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Matt Inman, creator of The Oatmeal webcomic, has snapped his promised picture of a huge pile of cash—but he used his own money, not donated funds.
Regular readers will remember that Inman tried to raise $20,000 online after Charles Carreon, lawyer for now-implacable-Oatmeal-foe FunnyJunk, asked Inman to cut him a check for that amount to cover alleged "defamation." Inman planned to photograph the cash and send the picture to Carreon—but the money itself would go to charity instead, to mock the initial demand. (The campaign actually raised more than $200,000.)
The whole case, now tangled in some truly bizarre litigation, threatened to put a stop to the picture taking. Carreon went so far as to file this weekend for a temporary restraining order that would halt any disbursement of the funds to Inman. Sunday night, Inman responded with his first legal broadside since the case began, his lawyers at the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Focal Law blasting Carreon with both barrels.
Mr. Carreon attempts to disguise his attack on free speech by focusing on various (inapplicable) regulations. But his true intent is clear. For example, he rails against Mr. Inman's plan to take a photo of the money raised. Showing a photo of a huge pile of money going to charity in lieu of paying off a bogus threat was a key part of the expressive First Amendment protected activity that was a core part of the plan, and something that Mr. Inman made clear to all the funders. Yet if Mr. Carreon had his way, he would prevent the 'publicity stunt,' which Mr. Inman said he planned from the beginning of the campaign, from occurring.
(The response then adds, with obvious snark, "This is a curious thing to seek when purporting to act for the interests of the other funders," who likely want the picture to be taken.)
Too late. As the lawyers note, Inman has already snapped the pic. Because of Carreon's complaint, however, "Mr. Inman has decided to not withdraw the funds in order to photograph them. Instead (unwilling to allow Mr. Carreon to interfere further with his expressive activity) he decided to photograph his own funds."
In a separate sworn statement, Inman himself says that "I still plan on sending a photograph of the money along with the satirical comic to FunnyJunk. However, in order to avoid having this lawsuit interfere with my expression and to avoid jeopardizing the funds from the campaign in any way, I withdrew funds from my own personal account and photographed those funds."
As for the money itself—well, that too has been distributed. Inman's campaign raised $220,024 which was to be split between the National Wildlife Foundation and the American Cancer Society. After the fundraising site Indiegogo took its 4 percent cut ($8,000.96) and the credit card processors got their 3 percent ($6,600.72), Inman was left with $204,622.32.
Indiegogo held $95,675.68 of that money, mainly in credit card donations. In a legal filing of its own, also made last night, the site notes that it was directed by Inman to send the money directly to the charities in question, bypassing Inman altogether. That was done on June 29.
The rest of the cash ($108,946.64) was donated via PayPal and sits in a PayPal account awaiting disbursement. To deal with the money, Inman swears that he has "written a check to each charity ($54,473.32 each) and given these checks to my counsel to forward to the American Cancer Society and the National Wildlife Federation." (The lawyers are apparently holding the checks until the temporary restraining order has been decided upon.)
Point by point
As for Carreon's other assorted claims, Indiegogo's and Inman's lawyers deal with them each in turn.
- Inman will get a huge tax writeoff for donating to charity! "Should Mr. Inman claim the money raised from the BLGCB campaign as income, this would increase his tax burden as well," his lawyers note. "And to the extent that Mr. Inman could deduct the money raised, he would merely be in the same situation he was in before obtaining the money. There can be no enrichment from tax consequences of the money raised, let alone an unjust one."
- This is an emergency! As Indiegogo notes, "Carreon did not file his papers until June 30. By the time he filed them, he had been informed that the money already had been transferred. As explained below, Carreon was aware at least as early as June 15 that the money was liable to be transferred at any time beginning June 26 and at all events no later than Monday July 2... Carreon could have applied for a TRO immediately. Instead, he waited to serve his papers until the middle of the period of time in which disbursement was to occur, presumably in an effort to manufacture an emergency. The Court should not countenance this gamesmanship."
