Gamera Gabs

PartyNextDoor Is Finding His Voice, and a Bigger Spotlight

2016-08-17T18:31:00.001-05:00

The best apps to download before watching the Perseid meteor shower tonight

2016-08-11T21:21:00.001-05:00

The Perseid meteor shower, which comes around every year at this time, will peak tonight and early tomorrow. This year’s event is particularly special because astronomers are predicting an outburst of shooting stars at twice the normal rate. The best time to watch the show is between midnight tonight and dawn Friday morning. Before finding a good place to lay down and look up, there are… Read More

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Internet Archive posted 10,000 browser-playable Amiga titles – go, play

2016-08-09T01:25:00.001-05:00

Seriously, go. Enjoy yourself. It’s Monday. We’ll still be here when you get back. It’s bound to be a long week. The world is coming apart at the seams. Your boss won’t notice if you play a round or two of Bubble Bobble from the comfort of your own browser (Firefox seems to work best on my end). We can’t vouch for the quality of all of the Amiga titles that… Read More

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Appeals Court Says DOJ Can Keep Its Evidence-Production Guidelines To Itself

2016-07-22T20:27:00.001-05:00

Judge Alex Kozinski pointed out the obvious in a Ninth Circuit Appeals Court decision:

There is an epidemic of Brady violations abroad in the land. Only judges can put a stop to it.

Brady evidence -- possibly exonerating evidence that prosecutors are required to turn over to the defense -- is far too frequently withheld and/or buried. The punishments for violating this requirement are almost nonexistent. The prosecution hates to see wins become losses. And the government in general -- despite declaring fair trials to be the right of its citizens -- hates to play on a level field.

A federal judge withdrew from a forensic evidence committee because the government told him it wasn't his job to point out the severely-flawed pre-trial forensic evidence discovery procedures deployed by prosecutors. Judge Rakoff called the government out in his resignation letter.

The notion that pre-trial discovery of information pertaining to forensic expert witnesses is beyond the scope of the Commission seems to me clearly contrary to both the letter and the spirit of the Commission’s Charter… A primary way in which forensic science interacts with the courtroom is through discovery, for if an adversary does not know in advance sufficient information about the forensic expert and the methodological and evidentiary bases for that expert’s opinions, the testimony of the expert is nothing more than trial by ambush.

"Trial by ambush" will continue unabated. Prosecutors will shrug off the minimal punishments for withholding evidence. The DOJ will continue to argue that it's allowed to erect as many roadblocks as it wishes in front of defendants.

The DC Appeals Court has allowed the DOJ to retain another aspect of its "trial by ambush" strategy, as reported by Mario Machado of Fault Lines.

The D.C. Court of Appeals declared that the federal government will not have to disclose the contents of a guide that determines when its prosecutors should disclose evidence to the accused. The Department of Justice’s “Blue Book” stays in-house, at least for the time being.

The "Federal Criminal Discovery Blue Book" was crafted after DOJ prosecutors were blasted by a judge for their actions in the prosecution of Senator Ted Stevens.

In nearly 25 years on the bench, I have never seen anything approaching the mishandling and misconduct I have seen in this case.

Brady material was withheld from the defense, something that would have never been discovered without an FBI whistleblower stepping forward. The new guidelines were supposed to make things better. Very little seems to have changed since its introduction. And no one on the defense side of the fight has any idea what prosecutors are required to do under these guidelines.

The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) tried asking the government for a copy. This was denied. So, it filed a FOIA request for the "blue book." This, too, was denied, with the government claiming its internal guidelines for ensuring a fair fight were not subject to FOIA requests. From the DC Appeals Court decision [PDF].

The Department refused to disclose the Blue Book, invoking the Freedom of Information Act’s Exemption 5, which exempts from disclosure certain agency records that would be privileged from discovery in a lawsuit with the agency. The Department maintained that the Blue Book fell within the attorney work-product privilege, and therefore Exemption 5, because it was prepared by (and for) attorneys in anticipation of litigation.

This claim is laughable. Of course it's for litigation. But it's not for any specific litigation. It's for use in all DOJ prosecutions, which makes it more aligned with general information, rather than a narrow slice of "attorney work-product." The NACDL pointed this out.

