Join me in thirty years when we exonerate tabletop RPGs for their corrupting social influence. And video games in another thirty.

Psychiatrist Fredric Wertham and his 1954 book Seduction of the Innocent serve as historical and cultural touchstones of the anti-comics movement in the United States during the 1940s and 1950s. Although there have been persistent concerns about the clinical evidence Wertham used as the basis for Seduction, his sources were made widely available only in 2010. This paper documents specific examples of how Wertham manipulated, overstated, compromised, and fabricated evidence—especially that evidence he attributed to personal clinical research with young people—for rhetorical gain.

…

“Lots of people have suspected for years that Wertham fudged his so-called clinical evidence in arguing against comics, but there’s been no proof,” Tilley said. “My research is the first definitive indication that he misrepresented and altered children’s own words about comics

More: Bleedingcool: Dr. Fredrick Wertham Lied and Lied About Comics

From VICE:

I decided to check that everything on Lamar’s official campaign website was copyright-cleared and on the level. Lamar is using several stock images on his site, two of which I tracked back to the same photographic agency. I contacted the agency to make sure he was paying to use them, but was told that it’s very difficult for them to actually check to see if someone has permission to use their images. (Great news, copyright violators!) However, seeing as they’re both from the same agency and are unwatermarked, it seems fairly likely that he is the only person on the entire internet who is actually paying to use a stock image (and he’d be an idiot not to).

So I took a look back at an archived, pre-SOPA version of his site [July 24, 2011].

…

I managed to track that picture back to DJ Schulte, the photographer who took it. And whaddya know? Looks like someone forgot to credit him. I contacted DJ, to find out if Lamar had asked permission to use the image and he told me that he had no record of Lamar, or anyone from his organization, requesting permission to use it.

Following this post, Google-fu masters found more possible copyright violations by Smith.

From Gizmodo:

The same RIAA that makes examples out of ordinary folks by suing them for millions of dollars for file sharing? Turns out someone there’s been pirating full seasons of Dexter. Nine million dollars worth. Whoops!

That number—$150,000 for each of the 60 episodes illegally downloaded on the RIAA HQ ISP (OK?)—comes compliments of YouHaveDownloaded which logged the BitTorrent activity of some 50 million users and revealed that not only are the major movie studios pirating their own movies, but the RIAA is downloading pirated TV shows. Lots of ‘em.

The Music And Film Industry of America. Acronym entirely coincidental.

From Ars Technica:

Nevada’s homegrown copyright troll, Righthaven, started life with a plan to save the newspaper business through infringement lawsuits—but nearly staggering incompetence has left the company on the receiving end of fine after fine from federal judges. Today, Righthaven was hit with a new fine for $116,718 in legal fees and $2,770 in costs.

The case, Righthaven vs. Thomas DiBiase, was another of the small-time infringement claims brought by Righthaven. The firm generally used the lawsuits to extract settlements of a few thousand dollars, but DiBiase refused to settle up. Instead, he lawyered up—and managed to get the case dismissed on June 22 based on the fact that Righthaven didn’t actually own the copyrights over which it was suing people. (See initial comment about “staggering incompetence.”)

This is good news for Internet users, but the story’s not over yet. The copyright litigation industry is starting to realize that suing users isn’t working, just like going after file sharing services before that was futile. That can be why ISPs appear to be the favored target now.

From BBC:

Patients in government-run hospitals in Syria are being tortured in an attempt to suppress dissent, an Amnesty International report alleges.

The 39-page report claims patients in at least four state hospitals have been subjected to torture and other ill-treatment, including by medical staff.

Many injured civilians consider it safer not going to hospital, it says.

Syrian authorities have denied torturing opponents of the government.

Continued here.

As journalism is heavily restricted in Syria, it is currently difficult to verify such reports.

The PBS series Nature kicked off its 30th season with what I thought was a fascinating piece about the fate of the zone around Chernobyl after it was abandoned. In a zone where radiation levels are still 50 times higher than normal, the “dead zone” is a lot less deserted than we initially expected.

Watch it all here.

From PZ Myers. The bold and italics are not mine, by the way:

Brothers and Sisters , I have been seriously considering forming a ( Christian ) grassroots type of organization to be named ‘The Christian National Registry of Atheists’ or something similar . I mean , think about it . There are already National Registrys for convicted sex offenders , ex-convicts , terrorist cells , hate groups like the KKK , skinheads , radical Islamists , etc..