- My mom's honor is at stake! Inman's affidavit makes it sworn-up and official: he was never insulting Carreon's mom. "The comic I plan to send is a satirical drawing of FunnyJunk's mother seducing a Kodiak bear. The comic is a humorous visual expression of my lack of intimidation and my disdain and contempt for FunnyJunk's threat of a frivolous lawsuit."
- Inman is a "commercial fundraiser" under California law! The law applies to any fundraiser working "for compensation" and was meant to address outside professional fundraising organizations. As Inman's lawyers write, "Finally, Mr. Inman has stated, under oath, that he is not in fact receiving compensation, and was not hired or paid by any charity. Because Mr. Inman is not a commercial fundraiser, Mr. Carreon loses the keystone that supports his claim to control the destiny of the funds raised."
- Inman is potty-mouth! Carreon specifically cites Inman's initial "Fuck Off" comment as evidence that he shouldn't be allowed to sully the good name of the two charities in question by raising money for them. Inman's lawyers respond: "The First Amendment does not permit the law to hold, as Mr. Carreon claims, that the phrase 'Fuck Off' 'cannot be lawfully associated with tax-exempt charitable solicitation in the State of California.' As Justice Harlan explained in Cohen v. California, 403 U.S. 15 (1971), 'while the particular four-letter word being litigated here is perhaps more distasteful than most others of its genre, it is nevertheless often true that one man's vulgarity is another's lyric.'"
- I've been irreparably harmed! The bar to a temporary restraining order, granted before any trial has taken place, is a high one, and usually requires that the continuing injury be so severe and immediate that it could no longer be mitigated after a trial. "Carreon's total contribution [to Inman's campaign] was $10. Should it later be determined that any harm flowed from these events, that harm would be readily compensable with an award of monetary damages or restitution." In other words—we could pay him his ten bucks back after a trial.
- This isn't just about my feelings! Inman's lawyers argue that that entire case is "notable as much for its lack of context as its lack of merit... This case, and this Application, is nothing more than Mr. Carreon's blatant—and baseless—attempt to retaliate against a critic with whom he is engaged in a very public dispute."
"They like to kill. They think it's fun to kill."
As for Charles Carreon, he's been making his anti-Inman arguments in legal filings. His wife, however, continues to crusade publicly on his behalf. When the Carreons' hometown Tucson Weekly put up a couple paragraphs on the case and concluded, "I generally like to cheer for Tucsonans, but in this case, I'm going to side with The Oatmeal instead of a guy suing the American Cancer Society." Tara Carreon responded:
"There is now plenty of proof that Matt Inman is one of a gang of people who promote the same type of ideas that inspired Jared Loughner to try and kill Gabrielle Giffords," she wrote. "Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center, who studies hate groups and hate speech, examined Loughner's sites and concluded that his material on grammar, in particular, likely came from the writings of far right activist David Wynn Miller. If you Google Matt Inman + grammar, you will find a similar obsession. And similar hate."
The Carreons continue to receive the wrath of the "the Internet" over their actions, though the real hate seems to have burned off; someone recently sent them a faux "indulgence" that removes some of the purgatorial fire required to refine the soul of a "petulant, amoral, censorious douchebag."
The Carreons don't find it even remotely amusing.
Regarding this accusation that Charles is a "censorious douchebag," Inman's gang has made clear what they consider "censorious"—having any morals at all!...
These guys have the mentality of assassins. Anything less would not be macho. They are killers, at least in their minds. Just look at their cartoons. They like to kill. They think it's fun to kill. They think their friends will admire them if they kill. Without mercy!
This "censorious douchebag" blame is the blame of cannibals, of assassins. These children have been corrupted by a corrupt society. And everyone who fails to register an opinion and act in this matter is to blame. They are stupid, silent people, who are absolutely worthless to our society. Really, what good is their life, but a burden to the planet?
If there's one thing the Internet does not lack, though, it's opinions—and plenty have been offered on this issue. It's just that few of them support the Carreons.
