Saturday, September 04, 2004

Hornorkestern

In the summer of 1999 the norwegian artist Jonas Qvale built stringed instruments of reindeer horn. and the instruments is connected to a PA-system. Hornorcestern was formed on the eve of Breathe-1 and the members of the orchester are norwegian artists: Jan Krey, Jens Ledaal, Jonas Qvale, Mona Rudberg, Magne Rudjord och Mette Torvund (with the exception of Jan Krey, educated pianist at the Musikkonservatoriet in Oslo). The dresses of the performance allude on a norwegian expedition from the turn of the century, showed on wide screen video in the background.


posted by telle goode , 7:30 PM Þ 

NOTES ON LISTENING TO AN INTERVIEW OF HENRY FLYNT.
http://www.ubu.com/sound/flynt.html

An important note is that free-form musical improvisation should not be a claim to music at all, but rather to a psychological or emotional experience. To play music in a free-form improvisitory way is not playing of music or sound, but a playing of experience, (as it occurs in real-time) and therefor takes on something non-musical. Free-form improvised music is the inheritance of education, psychology, and government in so far as these institutions seek to protect the sensibilities and civil rights of humans.
posted by telle goode , 7:05 PM Þ 

..or "TOUS LES MATINS DU MONDE" in the original language, French.

Not quite a blog, but it'll have to do from me for now.
posted by Alun , 3:44 PM Þ 



Part of this.
posted by Alun , 2:45 PM Þ 

Visual
Record covers

Lasse Marhaug/Leif Elggren: Life is Leif
[Live collaboration recorded live in Oslo at Blå, october 12th 2001]

Lasse Marhaug: The Tingler
[From Safe as Milk Sampler # 4]

Lasse Marhaug: Basic

[From the "We Are Hello" CD compilation]

Lasse Marhaug: Destroy All Tapes

[From the "We Are Hello 2" CD compilation]

LASSE MARHAUG: Science Fiction Room Service
1. City Light 1
2. Random Tape Edits
3. City Light 2
4. Untitled
5. Start Hearing Voices
6. Science Fiction Go Home
[This is the complete album. Originally released on Jazzassin Records on CD in 1996 in 500 copies]

Maja Ratkje/Lasse Marhaug: Crazy Shopping Raw Shit Mix
[Remix by Lasse Marhaug of several tracks from the "Music for Shopping" LP. This track was for a 3"CD-R that was to come with a limited edition with a the first copies + given to radios and press]

Waffelpung: Craic Waffelrass Mix
[Remix commisioned by Waffelpung for 12" but never released]

Kouhei/Akiko/Lasse Marhaug: Calpis War
[Live collaboration recorded at Killyrego in Oslo July 2003]

Lasse Marhaug: Today is fine too
[Web exclusive track]

The Nordic Miracle: Ladies Only
[from "Tapes" online compilation]


[...]

http://www.lassemarhaug.no/
posted by Irdial , 11:43 AM Þ 

The Music Freedom Project exists to give broadcasters on the internet and those of AM/FM stations a new resource to turn to when faced with the high costs of licensing in the U.S. Many stations are currently operating illegally, not because they don't value the work that music artists and labels put into their recordings enough to believe that the artists should be paid for the use of their songs, but because the current costs of broadcasting those works many times are far greater than any profit that could be made from them.

Our project also exists for those artists and labels that would rather see increased CD sales and more exposure for their bands than collect a small royalty check every year. Many bands fight hard to try to get radio exposure, but are unsuccessful because they don't have the right connections to major labels or to the right promotional companies. Every band and music label that joins our index will be given an opportunity for all the radio stations registered with the project to consider them for airplay, and for those that can prove their talents in their music, this will be a great opportunity. [...]

http://www.musicfreedomproject.com/

posted by Irdial , 10:35 AM Þ 

London Free Press Business Section:





Pay music services have limits



David Canton, Freelance writer 2004-09-04 04:17:32



Consumers may not be getting what they think when they pay to download music. After years of resisting the inevitable, the music industry has responded to the music download phenomenon by offering music in digital formats through online stores.

Meanwhile, the popularity of file-trading software, which allows users to download music and video for free, continues to grow.

The music industry has made great efforts to stop peer-to-peer music sharing. Those efforts include suing individuals in the U.S., the attempt to do so in Canada and lobbying efforts to lawmakers.

The music industry is trying to use the law to prop up an outdated business model. This is no surprise as the entertainment industry has a history of trying to prevent new technology. They tried to stop the VCR (the Sony Betamax case) because they feared it would cost them revenue, but quite the opposite has proven to be true.

Among the first pay music services were Apple's iTunes and Napster 2.0. Most of these services sell songs for about $1 each.

These legitimate paid download sites are not always what they seem to be. Although consumers often assume they are buying unlimited rights to use of the file, they are not.

For example, the Napster and MusicMatch stores let its customers transfer the songs they buy up to three times. This means that files can only be stored on three computers before the licence expires and they can be copied no more. The new version of iPod allows five copies.

After those set number of uses, consumers will have to purchase the file again should they wish to move the file to a different computer.

Other limitations concern the burning or copying to CDs. With Napster, for example, while individual songs may be burned or copied to CDs without restriction, CDs with the same order of songs can only be burned five times. Other online retailers have similar restrictions.

Another significant restriction on usage concerns the format in which the files are stored. Consumers purchasing music downloads must choose a secure media standard from Apple, Microsoft, RealNetworks or Sony and stick with it. Apple iPods work only with Apple's store while Microsoft-format stores, such as Napster, work only with Windows Media-compatible portable devices.

Last month RealNetworks released a solution. Their new product called Harmony allows users of their online music store to convert files from their native formats to Apple's and Microsoft's secure music formats, allowing it to support iPods and Windows Media portable players.

Apple is fiercely challenging Harmony on a legal basis. In a statement released days after Harmony was announced a "stunned" Apple accused RealNetworks of using the "tactics and ethics of a hacker."

While other companies sell music in the MP3 format, which the iPod player can also use, RealNetworks is the first company besides Apple to sell songs in iPod format.

The message for consumers is to check the terms of use to determine exactly what they are buying when purchasing music online. It is probably not the unrestricted use we are used to with CDs.


http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/Business/2004/09/04/615426.html
posted by Irdial , 10:27 AM Þ 



Convention opening night comparison: FOX's live speech coverage of Republicans almost doubled that of Dems

Media Matters for America found that FOX News Channel showed 74 total minutes of live primetime speech coverage on the first night of the Republican National Convention (RNC) -- 33 minutes more than the network showed of speeches on the first night of the Democratic National Convention (DNC). The disparate coverage came after FOX News Channel host Cal Thomas said that, in order to be "fair and balanced," the coverage should not differ from the DNC coverage -- and after FOX host Bill O'Reilly announced (mpeg/windows media) that his show would air the same amount of coverage of RNC speeches as it did of DNC speeches.

CNN aired five more minutes of live primetime speech coverage on the first night of the RNC than it aired on the first night of the DNC. MSNBC aired 17 minutes more of the RNC speeches than of the DNC speeches.

FOX News Channel devoted 65 of its 74 minutes of live speech coverage to major speakers, airing speeches by both Senator John McCain (R-AZ) (25 minutes) and former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani (40 minutes) in their entirety. On the first night of the DNC, the network devoted just 40 minutes to major speakers -- airing only former President Bill Clinton's speech (24 minutes) and Senator Hillary Clinton's (D-NY) introduction of him (11.5 minutes) in their entirety. It aired only 45 seconds of former Vice President Al Gore's speech and just four minutes of former President Jimmy Carter's speech...

http://mediamatters.org/items/200409010001">
posted by telle goode , 7:56 AM Þ 

Some sensitive souls somewhere said:
Shed a tear. That death, when it finally comes to pass after years of suffering, will be a monumentous loss. And it will be forgotten in a generation.

The fourth world war fought with sticks and stones. And Franz Ferdinand.

A little bit more beauty lost.
And yet, life goes on. the joy brought to me by Marais, even in its mid fi form, is indescribable. Life is worth it, worth the risk, the pain, the loss, the hurt.

The pain is sweet. The poison nectar of nostalgia; a sweet drink.

"Music is a glass of wine, left on a table for a long absent friend" said Mr Saint Colombe in that magic film.

And yet, it isnt really nostalgia that we are talking about, anymore than being hungry is nostalgia for food.
posted by Irdial , 1:53 AM Þ 
Friday, September 03, 2004

1. WHITE LIGHT WHITE HEAT
2. THE GIFT
3. LADY GODIVA'S OPERATION
4. HERE SHE COMES NOW
5. I HEARD HER CALL MY NAME
6. SISTER RAY


This sort of unspeakable crime cannot go unpunished.
I therefore sentence you to DEATH.
You shall be taken to a place of execution...
And burned at the stake.
BAILIFF!!!!!!

posted by Irdial , 11:29 PM Þ 

seti@home = fghcvq vtabenag phagf
posted by Irdial , 11:26 PM Þ 

SETI has not found ET: official

Published Thursday 2nd September 2004 15:34 GMT

Astronomers at the SETI@Home project have spoken up to dismiss suggestions that the project intercepted signals from an alien civilisation.

Reports spread across the net yesterday and today after New Scientist said that an "interesting" signal had been picked up by the huge radio telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico.

The Register

posted by alex_tea , 11:04 PM Þ 

The image “http://www.ljudmila.org/scca/platforma3/fotoweb/duchamp.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.

'how can one make works of music that are not 'of music'?
posted by Irdial , 10:56 PM Þ 

Whilst bantering in private email, I wrote this:

The greatest treasure trove that i ever went into was in Waterloo. In one of the spaces on the grey parade of shops was a place run by two old geezers who used to buy in people's classical vinyl. They didnt sort any of it, it simply went in the racks when they bought stuff. And there were racks. MANY MANY MANY racks of LPs. You cant imagine how many racks there were. They were over my head and I'm six feet tall. This was the greatest place ever; you had to search through the racks for things to find, and then buy them for the cheapest of prices. That kind of disorder will never be repeated, because computers sort things for you by nature. The random ness, the particular peculiar exitement, the smell. All gone. Still, we have in its place, more music than you could ever listen to, all for free, and at your fingertips. A fair swap?

Too late to complain now.

This is the 13,000th post.
posted by Irdial , 7:40 PM Þ 

EXPENSIVE BUSINESS MISTAKES?: Up alongside the guy at Decca who turned down the Beatles could be Nobuyuki Idei. Apparently, Steve Jobs offered Idei's Sony a cut in to iTunes; Idei chose to rebuff Jobs and bet the company on the poorly-recieved Connect service instead. That "unamed Sony sources" are leaking details of this offer to the press suggests that maybe Mr. Idei might be losing the confidence of his colleagues. [...]

From here:

http://xrrf.blogspot.com/

Quite why these companies cant hire Silver Surfing geeks to make these decisions I cant say.

It would be great if you could find a blog with an interesting post, and then bring it here and link back to the blog you leeched the text from. Yes it would.
posted by Irdial , 7:17 PM Þ 

Alex


Thanks, that'll do!
posted by Alun , 7:04 PM Þ 

Full-size image


The images show a surgeon implanting the lens through a 3 millimeter
incision under a topical, eye-drop anesthesia.


To hear the commercials tell it Lasik surgery can work for anyone. Guess you can’t trust advertising, since those with severe myopia are out of luck as far as getting their eyes cut up with lasers is concerned. Now, with the invention of STAAR, a permanent contact lens implant, they too can join the party. The lenses are made of a collagen/polyhema blend and are currently in the last stages of FDA approval. Oh, and if something goes wrong; the lenses can be removed or changed. (Good call on that one.) The process is expected to cost about 20% more than Lasik. [...]

http://www.engadget.com/

Wow.
posted by Irdial , 6:02 PM Þ 
posted by telle goode , 5:55 PM Þ 

mine mine mine!

+irdial


posted by Irdial , 5:19 PM Þ 

The Logical Trickery of the UFO Skeptic By Brian Zeiler

Skeptics in the scientific community resist the evidence for extraterrestrial visitation because of the implications it raises and because of the questions it begs. But should the integrity of the determination rely on the implications of a positive classification? Or should the classification of true or false be assessed in isolation of the implications? Which is worse -- a false positive, meaning ruling in favor of the UFO as a unique phenomenon when in fact it does not exist, or a false negative, meaning ruling against it and missing out on its true existence?

The answer, of course, lies in the incentive structure of the analyst. An equally intelligent non-scientist has no incentive nor predisposition to favor one type of error over the other, but scientists do. For scientists, it would open a whole new confounding problem domain, and it would make them look incompetent in the public's eyes for missing out on this fact for 50 years. That's why the incentive structure of contemporary scientists is such that they will not accept alien visitation unless they must, which would be when they get irrefutable physical proof. Their incentive structure prohibits them from making any such inference unless it is unavoidable, and they will strain the boundaries of logic and reason to no end to dismiss all evidence other than physical proof, no matter how powerful it may be. This scientific predisposition toward disbelief, rooted not in science and logic but rather in dogma and paradigm, brings us to the logical trickery of the scientific UFO debunker.

