August 21, 2003
Earthstation 5 to MPAA: This is war!
Earthstation 5 issued a defiant statement in response to an MPAA email today demanding that the site, based in the Palestinian refugee camp of Jenin, cease streaming first-run movies over the internet for free. Sayeth Earthstation 5 spokesperson Ras Kabir:
This is our official response! Earthstation 5 is at war with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Record Association of America (RIAA), and to make our point very clear that their governing laws and policys have absolutely no meaning to us here in Palestine, we will continue to add even more movies for FREE.
You've got to admire their forthcomingness.
Time to send in the Marines?
Jennifer Martinez said:
Their statement mentions free sex movies. Um, don't they follow that islam religion? Wouldn't that be considered "bad?" I mean, their women must be covered from head to toe, I would think that sex movies would be against whatever it is they believe in.
Jennifer Martinez sends
Bowling for Columbine
Just saw Bowling for Columbine on DVD (with a 4-year-old, we don't get out much at night). Sure, it's overwrought, didactic and preachy on the subject of gun violence -- and I'm even on Michael Moore's side -- but its message is so simple and straightforward that it's hard to fathom why it kicked up such controversy. And you just have to love the good-natured Canadians who come off looking so much better than these gun-toting American wack jobs.
Time to give up on copyright law?
Ed Quillen in the Denver Post: "Although I own hundreds of copyrights, I'm beginning to think that society would be best served if copyright laws were repealed."
Joe said:
he probably has created more than hundreds of original creations in his life... be they doodles, etc. ... "owning" copyright?
A free virus scan
Alan from the pho list offers this tidbit for those who think they might have a virus or those who want to make sure their antivirus software is working:
http://www.pandasoftware.com/activelink
This will scan and repair your system for free.
Playing with MT archives
As you might have noticed, I'm playing with the archiving feature of MovableType. The documentation with MT is quite extensive, but it's also quite dense, and I don't understand a lot of it.
For example, can you archive your items by both date and by category? I haven't a clue. Thus, my category links at the right don't work. I'll dive into the MT message boards to see if I can get some answers.
hupp said:
JD,
I posted a reply to the MT forum but thought I'd drop by here to leave my email address, if you want to email me about this.
It distracts me from my own MT problems.
Cheers,
Damien Newman
Alex said:
These may be dumb questions, but:
Do all of your posts have categories assigned?
Have you rebuilt all?
I ask because it appears that the Blogging category archive is fine, perhaps because these have been your most recent posts.
A showcase for interactive journalism
Updated: A new site, Interactive Narratives, seeks to become a portal for the best interactive journalism on the Web, founded by Andrew DeVigal, professor of journalism at San Francisco State University. dotJournalism has the story.
Thanks to IWantMedia for the pointer.
Backpack journalism and moblogs
Speaking of Steve Outing, he has an interesting item in today's E-Media Tidbits:
Via Picturephoning.com, today I learned about the latest "moblog" (mobile weblog) service, mlogs. This one is nice, in that you can create your own weblog and use your mobile photo phone not only to send pictures from anywhere and have them post immediately to the web, but you also can use the phone to send in a text message or record a voice clip that attaches to an online photo. Nice.What I wonder (and I wonder about this frequently) is why the majority of news organizations don't pick up on innovative ideas like this sooner. I'll bet that in a year, journalists will be doing plenty of moblogging. But where are the audio-enhanced news moblogs (and I don't mean personal stuff) done by professional journalists? Hey, reporters and editors: You can create some great content with this new technology. There are thousands of possibilities, but here's one to get your minds around this concept: A sports reporter covering a golf tournament carrying a photo cell-phone snaps pictures while walking the course, sending them in along with a voice explanation of each photo. This rolling, live-coverage weblog would be a dynamite piece of content for a sport-news site. Why, I have to ask, is this sort of innovation left primarily to the hobbyists? Why don't more professional journalists jump on this idea now instead of waiting till the trend is old news?
I'm not so sure that we'll see lots of journalists moblogging a year from now -- never underestimate the power of inertia in the newspaper industry -- though a few enterprising early adopters will no doubt break from the pack and begin experimenting. This packs the idea of backpack journalism into one little device.
Denver Post launches four blogs
DenverPost.com has plunged into blogging with four new blogs from unconventional sources, including a frequent caller to radio shows, Lou from Littleton, who hasn't quite grasped the blog format yet. Thanks to Steve Outing for the pointer.
A price too high
Bob Herbert in today's NY Times:
How long is it going to take for us to recognize that the war we so foolishly started in Iraq is a fiasco ó tragic, deeply dehumanizing and ultimately unwinnable? How much time and how much money and how many wasted lives is it going to take?At the United Nations yesterday, grieving diplomats spoke bitterly, but not for attribution, about the U.S.-led invasion and occupation. They said it has not only resulted in the violent deaths of close and highly respected colleagues, but has also galvanized the most radical elements of Islam.
"This is a dream for the jihad," said one high-ranking U.N. official. "The resistance will only grow. The American occupation is now the focal point, drawing people from all over Islam into an eye-to-eye confrontation with the hated Americans.
"It is very propitious for the terrorists," he said. "The U.S. is now on the soil of an Arab country, a Muslim country, where the terrorists have all the advantages. They are fighting in a terrain which they know and the U.S. does not know, with cultural images the U.S. does not understand, and with a language the American soldiers do not speak. The troops can't even read the street signs." ...
