Thursday, October 31, 2002

i wonder whether any of you are celebrating Halloween or All Hallow's Eve. i fashioned myself a wonderful Monkey costume and will be parading around in the Village and then off for some dancing/drinking into the night...
i will most definately be voting on tuesday. i've urged my friends/flatmates to register and vote, as well. i would never let gentlemen like these into office in my state: about a letter signed by 60 some congressmen attacking free/ open source software and stating, in part, "Licenses such as the GPL are problematic and threaten to undermine innovation and security."
The Korean Cover of "Stupid White Men"

Wednesday, October 30, 2002

Digital Technology Users' Declaration of Rights

Introduction In response to the relentless encroachments we are suffering to our right to privacy, and right to freely generate, use and share information, this Declaration of Rights has been written. This Declaration is put forward as the users' answer to the infamous 'Digital Millennium Copyright Act', signed into law in 1997 by President Clinton, and enforced in most jurisdictions in which internet access is available. With some effort and organisation, governments can be lobbied to enshrine these rights into law. Note - this Declaration aims at a level of completeness. One price paid for this completeness is a level of redundancy and tautology, which the author hopes will not unduly annoy the reader. Disclaimer This document is not intended to suggest in any way that users should be free to evade paying for software which they are using. However, there are situations where software authors seek to impose unreasonable restrictions on users' free enjoyment of software and other digital content, and/or interfere with users' ability to make reasonable pre-purchase evaluation of digital Content. It is to address and rectify such situations that this Declaration has been written. Definitions Within this document, I will be using some common words and phrases with a meaning which may be ambiguous, or may differ from common interpretation and usage. This section spells out the exact meaning with which certain words and terms are used within this document. Storage Media Any hardware component which is capable of storing any kind of information or digital material. This includes, but is not limited to, hard disks, floppy disks, random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, modular memory (eg compact flash cards, 'Secure Digital' cards), removable media (eg compact disks, digital video disks). This does not include any information - text, graphics, audio, video, program codes etc which are present on such media. Content Any information which can be stored within and/or retrieved from storage media. This includes text, images, audio, program codes and all other data. Computer System Any physical apparatus which contains one or more microprocessors. This includes personal computers, computer peripherals and other accessories, video game consoles, and any stereo systems, televisions, video recorders, DVD players and any other domestic appliances in which one or more microprocessors are present. User, Users A person who, by virtue of sale, trade or gift, is in lawful possession of one or more Computer Systems. 1. Storage Media 1.1. Right to Know * All users have the right to know the entire contents of all storage media on their systems, and all physical storage media to which they have the right of possession. * All users have the right to use, create and freely distribute any software and other information which may aid them in knowing the contents of their hard disks, and rendering these contents intelligible. 1.2. Right to Alter * All users have the right to change existing content resident on all storage devices on their own systems, to change the format in which that content is stored on such storage devices, to change the structure of such content, to add new content and delete existing content as desired. * All users have the right to convert any content present on their storage devices from one format to another as suits their needs. * All users have the right to delete any Content present on Storage Devices within their posession where such Content contradicts the user's wishes. 1.3. Right to Backup * All users have the right to duplicate any and all content present on storage media within their possession for the purpose of making backup copies. Users have the right to create these backup copies in the same form as, or in a different form to, the original content. 2. Content Flow * All users have the right to be fully aware of all content flowing within their Computer Systems, into their computer systems from the Internet, out of their computer systems into the internet, and between two or more computer systems physically present at one location, eg a Local Area Network. * All users have the right to possess, use, create and distribute software which can make the flow of media intelligible. * All users have the right to intervene in the operation of software resident on their computer systems; to prevent certain information flows, to introduce new information flows, and to alter existing information flows as desired. * For example, users have the right to intercept TCP/IP connections from a piece of software to a software vendor's server machine (or a third-party marketing company's server machine), and suppress personal information from being transmitted to that server. Users also have the right to block such communication from taking place at all, and/or to modify the software so that this software does not limit its usability due to the blockage of this information flow. 3. Structure and Configuration of Hardware * All users have the right to modify all digital and analogue hardware within their lawful possession. This includes techniques such as: Adding 'mod-chips' to computer game consoles, Adding, changing and/or removing any hardware, for the purpose of enjoying full access to a computer system, Modifying hardware for the purpose of making backup copies of content accessible. 4. Right to Privacy and Encryption * All users have the right to possess, use, write and distribute encryption software. * All users have the right to apply encryption software to render unintelligible to others any Content residing on Storage Media within their Computer Systems, flowing within their Computer Systems, or to or from other Computer Systems or the Internet. * All users have the right to modify, disable or delete any software residing on their Computer Systems which monitors the user's activities. 5. Right to Reverse Engineering * Users have the freedom to decompile, analyse, and in any way reverse-engineer any Content residing on Storage Media within their possession. * Users have the right to combat and defeat any technological measures present in any software or hardware which seeks to restrict the user's full freedom of usage. For example, users have the right to use, create and distribute 'serials numbers', 'cracks', 'patches' etc for the purpose of learning about programming techniques, also for the purpose of gaining the ability fo fully evaluate a piece of 'shareware' or 'demoware' in a way which would not be possible with these technological measures intact. * Users have the right to convert to any format any content which is present on Storage Devices in their possession. 6. Right to Free Expression * Users shall not be restricted from communicating what they understand to be the truth about any matter. This includes, but is not limited to, the right to communicate 'benchmarks', security weaknesses, and other performance and functionality issues of a piece of software or hardware, or honestly-formed opinions as to the nature or conduct of any company, person, organisation or government. 7. Right to Inter-Operability * Users have the right to initiate flow of Content between two or more pieces of Software and/or Storage Media of their choice. For example, users shall not be bound by EULA conditions in one piece of software which demand that this software not be used in conjunction with any other piece of software. 8. Right to Develop Software * Users have the right to design and implement software of any kind as they see fit. For example, users shall not be restricted from writing software which uses the Microsoft Foundation Classes, and competes with Microsoft products. * Users have the right to create, use and distribute software which assists them, or any other user, in defending the Rights listed in this Declaration. 9. Audits and Disclosure Users shall under no circumstances be required to: * Disclose to any other party the contents of any Storage Media in their possession * Surrender possession of any Computer System or Storage Media * Allow any other party to gain physical access to a user's Computer System or Storage Media * Allow any other party to gain remote or network access to a user's Computer System or Storage Media. 10. Limitation in Scope of End User License Agreements * Users shall not be bound by any provisions in End User License Agreements in software or any other Content, or by Provisions within any other form of legal agreement, which contradict any of the above provisions in this Declaration of Rights. This document is CopyLeft (C) October, 2002 by David McNab, .
Ladytron
Hi. My apologies, I have been reading and not contributing. So busy! Viagra Swells Scarce Animal Count Men definitely get a lift from the anti-impotence drug Viagra. Now there's evidence that threatened animal species may also benefit, say two researchers. Since the blockbuster treatment went on sale in 1998, there's been a marked drop in global demand for animal products used in traditional Chinese medicine -- like Alaskan reindeer antler velvet and Canadian seal penises. ! This gave us a bit of a laff this morning. I understand that the researchers approached Pfizer for funding, and have been well supported. Of course! But are there adverse effects of Viagra on the environment? I know that there are unnatural amounts of estrogen in the lakes in Ontario due to oral contraceptives, and the male fish are going girly. What could be the effects of abnormal amounts of Viagra in the waters? On the one hand, we have saved the animals from being killed off, but on the other, we could be causing a greater, long-term problem ...
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Tuesday, October 29, 2002