What Exactly is "Extraordinary"?

First, the scientific debunker will say that because alien visitation is an extraordinary claim, it thus demands extraordinary proof. Therefore, no evidence is suggestive of alien visitation unless it is accompanied by irrefutable physical proof -- even if the observations directly indicate, within normal scientific evidential standards, the presence of a solid object under intelligent control with propulsion technology beyond human understanding. No matter how directly the observations indicate an anomalous vehicle of nonhuman origin, skeptics maintain that a prosaic explanation must be adopted unless physical proof is obtained. But such a stance, rigid beyond the normal standards of scientific methodology, is a direct product of the incentive structure, not of logic, as indicated above. Normal standards of science would require meeting the evidential threshold for each of the above conditions necessary to establish extraterrestrial origin; yet the same degree of evidence for physical substance is rejected for anomalous vehicles when it would otherwise be accepted for observations of more conventional vehicles.

Thus, the debunkers have failed to define the boundary of extraordinariness, which renders the declaration logically specious due to its wholly arbitrary implementation that is easily contaminated by individual and collective incentives. They exploit the arbitrary classification of "extraordinary" by applying absurdly rigid evidential boundaries to cases that clearly feature anomalous, physical vehicles that humans could not have built. Instead of assessing the case for physical substance on its own merits with the radar-visual observations, they merely apply a priori probabilities of nearly zero to the detection of anomalous vehicles, with no logical defensibility in the face of insufficient information to estimate the a priori probability, and therefore give themselves license to reject all evidence of any quality unless a physical specimen is obtained.

For instance, if SETI receives an anomalous repeating signal with intelligent content such as a mathemtical constant, and rules out all known causes of terrestrial and deep-space interference, do they need a chunk of the alien radio dish or a dead alien to attribute it to alien origin? It would be just as easy to apply UFO-skeptic logic and insist that the signal is nothing more than anomalous until we obtain physical proof of aliens; after all, why ascribe a radio signal to alien origin before we have physical proof of the existence of aliens? After all, we cannot rule out malfunction, fraud, or human error with 100% certainty, so the simplest explanation is an undetected flaw, not an alien message. Right?

Or is it really just the case that the a priori probability assumed by scientists of alien radio detection is higher than that assumed for atmospheric detection? Is this a priori probability differential between radio versus atmospheric detection logically defensible? Or do we lack sufficient information to make anything but a wild guess, a guess contaminated by incentive, dogma, and mere habit? Why do so many scientists, including Tipler and Fermi, argue that interstellar travel would be feasible for advanced civilizations whose productivity growth has created such vast wealth that journeys are less expensive than they would be for us humans? Do we know what alien energy resource stocks are? Even right now, we have the technology to mount a journey at 10% of the speed of light and arrive at the nearest star in 40 years. How "extraordinary" is it to consider that, several billion years ago, one culture might have mounted a gradual expedition that took them to our solar system and many others? We sure don't know whether this is "extraordinary" or the natural outcome of technological advancement, but many scientists wish to believe, simply due to heavily entrenched ideologies with absolutely no basis in logic nor fact, that such interstellar expansions are far less likely than the human interception of alien radio signals.

So just what is "extraordinary", aside from a word referring to a claim for which extremely low a priori probabilities of truth are applied? I consider extraordinary a claim which undermines fundamental precepts of physics. Alien visitation does not do this. And no matter the difficulty as we perceive it, interstellar travel does not violate the laws of physics. Neither do aliens. Therefore, alien visitation does not violate the laws of physics, and nor does it require a straining of credible probabilistic expectations. We simply don't know how likely it is. And that is hardly a strong case for considering alien visitation an "extraordinary claim."

Nevertheless, skeptics will insist on applying to alien visitation an a priori probability of nearly zero for some strange reason. Interestingly, many scientists such as Fermi and Tipler were skeptical of both UFOs and of alien life in general; they contended that interstellar travel would be easy for advanced civilizations, so the lack of overt contact disproved alien existence. Yet most UFO skeptics do believe alien life exists out in the universe -- just not here. So they defend the near impossibility of interstellar travel, which contradicts a considerable portion of the scientific community.

This a priori probability allows them to reject evidence arbitrarily that would otherwise confirm the presence of a solid object under intelligent control with propulsion irreproducible by human technology. For instance, when a certain degree of corroboration of physical substance for an airplane is obtained for an unconventional disk-shaped vehicle, this degree of evidence is accepted for the airplane but rejected for the anomalous vehicle. The only way to do this is to apply a priori probabilities of nearly zero to the detection of such an anomalous object. The problem, of course, is that first of all, we don't have enough information to defend a low a priori probability, and second of all, this approach guarantees automatic rejection of normal avenues of evidence. Effectively, what the skeptics are saying is that radar evidence is too "ordinary" to suffice for an "extraordinary" claim. They succeed in eliminating from review all types of indirect and direct evidence, except for physical proof.

This type of logic can be successfully applied to any claim. For instance, let's declare that dinosaurs are an extraordinary claim. This declaration requires no logical substantiation, just the way skeptics use their nearly zero a priori probability of extraterrestrial visitation to declare the claim extraordinary with no logical defense whatsoever, given the insufficient information to determine this probability. So, we have declared dinosaurs to be an extraordinary claim. The next step is to reject all fossil evidence for dinosaurs, since fossils are only acceptable for ordinary claims such as woolly mammoths; for extraordinary dinosaur claims, fossils are worthless. What we need, as dinosaur skeptics, is physical proof of an intact dinosaur. And, to make it even more similar to the skeptic approach, we don't need to defend the rationale of the demand for physical proof of dinosaurs; the fact that it is an extraordinary claim allows us to demand the very upper boundary of conceptually feasible modes of proof -- but conceptual feasibility does not translate into practical feasibility. Sure, I can demand physical proof, but will I get it? Is it worth ignoring fossil evidence in my wait for physical proof?

We could extend the analogy further by applying more skeptic logical tricks. For instance, dinosaur articles are published in journals which already believe in dinosaurs; therefore, it is biased and one-sided, and hardly representative of truly critical peer review. We could assert that all fossils are best explained as hoaxes, misidentifications of known and unknown geological processes, and hallucinations and/or misinterpretations by overzealous paleontologists imposing their belief system on an anomalous rock. This, I can contend, is the "simplest explanation", and I don't have to worry about using overstrenuous logic because, in an absence of physical proof of dinosaurs, any explanation is simpler, no matter how contrived and convoluted! This is the essence of the scientific rejection of the UFO evidence: an overwhelming need to disbelieve coupled with a shameful lack of research into the actual evidence.

The Demand for Physical Proof

If aliens were visiting, I find the expectation of physical proof quite illogical, since it's going to be hard to obtain. In fact, it may even be impossible. But the skeptics don't mind, since they have already decided to disbelieve until they obtain the highest conceivable level of proof. In the above discussion, it was noted that anybody can apply this logic by insisting that dinosaurs should not be accepted until we find an intact, frozen, preserved dinosaur with the flesh still on the bones, and if that's impossible -- well, too bad. Is it rational to reject fossils the way skeptics reject radar-visual cases and ground-trace cases and then demand a preserved dinosaur specimen the way skeptics demand an alien and/or vehicle specimen? I contend that physical proof is an unattainable evidential boundary which guarantees rejection of the hypothesis of extraterrestrial origin.

Despite the table-pounding insistence by skeptics on physical proof, they have simply not been able to defend this demand, one which is far beyond the scientific rigor that standard scientific methodology would require. The UFO evidence has satisfied the evidential threshold of normal scientific protocols; unfortunately, the evidence has been rejected by the dogmatic, specious demands for physical proof. For all these demands for physical proof, the skeptics have not been able to meet any of the following logical criteria necessary to defend the imposition of this arbitrary evidential threshold:

  • How can one declare a claim to be extraordinary without sufficient information to defend a low a priori probability?
  • Are there degrees of extraordinariness?
  • How does one relate a degree of extraordinariness to a fair and reasonable evidential threshold?
  • What is it about extraterrestrial visitation that implies the availability of physical proof?
  • How can we obtain physical proof?
  • How can an evidential threshold be imposed with no logical defensibility nor any rational expectation of actually meeting such a stringent threshold?

Occam's Razor and the Skeptics

The UFO skeptics don't understand Occam's Razor, and they abuse it regularly. They think they understand it, but they don't. What it means is that when several hypotheses of varying complexity can explain a set of observations with equal ability, the first one to be tested should be the one that invokes the fewest number of uncorroborated assumptions. If this simplest hypothesis is proven incorrect, the next simplest is chosen, and so forth.

But the skeptics forget two parts: the part regarding the test of the simpler hypotheses, and the part regarding explaining all of the observations. What a debunker will do is mutilate and butcher the observations until it can be "explained" by one of the simpler hypotheses, which is the inverse of the proper approach. The proper approach is to alter the hypothesis to accommodate the observations. One should never alter the observations to conform with a hypothesis by saying "if we assume the object was not physical, despite the level of evidence that would imply the solidity of a conventional aircraft with near-certainty, then we can also assume the object was not moving, was not exhibiting the color orange, was not 50 feet in diameter as described, and then declare that it was really Venus."

But that's okay for the skeptics to do because it's an "extraordinary claim" being made that deserves to be explained away in a Machiavellian fashion as rapidly as possible with the urgent zeal of a religious missionary. Now, to alter observations to force conformance with the preferred hypothesis -- is that science? Or is that dogma? The answer, of course, is dogma. This practice is extremely poor science, and the approach undermines the very spirit of scientific inquiry. It is simply unacceptable to alter the observations that refuse to conform with the predetermined, favored explanation.

The ETH and Falsifiability

While a more thorough discussion of the formulation and potential falsification of the ETH can be found on the ETH page, one particular aspect is worthy of note as another logical trick. The skeptics complain that the ETH is not falsifiable, which is a condition that violates a necessary component of hypothesis formulation. This is not true, as explained on the ETH page. However, even if it were true, the skeptics fail to realize that their beloved SETI hypothesis of alien radio signal detection can be said to be nonfalsifiable! Does a lack of detection disprove the hypothesis that aliens are beaming mathematical constants at us? Certainly not, since our equipment may not be strong enough to detect them. It's been 30 years since SETI's beginnings, with absolutely no positive results whatsoever, yet the nonfalsifiability allows preservation of the project with hopes as high as ever.

Science versus Skepticism

Skeptics are skilled propagandists who appeal to base emotions just like a seasoned politician. Skeptics like to wrap themselves in the robe of science, declaring that their approach and conclusions are "scientific", in just the same way that a politician will cloak himself in the mantle of "family values" and "doing what's right for America." But is skepticism really as scientific as the skeptics want people to believe?

As has been explained throughout this essay, the clear answer is no. Their logical reasoning is rife with fallacies, from their arbitrary declaration of a claim as being extraordinary to their specious demand for physical proof to their abuse of Occam's Razor to their erroneous complaints about hypothesis falsification. So why do they claim that they are the real scientific side?

Skeptics are mostly scientists, but that certainly doesn't mean they behave scientifically, as has been explained. Their behavior stems partially from their distaste for public opinions that contradict the consensus of the scientific community. When a public consensus does contradict the scientific opinion, the scientists will mount a public campaign to discredit this opinion, because such an opinion undermines the role of the scientist in society as the appointed knowledge-seeker and truth-gatherer. What good are scientists if mankind will only insist on believing in warm, fuzzy superstitions anyway? So, these scientists who are guilty of the logical infractions exposed in this essay are so consumed with the presumed validity of their opinions that, like a zealous religious fanatic, they must convert the masses to the side of truth in order to salvage their own self-image.

The second stimulus of pseudoscientific skepticism is that these scientists, who do not represent all scientists but rather a rogue band of propagandists, feel that science is about the mastery of nature. When nature introduces an anomaly -- a violation of expectation -- to science, the anomaly must be crushed. How dare nature violate science's laws and principles! The anomaly is supposed to indicate an incomplete framework or incorrect a priori assumptions, yet to the skeptical propagandists, it indicates misbehavior by nature that cannot be allowed to undermine their role in society. The anomaly is a threat to the validity of their work, so they must wish it away, convince themselves through wild logical fallacies that the anomaly does not exist, and return the public back toward the truths of nature that are approved by the scientific community. This tendency only changes when it becomes more work to deny the anomaly then to accept it; sadly, with UFOs, this is not likely to occur, because the scientific community will never deal with UFO reports.

Conclusion

The scientific community has vociferously resisted the acceptance of anomalies for centuries, with the Copernican Revolution being the most notable historical example. They threaten the paradigm and disturb the equilibrium. They undermine the community's self-perception of usefulness and value to society by threatening to destroy the assumptions behind their work. For the purposes of emotional well-being, they will be protested and debunked until they can no longer be denied; with UFOs, the breaking point will be physical proof. Yet as this essay demonstrated, the criterion of physical proof is a product of anomaly resistance, rather than a rational assessment of a priori probabilities or a rational interpretation of evidence. Instead of applying fallacious reasoning to the evidence, applying normal scientific standards to the UFO evidence would long ago have enabled the scientific community to embrace the ETH.

http://www.nicap.dabsol.co.uk/zeller2.htm

[...]

