Archive for the ‘crime’ Category

My Ninja, Please! 3/15/2011: Kissing Russian Police

I don’t even know what to say…

Except, My Ninja, Please! I would love to see somebody try this on Boston’s finest - might lose a lip.

My Ninja, Please! 2.21.11: Mexican Drug Catapult

Below is footage of traffickers using what appears to be a medieval trebuchet machine to fling drugs over the border.A My ninja, please!A With all of the technology out there, the Mexican drug ninjas are proving that sometimes an old trick works the best.AA The video doesn’t show much (click through and read the story), but after Obama sent 1200 National guardsmen down to the border to bolster security, this is part of what they discovered.A I’m guessing they were tipped off by the loud "boinnnng."

Mexico City

Men wheeling a giant catapult up to a wall, lobbing heavy objects to the other side, could be a battle scene out of The Lord of the Rings.

The setting is not Middle Earth, but the equally surreal US-Mexico border. Perhaps the only things missing are the Orcs and wizards.

Mexican drug smugglers searching for innovative ways to transport their narcotics were discovered using a 9-foot-tall catapult to launch bundles of marijuana over the border fence and into the United States (see video below).

"It looks like a medieval catapult that was used back in the day," Tucson sector Border Patrol spokesman David Jimarez told Reuters. (Read the Article)

My question is this:A If they’re using catapults and slingshots, and sh!t, what else are they doing?A Like… I’m pretty sure one of those drills that Shredder and the Brain used in TMNT would work pretty well…

Apple now in the Spyware game?

"Essentially, Apple’s patent provides for a device to investigate a user’s identity [and] would allow Apple to record the voice of the device’s user, take a photo of the device’s user’s current location or even detect and record the heartbeat of the device’s user…." [Read all about it- here]

Train Bombing

This (video below) was so controversial on likecool.com that I had to repost it. It seems that not only do Americans have a problem with graffiti (which I can understand) but also that they use populism to trash blogs that may think it’s cool, if not just worth a gander in extreme cases. I’ve seen this same behavior on many an internet blog, but this is my cause du jour because it irked the heck out of me.

I think Americans need a healthy dose of "your opinion doesn’t matter" for breakfast. It’s not that I oppose hearing your voices, but (take a look at the comments on that blog) I honestly am tired of you people being absolutely outraged at everything… Is this what the "birthers" do in their spare time?

Graf culture is, at the very least, interesting. The art is often times wildly expressive and intriguing, as are the methods. From an objective standpoint one could say that vandalism (even that passing for art) is irresponsible, producing a municipal cleanup burden that is unfair for the taxpayer. I personally would argue that if that is the case, there are a whole range of other issues that anyone making this argument deserves to be MORE fired up about, but that may be irrelevant.

I personally think that many of the people commenting on that post probably do things that, viewed through the right lens, could be said to be equally or more reprehensible and/or irresponsible. But that may also be irrelevant.

I would continue to say that anybody who has never viewed a piece of illegal street art and thought "cool" is as deficient as the Catholic Church during the enlightenment and needs to broaden their horizons a bit - but, again, irrelevant maybe.

One thing I can say is that the part of graf culture about "fighting the system" is a wholly American, wholly democratic activity. I’m sure the early American terrorists who rebelled against the British were frowned upon for "fighting the system" too. In fact, they vandalized a lot of good British tea. When blacks in America fought Jim Crow laws, they practiced civil disobedience as well, albeit non-destructive of property. No matter how decentralized or unfocused it is, we must realize that this ideology plays a large role in the graffiti culture. The art having evolved from the disparate American street, is it really that surprising? Now there’s relevance!

Civil disobedience is as American as apple pie- so don’t be down with the fascists. That said, tag my house and I’ll tag your spouse.

The Global Counterfeit Economy

: Click to enlarge :

Why Piracy Is Good For Innovation

When we talk about piracy practices we often just look at the negative sides to it. Most of the time it is presented as stealing, as being in conflict with existing laws, or it is depicted as unfair competition. In the recent Gallo-report that was adopted by the European Parliament it was even stated that continued intellectual property infringement, often referred to as piracy, will lead to a fade-out of innovation. While this is one way to look at it, this post aims to illuminate another side of piracy and shows that it can also be regarded as useful source for market insight, a creator of new markets, and an inducement for innovation.

The term piracy often refers to the unauthorized reproduction of copyrighted or patented information such as music, software, and movies. Therefore, most of the time piracy has the connotation of stealing and is looked upon as an unethical practice. Because of this negative connotation, piracy at first sight seems to have little to do with legitimate business. However, taking a closer look at piracy practices throughout history reveals that piracy has had a profound impact on the emergence of new business models, technology, and innovation. Look for example at how theAEnglish radio pirates in the 1960s helped to establish English pop radio.

In the stacks of books, articles, and reports that have been written about piracy however, little can be found about the positive aspects of piracy. The insights ofDavid Y. Choi andAAdrian Johns on which the following is based, therefore provide a refreshing vision on the innovative forces of piracy. Without engaging in the moral discussion on piracy, we can also ask the question: what can be learned from piracy?

.:hypebot.com->

TeleVideo and Permutations

.:lauren.vortex.com->

H.A.M.

(AKA, Hot Ass Mess) If you were to read down this page, you might find an article about certain evil ninjas that we’d rather not be associated with. This guy, however, is A-Okay with me.

Stephen Fry : What I’d Wish I’d Known When I Was 18