Binnsy's Hovel

Today I closed the old ‘binnsy’ Google account and signed up for a new one. The old one was so overridden with spam, both in Blogger and Gmail, that it was hardly worth keeping. Being bored, I had a brief flick through the T&C, and found this little tidbit of legalese goodness:

11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive licence to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. This licence is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the Services and may be revoked for certain Services as defined in the Additional Terms of those Services.

Ooh, er, guv’nor!

So basically, post what you want, you own it, all good – but if Google wants it, they’ll damn well take it! Google has this appearance of being an organic, innovative, progressive ‘community’ (as opposed to overlording corporation), but this is the way they will take over the world. The planet Earth will very soon be designated, for real, ‘Google Earth.’ We will all be known by our Google IDs. TV commercials, billboards, the lot, will be governed by AdSense.

Essentially, the world and all kinds of freedom will be nommed by the Goog.

Best start stocking up on canned goods. That’s gonna be a looooong winter.

Until next time…

Well, I suppose now we can finally get some sleep after the ‘tanker that captured the heart of a nation’ was finally dragged from its sandy deathtrap at some ungodly hour of lastnight (ref: ungodly, ’sinful’, ‘wicked’ or ‘outrageous’). People camped out to watch the silly thing spin on its axis (confirmed by one ship-addict on Seven News lastnight when he was heard to remark ‘I think they just spun it round on its axis’) and then finally get pulled out to sea, leaving a nice big black pool of oil where once it sat.

Now, authorities say the Pasha Bulker will be ceremoniously sunk by a fleet of Australian Navy vessels, and turned into a tourist attraction for the previously boring and unheard-of Nobbys Beach, near Newcastle.

In other news, Coles has been sold to Wesfarmers for some ungodly amount (ref: ungodly, ’sinful’, ‘wicked’ or ‘outrageous’). Various executives of the respective companies were overheard saying things like, ‘Well, it’s hardly like popping down the shops for take-away,’ ‘God I hope this pays off,’ and ‘Now I can retire.’

In huge news for those silly enough to buy the Telegraph, Big Brother hostess Gretel Killeen is under attack from front, flanks and rear after turning on the latest evictee after he suggested that the portrayal of life in the house might not be as accurate as first thought. Jamie McDonald, self-confessed nerd star of the latest Big Brother travesty (ref: television series) was heard to say that the person who edited the footage deserved an award. Cue Ms. Killeen saying that with 38 cameras in the house accuracy of coverage was paramount. Cue ‘oooh’ from braindead audience. Cue mock ‘ouch’ from nerd on couch. Sigh. So this is what television and newsworthy media has sunk to.

And I was shocked to discover yesterday that my beloved Melbourne Demons lost its coach after Round 13. Neale Daniher, aka the ‘Rev’, retired last week after a decade of service to the Melbourne Football Club. Daniher’s Wikipedia page says that his playing career is a case of ‘what might have been’, and I suppose the same could be said for his coaching career. We had a few good seasons under the Rev’s watchful eye, but they can hardly be said to be spectacular. Maybe under stand-in coach Mark Riley we’ll see some improvement. Who knows.

That said, I did like Neale Daniher and his love of the club and the boys. Good luck in whatever happens next for you.

Last week the CIA released details of several activities that took place up to 1973 which it was believed contradicted the charter of the Agency. These included a CIA-initiated Mafia plot to kill Fidel Castro and the surveillance of several journalists believed to be publishing classified CIA information.

What was intriguing about the documents was that despite being released under the Freedom Of Information Act, many of the pages have information removed. The Agency calls this ’sanitising’. One can only assume that the missing information relates to directives still in play today, or contains details potentially sensitive to the Agency in its current form.

But still, one would assume that the FOIA implies the full disclosure of even sensitive information. Not to worry. I’m sure when the Bush administration is toppled we’ll all have access to whatever we like. Pfft. Yeah.

Until next time…