You might also want to read:
http://www.discord.org/~lippard/stupid-skeptic-tricks.txt

"Stupid Skeptic Tricks": identify the idiotic homocentric claptrap of these hooded morons with ease using this comprehensive guide. Or just sniff for the bad smell.

Skeptics are amonst the most stupid type of person on earth. They are the same people who thought that the world was flat, that black holes dont exist, and that man would never walk on the moon. They retard the progress of man, not thrust it forward, and as such are the enemies of all mankind.
posted by Irdial , 4:21 PM Þ 

Now there's a thought.

William Mulder: "It's... It's so clear now. Simple. It was so complicated then. The choices that needed to be made."
Mulder: "What choices? Dad?"
William Mulder: "You're a smart boy, Fox. You're smarter than I ever was."
Mulder: "About what?"
William Mulder: "Your politics are yours, you have never thrown in. The minute you do that, their doctrines become yours and you can be held responsible."
Mulder: "You're talking about your work in the state department."
William Mulder: "You're going to learn of things... Fox, you're going to hear the words... and they'll come to make sense to you."
Mulder: "What words?"
William Mulder: "The merchandise."

***

Scully: "Bodies?"
Mulder: "Stacked floor to ceiling."
Scully: "What happened to them?"
Mulder: "I don't know."
Scully: "Mulder, in these files I found references to experiments that were conducted here in the US by Axis Power scientists who were given amnesty after the war."
Mulder: "What kind of experiments?"
Scully: "Some kind of tests, on humans. But they're referred to as 'merchandise'."
Mulder: "But these aren't human, Scully. From the look of it I'd say they were alien."
Scully: "Are you sure?"
Mulder: "I'm pretty damn sure. Wait a sec... This one... has a smallpox vaccination scar."
Scully: "Mulder..."
Mulder: "Oh, my god, Scully, what have they done?"

Art immitating life...

When the X-Files was watchable, this "The Merchandise" plotline was fascinating.

Thats the most that the public can do with this reality; use it as fodder for books, film and TV programmes.
posted by Irdial , 3:43 PM Þ 

Four Hundred metres across
And hanging like a football field,
Over the valley of the stone circle
Wondrin` what the crop will yield
For the mother ship has come
For the mother ship has come
Who`s she gonna take this time
Right now, tell me who she`s gonna claim?

So those in charge of the US government has brokered a treaty with the controllers of these alien craft and in return for no alien invasion they will supply Biometric Information for the world's population (or at least those of the most 'successful' nations)?

Now there's a thought.
posted by meau meau , 3:09 PM Þ 

The latest incarnation of Flash Mobs? — Moble-Clubbing.com

Mobile Clubbing began a year ago with just a small group of friends. Bravely donning their headphones and descending into the rush hour tide of commuters at Liverpool Street Station, they danced across the nice shiny floor to the sounds of £1 radios. Since then Emma and I have used covertly filmed documentation in order to be screened at non-profit making club nights and film festivals all over the U.K.

The screenings were used to spread awareness of the events in order to recruit more Clubbers via e-mail.
The films inspired many to show up. Through word of mouth and of course the world wide web Mobile Clubbing has grown bigger and bigger.

It took sometime for the media to find out, but fortunately, thanks to positive reviews, we have now begun holding Mobile Clubbing events overseas, so far in Hong Kong, New York and Berlin.
posted by alex_tea , 3:03 PM Þ 

‘Flying Triangle’ sightings on the rise
New analysis spurs speculation on secret planes
Image: Flying Triangle
NIDS
An eyewitness in Port Washington, Wis., described a large object that flew over her home at an altitude of 500 feet in October 1998. The witness’s husband is a graphics artist, so this graphic reconstruction from the pair shows a football field-sized, wedge-shaped object with flashing red, blue and white “disco lights.”

By Leonard David
Senior space writer
Updated: 3:33 p.m. ET Sept. 2, 2004

They have become legendary in UFO circles. Huge, silent-running “Flying Triangles” have been seen by ground observers creeping through the sky low and slow near cities, and quietly cruising over highways.

The National Institute for Discovery Science, or NIDS, has cataloged the Triangle sightings, sifting through and combining databases to take a hard look at the mystery craft. Based in Las Vegas, NIDS is a privately funded science institute with a strong research focusing on aerial phenomena. The results of their study have just been released, and lead to some unnerving, puzzling conclusions.

The study points out: “The United States is currently experiencing a wave of Flying Triangle sightings that may have intensified in the 1990s, especially towards the latter part of the 1990s. The wave continues. The Flying Triangles are being openly deployed over and near population centers, including in the vicinity of major interstate highways.”

Covert operations?
A key NIDS conclusion is that the actions of these triangular craft do not conform to previous patterns of covert deployment of unacknowledged aircraft. Furthermore, “neither the agenda nor the origin of the Flying Triangles are currently known.”

The years 1990-2004 have seen an intense wave of Flying Triangle aircraft, the study observes. Sifting through reports by hundreds of eyewitnesses, the NIDS assessment states that the behavior of the vehicles “does not appear consistent with the covert deployment of an advanced DoD [U.S. Department of the Defense] aircraft.”

Rather, it is consistent with (a) the routine and open deployment of an unacknowledged advanced Defense Department aircraft or (b) the routine and open deployment of an aircraft owned and operated by personnel outside the Defense Department, suggests the NIDS study.

“The implications of the latter possibility are disturbing, especially during the post-9/11 era when the United States airspace is extremely heavily guarded and monitored,” the NIDS study explains. “In support of option (a), there is much greater need for surveillance in the United States in the post-9/11 era, and it is certainly conceivable that deployment of low-altitude surveillance platforms is routine and open.”

‘Open, even brazen’
According to Colm Kelleher, NIDS’ administrator, the newly completed quasi-“meta-analysis” of Flying Triangles melds three major databases, from NIDS, the Mutual UFO Network and independent researcher Larry Hatch, the creator and owner of one of the world's largest and most comprehensive UFO databases.

Kelleher said the analysis indicates that deployment of Flying Triangles is open, not covert, and involves low-flying, brightly lit aircraft routinely deployed over populated areas including cities and interstate highways.

“However, I cannot say whether these are U.S. Air Force aircraft. We simply don't know,” Kelleher told Space.com. “But it does not appear to be consistent with the covert patterns of deployment we saw with the F-117 and B-2 prior to their acknowledgement. This is open, even brazen.”

For example, a perfunctory look at the how past military stealth aircraft programs were kept from the public eye — although they eventually came to light — is different from the patterns for the Flying Triangles.

Prior to acknowledgement of the F-117 and B-2 aircraft, only rare nighttime sightings occurred in the sparsely populated sections of Nevada, California and a few other states. Flying at low altitude over populated areas was rarely reported for the F-117 or B-2.

“In contrast, the Flying Triangle deployment, especially during the 1990s, appears more consistent with the open and public operation of these aircraft,” the study explains. The trend of open deployment of the Flying Triangles is not consistent with secret operation of an advanced military aircraft.

No attempt to hide
The database-driven study of the Flying Triangle shows the following patterns:

  • Sightings take place near cities and on Interstate highways.
  • They are seen at low altitude in plain sight of eyewitnesses.
  • They fly at extremely low speed or hover in plain sight of eyewitnesses.
  • The vehicles sometime fly with easily noticeable bright lights — either blinding white lights, or “bright disco lights” that usually flash combinations of red, green or blue.

The NIDS study emphasizes that the flying of these vehicles may be more in harmony with an attempt to display or to be noticed. There appears to be little or no attempt to hide. That finding has led to a modification of an earlier NIDS hypothesis that the Triangles are covertly deployed Defense Department aircraft.

While it is too early to dismiss the previously published NIDS correlation between Triangle sightings and a subset of U.S. Air Force bases, the apparent association with centers of population may point away from a covert program. “Rather, it is consistent with routine and open deployment of an advanced aircraft,” the NIDS study concludes.

Clustered on both coasts
During the ensuing years (2000-2004), NIDS received hundreds of reports from people in the United States and Canada reporting large triangular aircraft, often silent and often flying at very low altitude and at low air speed. In many cases, the objects were brightly lit. NIDS files also include reports of Flying Triangles from remote areas.

In mid-2004, NIDS reviewed its database that contains the locations of the Triangle sightings in the United States. The sightings of Triangles appear primarily adjacent to population centers and along interstate highways, with sightings clustered on both coasts.

NIDS has amassed almost 400 separate sightings of triangular/boomerang/wedge-shaped objects. Many of these craft are brightly lit, low-flying, and traveling at unexpectedly low air speeds.

In earlier reports, NIDS outlined a tentative correlation between reported sightings of Triangles and the locations of Air Mobility Command and Air Force Materiel Command bases in the United States.

Like a ‘Star Trek’ uncloaking
According to ground observers, the features of a Black Triangle are indeed impressive.

For example, the NIDS study includes the observation of a person in Port Washington, Wis., who encountered a large object that flew over her home at an estimated altitude of 500 feet (150 meters) in October 1998. Her eyeing of the clear starry night was interrupted as the craft came into her field of view.

“Suddenly this monstrosity came out of the ‘blue,’ just like a Star Trek 'uncloaking', no kidding ... so quiet I couldn’t believe it and so huge ... no more than 500 feet or so up, and big enough to take up my field of sky vision,” she reported.

Crude mathematics, the witness recounted, would make the vessel about 200 feet wide and 250 feet long (60 by 75 meters). [...]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5897539/

What an amazing article. It is basically saying, in the least inflamatory language, that there is an invasion of US airspace going on right now.

Maybe now that this article has been published on MSNBC, we will get some good footage of one of these triangles.

The imbeciles that deny the reality of UFOs are now going to have to settle their debts, admit they were wrong and change their underwear.

Interestingly, the article does not go into what should be done about this invasion, and also it skims over the fact that a football field sized object is being made to hover silently. As you all know, all man made high speed aircraft make a terrific amount of noise. To date, there has not been a single high speed aircraft that flys silently, in fact, they are all jet powered.

If these triangles are man made it means that some man or woman has invented a means of high speed propulsion that works without making a sound, and which is powerful enough to loft a football field sized craft and move it at hundreds of miles per hour. This has not happened yet, not even on a small scale, of say, a fighter. Also, there is no way in hell that they are going to put super bright lights on these things and then fly them at 500 feet over Westchester County!!!

The article ends with some strange logic:

In wrapping up its look at the burgeoning number of Flying Triangle sightings in the United States, NIDS also took into account the work of writers and researchers delving into the topic both in the United States and abroad.

Those analyses fall into two camps: The Triangles are human-made, while the other says they are not.

“In 2004 it is extremely difficult to distinguish between these two possibilities since the former option overlaps heavily with legitimate national security concerns, while in the absence of much more physical evidence, the latter option is not testable,” the NIDS assessment concluded.

This is very interesting. On the one hand, they are prepared to believe that these craft might be military, without getting to get thier hands on one, but will not accept that they are non human because they cant get their hands on one!!!

There have been many secret aircraft that no one has been allowed to examine whose existance has been unquestioningly accepted on presentation of photographs; the same standard should be applied to these black triangles. We do not need physical evidence to accept that they are real, firstly, and secondly, we have to be able to accept that they are of non human origin without getting the chance to touch one.

Even if they did get a hold of one, they would find that it is made of elements from the periodic table - there is no such thing as "alien metal". Then had they the chance to inspect one, the only unfamiliar thing they could find would be the power plant. No doubt, the idotic would say that this too was made by some scientist working in Nevada. The only thing that would clinch it would be the capture of a non human pilot. We know from accounts that these aircraft have writing on them and in them. Without the pilot, a stupid person could assert (stupidly) that the writing was a new code developed to foil post capture operation of the craft. No, it seems that the only thing that would clinch it for the morons would be the presentation of a pilot and her crew. If they were to capture only one individual, they would say that she was also man made, grown in a lab somewhere - there is no end to the nonsense that they can come up with to put man at the center of the universe. If these triangles are remotely controlled and one gets shot down in public and the cameras are there, the absence of a pilot is going to proove a difficult hurdle to get over when it comes to final "proof" that they are not man-made.
posted by Irdial , 1:50 PM Þ 

posted by meau meau , 1:48 PM Þ 

Soya boom threat to South America

The spiralling foreign demand for soya beans could mean the loss of millions of hectares of forest and savannah in South America, conservationists warn.<>
WWF, the global conservation group, says nearly 22 million hectares (54m acres) could be destroyed by 2020.
But WWF says much of this land could be spared if soya farmers could agree to share their land with cattle ranchers.
It says the demand for soya exports, used mainly in animal feed, is expected to more than double within 20 years[...]

BBQ

An increasing amount of the world's soya supply is Genetically Modified (without much publicity as it generally goes into animal feed)

posted by meau meau , 1:37 PM Þ 

Statistics are a type of opiate. Get high on these:

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=557746
posted by Irdial , 1:34 PM Þ 

Making the Garden Seem Warm and Cozy

NY TIMES

When President Bush makes his acceptance speech Thursday night, it will be from what aides say is the lowest rostrum in modern presidential conventional history.

