Racism OK If Your Not White

The end of Don Imus' career is now official. For the Rutgers women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos" on the air last week, Don Imus has lost his decades long radio and television career. The politicians Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson led the charge to remove the man, actions that seem contrary to so-called men of the cloth. They seem to thrive on destruction and do little build bridges. Forgiveness does not seem to be part of their vocabulary. Reverends my ass.

Personally I could care less about Imus. What little I gathered about him, I probably wouldn't like him and I would disagree with his politics. Its the double-standards that annoy me. Its seems that the rules are thus: Anyone but whites can use racist remarks. If a black man had made those comments there would not have been this noise. No one would have been destroyed, no one would have even talked about it. Because a white man did it though, the shit thus hits the fans, mostly fanned by a mindless media and the hatred of Sharpton and Jackson. There is much hate in those two men, but then they are really just greedy politicians, not reverends.

Racists comments should be unacceptable. Period. No exceptions. White, black, green, or blue, doesn't matter. If the words are disliked coming from a white man, they should be disliked coming from anyone else. But that is not the case. As the blogs, comments elsewhere have shown, the fundamental truth is racism and racist comments are fine as long as its not from white people. That is the lesson for the next generation. Are you white? No, then you can be racist. Its ok then.

I am for fairness. If the above statements are not true, then Isiah Washington needs to be removed from television and movies. He too said racists comments, he too should lose his livelihood. Its only fair.

But really everyone should just admit a fundamental fact, quit dancing around it. The truth shall set you free.

Racism is fine as long as its not from a white man.

White House Deleted Five Million Emails

In a story that is currently just on the blogosphere and not in mainstream press, it appears there are reports that over a two year period, more then five million White House emails have been deleted, counter to a policy to maintain that information via the Presidential Records Act.

The policy to delete emails apparently came from Karl Rove who used his Republican National Committe blackberry and e-mail accounts to conduct White House business. The RNC usually only kept email for 30 days, fairly standard for most businesses. Considering at the time Karl Rove worked for the White House though, therefore the American public, those emails where not his to delete. It could be argued he was doing RNC business, since thats what the White House is all about. America is secondary to that, but still White House business should have been retained.

According to the Washington Post, "In an afternoon conference call with reporters, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel spread the blame all around. "White House policy did not give clear enough guidance," he said. "The oversight of that wasn't aggressive enough." And individual White House staffers "did not do a good enough job of following existing preservation policy -- or seeking guidance."

Karl Rove wasn't aware? Please. The man knew it and circumvented the policy intentionally and it sounds like he encourages his White House co-workers to follow the same policy. The supposed confusion policy is ""Federal law requires the preservation of electronic communications sent or received by White House staff". Seems pretty cut and dry to me. An additional aspect of the policy ""commercial or free e-mail sites and chat rooms are blocked from the EOP network to help staff members ensure compliance and to prevent the circumvention of the records management requirements." This would be why Rove performed his correspondence on the blackberry. He was clearly and intenitionally violating the Records Act.

While I doubt nothing will come of this, its further proof of the King Bush White House and the belief that they are above the law.

Full details are here.

The End For Imus?

MSNBC has dropped Don Imus today, just hours after several advertisers have dropped out of his show. Imus is under fire for racial slurs against the Rudgers' Women's Basketball team.

I have noticed in the "discussion" of this issue, nothing is said about the double standards of the apparent no-no words. To me, if the words are not to be said, NO ONE should be allowed to say them including African Americans. If its not allowed there should be no exceptions. So the next time I hear the N-Word in a rap song, I want to see the same media attention and Al Sharpton condemning it. Of course Al is just a politician and he is fanning the flames because it helps make that mansion payment. To bad the sheep....er mean the public keeps playing along with these tactics rather then calling for real progress.

Is Al Sharpton, so-called Reverend (in title but rarely in action), really the person to lead this so-called great injustice? Other then his political motivations, he has his own programs which this fiasco helps to promote and of course his very rich lifestyle to maintain. Then there is his apparent inability to practice the actual teachings of his religion, you know the whole "forgive" thing. I guess the opportunity of green is more important.

Ironically, when the dust settles, if Imus rides the waves correctly, he will have higher ratings then ever as the curious listen in to him to see if he makes another mistake. In the effort to condemn him, its looks like the two that should benefit the least from this media manufactured controversy (Al Sharpton and Imus) will be the ones to benefit the most. Good job to the sheep of the country.

Menu Foods CFO Sold Stock Before Recall

The AP is reporting that 3 weeks before the tainted pet food recall by Menu Foods, CFO Mark Wiens sold half of his shares of the company stock. The kicker is this, Menu Foods had already admitted they knew about the tainted food 3 weeks before the news became public. It begs the usual what did he know and when question becomes that time frame then becomes very very tight. Did he know and sell his stock, then the public announcement? Its possible that it was just bizarre timing, a possibility considering the money being talked about is relatively minor, 14000 shares for $89,900 then vs a market value of $54,000 now. Of course Martha Stewart was jailed for less. Either way, in a company whose behavior of late has stunk to high hell, you have to wonder. They already took actions and shortcuts with unknown Chinese suppliers to help defray costs (and help with the year end bonuses), what other decisions have been made lately to continue to pad the pockets of a few?

Birkhead is Anna's Baby's Dad

Its scientifically official, Larry Birkhead is the dad. The world can now move on to less important things. The gamble by Howard Stern to get rich just went boom in his face, I guess it never occurred to him that Anna Nicole Smith might cheat on him.

Of course as Birkhead's "I told you so" followed by much media hobnobbing makes me think is less celebrating fatherhood and more celebrating lottery win since he gains control of Dannielynn's inherited muli-million dollar inheritance. Personally my focus would shift to my daughter and I wouldn't let her out of my sight for a while. At least for the much video footage shown on CNN, Fox News, etc he doesn't seem to be the least bit focused on dad hood and the responsibilities that come with it. Why would he, the lottery ticket came up as a win for him.

CEO Pay Reaches Ridiculous Proportions

Want to know why the strength of American business is falling, why Detroit auto makers fail to make solid decisions, why the Enron's occur, all you have to do is look at executive pay and bonus' system that is prevalent across the American business model.

As a recent report shows, from 1995-2005, CEO pay has gone up 298% compaired to the average worker's going up only 4.3%. That is a tremendous amount of difference. Sure the CEO is technically important to a company but as the recent history has shown, they sure do seem to get replaced as easily as any line worker which makes you wonder just how important they really are. What the graph doesn't show is the impact of bonuses have on pay. Often times the bonuses an exec gets if as high if not higher then their yearly salary.

On top of that, it seems few companies tie performance into pay or bonuses like they do for the line workers. As the Detroit automakers such as Ford have shown, where they set aside around $60 million of capital for exec bonuses while laying off half their workforce, that what they get in pay and bonuses have little to do with actual performance. Fail to do your job, get a bonus. Do you job, get a bonus. Giving those choices, it seems many have chosen just not to their job, why bother since they will get paid either way. The standard seems to be that there is no standard.

On top of that, if a company does decide an exec can't do their job, they pay them millions and millions of dollars to go away. A Home Depot exec was payed $59 million in severance package for 4 months of work. How many salaried employees would that have paid for?

