Saturday, June 19, 2004

Rocks.
posted by Irdial , 11:38 PM Þ 

yeah, what are you on, playa?
posted by Ken , 10:12 PM Þ 

I counted four "in's". Curious ...
posted by mary13 , 9:22 PM Þ 

posted by Alun , 4:38 PM Þ 

tarzanzibarbeque
posted by Alun , 4:36 PM Þ 

So am I, Alvin.
posted by Alun , 4:20 PM Þ 

You'll never touch the magic, if you don't reach out far enough.
posted by Alun , 4:04 PM Þ 

posted by Irdial , 1:30 PM Þ 

So far it looks like three outs and one in.

"Theres room in my in but theres no room in my in"
posted by Irdial , 9:19 AM Þ 

The new Europe in 333 pages

http://www.guardian.co.uk/eu/story/0,7369,1242743,00.html

2 x 333 = 666

QED
posted by Irdial , 8:57 AM Þ 

There are so many ways of arranging the tools we have into traffic making monsters they probably will never be exhausted. Here is a brilliant example:

http://gmailmachine.mmgn.com/

And like I said, people have started writing tools to work with Gmail:

This one allows you to export all of your local mbox email to Gmail.

Now THAT is an interesting idea; everyone leaving localally controlled pop3 email and migrating to Gmail!!!!!
posted by Irdial , 8:43 AM Þ 
posted by Ken , 6:56 AM Þ 
posted by Ken , 6:48 AM Þ 

the onion does it again with their amazing tv listings. see what's on tonight!




ps: apologies for the double-post on that picture-snapping thing, i thought the link may have been different. boners.

pps: did that new applicant get in the door or what? in.
posted by Ken , 6:45 AM Þ 
Friday, June 18, 2004

Here's what I'm here to convince you of:

1. That DRM systems don't work

2. That DRM systems are bad for society

3. That DRM systems are bad for business

4. That DRM systems are bad for artists

5. That DRM is a bad business-move for MSFT

http://craphound.com/msftdrm.txt
posted by Irdial , 5:56 PM Þ 

Hello

How should I use PGP and Gmail - specifically...

Just how do I use it? Do I write the message in Gmail, copy it, encrypt it and then paste it over the original?

How do I encode emails to someone that I want to read later? Do I put my key on as well?

How do I remember my key? I need to set up PGP *again* as I keep stalling in using it and therefore forgetting it...can't read anything I sent or received in PGP in May last year now...I know I be daft but really what is a good strategy for remembering such an important bit of info?
posted by captain davros , 5:55 PM Þ 
posted by captain davros , 5:54 PM Þ 

We had our prints taken for 'comparison/elimination' after our latest burglary. On the form it said the record would be destroyed after use, and you could request to have it returned.

Now this is really interesting. Why are they offering to return your prints to you? This is a left over from the time when only criminals had their fingerprints on record a time when people understood that this sort of private and personal information should never be held by the government unless it is done under very specific circumstances to do with crime and criminals. What happened to the common sense of the British public?!
posted by Irdial , 4:59 PM Þ 

The FBI, which has more than 75m fingerprints on its criminal and civil computer records

We had our prints taken for 'comparison/elimination' after our latest burglary. On the form it said the record would be destroyed after use, and you could request to have it returned. However, I guess these (paper-based) forms have been long outdated, and I'd be surprised if they weren't all scanned. So was mine scanned? Were then ALL records (physical AND digital) purged? Could I find out?

I guess... YES, HMMM and PROBABLY NOT.

Any other guesses?


Actually, something more concrete than a guess would be good. Needs looking into. (yes)
posted by Alun , 3:19 PM Þ 

British police will almost certainly be given access in the near future to US intelligence databases containing DNA samples, fingerprints and digital images of thousands of foreign nationals seized around the world by the US as terror suspects....

blah blah bullshit quoted

And if you don't think the US is going to get reciprocal access to any ID database that the UK tries to introduce then you need to wake up a little.
This will mean constant unnecessary data transfer, multiple databases of COMPLETELY USELESS information in 99.999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999% of cases without any real recourse by those whose information is stored.
posted by meau meau , 9:48 AM Þ 

Didnt not I postorz that?
posted by Irdial , 9:39 AM Þ 

for akin:

piracy messages
posted by Ken , 3:30 AM Þ 

June 17, 2004

Friends,

We're a week away from the nationwide opening of "Fahrenheit 9/11" and not a day goes by where we don't have some new battle to fight thanks to those who are still working overtime to keep people from seeing this film. What's their problem? Are they worried about something?

A Republican PR firm has formed a fake grassroots front group called "Move America Forward" to harass and intimidate theater owners into not showing "Fahrenheit 9/11." These are the same people who successfully badgered CBS into canceling the Reagan mini-series a few months ago. And they are spending a ton of money this week to threaten movie theaters who even think about showing our movie.