The NACDL argued that the Blue Book fell outside the work-product privilege because it had a non-adversarial function, to wit: the training and education of the DOJ’s vaunted prosecutors. It also argued that its disclosure was fair game because it was not drafted with a specific litigation in mind, but ultimately the Court sided with the federales, who fought tooth and nail to keep the book under wraps.

One part of the judicial system has seen the contents of the "blue book" (other than DOJ prosecutors): the district court. An in camera presentation to both the lower court and the appeals court has allowed both to reach the decision they have. But will it result in the courts holding the DOJ to their own super-secret standards? Of course not.

Judges are presented with evidence obtained through discovery. They have no idea whether all of it is present or if the DOJ followed its own instructions for handing over Brady material to the defense. The judges' viewing of this internal document will not result in greater accountability.

Handing these guidelines over to defense lawyers, however, would give them more avenues to challenge withheld evidence and other perceived violations in disclosure. The government doesn't like this idea and claims that a more level playing field would severely hamper its prosecutions. One is inclined to agree with the DOJ's claim about hampered prosecutions, although not for the reasons it states.

DOJ thus argues that disclosing the Blue Book would “essentially provide a road map to the strategies federal prosecutors employ in criminal cases.” Id. It contends that disclosure would afford anyone who wanted to read the Blue Book (including opposing counsel) “unprecedented insight into the thought processes of federal prosecutors.” Disclosure thus would “undermine the criminal trial process by revealing the internal legal decision-making, strategies, procedures, and opinions critical to the Department’s handling of federal prosecutions.” In addition, it would “severely hamper the adversarial process[,] as DOJ attorneys would no longer feel free to memorialize critical thoughts on litigation strategies for fear that the information might be disclosed to their adversaries to the detriment [of] the government’s current and future litigating positions.”

In other words, the fight might be slightly fairer, and the government won't be having any of that. The DC Circuit is now completely complicit in the government's "trial by ambush" plans.

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Snapchat Secretly Acquires Seene, A Startup That Lets Mobile Users Make 3D Selfies

2016-06-04T00:08:00.003-05:00

An anonymous reader writes:

TechCrunch has learned of a secret acquisition by Snapchat of a computer vision startup company called Seene. TechCrunch reports: "Seene lets you capture 3D models from your phone with a simple smartphone camera. Snapchat could use Seene's format for a brand new category of selfie lenses, a new 3D photo format, and potentially for future virtual reality projects. Seene scans and reconstructs full 3D geometry on your phone. Unlike Project Tango or Microsoft's Kinect, Seene doesn't need special infrared sensors and multiple cameras. Similarly, Seene doesn't need a cloud backend to process 3D scans and recreate 3D objects -- everything happens on the phone. For instance, you can scan your face in a few seconds and create a 3D selfie. It would make a lot of sense to use Seene's technology to improve Snapchat's selfie lenses -- including for advertising purposes. (Snapchat debuted sponsored lenses in fall last year, and charges a pretty penny to advertisers wanting to get their brand on people's faces.) Also last year, Snapchat acquired Looksery to power its selfie lenses. Combining Looksery's technology with Seene's technology would allow Snapchat to create more complex lenses with a real sense of depth. Think ads that people want to touch."

While on the subject of lenses, U.S. inventors claim their flat lens made of paint whitener on a sliver of glass could

revolutionize optics

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Soothe Yourself This Weekend Watching Bob Ross Paint, Thanks to Netflix

2016-06-04T00:08:00.001-05:00

Truly a great week for fans of soothing streaming TV options. Not only will Julie Andrews be doing a show about the performing arts with puppets, but Netflix has also added Beauty is Everywhere, one of the shows by beloved, gentle-voiced, slightly nap-inducing painting teacher Bob Ross.

Wonderfully Weird Short Film Mixes Together Alfred Hitchcock and Star Wars

2016-05-17T21:48:00.001-05:00

Death by GPS

2016-05-03T11:40:00.001-05:00

Why do we follow digital maps into dodgy places?