Then their is those companies that do tie bonuses into performance. If the exec wants his muli-million dollar reward, he is going to make choices that make the short term of the company look good at the sacrifice of the long term. An excellent example is Detroit once again. Ford (i think) was ready to enter the Hybrid market about the same time as Toyota. But they decided that profits now with SUVs where more important then profits later. The result is they abandoned an entire car market segment, conceded it to the competition by the simple act of looking at short term goals instead of long term goals. I am betting that when the exec's made that decision, it was over concern that bonus numbers would be met, not what was best for the long term future of the company.

The short of it is, CEO's should be held to the exact same standards that the average employee's are held to with the same rewards for success and the same punishments. A line worker does their job, they get a small bonus that usually represents a small % of the workers overall pay, that should be the same for CEOs. If bonuses are not allowed for workers, then no bonuses for CEOs. If no raises do to economic hardship for a company, no raises for the CEO. Line worker fails to do their job, they get fired without a net and no mulit-million dollar severance package, neither should the CEO, they should get kicked to the curb like anyone else. Its a simple reverse, "I do to myself what I am willing to do unto you" philosophy.

Update:
Here is an example of outrageous pay. Staples CEO gets $10 million bonus on top of his $1,070,192 salary. For simple act of doing his job, he got nearly 10 times his salary. Wouldn't we all like a bonus like that? Wouldn't we all make a lot of difference decisions with that kind of money on the table? If in charge and had to make a choice between a long term benefit to a company but sacrifice such a bonus, or make a short term decision that gives you such a bonus, wouldn't you make the short term decision? CEOs talk in terms of "the shareholders!!" but really its "the bonus!!"

Director of "A Christmas Story" Dead

Director Bob Clark and his 22 year old son Ariel where killed today in a collision on the Pacific Coast Highway. The cause of death was result of a drunk driving hitting them head on. Clark is probably most famous for his 1983 movie he directed "A Christmas Story," a holiday favorite that I grew up enjoying and continues to be a holiday even every year.

News story about it is here.
AICN look back is here.

Fox News Distorts April Fool's Poll

Phoenix Fox 10 News marches in the same beat as its parent channel of Fox Noise, by distorting an April Fool's Poll that asked "Who is the most foolish American?" The announced winner is Britney Spears, complete with footage and quick summary of her recent antics. As the screen grab shows though, the winner, and by alot, is President George Bush at 40%. Note how he is listed last, rather then first as the declared "winner" Britney Spears is located. One could blame that on how the list is compiled, but note the screenshot. Below is a clip, notice towards the end how it sounds like the news anchors caught their on air mistake but decided to push on through without correcting it. Of course they are just reading from a teleprompter so the mistake is less theirs (course they could have corrected it) and more the powers that be that chose to be deceptive.

Bill O'Reilly Lose to Cut Mics

Why o why does anyone bother to come on Bill O'Reilly's show? He only wants one thing from his guests - to ape his opinion. Anything else gets a mic cut, both on his tv show and radio show.

A recent example is with Colonel Ann Wright, a 29 year veteran of the US Army.

WRIGHT: "I want to make sure the United States treats people properly.."

O'REILLY: "Sure you do. Sure you do."

WRIGHT: "I surely do. That's what I spent 29 years of my life trying to do."

O'REILLY: "Sorry. No you didn't. You know what happened to you…somewhere along the line you started to dislike your own country…."

WRIGHT: "I served 29 years. How many did you serve? Where did you teach the Geneva Conventions?"

O'REILLY: "Cut her mic."

I don't know how anyone can be suprised by this. O'Reilly exists to push the Bush administration agenda, no matter what it is. Thats fine, but its the slimeyness that he goes about it. The self rightousness and the complete fabrication of "facts". When presented with an opposing viewpoint or facts that don't support his worldview, he shuts people off. Its his show, he can do that, which returns to the basic quesiton...why bother appearing on his show? Republicans are smart, they only pop up on programs friendly to them. Democrats need to learn to do the same thing, especially if it involves O'Reilly and Fox Noise.

I miss the days where programs where an exchange of opposing ideas rather then a barrage of attacks. The recent Jon Stewart interview of John Bolton is an excellent example of how it should go.

The two questions that should be asked and asked and asked of all pro-war hawks is "What does Iraq have to do with the war on terrorism?" and "How do we know when a victory has been achieved?" I have yet to see an answer to either question beyond the nonsense "to bring freedom". Really, how do you know you have won a war when you can't even define what the criteria are for victory?

EMI Goes DRM Free on iTunes

EMI and Apple announced a deal to sell its music catalog via iTunes DRM free (with higher quality) but for a 30% bump in cost. If you don't care about copy protection the price per song remains at $.99 but if you want to be able to play on other players then the price is $1.29. However, complete album purchases will be the same $10 and will be DRM free. One caveat is some players may not be able to play the ACC formated music.

To bad Apple and EMI didn't choose to also release the DRM free music in the universally excepted MP3 format. The EMI Group includes songs from the Rolling Stones, Norah Jones, Coldplay and many more. Overall, this is a set in the right direction to give consumers control over their own purchases but as Engadget discusses, isn't the begin all and end all.

One thing they have noted is its EMI, not Apple that is leading by example. After all the CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs, is the largest stockholder in Disney. He has the heft the encourage Walt Disney music labels to go DRM free, but so far they are not. Another point they had, and a valid one, is the EMI is stilling selling DRMed music. They are not out of the control business. They just are providing an alternative at a 30% increase. TV/Movies will remain DRMed for the foreseeable future and I don't see RIAA letting up on its war. As pointed out before, even though the music is DRM free, it doesn't mean that suddenly that music can be played on any player you have. Most of the iPod competitors including iRiver, Creative and SanDisk, do not support ACC. To be truly wide open and free, the music should be 256kbs and in the MP3 format.

Still despite these problems, its still a small step in the right direction that if proven to be positive in the only value that matters, money, could cause the other music companies to lessen the stranglehold just a little bit.

Drug Addled Kermit the Frog "Hurt" Video

Final Fantasy History DVD

A nice video is up on Google that covers the entire history of the Final Fantasy franchise.

(source)

Bush Contradictions Continue

Earlier in the week, in attempt to prevent further investigation into the possible political firing of 8 US DAs Bush declared that that Congress should focus on finding the truth and forcing his people to swear an oath to speak the truth is not the way to do that. The contradiction is to get the truth...don't force people to speak the truth.

Now, the House has passed a bill that gives $124 Billion for Iraq and Afghanistan. Included in the bill is expansion of veterans' healthcare funding, force benchmarks to be met, force removal of troops from Iraq by August 2008 and refocus military efforts on terrorism. Bush declared the law "delays the delivery of vital resources for our troop" while also saying he will veto the bill...therefore delaying the delivery of vital resources to the troops.

I wonder if he even understands the words that come out of his mouth. The funny things is Bush held a press conference on this law, to declare he will veto it, even though the chances of the law passing through the Senate is unlikely. I guess he is hoping that if he does "Presidential" stuff like flub through a few press conferences and make contradictory statements, it will help his approval rating.

Should You Buy Apple TV?

