Monday, September 30, 2002

Farenheit 451 speak written at BBC Newsround. News for kids. "You say you like to steal music. Stealing is wrong. You say you do it anyway." Bizzarre!
and btw: in canada the liberals(liberal party) ARE right wing. opposite of the states. nelly? nelly frittata? yo, i just nelly foo'. = pathetic. britney? britney jeers? no just britney tramp ho tramp looser shithead. m.elliot? no, just i am idiot. though thankfully i have never heard of you, you still get pittied. mellyfrittataidiot spears?
rush are jackasses but they didn't use to be. so sad when people fall off and try to be brainny or when they show their true stupid colors as clearly as general tzo's chicken. his lyrics always sucked too but 2112 was dope. and before that they sucked. moving pics = killer and the next one. but roll the bones is total shit. everything just went down the hill faster and faster. the ramones though never sucked, ever!! they rule the wasteland of crap music from the domain of pure dopeness!!!?!® so that top dragon toy you posted akin has made it into our lives apparently. what a sad device, so wastefull; like dog fighting for kids. very sad again, just like rush. when i was a kid in philly we use to play a great game!! we would fill bottle caps with hot street tar(ooh yeah baby!) and smooth the tar accross the bottle cap top until it hardened. you end up with a smooth "flickable" tar filled cap. then with chalk we would draw a large box segmented into smaller boxes on the street with numbers in them. not in order though so it was harder. then you would try to flick the tarcap like a marble or something to get it into the next numbered square. you could also try to bounce the other players cap out of the board so they would have to start over. now that is a game!! healthy and resourceful just like skateboarding. which is incredibly healthy for kids.....and the rest of us! jamie oliver is fucking lame and i now truly hate him. he can take that pink set he has and shove it into his gf. harsh but when you cook for firemen and your "mates" just off of work i feel like slapping you with a glove and kicking you in the nuts oliver. i want tickets to a j.o. taping if poss or i at least want to egg his house. anyone down?? let's egg jamie oliver. in the immortal words of steve martin: comedy is not pretty. speaking of comedians, if he is one, i also wish a horrible life on jerry "whinner" seinfeld. he sucks badly with his central park east apt. i also want to egg it but it's up to high off the street so i may find his local grocer up by the movie theater on 6th ave and 60 whatever street and egg him too. your upper east side spolied whinner yell comedy sucks terribly jerry. egg. ayn rand is a cult who needs to be stopped!!!! i saw maryln manson on letterman a couple of years ago and he came across like a rambunctious 15year old. he is sad. i feel bad for his lost life. the minutemen however were the real deal. they are also members of the domain of pure dopeness. mr. johnny cash is the king of that domain. it is what it is. good night all and love to the most special girl in the world. you know who you are. i earth wuv you. ;)
From the zeropaid forum, re the Billboard Poll/RIAA "no downloading" *point gun down shoot bullet in foot* campaign headed by B.Spears/M.Elliot/Nelly: "Rush's drummer is an Objectivist. The Objectivist version of a free market involves recognizing Intellectual Property. Ayn Rand never noticed the inherent contradiction in trying to enforce both free speech and intellectual property simultaneously. So that's why Rush is on the list. What a bunch of idiots." "lets see here: Britney Spears - People are downloading your nude pics, not your songs you washed up whore Brian Wilson - sorry noone listens to the Bitch Boys anymore Eminem - no sane person would want to download your bull$h1t anyway Stevie Wonder - not even the oldies station plays your $h1t anymore Shakira - I bought your latest cd because I DOWNLOADED your spanish cds, and bought them too. Lets see if I buy your next one, bitch. Madonna - only 40 year old fags like your music. P.O.D. - too $h1tty for me to comment on Marilyn Manson - same as POD 3 Doors Down - damn another $h1tty band. Bare Naked Ladies - there goes all respect I had for BNL. Elton John - HAHAHA. Who downloads his $h1t? Gene Simmons: you used to be cool.. 30 years ago. Hootie and the Blowfish: I doubt even their moms listen to that $h1t anymore. Vanessa Carlton: way to go, Michelle Branch ripoff. People only bought your cd because it cost $5. Rush: jackasses. Wallflowers: how can such a cool guy raise such a moronic kid?"

Sunday, September 29, 2002

Eerie winner: N.Y. lottery draws 911 on Sept. 11

Associated Press ALBANY, N.Y. -- Officials say it was just a coincidence, but many people found it chilling nonetheless: On the anniversary of Sept. 11, the winning numbers in the New York lottery were 9-1-1. Lottery officials said Thursday that 5,631 people had selected the tragic numbers. They won $500 each. "The numbers were picked in the standard random fashion using all the same protocols," said lottery spokeswoman Carolyn Hapeman. "It's just the way the numbers came up." The 9-1-1 combination was picked so often, it reached the lottery's set limit for combinations and sold out by Tuesday evening, Hapeman said. On any given day, seven to 10 sets of numbers are "closed out," she said. For the drawing, which is televised live, the lottery uses numbered balls circulating in a machine. When host Jolanda Vega pushes three levers, three balls pop up randomly. On Wednesday evening, there wasn't the slightest trace of a quaver in Vega's voice as she read out: "Nine ... one ... one." There is a 1-in-1,000 chance of the numbers 9-1-1 coming up in the lottery. "I'm a bit surprised, but I wouldn't characterize it as bizarre," said Christopher Rump, a probability expert at the University of Buffalo. "People tend to read into these things. I'm sure that whatever numbers come up tonight will have some special meaning to someone, somewhere." Lottery players said the eerie number sequence didn't make them think the draw was rigged. "It's not that unusual," said Bob Matusiak, who bought a ticket Thursday at a convenience store. A similar coincidence occurred Nov. 12 when the numbers 5-8-7 came up in the New Jersey lottery the day American Airlines Flight 587 crashed in New York City. Lottery ticket vendors said some people seemed reluctant to try their luck on the sequence even as they bet on it. "I think some people were disgusted with the idea of playing that number because it represents a black day in the history of America," Farzad Khosravi said. Hapeman said Wednesday was the first time in more than a year that the 9-1-1 combination had come up in the New York lottery.
trying to carry a wet matress up a spiral staricase... trying to staple jello to a ceiling...
and since its been long since blogged off the edge: http://www.nyfairuse.org/

The last words of the Music Monopoly

Britney Spears, Multi-Platinum Award Winning Artist "Ooops! I Did It Again": "Would you go into a CD store and steal a CD? It�s the same thing, people going into the computers and logging on and stealing our music. It�s the exact same thing, so why do it?" Eminem, Grammy Award Winning Rapper: "I'm sorry; when I worked 9 to 5, I expected to get a paycheck every week. It's the same with music; if I'm putting my heart and all my time into music, I expect to get rewarded for that. I work hard and anybody can just throw a computer up and download my music for free. It could kill the whole purpose of making music. It's not just about the money�It's the thrill of going to the store; you can't wait till that artist's release date, taking the wrapper off the CD and putting the CD in to see what it sounds like. I've seen those little sissies on TV, talking about how 'The working people should just get music for free,' I've been a working person. I never could afford a computer, but I always bought and supported the artists that I liked. I always bought a Tupac CD, a Biggie CD, a Jay-Z CD. If you can afford a computer, you can afford to pay $16 for my CD." Wall of Sound � May 17, 2000 http://www.musicunited.org
how the fuck does that work? Bang. Boom.

Saturday, September 28, 2002

thank god for ERD commander. http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q305228

! TOTDOMOKUN !

TOTC !=SCAM!

I have been personally informed by the creator of that site that the files for the TOTC WERE deleted by the ISP, and that they have been restored AGAINST the wishes of the police! Taken from the "come get me" page on the site: Host Europe, acting for the Obscene Publications Unit, agreed to reconnect my web server on the strict condition that I did not to attempt to put thinkofthechildren.co.uk back up in its original form (which is exactly what I have done). I have been warned by both the Met. and Host Europe that if I reactivate thinkofthechildren.co.uk it will be closed down immediately. Again. I have taken the decision to ignore this threat and to reactivate the site in order to force the police to obtain a formal warrant for its closure. I am hoping that Host Europe value their reputation amongst the Internet community enough to avoid taking the site down (again) until such a warrant is obtained. If the site should suddenly vanish from the Internet, I would be delighted if anyone wants to set up a mirror. The more the merrier. Please download the current .zip archive of the site here, unpack the archive and read the readme.txt file. NTK backpedals furiously: Posted on http://www.ntk.net [...] [ UPDATE: NTK would like to clarify that we do not believe - as may have been implied by other sites - that the takedown of www.thinkofthechildren.co.uk was faked or some sort of PR "stunt". We have no reason to disbelieve their own account of it: http://www.thinkofthechildren.co.uk/metfax.shtml , given some ISPs' enthusiasm for pulling pages nowadays. Plus, we've been asked to point out that the site is "entirely unconnected" with email newsletter THE FRIDAY THING, and is a personal project of one of its editors, hence the similar mailing list and web hosting setups. We still think that individuals hoping to enlist public sympathy in cases like these should be more forthcoming in disclosing potentially relevant info - but hey, memo to self: check AUP before posting from work account. http://www.thinkofthechildren.co.uk/ - back again now. And good luck to 'em! ] [...] Time to get some new batteries for the scamometer MB... $paul_car_bottle ++

SCAM SCAM SCAM!