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Giphy launches a keyboard for iOS called Giphy Keys

2016-05-03T10:29:00.001-05:00

With all of Giphy’s integrations with chat platforms, it was only a matter of time before the betaworks-backed GIF platform launched its own keyboard. World, welcome Giphy Keys into the mix. The Giphy Keys third-party keyboard launches on iOS today, and lets users send GIFs from any app they want. Even Snapchat. Here’s how it works: Once you’ve downloaded the Giphy Keys app… Read More

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TSA lines grow to 3 hours, snake outside the terminals, with no end in sight

2016-05-03T09:55:00.001-05:00

The TSA gambled on millions of wealthy Americans opting out of its pornoscanner-and-shoe-removal process and signing up for its Precheck policy, which allows travellers to pay for the "privilege" of walking through a metal-detector with their shoes on, while their laptops stay in their bags. (more…)

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How to be an IRL Snapchat filter, starring Diane von Furstenberg

2016-05-03T00:10:00.001-05:00

When in doubt, use a filter.

At least, that's what Diane von Furstenberg appeared to do at Monday's Met Gala in New York City.

For the biggest night of fashion, the 69-year-old fashion designer appeared to wear a complete ensemble that looked exactly like a Snapchat filter.

In a metallic gown, celebrating the night's techy theme, Manus x Machina, she sported colorful butterflies as accessories in her curly mane.

"What do butterflies mean to technology, you will ask," she wrote on her blog. "Well, nature is still a pretty amazing technology, I will answer! I showed the astonished salesperson my old photo and she cleverly figured out how to apply the butterflies without touching them. We both know that by the end of the night, they will have been pulverized!" Read more...

More about Snapchat, Lifestyle, Fashion, Met Gala, and Diane Von Furstenberg

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A cultural history looks at how word processing changed the way we write

2016-04-17T04:25:00.001-05:00

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Major hotel chain to grow vegetables at 1000 properties to cut food waste

2016-04-13T00:43:00.003-05:00

Accorhotels, which includes Sofitel, Novotel, Mercure and Ibis, will reduce number of main courses on offer and record all food thrown away

One of the world’s biggest hotel chains has announced it will plant vegetable gardens at many of its hotels as part of a plan to cut food waste by a third.

AccorHotels, which includes the Pullman, Sofitel, Novotel, Mercure and Ibis chains, intends to “reduce food waste by 30%, in particular by sourcing food locally”, chief executive Sebastien Bazin said on Tuesday.

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How Snapchat Killed the Homepage

2016-04-13T00:43:00.001-05:00

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Reddit removes “warrant canary” from its latest transparency report

2016-03-31T19:38:00.003-05:00

CEO is staying mum: "I've been advised not to say anything one way or the other."

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Robin Wright to join Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling in Blade Runner sequel

2016-03-31T19:38:00.001-05:00

The follow-up to Ridley Scott’s 1982 classic is close to locking in the House of Cards actor as one of the film’s three major female leads, according to Variety

Robin Wright is close to a deal to star in the upcoming Blade Runner sequel, which will also bring back Harrison Ford and add Ryan Gosling, Variety reported.

The sequel, to be directed by Oscar-nominated Denis Villeneuve, will pick up several decades after the conclusion of the 1982 original, a cult favorite. The original Blade Runner, based on the 1968 Philip K Dick story Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, starred Ford as Rick Deckard, a detective in 2019 Los Angeles, tracking down Replicants (genetically engineered clones) who have returned to Earth illegally in order to extend their four-year life spans.

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🌹

2016-03-30T17:25:00.001-05:00

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Study: People Who Point Out Typos Are Jerks

2016-03-30T12:46:00.001-05:00

According to a bunch of fancy linguists, people who are more sensitive to written typos and grammatical errors are indeed the kinds of Type A assholes everyone already suspects them to be.

The Genius Invention You Need to Buy If You Wear Flats

2016-03-29T00:09:00.003-05:00

You'll never think of socks the same way again.

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2016-03-29T00:09:00.001-05:00

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Updated: Salvation Army men's shelter in Champaign to close in March

2016-02-26T20:18:00.001-06:00

New 4:50 p.m. Friday:

Despite saying earlier this month that the men's shelter at the Salvation Army of Champaign County would be open at least through June, the head of the organization now says the shelter is closing in two weeks due to a lack of funding.

