The videos speak for themselves, That’s Gay on Current TV’s infoMania talk Sex and the City 2 (which I have yet to see). Check out their other video’s, kind of gay and kind of amazing.

ACID TEST, a film produced by NRDC, was made to raise awareness about the largely unknown problem of ocean acidification, which poses a fundamental challenge to life in the seas and the health of the entire planet. Like global warming, ocean acidification stems from the increase of carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere since the start of the Industrial Revolution.

Leading scientific experts on the problem, many of whom appear in the film and the outtakes below, believe that it’s possible to cut back on global warming pollution, improve the overall health and durability of our oceans, and prevent serious harm to our world, but only if action is taken quickly and decisively.

I know this isn’t design related but wow, just wow….

fyi – The 2009 stimulus bill reduced federal income taxes for 98% of working Americans, who are paying historically low rates.
In total, the bill contained about 300 billion in tax cuts.

now you can see what your site will look on the new iPad… which no one you know will ever own….

So I finally finished reading Miranda July’s ‘No one belongs here more than you‘. These short stories written through the eyes of a number of different characters was very enjoyable. Sometimes dark and frantic like in ‘Something that needs nothing’ other times sweet and innocent.

Throughout all the stories the continuing thread was an inherent honesty, it was like peeking into someone else’s head and listening to all their private thoughts. Not just the one’s they would want to you hear but the weird, obsessively awkward ones too. One of my favorite stories was at the end of the book ‘How to Tell Stories to Children’ written from the perspective of a single sort of lonely woman, it’s about her relationship with her now married X and the daughter he has with his wife. It talks about the attachment we form to others, in this case the woman and the daughter and how someone who is unrelated can often be closer to you than family.

If you haven’t read anything by Miranda July I would really recommend giving it a read.

So you may not think this is important but you should…

“An Italian court has convicted three Google executives in a trial over a video showing an autistic teenager being bullied. The Google employees were accused of “privacy violations” in allowing the video to be posted online.” – BBC News

Matt Sucherman at the Google blog says the company will appeal what it describes as an “astonishing decision”.
“In essence this ruling means that employees of hosting platforms like Google Video are criminally responsible for content that users upload. We will appeal this astonishing decision because the Google employees on trial had nothing to do with the video in question.”

The firm also says it “attacks the very principles of freedom on which the Internet is built”:
“Common sense dictates that only the person who films and uploads a video to a hosting platform could take the steps necessary to protect the privacy and obtain the consent of the people they are filming.”

Jeff Jarvis at Buzz Machine agrees with the search giant, saying the ruling could “kill the internet”:
“By holding Google liable for the actions of a user, the Italian court is in essence requiring Google and every other web site to review and vet everything anyone puts online. The practical implication of that, of course, is that no one will let anyone put anything online because the risk is too great. I wouldn’t let you post anything here. My ISP wouldn’t let me post anything on its servers. Google wouldn’t let me post anything on its services. And that kills the internet.”

You kind find the full article at bbc.co.uk. It’s pretty unbelievable. The last quote from the article really gets me though:
“Google can’t continue to turn a blind eye to its social responsibilities. It has to face them or it will be forced to face them. If media companies such as newspapers have to shoulder social responsibilities then Google, and other Internet companies, need to do the same. ‘Do no evil’ is passive. ‘Do some good’ is what Google needs to do.” – Tom Foremski at Silicon Valley Watcher

I don’t think Google is by any means always looking out for the greater good but neither is Youtube, Facebook, Myspace, Blogspot, ect, ect. They all have alterier motives, they’re all business too, they don’t care if you get to share your pictures from your weekend in SF or the “Paul loves his new haircut!” facebook status update.
They are not just a media company though, none of them are. You, me or your grama can’t get a spot on the morning news or an article in the New Yorker, but we can say how we feel, what we think and communicate in our own voice over the internet, even if it’s just about Boner from Growing Pains dying or some article you read on the BBC news site.

Even if only a few hundred people read it, it still matters. What it all comes down to is control, control of what we think, and I for one think that is important. It’s scary to think that because of this trail google or any other online service that hosts content could be liable for what users post. It’s could completely change the internet if lawsuits like this keep coming up.