Disney's Anti-File Swapping Cartoon

LordXarph writes: "Newsforge has a story about Disney's anti-file swapping episode of their cartoon "Proud Family." The synopsis is simply hysterical; I'm waiting for someone to write a gnutella servent called EZ-Jackster."

Comments

Can someone post a DiVX of that episode

[NotSurprised]

on Gnutella, or something?? ;)

Oh the irony.

[nyet]

A lesson in IP morality, coming from Disney?

Next thing you know, Nike will feature ads exorting how NOT exploiting foreign workers in sweatshops is anti-American, and Just Plain Wrong(tm).

Re:Oh the irony.

[SubtleNuance]

HA! Have a look at this: Nike 100% Slave Labour billboard.

Absurd isnt it...talk about gaul.

Re:Oh the irony.

[InigoMontoya(tm)]

Absurd isnt it...talk about gaul.

Okay, I will. Gaul was the old Roman name for the area that includes much of modern-day France, Germany, and the areas in between (all those piddly little countries like Luxembourg and Belgium). It was inhabited by barbarians. The name still lives on as French culture is sometimes known as Gallic culture.

Now, gall on the other hand... that's a different story.

InigoMontoya(tm)
Making fun of word-choice errors on /. for, well, a day or two now.

Looks like the 'giants of computing'...

[Glock27]

are going to do the right thing!

Tech giants pan anti-piracy mandate!

It's good to see this, after all the press the evil big-media giants have been getting lately! :-)

299,792,458 m/s...not just a good idea, its the law!

Re:Looks like the 'giants of computing'...

[wfrp01]

Although these folks appear to be lining up against this particular initiative, it doesn't appear from this article that they stand against it philosophically. Their opposition derives from their loss of control. They don't want the government to interfere with their private initiatives to accomplish this same goal.

Holling's bill says that if these guys can't all agree on a standard, that the government will intervene and mandate one. Well, how likely do you think it is that these guys will all agree on a standard? Not likely at all, and they all know it. Instead, they would prefer to get the technical details worked out, and then ask for legislative protection.

But don't take my word for it. From the article:

"The MPAA agrees with the goals of the Hollings bill, that is, for the private parties to negotiate an agreement on Internet standards for content encryption, watermarking (and) digital rights management," MPAA President Jack Valenti said in a statement. "When an agreement is reached by the private parties, we will all then together support appropriate legislation regarding copyright protection in digital devices."

Re:Looks like the 'giants of computing'...

[Telek]

I thought that Microsoft was a big propenent of screwing the little guy over

And in the spirit of keeping an open mind, maybe, just maybe, you've been reading bashdot too much and listening to too much propaganda, and maybe, just maybe, Microsoft isn't the enemy that you thought they were...

Re:Looks like the 'giants of computing'...

[Jace of Fuse!]

Still, this just doesn't completely jive. I thought that Microsoft was a big propenent of screwing the little guy over for intellectual property rights. Thus, WMA DRM, right?

You might be partially right, but Microsoft does understand the concept of not shitting in your kitchen.

That is to say that Microsoft is comprised of geeks. While they do understand the need for copyright laws (and indeed depend on them) they also see a demand for "Pay On Demand" services that DRM could provide for us (i.e. value added services), I've never seen that Microsoft has gone out of their way to make sure that we get TOTALLY screwed, constantly, and considerably. They themselves, after all, have to use the standards they push out onto the industry. They're not just Microsoft, they're also users.

Everyone assumes that .NET and Leased Software is a Microsoft attempt to screw everyone and everybody but in reality it may not be any better or worse, may not end up costing those it effects that much more, and it may even save them time and money if they normally upgrade often enough. The truth is, most of everything that Microsoft proposes and wants done screws the pirates more than it does anybody else.

The legit users, if they think about it -- have nothing at all to complain about other than the principle it's self. I admit, the principle alone is enough to complain about, but if I had to pick badguys in the the IP battlefield, I could think of much worse enemies than Microsoft.

Microsoft just wants to curb or stop Piracy, possibly illiminate it. DRM wants to create a platform for which people can legally download copyrighted material. I'm not sure how anybody can say that either of these constitute bad things in and of themselves.