The Apple TV has come out and should be in stores soon if it isn't already. For $300.00 you have to pause and decide if its worth the cost or not. The answer to that question depends on just how much you use and buy content from the Apple iTunes store or how much you are willing to spend hours and hours converting your existing files to a m4v codex that Apple TV will play. If you have lots of iTunes contents or are willing, then yes, its probably worth it. If you are like me and barely use the iTunes store and most of your videos are in lots of different formats then the answer is no because Apple TV will not play them.

Really the answer to "should I buy Apple TV?" is the same answer to "Am I willing to spend lots of money on iTunes Store content?". So there you go, a quick reason to decide to spend the money or not. Considering Apple's history with the iPod video, the limitation in Apple TV to only play certain non-common codex's is unlikely to change anytime soon. On the bright side, hackers will probably eventually come up with easy methods to override this problem. Until then though, just wait. Wait until Apple TV 2.0 or 3.0 and wait until it becomes something that can truly play any video you want to play and not just a limited few. Force a company, not even Apple, to release a real solution to getting content from computer to TV easily that doesn't come with a bunch of rules. The only way to do that is refuse to buy these half-assed solutions.

Various links for info:
Gizmondo Review
iLounge's Top 10 Reason to Not Get Apple TV
Apple TV FAQ
C-Net Apple TV Linkfest

Bush: "loyal Bushies" Will Not Testify Under Oath

President Bush held a press conference today to announce that he is unwilling to allow his "loyal Bushies" Karl Rove and Harriet Miers testify under oath or in public due to executive privilege. What he failed to mention is why the politics of firing US Attorneys would fall under this category.

Really though this decision on the President indicates many things. One, it seems he still fails to recognize that Republicans no longer control Congress. That means number of "yes-men" under his control has taken a dramatic nosedive. The legislative branch simply no longer beats to his drum. This failure to recognize this now brings up an issue for the Congress: will they take his shit or fight back. This is an opportunity for the Democrats to show they are not quite the wimps everyone believes them to be.

The second thing this indicates is there are secrets to hide. There is no reason to testify before Congress and not swear under oath unless planning to tell lies and hide information and want to avoid the consequences. There is also no reason to hide this kind of decision making from the public...unless you don't feel the public deserves the truth.

A final reality of the situation is apparently the Bush Administration values loyalty over competence, even worse it values loyalty to Bush over loyalty to America. Its not supposed to be that way. While people "serve at the pleasure of the President", the President is supposed to make sure that service is for the benefit of the American people, not himself. These and many decisions over the last few years just highlights the fact that apparently Bush is all that is important, the American people can simply go to hell.

For all intents and purposes, Bush is not only putting up a middle finger to the Congress but the American electorate as well. Hopefully Congress will take up the challenge thrown down by Bush and fight back. Hopefully the Democrats will learn the lesson of the last 6 years, that non-interference, that simply doing and saying nothing is not the answer.

4th Year Anniversary of Iraqi War

Today Bush "celebrated" the 4th anniversary of the war that was only supposed to last 6 months at most, be paid for Iraqi oil, and have us greeted as liberators. He now asks for patience as a withdrawal would be devastating for the US. Considering quite literally NONE of his predictions have come true, at this point he sounds more like he is seeing his historical legacy going up in smoke and is doing everything he can to hang on to it. Sigh, lets just hope this is the last anniversary of this unnecessary, goal less, poorly planned, executed and violent war.

Gonzalez's Own Performance Review

Click here for an amusing animation video that has Alberto Gonzalez providing his self performance review, explaining why he is so valuable to the Bush Administration.
(source)

3-Way Tie On Jeopardy

Jeopardy had its first ever 3-way tie, with all 3 contestants scoring $16,000 after Final Jeopardy. As a result of the tie, all 3 got to keep their winnings and go head to head to head again (airing Monday).

12 Ways to Boycott the RIAA

The RIAA continues its heavy handed tactics against its own customers. Being the customers our only response is to simply quick giving them money that allows them to treat us in such a shitty matter. However, we still want to get new music, so go read "12 Ways to Boycott the RIAA" that gives ideas on how to get your music without rewarding the RIAA.

TDS Gonzales Summary

As always, the Daily Show once again provide a concise, factual but humorous summary of a current political FUBAR. In this case the Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' firing of 8 ADs for not showing proper loyalty to Bush. Apparently the law and just doing your job is secondary to making sure the diety is pleased. Also amusing is how effectivily they edited together Gonzales' interview with about 8 different news shows and his talking point use of "serve at the pleasure of the President" statement.

The video can be found here.

Confessions From Various Sales Reps

The Consumerist has posted more confessions that cover various tips and ideas from sales reps and managers on how to get the best deals for cell phones and other wireless packages. The one tip that I liked most...wait until the last five days of the month to go cell phone / plan shopping. The end of the month stats are due and you might get a good deal so the store can meet quota.

Confessions of...

Walter Reed Scandal = Lots of Resignations

The Walter Reed Scandal continues to cut through the ranks as more generals are forced to resign. Lt. General Kevin Kiley is the most recent as he announced his retirement as Army Surgeon General. This is after Major General George W. Weightman was removed. He was replaced by General Eric Schoomaker who has made it clear he doesn't see what the problem is and was charge of the facility from 2000 to 2004. Oh and the person that had put the now retired Kiley in the position, Secretary of the Army Francis Harvey also has resigned. Major General Gale Pollock will take over the postion temporarily. I have no real idea, but it seems like the entire chain of command for the medical corp of the Army has no resigned at least once.

The President, of course, continues to try to dodge this whole fiasco, basically saying its the Pentagon's problem and doesn't have anything to do with him. The president, being the commander in chief of the army, the great decider, has decided he is responsible for nothing. He, who has used Walter Reed as photo-ops, knows nothing and did nothing. Ah the great leadership that is Bush. George "Support Our Troops" Bush, the great leader...at least until the shit hits the fan and then he is point fingers everywhere. Now if only there was a way to force his resignation...

I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby Guilty

The jury of the perjury trial of Scooter Libby returned a guilty verdict on 4 of the five indictments. The 56 ex-chief of staff and national security advisor could face up to 30 years in prison and fine of $1.25 million. However, the judge has plenty of leeway and it wouldn't surprise me if he at most gets a slap on the wrist. Telling is the jury members indicating that while they feel he was guilty, they felt he was operating under marching orders from Vice-President Cheney.

Even after sentencing this case will probably spend the next few months being contested by the defense attorney up to the probably pardon that Bush will provide at the end of the Presidency. Something that Democrats are asking Bush not to do but really its a decision that they have no say in. More then likely Scooter has a nice cushy job waiting for him after he does his year or so for taking one for the team.

Now if someone would only investigate all the disappearing war money, Haliburton and the so-called "evidence" that got us in the Iraq war to begin with.

Speed Painting Scarlett Johansson

A digital tablet, Photoshop, crap load of skill and you get Scarlett Johansson. Music is "Adagio for strings" by DJ Tiesto.

RIAA Boycott: Out To Destroy Webcasts

The RIAA struck again over the weekend, helping push a new royalty rate that is retroactive to January 2006 that requires webcasters to pay a fee for RIAA protected music. The fee of course is moronic in scope and goes up in double-digits each year.

