Podcast Patent Trolls: WTF?!

/ Matthew Clemente / 1 Comment

Podcast Patent Trolls: WTF?!

One of the most popular podcasts on the internet, WTF with Marc Maron, began today’s episode with an impassioned plea: stop the patent trolls. Apparently, patent trolls have begun to sue successful podcasts hoping for settlements or licencing fees.  As comedian Marc Maron mentioned in his opening monologue, Personal Audio, a patent troll group, has sued Adam Carolla, another popular comedian podcaster.  Maron urged listener to support the Saving High-tech Innovators from Egregious Legal Disputes (SHIELD) Act, a  pending bipartisan bill that would force patent trolls to pay defendants’ attorney’s fees in unsuccessful litigation.

Maron’s opening monologue about patent trolls lasts about 7 minutes.  This podcast contains explicit language.

  • http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/441/when-patents-attack (a “This American Life” episode referred to by Maron)
  • http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/02/28/shield_patent_act/ (article summarizing the SHIELD Act)

This American Life: Where Guns and Gangs Come From

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This American Life: Where Guns and Gangs Come From

Part II of This American Life‘s look at Harper High School.

This story has six acts.

  • Act One: “The Eyewitnesses” (discusses the psychological toll of witnesses gun violence first hand, 10 mins)
  • Act Two: “Your Name Written On Me” (explores the origin of a Chicago gang, 15 mins)
  • Act Three: “Get Your Gun” (teenagers explain where the get their guns, 6 mins)
  • Act Four: “Devonte, Part Two” (aftermath of 14 year old who accidentally shoots his brother, 8 mins)
  • Act Five: “Reverse Turnaround Backflip” (principal discusses balancing budget cuts in inner-city school, 7 mins)
  • Act Six: “We Are Harper High School” (chronicles how schools in other cities struggle with gun violence, 3 mins)

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/488/harper-high-school-part-two (63 mins total)

http://slacearchive.wordpress.com/2013/02/25/this-american-life-everything-you-know-about-gangs-is-wrong-part-i/ (Part I)

 

Syracuse Truce: Focused Deterrence & Gun Violence Reduction

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Syracuse Truce: Focused Deterrence & Gun Violence Reduction

“Syracuse Truce” is an evidence-based strategy designed to significantly reduce gang and group related homicides and non-fatal shootings in Syracuse. Syracuse Truce is a collaboration between law enforcement and community service agencies that will infuse the area with a new standard of zero-tolerance regarding gun violence. The project is an outgrowth of the federal Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative in the Northern District of New York. Through collaboration with the United States Attorney’s Office, the Gifford Foundation is the recipient of a $300,000 federal grant that will fund this initiative. This project is one of nine awarded nationally from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Violent Gang and Gun Crime Reduction Program.

This gang violence reduction initiative is based on focused deterrence. It is implemented through focusing increased enforcement activities on the small number of offenders who are responsible for a disproportionate share of gun violence, particularly the members of local violent groups/gangs. This increased enforcement is coupled with the provision of services needed to change lives, such as vocational training, employment assistance, substance abuse treatment and counseling.

 

http://www.9wsyr.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoid=3959092

Syracuse Truce: Focused Deterrence & Gun Violence Reduction

/ Matthew Clemente / Leave a comment

Syracuse Truce: Focused Deterrence & Gun Violence Reduction

“Syracuse Truce” is an evidence-based strategy designed to significantly reduce gang and group related homicides and non-fatal shootings in Syracuse. Syracuse Truce is a collaboration between law enforcement and community service agencies that will infuse the area with a new standard of zero-tolerance regarding gun violence. The project is an outgrowth of the federal Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative in the Northern District of New York. Through collaboration with the United States Attorney’s Office, the Gifford Foundation is the recipient of a $300,000 federal grant that will fund this initiative. This project is one of nine awarded nationally from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Violent Gang and Gun Crime Reduction Program.

This gang violence reduction initiative is based on focused deterrence. It is implemented through focusing increased enforcement activities on the small number of offenders who are responsible for a disproportionate share of gun violence, particularly the members of local violent groups/gangs. This increased enforcement is coupled with the provision of services needed to change lives, such as vocational training, employment assistance, substance abuse treatment and counseling.

 

http://www.9wsyr.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoid=3959092

Fareed Zakaria: In Defense of Head Start

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Fareed Zakaria: In Defense of Head Start

Fareed Zakaria argues for expanded access to early childhood education for low-income Americans.  Fareed contends that preschool can not only held improve test scores but also increase social mobility.  He also takes on the criticisms of programs like Head Start, explaining that the conventional wisdom is empirically unfounded.

http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2013/02/24/the-myth-of-americas-social-mobility/ (3.5 mins)