I know I'm trolling here, but this is like paying a hooker to proposition you. "Hey, honey, lookin' for a good time? No? Well, that'll be sixty bucks, anyway."
I think what the music industry needs is a tsunami tidal wave of insipid filth to just wash over the airwaves for several years, and this software has got to be the ticket.
I'm hoping that after another ten years of generic, predictable, and bland popular pabulum, the music-buying public will abandon the major labels and start going to coffee shops to hear something different.
There are formats, there are formulas, and then there are gimmicks. This TV show idea is a gimmick, and gimmicks rarely last more than a few installments before the public sighs a big "ho hum" and the idea goes, as Douglas Adams might put it, "to the big golden spike in the sky, baby."
"Mistrust those in whom the urge to punish is strong."
The thing about these statements that bothers me is that the industries that are affected by the piracy are doing just fine economically. Movie ticket sales are brisk, CD sales are stellar, and people are flocking to concerts, paying top dollar to see their favorite artists, and yet the industry representatives are acting as though the entire future of American entertainment is in jeopardy. Is it, really? Pop stars and movie stars, as well as the executives of the companies that promote and use them, live lives of luxury that would make the wealthiest, most powerful emperors in the history of human civilization green with envy. They are flown from one 5-star hotel to another in private jets, and are drivin in limosines to the finest restaurants in town, treated like royalty by hordes of fawning, obsequious servitors.
I doubt that the lifestyles of the rich and famous are in any danger of bumping down a notch because a few street vendors in Beijing are hawking copies of their movies and albums.
And if you don't believe it, you'd better convincingly pretend that you do, or His followers will soon be tossing your sorry heretical ass into prison.
Who better than to defend the robot surgeon than the RoboMouth 3000, the finest robot lawyer in production today? Why, the RoboMouth 3000 can file motions 63.7 times faster than the fastest human lawyer, and can should "Objection!" at 135db before opposing counsel finishes the offending remark!
Of course the Teamsters don't like it... I can see it now... "So, either of you fellows care to explain why you drove the delivery van over to Mario Calienti's office and then drove it and a cement mixer over to the waterfront?"
It's gotten to the point where all spammers seem to care about is getting past my filters. Of course, the end result is a subject line that's so idiotic looking that I immediately know that it's spam. Side note: I have to say, too, that Thunderbird does a great job of filtering mass quantities of spam from my inboxes in short order, on both the PC and the Mac. I've been spreading the word, leaving a trail of former Outlook-Express-users in my wake.
The EFF is a light in a dark wilderness. How amazing that a group of people so talented, experienced, and dedicated to digital liberty can come together and accomplish so much. Episode #74 of This American Life features EFF co-founder John Perry Barlow's touching account of a romance that blossomed between him and a wonderful woman he met at a convention. (Computer geeks take heed... play this story for a girl you fancy and see if it softens her heart.)
A while ago I stumbled across this site called Battery University, which has a lot of detailed information about how various kinds of batteries work and how best to make use of them. Not sure if this is relevant, but just wanted to toss that into the conversation.
Whenever I see a story like this I feel this unquenchable compulsion to imagine the most absurd extension of the legal quarrel.
So, to that end, I've trademarked the intake of breath that one makes before speaking, and therefore all verbal communication is in violation that contains such a sound.
Why do I get the idea that this new IP czar isn't going to be concerning himself much with corporations abusing copyright law to silence their critics and prevent parody and satire being made about their property?
And is he going to work toward finding a middle ground between fair use and IP protection? I have my doubts.
Why not recreate other US Presidential assassinations?
Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC... you sneak past the guards (assuming there were any... any historians on the board?) and silently enter the box wherein President Lincoln sits alongside his wife Mary Todd, watching the play "Our American Cousin"... sic semper tyrannus! you cry...
Or you approach President McKinley at the site of the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, NY, pistol in hand...
Tell them that you've made them members of Internet2 but really make them members of Internet0, wherein there is naught but a group of Haitians trading the complete collection of Ernest movies (Ernest Goes to Camp, Ernest Goes to Jail, Ernest Goes to Haiti and Becomes a Zombie, etc.).
Back in May of this year, NPR did a story on the popularity of CSI, and how the show compares to the way investigations are carried out in reality. The differences are pretty stark, but the excuse is that reality doesn't make for a gripping crime drama.
Frank Zappa saw this coming decades ago. Read the liner notes for his double album Joe's Garage. You can find them by searching for the terms zappa and Total Criminalization in your favorite search engine.
At the risk of being redundant, just what in the flaming, farging heck does that mean, "skipping any commercials or promotional announcements would be prohibited"?
If it means what I think it means, then this corporate control of the federal government has gone far enough.
When it's gotten to the point where the federal government is actually proposing criminalizing the use of technology to ignore a corporation's mind-numbing commercial pabulum, then it's perfectly obvious to me that what needs to be overhauled is not copyright law, but the whole damn government.
And up to three years in prison for camcordering a movie? THREE YEARS?! Guys spend less time in prison for rape!
I did RTFA, but I didn't attempt to plow through the language of the bill itself.