TechDirt.com has the details:

RIAA Pushes Through Internet Radio Royalty Rates Designed To Kill Webcasts

It's been quite some time since we last heard about arguments between internet webcasters and SoundExchange (a group spun off from the RIAA to handle royalty collection). Back in the summer of 2003, there was even a lawsuit over the royalties being set, that were pretty clearly designed to put smaller, independent webcasters out of business. From the RIAA's point of view, this is perfectly typical. They still view the world (especially the internet) as a broadcast medium. Therefore, they want at small number of "professional" content producers who create the content for everyone else. Then they can just sign a few ridiculously large licenses with those large players, and "the people" get to consume it. It's a fundamental misunderstanding of the internet as a communications medium -- a medium where people express themselves back and forth to each other, rather than a place we go sit back and "consume." While the fight had gotten quiet lately, the good old RIAA was hard at work making sure that things were happening in the background. A bunch of folks submitted stories this weekend noting that late Friday (making it less likely to make news), the Copyright Royalty Board announced that it was adopting the royalty rates SoundExchange put forth, and making them effective retroactively to the beginning of 2006 -- meaning that many small independent webcasters are now facing a tremendous royalty bill they're unlikely to be able to afford (thanks to everyone who sent this in).

That last link goes through the impact of all of this on various players -- and it's not pretty. The new rates pretty much decimate a large portion of the industry. And, it's only going to get worse, as the royalty rates increase at incredible rates ("2007's rate is a 37.5% increase over 2006; 2008 and 2009's annual increases are about 28% per year; and 2010 adds another 5.5% increase.") Of course, this is utterly backwards and damaging to the industry itself. A webcaster (especially the smaller, independent ones) is a great means of promotion for artists. It tends to attract more loyal and well-targeted audiences, who are more likely to want to later go out and buy a CD, a t-shirt or attend a concert. It lets the industry better promote material from a wider range of artists. However, in the industry's desperate need to charge for every single use, they're effectively killing off yet another wonderful promotional vehicle. The industry continues to think that it needs to do this because it wants to own all distribution and promotional avenues in order to be able to continue to take its large cut. However, that's no reason for the Copyright Royalty Board to put in place these artificial barriers that only serve to protect the recording industry's outdated understanding of its own business model.

Ann Coulter Drops the F-Bomb!

In what can only be called a crime against humanity, Ann Coulter dropped the f-bomb at a speech Saturday during an address to the Conservative Political Action Conference where she said "I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate, John Edwards, but it turns out that you have to go into rehab if you use the word 'faggot,' so I'm - so, kind of at an impasse, can't really talk about Edwards, so I think I'll just conclude here and take your questions."

Of course, this isn't the first time that Ann uses gays as a way to bash Democrats. She has done it many many times in the past. She did it on July 27, 2006 when she called All Gore a "total fag".

Nevermind though that she has called for the deaths of judges, seems OK with the idea of killing Bill Clinton, spoke of Muslims as ragheads, and just generally has made her fortune and career on hate. She simply exists to create and spread hate. Everyone knows this, yet her use of the word faggot is what gets spread on the front stories of CNN, USAToday and Fox News (Fox's pro-Ann slant is amusing btw) and probably headline the Sunday political shows. Are you shitting me? This is what finally gets people's attention and even gets flip flop master John "will sell my soul for office" McCain to even comment calling it "wildly inappropriate."

But then again this is a new age, the post Grey's Anatomy Isaiah Washington's use of the word. The f-bomb heard round the world, if you will. Yep, somehow 'faggot' has become the new n-word. Not sure how this happened but since the press has decided to treat it as an evil, so too has the politicians and then the people. If the media calls it bad then it must be.

The dreaded f-bomb. Its no longer the one having to do with sex. Its evil I tell you. Pure unmitigated evil. Can the human race, can American make it to the next day knowing this event has occurred? And what of the children? Those poor children. Think of the children!! Oh the humanity!

Boycott the RIAA In March

Gizmondo.com has decided to declare March as RIAA Boycott Month due to simply being sick and tired of the RIAA's anti-consumer, anti-freedom, anti-free expression, and just anti everything that doesn't feed dollars to mega corporations.

The boycott calls for you to simply stop buying any product that helps fund the mafia outfit of the RIAA. This includes anything produced by Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal, and Sony BMG and any of their subsidiaries. Now before doing the whole "but the artists" bit, just remember that part of the RIAA's functionality is to help screw over the artists and keep as much royalties out of their pockets as they can. Again, remember, the RIAA exists to benefit the corporations and the higher ups bonuses. Giving money, earned or otherwise, to artists would be counter to that goal.

Gizmondo issued an Anti-RIAA Manifesto:

In case you missed it, last Friday we declared the month of March Boycott the RIAA Month. We've gotten sick and tired of always seeing the RIAA pulling deplorable moves and decided it was time for us to do something about it. We're kicking the month off with this, our manifesto. We want to be absolutely clear about what this fight is about and why it's so important. This is an overview of what the RIAA does, why it's damaging, and what we need to do to stop it. Consider this our planted flag.

First off, we want to be clear that this battle won't be over on March 31st. We declared March the Boycott the RIAA month to draw a line in the sand and to make a strong statement, but this is merely the beginning. Everything we're going to lay out here will still be true in April, in May, in June, and in the months that follow. March will be not the entirety of our efforts, but rather a kick off of our organized campaign to make a difference. We'll be posting tips for how to get the word out, ways to support artists without supporting the RIAA, and keeping you updated with everything that's going on throughout the entire month. With your help, we can educate people about how important this issue is and really make a difference.

Who We're Up Against
The RIAA is the industry group that represents the four major record labels — Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal, and Sony BMG — and all of their subsidiaries. They work on behalf of their members, and they have been accused of a wide range of offenses, from price-fixing to stifling innovation. They're able to perpetuate these crimes due to their huge bankroll, but that happens to be the one aspect of their organization we have control over. As consumers, we are the ones who stuff their coffers. By buying albums released by RIAA labels, we're giving them the money they use to sue our peers, stifle innovation, and force DRM down our throats. By cutting off their income stream, we can help make the RIAA less effective and therefore less damaging.

We're huge music fans here at Gizmodo, and that's why it's really hard to advocate not purchasing albums from artists we love. However, what everyone needs to understand is that we are in no means advocating piracy or not supporting musicians. The fact of the matter is, the RIAA's practices do not, in the end, support musicians or put money into their pockets. A fraction of the money from album sales actually makes it to artists, and not a single penny that the RIAA has received from their series of lawsuits has actually made it back to the artists that had their "copyrights infringed" in the first place.

Piracy Lawsuits: Extortion and Privacy Invasion Under the Guise of Copyright Enforcement
The goal of the RIAA's lawsuits is to make people so afraid of being sued that they will stop downloading music. However, in their lawsuits they circumvent the law and extort money from people who haven't been given the benefit of a legal trial.