Filesharing is killing music.
Filesharing is killing music. Click here. Now.
Crack-cocaine delivers an intensity of pleasure completely outside the normal range of human experience. It offers the most wonderful state of consciousness, and the most intense sense of being alive, the user will ever enjoy. (S)he will access heightened states of being whose modes are unknown to chemically-na�ve contemporaries. Groping for adequate words, crack-takers sometimes speak of the rush in terms of a "whole-body orgasm". Drug-naive virgins - slightly shop-soiled or otherwise - cannot be confident (unless in thrall to ill-conceived logical behaviorist theories of meaning) that they have grasped the significance of such an expression. For to do so, it would be necessary to take the drug via its distinctive delivery-mechanism oneself. This is at best very imprudent. cocaine.org
NOTICE: Daypop will go offline starting Oct. 25 for a couple weeks.

Assembly presses for ban on racist websites, including "illegal hosting"

Strasbourg, 08.11.2001 - The new Council of Europe Cybercrime Convention, which was adopted today and will be opened for signature later this month(1), should be supplemented as soon as possible by a protocol eliminating racist websites from the internet and defining and criminalising hate-speech on computer networks, according to the Standing Committee of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (2). In a recommendation adopted unanimously today the parliamentarians said drafters of the protocol should consider ways of preventing "illegal hosting" - a practice whereby cyber-racists locate their servers in a country with less strict regulations in order to sidestep the law. The report's author Ivar Tallo (Estonia, SOC) explained: "For example, a racist French site aimed at a French audience, but housed on a server located in the United States, would not be able to hide behind American laws protecting freedom of speech." He added: "The eleventh of September has shown that hate speech can become an action of horrendous magnitude. Therefore modern technology has to have safeguards and one of those is to ban hate speech on the internet." The Assembly earlier recommended that Europe's governments consider including measures to decode "terrorist messages" in the protocol (3). The Cybercrime Convention, which was drawn up with the participation of non-European countries such as the US, Canada, Japan and South Africa, will be the world's first international treaty in the field. Mr Tallo's report, Doc. 9263, can be found on the Assembly's website at the following address: http://stars.coe.fr/doc/doc01/edoc9263.htm The emphasis is mine. My dear friends, there is no such thing as "Hate Speech" There is only Speech, or Silence. Prefixing the word "Speech" is a way of sectioning off types of expression so that it can be cut off from use. Reasonable people instantly see this as unnaceptable. Do you?
Secret Immoral Weapons Programs Once again, What are the names of the men and women who are doing this work? they should be publicly shamed for perverting science. And then EXECUTED!
Mr Giscard d'Estaing has compared his task with that of the US Founding Fathers who drew up the US constitution. Every American will be laughing thier heads off at this. The US Constitution was written by free men to secure thier rights and protect them against the tyranny of governments. It was not written by filthy pig beaurocrats whose sole aim is to control every aspect of human life. This document, by the very method of its creation will utterly fail to do what a constitution needs to do. Just look at the German Constitution for a taste of what these beaurocrats think the word "rights" means. The notion that people will be given dual citizenship is absurd, as absurd as putting different reverses on the EU coinage. The fact of the matter is that forcing everone in europe to have this citizenchip (yes, citizenchip) will open the door to a europe wide tax, the eventual abandonment of every national identity, and the creation of a beaurocrats heaven of hundreds of millions of rightless people to fleece, shepard and prick. The most hilarious part of the document is the "exit strategy". This is pure nonsense. Ireland was told by the Germans, when it voted "no" to European enlargement that it should keep going back until they get the result right. Of course, Ireland just voted "yes" in a recent re-vote on the matter.THESE are the type of people that are running the EU; they shouldnt be trusted with a drop of rainwater much less the lives of hundreds of millions of people. A document like this cannot be written by beaurocrats, nor can it be written by the consensus of sheep or comitttees of control addicts or public consultation. It is astounding that slave owners, military men, the rich and powerful wrote the American Constitution but it is true. The equivalent people today simply could not be trusted to write a document that addresses the needs of all men, yet, 200 years ago it was done. This is a measure of how much everything has changed in the hearts of men. FYI
  • You cannot have two loyalties.
  • Citizenship, like government must be by consent, not dictat.
  • The current European Union, if it wants to "re-connect" with the people of europe, must cease to exist in its current form, and be rebuilt as collaboration of totally independent states, for the benefit of people only, facilitating freedom of movement, reduction of beaurocracy and choice of what manner of country you want to live in.
  • No paper must be executed giving the eu power over citiuzens lives, or devolving power from national governments to another body.
  • See, its not that hard to start. CERTAINLY you dont need expensive suites to start thinking sensibly about a beneficial collaboration between many states. What is for certain, is that the current EU is a runaway train with 100 drivers voting on wether to pull the brake handle.