As of this morning, a little over 500 theaters have agreed to show the movie beginning next Friday, June 25. There are three national/regional theater chains who, as of today, have not booked the movie in their theaters. One theater owner in Illinois has reported receiving death threats.

The right wing usually wins these battles. Their basic belief system is built on censorship, repression, and keeping people ignorant. They want to limit or snuff out any debate or dissension. They also don't like pets and are mean to small children. Too many of them are named "Fred."

This new nut group is the Right's last hope in limiting how many people can see this movie. All of their other efforts have failed. Let's recap:

1. Roger Friedman at FOX News reported that the head of the company which first agreed to fund our film ?got calls from Republican friends? pressuring them to back out. And they did. But... Miramax immediately picked up the film! Except...

2. Michael Eisner, the chairman of Disney, then blocked Miramax (a company owned by Disney) from releasing the film once it was finished. But... public attention and embarrassment forced Disney to let the Weinstein brothers of Miramax find another distributor! But...

3. Instead of a new distributor stepping right in -- as all the media predicted would happen -- it took another month to find distributors who would take on this movie. A number of other distributors, thanks to various pressures, were afraid to get involved. It looked for a while that we would be distributing this ourselves. But then Lions Gate and IFC Films rode in to the rescue!

So, we have beaten back all attempts to kill this movie, and the only thing in the way of you now seeing "Fahrenheit 9/11" is this Republican big-money front group trying to force theaters not to show the movie.

Please, contact your local theaters and let them know you want to see "Fahrenheit 9/11." Tell them that some people don't know that this is America and that we believe in freedom of speech and the importance of ALL voices being heard. (The members of MoveOn.org?an ACTUAL grassroots organization?have done a very cool thing. They are pledging to send a message to theater owners and are planning to attend a showing of the film on its opening weekend.)

I appreciate their efforts, but you don?t have to be a member of MoveOn to help stop this effort to keep ?Fahrenheit 9/11? from making it to screens across the country. If a theater in your area is planning to show the film, just give them a call and thank them for standing up for the freedom of speech. If your local theater isn't showing the film, call them and let them know that you would like to see it and you'd like them to show it.

The White House and their minions in our media have presented one distorted version of the truth after another for the past four years. All we are asking for is the right to show what they HAVEN'T shown us, the real truth. The truth that ain't pretty (and is, sadly, damningly hilarious).

On top of all this, the MPAA gave the film an "R" rating. I want all teenagers to see this film. There is nothing in the film in terms of violence that we didn't see on TV every night at the dinner hour during the Vietnam War. Of course, that's the point, isn't it? The media have given the real footage from Iraq a "cleansing" -- made it look nice, easy to digest. Mario Cuomo has offered to be our lawyer in appealing this ruling by the MPAA. Frankly, I would like to think the MPAA is saying that the actions by the Bush administration are so abhorrent and revolting, we need to protect our children from seeing what they have done. In that case, the film should be rated NC-17!

However it turns out, I trust all of you teenagers out there will find your way into a theater to see this movie. If the government believes it is OK to send slightly older teenagers to their deaths in Iraq, I think at the very least you should be allowed to see what they are going to draft you for in a couple of years.

Finally, some very sophisticated individuals have been hacking into and shutting down our website. It is an hourly fight to keep it up. We are going to find out who is doing this and we are going to pursue a criminal prosecution. I'm preparing lots of cool stuff for the site so watch for new items on it next week (www.fahrenheit911.com and www.michaelmoore.com).

Thanks again for your support and I hope to see you at the movies on opening night, June 25.

Yours,

Michael Moore



PS. I am sponsoring a number of benefits around the country next week for local and national peace and justice groups, including Military Families Speak Out and September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. Please check your local papers and my website next week for further details.

PPS. Also, I am going to be on the ?Late Show with David Letterman? on Friday night. It's on CBS at 11:35 PM Eastern and Pacific. And on Monday morning (June 21) I will be on ?The Today Show? on NBC. Next week, Jon Stewart and Conan. I'd go on O'Reilly but, like a coward, he walked out on a screening we invited him to (with Al Franken just a few rows away!). I personally caught him sneaking out. Embarrassed, he tried to change the subject. He said, "When are you coming on my show?" and I said, "Turn around and watch the rest of the movie and I will come on your show." He walked out. Fair and balanced.
posted by Ken , 2:19 AM Þ 
Thursday, June 17, 2004



No Iraq link to September 11 plot, US report finds
The US commission investigating the September 11 attacks reported yesterday it had found no evidence that Iraq and al-Qaida cooperated in the plot or had any sort of "collaborative relationship", contradicting persistent claims from the White House.


Bush adamant over 9/11-Iraq links
"The reason I keep insisting that there was a relationship between Iraq and Saddam and al-Qaeda is because there was a relationship between Iraq and al-Qaeda," he said.

....Why would any sane person leave this man in charge of a TV remote control, let alone a country?