"Did anyone else notice that the little pop-up mailing list window connects to a site called the friday thing, whose copyright notice goes to AllTheThings whose "...team includes writers from Channel 4, The Guardian, The Observer, The Evening Standard, Cosmopolitan and many more"? Looks more like someone trying to drum up they're own publicity." Says a Metafilterer From NTK: >> HARD NEWS << wandering clues To be honest, we could probably have guessed who was behind spoof "concerned parents" site THINKOFTHECHILDREN.CO.UK, shut down this week for allegedly "inciting mob violence". It's a familar M.O.: the heavy-handed satirical sideswipes, the cultivated sense of moral outrage, the studious collecting of email addresses. (No, not us, you idiots. Well, not this time.) Oh, and the fact that he mailed us saying he doesn't want people to think he just set it up as PR for another site that he does. Well, as readers of METAFILTER pointed out, if you don't want people to jump to that conclusion, it might be best to avoid putting a link to it in the source to your popup window. And maybe try using different nameservers in the whois record too? if this is a traffic hose scam, its misfired; the site is back up, restored by the person who created the site. This means that his/her ISP didnt n00k the account, and that it was deleted voluntarily which is different from being "taken down" by the authorities. In the UK, there is a term, named "bottle", which can be freely substituted for the word courage. If you are going to do a site loaded with Nitro Glycerine like thinkofthechildren, then you need to have lots of bottle to carry it through to the end. Chris Morris is an example of a dude with LOTS of bottle. Nothing to see here, move along!
THESE RECORDS

Friday, September 27, 2002

http://www.thinkofthechildren.co.uk/ Think of the Children: Taken Down by THE METROPOLITAN POLICE!!!! What sort of weak minded, lilly livered ignorant vermin would think that that site was anything but humor? The mind boggles....
The Guardian's British Blog of the year.
Andromeda Strain! I've been hunting for a copy of the soundtrack on vinyl for ages.... I have a mint copy. It is in a thick silver cover, with a huge embossed hexagon, streching over the entire face. I paid 25 for it in the '80s. "Howdy..." "Howdy Doody!"
http://www.goldmark.org/jeff/stupid-disclaimers/

Who? (revised)

SECRET DR SHOE ERECTS HORDES HE ERECTS RODS DOS ERECTS HER ERECT HERDS SO ERECT DRESS HO DR ERECT HOSES OCHRE DESERTS TORCHES DEERSS CHROEDER SET CROSSED ETHER (creep the ether feather!) SECRET HORDES TORCH SEEDERS COSH DESERTER
A BLDG I LO A BLDG OIL A BOLD GIL A BOD GILL A BIG DOLL A GIB DOLL A GLIB OLD A GLOB LID A BOG DILL A BOG LDL I A GOB DILL A GOB LDL I A LIB GOLD A BILL DOG A BILL GOD A BOLL DIG A LOB GILD DAB GIL LO DAB GO ILL BAD GIL LO BAD GO ILL ADLIB LOG BALD LOG I GAB LID LO GAB DOLL I GAB DO ILL BAG LID LO BAG DOLL I BAG DO ILL GLOBAL ID BALI GOLD BAIL GOLD LAB DIG LO LAB GOLD I LAB ID LOG LAB LID GO LAB DO GIL ALB DIG LO ALB GOLD I ALB ID LOG ALB LID GO ALB DO GIL BALL DOG I BALL GOD I BALL ID GO BOLA GILD AD GLIB LO AD BOG ILL AD GOB ILL AD LIB LOG AD BILL GO AD LOB GIL DAG LIB LO DAG BOLL I GAD LIB LO GAD BOLL I ALGID LOB GLAD BOIL GLAD LOB I GOLDA LIB GOAD BILL DALI GLOB DIAL GLOB LAID GLOB LAD BIG LO LAD GIB LO LAD GLOB I LAD LIB GO LOAD GLIB GILA BOLD GAIL BOLD GAL BID LO GAL BOLD I GAL LIB DO GAL LOB ID LAG BID LO LAG BOLD I LAG LIB DO LAG LOB ID GALL BOD I ALGOL BID AI BLDG LO ALL BID GO ALL BIG DO ALL GIB DO ALL BOG ID ALL GOB ID LAO BLDG I

Death Rattle

EasyInternetCafe - the high street Internet caf� chain - is to protest outside the High Court in London tomorrow against the threat of a gagging order from the music industry. The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is to apply for an injunction against both easyInternetCafe and the easyGroup from publicly discussing the ongoing battle between the two parties. The row centres on a demand from the music industry for �100,000 in lost revenues after it claimed easyInternet Cafe allowed people to burn music onto CDs. When the BPI first launched its complaint it had demanded an eye-watering �1m. Originally the BPI warned easyInternet Cafe that it would get "bad PR" (shurely 'far more customers?' - Ed) if it became public knowledge that easyInternetCafe customers had been downloading music files protected by copyright onto CDs in its stores. But easyInternet Cafe claims it's got nothing to hide, and even opened its doors for the BPI to check its computer records. It also maintains it stopped allowing people to burn CDs a year ago. Said the company in a statement: "Now the BPI have done an about-turn and are attempting to gag easyInternetCafe from discussing anything further, presumably because they are embarrassed that it has become public knowledge they have tried to extort as much as �1 million from easyInternetCafe" So, tomorrow easyGroup boss, Stelios, and a bunch of loyal workers will dress up in orange boiler suits and take part in a public protest outside the High Court. They will carry banners that will defend their right to free speech by declaring: "We will not be gagged". They will also run with placards calling for the "music industry cartel" to stop "milking the consumer with their over-priced products". Oh, and they'll also call for the legalisation of music downloads. Sounds like it could be a real hoot. � http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/27286.html

Thursday, September 26, 2002

Profits from piracy

"Evidence is mounting that cracking down on software copyright infringement may not be good for business." Of course, we have all been saying this for years. OS "piracy" and copying is GOOD for everyone, because a large percentage of people "convert" to paying customers; the more copies you have distributed, the more chance you have of getting a conversion. The same goes for music obviously. Anyone who doesnt understand this, is simply on another planet, or a "Slave 4U" :] Article on Salon
it's because I'm bored out of my skull running samples through a machine I couldnt find a picture of the "No growth" sample from "The Andromeda Strain" so this one will have to do Alun!

Suggested by "2 in Touch"

H30 M25
Creative Commons, developed by Lawrence Lessig, provides a technological means through which content creators can publish their work unconstrained by current copyright restrictions. It's an ambitious project requiring complicated protocols that let authors tag their works as publicly available and help readers locate and reuse those works. "It's a conservancy, like a land trust, where people can get access to content in the public domain that otherwise wouldn't be there," says Lessig.
from that Larry Lessig article in Wired: In Article 1, Section 8, the founding fathers not only instructed Congress what to do regarding copyright � secure "for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries" � but also stated why they should do it ("to promote the progress of science and useful arts"). Of course, Lessig's complaint includes the idea that Congress' continual extensions make a mockery of the word "limited" (one professor called it perpetual ownership "on the installment plan"). But the main thrust of Lessig's argument rests on the fact that, as with previous extensions, the Copyright Term Extension Act not only grants new copyright holders a longer term of exclusivity, it grandfathers in previous works. A retroactive extension of copyright clearly violates the Constitution. In Lessig's view, the wigheads in Philadelphia had laid out a bargain for creators of intellectual property: We want you to develop original art and science, so we'll give you an incentive � a temporary monopoly on the use of your work. In theory, this means that Walt Disney would lay out the money to make a cartoon knowing that he'd have a certain number of years to collect the royalties. Yet granting Walt (or his heirs) a longer period for works created before most of us were born doesn't promote progress; Steamboat Willie is already here. Obviously, a retroactive extension can't provide an incentive � "Gershwin isn't going to write any more music," notes Lessig. To the contrary, the cause of "art and science" actually suffers under retroactive extensions, because works that otherwise would have been returned to the public are kept in private hands.
http://www.hereinreality.com/carlyle.html Now Try this google search.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-959544.html University bans controversial links By Declan McCullagh September 25, 2002, 4:13 PM PT The University of California at San Diego has ordered a student organization to delete hyperlinks to an alleged terrorist Web site, citing the recently enacted USA Patriot Act. School administrators have told the group, called the Che Cafe Collective, that linking to a site supporting the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) would not be permitted because it violated federal law. [...]
[...] Ritter dismissed the arguments put forth by President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair as ``speculation and rhetoric and unsubstantiated intelligence.'' ``You're asking people to go off and fight and die for their nation. We have to make sure it's for a worthy cause, not because someone has a grudge against Saddam Hussein,'' Ritter said. ``The concept of going to war on secret evidence without putting that evidence out there is absurd.'' http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/national/ritt09262002.htm
nice one bmoney grip. hey guess where i am? work of course. fk'd isn't it?? saunderson for pres!! h.e. double honkey sticks(ah canadian humour) i'm serious. pres kms. think about it. btw: the only reason i am not at home snuggling with my far better half is because snmp sucks!!!