    Sunday, October 27, 2002

    Not content with helping to translate "the Book of Life", Sir John has described the idea of venture capitalists patenting the genes or making private profit out of their work as "despicable". Campaigning for freedom of information, he explained how, "if you hang on to any piece of information, you create a monopoly because the human gene is unique". "It's not really a fight against business, but it is a fight against appropriate use of patenting and licensing," he said. "We must keep this basic information free because only in this way can all the world's people and their scientists get hold of it." A fervent believer in sharing information for human and scientific good, Sir John explained how he will continue to rally against the megalomaniacs of the scientific world. "There are always people who are trying to appropriate the common good for their own ends and one has to continue to battle against that," he asserted. At last, somone with a MORAL CENTER. Did you spot the mistake? "it is a fight against appropriate use of patenting and licensing" You dingbats, its a fight against INNAPROPRIATE patenting and licensing. BBC
    Date: Fri, 25 Oct 2002 17:19:34 -0400 From: J Plummer Subject: NCP: Privacy Villain of the Week: DARPA's HumanID at a Distance Privacy Villain of the Week: DARPA's HumanID at a Distance The Defense Advance Research Projects Agency has been one of the more fruitful government agenies in the past, its DARPAnet computer network being the foundation for what would become the Internet some years later. That is why reading about what this outfit is up to now can at times be disheartening. One such project is the HumanID at a Distance program, which aims to move beyond face-recognition technology and purportedly identify people by the way the walk. The idea here is that by measuring with video or (clothes-penetrating) radar the distance between, say, 17 different points on the body http://gtresearchnews.gatech.edu/images/gait1.jpg and measuring how these points move in relation to one another, a person can be positively and uniquely identified. This "gait technology" by itself is neutral of course, just as technologies such as a gun or a needle or or the banging of flint against stone. The problem here arises in that by funding such research, the government is pushing a technology on society that it has not freely accepted through the voluntary choices made in the market. A patina of legitimacy is unfortunately added to such technologies when they have the imprimatur of the state behind them. Even when the lead researchers on the project issue a press release with conflictuing estimations of accuracy ranging from .0001% to 95%.
    "The Echelonization of America: NSA to spy domestically?" http://www.politechbot.com/p-04090.html --- Date: Sat, 26 Oct 2002 22:08:20 -0700 (PDT) From: Dan Tsang To: Declan McCullagh Declan, you can post this; it's the U.S. Privacy Act that is another result of the reforms against domestic spying of the 60s. ACLU and the Center for National Security Studies represented me in a lawsuit against the CIA for violating a provision of the Privacy Act that bars the collection or retention of First-Amendment related information on U.S. citizens and permanent residents (I'm a U.S. citizen). My lawyers were shocked that the CIA was ignoring that law. We finally settled our case (Tsang v. CIA) out of court for $46,000 with the CIA promising to expunge from its computers any records on me and to never spy on me again. It also changed its CIA web-site to concede it does spy on Americans. Post 9/11 and the USA PATRIOT Act, it is more than necesary to beef up the Privacy Act. Congress should hold hearings. I wrote a longer piece in CovertAction Quarterly (issue no. 65 -- fall 1998: "The CIA vs. Daniel C. Tsang") but an earlier op ed, "A CIA Target at Home in America" (in Los Angeles Times) is posted here: http://sun3.lib.uci.edu/~dtsang/ciatarget.htm My attorney Kate Martin's letter (to Washington Post about the case is poted here: http://sun3.lib.uci.edu/~dtsang/cnss.pdf She talks about the case on KUCI's Subversity show on how the CIA justified spying on Americans, claiming the National Security Act allows them to do that despite the Privacy Act: http://kuci.org/~dtsang/subversity/Sv980120.ram GovExec.com ran a story here: "CIA Double Checks its FAQs" http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0198/010798b1.htm dan Daniel C. Tsang Host, Subversity on KUCI (kuci.org/~dtsang) subversity@kuci.org http://go.fast.to/ar ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ Recent CNET News.com articles: http://news.search.com/search?q=declan -------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Saturday, October 26, 2002

    Your name has been added to a list of artists looking for internet broadcast and are willing to sign royalty waivers. If you do not want your name on the list or you wish to add or change your information, respond to this email and I will promptly remove your name or change your listing. Internet broadcasters are looking for independent music to play. Unfortunately, hundreds of broadcasters are shutting down due to sky high royalty rates instigated by RIAA (Recording Industry Association). Currently the only way webcasters can survive the new RIAA sponsored legislation is to find independent artists who can give broadcasters permission to play their music royalty free. The “Radio for Independent Artists of America Foundation Unlimited” (RIAAFU) is a website which is simply a searchable database designed to match internet broadcasters with independent artists who wish to have their music broadcast. Adding your contact information to the database enables broadcasters to find you, and you are welcome to search for broadcasters. This is not a commercial site, and there are no obligations legal or otherwise. It just shows that you are interested in finding broadcasters to play your music. Please support this cause by contacting broadcasters registered at www.riaafu.com, writing your representatives, and spreading the word. Thanks on behalf of all at the Radio for Independent Artists of America Foundation Unlimited. www.riaafu.com
    Theres nothing in the dark that was'nt there when the lights were on.
    Lunch Counter Terrorism over-the-counter Terrorism Checkout Counter Terrorism Retail Counter Terrorism

    Friday, October 25, 2002

    From someone elses Blog: The *Last* Thing We Need Humans are doing a pretty damned good job of sucking the life out of the planet as it is. Imagine what it would be like if our life spans doubled. Unfortunately, this is a subject that's interesting some biologists. Gene tweaking safely doubles lifespan Nicola Dixon, New Scientist A US team has doubled the lifespan of the nematode worm with no apparent physiological side affects. The key to what appears to be uncompromised longevity is to silence a gene involved in ageing at just the right point in a worm's life cycle. I guess there could be perfectly valid applications of this -- I'm just hard pressed to think of what they could be. Bring on the apocalypse, and don't spare the horsemen!
    Wow!
    http://www.photodude.com/pixel2/archives/00000462.shtml
    Don Henley (of The Eagles) encourages eryone to �Download all you want�. �The record companies have been ripping artists off for years�, he said. �Go ahead. I�d rather lose money to you than them. I don�t have a contract with you.�
    Pravda 2002-10-22 Prostitutes stole a portable computer with secret software from US Army soldiers currently conducting military exercises in Poland. The computer disappeared when three programmers of the US Army invited prostitutes to dinner and to drink. The men fell asleep rather quickly. However, when they woke up in the morning, they discovered that their computer disappeared; in addition to the computer, the girls also stole a digital camera and a pair of speakers. The US Army HQ estimated the loss to be 120,000 dollars, about 100,000 of the sum is the cost of the secret software. It is the theft of the software that actually worries army officers very much, as the computer contained secret information concerning the US Army. Military exercises are regularly held on Europe's largest training area, which is located in Poland. The unlucky programmers serve in the US Army Fifth Corps and are stationed in the Federal Republic of Germany. Since Poland became a NATO member, military exercises of the fifth corps have been regularly held in Poland.
    Nimda cant hurt you because youre on OSX. But you know that. It only takes 15 minutes for a box to get scanned once its IP goes live; everyone, everywhere is being portscanned. Thats what life is like. If you have your firewall set to block everything and hide every port that you dont want the net to see, thats all you can do....and its enough. Librarians rawk
    2A, H, and a whippersnapper. into the night...

    Thursday, October 24, 2002

    DONT tune into the Bermuda Triangle tonight at 12:00 GMT. It might upset you.
    http://news.com.com/2100-1023-963132.html Google excluding controversial sites By Declan McCullagh October 23, 2002, 8:55 PM PT Google, the world's most popular search engine, has quietly deleted more than 100 controversial sites from some search result listings. Absent from Google's French and German listings are Web sites that are anti-Semitic, pro-Nazi, or related to white supremacy, according to a new report from Harvard University's Berkman Center. Also banned is Jesus-is-lord.com, a fundamentalist Christian site that is adamantly opposed to abortion. Google confirmed on Wednesday that the sites had been removed from listings available at Google.fr and Google.de. The removed sites continue to appear in listings on the main Google.com site. [...]

