Slashback: Lapses, Maps, Ludwig Van

Slashback tonight brings you a larger-than-usual assortment of updates, clarifications and followups to previous and ongoing Slashdot stories. Read on below for more details on the Canadian Harry Potter injunction, CardSystem's customer data mishap, the popularity of Beethoven vs. the Beatles, and what the recent MySpace acquisition might mean.

Beethoven rules the downloads charts! jd writes "At 1.4 million downloads, Beethoven has beaten the Beatles in online downloads, according to The Guardian. iTunes sales of 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' comes in at a mere 20,000. The BBC, who put the symphonies on their download site, are delighted. The music industry, which thought classical music was all but dead, is in shock. About the only question remaining is how much did the Slashdot Effect contribute?"

And if the Beatles are "more popular than Jesus," this Beethoven guy must be really popular!

Now you can think of it as Rupert'sSpace. applextrent writes with a few thoughts on the recent acquisition of MySpace by Fox: "MySpace's privacy policy and company filings including all users' information lists, databases, text, files and documents are explicitly documented as an asset of MySpace. The agreement also states MySpace can sell the site and all user information to a third party that might not necessarily follow the same privacy policy as MySpace. To put it simply, MySpace owns everything a user provides them with. This is not entirely an uncommon thing for many free services such as AOL's Instant Messenger have similar privacy policies. Now all of this user information is in the hands of News Corp. and they can pretty much do whatever they want with it.

Not to say anything bad will come of this, in fact this could mean better protection for users privacy, or it may not. This is possible reason for concern especially considering MySpace's blog population for a MySpace run blog is technically owned by the same people who bring you Fox News."

This is much worse than losing the car keys, son. An anonymous reader writes "In the wake of the large-scale credit card compromise of Card Systems, the NYTimes is reporting that Visa has decided to stop allowing transactions from the processor. Visa says 'CardSystems has not corrected, and cannot at this point correct, the failure to provide proper data security for those accounts.' Visa has informed member banks that they have until Oct. 31 to switch from using CardSystems to process card transactions. The decision sends a strong message to the industry about Visa's stance on cardholder security with respect to enforcing the PCI Data Security Standard. We'll see how MasterCard and American Express react. Also the long term viability of CardSystems itself is now in question."

Another visit to the Abandonware Orphanage. chill writes "Aladdin 4D, the venerable Amiga 3D design and rendering program, is yearning to be free. If the owners, Nova Designs, can raise $37,579.83 to pay off old debts they will release the trademarks, source code, tutorials, rights, and all as LGPL. So, if having this tool available to the FOSS pool of code is something that interests you, donate!"

This approach worked for Blender; it would be great to see it happen more.

Google keeps stealing my best ideas before I have them. Chmarr writes "Right on the heels of Google Moon, Google Maps now includes very detailed maps of our favorite animation source Japan. Here's hoping you can read Japanese."

But you only need to read Alien for this one: Oreo 51 writes "It was only a matter of time before someone did this. Barry Snyder used Google Maps to take shots of the infamous high-security Area 51 in the Nevada desert. I can't wait to see what /.ers think of all the craters and interesting sand geometry there."

Now taking donations of one nickel per cool use of Google Maps, to go toward the James Ellroy Crime Scene Map Project Fund.

Now with more nutritious Darkness! Simian Farmer writes "For the tens of thousands of Star Wars fans who visited The Darth Side: Memoirs of a Monster on a daily basis just before the release of Sith, the same author has begun penning his own blog-novel called Simon of Space.

The style of writing that lured so many to read Darth Side so avidly this past April/May is present in spades in his new fiction, updated almost daily. According to the author, it has, '...romance, action, humour and all the whiz-bang special effects you can get without actually making a movie.'"

Blue Frog Claims to be Legit justy writes "I noticed that Blue Security, the company behind the Blue Frog anti-spam initiative, have issued a statement on their blog as a result of "feedback we have received from the community". They say that "the total number of complaints posted by the community is exactly equal to the number of spam messages received", which seems more fair in my opinion. Perhaps this development is a result of the heated discussion here on Slashdot."