That whole monopolistic and anticompetitive thing is a different issue entirely.

Maybe someone should...

[www.sorehands.com]

Maybe someone should show the evils of the DMCA, the MPAA and the RIAA.

Create a little cartoon or someone trying to print an image from a movie for a school book report, and the police surrounding the house. Or maybe a someone trying to setup an ebook reader for their blind friend, and the FBI busting down the door. Or a professor talking about encryption in a classroom and the RIAA comes in with a muzzle.

Whose side is the cartoon on???

[Teancom]

I mean, from the "spent $125 on cd's from her $.05 salary" and "the girl was arrested by the police who showed up at her door" and calling the artist "Sir-Paid-A-Lot"???!?!? This is almost word-for-word what I would have done if I was *parodying* propaganda....

Next up, hunters using "Bambi" as material for showing why hunting is great.

Re:Whose side is the cartoon on???

[Lysander Luddite]

"spent $125 on cd's from her $.05 salary"

yep. stealing is wrong even if you have a miserable salary that couldn't support your drug habit (free music). Note how It's not okay to see "Sir Paid A Lot" earn a $.05 salary (He is a label artist after all) and have to get a job, but the same situation with the girl earning money and paying the label is okay.

"Sir-Paid-A-Lot"
That's how the label would see him. And it helps paint the artist as a victim.

You can interpret it in may ways. Either way it is a blatant attempt at swaying the behavior of viewers.

I aint' surprised.

in the sequel

[Rev.LoveJoy]

... the RIAA and MPAA goon squad break down the family's door and imprison everyone in their labor camp (making shrink wrap). The narrator goes on to tell us about a victory for comrades^H^H^H^H^H^H^H citizens everywhere!

... and they lived happily ever after (except for those people who tried to express themselves, or conduct research, or any of those other infidels who Spoke Out Against The State or Disney. fuck those people, they can go to shrink wrap hell!)

Cheers,
- RLJ

As propoganda - funny but not worrisome

[sam_handelman]

Of course, I am assuming that anyone reading this thinks filesharing is great and that Disney is evil; this is true for only about 95% of the Slashdot readership, I'm sure :).

I wouldn't worry about this sort of propoganda actually affecting children's attitudes. It's simply too clumsy (and obvious and contrived.) Children, while many people who make children's programming don't realise this, are not stupid. They can spot something phony and manipulative(which you have to admit that this is, even if you agree that filesharing is wrong) from a mile away.

It's about as likely to drive the next generation of children away from filesharing as all those Captain Planet cartoons where to make people environmentalists. Less likely, since Captain Planet was less obviously hokey.

Ironic..

[Dr Caleb]

that it's Disney that takes classic (lewd!!) stories like "Cinderella", "Show White and the Seven Dwarves" etc, dresses them up, reworks the characters to be a little more palatable, and sells them as "Disney's {%title%}".

While it's not technically 'stealing'...neither is time shifting or are fair use backups, but Disney characterizes them as 'stealing'.

Re:Ironic..

[SubtleNuance]

In Canada, because we pay a levy on CDRs, you can make copies of any audio CD you please.

Futurama?

[ocie]

Wasn't this already done in Futurama, when Fry downloaded Lucy Liu's personality and appearance from kidnapster.com into a robot?

Re:Futurama?

[Bender Unit 22]

Indeed they did, but Diznee did not have Matt Groening, so of course it would have to be a lousy onesided PC story. Would not surprice me if it ended with the words ",and DON'T do drugs!".

Remember he also did The Cartridge Family where Homer buys a gun to protect his family and joins NRA, driving Marge and the kids away from home whith his careless use of firearms :-)
(note that Matt is not against NRA, he is a member)
That show was not shown in some countries even though it in the end displays that the local members of the NRA in Springfield,?? are not a bunch of trigger happy dudes but cancels Homers membership.