    Worldwide press freedom index

    Rank Country Note 1 Finland 0,50 -- Iceland 0,50 -- Norway 0,50 -- Netherlands 0,50 5 Canada 0,75 6 Ireland 1,00 7 Germany 1,50 -- Portugal 1,50 -- Sweden 1,50 10 Denmark 3,00 11 France 3,25 12 Australia 3,50 -- Belgium 3,50 14 Slovenia 4,00 15 Costa Rica 4,25 -- Switzerland 4,25 17 United States 4,75 18 Hong Kong 4,83 19 Greece 5,00 20 Ecuador 5,50 21 Benin 6,00 -- United Kingdom 6,00 -- Uruguay 6,00 24 Chile 6,50 -- Hungary 6,50 26 South Africa 7,50 -- Austria 7,50 -- Japan 7,50 29 Spain 7,75 -- Poland 7,75 31 Namibia 8,00 32 Paraguay 8,50 33 Croatia 8,75 -- El Salvador 8,75 35 Ta�wan 9,00 36 Mauritius 9,50 -- Peru 9,50 38 Bulgaria 9,75 39 South Korea 10,50 40 Italy 11,00 41 Czech Republic 11,25 42 Argentina 12,00 43 Bosnia and Herzegovia 12,50 -- Mali 12,50 45 Romania 13,25 46 Cape Verde 13,75 47 Senegal 14,00 48 Bolivia 14,50 49 Nigeria 15,50 -- Panama 15,50 51 Sri Lanka 15,75 52 Uganda 17,00 53 Niger 18,50 54 Brazil 18,75 55 Ivory Coast 19,00 56 Lebanon 19,67 57 Indonesia 20,00 58 Comoros 20,50 -- Gabon 20,50 60 Yugoslavia 20,75 -- Seychelles 20,75 62 Tanzania 21,25 63 Central African Republic 21,50 64 Gambia 22,50 65 Madagascar 22,75 -- Thailand 22,75 67 Bahrain 23,00 -- Ghana 23,00 69 Congo 23,17 70 Mozambique 23,50 71 Cambodia 24,25 72 Burundi 24,50 -- Mongolia 24,50 -- Sierra Leone 24,50 75 Kenya 24,75 -- Mexico 24,75 77 Venezuela 25,00 78 Kuwait 25,50 79 Guinea 26,00 80 India 26,50 81 Zambia 26,75 82 Palestinian National Authority 27,00 83 Guatemala 27,25 84 Malawi 27,67 85 Burkina Faso 27,75 86 Tajikistan 28,25 87 Chad 28,75 88 Cameroun 28,83 89 Morocco 29,00 -- Philippines 29,00 -- Swaziland 29,00 92 Israel 30,00 93 Angola 30,17 94 Guinea--Bissau 30,25 95 Algeria 31,00 96 Djibouti 31,25 97 Togo 31,50 98 Kyrgyzstan 31,75 99 Jordan 33,50 -- Turkey 33,50 101 Azerbaijan 34,50 -- Egypt 34,50 103 Yemen 34,75 104 Afghanistan 35,50 105 Sudan 36,00 106 Haiti 36,50 107 Ethiopia 37,50 -- Rwanda 37,50 109 Liberia 37,75 110 Malaysia 37,83 111 Brunei 38,00 112 Ukraine 40,00 113 Democratic Republic of the Congo 40,75 114 Colombia 40,83 115 Mauritania 41,33 116 Kazakhstan 42,00 117 Equatorial Guinea 42,75 118 Bangladesh 43,75 119 Pakistan 44,67 120 Uzbekistan 45,00 121 Russia 48,00 122 Iran 48,25 -- Zimbabwe 48,25 124 Belarus 52,17 125 Saudi Arabia 62,50 126 Syria 62,83 127 N�pal 63,00 128 Tunisia 67,75 129 Lybia 72,50 130 Irak 79,00 131 Viet Nam 81,25 132 Eritrea 83,67 133 Laos 89,00 134 Cuba 90,25 135 Bhutan 90,75 136 Turkmenistan 91,50 137 Burma 96,83 138 China 97,00 139 North Korea 97,50 Reporters Sans Frontieres
    http://www.chiafilm.com/ai.html

    Monday, October 21, 2002

    Mozilla Opera IE (very for the plugins occasionally) Mozilla on OSX has cooled up aparently; widgets now drawn natively. The latest version looses the colapsers...I thought it was a bug! Mail filtering has improved also, and the whole browser seems to be running faster.
    This is interesting reading: MEMRI

    Sunday, October 20, 2002

    "Will the top of the building be open to the public? No because it is intended for exclusive use by the tenants of the building and their guests as a corporate hospitality facility." Went to see this today....awesome.

    Saturday, October 19, 2002

    "Mr Bashir has avoided arrest partly because the government has no anti-terrorism laws under which he could be picked up with no evidence." hmmmmmmmmm; no arest without police state. The Age

    Friday, October 18, 2002

    you think THOSE haircuts are weird? This dude hangs around the brooklyn freakart scene and does these noiseart/haircut performances. free haircuts for the audience that are contact mic'd and amped up. i think i might get one tonight as he will be hanging around the DUMBO arts festival. check him out: http://www.chaircut.com
    Another music in a different Kitchen.
    D notice in effect.
    "We're also accepting rather blandly American support for a brutal military dictatorship in Pakistan which really *does* have nuclear weapons as well as the means to deliver them quite a distance. Why are we not disarming Pakistan? Why, for that matter, are we not disarming France? Or, perish the thought, ourselves?" EFF Founder John Perry Barlow
    No No No!
    THX1138 48B

    Thursday, October 17, 2002

    Dead Man Walkin!
    "Scholars in the ancient library are thought to have produced the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament; edited Homer's works; and found that Helios, the sun -- not Earth -- was the center of our galaxy." So says Salon

    Tuesday, October 15, 2002

    Akin, time to make 'Odessey Space A, 1002' Somebody beat you to it, Alun. However, you can chop it up anyway you want... which makes Kevin and Jennifer McCoy a step ahead of Anne McGuire.

    201: a space algorithm

    http://www.mccoyspace.com/201.html 201: A Space Algorithm is an online software program which provides methods of re-editing Kubrick's science-fiction classic. Running time is compressed or expanded, juxtapositions are generated synthetically, and shot selection becomes a collaboration between you and the computer. check out their other projects, too...
    Meet me here today...
    "Government's secret Celldar project will allow surveillance of anyone, at any time and anywhere there is a phone signal" The Guardian
    Lies Lies...
    "I used to think that when actors died on telly, they really died. But since I still got the concept of actors, I figured that the people who made the movies just gave the actors everything they wanted for a week, on the condition that they could kill them on film at the end. When I found out years later that this formed the basis for snuff films, I was outraged that they'd stolen my idea." "When I was young I met a man who said "BS" in almost every sentence. I asked my dad what BS meant. He told me it meant "Bachelor of Storytelling". It wasn't until several years later that I learned it meant bullshit." "When I was about five, I used to call pine cones "pine corns", and I thought they were edible, but the green ones on the tree weren't ripe, and the ones on the ground were too dirty to eat." http://www.iusedtobelieve.com/

    Monday, October 14, 2002

    http://eldred.cc/
    [...]Let us, therefore, start with the smallest things about him. He knows more, for one thing, than you could learn in the movies. In the movies, shooters routinely perform feats of marksmanship that are completely impossible in reality. They throw heavy rifles to their shoulders and snap off long-distance shots and people drop. They shoot from the hip, they hold the gun sideways, they shoot while somersaulting or flying through the air. That doesn't happen in the real world. So he's not a punk jerk who's couch-potatoed his life away in front of the VCR while cultivating zits, rejection and grievances. He knows a little something. He's not shooting from the hip or holding the gun sideways. He's not cracking out rounds and watching them hit and splash up dirt and debris.[...] Washinton Post