Rumsfeld ordered 'ghost detainee'
Imprisoned Iraqis must be held in line with international law
The US military has been secretly holding a suspected terrorist in Iraq on the orders of the Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

The Iraq man has been held since last November at a high-risk prison near Baghdad, without being listed on any roll or assigned a prisoner number.

Both conditions violate the Geneva Convention on treatment of prisoners.
posted by Alun , 7:04 PM Þ 

that 'text your bus' service is the coolest ...
posted by a hymn in g to nann , 6:52 PM Þ 

This porn site is just about the steamiest I have EVER seen!
posted by Irdial , 5:53 PM Þ 
posted by Ken , 5:13 PM Þ 

"'The Koran does not forbid Viagra,' Shebany said. 'In Islam, if a man can't sexually satisfy his wife she can ask for a divorce. Viagra helps prevent this disaster.'"

In the New Baghdad, Viagra a Hot Sell
posted by Ken , 4:50 PM Þ 

They Rule has been updated for 2004.

-

Unrelated interconnectedness, could the BBCs lukewarm reporting of the ID card issue have anything to do with Accenture being the joint front runner (with Siemens) for its proposed outsourced IT subcontract?
posted by meau meau , 2:13 PM Þ 

that 'text your bus' service is the coolest ...
posted by a hymn in g to nann , 1:30 PM Þ 

What is Burning Man all about?
posted by captain davros , 12:29 PM Þ 

This absolutely rules your world:

http://www.ongaku.de/

A beautiful interface....
posted by Irdial , 9:41 AM Þ 

Verifying that your system files are digitally signed

If you want to re-check that the files on your system haven't been tampered with, you can run sigverif (by typing its name into the Start.Run dialog) and tell it to start scanning.

(UI note: If you go into the Logging page on the Advanced dialog, you can get trapped where it insists on having a valid log file name even if you didn't ask for logging!)

The signature verification process takes a while, so go and do something else while you're waiting. When it's done, you'll get a list of all the system files that are not digitally signed by Microsoft. Just because a file is listed here doesn't mean that it's necessarily bad, however. For example, it might be a video driver or printer driver.

(Another UI note: You can't right-click the items in the list to view their properties, say, to see what company issued the files.) [...]

http://weblogs.asp.net/oldnewthing/archive/2004/06/16/157084.aspx
posted by Irdial , 9:16 AM Þ 
posted by Irdial , 9:06 AM Þ 

This, incredibly, comes from Fox News

[...]

But once "F9/11" gets to audiences beyond screenings, it won't be dependent on celebrities for approbation. It turns out to be a really brilliant piece of work, and a film that members of all political parties should see without fail.

As much as some might try to marginalize this film as a screed against President George Bush, "F9/11" ? as we saw last night ? is a tribute to patriotism, to the American sense of duty ? and at the same time a indictment of stupidity and avarice.

Readers of this column may recall that I had a lot of problems with Moore's "Bowling for Columbine," particularly where I thought he took gratuitous shots at helpless targets such as Charlton Heston. "Columbine" too easily succeeded by shooting fish in a barrel, as they used to say.

Not so with "F9/11," which instead relies on lots of film footage and actual interviews to make its case against the war in Iraq and tell the story of the intertwining histories of the Bush and bin Laden families. [...]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,122680,00.html

Bush is finished, this much, I am now willing to bet money on.

This movie is the "Bush Vaccine" that will finally rid us of this insane, inept, murderous, malignant, ignorant, evil, noxious president, and his nefarious, demonic familiars.
posted by Irdial , 6:58 AM Þ 
Wednesday, June 16, 2004

What happened to Gnutella TV?
posted by captain davros , 7:52 PM Þ 

9/11 commission discounts Saddam-Bin Laden link

The commission investigating the attacks on America of September 11 2001 has found "no credible evidence" of a relevant link between Iraq and al-Qaida, contradicting President George Bush's assertion that such a connection justified the toppling of Saddam Hussein.
...[ ]....

As recently as Monday, the US vice-president, Dick Cheney, asserted that Saddam had "long-established ties" with the terrorist network.

...and so on.
posted by Alun , 5:32 PM Þ 

posted by Alun , 3:21 PM Þ 

Chief Justice Rehnquist noted that the phrase "One Nation Under God" is more about ceremony and history than about religion and likened it to the motto in the currency "In God We Trust" or the opening of each session of the high court with the words "God save this honourable Court".

The Hindu
posted by meau meau , 2:09 PM Þ 

Welcome to the Cutting Suite, South London's complete vinyl service. We have a superb Neumann VMS70 cutting lathe in top condition. The studio is fully equipped to industry standard specs, with the highest quality mastering equipment.  We have vintage, valve and the latest digital equipment to suit all styles of music. We can be master from any format including vinyl, CD, DAT, minidisc and even MP3's on CD and solid state media. Our aim is to provide a fast turnaround, without compromising quality, in a relaxed informal environment. Because we're a small studio we can offer good value for money due to low overheads. We  therefore have time to really take care of our customers to produce the highest quality mastering.   [...]