This only shows the difference between the two series, where (in my opinion) "Proud Family" is nothing more than a money making scheme, The Simpsons has a lot more substance even though they got hit pretty bad by the PC wave.
No more will we see lines like this from Selma's Choice:
-[ANTI_LAMENES_FILTER_INSTEAD OF NICE CLEAN SEPERATOR STRING HERE]-
Lisa: [reading from the pamphlet] The Duff Beer-amid contains so much
aluminum it would take five men to lift it. Twenty-two immigrant
laborers died during its construction.
Selma: Eh, there's plenty more where that came from.
-[ANTI_LAMENES_FILTER_INSTEAD OF NICE CLEAN SEPERATOR STRING HERE]-

Oh, I guess I got a bit carried away here. What I am trying to say here is that don't forget where the series are coming for and what do expect. C'mon Disney. The alltime fluffy feelgod company? The rewrote the ending of "The Little Mermaid", they would never have made true to the story of Hans Christian Andersen where she dies.

(on a totally unrelated note: everytime I sit down and try to write something serious /. craps out on me and have to wait for ages to log in again.
I have made it a habbit to cut'n'paste it before I press Submit or preview)

Just Say NO

[CoffeeJedi]

hmmmm... sound familiar?
Remember back in the 80's when we as children were all assaulted with those terrible anti-drug ads from the mind of Nancy Reagan? The "this is your brain on drugs" ad being singled out as the possibly least effective ad of all time? Now, after seeing our favorite cartoon characters turn down drugs and tell us how "bad" they were... what effect did it have?
Most of us got to college (maybe even high school), opened our minds, tried some pot, maybe liked it, and have a pretty non-chalant view of things... maybe even smoking up every now and then. Those who don't do drugs do so for their own reasons, not because Arnold on "Diff'rent Strokes" told them not to. So the effect on today's kids will be exactly zero. If anything, they'll realize the lame "do-gooder" condescending attitude, and another piece of tripe will become unpopular and get cancelled.

btw: have you written your representives about the SSSCA yet? i have!

Wow

[netrat]

Wow. This is the first time I've seen the airing of a piece of blatant, unapologetic propaganda directed at children since the World War 2 era. Sure, it's been around to a certain extent since then, but always in a very underhanded, not-so-easy-to-detect form. You've got to hand it to the content-direction people at Disney, they must have balls the size of tank bearings to pull a stunt like this. I honestly don't know whether to be appalled or impressed.

Re:Wow

[jmoriarty]

This is the first time I've seen the airing of a piece of blatant, unapologetic propaganda directed at children since the World War 2 era

Really? Then you missed Joe Camel. I never gave much credence to that fellow until a friend's four year old son pointed at Joe on the side of a bus one day and said "Look, daddy, a camel! He smokes!"

I doubt it will make him pick up a cigarette in the face of parental education to the contrary, but it did influence him.

Re:Wow

[MrBogus]

You missed the episode of What's Happenin? where the Doobie Brothers appear and lecture Rerun and the kids on the evils of "dubbing".

Re:Wow

[bellings]

This is the first time I've seen the airing of a piece of blatant, unapologetic propaganda directed at children since the World War 2 era.

Yeah, the "Just say No" and "D.A.R.E." programs are aimed squarely at adults.

While the propaganda aspect may make us queasy

[btempleton]

And we certainly have reasons to suspect the Mouse's motives here, I've often thought this is the right approach.

Wholesale copying of music against the permission of its creators is wrong, and our children should be informed that it's wrong. The complex issues of monopolies and exploitation of musicians are for adults to solve.

In truth, the message we want to send here is not to blame the technology of filesharing, but the people who use it for ill. But because the RIAA and others don't see a way to get at the actual copyright infringers, they attack the filesharing technology itself, and now our PCs themselves.

I say, when they point out that the actual infringements are the problem, we should agree with them. But fight them when they want to punish technologies or the people who aren't infringing.

Re:While the propaganda aspect may make us queasy

[cpt kangarooski]

You said that "[w]holesale copying of music against the permission of its creators is wrong," but I've got to take issue with this.

It's not wrong.