    Saturday, October 12, 2002

    STAY FREE'S ILLEGAL ART COMPILATION CD

    This free CD will be given away at exhibit events

    01 Negativland U2: Special Edit Radio Mix (5:46) 02 Biz Markie Alone Again (2:52) * 03 People Like Us Swinglargo (5:20) 04 Culturcide They Aren't the World (4:30) * 05 The Evolution Control Committee Rocked by Rape (4:28) 06 Beastie Boys Rock Hard (4:53) * 07 Dummy Run f.d.(1:23) 08 John Oswald black (2:01) 09 Corporal Blossom White Christmas (3:19) 10 Tape-beatles Reality of Matter (2:37) 11 Public Enemy Psycho of Greed (3:11) 12 The Verve Bittersweet Symphony (4:35) * 13 Wobbly Clawing Your Eyes Out Down to Your Throat (1:21) 14 De La Soul Transmitting Live from Mars (1:07) * 15 Buchanan and Goodman The Flying Saucer (4:18) * 16 The JAMs The Queen and I (4:50) * 17 Elastica Connection (2:20) * 18 Steinski and Mass Media The Motorcade Sped On (4:26)* 19 Invisibl Skratch Piklz white label edit (5:30) * 20 Xper.Xr Wu-chu-tung (1:43) 21 Boone Bischoff Happy Birthday To You (0:28) http://www.illegal-art.org/audio/liner.html

    Weena is the ultimate idealization of innocence. In the film Weena is a part of the Eloi race that is dominated by the Morlocks who live underground. Much like a child Weena is conditioned to go to the gates to the Morlock's lair when air sirens go off.

    Friday, October 11, 2002

    "Strain Andromeda, The" is, frankly, its one of the most astonishing films/works that I have ever experienced. This film is the closest you can get to experiencing time *in reverse*. When you reverse the direction of a film, the sound and action are unnatural. By taking the film apart scene by scene and re-assembling these scenes in reverse, the logic of the speech and motion remains intact, but the flow of time is still reversed. Its an unnerving and startling experience. I have seen The Andromeda Strain at least 30 times, and am intimately familiar with its plot and nuances. To see it in reverse was an idea that I was wary of, lest the film be "ruined" in some way for me. How wrong I was. The plot actually makes sense in reverse; which is a revelation; cosmologists and mathematicians have said that the universe works identically in both directions of time. Seeing this film makes it instictively clear that this assertion is absolutely true. One of the questions one immediately asks is, which direction is time running in for us? The Bible instructs us that God always describes the end of something at the beginning. When you watch this film, you get a small impression of what it would be like to be able to know the future like God does, watching the narrative ravel, instead of unravel, knowing the end before the beginning, being able to constantly say to the characters "I saw this come to pass; this is your fault for causing this to happen". Amazingly, the concept of free will is not broken by this backwards-time revelation; you can have free will even if time is running in reverse. What an amazing, revelatory, exhilarating experience. On a side note, the creator of this film sells popcorn at a theatre in the USA, and sometimes teaches in Art College. This unassuming, mild and humble person has made a breakthrough of quite simply staggering proportions. That she chose The Andromeda Strain simply because it is made up of cuts without cross fades, and that the end has a countdown is amazing, given that the plot of the film is perfect for this treatment, and another subject would not have had such a strong impact. If you are familiar with the William Burroughs "Creepy Letter" tape, you will know the part where he declares of mail just received, "let�s find out what it REALLY says". He then cuts up the letter with scissors, jumbles the pieces, re-assembles them and reads it back. The same "breaking through" effect happens in "Strain Andromeda, The", where the dialogue is cut up to reveal what the film isreally about. The speech of one scene dovetails perfectly with the one that would have preceded it, more often than not, making perfect grammatical sense. "Strain Andromeda, The" is ten years old. How it has escaped the attention of the world�s film makers and prize givers is a mystery to me. If you get a chance to see it, you would be ill advised to miss the opportunity.

    Democracy does not merit even two cheers now

    by ralph harris At one time I would have feared a Guardian headline along the lines: �Ageing peer joins Mugabe in rejecting democracy�. But the plain truth is that in retirement I no longer worry about The Guardian. I have found it increasingly difficult to repeat my life-long quip of �two cheers for democracy�. It�s not because I don�t like new Labour, which I don�t much. Yet even purged of its wilder delusions, Tony Blair�s manifesto attracted fewer votes than one in three of the electorate. Indeed, at no general election since 1945 has the winning party attracted 50 per cent of voters. But once a government is formed, it claims unlimited power to impose its whole programme on 100 per cent of the sovereign people. Let�s face it, the only serious argument for democracy is as a peaceful way of voting the rascals out; but it works only at the cost of letting in a different bunch of rascals. It may be a tolerable, way of deciding a limited number of major, yes-or-no issues such as war or peace, inflation or stability, protection or free trade. But a single vote between two or three parties every four or five years cannot simultaneously reflect the myriad personal preferences between schools, healthcare, pensions, and all the other �public�, that is politicised, services. As a safely retired professional economist I hereby declare �representative government� a fraud. It is certainly no substitute for the reality of self-government, by individuals shaping their own destiny in the competitive marketplace. As a Cambridge man, I take my stand with Professor Lionel (Lord) Robbins of the LSE. Fifty years ago Robbins upheld the market as a �perpetual referendum� in which we all vote pound by pound, day by day, between countless goods and services produced by unnumbered suppliers around the world � all competing in quality and price to satisfy their customers. Many offer a full money-back guarantee, and there are legal remedies against the misdescription of goods. Imagine such a recourse against all those fraudulent election pledges! Above all, markets give full representation for minorities. However eccentric your preferences � fancy waistcoats, Prescott look-alikes, an unsigned copy of Edward Heath�s collected speeches � there�ll be a supplier somewhere waiting to serve you, perhaps on the internet. To add insult to injury, the true majority � those who didn�t vote for government candidates � have to endure forcible feeding with �free� services they wouldn�t choose for themselves and have their pockets picked to pay the bill. Worse still, the voting system is distorted by the power of single-issue pressure groups. �One man one vote� conceals the reality of tightly organised interest groups exerting disproportionate influence over all the political parties. From America � the home of pork-barrel politics � two professors, Buchanan and Tullock, have subjected the shadier aspects of what they call �public choice� to rigorous analysis. Instead of accepting politicians as servants of �the public interest�, this analysis of politics studies the players as entrepreneurs operating in the political market. In place of the profit motive, they are moved by the vote motive. The party prospectus is cunningly drawn up to appeal to blocks of voters such as the old, sick, poor, nurses, single mothers, parents, teachers, anti-hunters, anti-smokers, trade unionists, motorists, cyclists, environmentalists, etc, etc. Too bad if pledges are inconsistent so long as they build up a coalition of interest groups to yield a working majority. In a recent hard-hitting Institute of Economic Affairs paper, Government: Whose Obedient Servant?, my life-long IEA colleague Arthur Seldon concludes: �Government values people as voters more than as customers.� Party men may start out with a mixture of ideals and career ambitions. Alas, the now almost unlimited scope for electioneering to buy votes with public cash must corrupt the relationship between politicians and the once sovereign people. This appeared in "The Times", and the author is the founder President of the Institute of Economic Affairs
    Do It, an online project curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist at http://www.e-flux.com This new edition includes more than 30 artists' instructions on many useful subjects ranging from how to "Bring About Regime Change in the United States by January 5, 2003", or "How to build a polycarbonate house. (16 square meters. kitchen/living, patio, sleeping room, toilet.)", to "How to obtain one kilogram of high quality cocaine in twenty steps with the best economy of materials)", as well as many other works by 23 artists. example: PABLO AZUL Out take... Cuckoo These instructions will enable you to create a low budget film, using top professional crews. Every time you see a shoot taking place in your city (especially commercials), stand-by, wait for the camera to roll... action!... walk into shot, play your scene and deliver your lines. Take down the details of the shot from the clapper board. Find out from the production office where the film is being edited. Contact the editor and ask for the out-take (an inducement of a bottle of Vodka might help). When you have collected all your footage assemble your film. (the martha rosler one is pretty impressive...)
    "The Congress has spoken clearly to the international community and the United Nations Security Council," Yes indeed, a group of ignorant motherfuckers has "spoken to the international community". Half of all congressmen DO NOT HAVE PASSPORTS; ie have NEVER LEFT THE CONTINENTAL USA, and yet, they can "speak to the international community".