Well that's not Orwellian or anything, Nooo .... An anonymous reader writes "The fallout from the recent Canadian Harry Potter court order continues [Harry Potter and the Right to Read] as a national newspaper was threatened with a lawsuit if they published a book review based on an 'unlawful reading.' The case, along with similar copyright abuses, has Canadians wondering what became of a kinder, gentler legal approach."

Well, keep looking then. According to this NY Times story, the recently described spotting of an ivory-billed woodpecker may be based on evidence too weak to rely on; this is the same bird that Cornell researches have been looking for with automated means to detect its distinctive voice.

Comments

Beatles vs. Beethoven

[Nasarius]

Um, don't you think it would have been nice to mention that the Beethoven downloads were free, while Sgt. Pepper's on iTunes obviously isn't? The comparison is worthless.

Re:Beatles vs. Beethoven

[01000011011101000111]

Dude, Beethoven is blatantly better than the beatles - i mean, have you *SEEN* him play in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure?

Re:Beatles vs. Beethoven

[wmelnick]

It's not even one album. It is the Macca/U2 version from Live8. Put the entire Beatles catalog up and watch the sales soar! Why not put up Led Zeppelin while you are at it? Those are the two biggest missing bands from legal downloads in the Classic Rock genre.

Re:Beatles vs. Beethoven

[tepples]

Put the entire Beatles catalog up and watch the sales soar!

Sorry, but it won't happen until the heat de^W^W expiration of copyright. Apple Corps and Apple Computer don't like each other.

Re:Beatles vs. Beethoven

[kalidasa]

RTFA. The new single of Sgt. Pepper's the song (the opening song on the album) by McCartney with U2 is the comparandum. They're comparing a single point download (of the Beethoven symphonies from BBC) to a single point download (of Sgt Pepper's from iTunes). Of course, they're also comparing several hours at $0.00 to three minutes at $0.79, so I'm not sure how useful the comparison really is (as they admit themselves), except that it surprised them how many people would listen to classical music if it was free. They also point out that iTunes sales are actually better than brick and mortar sales for many classical albums.

Re:Beatles vs. Beethoven

[netsharc]

The freeness ("freedom" sounds weird in the context) must've been a factor, but also probably the fact that the average Kazaa user wouldn't be someone that likes classical music, and another factor is you can't tell if files in illegal share-networks are 100% okay, do they even have the right filename. For a Britney song it's okay, because you can compare it to what you hear on MTV, but for a classical music it's a bit harder, unless you're really an avid listener. An average person who is only moderately attracted to classical music can use this service to get what he knows is a correctly labeled, good quality file and that's probably what's going on.

Re:Beatles vs. Beethoven

[Bjimba]

Michael Jackson owns the songs (the publishing catalog), not the recordings. He would make money on it, but it's not his decision whether to place the recordings on iTunes.

First Prime Factorization Post

[2*2*3*75011]

Is Area 51 a rectangle with sides 3 and 17?

cardsystems failure

[SgtXaos]

I have to replace the card I have had for 15 years, thanks to this SNAFU, and update all services that automatically charge it, not to mention memorizing the new account number. I hope something good comes of this, like serious protection of user accounts in the future, but I doubt it.

apples and hand grenades

[BlueLines]

no u.s. itunes user could actually buy 'sgt peppers', but plenty of u.s. folks could download beethoven from the bbc. this is a pretty pointless comparison.

-BlueLines

Social Networking Bubble?

[Scoria]

Now you can think of it as Rupert'sSpace.

It's somewhat ironic that a medium designed to share information has become one infested with what are essentially data and demographic mining sites like MySpace.

The purchase price of $580 million reminded me instantly of the original dot-com bubble. Perhaps we're seeing a slight resurrection of that, however finite. Some of the data collected by MySpace would be an absolute gold mine to third party advertisers.