People copy music wholesale without the permission of the creators ALL THE TIME. Indeed, Disney is known for this. They have two entire movies, their "Fantasia" series, which liberally copy music without permission from the creators. (many of whom were long dead)

And if the copyright scheme in this country were like that of the early Republic, copying music would be perfectly allright, and not a copyright violation at all. A lot later and you'd merely have to wait for the copyright to expire -- which wouldn't take terribly long.

It's about as wrong as installing a picket fence at your house that doesn't comply with zoning regulations, in many cases. Reasonable people are not only perfectly capable of arguing over whether some particular act ought to be infringement, and even whether we ought to have copyrights at all. (which are not mandated)

You don't give children much credit either. They are often pretty capable of calling a spade a spade. (c.f. "The Emperor's New Clothes")

Re:While the propaganda aspect may make us queasy

[btempleton]

Well, I didn't mean that I meant it was universally wrong, but in the common sense that I meant it -- taking recently recorded music that you know the creator wants to be paid for, just so that you can hear it without having to pay -- it's still my opinion that this is wrong.

And of a number of people here, to whom the comment was really addressed. Yes, clearly if you don't buy the concept of copyright at all, you're going to think the cartoon's message is wrong in every way.

But there are many who, like me, have said "what many users are doing with Napster/Gnutella/MusicCity/Freenet/etc. is wrong, but writing file sharing tools is not wrong."

If you don't agree with that, then of course you won't buy what I said. If you do agree with that you may feel, as I wrote, that the right course is to teach our children what's right and wrong, not because of what the law or technology will allow you to do or forbid you to do, but because of a moral system you have.

While many point out that making a copy doesn't physically deprive the creator of anything, they misunderstand what IP is when they say this. IP isn't really about owning particular sets of bits.

IP is about the question of whether a creator can have control over their creation. When you copy, you appropriate that control.

Curiously, the most physical of properties, real estate, is also entirely about control, even in things that don't deprive the landowner of anything physical.

I own land, and I have the power to tell you not to walk on it, even though if you walk on it when I'm not there, you've had insignificant physical effect on me.

Now you might argue that control of creations is bad if it means controlling who can make copies. But that is what IP is, for better or worse.

Proudly Brainwashing the Masses

[haplo21112]

Disney proudly brainwashing the masses for 6 generations.
You know, seems to be, we should be teaching people to think for themselves not shoving this crap down thier throats...I guess Disney goes no my boycott List...humm which would work if they didn't own ESPN, ABC, and like a zillion other things. Seriously though I guess its thier opinion and they have a right to express it, but its the Target audience that scares me...Kids should be watching TV that teaches them to think for themselves and make thier own choices. 'Nuff said.

Don't forget ...

[Hagmonk]

... how similar this is to the whole "Say no to drugs" campaigning that was sanctioned by the government for the longest time. Lots of kids programs featured episodes based around it - and did they work? No!

Have you seen Traffic? We all know that the drug problem is complex and non-trivial to solve. File swapping is the same. The solution is not to try and stop people from swapping digital content, but to figure out how free digital content can integrate with our lives.

The whole disney thing is 'spooky' of course (the contrast between disney's lovely family face and this underhanded propaganda is just fabulous), but perhaps not something to worry about.

New Poll?

[Amazing Quantum Man]

Things like this make me want to come up with a new /. poll:

Who is more evil?

Microsoft
RIAA
MPAA
RMS
ESR
The DOJ
Congress
CowboyNeal

Re:Last time I checked...

[cpt kangarooski]

Both are indeed illegal. Yet piracy remains copyright infringement, not stealing. Stealing involves taking something and thus depriving the rightful owner of it.

Copying something does not involve taking, deprivation, or even anything capable of being owned. (copyrights are ownable, content is not)

These are fine differences, but they're there.

Re:Last time I checked...

[Private Essayist]

"Last time I checked...downloading pirated music IS stealing."

Check again. It ain't necessarily so, and the legalities of this issue are being worked out as we speak. Or perhaps I should say the buying of new laws is being handled as we speak. But under traditional copyright law (i.e. laws more than a couple of years old), fair use rules allow for some downloading. Furthermore, if you own the CD already, and decide to just grab the MP3 off Gnutella instead of ripping from your CD, that isn't illegal either.