    Thursday, October 10, 2002

    www.notbored.org
    http://www.eai.org/eai/tape.jsp?itemID=2115
    http://incident.net/works/networks/
    Digital content has exploded in the past ten years. DVD players are the most popular consumer electronics device of all time; CDs and MP3s have completely replaced analog formats; the internet offers unprecedented amounts of content to anyone with access to a computer. All of this is good news for the consumer. But there is a dark side to the growing availability of digital content. Even as the amount of available digital content is increasing, our rights to use that content are being stripped away. And these changes are occurring with very little input from the citizens who will be most affected. Hard to believe? Here are a few examples. * You buy a CD but can't take it to the gym. The Audio Home Recording Act legalized our right to copy music for personal use -- for example, making a tape of a CD to use in a Walkman. But new copyright legislation makes it a crime to extract music from copy-protected CDs. * You pay for cable but you aren't allowed to use your VCR. In the Betamax case, the Supreme Court ruled that making a copy of a TV show was a legal, non-infringing use of broadcast content. But new HDTV standards will make it illegal to copy a digital broadcast without the permission of the TV station. * You buy a DVD but you can't watch it the way you want to. It seems obvious that users should have the ability to fast-forward and rewind movies as they see fit. But new copyright laws threaten that right: it is a crime to sell a DVD player that would allow a consumer to fast-forward through the ads at the beginning of a DVD! * You own an electronic book, but you can't lend it to your son at college. Your right to lend a physical book is protected by the "first sale doctrine." This law states that purchasers of copyrighted works such as music or books have the right to dispose of the works in any way that they wish: they can sell them, loan them, rent them, or give them away. But new copyright laws criminalize all of those activities for digital content such as electronic books. (See Q&A 1.5, 1.6 for more details.) How did this happen? The answer is that recent changes to copyright laws have given increased power to the content industries at the expense of ordinary citizens. For most of the past 200 years, Congress and the courts maintained a careful balance between the rights of creators and the rights of citizens. Creators were given the sole right to profit from their works, but in exchange, citizens were given some degree of flexibility to use content that they owned. But over the past few years, that balance has shifted dramatically. The content industry now has unprecedented power in their ability to control the use of digital content, and consumers are left with almost no rights at all. Beyond the domain of personal media use, the increasing power of copyright laws has the potential to impact more fundamental issues: * Copyright laws can be used to stifle innovation by preventing reverse engineering -- the act of looking inside a product to see how it works. If today's copyright laws were in place two decades ago, it is unlikely that the personal computer industry would exist as we know it, since the development of IBM-compatible computers depended on reverse engineering. * Copyright laws are being used to prevent competition by forbidding interoperability -- the ability of software written by one company to work with software written by another company. If programming interfaces or protocols are protected by copyright, then competitors can no longer build compatible products. * Copyright laws are creating obstacles for libraries. Libraries depend on the ability to archive and loan content, but their rights have been severely limited in the digital domain. (See Q&A 5.3, 5.5 for more details.) We believe that recent changes to copyright law have gone too far by depriving citizens of rights that they had for almost two centuries. Our goal is simply to restore the balance of copyright law so that artists and creators can prosper while citizens have reasonable flexibility to use content in fair and legal ways. That's why we're proposing a Consumer Technology Bill of Rights. The bill is a simple, positive assertion of the rights that consumers have had until recently. These include: * The right to "time-shift" media (recording a TV show and watching it later). * The right to "space-shift" media (copying a CD to a portable MP3 player). * The right to make backup copies of your media. Does this mean that we support the theft of digital content? Absolutely not. Stealing music or movies is (and always has been) illegal. We do not support or condone theft. DigitalConsumer.org is trying to restore the balance between citizens and copyright holders. For more information, please read the complete Consumer Technology Bill of Rights or our list of answers to frequently asked questions. http://digitalconsumer.org/
    The other day I wanted to listen to a song I remember from my youth. I took the old vinyl record out of its sleeve and put it on my aging turntable. I gently dropped the needle onto the appropriate track, and out came the music, but it was way too fast. It seems my turntable broke, and now plays everything at exactly 45 rpm instead of 33. Bummer! It was a slow song and I wanted it slow. Luckily, I found I had another copy of the same song that the record company that owned the rights to the song had released (the CD was "Greatest Folksingers of the 'Sixties"). Much nicer. Unfortunately, they had only included that one song -- I couldn't play any of the others I wanted from the original album. I'll have to try to fix my turntable. This got me to thinking about preserving old works of composers, musicians, authors, and other creative individuals. How does that preserving come about and will today's works produced on digital media last into the future? http://www.bricklin.com/robfuture.htm
    Detailed Analysis of October 7 Speech by Bush on Iraq