Hmmmmmmmm

http://www.thecuttingsuite.com/
posted by Irdial , 1:45 PM Þ 

The Today programme this morning was spinning a yarn about a pesticide manufacturer, Syngenta (who incidentally has major GM interests) and that they are advising not to use their pesticides at the edges of fields to promote biodiversity, now we had the voices saying this was just a token effort and far too late, but my super-cynical mind has been thinking that if GM crops where introduced and the edges of the fields were full of biodiversity then some of the biodiversity might fly around and help pollinate surrounding fields with GM pollen now said company would go around to unlucky neighbouring farmer and sue the pants off him because he's growing an unlicensed GM crop.

But of course that would never happen would it?
posted by meau meau , 12:29 PM Þ 
posted by Irdial , 12:21 PM Þ 

POLICE DATA SNOOPED

Two girlfrinds of Yardie criminals yesterday admitted snopping on the police database.

Civilian workers Davina Kirwan and Sunshes Pike-Williams, both 21, made hundreds of unauthorized checks on their boyfriends and other criminals while employed at Stoke Newington police Station in North London, Southwarrk Crown Court heard.

They also admitted entering false information on to the system.

Kirwan, of Leytonstone, East London, and Pike-Williams, of Ealing, West London, risk being jailed next month.

[...]

Metro Magazine

see also:
BBC News
The Times
Evening Standard

I TOLD YOU!!!!

Two people working inside the police, corrupting and passing information from the police database for their criminal boyfriends.

Now.

If its YOU on the database, and someone who doesn't like you is paying a dudette with access to put convictions on your record, you are literally FUCKED, because its impossible for anyone but criminals to remove information from these records!

Add this to the ultimate poison of a unique number tied to you for life, and you start to see what a nightmare we will be living in if ID cards become a reality.

Someone, some gangsters moll will be able to attribute false crimes to you and there will be nothing you can do about it.

Now, the police have rigorous checks in place to keep criminals and their associates of criminals out of the reach of terminals, but these systems simply do not work.

I have personally seen the forms that the police require to be filled out even for the most trivial of jobs earning 15,000pa. You have to list:

Name
Address
Husbands/partners name address
Fathers name address
Siblings name address
Name and address of dependents
Name and address of "other significant persons"
"Have you ever been involved in espionage, terrorism, sabotage, actions intended to overthrow or undermine parliamentary democracy by political, industrial or violent means"

"Have you ever been a member of or supported a group or groups involved in any of the above activities"

"Have you ever had a close association with anyone who, to your knowledge, has ben a member of or given support to any such group or activities"


And THEN there is the medical disclosure form, which asks if you are suffering from just about any illness imaginable, who your doctors are and all sorts of other very private and personal information.

This form runs to 14 pages.

These two persons clearly had to fill out these expansive and invasive forms, and yet, they were the 'girlfriends of Yardie criminals'! The only way to protect against these sorts of abuses leaking into every area of your life, is to not allow a unique number to be attached to you. In this way, all of the people who want to foul your record will have to work very hard indeed to do a hatchet job on your records, which will be separated by closed systems on different databases, as they should be.

Updated March 26 2009
posted by Irdial , 11:49 AM Þ 

posted by meau meau , 10:44 AM Þ 

The Boyle Family

... Their aim continues to be to try & make art that does not exclude anything as a potential subject.Over the years, some of the subjects being: earth, air, fire and water; animals, vegetables and minerals; insects, reptiles and water creatures; human beings and societies. The media they have worked in have included: performances and events, films and projections, sound recordings, photography, electron-microphotography, drawing, assemblage, painting, sculpture and installation...
posted by meau meau , 10:06 AM Þ 
Tuesday, June 15, 2004

Quite a mix/mash-up/whatever-you-want-to-call-it by a local guy Diplo from the Hollertronix crew who throw tremendously dance-able parties.
posted by Josh Carr , 9:26 PM Þ 

In.

This is an mp3 by a guy called Fredo Viola. Thought you might like.
posted by chriszanf , 8:05 PM Þ 

posted by mary13 , 7:25 PM Þ 

in

...

There was a raccoon in my kitchen last night, eating the cat food. I woke to this serious munching sound, and was confused, as there is a magnetically-operated cat door in place. But! The spare room window was open, and the creature must have climbed in that way. Amazing thing, there is only about 1 foot of roof under the window, at about a 70 degree angle. Unbelievable!

Update: Further inspection has shown that the raccoon is forcing the door open with brute strength (actually, not a hard thing to do). The battle has begun ...
...

Endless Echoes
posted by mary13 , 7:07 PM Þ 

posted by Ken , 3:44 PM Þ 

I was in berlin 2 months ago with my boyfriend and they still have the thing with light-man in east and west

Yes...go to Hardwax in Kreutzberg! I was so impressed, their structure is like a library. Most record stores are always messy... But no, not Hardwax... My librarian-heart-beats-harder... Es war so schönn...