Yes, some aspects of file sharing go too far (according to copyright laws), but not ALL downloading of music is stealing. Only the corporations want us to believe it, and sadly most of the public is buying this lie. And, of course, with new corruption to the copyright laws taking place every year, your statement may well be true someday in every sense. But it isn't right now, not while the issue is still being fought in the courts, and in the court of public opinion. So I repeat: Check again -- this issue is not as black-and-white as the corporate propaganda tells us it is.

Re:Last time I checked...

[Catbeller]

Reducing the value of something to its intrinsic worth is not "stealing". Stealing is the deprivation of property from a victim. Copying music does not deprive the writer of the music; it can only arguably deprive him/her of the money he/she might have made --and that is highly debateable, since artists see little to none of the money made by labels selling the music.
The whole concept of "Stealing" is a wordfuck, a lie, a purposeful confusion of concepts to create a false fact, ie copying music=stealing the music.
The only possible crime is unauthorized distribution, which is a COMMERCIAL, CIVIL, offense. Or at least used to be, before the wordfuck of "Steal" began.

Re:Last time I checked...

[gilroy]

Blockquoth the poster:

I've just reduced the value of your music to zero, because I can spread it far and wide.

That would be because the actual value of the music is zero, in plain and simple economic terms. Copyright exists -- allegedly -- to artificially raise the value from zero to enough to induce people to share their creations. As such, a very reasonable argument can be made that it is not stealing, even though infringement is illegal.

The language does matter. Copyright infringement is illegal and, generally, wrong as well. But it is not stealing, it is not theft, and it is most certainly not piracy... last time I checked, Napster didn't encourage rape and pillage on the high seas.

Re:Last time I checked...

[srvivn21]

Personally, I'd welcome the exposure. Then more people would come to my concerts, I'd sell more tickets, be able to book bigger venues. Yeah, that would really suck.

Where exactly did you 'check'.

[delmoi]

because I have a feeling you didn't 'check' anything, and you're simply spouting uniformed opinion.

Disney cartoon portrays music industry as evil

[circletimessquare]

1. Girl working at her antiquated computer her dad gave her in her room.

2. Mystery guy (cool hip hop looking dude in black) shows up at her window and supplies her with an up to date computer, takes her into "the Matrix" and shows her a web area called Free Jackster where she can get all the music she could ever want FOR FREE.

3. The girl asks if this is illegal and mystery guy explains it is our birthright to have free music, creativity should not have a price.

4. Girl gets addicted to collecting free music, her obsession leads to telling all her friends. Soon the site is getting millions of hits from kids to grandmothers.

5. Next scene at the The Wizard Record Label board room where "Sir Paid Alot" enters to complain his royalty check was only five cents. This alerts The Wizard (head of the label) that there is a retail problem he needs to look into.

6. Teen Girl's house is surrounded that night by police and press and she is arrested for illegal downloads, gets a warning. The news makes it clear that millions of people can't be stopped. Parents take computer away from girl and explain why free downloads is STEALING -- kind of an abirdged explanation of how copyrights work.

7. Next scene, Asian Guy's retail record store is empty, guy is crying on the floor. Teen Girl who happens to work at the store shows up to work, Asian guy fires her for supporting all the free downloads.

8. Next scene charts showing record sales are down down down to nothing because people get the music for free.

9. Sir Paid Alot gets 100 million hits on his website from freeloading fans who now love his music and previously would have never actually purchased his CD, gushing about how wonderful Free Jackster is. GeekBoy, an employee who runs his website and has spikey hair and a nose ring, runs around looking exasperated because a mercury thermometer attached to Sir Paid Alot's server blows its top and spits gallons of mercury all over the server room like an oil well blowing it's top, while cartoonish sirens go off.

10. Slick Dick, an Ad Exec representing BoingBoing Sneaker Company shows up at Sir Paid Alot's home in a shiny pointy pinstripe suit with a suitcase full of $100 bills if Sir Mix Alot will only wear their sneakers and show their logo all over his (now) sold out Nationwide tour. We see The Wizard outside Sir Mix Alot's mansion gates panhandling for money as Slick Dick leaves.