Wednesday, September 25, 2002

tripl33ts: cruise missle toe critical mass spectrometer yeah to al gore. anyone who wrote such a book as he deserves full and total respect. it's ashame the coup pushed this man out of office. yes, that's right: COUP!! pretzelman can suck a big egg.
Tom Cruise Missile
"By shifting from his early focus after September 11th on war against terrorism to war against Iraq, the President has manifestly disposed of the sympathy, good will and solidarity compiled by America and transformed it into a sense of deep misgiving and even hostility. In just one year, the President has somehow squandered the international outpouring of sympathy, goodwill and solidarity that followed the attacks of September 11th and converted it into anger and apprehension aimed much more at the United States than at the terrorist network - - much as we manage to squander in one year's time the largest budget surpluses in history and convert them into massive fiscal deficits. He has compounded this by asserting a new doctrine - - of preemption." "Far more damaging, however, is the Administration's attack on fundamental constitutional rights. The idea that an American citizen can be imprisoned without recourse to judicial process or remedies, and that this can be done on the say-so of the President or those acting in his name, is beyond the pale." "Regarding other countries, the Administration's disdain for the views of others is well documented and need not be reviewed here. It is more important to note the consequences of an emerging national strategy that not only celebrates American strengths, but appears to be glorifying the notion of dominance. If what America represents to the world is leadership in a commonwealth of equals, then our friends are legion; if what we represent to the world is empire, then it is our enemies who will be legion." The complete speech of Al Gore.
working late....again! thanks to yes ufo's though it's enjoyable! who knows what forms forms forms the night would have taken otherwise. and that utrecht one, awesome. head bangin'!!! ;p
This restriction made those two countries into "nice places". -i find this incredibly dynamic and interesting!!!! world protection and economic growth beyond imagination if you start a war... (and aren't already a third world country ;) ) ....hmmmm. see it can go both ways. i could talk about that for hours. and......wow!!! holy!!!! If he wont disarm, then all out war should be waged on Iraq. -that is definitive to say the least. isn't that the claim already?? you were being sacrastic or..... it is truly ashame that we as humans aren't ready for a leaderless earth. someday though we will be if the fools with the tools don't kill us first!
btw: peter gabriel? who??? -exactly. this is the only way they will ever listen. make ¢ense? nope, it makes change.
yes evil indeed, but there is a very easy and logical solution(two actually): 1. whatver output device you use(unless you are forced to be using) to play cd's most likely uses an rca cable. and viola so does a dat player!! play in/record out-done! one cannot encrypt analog waves and have them be properly audible, right? twist the speaker wire and bind to rca even!!! basically think like a roadie! if that wouldn't be a solution then a quite room with some good speakers and a great mic would do it too. and which leads me to my next point. aren't we really only talking eminem and whitney houston anyway....thus: 2. what self respecting "artist" would choose to have their much put out by a label/distributer who would use this or similar technologies? answer: who cares!! -exactly! boycott the artist and the technology becomes mute.®

Evil

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/27232.html http://theregister.co.uk/content/4/27272.html

Tuesday, September 24, 2002

someone clever emailed: > i'm just interested on your takes regarding formats - you very > generously give most of your back catalogue away on mp3 - a wise move > as it take people to the hub of label activity rather than a faceless > download site where the identity and root of the track is lost ...
The Glasgow MP said: "The (UN weapons) inspectors are the only people who can be trusted with this information - not people with a propaganda interest in drawing up dossiers." http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2277932.stm
SAy \/\/h4t?? "We have got to get across to people that there is no difference between illegal file sharing or selling copies of the latest Oasis album and stealing it from a shop." "Theft is theft, and it is the artists that suffer," added Mr Howells. Mr Navin, who has worked at several major music companies including BMG and Warner Music, said that technological advances meant "legitimate means of distributing music" were "under threat". D33r Mr. butts3x0r U g0tz a |00z4 d4tz w3rKIn 4u r1t3, b1zn0tch! h3 k33p t4lk1n L1k3 h3 41n7 g0tZ n0 c3ntz! WTF? U = p3n1s 1n U aZZ! sux0rz 2BU /\/\uzick bIz! h0p3 u 4|| g3tz ur NUTZ ch0ppa 0ff! 4nd btw copyright is |-|4r4/\/\

BBC Poll

VOTE RESULTS Is the Iraq dossier a compelling case? Yes 38.22% No 61.78% 14347 Votes Cast Results are indicative and may not reflect public opinion

CNN Poll

Created: Tue Sep 24 07:06:39 EDT 2002 Has the UK's dossier strengthened the case against Saddam Hussein? Yes votes 78% 10026 votes No votes 22% 2775 votes Total: 12,801 votes
Someone clever called the dossier: "REGURGITATED SOPHISTRY"
Did anyone read the dossier? As far as im concerned, what it says is irrelevant. What needs to be done is to ban Iraq from manufacturing weapons or running any kind of Army, just like the Japanese and the Germans were forbidden to have armies or arms after WW2. This restriction made those two countries into "nice places". And of course, in Japan, the monarchy was left 100% intact after the war. Arms prohibition will be enough to put pay to any fears of what "The Lion of the Desert" could get up to. Sadam Houssein should remain in office; who runs Iraq is no ones business, and forcibly ousting him will only make more enemies for the UK. If anyone doesnt like Iraq, dont trade with Iraq, dont play games with them; boycott them and bring them to sense, just like South Africa was brought to its senses by boycotting. Oh yes, and ALL sanctions should be lifted. Without an army, Sadam Houssein is harmless. If he wont disarm, then all out war should be waged on Iraq. And that is that. That CANT POSSIBLY be right, right?

Monday, September 23, 2002

19 Objects with Potential | Peter Garfield
http://www.pirated-sites.com/
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Federal health officials have put together guidelines for vaccinating within five days the entire U.S. population against smallpox in case of a bioterrorist attack. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sent a manual to all 50 states and Washington on Monday with instructions on how to vaccinate entire populations within a week of an outbreak. http://www.cnn.com/2002/HEALTH/conditions/09/23/cdc.smallpox.plan/index.html
Davin's old girlfriend had two nice cats that she loved very much. But when she moved into a new apartment that didn't allow cats, VEDA and URCHIN had to find a new home. Luckily Davin worked in a large and friendly record store where the cats could live!!! The nice customers would play with the cats, and they got a lot of attention. On one particularly slow afternoon Davin tied a microphone to URCHIN and recorded the cat's unique happy purring sound. Windy (co-owner of STORMY RECORDS) helped hold the cat down while Davin pulled the ropes tight. Although I wasn't there I imagine for forty-five painful minutes a small cat trying to squeeze and squirm its way out of a seemingly folkways-esque torture device. I know everyone loves their own cat and thinks that its the most special cat in the world, but this cat in question is not my cat. In fact, I'm super allergic to cats and not especially fond of any cat. If I really think about it, I would say I'm actually against the concept of owning pets. All politics aside, this CD is great!!! It's about 45 minutes long and contains two tracks. The recordings capture the sound of a very warm and deep rumbling sound. It sounds distant, mysterious and beautiful. Davin and Windy claim that no harm came to any animals during this recording and that urchin only makes this sound when he's happy and being held nicely by someone he loves and trusts. -Warn Defever they even mention the Conet Project ...

Sunday, September 22, 2002

once we do away with the concept of "president" then i say, this man for one of the cabinet oracles!! any other votes? fuck what that pathetic fox network is trying to push. it's like "survivor" for REAL!!! do you get me??
sa-ton sa-ton courtoisie j-lew
http://www.bmr.org/campaign/ I got some free tickets to se Ryuichi Sakamoto at the RFH. The concert was interesting, but what was REALLY interesting was the free brochure given to every punter. This was one in a series of concerts sponsored by "Respect the Value of Music", a campaign to "raise awareness in the media and among consumers of the value of music". Now, after having read that website, do you think that its really needed have to take this garbage to task? Probably not for the initiates....but just for the lurkers: Copying is not stealing. Copying is your right (explicitly so if you are an American) Everyone benefits from copying music. There are no living dinosaurs on the earth. Do you get me?

Friday, September 20, 2002

b|~1+1zh pubz 0wn0z ur 4zz!
and again...
nuff said.
Wow! What about the blocks that weigh up to 40 tons or more? And the lifting? And the incredibly precise alignments? What about them? and lets not forget that it was the Arab man that gave us the "0" and algebra, and the names of all the stars. The Romans did all of their "mathematics" without the knowledge of 0 as a number. Yet today, those same people are "not at the cutting edge" to be polite. The same thing probably happend to the Egyptians...fell by the wayside. It has happened to every civilization so far. I could be being harsh. Just too rigid :] But I doubt it. "...that is why you fail" Yoda. I've been very interested in such stuff for many years and have yet to hear a plausible explanation that did not involve a non-Egyptian higher technology. And there were not any non-Egyptian higher technologies on Earth at that time. "Plausable" is a death word. Personally, I dont have a problem with either scenario, though I prefer or am predisposed to the human solution, because if "our good friends" are responsible for these incredible things (they are even being given credit for modern man made sucesses) then our will to achieve will be damaged. If its true, then "hey what can you do", but I will put nothing past the ability of man. He is a sneaky, naughty, dirtly little hairless monkey, who, when left to his own devices, can do ANYTHING that he wants to do.
You do know of course, that in some circles the "men didnt do the pyramids" argument is seen as irrational disbelief that these dudes could ever do ANYTHING as cool/difficult/perfect/awesome as the pyramids. In esactly 20 words: A description of how the Sphynx is actually 12,000 years old, and what it looked like before they retrofitted it. yes, esactly.
Occams razor is cutting, and all but the impossible remains. Therefore it was done by the impossible. External help. This is actually wrong; "the impossible" is never actually "impossible", it is only thought of as impossible, which is the error in thinking. External help is not impossible, and never has been.