The Jewish Museum is that much a must - even the Danes copied it

Besides Alexanderplatz... Postdammer Platz! There is a peace of the old berlin wall and loads of nice new buildings DB and the Sony-Center (witch has a really great store)
Tiergarten to, just to watch...

Have a really great trip! You can even smoke weed in their bars ;]
posted by Alison , 3:41 PM Þ 



He was still there last summer. This was the only pic I could find of him (I have some transparencies, but not scanned yet). The red man is also different, but obviously not as congenial.

And remember, you MUST wait for the green man before crossing, lest 5 million Berliners stare you down.


Aha! Here he is, the Ampelmännchen! (Lamp man)


Copyrighted, of course. Copywritten?
posted by Alun , 1:01 PM Þ 

Check if the crossing man is still different in the East, Alex. You know here when you go to a pedestrian crossing there's a green and red man for go and stop? When I was in Berlin in '96 he was pretty similar in the West to ours, but in the East he wore a little hat.
posted by captain davros , 12:45 PM Þ 

I'm going to Berlin tomorrow for a week. Any recommendations? I want to check out Hard Wax and the Jewish Museum. And Alexanderplatz. Best name ever. More places should be named after me.
posted by alex_tea , 3:41 AM Þ 

Vote UKIP

I too forgot to vote, or more exactly, I forgot to post my registration back in March and so am exempt from voting. Stupid me. If I had been eligible I think I would have voted for Respect with Ken in second place for London. I quite like Ken, he's not perfect, but we could do worse.

Oh, and that's not a "half way up my arse" comment either.
posted by alex_tea , 1:10 AM Þ 
Monday, June 14, 2004

i forgot to vote

The UKIP is a non-racist, non-sectarian party. It includes British people of all backgrounds who value individual freedom, tolerance and our right to govern ourselves. The UKIP really believes in Britain and Britain's future as an independent nation competing in the world. We are not 'anti-European', but we oppose British membership of an EU that stifles our initiative and threatens our freedom. We do not seek to abolish the EU, for we believe that each nation in Europe should decide its own future. Britain has no more right to control them than they have to impose their will on us.

The UKIP is the only political party contesting the General Election that will never abolish the pound for the euro and will never abandon British common law, the right to trial by jury or the presumption of innocence. Indeed we are the only party left that genuinely believes in freedom - freedom for the individual, freedom for businesses and local communities, freedom from patronising 'political-correctness' and from intolerance or injustice. We seek an independent, outward-looking Britain, not the offshore province of a centralised 'Europe', whose people are told what to do and what to think.

In 1975, the British people voted for the 'Common Market' in good faith. They were told it was going to be a genuine common market - an association of independent, freely trading nation states. Instead, we have the European Union: centralised, bureaucratic, unaccountable and corrupt, eroding our independence and dictating policies that we would never vote for in an election.

Not only is our currency under threat, but our entire legal system, our British nationality, our right to free speech and freedom of association, our police, our armed forces, our own agricultural policy, our right to trade freely and the parliamentary system that underpins British liberty.

The EU has shown itself to be one of the largest confidence tricks in human history. It claims to 'give us rights' while removing basic freedoms. It 'gives us money' while costing us billions of pounds per year. EU subsidies are like crumbs from the cake we have made. The UKIP rejects the absurd Alice-in-Euroland logic of rule from Brussels.

The other parties are not telling us the truth about the EU. Despite all experience, the Labour Party still boasts about taking the lead in the EU and helping to shape its future. The Liberal-Democrats claim to believe in individual freedom but would reduce us to powerlessness within the EU. The Greens claim to believe in 'acting locally' but want us to be ruled by the Strasbourg Parliament. The Tories pretend that we can be 'in Europe but not run by Europe'. We say that 'in the EU means ruined by the EU'.

The European Commission in Brussels intends that there shall be an EU 'government', an EU 'army' and an EU 'constitution'. This proves to us that it is time to withdraw, rather than go on pretending that we can compromise.

The UKIP will repeal the European Communities Act (1972) that binds Britain into the European Union, and enter into trade agreements with our former 'partners'. Whatever their claims, the leading members of the Tory, Labour and Liberal-Democrat parties all remain committed to continued EU membership. These professional politicians don't want us to run our own country or control our own lives. The UKIP, by contrast, is a moderate, mainstream party which believes in the British people and can offer them a life outside the Euro-state.

UKIP
posted by Irdial , 5:20 PM Þ 
posted by Irdial , 5:06 PM Þ 

Saturday wandered around Brooklyn in the gorgeous late-Spring sun. Hit up the Library to do some research on Lucid Dreaming. Was delighted to find a Caribbean festival in front. Music and dancing. Balloon hats, jerk chicken and children's face painting. An all female band, no-one under 40, playing rhythms from Dominican Republic, Cuba and Haiti.

We wandered into Prospect Park. Went to the zoo to be wowed by sea lions (of whom I dreamt the night before), red pandas (firefoxes!) and alpacas.