As a kid, I had this little hand-held toy that looked like a movie camera. It had a little crank on it, and there were cartridges for the toy that had short silent films on them, like Mickey Mouse cartoons or bits of Star Trek episodes. Point the toy at a light source, look in the little viewfinder, and be entertained. Ah, those were the days.
And now I see a guy playing a movie trailer in a similar fashion on an iPod, trying to run the wheel at a uniform speed, and I am reminded of my plastic toy. I'd better go see if anyone is selling one of those on eBay.
This reminds me of This American Life episode 265, from May of this year, entitled Fake Science, which includes, in Act Four, "Fake science can be fun. Fake science can make people happy," which I think would make an excellent t-shirt iron-on. In Act One of the show, a reporter gets into a delightfully heated exchange with a Bush Administration wonk who defends the appointment of a highly dubious lead industry shill to a prominent position on a federal commission on lead safety, while genuine experts get passed over. You can almost hear the vein throbbing on the guy's forehead when the reporter catches him a flagrant lie about the appointee's ties to the lead industry. Have a listen... it's free.
There is also this episode of TOTN that covers the topic, featuring the authors of the book Hello World: A Life in Ham Radio.
And in February of this year, All Things Considered ran a piece on the pending approval of a Morse code "at" symbol so that operators could tell others their email addresses. How's that for radio and the internet meeting in the middle?
I've found that when transferring.ORG domain names from one registrar to another the PIR gets involved, and requires an authorization code from the losing registrar, so I think we can stop chortling about the idea of hijacking icann.org or slashdot.org. We would need to obtain the authorization code, and I don't think the registrar would hand that over to just anybody.
I have to admit that this story through me into a panic, I mean a full-on tingling-up-the-spine near-freakout, since I use a registrar that's about the worst one on the planet (and I'm in the process of moving everything over to one that I actually like). But it looks like my fears were pretty much unfounded. But there's still a shroud of doubt hanging over me. It's still not clear to me what happens if I am unable to respond to an email requesting authorization on a transfer from my old registrar.
And another thing that weirds me out is that in one part of the ICANN page it says that registrar-locked status will protect the domain name from being transferred, and then in the next section they say it won't. What's the distinction they're making?
Slashdot Mirror
I know I'm trolling here, but this is like paying a hooker to proposition you. "Hey, honey, lookin' for a good time? No? Well, that'll be sixty bucks, anyway."
I think what the music industry needs is a tsunami tidal wave of insipid filth to just wash over the airwaves for several years, and this software has got to be the ticket.
I'm hoping that after another ten years of generic, predictable, and bland popular pabulum, the music-buying public will abandon the major labels and start going to coffee shops to hear something different.
There are formats, there are formulas, and then there are gimmicks. This TV show idea is a gimmick, and gimmicks rarely last more than a few installments before the public sighs a big "ho hum" and the idea goes, as Douglas Adams might put it, "to the big golden spike in the sky, baby."
Just in time for the swearing in of President Björk.
"Mistrust those in whom the urge to punish is strong."
The thing about these statements that bothers me is that the industries that are affected by the piracy are doing just fine economically. Movie ticket sales are brisk, CD sales are stellar, and people are flocking to concerts, paying top dollar to see their favorite artists, and yet the industry representatives are acting as though the entire future of American entertainment is in jeopardy. Is it, really? Pop stars and movie stars, as well as the executives of the companies that promote and use them, live lives of luxury that would make the wealthiest, most powerful emperors in the history of human civilization green with envy. They are flown from one 5-star hotel to another in private jets, and are drivin in limosines to the finest restaurants in town, treated like royalty by hordes of fawning, obsequious servitors.
I doubt that the lifestyles of the rich and famous are in any danger of bumping down a notch because a few street vendors in Beijing are hawking copies of their movies and albums.
And if you don't believe it, you'd better convincingly pretend that you do, or His followers will soon be tossing your sorry heretical ass into prison.
We'll see you at church on Sunday. Or else.
Who better than to defend the robot surgeon than the RoboMouth 3000, the finest robot lawyer in production today? Why, the RoboMouth 3000 can file motions 63.7 times faster than the fastest human lawyer, and can should "Objection!" at 135db before opposing counsel finishes the offending remark!
Of course the Teamsters don't like it... I can see it now... "So, either of you fellows care to explain why you drove the delivery van over to Mario Calienti's office and then drove it and a cement mixer over to the waterfront?"
It's gotten to the point where all spammers seem to care about is getting past my filters. Of course, the end result is a subject line that's so idiotic looking that I immediately know that it's spam. Side note: I have to say, too, that Thunderbird does a great job of filtering mass quantities of spam from my inboxes in short order, on both the PC and the Mac. I've been spreading the word, leaving a trail of former Outlook-Express-users in my wake.
And you can watch the VIC-20 ad with Shatner right here: http://www.retrojunk.com/media/163/
Bring back the VIC-20!
I want my 1MHZ of screaming power, with 5K of RAM!