The process that the RIAA has in place to find and sue plaintiffs is designed not to provide a fair trial and prove guilt, but rather to confuse and intimidate people into settling out of court. What exactly happens is too detailed and lengthy for me to go into here, but Grant Robertson's Layperson's Guide to Filesharing Lawsuits is a must-read for anyone interested in what exactly happened in the 20,000+ lawsuits (so far) the RIAA has brought upon the citizens of this country.

Recently, the RIAA began looking to streamline the entire lawsuit process by cutting courts, lawyers, and any semblance of due process out altogether. Their new plan is to have ISPs point people to p2plawsuits.com (catchy!) and offer to discount their settlement by $1,000 if they pay up without going to court at all. By avoiding the court system, the RIAA can avoid paying those pesky lawyer's fees. Even better for them, they plan to require ISPs to retain all of their customer records for at least 180 days in order to be eligible for the $1,000 discount. This would make everyone's surfing and downloading history available to a non-governmental organization in order to make it easier for them to gather evidence for their intimidation lawsuits.

Smothering Innovation: If You Can't Access the Internet, You Can't Pirate Music
Beyond the harassment, extortion, and privacy invasion that the RIAA commits under the guise of lawsuits, they also stifle innovation by treating any open Internet source as a potential way for people to violate their copyrights. Recently, they filed a "motion for reconsideration" in a suit claiming that anything downloaded via an Internet connection is the responsibility of the owner of said connection. While the RIAA is trying to make it easier for them to get money out of the parents of kids they sue, the precedent that it would set would make it difficult, if not impossible, for open WiFi hotspots to exist. That means that the RIAA would make it impossible for you to connect to the web for free while out in a city that provides Internet access merely because you might use it to download music.

DRM: Pay More, Get Less
Digital Rights Management, or DRM, is the software that makes it so music you buy from the iTunes Music Store can't play on any other player other than the iPod, such as a Zune or Sansa. In an effort to keep people from sharing legally purchased music, DRM actually goes much farther than copyright law dictates, denying paying customers the fair use of the music they buy. You should be able to do what you want with an album once you've paid for it; like a CD or a record, you now own it for life.

However, music wrapped in DRM software cannot be played on devices other than those explicitly tied to the store you brought it from. Furthermore, listening to your music across multiple computers, or moving your music to a new computer when you upgrade, is often a huge headache that ends with you needing to repurchase your songs.

In effect, the RIAA's insistence on strict DRM takes value away from legally purchased music. People have a choice: they can either pirate unrestricted MP3 files that will let them use them however they'd like, or they can pay for files that won't allow them the freedom to listen where and how they choose. It only makes sense that many tech-savvy people choose to download MP3s rather than pay for crippled files. The RIAA wants people to pay for restrictions and like it.

Rescuing Artists From Those Claiming to Support Them
As we're a technology website, we're most in touch with the RIAA's actions in response to music downloading as opposed to their history of poor artist management and unfair retail tactics. However, it's worth noting that issues such as the underpayment of artists and album price-fixing are quite serious and should be considered as good a reason as any to keep your money from going to their pockets. Two articles worth reading to study up on how major labels screw over the artists they claim to represent are Courtney Love's speech to the Digital Hollywood online entertainment conference and The Problem with Music by Steve Albini. Both are written by artists who have first-hand knowledge of just how badly major labels take advantage of musicians, and both are guaranteed to change how you view the music industry.

Out With the Old, In With the New
So what would we like to see happen? First and foremost, we want the lawsuits to stop. Treating normal people like common criminals and using fear tactics and intimidation to extort thousands of dollars from them goes against everything that this country stands for. Secondly, we want them to stop insisting that DRM software be used on all of their music being sold online. People are willing to pay for their music, but they deserve to be able to own that music and use it however they'd like once they purchase it. And lastly, we want the RIAA to stop trying to stifle innovation and control the future of the Internet merely because the possibility exists for piracy to happen using upcoming technologies.

But all these things, in the long run, are temporary solutions to a problem that will eventually end with a permanent solution. The fact of the matter is, the RIAA is becoming more outdated and unnecessary by the day. Their seeming inability to grasp the reality of today's music industry has doomed them, and there will come a time when they will cease to exist.

That's because the era of the major label is over. Why should a new band want to sign with one? They no longer need a $50,000 recording budget; more sophisticated and powerful home recording equipment and software is released every day. Music videos are cheaper to shoot and edit as well due to the lowered costs of cameras and computers. Promoting for radio is increasingly unnecessary, as more and more bands are discovered via blogs rather than through traditional channels. And manufacturing is slowly being erased from the picture altogether, allowing artists to distribute their music online with little overhead costs.

While twenty years ago a band needed a record label to discover them, help them record, help them shoot a video, manufacture and then distribute their album, a resourceful band can do all of those things themselves. Eventually, bands will be able to sell their music online direct to fans with minimal reliance on a record label. The RIAA is teetering on the edge of irrelevance, and it's our job to give it a hearty shove. They can still do a hell of a lot of damage on their way down, and that's what we need to try to stop. Stay tuned. –Adam Frucci

Dow Jones Take A 416 Point Tumble

The Dow Jones took a 416 point tumble, the biggest one day loss since 9/11. The cause seems to be related to various inconsistent economic reports such as a drop in housing prices, but increase in consumer confidence. This despite a recent report that more then 16 million Americans are living below the poverty line. The highest number in US history. Oil is going up, but gold is going down. Then there is a possible recession coming towards end of 2007 according to former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.

Another factor, for reasons I don't understand, is the failed attack on Dick Cheney by a suicide bomber during a visit in Afghanistan. Why this would have an impact isn't explained. Best guess is because Cheney has instrumental in the military spending and funds that are going to multiple military contractors he is friendly with. His death would more then likely hit their bottom lines hard.

Frankly I am surprised it took this long for the Dow to take a hit as the US market is in some odd bubble where the rich and large corporations are benefiting but pretty much everyone else isn't. Considering its the lower and middle class that do the spending that keep the economy engine going, the growth of the Dow Jones hasn't made much sense. The stock market is saying the economy is strong while every other indication is saying there is a problem. Something had to give and it looks like it was the stock market first.

Reading First Program Under Scrutiny

The Reading First program, apart of Bush's No Child Left Behind Act, is under scrutiny for cronyism that benefited the Oregon professors that initially helped Bush create the law and the program. Its been discovered that the consultants used to help in various programs approved for funding were headed by top Bush administration donors. In other words, the consultants where pushing their own products while preventing any other competitors from entering the market.

This shouldn't be a surprise as there is literally no law, no action, that the Bush administration has taken that doesn't benefit his friends in some form or fashion. The Bush admin is the very definition of cronyism. Knowing he and his friends are willing to corrupt the education of our next generation is just further proof that there is nothing he isn't willing to do.

The Education Inspector General report on the Reading First program and also an AJC article regarding this corrupted program.

Quickie Movie Reviews

I have been on a small movie spree these last few weeks so figured will write quick reviews of the movies, on the assumption people know what they are about, just don't know if worth seeing.

Amazing Grace - Typical historical film, not that is a bad thing as the film is very entertaining and well done. Recommend sooner rather then later.

Breach - Another typical historical film, also very well done. Great acting all around and also worth seeing.

Bridge To Terabithia - The movie sadly didn't get good until towards the end when a tragic turn finally added the drama the otherwise boring movie desperately needed.