Listing image by Matt Inman


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Not many people see it as Speedo weather in Denver, but, thanks to a yarnbomber, a huge statue is wearing a traffic-stopping bikini bottom. Guerrilla artist Kyle Williams suited up one of the lanky, 60-foot-tall figures of Jonathan Borofsky's 'The Dancers' in a teeny swimsuit sporting the Colorado flag. Williams said he came up with the idea because he frequently drives past the downtown statues as he delivers orders for Cosmos Pizza. 'The original idea was cargo shorts, but then we were joking around, and my friend Andy said it would really be funny if we did a Speedo,' Williams said. It took nine skeins of yarn and about 3 and 1/2 weeks for Williams to diagram, design and crochet Project Speedo. Before being draped and secured with zip-ties, the garment was roughly 15 feet long. Instead of waiting until dark, Williams and some friends showed up at the statue's feet at midday Sunday with a ladder and a 15-foot pole rented from Home Depot. They worked purposefully as a nearby police officer looked on. One man was on the ladder, guiding the fabric with a rope and the pole, as Williams clung to the statue's leg, working quickly with the zip-ties. 'If you look at it from the front, it looks kind of like a diaper, because it's a little too big, but the side facing Speer (Boulevard) looks just like a Speedo,' he said. 'That night, as I was delivering pizzas, every time I went by, I would just laugh and laugh and laugh.'
Yarnbomber puts teeny Speedo on huge Denver statue
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Thinkmap products are enterprise-level software applications that help organizations manage and share complex digital information.
The Thinkmap SDK helps organizations make sense of information. It is the cornerstone of a new type of enterprise application in which data is presented contextually and intuitively. Thinkmap is Web-based, data-driven, scalable, and can be integrated with a broad range of systems and technologies.
The Visual Thesaurus is a thesaurus and dictionary that takes a unique, and remarkably beautiful, approach to presenting the results of a word lookup. Type in a word, click "go," and you're rewarded with a colorful, interactive map of the meaning of your word.
Although you may have used a thesaurus before, either in book form or as a software application, you will find the Visual Thesaurus to be an entirely new experience. It gives you insight into the structure and intricacy of the English language.


text:
Pets seeking forever homes
Staff Reports
The Ionia County Animal Shelter is located at 3853 Sparrow Drive. Hours of operation are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, and from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday. The shelter is closed Saturday through Monday and for all national holidays.
All animals are spayed or neutered, up to date on vaccinations, heartworm-negative and available for adoption. Cats are FELV negative.
For more information, call 616-527-9040 or visit www.petfinder.com/shelters/MI342.html.
PRE-BLACK FRIDAY ADOPTION SPECIAL – WEDNESDAY ONLY: Adopt any cat 1 year old or older FREE! Normal adoption procedures and approval are still required.


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Not long after widespread NSA phone surveillance was revealed by a series of leaks this summer, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a privacy-oriented nonprofit, tried a bold and novel legal tactic: it appealed straight to the Supreme Court, asking for an immediate shutdown of the program.
The high court was the only place to turn, wrote EPIC, because it can't go to Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), which actually authorized the orders. EPIC's argument was straightforward: the FISC could only authorize NSA spying on foreigners, not Americans.
Now Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, who represents the Obama Administration at the Supreme Court, has advised the justices not to take the case. It's not a surprising move. Just the publicity of a Supreme Court debate over NSA spying would be a giant headache for the administration; not to mention, the government obviously doesn't want the program shut down.
In the brief, published on EPIC's website today, the government argues that there's no justification for an immediate move to the Supreme Court. First of all, only the government itself or the actual recipient of an order (Verizon, in this case) can ask for a FISC court order to be reviewed, writes the solicitor general.
And even if the Supreme Court should disagree with the government's view that EPIC can't challenge the telephone data program, they should at least force the group to file in district court and not allow it to hop straight to the Supreme Court. "That is the ordinary means to challenge assertedly unlawful government action, and petitioner has identified no special circumstances here that require its statutory challenge to begin in this court," writes the government.