11. Mystery Guy hires Asian Guy to write reviews of Sir Mix Alot's Greatest Hits downloads on the Free Jackster website. Jump to a Flash Movie Asian Guy produces in pantomime style of the late-night "only $19.95" Greatest Hits Album commercials, complete with scrolling song titles and Sir Mix Alot performing a la Yanni and Anne Murray behind the titles.

12. Asian Guy proclaims he loves his new job because now he can do nothing but write about his first love, music, and not have to worry every day how The Wizard was always trying to rip him off as an independent Record Store owner. Cut to flashback where the Wizard shows up at Asian Guys' shop offering CDs priced at $11.99 while right behind Asian Guy "crying on the floor," we see he is selling his CDs for $12.00. We see Asian Guy leaving Free Jackster's offices with Rio-like device in hand, big grin and kewl shades, listening to Sir Mix Alot song, grimacing and throwing a few pennies at The Wizard begging on the street.

13. At his sold out concert, with "kids and grandmothers" all rockin' out, Sir Paid Alot calls Teen Girl on stage, thanks her for getting rid of the "Blood-sucking middlemen" out of his life and letting him do what he always liked to do, rap fantastic straight to his fans saying his "creativity should not have a price."

14. Sir Paid Alot makes up a rap right on the spot for Teen Girl, she swoons and her eyes turn into beating hearts bulging out of her eyesockets.

15. On her cell phone going to Las Vegas in the back of Sir Paid Alot's limo, Teen Girl explains to her parents why the copyright system works in the old world of Vinyl and CDs, but in the new world of electronic bits, an economy of scale ensures that the artists get even more money from a more democratic connection between them and their fans and without any middlemen, sort of like the radio, with sponsors paying him endorsement fees rather than the artist getting royalty checks. She explains how Asian Guy's reviews on his now super-popular website ensures that people get exposed to new artists and new forms of popular music. Cut again to GeekBoy running around server room while mercury thermometer attached to server gushes, with Asian Guy in the background taps happily away at a computer, writing reviews.

16. Her parents are impressed but yell at her for being in a much older Rapper's limo and being underage and tell her to come home immediately. Via Free Jackster on the computer they took away from her and her cell phone, they send her a copy of a Barney song she always listened to as a kid and that she had lost in CD form, but now is eternally available for free via the Web, conveniently and quickly, wherever they may be, with whatever device, without any red tape involved. Teen Girl cries and jumps out of the limo into a passing car being driven by Mystery Guy heading in the opposite direction. Mystery Guy drives her home where "police and press" treat her to a lavish homecoming.

17. Mystery Guy puts on a baseball cap, complaining "my hair is always too nappy", saying to Mystery Girl, "I'm a teenager too." They kiss and the cartoon closes with Sir Mix Alot singing a la Barry White to them in the background.

If disney wants to take a shot at IP...

[zerocool^]

If disney wants to discuss IP, they'd better take a look at This site.

Basically, Disney ripped their latest fiasco, Lost city of Atlantis, straight from Nadia, queen of the see, a terriffic anime job.

And they say they had never heard of Nadia... Take a look and see what you think.

~z

hysteria: Two points of view

[swordgeek]

1) This is not hysterical[1]. It might be hysterical if it weren't so deadly serious. Disney, for all of their happiness, is probably the number one master of propaganda; and always has been. Go watch the war films of the 1940s. Watch the anti-drug movies. See if you can find the anti-black movies of the earliest years. Disney is a manipulator.

2) This is utterly hysterical. It is based entirely on hysteria--mass, unthinking response to carefully calculated images, designed to drive crowds.

Do you think that by recognising and avoiding being part of the 'mindless throng' you're safe? Go ask Pete Seeger about the 'witch trials' of the 1950s.

[1] ...in a funny sense, that is

Re:Last time I checked...

[spectecjr]

I suppose in your corporate fantasy world music and musicians did not exist prior to the creation of copyright law.