I don't agree with everything Herbert writes, but I agree with his bottom line: That this war has galvanized Islamic extremists against us and will ultimately prove counterproductive. In the war against terrorism, President Bush and the neocons in charge of our foreign policy have misled us with a magic-show act of deception and distraction.
Given that we're in Iraq for the foreseeable future, perhaps Herbert and others might begin discussion of an exit strategy, beginning with greater international involvement.
Uncle Bob said:
Actually, Herbert *did* begin talking about an exit strategy, in this very same column:
"Beefing up the American occupation is not the answer to the problem. The American occupation is the problem. The occupation is perceived by ordinary Iraqis as a confrontation and a humiliation, and by terrorists and other bad actors as an opportunity to be gleefully exploited.
"The U.S. cannot bully its way to victory in Iraq. It needs allies, and it needs a plan. As quickly as possible, we should turn the country over to a genuine international coalition, headed by the U.N. and supported in good faith by the U.S."
Also this morning, I read in the Times where Bush had Colin Powell push for a U.N. resolution through which we sort of reach out for help from the rest of the world in policing and securing Iraq.
One big catch is that, as usual, the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld coalition insists on being in charge of any troops other countries send. I think that's a mistake. B/C/R need to swallow their considerable pride and turn it over to the U.N. - it's that or we'll be pumping our gross national product into military tinkertoys for use in Iraq for the next decade.
Life in Iraq slowly inches forward
Fascinating reading these days at Where Is Raed? Salam Pax writes today:
After the last article I wrote in the Guardian I was wondering whether I should stop whining. the problem is that people want to read that things are getting better and we are happy, but things are getting better in such a slow pace that it is almost imperceptible, and with the one step we move forward on one front we move back 3 steps on other fronts. People need to know that their kids and loved ones are here for a good reason and this is what they want to hear. Otherwise they send me emails saying that I am being part of the problem. They send me emails telling me that I should help the Americans capture the terrorists and Baathists, as if they walk around in the streets wearing signs. Maybe we Iraqis did expect too much from the American invasion, we did hope there is going to be an easy way. Get rid of Saddam and have the Americans help us rebuild. I don't think like that anymore. I am starting to believe that the chaos we will go thru the next 5 or 10 years is part of the price we will *have* to pay to have our freedom. This Beirut-ification is the way to learn how we should live as a free country and respect each other; it is just too painful to admit. It is too painful to have to admit that the [burn it down to build it up] process is what we will have to go thru. ...
Sad news
Doc's mother passed away yesterday. Here are some pages Doc and his siblings put together for their mom.
Our thoughts are with you, Doc, in this difficult time.
Just registered lasica.us
I just spent five minutes at GoDaddy.com registering the domain name lasica.us (lasica.com was taken, by someone not related to us, several years ago; thus, i use jdlasica.com). The registration process was smooth 'n' easy, though the come-ons for unneeded extras were a bit much. Paid a total of $24.75 for five years.
Some day, I'll get some time and move the family tree over there.
Students warned of P2P illegalities
UC Berkeley Press Release: Students warned of copyright issues, possible subpoenas, as file sharing enforcement increases.
Playing chess on the Web
I used to be quite the chess freak. Started playing at age 12, and within a year I was beating my eighth-grade teacher. I've still got a dog-eared copy of Chess Openings, a 300-page tome that I still pull out every other year or so. Alas, my brother and close friends who were fellow chess nuts no longer live close by, so I'm in a chess wilderness these days.
If I want to get back on the wagon, though, the Internet beckons. Today's NY Times carries an article, Tools to Dress Up The Web Browser, that dissects all things chess. Because it will disappear behind a firewall in a week, I'll pluck out the noteworthy links here:
Playing chess on the Web:
• the Chess Rally site (you must own the software)
• the Internet Chess club costs about $49 a year to join, although you can play as a guest or get a free trial membership
• uschess.org (the Web home of the United States Chess Federation)
• the Microsoft Network gaming site
Shopping for chess items:
Chesstopia.com, thechessstore.com, chess-shops.com, chessforum.com, chessexpress.com, chesscafe.com and houseofstaunton.com.
Taka said:
I love itsyourturn.com. It's not just for chess but the good thing is you don't have to be online at the same time to play with someone. So you can just make your moves when it's convenient. Could be good for playing with your brother :-)
Taka said:
BTW, I also wrote a plugin for the Awasu RSS reader that monitors my account and converts it into an RSS feed. So when it's my turn to play, I get a notification balloon pop up to let me know. How cool is that?!
These days, I *live* in my aggregator :-)
JD Lasica said:
A fascinating place to live these days. Thanks for the postings.
Alabama justices defy their chief
There is intelligent life in Alabama, after all: Alabama Justices Order Ten Commandments Monument Removed.
But I have a hunch Chief Justice Roy Moore will go far in Alabama politics.
More search engine tricks
From the Circuits section of today's NY Times:
Fishing for Information? Try Better Bait. As the Web gets larger and more complicated, it can help to know a few not-so-obvious tricks to mine even richer results from search engines. (My friends Gary Price and Danny Sullivan get singled out.)
Tools to Dress Up The Web Browser: toolbars, bookmarklets and more.
A good reminder that there is life beyond Google.