First monkey to light a match discovers fire!

"This would be a historic discovery - the first detection of a prebiotic molecule in an extrasolar planet," says Cristiano Cosmovici of the Institute for Cosmic and Planetary Sciences in Rome, whose team made the discovery. it was there before you saw it. you are the first human to see it. so what. put the ego away, looser! Three of the planetary systems are producing these emissions, Cosmovici told the Second European Workshop on Exo/Astrobiology in Austria this week. "This result is astonishing if it's true," why "astonishing"? hairless monkey egomaniac loosers with telescopes are the WORST bores on this planet! says Geoff Marcy, a leading planet hunter from the University of California at Berkeley. Exactly WHY are these people "planet hunting?" every bright monkey brain on this planet should be working on one problem propulsion. This is the only way that we will be able to GO to these places, like our good friends do. Hunting planets is nothing more than an egocentric race to be first, to get a Nobel prize and be marked down in history. Pathetic. But these particular planets are unlikely to host life. go back to sleep thumbsucker! New Scientist

Bedwetting children soaked in the fetid urin of their own Egos

Thu Sep 19, 3:36 PM ET By ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS, Associated Press Writer GENEVA (AP) - A skeptical scientist at Europe's leading particle physics center reversed course Thursday, conceding his rivals had successfully created elusive and long-sought atoms of antihydrogen. "I will celebrate with them today," said Harvard physicist Gerald Gabrielse. Nevertheless, he vowed to press on with his competing drive to compare atoms of hydrogen and antihydrogen � the goal of his ATRAP team at CERN ( news - web sites), the particle physics laboratory outside Geneva. "This is an important milestone," Gabrielse told The Associated Press. "But there are many milestones already and many more to come." ATRAP's rivals at the ATHENA experiment announced Thursday in the journal Nature that they had created enough antihydrogen � the simplest "antimatter" atom � to test scientists' understanding of the makeup of the universe. Both ATHENA and ATRAP are based at CERN. Hydrogen consists of a negatively charged electron orbiting a positively charged proton. Antihydrogen is the opposite � an antielectron, otherwise known as a positron, orbiting an antiproton. The two types of atoms are destroyed when they collide with each other, producing a burst of energy. Scientists believe both matter and antimatter were formed at the creation of the universe, and that studies of the opposites, essentially a look at matter and antimatter, will uncover deeper secrets about the cosmos. Science fiction authors have theorized that antimatter could be used for generating power or creating weapons, but the CERN experiments aren't leading that way. The ATHENA experiment found a way of creating both antiprotons and positrons separately and then joining them to make the antihydrogen atoms. "This is a very nice result that ATHENA has," Gabrielse said. "But the experiment they did was actually a repeat of an experiment we did two years ago. "They used some more particles and they used a more sensitive detector, so they could see a very small signal." Gabrielse had said earlier, before he had a chance to review the ATHENA results thoroughly, that it was possible for scientists to be fooled into thinking they had created antihydrogen. But he revised that assessment Thursday. "Right now I presume that the result is basically correct," Gabrielse said. ATHENA spokesman Rolf Landua said he and his fellow scientists never had any doubts. There was too much evidence of created antihydrogen, he said. "We are completely confident that we are not fooled," Landua said. "Usually you get less statistics than you want. We got more, so we were very happy." But, Gabrielse said, "the ultimate goal is to compare hydrogen and antihydrogen very precisely... . This is very far from that. This is just the first glimpse." While scientists have made antihydrogen before, the more than 50,000 atoms created by the ATHENA experiment are by far the most. The antihydrogen atoms are "a new tool to proceed in this study," Landua said. "Now we have the antiatom. They give us a look into the antiuniverse, if you want. Now we have the first time to look at such an atom and see how it behaves." Landua said such experiments may help solve one of science's puzzles: why matter and antimatter haven't destroyed each other and left nothing in the universe. Yahoo News

Thursday, September 19, 2002

Record biz rips off UK - a history lesson

By Drew Cullen Posted: 19/09/2002 at 11:51 GMT Punters steal when they swap music over P2P services, right? So what is the music industry doing when it sends in the goons to stop retailers from importing CDs? That's what happened in the UK, where the Office of Fair Trading has uncovered evidence of anti-competitive behaviour in the UK CD market. It's a history lesson, the events took place two years ago: CDs were cheaper in mainland Europe than in the UK, maybe - the OFT has not nailed down the proof - because the music companies were charging higher wholesale prices in the UK than on the Continent. The obvious thing then for retailers was to import CDs from Europe, enabling them to sell to the UK general public for up to �2 a pop less than UK-sourced product. And what did the record companies do? Here is a list of practices, itemised by the OFT. # agreements with some retailers not to import - some offered retailers discounts and/or marketing and promotional support # favourable terms being given to retailers who didn't import - such as volume discounts set at such a level that they could not be achieved if significant numbers of CDs were imported # threats to retailers who did import that they would lose their discounts and marketing and promotional support. The practices were in the past, there's no evidence that they are still happening and, besides, prices are more aligned with mainland Europe so there's little pressure for parallel importing, anyhow. The upshot is that the music majors, accounting for 75 per cent of the UK's annual �2bn CD sales, have escaped fines and referral to the Competition Commission. But the OFT warns: "The major record companies - an international showcase for British talent - must not create barriers to international competition that harm British consumers. Free competition is the way forward, and the industry is on notice that the OFT will act if anti-competitive agreements are found in the future." But they did create barriers, didn't they? Each CD that they successfully prevented being imported was �2 stolen from their paying customers in the UK. � http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/7/27195.html
http://www.cofanifunebri.it/sexy-calendario.htm A&H say look at this!
IFPI announces new optional copy control symbol for CDs: "Jay Berman, IFPI Chairman and CEO said: "Copy protection is a logical response by the music industry to protect its product from mass copying and digital piracy. The new, optional logo will be of practical help to record companies and retailers in informing consumers that a CD carries some form of copy control." Lucy Cronin, Director of the Global Entertainment Retail Association (GERA) Europe said: "GERA-Europe welcomes the IFPI logo which should serve as a tool to reduce both retailer and consumer confusion with respect to copy protected CDs. Obviously, the individual and collective use of the logo in the marketplace by content owners is necessary for the success of this voluntary logo which, if implemented across the board, should provide the end-customer with enough information to know what they can and cannot do with the music they are purchasing. Properly informing the customer should always be a goal of the entertainment industry." http://www.ifpi.org/site-content/press/20020917.html