FAS did the Area51 pics along time ago

[jon787]

Better Area51 pics

American Express has already reacted

[200_success]

Like Visa, American Express has also announced that it will stop working with CardSystems.

The real slashdot effect on downloading...

[DrHanser]

If you get bored, I wrote an analysis of the slashdot effect, seeing as how I was the person hosting those symphonies when all of a sudden I randomly got /.ed. "An analysis of the slashdot effect."

The fury of a slashdotting is truly an impressive thing.

Area 51

[captain_craptacular]

Hate to bring a voice of reason to the area 51 "debate" but those "Black Crop Circles" are nothing more than a wastewater treatment facility. Standard civilian grade stuff there...

Japanese Google maps more detailed

[ashitaka]

Compare the area around my parents in law's place or where I used to live in Tokyo with where I live now.

Showing where the buildings are is nice. Wow! They opened a Macdonalds in Sakura Shin-machi!!!

Re:Japanese Google maps more detailed

[Coryoth]

To be fair you need more detail with a map in Japan. In a map of the US or Europe the street names and a few street numbers are all you need to find a particular building or house. Japan, on the other hand, has their own particularly weird system where buildings are numbered by blocks (roughly speaking) based on when they were built, and the majority of streets don't have names. Given the general lack of street names and building numbers (well, the kind we're used to) any map in Japan is only really useful if it provides some landmarks to navigate by - which is I presume why they include all the building details and traffic light symbols etc.

My personal irk after spending some time backpacking around Japan: they are kind enough to post maps around the place to help you find things, but the orientation of the map is can often be pretty much random - no "North is up", no aligning with the street layout as it is in front of you, just general "however they felt like" orientation.

Jedidiah.

Craters?

[RiffRafff]

You mean like these?

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=37.113061,-116.0544 20&spn=0.029803,0.040199&t=k&hl=en

Those are depressions from underground atomic/nuclear tests.

Unlawful Reading?

[nathanh]

... if they published a book review based on an 'unlawful reading.'

What next? Drive-by readings? Reading while under the influence? Reading with intent to edumacate?

I can't even imagine the extent of brain damage the lawyers must have to invent "unlawful reading".

More fun with Google Maps

[RiffRafff]

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=34.602792,-118.0860 22&spn=0.007186,0.010050&t=k&hl=en

See the pretty SR-71s and U-2?
(Actually, one SR-71 and one A-12, #17973 and #06924, respectively.)

How about A-12 #06925 on the deck(!) of the USS Intrepid?
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=40.764384,-74.00020 5&spn=0.007451,0.010050&t=k&hl=en

Re:Unlawful reading

[Anonymous Coward]

You can pay a doctor to give life saving care, and no, they won't be fined for accepting payment or providing such care. Many people get privately funded care for a variety of reasons and it's perfectly legal. Btw the fact is, the hospital which allowed you to queue hop, probably did so because you were being aggressive about demanding treatment. They get paid regardless if comes out of your personal pocket or not, and service priority has nothing to do with the source of the money.

Thanks for calling us Commie bastards. It clears a lot up!

It's not the price

[Henry V .009]

Beethoven goes better with the old Ultra Violence. You have to listen to Helter Skelter for 24 hours to get the same effect.

Good grief

[Trogre]

With this new Harry Potter novel release, no one is henceforth allowed to call Revenge of the Sith over-hyped or over-rated.

Area 51

[Anonymous Coward]

The 'crop cirles' are most likely some kind of sewage or water treatment plant.

the "VeryOdd.JPG" looks to be maybe some kind of mine.

Many of the craters, 'glowing spots' and 'crosshairs' appear to be aerial bombing practice/testing areas. The "Triangles" is just a variation on that theme - probably for very high altitude bomb drops.

Given that "Area 51" is used to military aircraft development, no real mystery or surprise there. The larger and deeper craters may be nuclear in nature - 'Area 51' shares a border with the Yucca Flats nuclear testing area.

