Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Donkeys may not be kept in bathtubs

That’s a dumb law in Georgia from dumblaws.com.
Not as many, or as dumb, as I expected.

Via Bill in Portland Maine at Kos.

Ringtones

What does your ringtone say about you?

If your phone plays a classic rock tune, you’re showing your age, but you get points for figuring out how to change the ringer, Gramps.

Er, I don’t even get points--no patience for picking one (and it would probably be stretched doing the download). I’m not big on flea markets either. Doug, help?

Via Virginia Postrel at Dynamist Blog.

Site logins

I missed it the first time. Kos:

A while back, I asked people to register a “dailykos” account for every free site requiring a registration.

Well, it’s a rare day when I come across a site that doesn’t have one set up. Heck, the last post, taken from the Evansville (IN) Courrier & Press, had an account. So we’re not talking big time papers here. So here’s a reminder to the old times and announcement to the more recent visitors:

If the site asks for a username, it’s:

dailykos

If the site asks for an email login, it’s:

(BTW, don’t email me at , since all email sent to it goes straight into a spam folder unless you’re in my address book.)
There are two possible passwords. Most of the time, it’ll be:

dailykos

However, there’s a minority of sites that require a number in the password, so if “dailykos” doesn’t work, try:

dailykos1

Now, if you come across a site that doesn’t have a dailykos account, please set one up.

Great idea. I’m on board.

Anonymous source

I’m watching to see what Slate editor at large Jack Shafer and NYU’s Jay Rosen have to say on anonymous sources in light of Deep Throat’s unmasking. Me, I stand by my antipathy even as I acknowledge the necessity sometimes. (And I still want to end the background briefing.)

Others apparently disagree:

UC Berkeley j-school dean Orville Schell says it’s “deeply ironic” that Mark Felt comes forward at a time when anonymous sources are being so impugned. “I think it would be an incalculable loss to this country if all anonymous sources became forbidden, particularly in this era of governmental and corporate secrecy—and I might add, ecclesiastical secrecy,” says Schell. “The price has been raised very high for whistle-blowers.”

I became politically active in those early Watergate days, so it’s ironic that I have little interest in the story beyond mild regret that it’s giving those who are hooked on anonymous sourcing renewed vigor.

Timothy Noah, Deep Throat, Antihero:

Why did Felt maintain his silence for so long? Part of the reason, I imagine, is that Felt knew his prosaic, bureaucratic-infighting motive was at least as strong as any moralistic desire to expose the truth about the crooks in the White House. That tarnishes Deep Throat’s luster a little. Also, Felt’s previous brush with national publicity involved his criminal conviction for bypassing warrants in his investigation of the Weather Underground… Possibly, too, he could imagine that the press would note that Deep Throat shared with Nixon an enthusiasm for illegal break-ins. But the main reason, I think, was that Felt saw his leaks as a betrayal of the FBI.

If you’re interested, Slate’s Deep Throat Archive.

Opt-in to non-discrimination

Ian Ayres has a new book, Straightforward: How to Mobilize Heterosexual Support for Gay Rights. And a new project, the Fair Employment Mark (pdf).

In a post today on Lawrence Lessig’s Blog he writes:

A little-known piece of intellectual property, the certification mark, provides a viable mechanism for employers to commit to not to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. With just a few clicks of the mouse, at www.fairemploymentmark.org any employer in the country can license the “Fair Employment Mark.” It is an innocuous symbol, an “FE” inside a circle. There are lots of parallels to the Creative Commons. Both are reinventions of traditional intellectual property licenses to make the world a better place.

[...]

The idea is simple, really. By signing the licensing agreement, an employer gains the right (but not the obligation) to use the mark and in return promises to abide by the word-for-word strictures of ENDA (the proposed federal statute that would prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation). Displaying the mark on a product or service signals to knowing consumers and employees that the company has committed itself not to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.

ENDA is given no chance of passage during the Bush administration even as…

A boatload of prominent corporations - including the likes of AT&T, Coors, IBM and General Mills - have already come out and endorsed ENDA. Virtually all the corporate endorsers of ENDA already have nondiscrimination policies that include sexual orientation. But the pretty words of nondiscrimination policies sometimes turn out to be only that. If an employer discriminates against an applicant because she is gay, it is far from certain that the employer would be liable for breach of contract - even if the employer has a non-discrimination policy.

Lots of businesses say they oppose this kind of discrimination. They adopt policies and endorse ENDA. Few employers, given the chance, would opt out of race discrimination laws. Few employers would opt out of ENDA if a waivable version were enacted. Now, with the Fair Employment mark, they have the opportunity to opt in.

A great idea that deserves to catch on.