosures being clear and conspicuous to consumers across all platforms. The newly announced principle is that disclosures should be “as close as possible,” with short form disclosures such as hyperlinks or hashtags permitted only when their meaning is understood by consumers. Check out this remarkable assertion, for instance:

If a disclosure is necessary to prevent an advertisement from being deceptive, unfair or otherwise violative of a Commission rule, and if it is not possible to make the disclosure clear and conspicuous, then either the claim should be modified so the disclosure is not necessary or the ad should not be disseminated. Moreover, if a particular platform does not provide an opportunity to make clear and conspicuous disclosures, it should not be used to disseminate advertisements that require such disclosures.

A second and related announcement came on Tuesday from the Securities & Exchange Commission. The SEC is the federal agency which pioneered use of Facebook and other social media services in the corporate realm by providing 2008 guidance that release of corporate earnings and other “material” financial information can permissibly utilize social media. Yet now the same agency — after a fruitless investigation of Netflix CEO Reed Hastings for an innocuous Facebook post — says that companies may treat social media as legitimate outlets for communication, much like corporate Web sites or the agency’s own public filing system called Edgar, but first have to make clear which Twitter feeds or Facebook pages will serve as potential outlets for announcements.

It is difficult to reconcile these new regulatory positions with the objectives the agencies articulate. The SEC says it believes that “company disclosures should be more readily available to investors in a variety of locations and formats to facilitate investor access to that information,” but its actions only serve to make the choice of location and format more rigid, and with fines a potential consequence for those pursuing flexibility.  Almost any lawyer counseling public company clients today will advise that financial information that in the future could be considered material by the SEC must be constrained to an official, designated Web page. So much for tweets, Facebook and other real-time forums, they’re just too risky — even though Hastings survived unscathed. The correct approach for the vast majority of the 13,000+ public companies in the U.S. is to steer clear of social media, at least for now, because the downside is simply too great.

Coming from a government that professes to want to encourage broader use of these new media, that’s classic bi-polarism, obviously not in a happy phase.

Note: Originally written for and reposted with permission of my law firm’s Information Intersection blog.

 

]]> http://manishin.com/wp/?feed=rss2&p=103350 1 Twitter Digest for 04-01-2013 http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103346 http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103346#comments Tue, 02 Apr 2013 16:54:32 +0000 glennm http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103346 twitter_logo

 

]]> http://manishin.com/wp/?feed=rss2&p=103346 0 Twitter Digest for 03-27-2013 http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103343 http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103343#comments Thu, 28 Mar 2013 16:40:53 +0000 glennm http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103343 twitter_logo

 

]]> http://manishin.com/wp/?feed=rss2&p=103343 0 Home Sweet Home http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103333 http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103333#comments Mon, 18 Mar 2013 21:08:31 +0000 glennm http://manishin.com/wp/?p=103333 This is actor Jim Carrey’s home. I WANT IT!! Set in the gated community of Malibu Colony, the Dumb and Dumber star’s beachfront residence features a flowing floor plan and expansive decks with removable privacy walls. Tour the actor’s stylish abode.

pinterest photo

Source: frontdoor.com via Glenn on Pinterest.

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