Filed under: Orbis News
PC World reports that the first iPhone-specific worm has hit the net and is now spreading in Australia.
The malicious code changes the user’s background wallpaper to a photograph of Rick Astley and then seeks to spread itself to other iPhones.
Only iPhones which have been “jailbroken,” or made to work on non-AT&T networks, and on which the default password has not been changed, are vulnerable to the work, which is being called “Ikee.”
Filed under: National Politics
According to telegraph.co.uk, Abby Johnson, a Planned Parenthood director in Texas, has resigned after watching the ultrasound of an abortion.
“I just thought I can’t do this anymore, and it was just like a flash that hit me, and I thought that’s it,” said Johnson. She referred to her change of heart as a “spiritual conversion.” She is now associated with a pro-life group called the Coalition for Life.
This is an important reminder that those in the pro choice community can’t afford to pretend that abortion is a hygienic quick-fix. The procedure is emotionally and physically unpleasant, and nobody on either side of the debate ought to pretend they are privy to some special insight that makes the unborn fetus a human being with rights or not.
Filed under: Activism, Economy, International News | Tags: G-20, Pittsburgh, protests, summit
Orbis staff member Hugh Schlesinger was present at the G-20 Summit protests in Pittsburgh, PA, this September. This is a compilation of some of the video footage he shot there.
Conservapedia has come under a lot of fire, well, pretty much since it was started, mostly for factual innacuracies, conflicted purpose and just-plain-weirdness. Now, it seems that they have created a project to rewrite the bible – with less liberal bias.
Founder Andrew Schlafly always has a comeback, so it’s no surprise that he’s jumped into the fray with characteristic zeal. Scratch John 8:7, the parable of the adulteress (famous for Jesus’ memorable “may he who is without sin cast the first stone”), says Schlafly: “this is a permissive story used by liberals to oppose capital punishment.”
Steven Colbert has already called on his viewers to log onto the online collaboration and insert him as a biblical figure.
Filed under: Culture
Smooth one, Pepsi.
To promote the ‘AMP’ energy drink, Pepsi launched an iPhone app called “AMP UP Before You Score.” The application provides tips on how to “score” with 24 “types” of women (including “Rebound Girl,” “Married,” and “Foreign Exchange Student”) and then lets the user brag about his conquest on Twitter. We can’t make this stuff up.
Now, as pathetic as it is that anybody would actually use this (let alone that a team of professional advertisers would think for a moment that it would go over well), I think that it serves as an instructive example of a wannabe-trendy corporation pandering to a lowest common denominator of chauvinism, male insecurity, and sexual entitlement.
The application contains protips such as how to falsify a carbon footprint when trying to bed the “Treehugger.”
Pepsi has now issued a formal (if illiterate) apology for the tasteless app via the Twitter page for ‘AMP.’ It is unclear at this time if the application will be discontinued.
But seriously, fuck these guys. Any girl who’s been sexually assaulted can attest to the mentality that leads to rape: fratty douchebags who think they’re entitled to a quota of sexual intercourse, who have been spoon-fed fantasies of hyper-masculinity by the media and their peers, regularly have these misogynistic misconceptions reinforced by a culture of male dominance.
I think I’ll pass on the Pepsi.
It looks like we’re in for Terminator 2: Tolerance Day!
At least, that’s the message we’re getting from action movie superstar-turned-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who signed a bill today introducing a state holiday in honor of assassinated gay rights activist Harvey Milk.
Milk was the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in a major city. Before he was killed, he played a vital part in defeating the “Briggs initiative,” which would have prevented gays and lesbians from teaching in public schools.
Last year, Schwarzenegger declined to sign a similar bill, stating that Milk was just not notable enough. A spokesman for the governor said that events in the interceding year have made Milk an icon worthy of a state holiday.
The Republican governor has alienated some conservatives with his apparent support of gay rights, although he vetoed a gay marriage bill in California in 2005.
Filed under: Orbis News
A Tennessee woman violated a protection order with a Facebook ‘poke’ – and was arrested for it, with bail set at $1,500.
Many were stymied when the suggestive feature first appeared on the popular social networking site. Others saw right through it.
Although this may be the first arrest over a Facebook “poke,” Facebook has led to a number of startling apprehensions, including one burglar who logged into the site from his victim’s computer and then forgot to log back out, leading to his arrest.
Filed under: Orbis News
It’s National Coming Out Day! Here on campus, HRC and Lambda have centered a variety of programming around the date, including the annual drag show (Orbis will upload pictures later!) and an open house at KC Potter.
Nationally, here are some highlights:
- Thousands of protesters rallied in Washington D.C.
- Obama spoke at the 13th annual Human Rights Campaign dinner in honor of the event – but some believe the White House is downplaying the event.
- Producers canceled Sunday’s Broadway showing of “Hair” so that the entire cast could join the march on D.C.
- Lady Gaga showed up in D.C. too.
Jon
Filed under: Orbis News
Alabama police have apprehended and formally charged Tammy Renee Silas, the suspect in last week’s bizarre, possibly racially motivated kidnapping.
Silas is accused of knocking on the door of a Hispanic family, identifying herself as an immigration agent, and then stabbing mother Maria Gurrolla 9 times before kidnapping her baby.
The infant, Yair Carillo, was recovered at the home of the suspect and will be returned to his family in Nashville.
It’s all well and good that this story has a happy ending, but I’ll be interested to learn more about Silas’ motivations. At the very least, a disturbed woman abused her cultural capital to intimidate, attack, and steal the baby away from an immigrant. Perhaps, though, she found support for her twisted crime in the Right’s ongoing vilification of Mexican immigrants.
Orbis will be following this story.
Filed under: Culture, National Politics | Tags: Going Rogue: An American Life, Sarah Palin
Sarah, Sarah.
Having relieved herself of the duties of governorship, America’s favourite would-be VP has completed her memoir, and HarperCollins has pushed the publishing date up to November, all the way from a distant 2010.
Entitled “Going Rogue: An American Life” (I wonder if a close second was “I May Read This Myself Someday”), Palin’s autobiographical debut will have a modest first printing of 1.5 million copies, according to the New York Times. Embraced by an enthusiastic minority, Palin still has her share of detractors to contend with. I guess we may have to wait until almost Thanksgiving to see how it all plays out in the bookstores.
Jon