In the evening we walked two blocks from our apartment to the local Greek festival. Mousaka and pastitsio to devour. Children's traditional dancing. And a keyboard, Greek-style guitar duo with time signatures that are divided by 9 sounding like headier moments of the Doors.

Sunday was the annual NYC Puerto Rican Day Parade. But I opted out for CSS and XHTML at home.

---

My first reaction would be to vote OUT. But perhaps we should give the applicant another chance?
posted by Josh Carr , 3:18 PM Þ 

Somehow I got this over the weekend despite not being addressed to my email account - actually noone's account at all, via an Icelandic company whose site I've never even visited

...
X-Apparently-From: MahmoodInt@aol.com
...
posted by meau meau , 2:28 PM Þ 

I'd have got over to These, but DIY and the whole Saturday thing got in the way. Still a bit miffed that I couldn't get there.
posted by captain davros , 12:02 PM Þ 

Had a very stimulating weekend.

Friday night, went to see Measure for Measure at the National Theatre. Absolutely superb, the most inventive and well executed 'classical' theatrical production I've ever seen. Recommended to everyone.

Saturday, nipped through Soho on the way to lunch and went past Harold Moores.... How I love that place, more so when it has, as now, a 50% off all LPs sale. There is a man in the basement, where the vinyl sleeps peacefully amongst friends, called Richard. He is magical, and uses special gifts to find exactly what we would have been looking for, had we known it existed.

On Saturday he recommended Dinu Lipatti, a pianist of extraordinary powers, some Schoenberg, Mahler and others... and then found for us a nice Ravi Shankar LP and an Ali Akhbar Khan LP.... and the outdid himself by proffering two 1950's Gamelan LPs in absolute pristine condition and mildy suggesting that "If nature made music with instruments, this would be it". Also got some Charles Ives, Bartok etudes and impovisations, Charles Rosen performances, various string quartets and piano pieces... and left very happy. But not as happy as when the gamelan poured from the speakers and danced through my head.

Still Saturday, and with aching arms from carring my classical load, I arrived (to my shame, for the first time) at These Records. 90 minutes later, I had a sackful of righteous dub hand-selected by the fabulous These staff. And, more importantly, I had new knowledge. Thank you, These, for your generosity.

And the sun shone.

Sunday, sun, music, DIY, relaxation and a smile.



.............ohhhhhhhhhhh..........
i forgot to vote.... oh, i don't know. I'm not sure I'd get in if I had to answer either of those topics. Hmmmm, can I abstain? No, too US-ian.
Status Quo or Fresh Blood?

Fresh Blood.
posted by Alun , 10:33 AM Þ 

b/ charge him with a specific crime

Bush faces the prospect of violating international law? Like he a gave a damn last march.
Saddam will be charged with a specific crime if need be (but holding off for a fortnight is more likely) simply to keep him in custody until the Iraqis have a functioning legal system that will give him a fair execution - sorry trial. Even the oiliest neo-con snake knows that the Iraqis will show no mercy to Saddam and there will be minimal comeback on the US if it is seen that Iraqis are responsible for Saddam's execution - and it will be seen *on al-jazeera*.
The question is whether the fools who are blowing up Interim Authority figures are going to stop their actions and create a situation where the US can justify pulling out (justification in this respect is whether forces can be pulled out without endangering the reconstruction contracts and oil supplies). Otherwise the US will be staying put, Saddam will be charged with tax evasion or something idiotic and he will be a remand prisoner for the next ** years until some situation can be reached, extradition to a neighbouring country perhaps?

-

Out. But why post that one?
posted by meau meau , 10:02 AM Þ 

Red Cross ultimatum to US on Saddam

Release him, charge him or break international law, Bush told

Jonathan Steele in Baghdad
Monday June 14, 2004
The Guardian

Saddam Hussein must either be released from custody by June 30 or charged if the US and the new Iraqi government are to conform to international law, the International Committee of the Red Cross said last night.

Nada Doumani, a spokeswoman for the ICRC, told the Guardian: "The United States defines Saddam Hussein as a prisoner of war. At the end of an occupation PoWs have to be released provided they have no penal charges against them."

Her comments came as the international body, the only independent group with access to detainees in US custody, becomes increasingly concerned over the legal limbo in which thousands of people are being held in the run-up to the transfer of power at the end of the month. [...]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1238263,00.html

Now they have to:
a/ release him
b/ charge him with a specific crime
c/ murder him
any bets on which one they will choose?
posted by Irdial , 9:23 AM Þ 

posted by Irdial , 9:01 AM Þ 

Sabotage!
posted by alex_tea , 8:43 AM Þ 

Thanks for the heads up, THESE! The flimsy packaging made me suspicious, so I guess it was a good idea to hold my dollar. I am curious as to how the record shop has that bootleg but never carried an actual This Heat album (to my knowledge). I may take them up on this subject.
One time I did buy a bootleg. It was for Pink Floyd though, so I don't think it really hurt the band.
And I only got it because it was pressed on cool multi-coloured vinyl. It's a shite recording...
posted by Barrie , 7:01 AM Þ 

Out.