This type of ‘National Registry’ would merely be for information purposes . To inform the public of KNOWN ( i.e., self-admitted) atheists . For example , let’s say you live in Colorado Springs , Colorado , you could simply scroll down ( from the I-Net site /Blog ) I would have , to the State of Colorado , and then when you see ‘Colorado Springs’ , you will see the names of all the self-admitted atheist(s) who live there ( e.g., if an atheist’s name happened to be ‘Phil Small’ ) . The individual’s physical address , and other known personal information would NOT be disclosed ( though , perhaps a photo could be ) .

To be fair, this guy might not be an ordained minister. His entire church consists of a couple of Blogspots. I have my doubts that’ll go anywhere.

From the Huffington Post:

“I’m coming out to shake your hand,” Bachmann told the crowd. Her husband Marcus came up front with her and shook a few hands. But then Gabe Aderhold, a 17-year old from Edina, Minn. — who had confronted other Republican candidates earlier in the day about their opposition to gay marriage –- stood and began to yell several times at Bachmann, “Shame on you!”

…

Just moments after Aderhold began to heckle her, Bachmann and her entourage moved quickly from the stage and through the crowd, at a pace rapid enough that some spectators appeared to get lightly shoved out of the way. She jumped on her golf cart with her aides and drove away from the crowd.

One minor issue I have with the article, which the right might latch onto as misogynistic on part of Bachmann’s critics:

“[Sarah] Palin’s been hanging out here all day. What’s the big cut and run?” Ryan asked, with an edge in his voice. After the golf cart had gotten further away, Ryan, who said he caucused for Barack Obama in 2008 and for George W. Bush before him, began muttering to HuffPost. “Typical woman: show up late and fold under pressure,” he said. “You really want that as president?”

Dude, not cool.

Not satisfied with holding a hearing targeting Muslims, Peter King is now targeting film makers.

Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal deny King’s claims.

“Our upcoming film project about the decade long pursuit of Bin Laden has been in the works for many years and integrates the collective efforts of three administrations, including those of Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama, as well as the co-operative strategies and implementation by the department of defence and the Central Intelligence Agency,” they wrote. “Indeed, the dangerous work of finding the world’s most wanted man was carried out by individuals in the military and intelligence communities who put their lives at risk for the greater good without regard for political affiliation. This was an American triumph, both heroic and non-partisan, and there is no basis to suggest that our film will represent this enormous victory otherwise.”

…

Ironically, The Hurt Locker, Bigelow and Boal’s Oscar-winning first outing together, was criticised in some quarters for failing to accurately depict military manoeuvres. Kill Bin Laden was already in the works when an elite team of US navy seals shot the al-Qaida leader dead at his Pakistan compound on 2 May. Boal has since rewritten the screenplay in light of the real-life final act.

In other words, a movie might not be the best place to sneak sensitive information into, especially if its narration isn’t all too reliable.

A hearing that NAACP claims stereotypes Muslims, and attempts to monitor film production. Not to make any tired comparisons or anything, but I can’t shake the feeling I’ve heard this before.

This is why I love that website. As was pointed out in the comments for a page posted here yesterday, in a way, the Onion already wrote a similar piece five years prior. The only difference is that while the Onion published a fake news article in the name of satire, Think Progress, well, didn’t.

Oddly enough, this isn’t the first time this sort of thing has happened.

In January 2001, The Onion published an article entitled “Bush: Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over,” in which just-elected President Bush swore to, among other things, “go into massive debt,” “engage in at least one Gulf War-level armed conflict in the next four years, and “open the [Arctic National Wildlife Refuge] to oil drilling.”

In 2004, The Onion published a commentary jokingly claiming that safety razor brand Gillette would be releasing a razor with five blades. Two years layer, Gillette introduced the Fusion, with six blades.

In April 2006, The Onion Radio Network mocked the War on Christmas controversy with a piece entitled “People Saying ‘Happy Spring Holiday’ Just to Piss Off Bill O’Reilly.” In April 2011, Sean Hannity and Bill Donohue complained about a “War on Easter.”

Just for kicks, does anyone else know of any “fake” news articles, especially from The Onion, that in one way or another came true later?