smeg ups do happen...

From the SMH

LEGAL counsel Martin Bennett has a short message for those who allow themselves to attack reputations over the internet, imagining they are safe under the cloak of anonymity. ''You can be hunted down and found,'' he said yesterday.

Mr Bennett has done just that for a Perth client, winning $30,000 in damages and costs, an apology, and undertakings from a Colac man that he won't post any more defamatory comments.

The hunt for the man's true identity proved the stuff of private detective novels updated into the age of blogs.

It is, Mr Bennett said, one of a very few such actions in Australia against the author of anonymous postings on an internet forum. He predicts it is the tip of a legal iceberg.

''There has been an increasing proliferation of internet chat sites where people feel free to hide their identities and make defamatory comments about companies and their executives and directors,'' he said in a statement released after the case in the Supreme Court of Western Australia was resolved.

The action against Graeme Gladman began after highly uncomplimentary comments appeared last November under pseudonyms on the HotCopper website, a stockmarket forum.

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Here, although we try to hide behind some loose witty picket fences, our defence in our opinionated pieces rely on the iron bars of irony and we mostly bother about ideologies, politicians, crooks, crocks and opinions that are unsustainable — like that of the flat earth theorists — although some have a good sense of humour...

The UK's online heritage could be lost forever if the government does not grant a "right to archive", a group of leading libraries has said.

The British Library, along with other institutions, has been archiving UK websites since 2004 but has only been able to cover 6,000 of an estimated 8m.

Currently, it must ask permission from website owners before archiving them.

The group, which has just made its UK Web Archive available to the public, warned of "a digital black hole".

"We've got the know-how but we need the rules to say we don't need to ask permission," said a spokesman for the British Library.

"We're archiving for the nation rather than commercial gain."

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Hopefully, this site is still archived in the National Library of Australia in perpetuity...

An article published on Thursday in, The Guardian, discusses a debate taking place in the British Parliament around a new “digital economy bill.”

One amendment in particular is stirring a lot of discussion about its impact on content online. The Guardian writes:

The new proposal – which was passed in the House of Lords by 165 votes to 140 – gives a high court judge the right to issue an injunction against a Web site accused of hosting a “substantial” amount of copyright infringing material, potentially forcing the entire site offline.

Critics say the major problem with this amendment is that a judge could  shut down a Web site  because of copyright infringement, even if the site’s manager didn’t put the content online.

I tend to pay attention to things that don't matter... It's annoying. It's ridiculous... But I do too much, all between the serious cosmic nuke science to watching mindless football biffo on the box... I have watched more comedies on TV than Bart Simpson had wedgies and, having survived several days of uninterrupted cartoons in Yourpean movie theatres, on a soggy lollypop, one can devalue the pigeon loft that is anatomically called brains. But then something sticks.

For example, who can forget the fabulous episode of Homer Simpson eating potato chips in space to the music of "The Blue Danube" by Strauss?? "pompompompom crunch crunch tadatada crunch crunch tadatada..." sensational drivel... But then who can forget the adventures of Oli(f-v)er and Lisa (another Lisa???) in Green Acres, where Lisa takes Oliver on a silver service picnic. Of course there is no food because "there was no room left, in the basket" after having packed up all the candles, the plates, the silver spoons and the lace table cloth... and the little transistor radio "for romantic music"... Suddenly, the announcer encourages people to eat "potato chips" to the tune of, oh yes, you've guesses it: "The Blue Danube"... "Pompompompom crunch crunch tadatada crunch crunch tadatada..."... Sounds to which Oliver drooling for a hamburger thinks Lisa is secretly eating sumpthin' as he can hear the crunch crunch... Of course, Lisa tells him "it's on the radio..."

All dead pan delivery... alla Buster Keaton, made funnier still by having been "copied?" by Homer's creators.

Meanwhile on Bewitched a certain Mr "Charlie Harper" appears briefly... names of course that have another serving on "Two and a Half Men"...

I tend to pay attention to things that don't matter... It's annoying. It's ridiculous... And I forget my own name sometimes...

See toon and story at top...

Researchers have developed a computer program capable of identifying online sarcasm, although it is a long way from becoming a prosthetic for people with poor social skills.

Oren Tsur, a computer scientist at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem is discussing his work at a meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence in Washington, D.C. this week.

Sarcasm is a useful way to blunt the impact of criticism but people can often miss it when it's delivered online, where there are no contextual hints or social cues.

To cut through the confusion, Tsur and colleagues developed a computer program that can identify sarcasm in online communities with an accuracy rate of about 80%.

While there is still a long way to go before computers will be able to understand all the subtleties of humour, the new work might, among other things, help companies sort through comments about their products to find out what customers really think.