<>That is no coincidence. When his father took the rostrum in Houston in 1992 to accept the Republican nomination for a second term, it was so high and magisterial that some critics said it reinforced the notion that Mr. Bush was out of touch with the delegates above whom he stood so high[...]



Will these people stop at nothing?
posted by meau meau , 1:32 PM Þ 

Welcome to the prison without bars

Satellite trackers mean police can watch offenders' every step

Guardian

[...]David Blunkett, the home secretary, unveiled the scheme in Manchester, describing it as a "prison without bars" that he hoped would cut crime and give the police and probation service a tool with which to protect the public[...]

compare this with the proposed nationwide road toll scheme

[...]The proposed nationwide congestion charge would be based on global position satellite (GPS) technology.
Under such a scheme, cars would probably be fitted with GPS tracking devices which measure their distances from satellites, pinpointing their position to within five or 10 metres[...] BBQ

A prison without bars on wheels no less.

Sleep tight!
posted by meau meau , 1:28 PM Þ 

can anyone recommend a good hairdresser in or around London E2? my hair situation becomes more absurd by the day.
posted by Mess Noone , 1:07 PM Þ 

posted by meau meau , 10:51 AM Þ 

fence.jpg

inside.jpg


protesters against the oil-hungry economy are forced to physically roll around in diesel fuel for hours. gotta love it. [...]

http://nyc.indymedia.org/feature/display/114761
posted by Irdial , 10:50 AM Þ 

posted by meau meau , 9:55 AM Þ 

1 Gmail invite has been sent to:

meaumeauinvite@mailinator.com

It has been claimed
posted by meau meau , 9:46 AM Þ 
Thursday, September 02, 2004

In 1933 Ruth St. Denis wrote of "the dance of the future":

The dance of the future will no longer be concerned with meaningless dexterities of the body.... Remembering that man is indeed the microcosm, the universe in miniature, the Divine Dance of the future should be able to convey with its slightest gestures some significance of the universe.... As we rise higher in the understanding of ourselves, the national and racial dissonances will be forgotten in the universal rhythms of Truth and Love. We shall sense our unity with all peoples who are moving to that exalted rhythm...

posted by telle goode , 9:01 PM Þ 

우리는 선물으로 사람에게에게 주는 6Gmail안내장이 있는다. 전자 우편irdial@gmail.com을 보내거든 우리는 너에게Gmail1개의 안내장을 보낼 것이다.
posted by Irdial , 8:29 PM Þ 

Мы имеем приглашение 6 Gmail дать к к людям как подарки. Пошлите email irdial@gmail.com и мы пошлем вами одно приглашение Gmail.
posted by Irdial , 8:26 PM Þ 

私達はギフトとして人々にに与える6 Gmail の招待を有する。電子メールirdial@gmail.com を送れば私達はGmail の1 つの招待を送る。
posted by Irdial , 7:48 PM Þ 

posted by Alun , 5:21 PM Þ 

posted by meau meau , 3:08 PM Þ 
posted by Alun , 12:56 PM Þ 

The image “http://www.gizmo.com.au/pics/3130_01.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.
posted by Irdial , 12:53 PM Þ 

Look at this piece in The Guardian:

Record industry produces first chart of legal downloads

Matt Wells, media correspondent
Thursday September 2, 2004
The Gundrdian


A key plank of the British record industry's response to the increasing popularity of music downloading was put in place last night with the introduction of the first "official" chart to measure tracks bought on the internet.

The countdown, broadcast on BBC Radio 1, is an attempt to take account of the thousands of tracks that are bought legally from online sites such as iTunes and Napster. But if supporters of online music were hoping it would herald a break in the dominance of the music industry majors, they were disappointed: Westlife took the number 1 spot and all the the tracks in the top 20 were released by the big five record companies: BMG, Warner, Sony, EMI and Universal.

There has been an increase in legal downloading in the past year: more than two million tracks accessed since January.

Last month music fans downloaded 500,000 tracks, making music downloading a serious rival to CDs as a platform for distributing singles.

A number of high profile artists, including Westlife, released their singles exclusively on the internet last week in an attempt to top the new chart. Maroon 5 took three of the 20 places, their success being attributed to the fact that they are currently on tour.

Scott Mills, the Radio 1 DJ who presented the first count down at 6pm last night, told Radio 5 Live earlier: "What we have found - especially with Radio 1 listeners, who are primarily aged 15 to 24 - is that young fans of bands like Snow Patrol and Starsailor live with computers every day of their lives.

"Downloading music is not alien to them. It is just another way of buying music."

The colonisation of the chart by the big record companies is an indication of the seriousness with which they have em braced the internet, albeit belatedly. Carolyne LaSala, manager of iTunes Europe, said: "I think it's a great jump in legitimising digital music, and will be a key indicator for the industry going forward."

Napster launched its own chart at the weekend on Virgin Radio, but the Radio 1 chart also takes into account other sites, such as iTunes, OD2 and mycokemusic.com.

Eventually, as legal downloading grows in popularity, it is expected that the download chart will be merged into the conventional singles chart to give an accurate picture of the most popular tracks. Both are compiled by the Official UK Charts Company for the BPI, which represents the British record industry.

Sales of singles in traditional formats are in steady decline, although the record industry was keen to jump on the first piece of good news for years recently: a modest increase in singles in the second quarter of this year.


Web guide
Where to download music legally

Also on this site
Special report: music and the internet
Live rock and pop reviews
Rock and pop CD reviews
Guardian Online weekly


Useful links
iTunes (UK)
OD2
Listen.com
Kazaa
Napster


The popularity of a piece of music has nothing to do with how many records or files are sold. A song can be hugely popular all over the country and not sell a single copy. Ask anyone from the days of the original raves if this is true or not.

There previously was no way of measuring the popularity of a track, because there was no way to get into the ears of every listener to she what she was listening to. Now with Audioscrobbler, you can do this, and throw away the incredibly biased and tawdry method of using sales as a measure of popularity.

Of course, there is a message being sent when you measure popularity as a number related to sales. You are saying that files of music should be bought, and that this is the true measure of musics worth.

Of course, this is a lie.

It will be demonstrated (again) the moment a dance music track becomes extremely popular that is also released for free as an MP3. People will trade it extensively, until millions are listening to it regularly. It will not show up in the bogus BBC/Monopoly chart because no one is buying it but it will be hugely popular. That is when the questions as to the validity of the bogus chart will be asked. Rather loudly.

Once again, The Guardian misses the point entirely, and regurgitates the press release that was handed to them by the monopoly. Not only that, but they provide links to all of the monopoly websites to boot.
"Scott Mills, the Radio 1 DJ who presented the first count down at 6pm last night, told Radio 5 Live earlier: "What we have found - especially with Radio 1 listeners, who are primarily aged 15 to 24 - is that young fans of bands like Snow Patrol and Starsailor live with computers every day of their lives."
This is fascinating. This is the very demographic that populates Audioscrobbler.

It is also very interesting how The Guardian equates "legal" with money. Look at the "where to download music legally" link above. All the sites listed there are pay sites.

The Internet Archive Netlabels site has 100% legal dowloads that are free of charge. I emailed them to ask the maintainer of that suspiciously incomplete list to include sites where you can get ours and other free releases, but of course, they did not put it up. That would be endorsing a world view that they are against.
posted by Irdial , 12:49 PM Þ 

The Official UK Download Chart is based on the most popular, legally downloaded tracks in the UK

Of course all downlaods have been shown to be legal, in Canada at least.

And you know 'moral arguments' have no borders.
posted by meau meau , 12:32 PM Þ 

posted by meau meau , 12:27 PM Þ 

So. The BBC has started its own(ed) download chart.

Look at who is behind every song; each one is a monopoly label. The BBC has always been used to control the taste of the masses, and since Radio Coroline, it has consistently failed.

It will fail again, this time.

Instead of doing the innovative thing and writing its own software to take the true pulse of what the public (that pays the soon to be axed licence fee) is listening to, or outsourcing the service out from a legitimate company, they act as servants to the music monopoly. This is being done under the direct orders of Dame Pauline Neville Jones, ex head of NatWest and head of the British QinetiQ defense and security group, whose opinions on "the propaganda war" are interesting to say the least, and now well known to readers of this blog.

No matter what bogus, industry promoting chart they produce, they will be hard pressed to put the genie back in the bottle. As broadband spreads throughout the UK people will increasingly turn to free music, and we will see alternative, meaningful, non corporate charts take their place as the centers of attention. MP3 Culture has changed everything.

Charts by people like Audioscrobbler are far more representative and are precisely what I am talking about.

I hate charts, especially of the type that the BBC have traditionally produced. They are however, important because they dump attention (money) onto artists and labels. The internet and P2P flattens the playing field considerably, because everybodys machine is an outlet. The way that BBC chart is produced:

The Official UK Download Chart is based on the most popular, legally downloaded tracks in the UK. It's compiled from the sale of permanently owned single track downloads and doesn't include streamed downloads, subscriptions or free downloads. The Download Chart is broadcast every Wednesday at 6 pm and in the Official Chart Show with Wes on Sundays.

Official Downloads Sites:
iTunes, Napster, MyCokeMusic, Streets Online, 7 Digital Media, Playlouder,
MSN Music, Big Noise Music, HMV, Virgin, Tiscali Music, Sonic Selector, Wanadoo

is, as you can see, totally bogus, and the most un internet-like chart you could possibly imagine. It takes as its beginning, the smallest possible sample source; monopoly sanctioned pay per download sites, which means that only monopoly labels will be represented in the chart:

Westlife     #1
'Flying Without Wings' - Westlife BMG
2 (new) 'Blazin Day' Blazin Squad Warner
3 (new) 'She Will Be Loved' Maroon 5 BMG
4 (new) 'Lola's Theme' Shapeshifters EMI
5 (new) 'American Idiot' Green Day Warner
6 (new) 'This Love' Maroon 5 BMG
7 (new) 'Dry Your Eyes' Streets Warner
8 (new) 'Bedshaped' Keane Universal
9 (new) 'Laura' Scissor Sisters Universal
10 (new) 'Apocalypse Please' Muse Warner
11 (new) 'Sick and Tired' Anastacia Sony
12 (new) 'Dumb' 411 Sony
13 (new) 'Everybody's Changing' Keane Universal
14 (new) 'Left Outside Alone' Anastacia Sony
15 (new) 'My Happy Ending' Avril Lavigne BMG
16 (new) 'Guns Don't Kill People Rappers Do' Goldie Lookin' Chain Warner
17 (new) 'Single' Natasha Bedingfield BMG
18 (new) 'Harder To Breathe' Maroon 5 BMG
19 (new) 'Hey Ya' Outkast BMG
20 (new) 'Sunshine' Twista Warner


Note that every label is a monopoly one. Note also, the absensence of any statistic relating to how many downloads have been made for each release. It is bogus, false and utterly useless.

Now look at how it should be done:

Highest New Entries
#405 Interpol - Stella Was A Diver And She Was Always Down
#416 Red Hot Chili Peppers - Around The World
#439 A Perfect Circle - Thomas
#445 Red Hot Chili Peppers - Parallel Universe
#453 Rage Against the Machine - Wake Up
#456 Björk - Pleasure Is All Mine
#468 Three Days Grace - Just Like You
#471 Lacuna Coil - Heaven's a Lie
#474 Foo Fighters - Walking After You
#475 Deftones - Minerva

Highest Non-Movers
#1 Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out
#2 Modest Mouse - Float On
#3 The Postal Service - Such Great Heights
#5 Radiohead - Karma Police
#31 Radiohead - No Surprises
#50 Metallica - Enter Sandman
#251 Linkin Park - Don't Stay
#277 Massive Attack - Teardrop
#590 Green Day - Brain Stew

This chart from Audioscrobbler, which measures what people are playing (as oppposed to what they are downloading) allows you to click on each artist so that you can see accurate statistics giving you an insight into how many ears each tune is reaching.

There is no excuse for this apalling BBC chart, when there are plenty of vendors of clean, accurate, unbiased sources of information.

It has apalled me for decades that we should be forced by law to pay a licence fee for the BBC to pump garbage into our radios by comitee. Did you know that every week there used to be a meeting at BBC One to decide what records are going to be heavily rotated? They have never taken what as actually going on into consideration, unless they have been forced to. The BBC was forced to confront pop music in the '60s thanks to Caroline, and with sales related charts they have been forced to accept every new music that has come off of the streets. Now, with this internet chart, they are doing the same thing again; deliberately ignoring what is really happening so that business interests can be directly served. This is contrary to the BBCs charter of public interest, but no one seems to notice.

I am sure that this chart will be fairly quickly discredited. Now that everyone is networked, the information about this new corruption at the BBC to do with the way it panders to the wishes of the monopoly will spread instantly, and people will gravitate to charts that reflect what is going on in their ears, and see in that reflection, the honesty of the source. Even better, with a site like Audioscrobbler, they can see their own contribution adding to the statistics that make up the charts. It is a truely democratic chart; the complete polar opposite of the rubbish that the BBC has concocted to brainwash everyone into opening accounts at the pay music sites.