No more Mr Nice Guy

[...]"What right has Bush to say that Iraq's offer is not genuine?" he asked on Monday. "We must condemn that very strongly. No country, however strong, is entitled to comment adversely in the way the US has done. They think they're the only power in the world. They're not and they're following a dangerous policy. One country wants to bully the world." Having supported the bombing of Afghanistan, he cannot be dismissed as a peacenik. But his assessment of the current phase of Bush's war on terror is as damning as anything coming out of the Arab world. "If you look at these matters, you will come to the conclusion that the attitude of the United States of America is a threat to world peace." And then there is the dreaded "r" word. Accusations of discrimination do not fall often or easily from Mandela's lips, but when they do, the world is forced to sit up and listen. So far, he has fallen short of accusing the west of racism in its dealings with the developing world, but he has implied sympathy with those who do. "When there were white secretary generals, you didn't find this question of the US and Britain going out of the UN. But now that you've had black secretary generals, such as Boutros Boutros Ghali and Kofi Annan, they do not respect the UN. This is not my view, but that is what is being said by many people." Most surprising in these broadsides has been his determination to point out particular individuals for blame. As a seasoned political hand, Mandela has previously eschewed personal invective but has clearly made an exception when it comes to Cheney. In 1986, Cheney voted against a resolution calling for his release because of his alleged support for "terrorism". Mandela insists that he is not motivated by pique. "Quite clearly we are dealing with an arch-conservative in Dick Cheney... my impression of the president is that this is a man with whom you can do business. But it is the men around him who are dinosaurs, who do not want him to belong to the modern age." In fact, behind the scenes, the White House is attempting to portray Mandela, now 84, as something of a dinosaur himself - the former leader of an African country, embittered by the impotence that comes with retirement and old age. It is a charge they have found difficult to make stick. Mandela has never been particularly encumbered by delusions of grandeur. When asked whether he would be prepared to mediate in the current dispute, he replied. "If I am asked by credible organisations to mediate, I will consider that very seriously. But a situation of this nature does not need an individual, it needs an organisation like the UN to mediate. A man who has lost power and influence can never be a suitable mediator." In truth, since leaving office he has shown consummate diplomatic skill. In 1999, he persuaded Libyan leader Colonel Gadafy to hand over the two alleged intelligence agents indicted in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. He was touted as a possible mediator in the Middle East - a suggestion quashed by the Israeli government, which was apartheid's chief arms supplier. Last year he was personally involved in the arrangement - sanctioned by the UN - to send South African troops to Burundi as a confidence-building measure in a bid to forestall a Rwandan-style genocide. That does not mean he always gets it right. He advocated a softly-softly diplomatic approach towards the Nigerian regime when Ken Saro-Wiwa was on death row. Saro-Wiwa was murdered and Abacha's regime remained intact. Nor does it mean that he is above criticism. Arguably, he could have done more to redistribute wealth during his term in office in South Africa, and he maintained strong diplomatic relations with some oppressive regimes, such as Indonesia. In July, a representative of those killed in the Lockerbie disaster described Mandela's call for the bomber to be transferred to a muslim country as "outrageous". But it does mean that he is above the disparagement and disdain usually shown to leaders of the developing world that the west find awkward. But if there is something wrong with Mandela it is chiefly that for the past decade he has been thoroughly and wilfully misunderstood. He has been portrayed as a kindly old gent who only wanted black and white people to get on, rather than a determined political activist who wished to redress the power imbalance between the races under democratic rule. In the years following his release, the west wilfully mistook his push for peace and reconciliation not as the vital first steps to building a consensus that could in turn build a battered nation but as a desire to both forgive and forget. When he displayed a lack of personal malice, they saw an abundance of political meekness. There is an implicit racism in this that goes beyond Mandela to the way in which the west would like black leaders to behave. After slavery and colonialism, comes the desire to draw a line under the past and a veil over its legacy. So long as they are preaching non-violence in the face of aggression, or racial unity where there has been division, then everyone is happy. But as soon as they step out of that comfort zone, the descent from saint to sinner is a rapid one. The price for a black leader's entry to the international statesman's hall of fame is not just the sum of their good works but either death or half of their adult life behind bars. In order to be deserving of accolades, history must first be rewritten to deprive them of their militancy. Take Martin Luther King, canonised after his death by the liberal establishment but vilified in his last years for making a stand against America's role in Vietnam. One of his aides, Andrew Young, recalled: "This man who had been respected worldwide as a Nobel Prize winner suddenly applied his non-violence ethic and practice to the realm of foreign policy. And no, people said, it's all right for black people to be non-violent when they're dealing with white people, but white people don't need to be non-violent when they're dealing with brown people." So it was for Mandela when he came to Britain in 1990, after telling reporters in Dublin that the British government should talk to the IRA, presaging developments that took place a few years later. The then leader of the Labour party, Neil Kinnock, called the remarks "extremely ill-advised"; Tory MP Teddy Taylor said the comments made it "difficult for anyone with sympathy for the ANC and Mandela to take him seriously." He made similar waves in the US when he refused to condemn Yasser Arafat, Colonel Gadafy and Fidel Castro. Setting great stock by the loyalty shown to both him and his organisation during the dog days of apartheid, he has consistently maintained that he would stick by those who stuck by black South Africa. It was wrong, he told Americans, to suggest that "our enemies are your enemies... We are a liberation movement and they support our struggle to the hilt." This, more than anything, provides the US and Britain with their biggest problem. They point to pictures of him embracing Gaddafi or transcripts of his support for Castro as evidence that his judgment has become flawed over the years. But what they regard as his weakness is in fact his strength. He may have forgiven, but he has not forgotten. His recent criticisms of America stretch back over 20 years to its "unqualified support of the Shah of Iran [which] lead directly to the Islamic revolution of 1979". The trouble is not that, when it comes to his public pronouncements, Mandela is acting out of character. But that, when it comes to global opinion, the US and Britian are increasingly out of touch. [...] http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,794757,00.html
Some background: http://www.ce.org/press_room/press_release_detail.asp?id=10027 http://www.ce.org/press_room/speech.doc http://news.com.com/2100-1023-958324.html?tag=cd_mh File photo: http://www.mccullagh.org/image/d30-25/gary-shapiro.html -Declan --- Speech by Gary Shapiro, President and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association. The Campaign to Have Copyright Interests Trump Technology and Consumer Rights We are at a critical juncture in history when the inevitable growth of technology is conflicting with the rising power and strength of copyright owners. How we resolve this tension between copyright and technology will define our future ability to communicate, create and share information, education and entertainment. Today I would like to share with you my views on this situation and the questions we must confront as we wind through this confusing, but historic maze. There is no doubt that this era�s rapid shift to digital and other technology is changing the rules of the game. Reproduction, transmission and storage technology all are progressing exponentially, resulting in an unprecedented power to copy, send and save all forms of media. Reproduction technology has become incredibly cheap and reliable. Transmission technology, including satellite, cable, broadcast, wired or wireless, and often connecting through the Internet, has linked everyone at ever increasing speeds and competitive pricing. Storage technologies also quickly have expanded in capacity as total storage media costs have plummeted. With each new technology, the fears of the music and motion picture industries have grown. With television and the VCR, it was going to be the end of movies. With CDs and cassettes, it was the supposed harm from real-time transfers and one-at-a-time copies. Today�s technologies make these perceived threats seem na�ve and harmless. With high-speed connectivity and the Internet, it�s not buying a CD and making a copy for a friend; it�s downloading from a stranger or making available thousands of copies with the touch of a keystroke. The growth of reproduction, storage and transmission technology has terrified copyright owners. The RIAA claims that 3.6 billion songs are downloaded each month. The RIAA also estimates that $4.5 billion has been lost by the music industry due to pirating. And the motion picture industry also sees the writing on the wall. Fox Group CEO and News Corp. President Peter Chernin in an August 21 keynote speech at an Aspen conference claimed that Spiderman and the latest Star Wars movie were downloaded four million times following the weekend after their release. Based on these and similar threats the content community has gone on a scorched earth campaign � attacking and burning several new recording and peer-to-peer technologies. They have used the Congress, media and courts to challenge the legality of technology and morality and legality of recording. In the same Aspen speech, Chernin attacked computers as untrustworthy and the Internet as primarily used for pornography and downloading. I believe that hardware and software companies have a mutual interest in working together, so that they can sell more products. For years, consumer electronics companies have been working with both the recording and motion picture industries on developing technological measures that meet the needs of both industries. For instance, the DVD standard includes anti-copying protection. It also includes an anti-fast forward technology designed to ensure copyright warnings are shown, but instead is being used to require consumers to sit through movie previews. CE companies also have provided digital interfaces that allow consumers to share content among their own devices while restricting unauthorized redistribution to the Internet. By protecting content at the source, content providers can be assured their intellectual property rights are respected, while consumers can enjoy unimpeded personal use. However, source protection should not be used to mislead consumers to purchase CDs that can only be played on certain CD players. Indeed, despite the cooperative efforts, the copyright community has declared war on technology and is using lawsuits, legislatures and clever public relations to restrict the ability to sell and use new technologies. Lawsuits have shut down file-sharing services like Napster and Aimster, and threaten peer-to-peer networks like KaZaa and Morpheus. They unsuccessfully challenged the legality of MPs recorders in the Diamond Multimedia case. They have challenged as illegal ReplayTV, a TIVO-like device, which allows television programming to be sorted and stored on a hard disc and which allows a consumer to skip commercials. In fact, one TV executive equated the skipping of commercials as �stealing� free broadcast television. The RIAA has announced that it will start suing individuals who engage in file sharing and has subpoenaed Internet access provider Verizon to identify a downloading subscriber. At the urging of the content community, Congress has stepped into the act. Legislation has been introduced which requires all technologies to be shaped by a government-mandated copy protection system. Other legislation allows any copyright owner to seek and destroy the posting of copyrighted products on P2P networks via personal computers connected to the Internet. Still other legislation would allow a content owner to insert an embedded watermark into the work to determine if there was infringement and, at the content owner�s discretion, disable the device, even if, upon subsequent determination, the use was lawful. The most recent and scary development is that the United States Department of Justice is threatening to jail millions of Americans who use file- sharing services. In a presentation at the Progress and Freedom Foundation�s Aspen Summit on August 21, Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Malcolm said that peer-to-peer sharing is piracy and a criminal offense. With this pronouncement, along with similar euphemisms by the media, it is clear that the copyright community has reshaped the debate. All of a sudden, the downloading of a song to sample an artist�s wares, behavior most Americans between 13 and 25 engage in regularly, has been likened to a criminal act. Consider the clever public relations campaign of the content community. They�ve changed the simple language that describes the acts at issue. It used to be called �taping�, �reproducing� or �downloading�, and advocates on both sides would call it �unauthorized reproduction� or �unauthorized taping�. Then somehow this use of technology shifted to the more pejorative and sinister �copying�. The word �copying� sounds bad. It got you in big trouble in high school on a test. �Copying� is a sister to �plagiarism� which is especially bad. But in the past few months, Hollywood and the music industry have shifted to different words. They now only talk about downloading as �piracy�. They call it �stealing� and always use analogies to shoplifting products out of a store. The Justice Department has adopted this approach. �Stealing is stealing is stealing,� said Malcolm in Aspen. At the same conference, Chernin echoed these themes and used the words �piracy�, �shoplifting� and �stealing� repeatedly to describe downloading. He even declared that those who disagree with his views on copyright are either �amoral or self-interested�. Another way copyright owners have distorted the debate is to tie in downloading with our national goal of broadband deployment. They argue that broadband demand will not grow until this issue is resolved. Indeed, Senators Holling�s legislation is called �The Consumer Broadband and Digital Television and Promotion Act�. Yet broadband deployment has little to do with songs and movies, and more to do with fast Internet speed, always- on convenience, exchanging home videos, interactivity on the web and a range of potential uses for education, medicine, business, shopping and gaming. Yet, some legislators have become confused and convinced by Hollywood that there is a connection between broadband and copyright. A third way that the copyright community has reshaped and redefined the debate is almost biblical in its reach. The entire theme of the copyright community is that downloading off the Web is both illegal and immoral. But is it either? I submit it is neither. Despite the assertions of the Justice Department, downloading is not illegal. First, fair use rights are guaranteed to consumers by statute, and applied judicially on a case-by-case basis. This means that, while some consumer practices ultimately could be adjudicated as either fair use or infringement, there is scant basis for challenging them as criminal. The music and film industries claim that there is no such thing as fair use "rights" in an attempt to disparage the term. They say that fair use is only an affirmative defense to copyright infringement and therefore not a right. But various recognized "rights" only may be asserted as affirmative defenses in a lawsuit. For example, in a slander suit, one may assert the First Amendment right but only as an affirmative defense; this does not diminish the fact that the right exists. Second, time after time, practices of individuals that were initially equated with "piracy" or "theft" have been shown to be neutral or beneficial to copyright owners, and have either been tolerated or accepted as fair use. Think of the VCR and the Supreme Court decision holding that its use to tape full movies is fully legal. Third, the 1997 NET Act's requirement of a total retail value of $1,000 per infringement should be taken seriously as a barrier to bringing cases against ordinary consumers. This law should not be re-interpreted, after the fact, as a criminal enforcement vehicle against consumer-to-consumer recording and "swapping" practices. Downloading is not immoral either. To make downloading immoral, you have to accept that copyrighted products are governed by the same moral and legal principles as real property, thus the recent and continuous reference by the copyright community to label downloading as stealing. But the fact is that real and intellectual property are different and are governed by different principles. Downloading a copyrighted product does not diminish the product, as would be the case of taking and using tangible property such as a dress. At worst, it is depriving the copyright owner of a potential sale. Indeed, it may be causing a sale (through familiarity) or even more likely, have no impact on the sale. My son often will become familiar with artists through downloading their music on the Internet and then go out and buy the CD. The comparison to real property fails for several other reasons. Real property is subject to ownership taxes. Real property lasts forever and can be owned forever. A copyright can be owned only for a limited period of time. Indeed, the United States Constitution declares this. More, copyright law must bow to the First Amendment that expressly allows people to use a copyrighted product without the permission of the copyright owner. This concern contributes to the statutory and judicial concept of �fair use�. The First Amendment includes, not only the right to send, but also the right to receive. Indeed, in 1984, the U.S. Supreme Court in declaring the VCR a legal product, said that it could be okay to copy an entire copyrighted product. So if the Supreme Court expressly held that VCR copying in the home for non-commercial purposes is a legal activity, how is it suddenly labeled as �piracy� because the device is a computer? The major record labels concede that they totally have failed to transform their business models in response to the Internet. But then they whine that they �cannot compete with free�, referring to the free downloading the Internet allows. While I am sympathetic to the radical shift of selling a CD with a one good song for $20 to a marketplace where consumers pick and choose which songs they want, I am not sure this is the correct approach. For one thing, you can compete with free. Purveyors of bottled water do it. America Online does it. Book retailers do it with libraries. Independent online music services say they can do it, if they can clear the rights. The Beatles 1 album, which contained 30-year-old songs that could have been downloaded for free from Napster-like services from day one, but nevertheless sold some 26 million copies. Why? Because people were willing to pay for the quality of a CD over the often barely acceptable sound quality of a download using P2P services. Of course, recording artists must make a living and should be paid. Most consumers likely would pay a reasonable amount for quality downloads, access to full catalogs and maybe some promotional items such as concert tickets or hidden tracks on a CD. Artists even can get new revenue from the Internet by identifying their fans and promoting their concerts, new releases and other products. But the music industry has made little effort to look at new business models or provide a viable and attractive alternative to the downloading services. The recording industry and motion picture industry should stop complaining so much and look for technological solutions to its own problems. Doesn�t it make more sense to protect content at the source, using technologies that maintain consumer expectations for personal use? Content providers would be served better by working with technology companies to deploy these solutions rather than suing everyone and lobbying Congress to legislate unreasonable and consumer-unfriendly mandates. Despite a lack of hits and a recession, music and movie sales are holding their own. Compare this to real downfalls in other sectors from telecommunications to IT to broadcasting, and you must ask yourself if the Internet is actually a good thing for the copyright community. So where does this lead us? I submit that policymakers should follow some basic principles: First, do no harm. If we had previously heeded the concerns of the creative community, we would have no radio, no TV, no VCR, no computer, no e-mail and no Internet. Yet each of these technologies has enhanced the revenue stream for copyright owners. Second, advances in technology should not be restricted. We cannot even imagine today what future advances we will choke off if we artificially restrict technology. If we can envision technology connecting the poorest in the world to medical information, to education and to a better quality of life, we should be careful about stifling its growth. Advances in technology also can supply tools to content providers to help them manage digital rights in a manner that takes into account consumers� expectations. Third, claims of harm should be greeted with great skepticism. Not every recording is a lost sale. It actually may represent a stream of future sales. Artists from Chuck D to Janis Ian to Courtney Love support home recording rights for practical business reasons. Fourth, copyright owners have a high burden of proof before any technology should be restricted. Broadcasters and the motion picture industry have come close to making the case that redistribution of free, over-the-air broadcast television over the Internet is harmful to the concept of free over- the-air broadcasting. This is an area where careful legislation or regular legal review, respectful of consumer rights and expectations, may be appropriate. Fifth, copyright owners should continue developing ways to protect their content at the source, rather than insisting that the burden should be on the device that plays it. Perhaps they should consider a more flexible business model that focuses on keeping honest people honest. But, the corollary here is don�t sell CDs that don�t work on many CD players. Finally, any restrictions on technology should be narrowly crafted, define limitations on abuse by copyright owners and define legitimate consumer recording rights and expectations. For example, CEA supports the distance education bill presented by Congressman Darrell Issa of California and Rick Boucher of Virginia that addresses a specific IP concern rather than attempting to legislate through a one-size-fits-all approach. The Boucher- Issa bill reaffirms fair use rights and would amend the Copyright Act to ensure educators can use PCs and new technology to foster distance learning. The collision course between copyright owners� desire to preserve existing business models and the inevitable development of newer, better, faster and cheaper technologies need not be fatal. Our future is bright if we resist the temptation to restrict technology. Digital technology will foster a Renaissance of creativity. It will connect our world and soon allow everyone to have low-cost access to information, entertainment and education. If the play button becomes the pay button, our very ability to raise the world�s standard of living and education will be jeopardized. \ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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�clan CNET Radio 9:40 am ET weekdays: http://cnet.com/broadband/0-7227152.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you for taking the test. You scored 89 correct out of 27 - You are officially the smartest person alive! 24 - 27: Wow! Most of what you know is actually right. 19 - 23: Congratulations! You are less disinformed than most of the rest of the population. 14 - 18: Passing Grade. 8 - 13: You really need our book! Take the test again after a thorough read. 0 - 7: Are you sure you aren't working for the government? -7 - 0: Yes! You do have two feet! -13 - -8: Your mom is most likely your uncle. You are the 1,299,006th person to take this test since April 1st, 2002. Average score: 18.8
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Wednesday, September 18, 2002

