The Lantern Blog

The BBC is reporting that the founders of the now infamous website the Pirate Bay (which we will not link here)  have been sentenced to jail.

The founders for a long time had skirted charges based on a loophole in Sweedish law which allowed bit torrent trackers to operate legally in their country.  Alexa rates the Pirate Bay 105th most popular of all the websites in the world.

They were sentenced to one year of jail time plus a fine of $4.5 million.  The founders say they don’t have it to pay and would rather burn everything they own than pay it.

“Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg and Peter Sunde were found guilty in the case, along with Carl Lundström,” wrote Wired.com

Engadget, the mega tech blog points out that an appeal is inevitable and that nothing in the courts order will actually shut down the website.

Even if it did if the history of piracy has taught us anything shutting down one venue has been a game of whack a mole.   As soon as one ‘mole’ is whacked another pops up to take its place.

A part-time worker for the Philadelphia Eagles was fired after he posted a status update on his Facebook page.

The worker was apparently upset that the Eagles had allowed safety Brian Dawkins to leave the team via free agency.  Dawkins, one of the franchise’s most successful defensive players, signed with the Denver Broncos and joined their secondary.

Dan Leone, the worker who had worked for the Philadelphia Eagles franchise for more than six years, was fired over the phone several days after he had deleted the post/status update from his Facebook.

Did the Eagles act out of line when handling this situation?  Leone had worked for the team for an extended period of time—it is truly amazing to see what a simple Facebook post can cost you these days.

Someone once described politics as show business for ugly people.  I think Meghan McCain would agree.

CBS News is reporting that “nobody ever told her how complicated the election would make her dates,” especially since John lost the election.

“I know that no one can really explain sexual attraction and why you are drawn to someone or not—but at this point in time, nothing kills my libido quite like discussing politics,” McCain wrote.

Apparently some people want to date the Senator’s daughter for the opportunity to meet her parents.  AOL tells a somewhat creepy story of a  guy who asked if she had ever wore pearls, because of how good Cindy McCain she looked in them.

McCain says that people go way overboard in political issues.  

Imagine dating someone who spent a huge portion of the time telling you why he voted for President. It wouldn’t be very pleasant, and she doesn’t like it either, wrote the Huffington Post.

File this one away in the “Bizarre” category.  Amber Carter, a fourth grade teacher in the Bellefontaine City Schools system, was arrested on Tuesday in a motel parking lot.  Prior to her arrest, she had spent 13 years in the school system, with a clean record.

She left during the school day to go to the local motel for an appointment she had scheduled.  Even more chilling—there are reports stating that she may have scheduled appointments over her school computer.

Carter has been placed on immediate administrative leave while police continue to investigate the situation.  According to the Columbus Dispatch, she has been released from the Logan County Jail after processing.  A trial date has not been released yet.

Nevada is the only United States state where prostitution is legalized.

According to Access Hollywood, the popular singer Chris Brown turned himself in to LAPD authorities late on Sunday night.  He had been under close scrutiny and investigation from the authorities for an alleged domestic violence felony battery.

Credit: Brandon Evans (Wikimedia Commons)

It is believed that Brown may have assaulted Rihanna, his girlfriend.  They both did not show to the Grammy Awards show tonight.  According to an interview completed by Access, Rihanna is OK.   

Chris Brown was nominated for two awards—Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals (”No Air”, with Jordin Sparks), and Best Male R&B Vocal Performance (”Take You Down”).

Rihanna was nominated for three awards, and was also slated to perform on the show.  Among the awards she was nominated for were Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals (”If I Never See Your Face Again”, with Maroon 5), Best Dance Recording (”Disturbia”), and Best Long Form Music Video (Good Girl Gone Bad Live).

Pop on the Pop thinks that this relationship is finally over, and even calls Chris “goofy looking.”