Getting music for free has never been more important, now that dowload charts have started to be taken seriously. This time, there are so many tools to fight with there will be an even more voilent battle ahead for the attention of the masses of listeners, and mirroring the rise of the independent labels during the 70's, this time they will be utterly destroyed.

This probably wont happen because people actively seek it, but it will come about as a natural excressence of networked, infinetly copyable music. Which means that the network itself (the way that it works and the loci to which it gravitates) will work to free the music.
posted by Irdial , 11:59 AM Þ 

The Oligopolistic System which the US governement has created and nurtured can has left it's mark on the Biometric passport/US-VISIT issue.
Firstly the OS like the oligopolies it has spawned has identified a 'need' ie the screening of visitors to the country (tourrorists), this comes at a time of economic instability so the OS has identified a way of transferring the costs to the suppliers (other countries' governments). Like the oligopolies this has been done with the combination of threat (do as we say or you can't come in), political coercion (you don't want to be our enemy...) and the witholding of legitimate alternatives (you won't be given the visa option because it doesn't suit us), in any case the burden of issuing visas to each individual visitor has been dispensed with in favour of having the suppliers present a standardised biometric commodity (and the suppliers must meet the cost of providing thgis information to the US government).

This is being rolled out initially in the 'westernised' capitalist democracies where the government suppliers already act as petty OSs and their own instinct (as shown by the UKs National Identity Register) is contract out the manufacture and to pass the costs onto the end suppliers, ie the people (who in this case are analogous to third world or immigrant workers in the oligopoly chain).

The end suppliers - who are also the 'consumers' in this system have an obvious and simple retaliatory tool - do not consume this product and you will not be exploited in the supply chain.
posted by meau meau , 11:24 AM Þ 

posted by meau meau , 9:48 AM Þ 

President Calls for Constitutional Amendment Protecting Marriage
Remarks by the President
The Roosevelt Room

10:43 A.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Eight years ago, Congress passed, and President Clinton signed, the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage for purposes of federal law as the legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife.

President George W. Bush delivers a statement regarding the sanctity of marriage in the Roosevelt Room Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2004. "Activist courts have left the people with one recourse," said the President. "If we are to prevent the meaning of marriage from being changed forever, our nation must enact a constitutional amendment to protect marriage in America." White House photo by Paul Morse. The Act passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 342 to 67, and the Senate by a vote of 85 to 14. Those congressional votes and the passage of similar defensive marriage laws in 38 states express an overwhelming consensus in our country for protecting the institution of marriage.

In recent months, however, some activist judges and local officials have made an aggressive attempt to redefine marriage. In Massachusetts, four judges on the highest court have indicated they will order the issuance of marriage licenses to applicants of the same gender in May of this year. In San Francisco, city officials have issued thousands of marriage licenses to people of the same gender, contrary to the California family code. That code, which clearly defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman, was approved overwhelmingly by the voters of California. A county in New Mexico has also issued marriage licenses to applicants of the same gender. And unless action is taken, we can expect more arbitrary court decisions, more litigation, more defiance of the law by local officials, all of which adds to uncertainty.
[and on...]


Big Dick Gets Personal
Cheney was asked: “I need to know, Sir, from your heart—I don’t want to know what your advisers think or even your top adviser—I need to know, what do you think about homosexual marriages?”

The vice president replied: “Well, the question has come up in the past with respect to the question of gay marriage. Lynne and I have a gay daughter so it’s an issue that our family is very familiar with. We have two daughters and we have enormous pride in both of them, they’re both fine young women and they do a superb job, frankly, of supporting us, and we were blessed with both our daughters.

“With respect to the question of [unintelligible word] relationships, my general view is that freedom means freedom for everybody. People ought to be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to. The question that comes up with respect to the issue of marriage is, what kind of official sanction or approval is going to be granted by government, if you will, to the particular relationship?

“Historically,” Cheney said, “that’s been a relationship that’s been handled by the states. States have made the basic fundamental decision what constitutes a marriage. I made clear four years ago when this question came up in my debate with Joe Lieberman that my view was that that’s appropriately a matter for the states to decide and that’s how it ought to best be handled.

“The president has, as a result of the decisions made in Massachusetts this year by judges, felt that he wanted to support a constitutional amendment to define at the federal level what constitutes marriage, that his perception was that the courts in effect were beginning to change without the people being involved, without their being part of the political process—that the courts, in this case a court in Massachusetts, were making the judgment or the decision for the entire country, and he disagreed with that. So where we’re at at this point is, he’s come out in support of a federal constitutional amendment and I don’t think that, so far, it hasn’t had the votes to pass.

“There is the federal Defense of Marriage Act that passed in 1996 and, to date, it has not been successfully challenged in the court, and it may be sufficient to resolve the issue,” Cheney said. “At this point my own preference is as I’ve stated, but the president makes basic policy for this administration and he’s made it clear that he does in fact support an amendment on this issue.”


And now....
Illinois Republican Senate candidate Alan Keyes labeled homosexuality ``selfish hedonism'' and said Vice President Dick Cheney's lesbian daughter is a sinner.

photo

U.S. Senate candidate Republican Alan Keyes, middle, speaks with Dr. Bill Dam who nominated Keyes for the Senate position and Lisa Asselmeier during a reception for Illinois Republican Party Delegates in New York City on Aug. 31, 2004. (AP Photo/Zack Seckler)










Openly gay republicans say..




The point being...

It's never a problem until it's your problem.

What to do? Wait until Jenna Bush marries an Iraqi? Until Wolfowitz reveals his secret Palestinian parentage? Until Rumsfeld blurts out the dirty truth about his intern days under J Edgar Hoover?

Until there's a female president? I'd pay a euro to see it...

I mean, well, this is just tiresome, but... oh, maybe if.. oh, you can see it yourselves.

And these are the wise, unselfish, inclusive public servants running America for the benefit of all.
posted by Alun , 8:29 AM Þ 

Welcome to the capital of the World.
They have heard from us!
Not to mention "they" have heard from all the other stooges-er- people who "helped" you out - but the US never mentions those "other" countries. They don't really matter, especially when their citizens are endangered due to US actions. You know what I am speaking of!
Arrogance arrogance arrogance. It is interesting to note that arrogance almost always occurs when there is absolutely nothing to be proud of.
So long as George Bush is president, is there any doubt they will continue to hear from us until we defeat global terrorism.
But I thought GW said that the "war on terror" was unwinnable? Oh yeah, he DID (which probably gave defense contractors a big stiff one), but then he retracted it. It is expected that citizens accept GW's flip-flops, and not see them as mass failures not only in communication but also in policy (I think there is a correlation here).
From the first Republican President, Abraham Lincoln, to President George W Bush our party's great contribution is to expand freedom in our own land and all over the world.
It is absolutely shameful for the Neo-Conservative corpo-fascists to invoke the good name of Abraham Lincoln. They have absolutely nothing to do with with Lincoln, and actually almost nothing to do with Conservative party politics. They are moral entrepreneurs of the worst kind and will use anything, be it the names of good guys or the corpses of the murdered victims of the WTC attacks, to achieve their goals. These symbols become meaningless in the hands of the Neo-Conservatives. Despicable and deplorable!
And our party is at its best when it makes certain that we have a powerful national defence in a still very dangerous world.
Probably a good idea, since everybody hates you. However I don't know how "defense" equates to "invading nations for their oil revenue." But WHATEVER, right?!
Neither party has a monopoly on virtue.
Yet this is exactly what the Republican party claims it has. This is what any moral entrepreneur claims he/she has.
(...) we were facing something beyond anything we had ever faced before.
Yes, that something is called consequence. Every action has a reaction.
And I say it again tonight, "Thank God George Bush is our President."
The vengeful God that wishes for the subordination and the punishment of mankind. This is the only God you could be talking about.

President Bush's response in keeping us unified and in turning the ship of state around from being solely on defence against terrorism to being on offence as well and for his holding us together.
How then, in the same sentance, could you explain the administration's enaction of an agenda that enouraged American citizens to be paranoid of each, one that suggested it was patriotic to think the very worst of all fellow citizens? To say such a thing is created to "hold us together" would be the worst form of lie. (also: the grammar at this point of the speech is terrible, the quoted excerpt makes almost no sense at all)
We stood face to face with those people and forces who hijacked not just airplanes but a religion and turned it into a creed of terrorism dedicated to eradicating us and our way of life.
Was it not also the US Administration who "hijacked" (how tasteless) Islam and portrayed it as the religion of the enemy? Let us not forget as well the "hijacking" of skin colour to describe "the enemy." Cheap war tactics that an "enlightened" nation like America should never have to use.
And the world had created a response to it that allowed it to succeed.
This is the part of the speech where Guiliani blames the rest of the world for some of the problems that America is facing. The Republicans refuse to acknowledge that all that is happening is their own goddamned fault. And who wouldn't, especially when doing so allows you to make buckets of cash-o-la?!
(...) particularly in Europe, was "accommodation, appeasement and compromise."
Allow me to finish your sentance, Ahhnold: "because those Europeans are a bunch of guhhlie men."
(...) almost in direct proportion to the barbarity of the attack.
"Barbarism" is being used a lot in this speech. It is a nice way to dehumanize the enemy, is it not? It makes it easy to simplify the reasons for the enemy's attacks, and even easier to simplify the reasons for reciprocation (even when the reciprocation has absolutely nothing to do with said attacks). Like so many things in this speech, it serves to make the audience forget about the real reason for terrorist attacks.
It doesn't matter what the media does to ridicule him or misinterpret him...
Actually, aren't the people misinterpreting him the ones attending this very conference? Because I'm pretty sure he did say something about perpetual war.
(...) whose record in elected office suggests a man who changes his position often even on important issues.
No comment on Kerry here, but is this trait not good? When someone is doing something bad, then realizes that error, is that not a good thing? This is a lesson that, say, Tony Blair needs to learn.
Certainly President Bush will keep us focused on that goal. When President Bush announced his commitment to ending global terrorism, he understood - I understood, we all understood - it was critical to remove the pillars of support for the global terrorist movement.
Wow, it certainly takes a stupid man to say that all terrorists around the globe are part of a singular movement. Take some time to reflect on the profound stupidity of this statement. The American administration has no actual idea of what "global terrorism" is or means or even why it occurs. The "goal" therefore is nonexistant, impossible, and can only end is absolute failure.
The hatred and anger in the Middle East arises from the lack of accountable governments.
HAHAHAHA! Okay, let's try this again. "The hatred and anger in the Middle East arises mostly from the meddling and fascist policies of unnacountable, corrupt Western governments." Bingo!

Rather than trying to grant more freedom, create more income, improve education and basic health care, these governments deflect their own failures by pointing to America and Israel and other external scapegoats.
Rather than trying to grant more freedom, create more income, improve eductation and basic health care, these governments deflect their own failures by pointing to the Middle East and Europe and other external scapegoats.
<>
But blaming these scapegoats does not improve the life of a single person in the American world. It does not relieve the plight of even one woman in Baltimore. It does not give a decent living to a single soul in North Hollywood. It certainly does not stop the removal of the voting rights of several people in Florida whose skin happens to be dark brown in colour.
The changes necessary in America involve encouraging accountable, lawful governments that can be role models.
This has never been an important part of the Bush Doctrine and the President's vision for the future.
Have faith in the power of an image of a boot stamping on your face, forever.
posted by Barrie , 5:10 AM Þ 

Audioscrobbler, mixed with iTunes Affiliates = $$$

In fact, any site that aggregates info on music will now be able to plug into iTunes Affiliates and start to cane it major whipping red welts ouch ouch ouch!

All the comprehensive discography sites....amazing.

Obviously those against iTunes and DRM will (and should) connect with the Soulseeks & co. If Audioscrobbler is anti-iTunes/DRM, it would be great to see the two integrate tightly, meaning that when you click on a song at Audioscrobbler that string is pumped into Soulseeks search for you, saving you:

drag select (2)
right click
copy
alt tab or taskbar click
click search files
click in slot
control v or right click paste (2)

9 actions to start a search.

Music is a service, in this case it is a service to sell devices: iPods.
Music is a service, in this case it is a service to push refferals to iTunes, so Apple can sell iPods.
posted by Irdial , 12:20 AM Þ 
Wednesday, September 01, 2004

OUTRAGE! SAUDI TOY MAKER SELLING COLLAPSIBLE TWIN TOWER TOYS

CYNTHIA MORGAN

A SAUDI novelty company is selling collapsible models of New York's Twin Towers so that "children of all ages" can "play terrorist" and "have hours of fun punishing the Great Satan."

The outrageous item is selling in toy, hobby, rug and bridal shops, pharmacies, open air markets, bars, belly-dancing schools, hardware stores and even new car dealerships in Saudi Arabia and throughout the Middle East.

At $29.95 a pop, Twin Tower Mania isn't the cheapest item on the shelf.

But that's not keeping children and adults from snapping them up as quickly as stock boys can fetch fresh supplies from the warehouse.

And pricey accessory items just add to the cost. Miniature airliners to "hijack" and then fly into the Towers -- which are spring-loaded and fly apart on impact -- cost anywhere from $5 to $10 each depending on whether you want the durable metal version or garden- variety plastic.