New ODB song.
posted by alex_tea , 2:53 AM Þ 
Sunday, June 13, 2004

You must now vote on an aspirant who seeks entrance into this place.

The candidate was given a choice of two questions, carefully designed so that a demonstration of the candidates stated field of interest could be examined. We determined this field of interest using Google.

Examiners will note the following:
The candidate failed to answer the question in plain english.
The question was quoted in the body of the answer, demarked by >>
The candidate chose NOT to answer this question:
2/
Anyone wanting to play electric guitar on a stage in a "Rock group" should be compelled to study Rock music to degree level. Those who have not made such a study are facilitating the zombification and pacification of audiences world wide with their regurgitated aural goo of plagiarised pabulum.

If you think this person is WORTHY simply post IN.
If you think this person us UNWORTHY post OUT.

------ BEGIN CANDIDATE ANSWER -------

ANSWER (IN REDNECK) *

* The origins of this term are Scottish and refer to supporters of the National Covenant and The Solemn League and Covenant, or "Covenanters", largely Lowland Presbyterians, many of whom would flee Scotland for Ulster (Northern Ireland) during persecutions by the British Crown. The Covenanters of 1638 and 1641 signed the documents that stated that Scotland desired the Presbyterian form of church government and would not accept the Church of England as its official state church.

Many Covenanters signed in their own blood and wore red pieces of cloth around their necks as distinctive insignia; hence the term "Red neck", which became slang for a Scottish dissenter.


>> 1/
>> "The anti commercial punk rock ethic of erasing the past as you go along."
>> The further away from the Punk era we move in time, the more confused the
>> picture of it becomes for people who were not there. The inverse of the
>> inverse square law applies. More and more misinterpretations and lies are told about
>> this era, which feed back on the false history geometrically, until finally,
>> no one will be able to distinguish between The Sweet and The Sex Pistols.


"Sumpin they kin¹t play" is how Thelenious Monk replied when axed, "Whut in tarnation is yo' wawkin' on?". To create an abrasive an' spontaneous unnercurrent aginst th' nostalgic tide of th' mainstream o' t'frestrate assimilashun by th' cannibal carpenters of cultural capital, ah reckon. This hyar is perhaps th' unspoken doxology of them who glance backwards seekin' t'ketch th' balls of th' past outta th' co'ner of their eye.

Whut in tarnation is th' histo'y in th' fust place? "Th' past... it's a... it's a credit card, cuss it all t' tarnation. Yo' know?" as Godard once said. Whut in tarnation were th' motivashuns fo' buyin' on credit? Whar were th' compromises? How yo' kin hoof it about larnin' fum an' remedyin' th' mistakes yo' made?

I'll tell yo' two sto'ies. Both about times whar i met mah se'f. Th' fust takes place in Glasgow in 1992, th' second takes place in Alloa in 1989.

(1992)

Ah arrived at th' bar, fashionably late as usual, six packin' fum a bottle of Higlan' Park. Shet mah mouth! "Whut in tarnation's happenin'?" ah said, cuss it all t' tarnation. 'Jest wan'erin' aroun' lookin' at th' picts" i answered, cuss it all t' tarnation. ah wawked in a reco'd shop an' bein' ingaged in sech a dishoness proffeshun it was hard t'take ennythin' i said seriously. ah had sharp Celtic features an' a habit of warin' tank tops jest one size too small, ah reckon. "How is Henrietta?" i axed, referrin' t'mah sister. No reackshun. ah was already talkin' about mah dull day at wawk.

(1989)

Ah pushed mahse'f on over th' bucket. ah nevah said ennythin'. "Gimme yer fuckin' money" i said, cuss it all t' tarnation. ah put mah han' in mah pocket an' pathetically pulled out th' white linin' like some puny flag of surrenner. This hyar routine puntuated th' latter part of mah skoo days. By now it was an evahday occurance like mo'nin' assembly. ah wonnered who i'd bully when i was grew up.

(THE PRESENT)

Through histo'y we search fo' identity. But whut is th' identity of th' histo'y? Thet is a mighty impo'tant quesshun. Eff'n a histo'ical account obeys sartin cornvenshunal rules of docoomntary ­ no matter how abstracked- but at th' same time tries t'avoid artistic clichés then it becomes in danger of bein' trapped in a se'f cornscious no mans lan'. Convenshun exists busted, identity kinnot be created: the¹fo is it postible t'brin' this hyar honess wifout fallin' into abstrackshun? Wifout releasin' yer cooperashun o' yo'seff? In thet case, whut yo' sh'd does is does sumpin regardless of whether yo' reckon ennyone else will injoy readin' o' watchin' it.