    Wednesday, October 09, 2002

    Tuesday, October 08, 2002

    Environmentalists Identify New Menace: Discarded Cellphones

    By 2005, the report estimates, 130 million cellphones will be thrown out each year. Counting the phones, batteries and chargers, that comes to 65,000 tons a year, the report said. Although some phones may just stay unused in desk drawers, the report said, most will end up in landfills or being incinerated.
    [...]We�d have the greatest way to distribute free information and no new free information to distribute.[...] [... The backdrop of the Eldred case is a concentrated effort by Hollywood to blunt the impact of the Internet. There�s a sense of deja vu to this. Television was supposed to be the death of movies. And in 1982, the film industry�s silver-tongued lobbyist Jack Valenti testified that �the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone.� (Video sales are now the studios� biggest moneymaker.) Naturally, Hollywood regards the computer/Internet combo as scarier than �Nightmare on Elm Street.�[...] MSNBC
    From: "Ayn Rand Institute Media" Date: Mon Oct 7, 2002 8:10:04 PM US/Eastern To: Subject: WOULD-BE INTELLECTUAL VANDALS GET THEIR DAY IN THE SUPREME COURT Reply-To: davidh@heroic.aynrand.org (David Holcberg) Op-Ed from the Ayn Rand Institute WOULD-BE INTELLECTUAL VANDALS GET THEIR DAY IN THE SUPREME COURT Those who are spearheading the current legal challenge to the copyright law favor intellectual cannibalism masquerading as creativity and free speech. By Amy Peikoff, J.D. In 1998 Congress, pursuant to its Constitutional power to determine the duration of federal copyright protection, passed a law extending the term of that protection by 20 years. This law brought United States copyright protection in line with that already afforded in Europe. In addition, as the average life expectancy in the United States now exceeds 70 years, the law brings copyright protection in line with the legal vehicle for the posthumous control of tangible property--the law of testamentary trusts, which bases the term of such control on a human lifespan. Despite the reasonableness of this law, Stanford professor Lawrence Lessig is spearheading a legal challenge to it, culminating in his argument before the Supreme Court this Wednesday. Lessig, who seems to have become, in the words of New York Times writer Amy Harmon, "a rock star for the digital liberties set," is expected to argue that the law is "overly restrictive of the free-speech rights of would-be users of copyrighted material that previously would have been in the public domain." In recent decades we have already seen the "right to free speech" extended to mean the "right" to be provided with a free platform for one's speech. Anyone who dares to be successful enough to own a property where the public enjoys gathering--e.g., a shopping mall--is for that reason compelled to allow people to speak on that property. "Free" speech thus means: free of any need to earn one's own physical instrumentalities or audience, or even to pay for the right to borrow someone else's achievements. Lessig would have the Supreme Court extend this perversion of free speech to mean: free of any need to pay for the borrowing of someone else's greatest achievement: original thought. Or worse: free of any need sufficiently to digest that original thought so as to be able to put it into one's own words. Appropriating and parroting the creation of others is now, according to Lessig, "free speech." Lessig and his allies try to downplay what they are doing by making it an issue of finances. They say things like, "the copyright law used to restrict only big business, which is fine--but now it restricts anyone who has access to the Internet." "Only 2 percent of works protected by copyright," they go on, "create a regular stream of income for their creators." Translation: only a small minority of "non-little" people will be hurt by repealing this law, so why not do it? This attack on money, success and big business--no doubt another symptom of the "Enron" era--is shameful and Marxist. How is the Court, as Lessig demands, to "balance the interests" of original thinkers against those for whom "creativity" consists of cannibalizing--and even vandalizing--the products of others' thought? The government is expected to argue--properly--that the Supreme Court cannot arbitrarily impose a definition of "limited times." In other words, the power to set an appropriate time period for copyright protection lies with Congress. Congress has clearly been reasonable in its exercise of that power. The other main argument offered by supporters of the 1998 law is that, in the long run, the law will promote creative work, and thus the national welfare, by offering higher profits to those who invest in it. This argument--based on the "public good" standard--is intellectually bankrupt and doomed to failure. Opponents simply counter that more creativity will be fostered by allowing people to obtain and build upon existing works. Many "conservatives," such as Milton Friedman, use the same "public good" standard to argue that the incremental economic payoff provided by the 1998 law is not significant enough to encourage creativity. Anyone who raises the standard of the "public good" in this context had better be ready to have his rights in any field adjudicated according to the latest iteration of Jeremy Bentham's utilitarian calculus. In practice, this means according to the premises, preferences, and whims of the judge sitting before him. An artist or intellectual is often not only or even primarily concerned to reap the monetary benefits of his works; in addition, he wants to be sure that the integrity of the work is protected against mutilation as long as possible. This is especially true if the work conveys an important artistic or philosophic message. If those in the "digital liberties set" plan to have a field day with others' works of creative genius--bastardizing them into whatever fragments they find appealing, adding any distorting content they choose, then blasting the results all over the internet--what is the point of trying to convey to the world one's own vital viewpoint? What is the reward offered for trying painstakingly to create one's vision of truth or of the ideal universe, and to invite readers to share in it, if our nation's highest court gives Lessig's gang a formal sanction to practice intellectual vandalism on the finished product?
    Quaoar

    Monday, October 07, 2002

    Uh oh!
    http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rosbobos
    I listen to WFMU most of the day, and read the playlists when something interests me. These playliststs are updated as the shows progress, in real time. Obviously you can highlight and search for any of the music that you hear. It occured to me that if there was something to buy at the end of each search, it would be worth it to the record companies to allow radio stations to play/stream music for free, since the playlists drive trafic to the labels site. hmmmmmmm
    http://www.deadbeat.dk/music/records/destroy.htm
    T-Model Ford
    The Cascaid Form has studied your responses, and calculated that you are best suited to the following careers. Tinker Urban Cobbler Murderer's Spouse huh? what? its - my - beat!

    Saturday, October 05, 2002

    Strain Andromeda, The A M G S T R A I N is freely available software written by Barbara Lattanzi, 2002. It was developed within the authoring environment of Macromedia Director and includes the Director runtime engine. (The source code written for the core action of "AMG STRAIN" software is available separately at the website -- see download page). Visit wildernesspuppets.net website to download PC and Mac versions of "AMG STRAIN" software: http://www.wildernesspuppets.net/strain/ A M G S T R A I N is based on the structural algorithm conceived by Anne McGuire (AMG) for her deconstructive videotape, "Strain Andromeda, The" (1992). McGuire's "Strain Andromeda, The" detourns the Hollywood feature film, "The Andromeda Strain" (directed by Robert Wise, 1972), which closely follows the novel of the same name (written by Michael Crichton, 1968)... A M G S T R A I N translates McGuire's structural algorithm by dividing the viewer-selected quicktime video into variable length segments and playing back the segments in reverse order.

    Friday, October 04, 2002

    http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0239/koerner.php
    Copy of the Arabic version of a leaflet dropped in Iraq, launching a U.S. propaganda war. Coalition forces dropped thousands of leaflets over southern Iraq Thursday Oct. 3, 2002, warning forces of Saddam Hussein against firing on British and U.S. planes that have been patrolling the no-fly zone. Iraqi forces fired on the plane that was delivering the leaflets and allied forces bombed an air defense operations center in response, said officials at the U.S. Central Command. (AP Photo/US Central Command)

    Thursday, October 03, 2002

    Did you mean:bullfights

    Homeless Men Suing Creators Of "Bumfights"
    KVBC, NV - 2 hours ago
    Two homeless men who took part in the infamous "Bumfights" tape are
    now suing the creators of the video. Donald Brennan and Rufus ...

    2 men in 'Bumfights' video sue producers - San Diego Union Tribune
    US homeless men sue makers of 'Bumfights' video - South China Morning Post (subscription)
    Homeless Men Sue 'Bumfights' Makers - Newsday
    It would do you well to hear this man and his acoustic guitar spin tales of a modern epic variety. be sure that his stop in NYC will be attended by yours truly.
    Cock Rock Disco some of the mp3s are out of control in that lets-cut-up-our-old-records-and-make-them-new kind of a way.

    Wednesday, October 02, 2002

    P�NURY?