"This is outrageous -- I'm flabbergasted," fumes Velma Creigt, a U.S. citizen working in Saudi Arabia's capital city of Riyadh.

"How dare these people try to capitalize on the death and suffering of the innocent Americans who perished on 9/11?"

The answer to that question, says a spokesman for Death to the Infidels Toys -- the company that makes Twin Tower Mania -- is simple.

"If the Americans have taught us anything over the years," he explains, "it's how to make money off a tragedy." [...]

Tangentially from Coofercat
posted by Irdial , 11:42 PM Þ 

You’re invited to partner with iTunes - the world’s #1 music download store. To date, iTunes has sold over 125 million songs, providing music fans with the best digital music experience on PC or Mac. Now you can be part of the excitement by joining the iTunes Affiliate Program.*

As an iTunes Affiliate, you can:

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* iTunes Affiliates available for U.S. iTunes Music Store only. Subject to Terms and Conditions.

posted by Irdial , 11:01 PM Þ 

Download Skype for Mac OS X Beta

Latest version is:

Skype for Mac OS X Beta 0.8
0.8.0.2. Released on Aug 31, 2004. (Release Notes)

Download latest version

Installation
  • Mount the downloaded disk image by double clicking on the dmg file
  • Drag the Skype application from mounted disk image volume to Applications folder of your main volume
System Requirements

In order to use Skype for Mac OS X, your computer must meet the following minimum system requirements:

  • Macintosh computer with G3, G4 or G5 processor
  • Mac OS X v10.3 (Panther) or newer
  • 128 MB RAM
  • 20 MB free disk space on your hard drive
  • Microphone
  • Internet connection (either dial-up: minimum 33.6 Kbps, or any broadband: cable, DSL, etc.)
posted by Irdial , 9:20 PM Þ 

Which exhibition/activity would you take in/do this weekend in London?

Saul Bass @ The Design Museum during the day.

Wang @ Night.

Sorted.
posted by alex_tea , 8:14 PM Þ 

Which exhibition/activity would you take in/do this weekend in London?
And what's going on elsewhere?

Shh... at the V&A has finished.


I just know the good Captain must have some of these in his locker.
posted by Alun , 7:07 PM Þ 

Text of journalist Michael Ruppert's Speech at the Commonwealth Club on 8/31:

"...I will name Richard Cheney as the prime suspect in the mass murders of 9/11 and will establish that, not only was he a planner in the attacks, but also that on the day of the attacks he was running a completely separate Command, Control and Communications system which was superceding any orders being issued by the NMCC [National Military Command Center], or the White House Situation Room..."

READ, VIEW THE FULL SPEECH AS PDF
posted by telle goode , 6:09 PM Þ 

Ken from WFMU seems to be on form today
posted by meau meau , 2:27 PM Þ 

Associated Press
Setec Clinches Biometric Passport Deal
08.31.2004, 09:55 AM

Finnish technology group Setec has won an international tender for a $120 million deal to provide Sweden with biometric passports and identity cards starting next year.

The contract, signed Tuesday by Setec and the Swedish police, is for five years and includes an additional two-year option, Setec said in a statement. It is the smart card company's largest deal to date.

Sweden, which will begin issuing biometric passports in October 2005, plans to be the second country in the world to issue a passport tender for biometric passports in line with specifications by the International Civil Aviation Organization, ICAO, and U.S. visa waiver requirements, the statement said.

In February, Denmark placed an order with Setec for 3 million passports after announcing that it will begin issuing biometric identity documents later this year[...]

Forbes


[...]U.S. legislation requires 27 countries, mostly in Europe, to add biometrics to passports they issue after Oct. 26, 2004, or else their citizens will have to apply for visas[...]

You see 'biometrics' will not solve anything, this is purely a 'convenience' for the US so that it will not have to check individual people, rather it will force countries to rape data from their own citizens and hand it over to the US where it can be automanically profiled.
The alternative is for those who want to go to the US to apply for a visa and despite US embassy attempts to make this as inconvenient as possible it is the only 'respectable' way for the US government to behave like a paranoid infant.

-

Tourrorist meme spotted!
posted by meau meau , 1:39 PM Þ 

posted by meau meau , 1:27 PM Þ 

おひさしぶりで〜す♪覚えてますか?
いつも電車の中で会ってた美由紀です
もう忘れちゃったかな(;_;)
ずいぶん月日過ぎたけど・・・・
いきなりごめんね。彼女は今いますか?
私は今フリーです(ToT)彼に二股かけられてて
別れちゃったの!なんか懐かしくて
メールしてみました★よかったら返事くださいね♪
あっ最近の写真付けとくね じゃぁ...

Which aparently says:

"- The ♪ which is done remembering the way of the visor, it increases? Always, it has met it is Miyuki in the streetcar, you forget already and the ちゃ っ are high (; _; However) date it passed extremely, don't you think?... suddenly the め it is. As for her now it is? I now am free, (ToT) the forks being applied in him, the て separation ちゃ っ it is! Something the bosom oak く て mail it tried doing, when * it is good, don't you think? please reply, don't you think? the ♪ oh the recent photograph you attach and solve the ぁ..."

Japanese Netsky email? But it came without the payload.....hmmmmm!
posted by Irdial , 12:40 PM Þ 

hosiery

To steal another election for the Austrian Übermenschen.
posted by meau meau , 11:38 AM Þ 

posted by meau meau , 11:23 AM Þ 

posted by meau meau , 11:13 AM Þ 

Has Colin Powell left the building?

Maybe he's out with Condi, buying hosiery.
posted by Alun , 10:48 AM Þ 

On the first day of the Republican convention not one speaker mentioned a domestic issue - not education, healthcare or the economy. Delegates were summoned back to another country, a past that began on 9/11....
In the afternoon, a radical conservative platform against stem-cell research, abortion and gay rights was approved by the convention without a murmur of dissent....[here]

"There is a party of narrow-minded bigotry. It is called the Democrats."
Newt Gingrich [more]



And self-depracation makes it OK...
In June the governor [Schwarzenegger] revived the whiff of unbridled sexism that pervaded the final few weeks of his run for the California governorship last year by referring to California's Democratic legislators as a bunch of "girlie men" during state budget negotiations.

Last night the phrase won a self-deprecating reprise, to the delight of the crowd: "To those critics who are so pessimistic about our economy, I say: 'Don't be economic girlie men.'"


Girlie men?
He's calling Greenspan a ladyboy?
posted by Alun , 10:35 AM Þ 

What If the Pentagon Spy Was a Muslim Spy
By Ishtiyaque Ahmad
Al-Jazeerah, August 31, 2004

The FBI investigating the Israeli spy do not want to speak to the media because the case is under investigation. The media is cryptic in linking the Zionist organization, AIPAC, in this sabotage case. The Israeli government is denying the involvement and stating that the report is a lie and outrageous. AIPAC is tossing a patriotic line that it does not involve itself in unconstitutional acts.

Imagine for a minute if the spy was a Muslim working for an Islamic country. If AIPAC was American Islamic Public Affairs Committee. Not only the FBI but all major news media across the US would have gone on rampage. The spy would have been convicted by the media and the public without any evidence. Commentators across the TV channels and newspapers would have found links between the spy, AIPAC, and Al-Qaeda without FBI files. Smearing campaigns against Islam would have been launched. All the Muslims in the US would have been asked to demonstrate their patriotism and condemn that guy for his involvement in espionage.

But the spy happens to work for the US sweetheart, Israel, under war architects Feith and Wolfowitz. They together invented the WMD lie in Iraq. They did a great job in manufacturing evidence linking Osama and Saddam, which resulted in the invasion of Iraq and slaughter of tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis. They were all set to invent WMD in Iran and Syria, not in Israel where one has to only discover. One wonders what went wrong?

The episode for Mossad here again turned New Jersey way. The American public should at least understand how much damage this unholy nexus of Zionists, Mossad, and Israel has caused to their security. Involving US to war based on manufactured evidence is a war crime by itself. Israel has a direct involvement in dragging US to invade Iraq based on fabricated evidence. The US public should demand tough sanctions on Israel for jeopardizing their lives and national security.

Dr. Ishtiyaque Ahmad, INDIA
URL
posted by telle goode , 5:22 AM Þ 

Bookmakers slash odds on science

Titan (Nasa/JPL/Space Science Institute)
Odds are 10,000/1 for life being found on the Saturn moon Titan (Image: Nasa/JPL/SSI)
The chances of scientists making one of five remarkable discoveries by 2010 have been hugely underestimated, according to bookmakers.

Ladbrokes says it has had to slash the odds for one of the breakthroughs - the first detection of gravitational waves - after a rush of bets from punters.

The five also include intelligent life being found on one of Saturn's moons and fusion power stations being built.

Another of the possible breakthroughs is understanding cosmic rays' origins.

We have been knocked over with the interest over this
Ladbrokes
It has the shortest odds, currently set at 4/1.

Next up is the discovery of the Higgs boson, an elusive particle said to endow all others with mass. Its odds are 6/1.

'No chance'

The big outsider in this game is the possibility of life being found on the Saturnian satellite Titan. Those odds remain at 10,000/1.

[...]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3613510.stm

I'll take £100 of the last one thanks....SUCKERS!

posted by Irdial , 12:30 AM Þ 

15 bucks little man put that shit in my hand if that money doesn't show then you owe me owe me owe, my jungle love o-e-o-e-o i think i wanna know ya know ya, yeah what.
posted by Irdial , 12:22 AM Þ 
Tuesday, August 31, 2004

Snootchie Booties.
posted by alex_tea , 11:18 PM Þ 

Moby Dick Marathon
The Moby-Dick Marathon, a nonstop reading of the novel, will celebrate its Fifth Annual read, starting Wednesday January 3rd at 12 noon and ending Thursday January 4th at about 1 PM. The dates celebrate the anniversary of Herman Melville's departure from the port of New Bedford aboard the Fairhaven whaleship in 1841. About 150 readers will take part, including several in non-English languages. If interested in reading, contact Laura at 508-997-0046 extension 34 or whaling@ma.ultranet.com
Submission courtesy of Mr. Irwin Marks.

Requiem For A Dream


I love Clerks, and will look forward to Passion of the Clerks, but these responses make me ill.

Dav, it's you.

And ARGH!WOW! Quick edit!!!
posted by Alun , 9:47 PM Þ 

Is it just me or has Gmail been rather lumpy over the last few days - difficult to log into etc?
posted by captain davros , 9:47 PM Þ 

I stayed up to hear the former Mayor Guliani's speech at the RNC. I have never heard a more delusional, distorted, suicidal and contradictory speech in my entire life.

Welcome to the capital of the World.

A figure of speech, or what he really thinks and what the Neocons want? Either way, in a time of great sensitivity, if you say things like this people dont like you. Not that a bellicose bumpkin like Guliani cares a single bit.

It was here in 2001 in lower Manhattan that President George W Bush stood amid the fallen towers of the World Trade Center and said to the barbaric terrorists who attacked us: 'They will hear from us.'

The whole reason why you got hit was because they have been hearing from you for decades you idiot!

They have heard from us!

Oh really?!

They heard from us in Afghanistan and we removed the Taliban.

They had nothing to do with 911; you should have made Riahd "hear from you" if you really want to solve this problem.

They heard from us in Iraq and we ended Saddam Hussein's reign of terror.

They had nothing to do with 911; you should have made Riahd "hear from you" if you really want to solve this problem.

They heard from us in Libya and without firing a shot Gaddafi abandoned weapons of mass destruction.

They had nothing to do with 911; you should have made Riahd "hear from you" if you really want to solve this problem. And as for not firing a shot, you killed his daughter and many others you murdering pigs!

They are hearing from us in nations that are now more reluctant to sponsor terrorists.

They all have nothing to do with 911; you are scrupulously avoiding the source country of the real problem, and refusing to take the simple actions that need to be taken to resolve the source of your... disquiet..

So long as George Bush is president, is there any doubt they will continue to hear from us until we defeat global terrorism.

Yes of course. Doubt is the leading thought process when it comes to GWB.

We owe that much and more to those loved ones and heroes we lost on 11 September.

Using the dead like this is a sin, pure and simple.

The families of some of those we lost on 11 September are here with us. To them, and all those families affected by 11 September, we recognise the sacrifices your loved ones and you have made. You are in our prayers and we are in your debt.

A sacrifice is something that a person voluntarily does in an act of selflessness. The people in the twin towers were murdered - by definition their lives were ended involuntarily. You cannot say that they "sacrificed their lives"; its just a lie. And a very disgusting one at that.

From the first Republican President, Abraham Lincoln, to President George W Bush our party's great contribution is to expand freedom in our own land and all over the world.

More nonsense. What you call "Freedom" is appropriate only for you. By trying to impose it on other people by force, you are asking for nothing but trouble. Keep your flawed ideologies and systems of governance to yourself. If anyone wants to emulate you they will do it willingly. Leas by example, or watch the very system you adore so much be destroyed. This process has already begun; for example, you have secret lists of American citizens who are not allowed to fly in their own country. Not very "American" is it? And all of this is a direct resuld of innapropriate interference in other peoples affairs.

Neither party has a monopoly on virtue.

