It’s been long known that street gang’s have used MySpace.com as a recruitment and promotion tool. But what about MySpace’s third party application partners?
CoolChaser.com, a website that provides apps for users to create themes for personal MySpace pages, suspended use of its widget on May 13 because of “inappropriate material” found on its site. Via CoolChaser.com:
As some of you may have noticed, our CoolChaser widget installed on some of your MySpace profiles has the “CoolChaser is currently down for maintenance.” message. MySpace suspended our app because they found inappropriate materials on our site that was created by some of our users. We are working to resolve this problem with MySpace’s help and hopefully get the app back soon but we aren’t sure exactly when.
We are terribly sorry for the inconvenience!
CoolChaser.com doesn’t indicate the reason why. But a quick perusal of the site found numerous gang-related themes and layouts. The “Blood gang” tag features backgrounds with the infamous gang’s hand sign, its iconic red bandanas, and ornately decorated handguns with an ornately designed red hand grip.
Blood gang hand sign MySpace layout on CoolChaser.com
All free, third-party web design applications are vulnerable to “inappropriate” uses. It’s the double-edged sword of democratizing graphic design apps, and especially disconcerting for those that play off of the popularity of social networking portals.
But could this why CoolChaser.com suspended its widget two weeks ago?
Here is a screenshot of the Blood gang tag umbrella on CoolChaser.com. Note the advertisers who are unknowingly supportive.
UPDATE: I contacted CoolChaser.com asking them to clarify their position on the widget. I will update again when I hear back from them.
(As an aside, I found this story after reading this troubling story in the LA Times about the LAPD’s new efforts to eradicate gang activity in South Central. In a previous blog post, I aired my suspicions about the dubious constitutionality of the the injunction cops are using to arrest suspected gang members without having to prove that a crime was being committed or was imminent, nor do cops have to prove that an individual is an actual gang member prior to arrest. I did not write about, however, some of the other interesting tactics the LAPD is using to revive a sense of community in areas of the city with high gang-related crime rates. This includes “a free Internet ‘cloud’ over one neighborhood,” an acknowledgement of the negative impact of the “digital divide.” I guess the social benefit of having taxpayer supported Internet access on gang turf outweighs the costs, even though gangs seem to be more sophisticated Internet users than many people think?)
It Must Be Easy To Get Arrested In L.A.
June 7, 2009
Here’s an interesting story about the trade-off between civil liberties and public safety in L.A. In certain neighborhoods, when crime rates go down, so do your civil liberties.
As crime rates have declined here over the past few years, the LAPD has assigned cops to use an injunction allowing them to arrest suspected gangsters for merely hanging out on the suspected gang’s turf. The area in question is Newton, a part of South Central, roughly twice the size of Santa Monica. If you live there, police do not have to prove that you are a member of the gang before arresting you, nor do you have to be doing anything wrong. Basically, it’s an arrestable crime merely to look a certain way. Here’s the justification:
Food-related titles for thrillers, inspired by the news that Julia Child was a World War II era spy
June 3, 2009
From the Chicago Tribune:
Before Julia Child became known to the world as a leading chef,
she admitted at least one failing when applying for a job as a spy:
impulsiveness.
Details about Child’s background as a government agent come into the
public spotlight Thursday with the National Archives’ release of more
than 35,000 top-secret personnel files of World War II-era spies. The
CIA held this information for decades.
The 750,000 documents identify the vast spy network managed by the Office
of Strategic Services, which later became the CIA. President Franklin
Roosevelt created the OSS, the country’s first centralized intelligence operation.
Child’s file shows that in her OSS application, she included a note expressing
regret she left an earlier department store job hastily because she did not get
along with her boss, said William Cunliffe, an archivist who has worked extensively
with the OSS records at the National Archives.
Cosmodrome brainstormed some possible titles for the inevitable film adaptation.
The Discreet Charm of the Booyahbaisse
The maltese falafel
The Naked Chef
(Make) Baste to Live
A clockwork chicken l’orange
A Time to Grill
Anacandy
Terminator 2: Fudge-mint Day
And many, many more…
Read the rest of this entry »
Devil in disguise
May 26, 2009
Surrounded By Assholes
May 14, 2009
My brother gave me this Polish Spaceballs poster for my birthday. It rules. He rules. 1-2-3-4-5.
A number of friends and associates answered an oft-asked question: What jazz albums should a respectable music lover who knows nothing about jazz own? These were the answers.
Don Cherry — Brown Rice
Clifford Brown — The Complete Blue Note & Pacific Jazz Recordings
Charles Mingus — Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
Art Ensemble of Chicago — Message to Our Folks
Wayne Shorter — Speak No Evil
Shirley Horn — You Won’t Forget Me
Duke Ellington – Ellington Uptown
Jackie McLean — Destination Out!
Johnny Smith — Moonlight In Vermont
Lonnie Smith — Think
Mal Waldron – The Quest with Eric Dolphy
Clifford Brown & Max Roach
Coltrane: Favorite Things or Coltrane (Impulse!)
Miles Davis: Porgy & Bess
Ornette Coleman: This Is Our Music
Alice Coltrane — Journey In Satchidananda
Albert Ayler — Live In Greenwich Village
Joe Harriott — Indo-Jazz Suite
Pharaoh Sanders — Village Of The Pharaoh’s
Cecile Taylor — Great Concerts Of
John Coltrane — A Love Supreme
Sun Ra — Lanquidity & Astro Black
Roland Kirk — Natural Black Inventions
Ornette Coleman — Free Jazz
Archie Shepp — Blase
Art Ensemble — Les Stances a Sophie
Art Farmer — Farmer’s market
Lee Morgan — Cornbread
Hank Mobley — No room for squares
Fats Navarro & Tadd Dameron: The Complete Blue Note & Capitol Records
The Blues and the Abstract Truth starring Paul Chambers, Eric Dolphy, Bill Evans, Roy Haynes & Freddie Hubbard
Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants: Bag’s Groove with Milt Jackson, Thelonious Monk, Percy Hedge, Kenny Clarke, Sonny Rollins, Horace Silver
Dizzy Gillespie Quintet featuring Charlie Parker: Town Hall, New York City, June 22, 1945
Art Blakey Quintet: A Night At Birdland Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, Featuring Clifford Brown
John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman
The Quest – “Warm Canto”
John Coltrane Quartet, w/ McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison & Elvin Jones – Ballads
Charlie Parker Quintet – Scrapple from the Apple
Dave Brubeck – Time Out
Modern Jazz Quartet – MJQ & Friends
The New Crystal Silence by Chick Corea & Gary Burton
Pat Metheny w/ Christaian McBride & Antonio Sanchez: Day Trio
Herbie Hancock: River
Anat Cohen & the Anzic Orchestra: Noir
Sonny Rollins – Without a Song
Nat Adderly – In the Bag
Duke Ellington – The 1956 Newport Concert
Keith Jarrett – Fort Yawuh
Roy Haynes Quartet – Out of the Afternoon – with Roland Kirk, Henry
Grimes & Tommy Flanagan.
Max Roach – Percussion Bittersweet
Eric Dolphy at the Five Spot Vol. 1.
Abercrombie/Holland/DeJonette – Gateway
Archie Shepp/Horace Parlan – Goin’ Home
Enrico Rava – The Pilgrim & the Stars