    This is sprayed on a wall in 6 foot high letters near Old Street.
    I've seen Strain Andromeda The twice. The first i walked into a screening at the end and recognized the film as the Andromeda Strain, but something seemed a bit strange. The original film does have a unique feeling, but it seemed that expressions of horror were being given BEFORE they were happening, answers before questions, &c. i knew this as the begininng of the film, and finally i got what was happening and then it was over. the second time I was prepared and was quite into how well the film worked in a reverse sequence. it is not "re-assembled scene by scene" as told in that posting, but SHOT BY SHOT. really quite extraordinary.
    Peter Gabriel's company has organised the campaign.

    And the BBC readers have spoken:

    It's still too expensive. If I pay for music I want to be able to copy it to CD, the fees quoted indicate a charge of �1 per song to enable you to do that. Albums costing �10 at the supermarket usually have more than 10 tracks so the maths doesn�t add up. On top of that they have none of the CD manufacturing & distribution costs nor do they have to lose a cut to the record stores � the record industry is still being too greedy. Olli, London No, why should I when I can get CD or even DVD quality for free with unlimited download? Legitimate sites also don't offer the huge variety that is available on peer2peer networks. Jame, England *** And the inevitable shill: *** I think it is a great idea and would be happy to pay to download high quality digital recordings. I am not interested in illegal copies, and downloading is much easier than getting to a shop to buy the music. As it states in your article, people do not know such services exist, and even though I know they exist, I don't know which providers are reputable. More advertising is needed, and at �4.99 per month it is great value! Clare, UK *** Gosh, we would never have spotted THAT one! *** Let's see if I understand this correctly. They are generously offering me the opportunity to burn a CD at the cost of �1 per track. With a typical CD consisting of 10 or more track, I'm being offered the opportunity to pay over �10 for a CD i.e. the same as now, whilst the record companies cream off the savings they get from having no distribution network as pure profit. Sounds like the the vinyl to CD price rise scam yet again. They just don't get it do they? When they finally get around to offering us the opportunity to purchase music for just the cost of the copyright and publishing royalties, they might finally hit on a winner. Was, UK Well, it's okey to use pay sites if they actually have the music that you want to download. The world is made up of a LOT more music that Britney Spears and Westlife, try and download anything that isn't mainstream from an official site and you'll draw a blank. The unregulated file share applications are the only place to find music and spoken word that the big labels don't advertise, the shops don't sell, or are so old that nobody has copyright on the material any more. Mr E Machine, England This is just another disgusting trick from people rich enough to know better. Joanne, England Why should I pay �5 for the ability to download five songs from a possible 110,000 songs, when I can download 110,000 songs for free elsewhere?? It is time for record companies to stop being greedy and reduce the prices of CDs, and pay the artists a larger proportion. Just look what happend to TLC - biggest selling female band, who had to declare bankruptcy. Anon, UK Useless - none of the sites work with Macs! John Bloor, UK \/\/\/ SHILL SHILL SHILL! \/\/\/ Many of the pirate sites stink - Napster came a cropper and many of the files are infected. I'm going to give the legal sites a go! Simon, UK ^^^ SHILL SHILL SHILL! ^^^ When I see Peter Gabriel busking on the street for money, then I will stop downloading. Nicole, U.K.
    Changes the Sexual Taste and Scent of the Male Body Secretion: If you want to enhance your oral sex life and surprise your over with a fantastic new experience, then Sweet release� masculine formula is for you! Sweet Release� is a dietary supplement, when taken twice a day, will within 7 to 28 days change the scent and taste of your semen. Your semen will change from an unpleasant salty flavor to a delicious apple flavor. Sweet Release� is a 100% natural herbal and totally vegetarian food supplement specifically developed for men. There is not a product like this anywhere! Sweet Release
    http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/4186846.htm Security agency selects San Diego firm for help sorting data 30 Sep 2002 SAN DIEGO (AP) - The largest U.S. intelligence agency will spend millions to upgrade the technology it uses to sift through the huge volume of telephone conversations, e-mail and other worldwide communications chatter it monitors, under a new contract. The National Security Agency has signed a $282 million contract with Science Applications International Corp. of San Diego to help develop a more refined system for culling useful intelligence from a flood of data it collects daily. Officials disclosed the 26-month contract on Monday. Most details about it are classified, as is most information about the security agency. But analysts said the deal reflects the growing challenge of electronic eavesdropping. ``There's a ton more communications out there and how to sift through that is an increasing problem for the NSA,'' said Richard A. Best Jr. of the Congressional Research Service. The advent of e-mail, pagers, cellular phones, fax machines and the growth of international telephone service has left the NSA with ``profound 'needle-in-a-haystack' challenges,'' Best said. The Sept. 11 attacks underscored the need for such monitoring. Among the millions of communications intercepts the NSA collected on Sept. 10, 2001 were two Arabic-language messages warning of a major event the next day. The Arabic messages were not translated until Sept. 12. Two years ago, the Fort Meade, Md.-based security agency launched what it calls the ``Trailblazer'' program to use commercial technology to help it keep pace with the growth in global communications. SAIC could be in line for additional lucrative NSA contracts if the agency decides to buy its solution. The company referred all questions on the contract to the NSA. The NSA, part of the Defense Department, has in recent years been taking advantage of advances in the commercial sector. --

    Tuesday, October 01, 2002

    http://www.minya98.freeserve.co.uk/pages/sounds/format.html
    ART / FILM STRAIN ANDROMEDA THE Friday 4 October (7pm)@ Whitechapel, 80-82 Whitechapel High St., E1 (020.7522.7888) Tube: Aldgate East Price: general �5 | concessions �3.50 Links: Whitechapel | Film Comment On Anne McGuire | The Andromeda Strain As part of "a programme of rarely seen work and cutting edge film", American video artist Anne McGuire is personally presenting her Andromeda Strain The at The Whitechapel gallery. Film this love you'll backwards it like you if. That gives you a rough idea of what this is all about. Andromeda Strain The is the 1971 Robert Wise film The Andromeda Strain painstakingly taken apart and re-assembled scene by scene starting at the end and finishing at the beginning. This may sound like the work of a mad-woman, but hidden poignancy can be revealed when a narrative unfolds in reverse with action preceding motivation. Anyone who's read Martin Amis' Time's Arrow, will be familiar with the technique and reviews indicate that Mcguire's film is worth the effort... just don't arrive late or you'll miss the end.
    Oh my
    "That's absolute resolute rubbish,"
    Who is Linus Ingoldsby?
    Amazingly,Varuna is in Celestia. More
    WTF? Varuna?

    Music Co.s to Pay $67.4 Million in Price-Fixing Case

    NEW YORK (Reuters) - The five largest music companies and the three largest music retailers will pay $67.4 million in cash to settle a CD price fixing case launched by New York and Florida two years ago, State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said on Monday. [...] Reuters USA Today
    Where is your 500 word report AT?
    hmmmmm
    Did you know that foriegn students coming to the UK have had to register with the police upon arrival at thier place of residence? This was certainly true in the '80s. America survived Mcarthyism; it may well survive this, and hopefully come out stronger (more sensible) when the insanity retreats.