Ghost Rider - Typical popcorn movie. If you go in with the right mindset, don't try to hard to pick it apart, it does the job of entertaining you for two hours.

Music and Lyrics - Boring film, not very funny. The memorable part is the introduction of Haley Bennett, who is going to be a hell of a star if she picks the right roles. Her beauty just popped off the screen and was quite breathtaking. Sadly the film does little to indicate if she has any singing or acting skill (but didn't hurt either), hopefully her skills beyond looks will be highlighted in future work.

Reno 911!: Miami - Silly but amusing as hell. In no way shape or form try to take anything about it seriously and you will have a good time.

RIAA Wants To Ban Wi-Fi

The RIAA, the recording industries mafia enforces, have filed a motion that basically says that Internet Service Providers should be held responsible for all activity of its customers including possible violations of copyright. If such a ruling occurred in their favor, it would in effect eliminate the possibility of any open wi-fi wireless networks such as those being considered by San Francisco and Atlanta and those that already exist in many restaurants and locations throughout the US. Considering that such a ruling would make anyone from companies to major corporations liable for whatever floats the boat of the RIAA, the MPAA and really anyone that wants a quick infusion of cash, the net result is it make it very expensive for any company to provide Internet connectivity. It never ceases to amaze me how a company claiming to protect the rights of its artists (bullshit, its really their corporations) seems to have no problem running roughshod over everyone and anything in that effort. This is just another example of why citizens need to flat out boycott any and all corporations that are apart of the RIAA and refuse to by any music if any artists that support them and their behavior.

Oscar Predictions?

The Oscars should be starting right about now and everyone is throwing around predictions. Usually I don't mind trying the same thing except for that most of the nomoniees I haven't see. Actually this is one of those years where I could care less who wins as most of the movies that I have seen just don't resonate with me in any way.

Part of my indifference may be due to the fact that the Oscars don't so much as cover the year 2006 in movies as more covers the months of November and Decemeber in movies. Its hard to care when knowing 10 months of the year don't really count. Then there is the huge advertising campaign that pretty much desolves the Oscars from "who deserves it" to "who spent the most money". Anyway just for giggles, based mostly on chance and lots of guessing, here are my wins for the main categories of the Oscars.

Best Picture: Babel
Best Actor: Forest Whitaker
Best Actress: Helen Mirren
Best Supporting Actor: Eddie Murphy
Best Supporting Actress: Cat Blanchett
Best Dirctor: Martin Scorsese
Foreign Film: Pan's Laybrinth
Adapted Screensplay: The Departed
Orginial Screenplay: Babel
Animated Feature Film: Cars
Art Direction: Pan's Labyrinth
Cinematography: Pan's Labyrinth
Sound Mixing: Pirates of the Caribbean
Sound Editing: Flags of Our Fathers
Originial Score: Babel
Originial Song: Love You I Do
Visual Effects: Pirates of the Caribbean

Support The Troops...Unless Its Too Much Trouble

With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan — to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations
- Abraham Lincoln; March 4th, 1865 Second Inaugural Address

Support The Troops. Its the catch phrase of the moment. Used as an excuse for war. Its used as a defense. Its used for offense. Its used to increase a financial cost the country can scarcely afford. Its used to funnel more money to the corporate entities that waste it. Yet that phrase doesn't seem to apply when its the troops, our soldiers, that need the support.

The Bush Administration and his republican cronies whip out this phrase on a constant basis when it comes to the Iraq War. The try to use it to fan the flames of patriotism and quash any dissent. Yet time and time again, when supporting the troops will cost money that will not go into the coffers of the Haliburtons and other Bush corporate cronies, suddenly the cost is simply too high. If it goes to a corporation, the money is always there. No expense is spared. If the money is going to the soldiers, the injured or the families of the dead, lets pause and reconsider. Apparently the money can be spent better elsewhere.

The Bush administration on camera cries out that we must support the war so that we can support the troops. Yet privately, he screws over the veterans, those no longer able to help with his legacy agenda. In the line of fire, he likes you. After you have made your sacrifice and your family is left to pick up the pieces, he simply has no use for you. This is evidenced by his repeated health care budget cuts and other cuts to reduce the support the veterans and their families receive. This attitude is no more evidenced by the recently exposed conditions for out-patient care at Walter Reed Hospital.

The Washington Post recently reported on the abysmal conditions at Building 18 used to house out-patients of the hospital. The care is top notch while coming from the field of battle but during recovery, the soldiers are basically treated as refuge. A burden, a cost that isn't worth paying. As if a stitch, some surgery and maybe a prosthetic limb (or two) with a few weeks of bed rest and the soldier should be ready to return back to civilian life as good as new.

Of course we know that's not the case. Recovery is a long, arduous, and expensive process. A process that Bush claims he supports whenever he goes for the photo-op in the Ward 57, the amputee unit. Instead though there is disintegrating buildings, complicated paperwork, confused staffers, un-trained supervisors, in-capable databases and pretty much any error you can name, the soldiers have to deal with on a constant and regular basis.

They sacrificed elsewhere just to start a new fight here at home. A battle against the bureaucratic machine. A battle they cannot hope to win without help from a leadership that simply doesn't care. They got what they wanted out of the troops, the rest is just a burden they are not interested in carrying. For a fraction of the funds handed to the Haliburtons for Iraq this new frontline at home could be over before it began.

The reality of Walter Reed is simply inexcusable. The politicians claim they support the troops yet their inaction's and voting records often show the opposite. The voters slap on yellow ribbons on their SUVs yet continue to vote for the person whose actions do not support their words. You claim to support the troops? Prove it. Write and tell your congressmen to get his shit together and make sure the troops get the support and care they deserve. Remind them that families sent their family over their to "protect our freedoms" and whether they come home injured or in a body bag, they and their families will be taken care of.

As President Lincoln said "to care for him who shall have borne the battle". The troops have already borne one battle, they shouldn't have to fight another and nor should their families.

(image source)

Joe Rogan vs Carlos Mencia

According to Joe Rogan ("Fear Factor"), Carlos Mencia's ("Mind of Mencia") entire career is based upon the stealing of other comics material. Apparently a norm of the industry that everyone knows is happening but does nothing about. Well Joe had enough and decided to confront Carlos directly about it. Oh and he recorded it.

You can see the video here or here or here.

In the edited confrontation, notice that Carlos doesn't really so much as defend against the accusation as basically just call Joe an ass for confronting him on stage. In and of itself, not exactly damning but Joe did do a comparison of Carlos jokes to other acts jokes to prove his point. Wish he had done more of that during the video but it does help to make a convincing case.

You would think the story would end there, but nope. Carlos Mencia is clearly pissed at the online embarrassment has returned a few volleys back by getting Joe banned from the comedy club and costing him his agent.

On top of that, Carlos has decided that the video of the confrontation is infringing his copyright. In what can only be the move of a moron, he forced YouTube to take down the video and probably will have emails sent to other sites therefore guaranteeing this video pops up anywhere and everywhere since preventing the online community from seeing something is a sure fire way to make sure they will see it. Its also is the behavior of a guilty person.