I am guessing that "the/StrangeLookingArea.JPG" may be storage for munitions, maybe NBC munitions.

The "CirclesAndAntenneas.JPG" could be various antenna layouts for a listening station - maybe ELS and/or ELF (they often have huge circular arrays and very tall towers).

Some formations in the desert may be simply to help pilots orient themselves (no - not alien pilots from another world) as the desert can look very nondescript from altitude.

Having flown a lot over areas I later visited on ground level or much lower altitude, including at high altitude over desert areas, I can say that what often looks interesting and weird from altitude is usually quite explainable and ordinary closer up.

Re:7-11 in japan

[mccoma]

I seem to remember an article stating that the Japanese 7-11 bought out the American parent company.

Sirius Black Dies!

[blibbler]

The week the last book came out, an Australian comedy newspaper ran the headline "Sirius Black Dies!" With a sub-headline "Newspaper ruins book for thousands of children"

It's The Nevada Test Site, not Area 51. Jeez.

[uglyMood]

The craters pictured (Google Maps link is http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=37.108040,-116.0454 94&spn=0.146118,0.240704&t=k&hl=en ) are NOT in Area 51. It's the Nevada Test Site, where we did aboveground and underground nuclear testing for decades. There is a museum for the site in Las Vegas, where I live. It's website is here: http://www.ntshf.org/ .

By the way, the large crater at the north end of the site is from the biggest underground test ever done by the US, code-named Sedan.

Also, if you want to see an atomic cannon (only fired once, at the Nevada Site), there's one outside Junction City, Kansas. The Google Maps URL is http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Junction+City,+Kansa s&ll=39.037964,-96.763169&spn=0.004566,0.007522&t= k&hl=en . It's the small black blot in the center of the image. More on it can be found at Roadside America: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/KSJUNatomic .html .

Re:Area 51

[ccoakley]

Nice try, Captain, but there's no way your disinformation is getting past my tinfoil.

Lead shielding works better than tinfoil. Inject some into your blood for ultimate protection. "Lead Poisoning" is a government lie to prevent this little known solution from becoming widely used.

Think about it.

But, when using tinfoil: Shiney side out!

Help out PDA and Phone Slashdot readers!

[Mr_Silver]

I appreciate that this isn't related to the Slashback articles, but I would appreciate it if people didn't mod this into oblivion.

I maintain and run AvantSlash, which is a script that allows people who are using PDA's and mobile phones to view a specially cleaned up version of Slashdot designed for the limited bandwidth and screen size that they have.

Unfortunately, however, the account with this code in was recently deleted (through no fault of my own) and I don't have a copy of the latest code.

If anyone has version 3.1 of AvantSlash (ideally the full archive, but the script and config file would be a start), I would really appreciate it if they could drop me an email to silver (at) ewtoo (dot) org.

Unfortunately I won't be able to run the site any more due to bandwidth restrictions (although I will still maintain the code) but if anyone has the ability to host it, then please get in contact with me.

Thanks!

It's reeeaaalllly not the price.

[LaminatorX]

Over 150 years after he wrote it, Beethoven's 9th symphony defined the length of the Red Book audio CD. 72 minutes was not just a number Phillips pulled out of thin air. It's the length of the 9th.

Beethoven's allways been bigger than the Beatles.

Area 51 query to Google Maps

[soboroff]

Hey, if you just query "Area 51" on Google Maps, you get right there, plus a link to the Best Western!

Re:Unlawful reading

[cheesybagel]

I got the wrong country. Fine. Here, watch Cuba beat your statistics into a pulp:

US: total: 6.5 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 7.17 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 5.8 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.)

Cuba: total: 6.33 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 7.11 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 5.5 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.)

You cannot even beat Cuba. Lamers.

Here is Canada:

Canada: total: 4.75 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 5.21 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 4.27 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.)

So, you were telling me how great your healthcare system was?