Documantary is honess histo'y writin'. It is a search fo' balls. Th' writin' of histo'y is nevah a fack wifout balls. Yo' kin try t'be honess as a creato', but whut remains? An oblique sto'y, an abjeck heroic? A subconscious homoerotic attrackshun t'th' subjeck¹s subterranean magnetism o' simply a masturbato'y exercise in cardboard Jedus wo'shippin'?

Supreme deconstruckshun is th' honesty of th' modern artist. Catago'ies is destroyed an' balls remain alive castrated, cuss it all t' tarnation. Whut in tarnation does we're hankerin' t'say wif lost sto'ies? Th' Sweet? Th' Sex Pistols? Whut in tarnation th' fuck! Fry mah hide! lets say yessuh t'magnetic shoes, no t'cocaine an' "mmmm" t'air hostesses breasts. Balls in a heroic coatin'! Fry mah hide!

Thank yo' fo' yer patience an' unnerstan'in'

Billy Bob Koper (th' name mah Mammy gave me an' by which i wished t'be addressed)
posted by Irdial , 1:58 PM Þ 

If people are bootlegging your stuff, that means that there is a high demand for it.

If you do not want people to give their money to someone else instead of you, then you have two ways of attacking them.

1/ You can sue them. You can do this if:
a. you can find where they are pressing and who they are.
b. you have the money to do this
c. if they are pressing a high enough number to make it worthwhile

2/ You can make their bootlegs worthless. You can do this by:
a. releasing your own official recording of the same material on CD or vinyl.
b. release the same material for free online

The last one is especially attractive out of all the above options because the price of mounting this attack is near zero, whilst completely nullifying the value of bootlegs. Pressing your own range of bootleg beaters costs money, means distributing, and of course, when you run out of stock or cant get the goods into all the retail outlets, the bootleggers still have a space to exist in. Releasing the tracks online solves that problem, because they exist everywhere simultaneously.

Also there are some network effects that can help the sale of the legitmately released studio works.

Each MP3 that you release contains META information, including in the case of iTunes, photos. You should put information in there pointing to your website. These files will be ambassadors for you and your activities.

More and more people understand the economics of running a smail label. This is why donations for good people are possible; if what you are doing is worthwhile, people will pay, wether its by buying a t-shirt or making an outright tip.

This is a "no-brainer". Releasing your works online, especially the unobtainable ones is something that makes every kind of sense, especially when there are thieves out there pressing up bootlegs and making pure profit from your work.

I have always found it to be of critical importance to be able to listen to the right people when I confront a situation that I dont understand or have limited knowledge of. Get the right people to do the right job, in every case, and your chances of getting it right increase exponentially.

Listening to the wrong people can on the other hand, be suicidal. If someone is giving you advice about a subject, but demonstrates no knowledge of any of the relevant aspects of it, that person is not the one to give you a consultation. You need to find someone who live and breathes your problem. It must be their mistress, their life's blood, the first thing that they think of in the morning and the last thing they think of before they go to bed. They must be of the type that other people look to for guidance and inspiration. When you encounter that person, you know you have hit the g-spot.
posted by Irdial , 12:35 PM Þ 

That This Heat album is the latest version of the most widely bootlegged live recording of them - it's turned up on cassette, as two vinyl albums and on CD (re-titled 'Cold Storage') - this latest edition seems to be from the U.S.A. but I've not been able to trace where exactly it's originating from - my personal preference is to make it available (together with all the other bootlegs) for download, for free, but I've yet to convince the band members of this entirely - I have prepared a re-mastered version of it for this purpose though. Maybe a case of 'watch this space' and you can perhaps save yourself that Eighteen Dollars or however much they're asking for it...

a.these
posted by THESE , 12:04 PM Þ 

I tried to sign up for Audioscrobbler, and found that no more accounts are being given out while they tweak the performance.

It appears however, that we already have an account, opened Dec 2 2002!; I put in "irdial" to see if we had slipped by the restriction, and found a user "irdial" I tried to recover the password, and the dialog popped up coming, aparently from lastfm. Using my old lastfm login...worked.

Audioscrobbler looks like it used to be lastfm; though I have not yet read this anywhere on the site. If you have a lastfm account, you can log in right now and use the system.

and reading on...
(Last.fm and Audioscrobbler are run by the same guys)

Include your Audioscrobbler username with the cheque unless you want to be anonymous.


bingo!
posted by Irdial , 10:38 AM Þ 

Barrie. You KNOW that both the chaps from THESE records post here.
You KNOW that they are the sole distributors of This Heat re-presses.
You KNOW that the universal recomendation will be to get it at any cost.
So the true question is....

WHY HAVE YOU ASKED THIS QUESTION?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
posted by Irdial , 10:13 AM Þ 

Was wandering about the record shop for the first time in a long while today when I came across an LP of This Heat live. It was bright yellow and red. I imagine it's awesome but couldn't afford it at the time. Would anyone reccommend I pick this up next payday?
itching for music!
posted by Barrie , 8:43 AM Þ 
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