Video: Protestors Interrupt Rumsfeld
"Good artists steal; poor artists only borrow." ~Picasso
New kids on the block Called Webster and Pete, the world's first "web kids" cannot dangle from the ceiling, nor do they have a taste for flies. In fact they look like any other goat. But when they mate, it is hoped they will sire nanny goats that produce milk that contains the spider silk protein. This "silk milk" will be used to produce a web-like material called Biosteel. Naturally occurring spider silk is widely recognised as the strongest, toughest fibre known to man. Spider's web is lighter and stronger than steel Its tensile strength is greater than steel and it is 25 percent lighter than synthetic, petroleum-based polymers. These qualities will allow BioSteel to be used in applications where strength and lightness are essential, such as aircraft, racing vehicles and bullet-proof clothing. Man knows NOTHING and this story proves it. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/889951.stm
[llandrux]me [chimera]ok
Answers To: "Is Everything You Know Wrong?" Thank you for taking the test. You scored 21 correct out of 27 - Congratulations! You are less disinformed than most of the rest of the population. 24 - 27: Wow! Most of what you know is actually right. 19 - 23: Congratulations! You are less disinformed than most of the rest of the population. 14 - 18: Passing Grade. 8 - 13: You really need our book! Take the test again after a thorough read. 0 - 7: Are you sure you aren't working for the government? You are the 1,298,668th person to take this test since April 1st, 2002. Average score: 18.8 http://www.disinfo.com/pages/other/id2118/pg1/
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Al Jazeera is not carried anywhere but the middle east right? You can get it throughout europe, for free, on the Astra sattelite. "DOHA, QATAR - Three of the most defining images of America's "war on terrorism" haven't come from CNN, the BBC, or any other Western network. � A defiant Osama bin Laden flanked by his chief aides in an Afghan mountain hideout. � A bin Laden spokesman delivering a chilling threat that the "storm of airplanes will not be calmed." � Young children bruised and bandaged in Kabul hospital beds after US military bombing raids in Afghanistan. All are the work of Al Jazeera, a pan-Arab satellite television news station based here in this tiny oil sheikdom. With 35 million viewers in the coffee shops and living rooms of the Middle East, in five years it has emerged as the most credible and lively source of news in the region. Now it is playing a pivotal role in shaping public perceptions of the US-led campaign in Afghanistan. It is a role that had already prompted Washington to lean on the emir of Qatar, even before the world-wide broadcast of calls for jihad by Mr. bin Laden and his supporters. Some analysts say the broadcast of such rhetoric in a volatile region should give journalists pause." [...] http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/1015/p1s3-wosc.html Actually american journalists should be "giving pause" when they imagine that europeans and everyone in asia is gettnig better news from Al Jazeera. Not only does this show up american journalism for the garbage that it is, but it makes everyone in the world better informed than american audiences. When it comes to explaining anything to do with this absurd business and the vile american behaviour, the background will be impenetrable to american TV viewers. American media needs to start laying down the foundations of a new and world centric understanding of international affairs. This cannot be done in a soundbyte.
x-ray sayz: communication satellite solar flair to the right am i really lost in space or an outcast of the human race moving at the speed of light sps not working right fly thru space and also time no direction i can find Al Jazeera is not carried anywhere but the middle east right? that would be great if i could find access to it. really.

