Chess Champion Gary Kasparov Attacked by Flying Penis

Posted on by mrpikes 1 Comment

There is officially no point in making shit up anymore.

I once wrote about Crossing Over, i.e., actions on the Internet having an effect on the physical plane. This is a little different. On December 20th, 2006, a CNET interview with Anshe Chung conducted in a Second Life venue was completely derailed by an assault of flying penises. It was very funny at the time, yes, because of all the flying dicks, but also because it pointed out the perils of counting on a virtual press interview to behave like the real thing. In other words, it was funny because it could only happen on the Internet.

That is until yesterday, when a real world meeting of Kremlin opposition activists led by Gary Kasparov was disrupted by an enormous radio-controlled flying cock. It was knocked out of the air quickly by a straight-faced security guard, who now has a unique item for his résumé. Kasparov, quick on his feet, restored order gracefully, remarking that the prank was “below the belt” and stating, “I think we have to be thankful for the opposition’s demonstration of the level of discourse we need to anticipate.”

Flying Penis Attacks Gary Kasparov

I am reminded of the (alleged) Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times.” So much classier than, “May you be attacked by a giant flying wang.”

Intended Consequences

Posted on by mrpikes

Okay, so this jackass Jason Fortuny posed as a woman seeking BDSM sex on the Seattle Craig’s List personals. On his LiveJournal page he stated that he was conducting an experiment to see how many responses he could get in 24 hours. He got 178. The majority included images, which ranged in content from headshots to genitalia. He then posted the replies (NSFW) online.

That is, he posted the replies online, in their entirety, including e-mail addresses, IM handles and phone numbers.

Holy crap.

Now 178 people, none of whom did anything illegal, find that what was ostensibly personal correspondence is displayed for all the world to see. That’s just plain wrong.

Did some of these fellows demonstrate breathtaking ignorance by sending their replies from business or otherwise “non-throw-away” e-mail accounts, using their full names and images including their faces? Absolutely. Having read the responses, I can say with confidence that the reputations of future Nobel Prize winners remain intact.

So? Ignorance isn’t criminal (thank God). Otherwise we would just slap a lid over the United States and have done with it. That’s not the point. This was no “experiment.” It was a juvenile, malicious prank with no purpose other than to inflict harm, then chortle smugly at those exposed. Only a truly damaged person behaves like that.

Abraham Lincoln said:

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.

Jason Fortuny entrapped a bunch of guys looking for no-strings rough sex. His power came from offering something that these men wanted. He then used that power to burn them publicly, for no other reason than that he could.

I offer two things to consider:

  1. As my friend Gokmop has reminded me several times, do not put anything online (via web site, blog, forum, e-mail, whatever) that you don’t want made available and searchable, forever.
  2. I posted an article about instances where actions on the Internet cross over into Real Life™. Jason Fortuny may well experience the downside of that phenomenon.