In addition, I don't even know what makes him think he has copyright ownership of anything in the video. To my knowledge jokes can't be copyrighted. The footage used came from other sources not under the ownership of Carlos (did he buy Comedy Central recently?). Maybe he thinks his name or his face is copyrighted. He would be wrong, but its the only explanation I have for attempting to enforce his non-existent copyright.

At this point I am not sure who is winning the war. Carlos is still getting paydays from Comedy Central for his shows and probably will continue to do so but has gotten a major online embarrassment. Joe remains more or less unemployed with no hangout and no agent. In the end, I am going to call it a wash as I doubt this will effect either career's since the Carlos will continue to do what he wants due to other comedians he has stolen material from are doing nothing about it.

Anna Nicole Smith Will and Legal Mess

The story that will not die continues to onward with more legal wrangling as everyone tries to figure out where the $88 million will go. At first everyone thought that whoever is the father (from 5 candidates now) is will get the 8 month old daughter. Whoever gets the baby becomes the custodian of the fortune. By becoming custodian of the fortune they in effect get to live the life of luxery and wealth. Hire a couple nannies and enjoy the lifestyles of the rich and famous.

A new wrinkle has come up though with the will. Probably to the suprise of no one, Anna Nicole Smith neglected to update her will to keep up with the recent developments of her life, in this case the death of her son and birth of the daughter. The result is will gives her fortune to her dead son, so as of now, no one knows where the money will go. California law would have given the fortune to the daughter by default but Anna had recently moved, bought, or borrowed a house in Bermuda. Even that is unknown and undetermined. So depending on where her official place of residence is could decide to who the money goes. Long story short, its a gigantic FUBAR of a legal mess.

Ironic considering her lover, maybe husband, possible father of the little girl, was the lawyer that drew up the orginial will and its current executor. In theory you think he would know better. Of course this whole thing stinks to high hell and I still have to wonder what involvement Howard Stern has in the death of the Smith family. Its seems like a lot of the actions in the last year have helped create a legal mess that will give him sole custody of the girl and therefore full control over the Smith fortune. Being a lawyer, you think he would have figured out a better way to work this out as something like this could be fought in court for years.

Easy Solution To Avoid Tangled Headphones

Found this video through Gizmodo that demonstrates an easy way to track your headphone cards with your MP3 player and not have to worry about the wadded knot that occurs when shoving the cords into pockets.

Lego Star Wars Millennium Falcon

In the "if money wasn't an object" department comes this 5,000 plus piece of Lego-tastic fun that probably will cost in the neighborhood of $300 or more to get when it comes out. More pics here.

Dixie Chicks Win Five Grammys

Maybe it "revenge" against Bush and the republican establishment, maybe it was the lack of competition, or maybe it was because the album was that good, but the Dixie Chicks reigned supreme at the 07 Grammy Awards with wins in the biggest Grammy categories of Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Record of the Year, Country Album of the Year, and Country Performance of the Year for "Not Ready to Make Nice" single and album Taking the Long Way.

These wins came despite the abandonment of the country genre they once ruled over due to comments by Natalie Maines that criticized Bush on the eve of the Iraq War claiming she was ashamed that Bush was from Texas. This kicked off a campaign in country music to basically destroy the careers of the Dixie Chicks with fans and country music radio stations refusing to play their music. An apology days later did little to stop the backlash.

The wins yesterday, especially the two country wins are probably not going over well for the fans of country music as the boycott by fans and radio against the Chicks continue despite and 70%+ of the country not satisfied with the Iraq War and about the same not please with Bush. In effect, the comments Maines had made in 2003 have become the common sentiment for most of the country. As the Chicks pointed out during one of their award wins, they don't really have a genre as country has rejected them and pop/top 10 hasn't made up its mind. The awards will probably help many stations get off the fence on playing their music. So congrats to the Dixie Chicks for standing tall and getting the chance to give a collective finger to all those that tried to destroy them three years ago.

Autopsy Results on Anna Nicole Smith Inconclusive

The autopsy of Anna Nicole Smith has so far not explained the cause of death for the former Playmate. The results indicate she had not taken drugs, no evidence of long term drug use and no evidence of a crime. Basically the whole thing has that same mysterious what happened vibe that the odd death of her son last year had. One person dying is strange, but both, in the same family is very suspicious to me.

I am starting to wonder what is up. A possible suspect if a crime has been committed is Smith's sorta husband and lawyer who is probably very familiar with the terms of her will and with the oldest son and Anna herself gone, is probably set to inherit all the money she herself got as a result of her previous marriage.

It makes me think of all the Black Widows that get caught now and then using poison and they like to murder their husbands. They don't get caught the first or second time, but by the third the chance of coincidence goes away and you really have to wonder what's up. When things go wrong, its often smart to go to the common denominator be it a computer, car or in this case mysterious deaths. Hopefully there is no crime, its just a tragic event and her little girl will be taken care of but I am thinking this is just the beginning of a long and bizarre story.

Anna Nicole Smith Found Dead

Anna Nicole Smith, 39, collapsed at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida and died probably at the hotel was brought to a hospital and declared dead there. Cause of death is unknown. She recently had remarried shortly after the birth of her second child and death of her first. She is probably most famous for her multiple Playboy appearances and her long fight for the estate of her rather old husband several years ago. Earlier this week she was also named in a class action lawsuit against TrimSpa X32 that she was spokesperson for.

She was basically the Paris Hilton of the 90s. To be blunt, Anna Nicole existed for two reasons - to get attention for looking good and to find a rich man to take care of her. She succeed at both but for some reason still didn't seem to find happiness. At most you could use her as an example that money can't buy happiness but as her life showed, it can buy many good times. My best guess of cause of death is going to be accidental overdose on drugs. I find it hard to believe it was suicide. If she was going to do that, it would have been after the death of her son, not after being involved in another lawsuit, something she already has much experience in.

Anna Nicole Smith 1967-2007

Viacom Forces YouTube to Remove Clips

Viacom, in response to failed negotiations with YouTube, ordered the removal of 100,000 video clips from the website. Viacom is the owner of MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, Paramount Pictures and lots of other things. All of which could only benefit from the free advertising that YouTube provides.

In a time where an attempt at viral marketing resulted in un-intentional bomb scare in Boston, you would think companies would be trying to make better use of the safe and free advertising sites such as YouTube provides especially to bloggers, commentators and other means used to disseminate the interesting bits of info that occur still on television and movies. In others words, the ultimate in viral marketing, and even better its free.

Now Viacom just gets to spend millions of dollars to do the exact same thing only because its a pain to get and use clicks on their websites, most will simply pass on talking about whatever content their properties produce. As a negotiation tactic, Viacom did nothing to hurt YouTube and did everything to shoot itself in the foot. As decisions go, this is one of the stupidest committed in a while.

Harry Potter 7 Released 12:01pm 7/21/07

Author J.K. Rowling has announced that the last of the Harry Potter books, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, will be released on July 7th, 2007 at midnight. The book is rumored to kill at least one if not more of the main characters of the series, including possibly the boy wizard himself. Already many sites are offering pre-orders as will be retail sites if they are not already. In fact, my library has already allowed me to reserve the book so if interested in the reading but not the buying check out your library as soon as possible to be low in the book queue.