That should read "Neither monopoly party has a virtue".

On 11 September, this city and our nation faced the worst attack in our history.

Perl Harbor was a much worse attack, with more terrible consequences. It was a true act of war, and not retaliation.

On that day, we had to confront reality. For me, standing below the north tower and looking up and seeing the flames of hell and then realising that I was actually seeing a man, a human being jumping from the 101st or 102nd floor, drove home to me that we were facing something beyond anything we had ever faced before.

The world is facing an president without a brain. An American government without a moral centre. A narcoleptic Amercian populace. This is what we are all facing. And a terrifying and infuriating vision it has been.

President Bush's response in keeping us unified and in turning the ship of state around from being solely on defence against terrorism to being on offence as well and for his holding us together.

Spreading "Freedon" throughout the world is "offence". It is the offence that has caused this attack and the widespread hatred directed at you. You have been on the offensive for decades; this is not new, prudent, effective or rational.

For that and then his determined effort to defeat global terrorism, no matter what happens in this election, President George W. Bush already has earned a place in our history as a great American President.

He has earned a place in history, along with Nixon, Kissinger and the other american war criminals. He will be forever remembered by honest people as a war criminal, a treaty breaker, a puppet of big money, of oil, a corrupt, golf playing, corpse rattling usurper. And we will not forget, or forgive this administration for what it has stolen from America and the world. From Americans he has stolen the rights that were handed down to his generation. He has stolen their place in the world as a generally beloved and aspired to nation.

But let's not wait for history to present the correct view of our President. Let us write our own history.

This is what you and all your other delusional Rebublican cronies do every time you open your mouths; you re-write history again and again and again, and amazingly, some of the American people actually buy it. What will it take for them to realize that their president is the threat?

We need George Bush now more than ever.

The horror, the shock and the devastation of those attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and over the skies of Pennsylvania lifted a cloud from our eyes.

They placed a thick lead helmet over your heads, so that you could neither hear see or smell, and whats more, you are licking the iinside of this helmet, and are being driven insane by lead poisioning.

We stood face to face with those people and forces who hijacked not just airplanes but a religion and turned it into a creed of terrorism dedicated to eradicating us and our way of life.

This is an interesting passage. It is America that is dedicated to eradicating the way of life of anyone that doesnt eat McDonalds and listen to Rock & Roll. This is the stated aim of that administration and party, "to spread freedom all over the world". In places that do not have "Freedom" American wants to eradicate that system. America would fight back if someone tried to turn them into a Communist state, and of course, other states fight back against anyone that would try and change them. Its obvious and clear; leave others to their own devices, live and let live and all your problems will melt away. They will still buy your operating systems and cellular phones (Quallcom and M$ both sell to China without any qualms) why not sell to Iran in the same way, wtihout trying to Americanize them? Because the preception is that they can get away with it..."because its there" .

Terrorism did not start on 11 September, 2001. It had been festering for many years.

Festering? Another lie. Amerca has been sponsoring it, enflaming it, fueling it, participating in it, for decades. But you know this.

And the world had created a response to it that allowed it to succeed. The attack on the Israeli team at the Munich Olympics was in 1972. And the pattern had already begun.

"The world" meaning what exactly? Certainly the UK had a perfect approach to it - do something, but not too much. This is how they managed to control their problem and eventually solve it.. Destroying you r way of life is not the solution.

The three surviving terrorists were arrested and within two months released by the German government.

Action like this became the rule, not the exception.

Because it works. No one believes, except the ignorant American, that a single German life is worth the troubles of any other nation. IT simply is not worthwhile for Germany to risk perpetual and indescriminate attacks because dimwits in some far flung place cant live next door to each other.

Terrorists came to learn they could attack and often not face consequences.

It is the American terrorist state that caame to think that it could meddle in the affairs of other countries without having to face the consequences, and it is YOU that have just learned that there ARE consequences to be faced when you do the bad things tha tyou have been doing for decades. Previously it has not been possible to mount a retaliation, now, anyone can do it, and surprise surprise, they are doing it! If you really think that you can invade someones country and not face the music afterwards you are dreaming.

Some of those terrorist were released and some of the remaining terrorists allowed to escape by the Italian government because of fear of reprisals.

Look at what is happening in France right now. France was against the illegal attack on Iraq, and look at how they are repayed; two of their citoyen are kidnapped because the French pass laws ini their own country that affect their own citizenry. France should not send a single citizen to those places, not spend a single euro on them, completely turn their backs on these unpredictable, ungrateful, irrational and tiresome people and their endless problems.

And so should you!

So terrorists learned they could intimidate the world community and too often the response, particularly in Europe, was "accommodation, appeasement and compromise."

Is this the same "world community" that you serially abuse and disobey?

And worse the terrorists also learned that their cause would be taken more seriously, almost in direct proportion to the barbarity of the attack.

Ummm thats why they do it you country bumpkin!

Terrorist acts became a ticket to the international bargaining table.

Yes indeed, that is now nations are born, America was born that way, and so were Kenya and Isreal. It is a proven strategy, thats why people do it, and will continue to do it until international law works fairly and justly.

How else to explain Yasser Arafat winning the Nobel Peace Prize when he was supporting a terrorist plague in the Middle East that undermined any chance of peace?

America supoported the Taleban and OBL; "terrorism" is a tool, nothing more. People who use tools for peace get the prize. That is the only explanation that is required.

Before 11 September, we were living with an unrealistic view of the world, much like our observing Europe appease Hitler or trying to accommodate ourselves to peaceful co-existence with the Soviet Union through mutually assured destruction.

MAD was not unrealistic, it "worked"! I have to agree with RJ on this one though; America has lived with an unrealistic view of the world, for many many years. And it still does.

And that is enough of that, though there was much more to demolish.

DIY:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3613480.stm

The transcript is right there.

If Irdial is going to focus on NYC, then I shall focus on LONDON...

Absolutely do not do that. Focus on what you think is interesting because you think its interesting, not in response or oposite reaction to someone elses posts.
posted by Irdial , 6:52 PM Þ 

Includes Irdial Mailshot amongst other ascii bits
posted by meau meau , 3:37 PM Þ 

posted by meau meau , 3:20 PM Þ 

We have *just* received the government's "what to do in the case of a propaganda attack" brochure whether this is to do with royal mail's continued excellence or Leeds being as high on their care list as it is on mine we shall never know:

Do you feel you have drifted apart?
Well we hardly have any meaningful contact, but it was limited in the first place.
But it was better in the past?
There was still the promise of something unexpected but that has faded. It was a 'marriage of convenience' in the first place.
Ah, but there are still moments?
Yes, just enough to call it a relationship
But not enough?
No.

Maybe I need a holiday - far less boring than doing a CV.

-

New imac, obviously going for Sony's lifestyle PCTV niche.

-

There was talk of a strike by the workers at MSG:NYC it would be nice if that went ahead, otherwise I find little of use/interest maybe the Bush speech will 'pump up the LEDs to red'.
posted by meau meau , 1:22 PM Þ 

Bush stands firm on Iraq, war on terror
President: 'I don't plan on losing my job'
By Sean Loughlin
CNN Washington Bureau
Wednesday, April 14, 2004 Posted: 10:23 AM EDT (1423 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Citing a conviction "deep in my soul," President Bush vowed Tuesday night to stay the course in Iraq and the war on terror, and predicted American voters will stick with him come November.

"I don't plan on losing my job," Bush said during his first prime time news conference of the year. "I plan on telling the American people that I've got a plan to win the war on terror. And I believe they'll stay with me. They understand the stakes."






From July 14th 2004 speech (starring Krusty the Clown as THE PRESIDENT and a school pantomime crowd as AUDIENCE:

THE PRESIDENT: My opponent is -- is an experience United States Senator. He's been in Washington a lot longer than I have.

AUDIENCE: Booo!

THE PRESIDENT: No, he's been there long enough to take both sides of just about every issue. (Applause.) He voted for the Patriot Act, for NAFTA, for the No Child Left Behind Act, and for the use of force in Iraq. Now, he opposes the Patriot Act, NAFTA, the No Child Left Behind Act, and the liberation of Iraq.

AUDIENCE: Booo!

THE PRESIDENT: If you disagree with the Senator on most any issue, you may just have caught him on the wrong day. (Applause.) Recently, in the Midwest, he even tried to claim he was the candidate with conservative values.

AUDIENCE: Booo!

THE PRESIDENT: I know, I know. (Laughter.) That's what he said. (Laughter.) It's kind of hard to square that with his previous statement when he said, I'm liberal and proud of it. (Laughter.) Now he has a running mate. Senator Kerry is rated as the most liberal member of the United States Senate, and he chose a fellow lawyer who is the fourth most liberal member of the United States Senate.

AUDIENCE: Booo!

THE PRESIDENT: In Massachusetts, that's what they call, balancing the ticket. (Laughter and applause.)

Great events will turn on this election. The person who sits in the Oval Office will set the course of the war on terror and the direction of our economy. I'm here asking for the vote and your help because I have a vision and a strategy to win the war on terror and to extend peace and freedom throughout the world.





Bush Cites Doubt America Can Win War on Terror
By ELISABETH BUMILLER

Published: August 31, 2004


ASHUA, N.H., Aug. 30 - President Bush, in an interview broadcast on Monday, said he did not think America could win the war on terror but that it could make terrorism less acceptable around the world, a departure from his previous optimistic statements that the United States would eventually prevail.

In the interview with Matt Lauer of the NBC News program "Today," conducted on Saturday but shown on the opening day of the Republican National Convention, Mr. Bush was asked if the United States could win the war against terrorism, which he has made the focus of his administration and the central thrust of his re-election campaign.

"I don't think you can win it," Mr. Bush replied. "But I think you can create conditions so that those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world."

As recently as July 14, Mr. Bush had drawn a far sunnier picture. "I have a clear vision and a strategy to win the war on terror," he said.

At a prime-time news conference in the East Room of the White House on April 13, Mr. Bush said: "One of the interesting things people ask me, now that we are asking questions, is, 'Can you ever win the war on terror?' Of course you can."




Instead of saying "Look at the monkey! He can't even think! Monkey want a pretzel?", or even "Bush's 'war on terror' is balderdash and claptrap designed to make you forget the economy, your civil liberties and the fact that your President is slightly less intelligent than a natural yoghurt and far less trustworthy" the democrats say "Can't be won? We'll win it for ya! Yee ha!"

Senator John Edwards, Mr. Kerry's running mate, said in a statement. "This is no time to declare defeat. It won't be easy and it won't be quick, but we have a comprehensive longterm plan to make America safer. And that's a difference."

Mr. Edwards elaborated on his criticism in an interview Monday with the ABC program "Nightline.'' Mr. Edwards said the battle against terrorism was "absolutely winnable" with the right leadership.

"Now, in order to win it," Mr. Edwards said, "we have to do the right thing, which includes some of the things that I spoke about today: reform our intelligence operations, more human intelligence inside these terrorist cells, being more aggressive about the developing nuclear threats in North Korea and Iran, and different plans - a more effective plan in Iraq, a more effective plan in Afghanistan.''

Mr. Kerry, who has limited his campaigning this week, was asked at his vacation home in Nantucket whether the war on terror could be won. He replied, "Absolutely."


posted by Alun , 10:47 AM Þ 

If Irdial is going to focus on NYC, then I shall focus on LONDON...
There is a large video about GNU in London...view it!
posted by telle goode , 4:17 AM Þ 

Secret Service Attempts Subpoena For Indymedia Logs as Part of Harassment Campaign Current rating: 3
30 Aug 2004
As was reported in today's New York Times, the Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation and is demanding records concerning anti-RNC deleagte posts to this website. Specifically, the DOJ is seeking information on lists of 2,200 RNC delegate names posted to our Open Newswire.

NYC Indymedia believes that this investigation is wholly without merit, and is part of a larger campaign of intimidation against our supporters and peaceful protest activities surrounding the RNC.

Additionally, NYC Indymedia does not keep the records that the DOJ is seeking. According to Global Indymedia, "as a result of [previous] attempts to violate our clear rights, we felt it prudent to develop a policy of not voluntarily gathering data for the government on people who visit our websites, or who post material to sites. '. . . we do not log IP addresses as a way of protecting the privacy of our visitors. . .'

Those of us at New York Indymedia feel, first and foremost, that this site is in the business of media-making and journalism. We invite first time visitiors to look around, and we hope they like what they see.

Calyx's contacts at Indymedia are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. We advise all members of the press to contact our lawyers for further comment on this matter.

As was reported in today's New York Times, the Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation and is demanding records concerning anti-RNC deleagte posts to this website. Specifically, the DOJ is seeking information on lists of 2,200 RNC delegate names posted to our Open Newswire.

NYC Indymedia believes that this investigation is wholly without merit, and is part of a larger campaign of intimidation against our supporters and peaceful protest activities surrounding the RNC.

Additionally, NYC Indymedia does not keep the records that the DOJ is seeking. According to Global Indymedia, "as a result of [previous] attempts to violate our clear rights, we felt it prudent to develop a policy of not voluntarily gathering data for the government on people who visit our websites, or who post material to sites. '. . . we do not log IP addresses as a way of protecting the privacy of our visitors. . .'