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Gus: where else but at a zionist university can someone dissect sarcasm and create a twisted-gnarling-bullshit detector that is at least 80 per cent accurate... According to a reader of the SMH today (29/05/10), all the worthwhile inventions in the world were create by the Jews — including the atomic bomb, of course... So there. Keep snarling. See toon at top...

A leading historian who wrote anonymous reviews on the Amazon website praising his own work and criticising rivals is to pay libel damages and costs.

Orlando Figes, a professor at London's Birkbeck College, was sued by fellow historians Dr Rachel Polonsky and Professor Robert Service.

Prof Figes, 50, has been on sick leave since the scandal broke.

After initially denying responsibility for the reviews, he admitted writing them in a statement issued on 23 April.

As part of the settlement, Prof Figes has now circulated an apology and retraction in which he accepts that his initial denial of responsibility for the reviews was false.

According to a detailed account of the row in the Times Literary Supplement (TLS), the controversy began when Rachel Polonsky - a writer and Russian expert - discovered a hostile review of her recently-published book on Amazon.

The comments posted online said her work was "hard to follow". Others described a book by Robert Service as "awful".

Prof Figes is an award-winning author known for his works about Russia, including Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History Of Russia and The Whisperers: Private Life In Stalin's Russia.

The true identity of the reviewer came to light after Dr Polonsky discovered that the reviewer shared the same home address as Prof Figes, said the TLS.

'Wholehearted apology'

Initially, when confronted by the allegations of his involvement, Prof Figes' instructed his lawyer to threaten legal action.

Prof Figes then stated that his wife, a leading human rights lawyer, had written the comments.

The reviewer who used the online moniker, "orlando-birkbeck", had reportedly praised a book by Prof Figes as "fascinating".

Prof Figes later accepted responsibility for the reviews and apologised "wholeheartedly" for making "foolish errors".

A note to readers: This post is the last for the Laugh Lines blog, started three years ago as a place for amusing stuff on the Web, curated to the sensibilities of Times readers. The blog’s end is a function of the reality of limited resources in a medium where any number of worthy experiments are possible, but all can’t be sustained.

Rest assured, our regular, outside feed of editorial cartoons will remain available via links on The New York Times home page and the Week in Review section front. Thanks to our loyal readers and contributors, and regrets. – The editors

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What a shock!...  The Laugh Lines is the first and necessary pitstop for any cartoonists who takes themselves seriously... I've already got withdrawal symtoms already.

More than a third of the nation's dogs are overweight, veterinary charity PDSA warned today.

An assessment of almost 30,000 dogs across the UK over the past four years revealed the country's obesity epidemic is not confined to humans, with 35% of canines carrying too many pounds.

The figure is an increase on 21% recorded four years ago and, if the trend continues, almost half of all dogs could be overweight by 2013 - putting them at risk of dying early, PDSA said.

While many owners appear to view a podgy pet as cute and cuddly, the charity warns obesity poses a threat to the animals' health and lifespan.

Senior veterinary surgeon Sean Wensley said: "Overweight pets are less mobile, less willing to play and more likely to develop a number of serious health conditions.

"Ultimately, owners control their pet's diet and exercise. The good news is it's never too late to achieve positive change with their veterinary practice."

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Too many pounds on the pooches, except on the mongrels from the pounds...

Protests planned over ban on broadcasters making fun of candidates in three months before presidential vote

Make no joke about it, Brazil's presidential election is a serious affair. Brazilian TV and radio broadcasters are legally forbidden from making fun of candidates ahead of October's vote.

With the first wave of on-air political ads starting today, Brazil's comedians and satirists are planning to fight for their right to ridicule, with protests planned in Rio de Janeiro and other cities on Sunday.

They say the anti-joking law – which prohibits ridiculing candidates in the three months before elections – is a draconian relic of Brazil's dictatorship that threatens free speech. Proponents say the restrictions keep candidates from being portrayed unfairly and encourage candour.

"Do you know of any other democracy in the world with rules like this?" said Marcelo Tas, the host of a weekly TV comedy show that skewers politicians and celebrities alike. "If you want to find a bigger joke, you would have to look to Monty Python."

Breaching the law is punishable by fines up to £72,000 and a suspension of a broadcaster's licence. Only a few fines have been handed out, but Tas and others say that has been sufficient to cause TV and radio stations to self-censor their material during elections.

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Blimey!

Brazilian humorists and their supporters have marched in protest of a law that prohibits them from satirising political candidates during the country's presidential campaign.

Under the slogan "Humor without censorship", about 300 people took part in the march on Copacabana beach.

The protest was organised by comics and artists to draw attention to the law prohibiting radio and television stations from programming that "degrades or ridicules" candidates or political parties.

They have circulated a petition demanding the superior electoral tribunal change the law.

"Censorship is a threat to democracy. Look at the example of Venezuela," Danilo Gentili, director of a show called Custe o Que Custar (Cost what it costs), told the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper.

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