The brief also includes some description of the "Telephony Records Program," which builds a database of calls that "may be accessed only for counterterrorism purposes," the solicitor general writes. The brief goes on to describe how queries are "limited to records of communications within three 'hops' from the seed."
"As of October 1, 2013, 14 different judges of the FISC, on 34 separate occasions, have approved... orders directing telecommunications service providers to produce records." EPIC wasn't "subject to, named in, or served with that [leaked Verizon] order."


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Jim Hillibish: Celebrate St. Paddy's Day with Irish beer recipes
The Irish love their beer, but not all of it goes to drinking.
The foamy fermentation is a flavor driver in a number of traditional Irish recipes, especially the Irish stew served after Mass on St. Patrick's Day.
Irish beef stew differs from English or American stew by serving it atop separately cooked potatoes. The mashed spuds become a sop for the gravy. That's the essence of colcannon, mashed potatoes with leeks and butter shaped into a boat to hold the stew. If you try this, you might not eat stew any other way.
Another version of colcannon is as a potato side dish without the stew. Some add crumbled, fried bacon and boiled, chopped cabbage.
Irish beer bread is a simple but satisfying quick bread. Feel free to add more sugar if you like it sweeter. If the colcannon does not suit you, ladle the stew over warm slices of this flavorful bread. Otherwise serve with butter and marmalade for an authentic Irish taste.
3 pounds beef chuck roast
3 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
12 ounces dark beer, such as Guinness
1 cup onion, chopped
1 cup carrots, sliced
1/2 cup parsnips or turnips, peeled and sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 bay leaves
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground pepper
Trim fat from beef and cut into 1/2-inch cubes. Dust cubes with flour. Heat olive oil in stew pot and brown beef. Add beer and stir until gravy forms. Add remaining ingredients and simmer covered for an hour or until beef is tender. Adjust gravy with more beer if necessary. While the stew cooks, make the colcannon.
2 1/2 pounds potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 1/2 cups chopped leek whites
1 cup milk
1 pinch ground mace
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup butter, melted
Boil potatoes until tender, about 20 minutes. Simmer leeks in milk with mace for 10 minutes. Drain potatoes and mash, adding milk and leeks to the consistency you desire.
Mound on plates, creating a well in the center. Add butter. Ladle stew over potatoes and serve.
Optional: Crumble 2 slices of fried bacon over the stew. Garnish with fresh, chopped parsley.
Serves 6.
3 cups flour, white or whole wheat
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 to 4 tablespoons sugar, to taste
4 tablespoons melted butter
1 1/2 cups dark beer
Grease a 9-by-5 inch loaf pan. Mix flour, baking powder, soda, sugar, 3 tablespoons of the melted butter and the beer, stirring until smooth. Pour into baking pan, drizzle with remaining butter.
Bake 45 to 50 minutes at 375 F or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Remove and let sit in pan for five minutes. Then turn out onto a rack to cool.
Makes 1 loaf.
Reach Jim at 330-580-8324 or email@example.com.


text:
Long Sleeve Design Men Prime S Shirt Formal Thick Blank Dress Shirt
To get Price Click Here
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APTEE is a leading Mens Dress Shirts Manufacturer and Supplier in Bangladesh, manufacturing for over the past thirty-six years. In our catalog, you can see various types of styles and designs which have been manufactured by us. All the products you can see here are just for your reference, we manufacture each and every product from scratch to shipment for maximum customization as per customer's requirement.
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T/T: 30% as deposit, 40% upon approval of PP samples and the remaining 30% before delivery. We'll show you the photos of the products and packaging before you pay the balance.
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A: Generally, it takes 14 to 45 working days after receiving your advance payment. The specific delivery time depends on the items and the quantity of your order.


text:
At a closed-door hearing on Capitol Hill, Department of Justice officials explained the deal they offered Internet activist Aaron Swartz: three months imprisonment if he pleaded guilty to felony charges.