The EFF is a light in a dark wilderness. How amazing that a group of people so talented, experienced, and dedicated to digital liberty can come together and accomplish so much. Episode #74 of This American Life features EFF co-founder John Perry Barlow's touching account of a romance that blossomed between him and a wonderful woman he met at a convention. (Computer geeks take heed... play this story for a girl you fancy and see if it softens her heart.)
A while ago I stumbled across this site called Battery University, which has a lot of detailed information about how various kinds of batteries work and how best to make use of them. Not sure if this is relevant, but just wanted to toss that into the conversation.
Whenever I see a story like this I feel this unquenchable compulsion to imagine the most absurd extension of the legal quarrel.
So, to that end, I've trademarked the intake of breath that one makes before speaking, and therefore all verbal communication is in violation that contains such a sound.
It's amazing what coffee, weed, a lot of free time, and the irrepressible drive of youth and insanity can accomplish.
Just wait... these guys will probably have their own show on Comedy Central in a year or so.
Why do I get the idea that this new IP czar isn't going to be concerning himself much with corporations abusing copyright law to silence their critics and prevent parody and satire being made about their property?
And is he going to work toward finding a middle ground between fair use and IP protection? I have my doubts.
Why not recreate other US Presidential assassinations?
Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC... you sneak past the guards (assuming there were any... any historians on the board?) and silently enter the box wherein President Lincoln sits alongside his wife Mary Todd, watching the play "Our American Cousin"... sic semper tyrannus! you cry...
Or you approach President McKinley at the site of the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, NY, pistol in hand...
Tell them that you've made them members of Internet2 but really make them members of Internet0, wherein there is naught but a group of Haitians trading the complete collection of Ernest movies (Ernest Goes to Camp, Ernest Goes to Jail, Ernest Goes to Haiti and Becomes a Zombie, etc.).
Back in May of this year, NPR did a story on the popularity of CSI, and how the show compares to the way investigations are carried out in reality. The differences are pretty stark, but the excuse is that reality doesn't make for a gripping crime drama.
Frank Zappa saw this coming decades ago. Read the liner notes for his double album Joe's Garage. You can find them by searching for the terms zappa and Total Criminalization in your favorite search engine.
At the risk of being redundant, just what in the flaming, farging heck does that mean, "skipping any commercials or promotional announcements would be prohibited"?
If it means what I think it means, then this corporate control of the federal government has gone far enough.
When it's gotten to the point where the federal government is actually proposing criminalizing the use of technology to ignore a corporation's mind-numbing commercial pabulum, then it's perfectly obvious to me that what needs to be overhauled is not copyright law, but the whole damn government.
And up to three years in prison for camcordering a movie? THREE YEARS?! Guys spend less time in prison for rape!
I did RTFA, but I didn't attempt to plow through the language of the bill itself.
As a kid, I had this little hand-held toy that looked like a movie camera. It had a little crank on it, and there were cartridges for the toy that had short silent films on them, like Mickey Mouse cartoons or bits of Star Trek episodes. Point the toy at a light source, look in the little viewfinder, and be entertained. Ah, those were the days.
And now I see a guy playing a movie trailer in a similar fashion on an iPod, trying to run the wheel at a uniform speed, and I am reminded of my plastic toy. I'd better go see if anyone is selling one of those on eBay.
This reminds me of This American Life episode 265, from May of this year, entitled Fake Science, which includes, in Act Four, "Fake science can be fun. Fake science can make people happy," which I think would make an excellent t-shirt iron-on. In Act One of the show, a reporter gets into a delightfully heated exchange with a Bush Administration wonk who defends the appointment of a highly dubious lead industry shill to a prominent position on a federal commission on lead safety, while genuine experts get passed over. You can almost hear the vein throbbing on the guy's forehead when the reporter catches him a flagrant lie about the appointee's ties to the lead industry. Have a listen... it's free.
There's an NPR episode of Talk of the Nation entitled "Letters and Ham Radio Lessons". From the website: "...ham radio teacher Rick Stern joins Neal Conan with tips on teaching your kids about ham radio."
There is also this episode of TOTN that covers the topic, featuring the authors of the book Hello World: A Life in Ham Radio.
And in February of this year, All Things Considered ran a piece on the pending approval of a Morse code "at" symbol so that operators could tell others their email addresses. How's that for radio and the internet meeting in the middle?
I've found that when transferring .ORG domain names from one registrar to another the PIR gets involved, and requires an authorization code from the losing registrar, so I think we can stop chortling about the idea of hijacking icann.org or slashdot.org. We would need to obtain the authorization code, and I don't think the registrar would hand that over to just anybody.
I have to admit that this story through me into a panic, I mean a full-on tingling-up-the-spine near-freakout, since I use a registrar that's about the worst one on the planet (and I'm in the process of moving everything over to one that I actually like). But it looks like my fears were pretty much unfounded. But there's still a shroud of doubt hanging over me. It's still not clear to me what happens if I am unable to respond to an email requesting authorization on a transfer from my old registrar.
And another thing that weirds me out is that in one part of the ICANN page it says that registrar-locked status will protect the domain name from being transferred, and then in the next section they say it won't. What's the distinction they're making?