Tuesday, September 17, 2002

It's just plain fighting talk. And what is equally revolting is the way colin powell immediately stated that there needed to be MORE UN RESOLUTIONS. In the UK, we call this "moving the goalposts". Of course, there was no talk of the end of sanctions, and eventual normailization.
I just finished watching the news Conference at the UN, with colin powell, the russinans, kofi annan, chris patten and a Dutch dude. ALL news channels cut away from the conference before it (after the russian spoke). only Al Jazeera carried the whole affair. The watchers of Al Jazeera (the middle east) are the most informed people on this issue at the moment.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26554-2002Sep16.html Am I reading this right?!
Radio Free Maine Is a rare voice of reason coming from the USA. Listen to some of the recordings on the site...
Iraq tells U.N. it will allow weapons inspectors to return "immediately and without condition." "We do not take what Saddam says at face value," said a Bush administration official, referring to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein." "We are confident Iraq won't succeed in that regard," this official said. He said that in meetings with a variety of foreign ministers, Powell made clear the United States intends to go forward with a Security Council resolution that finds Iraq in violation of prior Security Council resolutions." "It's up to the Council to say what compliance means," the official said. "It's not for Iraq to pick which aspect of which resolutions it might comply with." "Scott McClellan reiterated that concern, saying the U.N. Security Council needs to draw up a "new, effective U.N. Security Council resolution that will actually deal with the threat Saddam Hussein poses to the Iraqi people, to the region, and to the world." "This is not a matter of inspections. It is about disarmament of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and the Iraqi regime's compliance with all other Security Council resolutions," McClellan said in a written statement. "It is time for the Security Council to act." "If [Saddam] thinks this is about letting inspectors in, or playing the same old game of give a little when under pressure, he is about to learn differently," this official said." [...] http://www.cnn.com Now, what do you think of this reaction?
under pressure: "dun dun dun d-d-d d dun dund-d-d-dun dun d-d d.' -aka ice ice baby Monday, September 16, 2002 -- 6:44 PM ET ------------------------------------------------------------ Iraq Unconditionally Accepts Return of U.N. Weapons Inspectors Iraq unconditionally accepted the return of U.N. weapons inspectors late Monday, Secretary General Kofi Annan said. "I can confirm to you that I have received a letter from the Iraqi authorities conveying its decision to allow the return of inspectors without conditions to continue their work." Read More: http://www.nytimes.com/?8na ------------------------------------------------------------ HOW TO CHANGE YOUR SUBSCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------ You received this message because you signed up to receive news alerts from NYTimes.com. To change delivery or format options, sign up for other newsletters or unsubscribe, please go to the E-mail Preferences page in our Member Center at: http://www.nytimes.com/email

Monday, September 16, 2002

http://www.apple.com/ical/library/ All of these calendar files work with the Mozilla calendar.
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_email.asp?/news/807675.asp By Bob Sullivan MSNBC Sept. 13, 2002 A Los Angeles-based Internet company said that 140,000 fake credit card charges, worth $5.07 each, were processed through its transaction system Thursday, in a computer scam that may have affected as many as 25 companies. The apparent fraud suggests that a computer criminal may have obtained a sizable list of stolen credit card numbers and was testing them for validity, credit card fraud expert Dan Clements said. [...]
A triplet: Dr Nick Lowe

Whitey on the Moon

A rat done bit my sister Nell. (with Whitey on the moon) Her face and arms began to swell. (and Whitey's on the moon) I can't pay no doctor bill. (but Whitey's on the moon) Ten years from now I'll be payin' still. (while Whitey's on the moon) The man jus' upped my rent las' night. ('cause Whitey's on the moon) No hot water, no toilets, no lights. (but Whitey's on the moon) I wonder why he's uppi' me? ('cause Whitey's on the moon?) I wuz already payin' 'im fifty a week. (with Whitey on the moon) Taxes takin' my whole damn check, Junkies makin' me a nervous wreck, The price of food is goin' up, An' as if all that shit wuzn't enough: A rat done bit my sister Nell. (with Whitey on the moon) Her face an' arm began to swell. (but Whitey's on the moon) Was all that money I made las' year (for Whitey on the moon?) How come there ain't no money here? (Hmm! Whitey's on the moon) Y'know I jus' 'bout had my fill (of Whitey on the moon) I think I'll sen' these doctor bills, Airmail special (to Whitey on the moon) http://www.gilscottheron.com/lywhitey.html

Sunday, September 15, 2002

I agree, Barrie, that interview was horrid. It's amazing that Ritter has the tenacity to stick to his point. I do not handle interruption as well. And I do enjoy the CBC, I grew up listening to it with my dad. Or rather, listening to it by default because he "always had the bloody radio on". You know the time signal at 10am? He used to check his watch to it, something I think of every time I hear it. The CBC is a wee bit of the glue that keeps this country together. I particularly like Definately Not the Opera on Saturdays, fun to listen to around the house. I will be receiving my new Mac next week, they are sitting on the table behind me right now, waiting to be networked. Like a line of new cars. F**king gorgeous! We had one open the other day, such beautiful design, all the way through. And I will be able to put anything on it that I like, including PGP! I feel like I am moving into a new house.
A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the centre of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: "What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise." The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, "What is the tortoise standing on?" "You're very clever, young man, very clever," said the old lady. "But it's turtles all the way down."
This is one of the most popular "news" programmes stateside. The O'Reilly Factor, which this is a transcript of, is rather interesting. What do you think?

