[Quote]:

The Vatican has appointed an American bishop to rein in the largest and most influential group of Catholic nuns in the United States, saying that an investigation found that the group had “serious doctrinal problems.”

[..]

“I’m stunned,” said Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of Network, a Catholic social justice lobby founded by sisters. Her group was also cited in the Vatican document, along with the Leadership Conference, for focusing its work too much on poverty and economic injustice, while keeping “silent” on abortion and same-sex marriage.

One day the Vatican is just going to have to get round to disciplining and correcting that Jesus guy who emphasises poverty all the time and never speaks out against gay marriage or abortion.

It will take a while, and I will probably not see the day myself, but there will be a time when Vatican tour guides will be saying, “Here’s where Pope _______ the __, the final leader before the Catholic church officially dissolved, resided.”

Word of the Vatican’s action took the group completely by surprise, Sister Sanders said.

No one expects a Papal Visitation. Their chief weapon is surprise…surprise and fear…

All 193* instances of someone saying “Double Oh” from all 23 James Bond films.

*technically there were 196 but three of them coincided with other loud noise/speaking that made them unintelligable in this short form context.

[Quote]:

Africans say they have little hope that Europe will ever become civilized, after a week in which Spain’s King Carlos went on an elephant-killing spree and the Swedish Culture Minister was entertained by a racially offensive cake. “You can take the European out of the jungle, but you can’t take the jungle out of the European,” sighed one resident of Kinshasa.

[..]

Meanwhile, most Africans have dismissed calls for Swedish Culture Minister Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth to resign following the debacle in which she was photographed eating a cake designed to look like a racist caricature of an African woman.

“The only people calling for her to resign are European liberals hiding behind a thin veneer of civilization,” explained Burundian sociologist, Descarte Tugiramahoro. “We Africans are not shocked in the slightest.

“All she’s doing is engaging in two ancient European rituals: giggling at people who look different, and symbolic cannibalism, as introduced by the Catholic Church. It’s all completely normal.”

[Quote]:

[Mark Cuban]:

Your business is at risk. For a lot of money. No matter what type of business you are in, you are susceptible to a patent infringement lawsuit. The worst part about this risk is that there is nothing you can do to protect yourself. You are a victim in a business world horror movie. Unfortunately , there is no one to scream “no don’t do it. Don’t open that door” and protect you. All the doors are open and the trolls are all attacking.

(…)

What can you do as a small business person to protect yourself ? Honestly, nothing beyond complaining to your Congressperson. The only option I have found is to buy into companies that aggressively sue over IP. It is a hedge against patent law. Put another way, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Sucks, but there aren’t any other options that I can see.

Between cynicism and idealism, it’s clear where Cuban lands.

[Kickstarter]:

The Road to REVOLution is a sidescrolling platformer action/adventure game, reminiscent of console classics like Super Mario Brothers and Sonic the Hedgehog.

You play the role of Ron Paul and make your way across all 50 states collecting Gold (sound money) and Delegates.

I’m sure that’ll be a huge hit.

[Quote]:

Blogging platform Tumblr is to introduce paid advertisements on its service, despite its owner once saying that online ads "turn our stomachs".

“If you’re not paying for it, you are the product.”

Updated to fix the quote.

Quote

Spain’s King Juan Carlos I has apologised for going elephant hunting in Botswana while his country was being sucked back into the eurozone’s financial crisis

…

He was injured during the hunting trip, when he tripped on a step and broke his hip, which led to him being flown back urgently to Madrid to undergo hip replacement surgery on Saturday.

…

Juan Carlos’ family has also been in the news lately.

The king’s son-in-law Inaki Urdangarin is a suspect in a corruption case, accused of using his position to embezzle several million euros in public contracts through a not-for-profit foundation he ran.

Over Easter, the king’s 13-year-old grandson shot himself in the foot with a shotgun, even though by law in Spain you must be 14 to handle a gun. The boy’s father could face a fine.

He’s terribly sorry and all. Firing a king isn’t out of the question is it?

[Quote]:

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has repeated her view that the world’s governments should respect Internet freedom, telling the Brasilia Open Government Summit that the world is dividing into “open” and “closed” societies characterized by their attitude towards net freedom.

[..]

It’s particularly galling that Secretary Clinton made these remarks even as the US Congress is poised to pass CISPA, which establishes a national US regime of censorship and warrantless surveillance.

[Quote]:

Garen Meguerian and a team of lawyers are taking Apple to task for “inducing” children to spend hundreds of dollars of their parents’ money on in-app game purchases. Meguerian filed a class-action lawsuit this week in California acknowledging that Apple has already addressed the problem, but saying that the company continues to unfairly profit from sales of virtual “smurfberries” and “fish bucks.”

The issue at hand is related to games that rely on a “freemium” business model, giving away the game for free on the App Store and relying on in-app purchases of virtual currency, extra levels, or other add-ons as a revenue stream. Parents ran into problems with this model when some games, ostensibly geared toward kids (such as Smurfs’ Village or Tap Fish), relied on in-app purchases of in-game virtual currency to do many tasks. For instance, players in Smurfs’ Village can buy bundles of “smurfberries”—a whole wagon-full runs $99.99—to trade for plants to farm or materials to build a Smurf hut. Tap Fish players can buy “fish bucks” to buy new exotic fish, food, or other virtual aquarium accoutrements.