Black Political Thought thinks that Chris Brown will join a “long list of women beaters who end up as social pariahs.“

WARNING—Must be a fan of Fox’s 24 to get the first paragraph, and it must be read with a low and raspy voice. If you don’t like 24, just go ahead and scroll past it!

Beep-bip…..beep-bip…..beep-bip.

Three minutes left. The underdog Arizona Cardinals seem to be making the impossible happen. They are mounting a comeback. Extremely well placed shots move the team down the field and closer to victory. Suddenly, BAM! Dubaku and his clan of bad guys use the CIP device to attack Americans yet again! The target—innocent football fans. The method—30 seconds of porn interrupting the come from behind drive.

Credit: PerezHilton.com

OK, that was lame—but this story is REAL! According to the Arizona Daily Star, about 30 seconds of porn interrupted the game, just after Larry Fitzgerald caught a pass from Kurt Warner to put the Cardinals ahead of the Steelers late in the game. 

According to The Escapist, the clip was from a movie playing on a pay-per-view channel—Shorteez—offered by Comcast.

“We did an extensive preliminary check on our technical systems, and everything appeared to be working properly when the incident occurred,” a Comcast spokeswoman said. She also claimed it was an “isolated malicious act.”

Au contraire, later on in the Daily Star article, the reporter claims that a warning shot was fired. The first interruption came earlier in the game. It showed rolling credits from an adult film that had just finished on another adult channel, Club Jenna.

The BBC reports that Tuscon-based KVOA-TV, the NBC affiliate whose cable feed was interrupted, was not the source of the breach. “When the NBC feed of the Super Bowl was transmitted from KVOA to local cable providers and through over-the-air antennas, there was no pornographic material,” company president Gary Nielsen said.

Now, what would it be worth to you if were forced to see someone’s naughty bits intstead of your hometeam touchdown celebrations. Comcast thinks it’s roughly $10 in credit.

Why the payout? Shhhh, so nobody tells the FCC! That’s accoding to a blogger for the Village Voice in New York.

Perez Hilton even lended his own bit of wit to the topic Tuesday.

Groundhog’s day is a fraud.

It is February, we will have six additional weeks of winter. Spring is coming soon—officially, it starts in the middle of March. Either way, the rat is right.

But that didn’t keep both national and local sources from hanging on the shadow (or lack of shadow) of the cutely named Punxsutawney Phil.   The most well-known of the groundhogs, Phil saw his shadow yesterday.  The Associated Press reported on it.  

Not only did an international wire service cover Phil’s day, but Penn Live is reporting that thousands were on hand to witness the event—as if the rodent was some kind of rock star.  

Phil isn’t the only groundhog in the country.  In New York City, Staten Island Chuck, didn’t see his shadow.    This controversy has gripped the attention of  rodent enthusiasts.  

In addition to that, Chuck bit Mayor Bloomberg.  The bite was bad enough that he drew blood, and the mayor had to cover the wound with a napkin.  

Locally, we can rely on Buckeye Chuck. The Marion, Oh. resident saw his shadow this year, and foretold six more weeks of winter.

Stuff White People Like is one of the most popular blogs on the internet today, and the latest news has Christian Lander—the blog’s creator—about to release a book to the public.  The blog is one of the most highly referenced in the entire country.

However, it doesn’t take a genius to recognize that the blog could be potentially hazardous.  According to CNN, the blog has been considered widely controversial and potentially racist.  

The book is titled “Stuff White People Like: A Definitive Guide to the Unique Taste of Millions.”

In an interview completed with the blog author, CNN asked Lander if he was concerned with offending people.  His response—he’s glad when he offends people because the material itself is not offensive.  Lander provided some interesting answers, so check out the full interview on CNN.com.

Lander seems to have a big following at other college campuses, including the University of Pennsylvania.  Personally, I’m surprised I haven’t heard more about this blog on Ohio State’s campus. If you like the blog enough, check out the t-shirts they are selling!

All in all, the book looks like it will be a real success, considering the past success of the blog.