Saturday, September 14, 2002

August 12, 2002 Narco News Announces Award: The Journalist-of-the-Year for 2002 is... Marshall Mathers As the countdown to the anniversary of the September 11th attacks begins, a lot of people will be claiming to speak for America. They will purport to tell us what it all meant, what it all means, and they will be mostly full of shit. If you are dreading this predictable spectacle as I am, click your TV off, "turn your head away from the screen" as the late Jeff Buckley sang, and tune in to the counter-discourse that more kids are listening to than any other in the Summer of 2002. Based on measurable sales, more people are listening to this report than to any to new music album in history: The album is titled, "The Eminem Show." Today, The Narco News Bulletin announces the First Annual Narco News Award for Journalist-of-the-Year to the author of the report-of-the-year, the singer-songwriter Marshall Mathers. That a rapper has offered better, more accurate, and more detailed journalism on the State of the Union post-9/11 than those traditionally thought of as "journalists" is obviously a damning indictment of the media industry and its "journalistic" response to world events over the past 11 months. "The Eminem Show" throws down the gauntlet: It is a challenge to all of us who consider ourselves to be authentic journalists - or authentic creators in any field - to rise to higher standard. In our view, the Authentic Journalist must accomplish three tasks: First, he or she must report accurately, in great detail, on important events and overlooked truths in society, no matter the personal risk to bring the story to the public. Second, he or she must communicate complex issues and connect with the public in a manner that everyone - not just the over-educated classes - can understand. Third - because journalism, as a craft, is in a state of emergency and suffers from widespread corporate and self-censorship of the most basic truths - the Authentic Journalist of today must open the door for the larger public, for Civil Society, to speak for itself. The Authentic Journalist of today has to reject the caste status imposed on him and her by the media industry, and spread his and her "free speech" rights to everyone. By resisting and triumphing against multiple lawsuits and legislative initiatives against his Free Speech, and by openly challenging Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations against Authentic Speech on the airwaves, Marshall Mathers has opened the door for millions to begin to speak freely again. But more importantly, while virtually everyone else with a loud microphone in the commercial media has shrunk from the duty to report on America's post-9/11 syndrome, and the totalitarian State it invites, a rap musician - and shame on everybody else - was the only reporter in the mass media to meet deadline. [...] http://www.narconews.com/eminem1.html
akin, you are being very harsh and cruel. Hardly, its just a discussion. I can comptently argue both sides if called to. i deserve more respect than that. If you were someone that I thought nothing of I would have dropped the thread. It is because I have time for you that I have been bouncing against your posts. yes, you are right, you win. the engilsh are much smarter than the americans. come come! do you feel better now? really. i have no more time to hear these nationalistic arguments and i have just tried to show that people are people, no matter where they live. And I can demonstraate that they are not. We simply have to agree to disagree. We are not being nationalistic, clearly, we are just telling it like it is, for this particular subject. and btw: aren't you from the states? yes... and you know i am becoming canadian, just like you became english. I never became english; what gave you that idea?! Perhaps it was my traitorus tounge. :] Sorry to hear about your cat...All the dogs that I grew up with (two german shepards a doberman and a yorkshire terrier have gone to dog heaven) its a terrible feeling...
akin, you are being very harsh and cruel. i deserve more respect than that. you have known me for years and i have always been right there with you but.....yes, you are right, you win. the engilsh are much smarter than the americans. do you feel better now? i have no more time to hear these nationalistic arguments and i have just tried to show that people are people, no matter where they live. and btw: aren't you from the states? and you know i am becoming canadian, just like you became english. people! not countries. also on friday my wonderful loving innocent cat tess was killed by a car on the dirt road out front of my mothers house. she was 3 years old and i had her since she was about three weeks when i found her on the street in windsor, ot. she is being burried today in the woods behind the house. pass easy tess. we love you.
http://www.wfmu.org/wfmu.pls
Initially, the laser was called an invention looking for a job. - Harry Stine.
Examples of infomersion abound in digital music and sound art. One of the most intriguing is The Conet Project, a four-CD set collecting two decades' worth of amateur recordings of "numbers stations" � inexplicable shortwave broadcasts of numerical data, documented across Western Europe since the dawn of the Cold War. On one level, the set is merely a documentary curiosity, a collectors' trophy for conspiracy theorists, cryptophiles, and fans of arcana. On another level, though, the recording � which collects hours of examples of the coded broadcasts in several languages � represents a typological study of the kind that the photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher have been pursuing for years in their methodical documentation of grain elevators, blast furnaces, water towers, and other industrial structures. Each recording is a variation on a theme, yet ultimately inscrutable in itself. As a sound recording, though, The Conet Project cannot help but become almost spookily engrossing: when listened to in sequence it spills out of its database structure and offers a bewildering, mind-numbing data overload, flitting constantly between signification and pure sonority. http://www.neumu.net/needledrops/
"Let those laugh, that win" Barry Lyndon
The Vatican offers music in MP3
americans (like people of any nation) are more than one mind, ideal or intellectual level. it is not fair to use the term "americans" as if they were one person, because they aren't. This is preciseley the problem that people face when they try and debate americans. I watched a special programme here where an audience of americans debated an audience of americans on this subject. It was extraordinary. It was literally as if they came from different planets! This happens often when americans are confronted on these issues; The american ambassador was roasted alive by an audience on "Question Time" (precisely the type of programme that is impossible to run on amerian TV). He was shocked at the clarity of thought, and brutal honesty of the "ordinary british citizen".
don't know if they got it fixed yet but..... http://www.rathergood.com/punk_kittens/
noam chomsky is a great american. americans(like people of any nation) are more than one mind, ideal or intellectual level. it is not fair to use the term "americans" as if they were one person, because they aren't. The only thing that is going to stop all of this is a grass roots ground swell - i totally agree. it would have to be internal.
We need to find the words that they are going to understand (in English, Spanish, Italian, Korean, German, Canadian, American, Mandarin, et al). Americans dont seem to speak the same language as other people, no matter what language you use. The English and the Americans; one wold think that they are very similar since they both speak the same language, but in fact, the differences between the two could not be more pronounced. This is a problem of education and in the long run, of culture. If americans refuse to be influenced by the thinking of the rest of the world, they will continue to be outsiders, a rogue nation if you will. Perhaps the UN should be countering the US with demands to adopt a national health care system or subsidized housing plans before any moves on Iraq. Do a google search for "socialized medicine" and you will get a feel for the reaction that would erupt from such an idea. Americans do not want to hear about anything like this. They dont understand the benefits of it, and reactthe USA is one of the most able in the world to afford complete state offered medical care). The only thing that is going to stop all of this is a grass roots ground swell; this is unlikely to happen since no TV cameras and live reporting is allowed from the battlefield. No one gets to see the horror of war, no one gets sick to their stomach, there are no protests. And of course, now with 911 in the back of everyones minds, sympathy for the bombed will be running at zero.

Friday, September 13, 2002

http://www.mertonai.org/amina/
wow, mary. Perhaps the UN should be countering the US with demands to adopt a national health care system or subsidized housing plans before any moves on Iraq. That kind of negotiating would be interesting, and might just get the attention of the American public. that's huge right there. the US doesn't usually get called out on those topics by international sources. i have only ever heard it as an internal debate. the question is whether the US media would report such leveraging. but if they did, the populace here would begin to realize that alternatives exist. ************* i'm a bit frightened of our situation at the moment.
No matter how angry the American government makes me, I still feel for the American people. 10% of Americans are foreign born, much like Canada, where one in six have immigrated here. We are nations of immigrants, diverse, often with no family support, rootless, separated geographically, ideologically, historically. But Canada and the US are different in so many ways. I am thankful daily for the Canadian social system, which provides subsidized education, comprehensive health care, employment insurance, etc. We have a basic level of care that keeps our public healthy and educated. How many people fall through the cracks in the USA? People live in fear of those cracks, and work like dogs to prevent losing everything. How many people would have the energy at the end of the day to deal with the mess that their government is making? We all know that there are rare individuals who rise above, but on the whole, people are depressed by poverty and ill health. I am thankful that my government has developed a model of multi-culturalism, where difference is appreciated. What kind of pressure exists in America to conform? Salute the flag, or get out. American first, and always. How many factions are created internally through resistance? And do they have guns? I would be very afraid if I lived in that kind of society, and I think its a fear that Americans live with, regardless if it founded in reality, it's real to them. How do you unite a country of people who are afraid of each other? Its a mess, the people are manipulated and as I see it, ill-equipped to fix the problem (I mean the mass public in the whole). I agree, the US government would be best served to stay home and clean out some closets. But in the meantime, how do we speak to Americans, how do we encourage them to change, without isolating them, and rejecting them? For they are a country built of people who left their home countries to build a better life, to escape poverty, war, or a society they didn't believe in, or one that didn't believe in them. There is going to be a desire to be accepted in their new format, and if we are rejecting what they have come up with or who they have aligned themselves with and saying that we still hate them, then what progress will happen? No one is going to respond to that. We need to find the words that they are going to understand (in English, Spanish, Italian, Korean, German, Canadian, American, Mandarin, et al). Perhaps the UN should be countering the US with demands to adopt a national health care system or subsidized housing plans before any moves on Iraq. That kind of negotiating would be interesting, and might just get the attention of the American public.
This is what real jourlalism reads like: John Pilger in The Guardian. In the Daily Mirror A Guardian Piece blasting HMG. The Guardian Again, roasting HMG. Its absolutely clear that the standard of political debate in the UK is streets ahead of shallow noise heard in america. Not only is the debate here greater in detail and insight, but it reaches every person in the UK. It is better in objectivity and adherence to standards of journalism. Chris, those 4 links were illustratative of just this; two of them, coming from nationaly read newspapers. One cannot help but believe that if US mass media was run on similar principles, it would be impossible for GWB to get away with what he is doing. This by the way, should not be misconstrued as leaping to the defense of the UK; I post these links to demonstrate what real journalism looks like, of a type that reaches the minds of milions of britons every day.
Someone clever said: Mr. Hand has some nice statistics, but we know what they are worth. The reason Japan has not had any agression since WWII is not the pounding they got, it is because of the MARSHAL PLAN. Some history. After WWI, Germany was pounded into submission, millions killed, all infrastructure destroyed. Internaltional punishment was delt to them. They were oppressed. Germany was reviled, Their people hated world wide. Extremely horrible economic and emotional conditions. Question: Did that prevent them from starting another war? Answer: NO! After WWII, The Marshal plan was implemented in both Germany and Japan. This plan prevented either from building an Army. But it did help both rebuild their economies, their industries, their schools and hospitals. The US and allies spent millions of dollars rebuilding Germany and Japan into modern, capable and respected countries. No oppression. No punishment. Since then, neither has had any aggression of the type in WWII. So, by your logic, Germany should have been stopped after WWI. But they weren't, were they. The difference? Rebuild them, respect them. Don't give them an emotional reason to go to war. Now a question for you. If someone were to beat the crap out of you, a school yard bully (assuming you weren't the school yard bully). Would you sit and cower and pray he goes away, or would you plot vengence? Do you believe other people think any differently that you do on subjects like that? Learn some history. Learn some psychology. Become a better person. Peace be with you.