That's far less time than the 35 years they could have charged, but it was still a large threat and possibly contributed to overwhelming stresses that drove Swartz to suicide last month. Swartz was being prosecuted for downloading academic documents through MIT's campus network. He had previously been hunted by federal agents for "liberating" federal court documents, but that investigation didn't result in charges.
While they offered a relatively short sentence, prosecutors were absolutely determined to get a felony plea and some kind of prison time, according to sources cited by The Huffington Post. They wanted those results because they believed it would justify their bringing charges in the first place, according to HuffPo.
The plea deal was offered in the early stages of the prosecution and it would have been structured to allow Swartz's lawyer to still argue to the judge that no prison time would have been appropriate.
The HuffPo report also discloses that Justice Department lawyers believed Swartz's "Guerrilla Open Access Manifesto" justified their bringing of felony charges because it demonstrated his "malicious intent" in massive downloading. The US attorney who authorized the Swartz prosecution, Carmen Ortiz, has been steadfast in maintaining that her office did the right thing.
In the manifesto, Swartz wrote in part:
We need to take information, wherever it is stored, make our copies and share them with the world. We need to take stuff that's out of copyright and add it to the archive... We need to buy secret databases and put them on the Web. We need to download scientific journals and upload them to file sharing networks. We need to fight for Guerilla Open Access."


text:
Chateau Grand Plantey 2011 Bordeaux Superior 750ml
- 3500610030949
- Gift wrapping:
- Click View Cart to add
Shipping & Returns
We use Canada Post for the majority of deliveries and a courier for those nearest our location. If you are not at home when Canada Post attempts delivery of your package, they will leave a note with the nearest pickup location. By law, we cannot ship outside of the province and packages delivered by Canada Post cannot be left on the doorstep. Orders for downtown Vancouver may arrive the same or next day depending on time of order. Order cut-off is generally 10am PST on a best-effort basis. We will contact you if we require more information to set up delivery.
Within Downtown Vancouver - 1-2 business days
Outside Downtown Vancouver - 2-3 business days
Read the full shipping terms by clicking here. These shipping estimates depend on the courer's and recipient's availability and are not offered as any kind of guarantee.


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Hindu nationalists say Andhra Pradesh chief's 'conversion agenda' led to copter crash.
NEW DELHI, September 14 (CDN) — Hindu nationalists are calling the helicopter-crash death of Andhra Pradesh state's chief minister, a Christian, divine punishment for his so-called conversion agenda. The same allegation of a "conversion agenda" fueled persecution in the state for more than five years.
Yeduguri Sandinti Rajasekhara Reddy, a second-generation Christian in the Church of South India, and four officials were confirmed dead when their helicopter was found on Sept. 3 in the state's dense forest area of Nallamalla.
Since Reddy, an official with the left-of-center Congress Party, became chief minister of the southern state in 2004, right-wing Hindu groups had been accusing him of helping Western missionaries to convert economically poor Hindus in the state. Hindu nationalists have been flooding the Internet with extremist comments saying the death of the 60-year-old Reddy, popularly known as YSR, was divine retribution.
"This is divine justice by Lord Srinivasa [One of the names of Hindu god Venkateshwara, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu]," commented Jayakumar on the Express Buzz news website. "It is good that it happened so swiftly. Obviously, [Congress Party President] Sonia Gandhi is worried that her plans of completely converting India into a Christian country have received a setback. Let all Hindu-baiters of this country perish like this. Very, very soon."
A person who identified himself only as Prakash on the website of The Indian Express daily wrote, "Anti-god demons like YSR need to be punished like this." Another writer identified as Kumar chimed in, "YSR is the ringleader for Christian conversions in Andhra Pradesh." Enthused a writer identified only as Ravi, "It's the best thing that happened to Andhra Pradesh in a long time, and Andhra Pradesh people must celebrate," and Suman Malu exclaimed, "Thankfully our country has been spared of one anti-national, anti-Hindu chief minister. Thank God for that!"