No, but they were paid by the presiding royalty of the country they were in. (This is why paychecks from music companies are called 'royalties').

Would you prefer we went back to the feudal system?

By the way, for example, Bach expected payment for his work:

"Your honor will have the goodness to excuse an old and faithful servant for taking the liberty of disturbing you with the present letter. It must be nearly four years since Your Honor favored me with a kind answer to the letter I sent you; I remember that at that time you graciously asked me to give you some news of what had happened to me, and I humbly take this opportunity of providing you with the same. You know the course of my life from my youth up until the change in my fortunes that took me to Cothen as Capellmeister. There I had a gracious Prince, who both loved and knew music, and in his service I intended to spend the rest of my life. It must happen, however, that the said Serenissimus should marry a Princess of Berenburg, and that then the impression should arise that the musical interests of the said Prince had become somewhat lukewarm, especially as the new Princess seemed to be unmusical; and it pleased God that I should be called hither to be Director Musices and Cantor at the Thomas-Schule. Though at first, indeed, it did not seem at all proper to me to change my position of Capellmeister for that of Cantor. Wherefore, then, I postponed my decision for a quarter of a year; but this post was described to me in such favorable terms that finally (particularly since my sons seemed inclined to [university] studies) I cast my lot, in the name of the Lord, and made the journey to Leipzig, took my examination, and then made the change of position. Here, by God's will, I am still in service. But since (1) I find that the post is by no means so lucrative as it had been described to me; (2) I have failed to obtain many of the fees pertaining to the office; (3) the place is very expensive; and (4) the authorities are odd and little interested in music, so that I must live amid almost continual vexation, envy, and persecution; accordingly I shall be forced, with God's help, to seek my fortune elsewhere. Should Your Honor know or find a suitable post in our city for an old and faithful servant, I beg you most humbly to put in a most gracious word of recommendation for me--I shall not fail to do my best to give satisfaction and justify your most gracious intercession in my behalf. My present post amounts to about 700 thaler, and when there are rather more funerals than usual, the fees rise in proportion; but when a healthy wind blows, they fall accordingly, as for example last year, when I lost fees that would ordinarily come in from funerals to an amount of more than 100 thaler. In Thuringia I could get along better on 400 thaler than here with twice that many, because of the excessively high cost of living."

Disney and Propaganda

[sid_vicious]

Remember that Disney has a history of propaganda - In the movie "The New Spirit" (a film commisioned from Disney during WWII), Donald Duck reminds Americans that it is their patriotic duty to pay their taxes on time (search for "Donald Duck" - believe me, it's there).

Whois Record EZJACKSTER.COM

[jjr]

Registrant:
Disney Enterprises, Inc. (EZJACKSTER-DOM)
500 S. Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521
US

Domain Name: EZJACKSTER.COM

Administrative Contact, Technical Contact:
DNS Operations (DO1293-ORG) dns-ops@DIG.COM
dig.com
506 Second Ave. Suite 2100
Seattle, WA 98104
USA
(206) 664-4000
Fax- (206) 664-4009
Billing Contact:
idNames, Accounting (IA90-ORG) accounting@IDNAMES.COM
idNames from Network Solutions, Inc
440 Benmar
Suite #3325
Houston, TX 77060
US
703-742-4777
Fax- - 281-447-1160

Record last updated on 25-Jan-2001.
Record expires on 25-Jan-2003.
Record created on 25-Jan-2001.
Database last updated on 22-Oct-2001 14:14:00 EDT.

Domain servers in listed order:

NS0.STARWAVE.COM 204.202.132.15
SENS01.DIG.COM 204.202.132.16

A little joke about this kind of campain

[famazza]

A couple was arrested for using marijuana, (Drugs are bad, Mmmkay) and the police gave them a chance. They need to convince kids to not use drugs.

The girl went to the blackboard and draw to circles, one 10" sized and other 50" sized. And said, "This big circle is you brain before the drugs, and this small circle is your brain after the drugs. Don't do drugs"

The boy then went to the blackboard and using the same two circles said, "This smal circle is you ass before jail, and this big circle is your ass after being in jail

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Where is the funny?