Law

Leave a comment Posted on by Steve Murray Video Games

Digital Homicide Suing Steam Users, Considering Suing Valve after Valve Pulls Games from Steam

digital-homicide-logoTwo-man indie developer Digital Homicide has made more news and gained more notoriety from their response to criticism than from their games themselves. Despite having nearly two dozen games on Steam, they are perhaps best known for representing themselves in a lawsuit against critic Jim Sterling for $15 million in damages related to his reviews and first impressions videos of their games.

Now, Digital Homicide is taking their legal game to the next level. The developer is now in the early stages of filing lawsuits against 100 Steam users for $18 million and is considering taking legal action against Valve itself.

Continue reading →

Advertisement
Leave a comment Posted on by Steve Murray News

The Secret Industry of US Private Prisons (Infographic)

The US prison system costs America’s federal government over $55 billion per year for just over two million prisoners. It doesn’t seem like very good value for money so why isn’t there a reevaluation of what lands people in prison? Well, that’s thanks in part to the US’s privately run prisons which requires minimum occupancy.

For this and more info about the US prison system, we have this handy infographic for your perusal.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment Posted on by Steve Murray Randominity

The Most and Least Ticketed Cars (Infographic)

Have you wondered if you have picked the right or wrong car? Sure, professional car reviews and consumer reviews can help you somewhat but those just tell you how good the car is when it’s running and not any attention it might get that will leave you stopped on the side of the road. Yes, tickets are a near inevitability of driving but not all cars attract the same attention from the police.

The folks over at Insurance.com did a study looking at the tickets of over 300,000 drivers to see which were the most and least ticketed cars. Then our friends at Your Mechanic synthesized that into infographic form to see which cars to buy to avoid tickets. The answer is GM vehicles because cops feel bad enough for you because you drive a GM.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment Posted on by Steve Murray Link-Off

Sunday Link-Off: Freedom of Speeches

shay-mitchell-flare16-01We’re nearing the end of the chase for the Democratic and Republican Presidential nominations. It’s funny how negative that the two nomination campaigns have been and there’s still an actual election still to come for both parties to contest. How much more contentious can this get?

Anyway, it’s Sunday which means that we have to do the links. Let’s kick off with Canadian actress Shay Mitchell.

“It’s just an oligarchy, with unlimited political bribery being the essence of getting the nominations for president or to elect the president.” – President Jimmy Carter (The Antimedia)

Tuesday’s New York primary is the make or break for all the frontrunners. (MacLean’s)

In the ongoing battle of Tax Returns vs. Wall Street Speeches, Bernie Sanders released his tax return showing a combined income of $205,000. Hilary made $10.5 million from speaking engagements. (USA Today)

Continue reading →

Leave a comment Posted on by Steve Murray Link-Off

Wednesday Link-Off: Making The Case

emily-ratajkowski-gq14-04This week’s Wednesday linkdump deals a lot with the law and legalities. Somehow, I wasn’t able to find an article about the imprisoned Al-Jazeera journalists in Egypt. A lot of slacktivism on Twitter but I was hoping for that killer article that never came.

Anyway, there is lots more in today’s post. But let’s start with Emily Ratajkowski.

President Obama is a big supporter of a national program for paid maternal leave. So why has no progress been made on it? (Washington Post)

Speaking of President Obama, he has a supporter in Rand Paul. The Republican Senator is one of the few members of the GOP who is blaming Dick Cheney and company for the ongoing situation in Iraq rather than blaming the entirety of the situation on the President. (CBS News)

PETA’s new shtick is that cow milk can cause autism. Listening to morons make shit up about what causes autism causes autism. That last statement has as much basis in reality as anything PETA says about autism does. (The Daily Beast)

Continue reading →

Leave a comment Posted on by Steve Murray Link-Off

Wednesday Link-Off: To No One’s Surprise

camille-rowe-victoriassecret14-22I noticed something about this batch of links. A lot of them are articles about things that should be blindingly obvious but some people still can’t quite believe. We should have seen some of these coming but I guess that doesn’t mean that everyone does.

Anyway, it’s now time for the links. And it shouldn’t be a surprise that we lead off the links with Camille Rowe.

Much to no one’s surprise, Sochi has been abandoned now that the Olympics and Paralympics have left town. Tens of billions of dollars down the drain for nothing. Good work, Vlad. (English Russia)

Also much to no one’s surprise, Russia has imposed sanctions against Canadian political players for imposing sanctions against Russian politicians. (Russia Today)

Illegal drug spending in the US is $100 billion. Government spending to combat the drugs trade is $200 billion. Spending on cocaine has plummeted over the last five years and has been replaced by marijuana spending which states are going easier on. It’s funny how law enforcement works (or doesn’t work) in America sometimes. (MarketWatch)

Continue reading →

4 Comments Posted on by Steve Murray Columns

Guilty Until Proven Innocent: How TV Forces the End of Jury Trials

It’s not often I go into heavy stuff like this but reading an article about a brewing scandal in Formula One got me thinking about trials. The article made note of the fact that the law says that all people are considered innocent until proven guilty. But I think that the idea that people are always considered innocent until a judge or jury of their peers says otherwise has become antiquated and no longer holds true in modern society. I think that TV crime dramas and the 24/7 news media obsession with crime stories means that most people think that a person must be guilty if the police have charged them. I think that means we should soon see the end of jury trials in our innocent until proven guilty society. Continue reading →

1 Comment Posted on by Steve Murray News

Not News of the Week

It’s time for the weirdest and wackiest stories from around the world. It’s time for the Not News of the Week.

Sometimes it takes a little help to keep a would-be crook down. In New Hampshire, it takes a little help from the produce section. A would-be thief tried to hold up a convenience store but was taken down from behind by a customer. When he later tried to escape while the store owner called the police, he was quickly brought down by a squash-wielding delivery man. The produce delivery product came in as the thief tried exiting and sacrificed his product in a shower of squash innards and seeds. That gives new meaning to cleanup in aisle three. Continue reading →

Leave a comment Posted on by Steve Murray News

Not News of the Week

It’s time for all the news that’s not fit for print. It’s time for the Not News of the Week.

I’ve never been a big fan of career politicians but I’ve finally found one that I can support. A Brazilian clown working under the stage name Tiririca won a seat in Brazil’s congress when he was elected as a federal deputy for Sao Paulo. He won in his electoral district by nearly double the number of votes as the next closest candidate who happened to be a former governor of Rio. Tiririca’s campaign was boosted by the use of ads posted on YouTube and viewed millions of times. Among his campaign slogans were “It can’t get any worse” and “What does a federal deputy do? Truly, I don’t know. But vote for me and I will find out for you.” No wonder why he got elected. He’s smarter than most politicians and actually tells the truth. Continue reading →

Leave a comment Posted on by Steve Murray News

Not News of the Week

If it’s not worth talking about, then it must be the Not News of the Week.

A woman in Montana has discovered the top secret way to fend off a bear attack: Bash it with a zucchini. The woman was woken by a raucous in her backyard and found her dog fighting with a small black bear. She tried to intervene by screaming at the bear but that just got it to charge at her. So to fend off the bear, she grabbed the first thing in her kitchen that she could get her hands on. That happened to be a 12 inch long zucchini that she picked from her garden earlier in the day. She flung it at the bear, hit it in the head and scared the bear off. Both the woman and her dog were no worse for wear. No word if the bear made off with the vegetable for its evening snack. Continue reading →