Right-wing groups also have accused Sonia Gandhi, a Catholic born in Italy, of having a "conversion agenda" since she became president of the Congress Party in 1998. The rise of Christian persecution in India coincided with her appointment as party chief.
Dr. Sam Paul, national secretary for public affairs of the All India Christian Council, said two years ago that Hindu nationalists launched a massive campaign in 2004 to raise fears that Christian conversions would skyrocket in Andhra Pradesh due to the appointment of a Christian chief minister.
"Six years later, it is fully proven that those allegations were part of a political agenda to belittle the chief minister and his party," Paul told Compass, adding that Reddy never preached his faith, "not even once."
He pointed out, though, that the Indian Constitution permits all people to practice and propagate their faith.
Calling the extreme comments "very unfortunate," Paul recalled that Reddy attended Muslim and Hindu functions and participated in ceremonial traditions such as offering Pattu Vastrams (silk dresses) to Lord Venkateshwara in Tirupati every year, a long-time tradition in the state.
In addition, in June 2007, the Reddy administration enacted a law prohibiting the propagation of any non-Hindu religion in the temple town of Tirupati-Tirumala, believed to be the abode of Lord Venkateshwara. At the same time, however, he had faced criticism for tightening government controls on the state's numerous temples.
Official Condolences
Reddy had led his party to a second successive victory in Andhra Pradesh in May 2009. He was seen as a leader catering to the masses thanks to populist measures such as financial and power programs for farmers.
In stark contrast to the hostile sentiment voiced in the cyber-world, more than 60 admirers died of shock or committed suicide following news of his death. Indo-Asian News Service reported that the deaths of Reddy's supporters occurred in 19 of the state's 23 districts. While most of them suffered cardiac arrest after watching the news of his death on television, others committed suicide.
"Reddy dedicated his life to people, I am dedicating my life to him," a young man wrote in his suicide note before consuming poison, reported the news service. A physically handicapped couple, pensioners under a welfare scheme, jumped into a river to try to end their lives, but fishermen saved them.
Officially, even Hindu nationalist groups offered their condolences, including the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), India's largest conglomerate of right-wing groups, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), seen as the political arm of the RSS.
"We all share this unbearable pain with his family members, people of Andhra Pradesh and workers of the Congress Party," the RSS announced in its weekly mouthpiece, the Organiser. "All the BJP-ruled state governments declared a two-day state mourning as a mark of respect to the departed soul."
Reddy, along with his special secretary P. Subramanyam, the chief secretary ASC Wesley and Indian Air Force pilots S.K. Bhatia and M.S. Reddy, died in the crash as they flew from the state capital of Hyderabad to Chittoor district for a political function.
Anti-Christian sentiment has fueled persecution in Andhra Pradesh for the last five years.
Most recently, suspected Hindu extremists burned down a newly built church building of the Best Friends Church in Mahasamudram area in Chittoor district on Aug. 20. On Aug. 1, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council or VHP) attacked Christians in Mahabubnagar district, accusing them of forceful conversion; they forced the Christians to wear tilak, a Hindu symbol on the forehead, and threatened to kill them if they went ahead with church construction.
Andhra Pradesh has witnessed three brutal murders of Christian workers since 2005. The body of a 29-year old pastor, Goda Israel, was found with stab wounds on Feb. 20, 2007 in a canal near his house in Pedapallparru village in Krishna district. In May 2005, two pastors, K. Daniel and K. Isaac Raju, were killed near Hyderabad, the state capital. Daniel went missing on May 21 and Raju on May 24. Their bodies were found on June 2 of that year.
The New Indian Express on June 27, 2005 quoted a man identified only as Goverdhan claiming that he and two friends had murdered the two preachers.
"I am not against Christianity, but Raju and Daniel converted hundreds of Hindu families," Goverdhan said. "They enticed them with money. We have done this to prevent further conversions. This act should be a lesson for others."
According to the Census of India 2001, Andhra Pradesh has a population of more than 76.2 million, of which only 1.18 million are Christian.
Report from Compass Direct News