Those of us at New York Indymedia feel, first and foremost, that this site is in the business of media-making and journalism. We invite first time visitiors to look around, and we hope they like what they see.

Calyx's contacts at Indymedia are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. We advise all members of the press to contact our lawyers for further comment on this matter.[...]


http://nyc.indymedia.org/feature/display/107119/index.php


And here is the actual CSV file:
http://nyc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/102389

Indymedia reaches the inescapable conslusion.

The next step is keeping the list secret, between a few people, and then doing something really violent. This is how it starts; reasonable, peace loving people who have no other way to fix their problems turn to violence.

You march. Nothing happens. You vote. Nothing happens. No one listens. They press harder on the back of your neck. They arrest you for... riding a bicycle. They wont back off.

"Then one night in desperation the young man breaks away, He steals a car gets
a gun, Tries to run but he don't get far, And his momma cries..."

"We see your bicycle arrest and raise you the threat of personal attacks".
posted by Irdial , 1:36 AM Þ 

<>Ford: Don't Destroy Zero-Emission Vehicles -- Build Them!

Zero-emission vehicles powered by solar panels? Sounds like a great step towards ending our destructive dependence on oil and moving us towards a more just, sustainable future, right? Many Bay Area residents thought so and leased Ford Motor Company's most efficient car ever: the all-electric, super efficient "TH!NK City". However, now Ford has decided that zero-emission vehicles are not viable, and Ford is confiscating the TH!NKs and sending them to scrap yards to be dismantled. [...]

http://jumpstartford.com/home/

DISMANTLED.

posted by Irdial , 1:19 AM Þ 
Monday, August 30, 2004

How did the Party of Lincoln and Liberty transmogrify into the party of Newt Gingrich?s evil spawn and their Etch-A-Sketch president, a dull and rigid man, whose philosophy is a jumble of badly sutured body parts trying to walk? [...]

Dante said that the hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who in time of crisis remain neutral, so I have spoken my piece, and thank you, dear reader. It?s a beautiful world, rain or shine, and there is more to life than winning. [...]

http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/979
posted by Irdial , 11:41 PM Þ 



This image looks like something from a comic book; FOXNEWS, an evil force from another planet, led by MURDOCH is scheming to turn the people of the planet Earth against themselves, and has employed "NYCPOLICE" to survey the ensuing doom.

It would be nice to find the identical image from some comic, or anime... you know it exists!
posted by telle goode , 3:17 PM Þ 
posted by Alison , 2:52 PM Þ 

RAND()%INFO:
------| rand()% is an internet radio station streaming generative music.

------| it is a host for computer driven / user defined audio programming that is entirely automated, where every programme is composed in real-time by computer.

RAND()%LISTEN:
http://62.169.138.240:8000/listen.pls

All audio is generated on demand by a unique series of artist / musician developed programs.

swac'd from here:

http://www.poorlycontrolled.net/blog/index.php?p=111

posted by Irdial , 12:39 PM Þ 

Justice Department Censors Supreme Court Quote

Offers Smoking Gun Proof That Document Redactions Are Often a Joke



>>> Anybody who has read many official documents?including those making headlines in the last year or more?has seen plenty of redactions (those portions that are blacked out or otherwise made unreadable). This, we're told, is for legitimate reasons, such as "national security" or "protecting intelligence sources and methods." But now we have absolute, incontrovertible proof that the government also censors completely innocuous material simply because they don't like it. [...]


http://www.thememoryhole.org/feds/justice_redaction.htm

---------------------

Whitehall split on fees to access files

David Hencke, Westminster correspondent
Tuesday August 24, 2004
The Guardian


Plans to charge up to 600 for government documents obtained under the "right to know" laws from next January have split Whitehall, according to official papers released at the weekend.

Officials cannot agree on the rates, with the result that the government may have difficulty getting regulations approved by parliament in time to levy the charges. Meetings held as recently as August 3 have failed to agree which scheme should be put before ministers in October. [...]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,,1289319,00.html

The latter way is more clever; you can have whatever you want, but you have to pay for it. This means only newspapers have access, and that means that no one has access.


posted by Irdial , 11:55 AM Þ 



To stop cowboy cloners claiming their work on human reproductive cloning is acceptable... a UN convention must be passed that all countries are willing to endorse

posted by Irdial , 3:31 AM Þ 




"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."

President Dwight D. Eisenhower
April 16, 1953
posted by Irdial , 2:43 AM Þ 

Protesting, Schmotesting... check out:



...in certain very hardened cases, character-armoring is too deep and rigidified, and at the merest threat of its breakdown, the individual reacts with fascist extremism and anal hysteria. These people?s pathology is perhaps beyond therapeutic intervention, and we recognize the possibility that our September 2nd Orgone operations may push them into schizophrenic sensory overload. Although the BOP Collective regrets the potential danger our operations poses to these sick individuals, we feel that the planetary emergency warrants our action. For men like Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Ashcroft, permanent institutionalization may be the only answer. Other far-right Republicans with less distorted character structures can perhaps, over time, be rehabilitated.

We expect our Orgone operations to climax at between 9 and 10 P.M., as George W. Bush mounts the podium...
posted by telle goode , 2:28 AM Þ 
Sunday, August 29, 2004



This is such a cool thing:

http://bikesagainstbush.com/

You go to his website, put some text in a field.
That text is sent to him on his bike.
The bike prints your text on the streets of New York.

And of course, the creator of this...

has been arrested.

Video of the incident is available as a torrent at DV Guide.
posted by Irdial , 9:37 PM Þ 
posted by Alison , 8:23 PM Þ 

Live radio coverage of the demonstrations:
http://www.screwmusicforever.com/free103/freemenu.html

Streaming webcams from N.Y.C. :
http://nyctmc.org/xmanhattan.asp
posted by Irdial , 3:40 PM Þ 

Hackney Library CD collection is ace. This week:

John Cale; Sun Blindness Music
Grimethorpe Colliery Band; Classic Brass
Salif Keito; Soro
Ladysmith Black Mambazo; Shaka Zulu
This Heat; Deceit
Philip Jeck; Stoke
Muslim Gauze; Suns of Arqa mixes
Tori Amos; Strange Little Girls
Folksongs of the Louisians Acadians
posted by Alun , 1:11 PM Þ 

I have 3 spare gmail invites:

use my pgp key or common sense to get the address

subject 'gmail invite' and the name of a tree.
posted by meau meau , 12:09 PM Þ 

On August 31st,

We will turn the streets of NYC into stages of resistance and forums for debate. We are calling for actions focusing on Republican events throughout the day. We are asking all New Yorkers to join us in the streets on this day. If you don't want to risk the streets, we ask that you at least participate from the sidewalks.

  • 4pm: A wave of actions will occur around the buildings of war profiteers, Republican donors and the corporations that have hijacked our air, water, land, pensions and voice. Check out "Participating Groups" for some of the listed options. Or, on August 31st, go to the stairs on the Southside of Union Square Park where people can give you directions to the action.
  • 6pm: New Yorkers and our friends from out of town will gather in Madison Square Park (23rd St. and Broadway) and on the steps of the New York Public Library (42nd St. and 5th Ave.)
  • 7pm: We will converge on Madison Square Garden. Inside the Garden, the Republicans are holding a dog and pony show, fueled by corporate dollars. Outside, where the barricades end, real democracy begins. Where ever these barricades end, we will create "free speech zones." These will be places where we can express our outrage, where we can create the kind of world we want to see through music and free food and dancing and debate. We will not be asking for permits to create these zones. If we are asked to move, we will sit down and refuse.
[...]

http://www.a31.org/

This will achieve nothing, and you will be ground into dust.
That dust will be swept up and thrown into the garbage, and the motes that are left will be washed into the sewers.

A31 breaks all the rules:
  • No clear goal.
  • No coherent plan.
  • Overly complicated diatribes.
  • Not network based.
  • Time limited.
posted by Irdial , 11:52 AM Þ 

The image ?http://images.indymedia.org/imc/nyc/image/5/large/Critmasscops.jpg? cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.


I was listening to the whole thing, live, on Internet radio. The pigs clearly committed unprovoked -- often brutal -- attax on the riders.

Clearly their main intent is to intimidate people from showing up for Sunday's march -- making their assault on the Critical Mass ride a clearly political and criminal act (besides being about their usual glee at 'legally' being able to assault people they don't like, and their incredibly obscene and wholly criminal intent to use these arrests and criminal assaults as a *test* of their system before Sunday and beyond).

I was less than impressed by the lack of appropriate response of all the laid-back and too-cool people. All the usual "whenever" lack of thinking things out and planning (no matter all the actual planning on the ground). What, me worry..? Even people organizing for support in the middle of the night is really too little too late, no matter the hard work of some (not enuff) people.

These remarks are certain to twist noses. So what. The entire anti-RNC is being mismanaged (this is already apparent), no matter how many months of "planning" have been undertaken, no matter the few groups that are probabky doing a great job.

Good intentions are no substitute for proper strategy. Ever. And this goes for the anti-capitalist movement as a whole, since I'm bringing that subject up.

This first calculating assault by the pigs on the citizenry, in advance of the RNC, is an OUTRAGE -- and the pigs should be racked and pilloried in the courts and the responsible media by all those phalanxes of lawyers who've organized for just such eventualities as this. It is a provocation and it must not go unanswered. That will only encourage the fascists to take the next step and commit the next, more brutal affront to U.S. democracy. [...]

A comment from the blog post below.

Planning is an absolute must, but before planning must come the setting of a goal. Without a clearly defined and achievable goal, all of the planning in the universe is for naught. The Stop War brigade are brilliant planners, but they have no goals. They fail it.

But you know this. All of this.

And you already know what demonstrations do. Exactly nothing. New York City, which now has edge to edge wireless networking, SMS, and everything else, is a perfect field for a networked display of power.

Imagine it; for the duration of the convention, no one on the streets. No economic activity. No shopping. No commuters. No taxis. No waiters. No shops. Nothing. The goal; test mass economic refusal as a means to control policy.

The sign that this would give, not only to the USA but to the entire world; New York City, turned into a ghost town would be extraordinary. The organizers who could pull this off would instantly become more powerful than they could possibly imagine.

Which is the problem.
posted by Irdial , 11:01 AM Þ 

Just what you would expect in a police state:

Resisting the Bush Agenda in the Streets...

Jed Brandt has written a must-read commentary on this week of protest examining police tactics, direct action protest and the importance of the resitance movement. The entire article is online here at the NYC Indymedia site. Here is an excerpt:

"After the unprovoked mass arrests at the Critical Mass bike ride on Friday, August 27, we can expect police to use a pattern of a) attempted containment, b) surge, c) demonstrative violence, and d) mass arrest. We can expect liberals to fear the popular outrage at the war, Bush's contempt for democratic rights and the NYPD's suppression of legitimate and non-violent protest.

We are winning. The city is coming out. Energy is on the trains and in the streets. It's unprecedented....

A popular resistance to the war and domestic repression will energize tens of millions alienated from any political action, and will let people under threat of American cruise missiles and F-16s know that we do not consent. We are not "good Germans" doing the leaders' business. We are a free people whether the government gives us permission or not. If we have to choose between the warmongers and the world: we choose the world. Our audience is small town America, the city we live in and the rest of the world. The conservatives are a tiny minority and the liberals defeated. We believe another world is possible and we're going to show it tomorrow. We will not allow police to suppress the will of the people. We are marching and the world will know. With their help, we can win."

August 28, 2004 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Parolees Ordered To Stay Out Of Manhattan During RNC

From City Limits: "A Bronx parolee planning to protest the Republican convention got a rude shock this week when he was warned to avoid not only the march, but Manhattan entirely. The parolee?s trouble began Wednesday, at a scheduled meeting with his parole officer in the Bronx. When he asked about protesting, the officer pulled out a notice, typed on New York State Division of Parole letterhead, and ordered him to sign. The document advises parolees not to enter Manhattan from August 30 to September 3, unless they have a verified job there. Those employed in the borough are barred from the ?Red Zone? of 26th to 35th Streets, 6th to 9th Avenues during the same dates. 'Failure to abide by the above Special Condition will result in a violation of your parole without exception,' it states. The New York Civil Liberties Union was quick to blast the Division of Parole. 'The arrival of the Republican National Convention should not be used as a pretext to strip parolees of their rights,' said executive director Donna Lieberman. More

August 28, 2004 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (1)

Over 5,000 Bike in Critical Mass; 260+ Arrested

In the first major protest connected to the Republican National Convention, between 5,000 and 10,000 bikers took to the streets Friday in the largest Crtical Mass bike ride in city history. As bikers left the starting point at Union Square, police distributed flyers warning of arrests. After a relatively quiet first hour, police swarmed in making mass arrests in three areas: near Madison Square Garden, just south of 14th Street and on Second Avenue near St. Mark's Church. The Village Voice reports at least 264 arrests were made. For extensive coverage of the ride including photos and video visit NYC Indymedia.

August 27, 2004 | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

[...]

all from the rcnwatch blog

posted by Irdial , 10:38 AM Þ 
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