The Duplicative Forest (link roundup)

The Duplicative Forest - - you can read about it here and here. But wouldn't you rather just know that it's a real place in Oregon and let your imagination do the rest?

And a few more links:

1. A suggestion that Turkey provoked the fight with Israel as an excuse to accelerate their goal of obtaining nuclear weapons.

2. Apparently the Attorney Generals of 48 states, including California, have argued in the US Supreme Court that non-media speakers (whatever that means) get less first amendment protection.

3. Ghostbusters proton pack backpack.

4. The feds have asked James Cameron for his suggestions on solving the oil spill.

*Previously: Forest Head.

*Buy Ghostbusters toys at eBay.

Free Speech t-shirt

Free speech t-shirt by Vonster on sale at Zazzle.

Relatedly, if you'd like to learn about free speech, then check out Eugene Volokh. Funny, and about as easy to read as legal analysis gets.

*Previously: Billy Mays' Magical Beard t-shirt by Vonster.

*Buy concert t-shirts at eBay.

Katamari Damacy plus Shadow of the Colossus equals... (link roundup)

Katamari Damacy/Shadow of the Colossus mashup. Via this collection of weird Katamari art.

And a few more links:

1. News to me: "H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds was an allegory about the injustice of European imperial rule of Africa, China and India."

2. Good article about soldiers ambushed in Afghanistan:

The Americans, seasoned by years of war here and in Iraq, would seek to create an intricately violent response, designed to undo the odds, save the pinned soldiers and kill the insurgents who, for a moment, had shown themselves.

3. Pranksters installed swings on San Francisco's BART.

4. Quality commentary on the Supreme Court upholding the FCC's indecency fines:

I propose this deal: the baby boomers can continue their astonishing string of selling out every single principle they ever claimed to have (R.I.P George Carlin) and keep their precious network television. Meanwhile, Gen X and the Millennials can have the internet. Oh, we're already doing that? Cool.

*Previously: Lego Shadow of the Colossus.

*Buy Shadow of the Colossus toys at eBay.

Court of Appeal reverses fine against CBS for Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction

The FCC had imposed a $550,000 indecency fine against CBS, but the federal appellate court determined that the FCC "acted arbitrarily and capriciously" in issuing the fine. Congratulations to CBS and the federal court for striking a blow against censorship. It's been so long, I wonder if the clowns that imposed the fine are even still working at the FCC.

Details here.

Coercion, illustrated

Powerful ads for the newspaper Metro. "Metro: Pray" and "Metro: Vote" are part of a larger campaign with the tag line, "Think for yourself. Metro. Just facts."

UN suports free speech, except...

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reaffirmed his predecessor's line on cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad on Wednesday, saying free speech should respect religious sensitivities.

"The Secretary-General strongly believes that freedom of expression should be exercised responsibly and in a way that respects all religious beliefs," his spokeswoman Marie Okabe told reporters.

Link.

And what's the point of "free speech" if it can't be used to speak in a manner disrespectful of religious sensitivities?

Wired's 10 Favorite 2007 Illustrations

Pictured is Guy Billout's illustration of The Great Firewall of China. Gallery.

Classic painting: Woman with duct tape