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How Electric Cars Will Cause the Next Oil Crisis

2016-02-26T19:48:00.001-06:00

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Rush's take

2016-02-16T18:06:00.001-06:00

Rush's take

by digby

In case you were wondering:

If you look at South Carolina, it is an open primary, meaning Democrats can vote. We took advantage of this, Operation Chaos, Democrat side back in 2008. Democrats can vote, independents can vote. And the things that Trump said and did Saturday night came out of nowhere. They didn't make any sense. Here we are in a Republican primary, and Donald Trump, out of the blue, starts blaming the Bush family for 9/11, for knowing that the intelligence was made up, that there never were any weapons of mass destruction, and they knew it, Trump said.

Michael Moore doesn't even say that. The World Trade Center came down when George W. Bush was president so don't anybody tell me, Trump said, he kept us safe. He jumped all over the Bush family and the Iraq war and claimed that he was on record way, way back as always being opposed to the Iraq war, that it was going to muddy up the Middle East and cause a quagmire. Nobody can find any record of Trump having opposed the Iraq war in 2001, 2002. They asked him about that, and he said (paraphrasing), "I wasn't a politician back then, so the things I was saying weren't getting noted like they would be had I been a politician, but I said it."

On the stage at a Republican debate, Donald Trump defended Planned Parenthood. Not the abortion stuff, he said, but the fact that they do great things for women's health. Folks, there were a number of occasions where Donald Trump sounded like the Daily Kos blog, where Donald Trump sounded like the Democrat Underground, sounded like any average host on MSNBC. And I said to myself, "Now, wait a minute. What's going on?" Trump is not -- I don't care what any of you think, he's not stupid. He has political advisors. He has a lot of people who are conservatives who are there to tell him where the boundaries are, and he crossed those boundaries on Saturday.

I don't know how many people in his circle knew where he was going Saturday night, if he was gonna go there and how far. But on a Republican debate stage, defending Planned Parenthood in language used by the left, going after George W. Bush and Jeb Bush and the entire Bush family, for the most part, using the terminology of Democrats, people think that Trump was out of control, that he had emotional incontinence that night. You like that term? Emotional incontinence. Lost control. Was out of control. Well, maybe, but I still think there was a strategy going into this.

Short version, I think Trump strategically was making a move on independents and Democrats in South Carolina since it's open. And I think that he wants to wrap this up ASAP. I think he wants a blow 'em out, going-away win in South Carolina. I think he just wants to wrap this up. I think he thinks he can. I think the audience booing him ticked him off. It's been happening the last couple, three debates. The donors have gotten a majority of the tickets. I don't recall any Republican debate with the amount of booing that I heard on Saturday night.

I remember debates with very little applause, but not outright booing. And it wasn't just Trump. It was Cruz as well. The establishment's trying to rig these debates as they are seen on TV. The establishment was trying to humiliate and embarrass Ted Cruz and Trump. And I think it really ticked Trump off and may have been -- I'm wild guessing here -- may have been one of the reasons why he was a victim of emotional incontinence.

I don't think Trump "strategizes" that specifically. But he's probably aware that the South Carolina primary is open and that he can drag in some yahoos that aren't normally Republican voters. Maybe even some Democrats who don't like the woman or the socialist.

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This 86-year-old Republican woman is the face of the GOP’s fake war on voter fraud

2016-02-15T08:56:00.001-06:00

Reba Bowser is an 86-year-old Republican, but thanks to the North Carolina’s voter I.D. laws, she may not be able to vote in November’s election. Not long ago she moved from her home in New Hampshire to be closer to family in North Carolina. Her son Ed wanted to make sure she had all of ...

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Bleak outlook in new Game of Thrones season-six teaser trailer – video

2016-02-15T08:17:00.003-06:00

Months since the last season-six teaser, Game of Thrones has released a slightly longer and far bleaker look at what lies ahead. Some familiar faces make an appearance in the new trailer, titled Hall of Faces Tease. Game of Thrones season six will premiere on 24 April, 2016 on HBO

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