*1. No Uber/Lyft in Austin
Uber and Lyft shut down operations in Austin, TX after losing a legal battle and ballot initiative to exclude their drivers from mandated fingerprinting. I've used Uber and think it's a great idea and service. It is really disrupting the traditional cab market and being legally challenged just about EVERYWHERE. I don't know if what Uber/Lyft are doing (fighting costly legal battles everywhere) is sustainable if they can't find a happy medium.
*2. Stairway to...royalty payments?
A lawsuit to be presented in LA next month claims Led Zeppelin stole the opening arpeggio of Stairway to Heaven from a song titled Taurus from a band named Spirit.
You be the judge. Guitar starts at 45 seconds
And it's not the first time Zeppelin has been taken to task for taking liberties.
"Since its 1969 debut album, Led Zeppelin has altered the credits and redirected portions of its royalties for some of its biggest songs, including Whole Lotta Love and Babe I’m Gonna Leave You. A copyright infringement suit over Dazed and Confused was settled in 2012."
*3. We need to talk about...human genetic enhancement
Wait. What?! From Mitochondrial Transfer to IVF to preimplantation genetic selection to CRISPR...
Uber and Lyft shut down operations in Austin, TX after losing a legal battle and ballot initiative to exclude their drivers from mandated fingerprinting. I've used Uber and think it's a great idea and service. It is really disrupting the traditional cab market and being legally challenged just about EVERYWHERE. I don't know if what Uber/Lyft are doing (fighting costly legal battles everywhere) is sustainable if they can't find a happy medium.
*2. Stairway to...royalty payments?
A lawsuit to be presented in LA next month claims Led Zeppelin stole the opening arpeggio of Stairway to Heaven from a song titled Taurus from a band named Spirit.
You be the judge. Guitar starts at 45 seconds
And it's not the first time Zeppelin has been taken to task for taking liberties.
"Since its 1969 debut album, Led Zeppelin has altered the credits and redirected portions of its royalties for some of its biggest songs, including Whole Lotta Love and Babe I’m Gonna Leave You. A copyright infringement suit over Dazed and Confused was settled in 2012."
*3. We need to talk about...human genetic enhancement
Wait. What?! From Mitochondrial Transfer to IVF to preimplantation genetic selection to CRISPR...
"We have all the tools we need to alter the genetic makeup of our species. The science is here. The realization is inevitable. Timing is the only variable."
*4. Kind of like the "The Americans," but in real life
From The Guardian - The day we discovered our parents were Russian spies
"The two brothers watched, stunned, as their parents were put in handcuffs and driven away in separate black cars. Tim and Alex were left behind with a number of agents, who said they needed to begin a 24-hour forensic search of the home; they had prepared a hotel room for the brothers. One of the men told them their parents had been arrested on suspicion of being unlawful agents of a foreign government."
*5. Controlling the Message?
This NYT Magazine article on Ben Rhodes, who is Obama's deputy national security advisor for strategic communications, stirred up a hornets nest at the WaPo (and this article). The cause of the consternation was how the Iran nuclear deal was "sold" via strategic communications to, essentially, the world. In the NYT Magazine article, Rhodes makes the press corps out to be idiots that he and his staff manipulate to their advantage. Maybe he's not as good with strategic communications as everyone thinks...
From WaPo - "Rhodes’s freewheeling and cynical comments reminded several White House and national security reporters of an infamous 2010 story in Rolling Stone magazine in which Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, and aides mocked civilian government officials, including Vice President Biden. McChrystal apologized for the comments but later tendered his resignation, which Obama accepted."
+ This Atlantic article (The Obama Doctrine) is a good weekend read
*BOTTOM OF THE NEWS
*Garlic fries at McDonald's!? I''m in!
"McDonald’s reps confirmed to the SFGate.com that the chain has run out of garlic fries — and there won’t be any relief in sight for weeks."
*Go, Speedracer! Go!
From Wired - Raising speed limits is irresponsible, but states keep doing it anyway
"You can present all the traffic data you want to the politicians voting on speed limit laws. But unless a speeding-related crash has happened to them or someone close to them, it's just a set of numbers on the page"
True. True. I say raise 'em.
*Sign up below to receive Top of the News via email.
*4. Kind of like the "The Americans," but in real life
From The Guardian - The day we discovered our parents were Russian spies
"The two brothers watched, stunned, as their parents were put in handcuffs and driven away in separate black cars. Tim and Alex were left behind with a number of agents, who said they needed to begin a 24-hour forensic search of the home; they had prepared a hotel room for the brothers. One of the men told them their parents had been arrested on suspicion of being unlawful agents of a foreign government."
*5. Controlling the Message?
This NYT Magazine article on Ben Rhodes, who is Obama's deputy national security advisor for strategic communications, stirred up a hornets nest at the WaPo (and this article). The cause of the consternation was how the Iran nuclear deal was "sold" via strategic communications to, essentially, the world. In the NYT Magazine article, Rhodes makes the press corps out to be idiots that he and his staff manipulate to their advantage. Maybe he's not as good with strategic communications as everyone thinks...
From WaPo - "Rhodes’s freewheeling and cynical comments reminded several White House and national security reporters of an infamous 2010 story in Rolling Stone magazine in which Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, and aides mocked civilian government officials, including Vice President Biden. McChrystal apologized for the comments but later tendered his resignation, which Obama accepted."
+ This Atlantic article (The Obama Doctrine) is a good weekend read
*BOTTOM OF THE NEWS
*Garlic fries at McDonald's!? I''m in!
"McDonald’s reps confirmed to the SFGate.com that the chain has run out of garlic fries — and there won’t be any relief in sight for weeks."
*Go, Speedracer! Go!
From Wired - Raising speed limits is irresponsible, but states keep doing it anyway
"You can present all the traffic data you want to the politicians voting on speed limit laws. But unless a speeding-related crash has happened to them or someone close to them, it's just a set of numbers on the page"
True. True. I say raise 'em.
*Sign up below to receive Top of the News via email.
No comments:
Post a Comment