The release of the book messes nicely with the movie release of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix out July 13th.

Super Bowl XLI Predicted by Tecmo Super Bowl

Orginial NES game Tecmo Super Bowl has predicted that the Bears defeat the Colts 28-24. Now that is known, what will you be doing Sunday instead of watching the game?

Teen Accuses RIAA of Collusion

A 16 year old boy, whose family has been under constant legal siege by the RIAA who has filed cases against his mother and sister, has apparently had enough and decided to fight back by accusing the RIAA of collusion and defrauding the courts of the United States. In short, he is accusing the recording industry of being a cartel. Which actually is pretty much accurate. The industry may compete for talent but they don't compete for consumer dollars where the price of pretty much everything is agreed upon by all the companies making up the RIAA. Afterall when was the last time you saw Sony Music try to out price say Virgin? I just hope his lawyers have kept up and also attempt to get the RIAA to reveal the values and numbers they use to prove how much copyright violations are costing them as those numbers are clearly exaggerated for their own benefit. I wish him the best of luck because I am simply disgusted with the RIAA's bullying tactics.

Olbermann Special Comment" Fact Checking the President

Keith Olbermann once again whipped out the pen and whipped out another scathing indictment of President Bush's rhetoric regarding terrorism in the State of the Union address. Turns out that the examples the president used to prove he is doing his job right, generally scare the crap out of the people and try to give himself a little help in the history books can't even be supported by his own intelligence agencies. In one case, no one even knows what "success" he is talking about. Just another day in the incompetence that is the White House.

Click here to get the video. Worth watching.

The Real John McCain

BraveNew Films have posted an interesting montage that shows how John McCain as degraded from a moderate that Democrats and Republicans could get behind to a far right Republican nutcase that only "the base" could love. In his desperation for the Presidency he has sacrificed everything that made him a worthy candidate and now we are left with this shell that seems to fill his opinion with whatever he thinks the prevailing winds will help his goal. At this point who even knows what he really believes or even wants. I wonder if he knows anymore.

Should You Upgrade to Windows Vista?

No.

OK I will elaborate further. Windows Vista just isn't that revolutionary leap over XP. If you have Windows 2000 SP4 or XP there just isn't a compelling reason to make the jump or the expense of getting the software. That doesn't even include the cost of possibly upgrading existing computer. Pretty much the rule of thump with Microsoft is to double whatever their minimum system requirements are. In this case that means your computer should be at least a 2.0GHz computer with 2 gigs of RAM. It also means that to get the full experience, you want a separate graphics card not the imbedded one that comes with most computers.

So expense aside what about the bells and whistles? Well, there are some improvements in stability and security, but not enough to be worth the expense. Want to know more about the features Engadget did excellent job summarizing Vista's improvements (or lack of) compared to XP.

Vista is supposed to be a boon for a gamer, but that boon isn't going to be realized just yet. Part of the problem is there doesn't exist any games on the market that use DirectX 11. No game for it no advantage to having it. So you have it but it and that’s about it. Also Vista is just a general resource hog so it’s more then likely to hit the game performance. Also it turns out from test by PC Perspective, the ATI and NVIDIA graphic card drivers are not yet up to snuff so I would give them more development time if a gamer.

Maybe you love your multimedia files and feel that Vista will allow you take full advantage of them? Well no, the experience difference is minimal, usual HD standards are handled by the graphics card not the OS. Also Microsoft has added security to help the war against copyright infringement by bending over backwards to appease the RIAA and MPAA such as technical limitations in the OS to perform certain tasks. If you install Vista, you are agreeing to grant Microsoft the right to check the legitimacy of software on the computer and delete it without permission. These and several other "security" measures are aimed more at protecting big business interests rather then your own.

Long story short, if your computer is more then 6 months old, Vista really isn't for you as will incur upgrade expenses if you want to enjoy the full experience. Nor does the overall lack of leap in improvements make the expense worth while. You are basically paying a heap of money for presentation and not much else. Vista might be worth the cost in another year or so, but for now, just wait and get it whenever you replace your current computer.

Links of note:
Upgrade Guide To Vista Software
Upgrade Guide to Vista and Hardware
Review Roundup

Do You Suffer From ACS?

I watch Crossing Jordan every now and then, its usually not what you would call witty or clever but last night they happened to hit on both with a new condition called ACS.

From the episode: "So how long have you suffered from ACS? Ann Coulter Syndrome; wherein the afflicted gain strength through the hatred of others."

That is a pretty accurate summary of all that is Ann Coulter and hopefully will make itself into the political pulpit language.

To see the clip of the episode with the line, click here.

Hillary Clinton Officially Running for President

Hillary Clinton, via her website, has announced she is officially running as the Democrat candidate for President. Nevermind that she is a women and the country is unlikely do elect a female candidate before a black male. I am basically a Democrat now but frankly I see nothing about her record that proves she deserves to be candidate nor nothing about her policy approach that is new and fresh. She has a history of just going with whatever flow gets her the most attention more worried about what is best for her rather then what is best for the country. She is basically identically to Bush only more dangerous because she has a brain to back it up.

People forget that while the American public was supporting Iraq, she happily did so and once the tide turned, so did she. Most of her "beliefs" are based on public opinion of the moment that what she really thinks is best. That is not someone I want in charge. Sadly the election of Bush has proven that past history or really any qualifications is no longer a requirement to be President. All it takes now is a "aw shucks" approach and a desire to crush an opponent by any means necessary (McCain in 2000).

Video of Hillary's announcement:

MacWorld 2007: iPhone and Apple TV Announced

MacWorld 2007 has arrived and once again Apple has sent some disruptions across the tech land pretty much proving beyond all doubt that Apple intends to lock up the entertainment and media content market up all for themselves.

The highlights from Steve Job's keynote:

- iTunes Store: Sold over 2 billion songs, or 5 million songs a day now. In addition they have sold 50 million television programs and 1.3 million movies. A partnership with Paramount to sell an additional 250 movies from the Paramount library, with a price of $9.99 for most titles, $14.99 for new releases and $12.99 for pre-orders.

- Apple TV: Coming out in February, available for pre-order now, its a $299.99, 720p high def video player that uses Wi-Fi to take video, pictures and music from up to five computers and play them on your TV.

- iPhone: What is basically a leapfrog over all existing cell phones, Apple is clearly out to dominate the market. Its a cell phone, iPod nano, and wi-fi browser rolled into one slim product. Rather then using buttons or a stylus, it uses a touch sensitive 3.5 inch color 160ppi screen to display data and accept commands. It comes in a 4GB ($499) and 8GB ($599) sizes exclusive to Cingular and will be out in June. In addition the iPhone runs on OS X meaning the device will be able to play videos, graphics, widgets, applications, pretty much anything that a standard computer can have, with harddrive space and processor speed (intel) being the limitation. Also as a result of the large display (for cell phones) and OS X the internet browsing capabilities are run by Safari with email push out partnership formed with Yahoo. In addition it has a 2 megapixel camera and speaker. Since the display is touch sensitive, it also has 3 built in sensors, one for proximity so when on the phone cheek doesn't perform accident commands, ambient light sensor to adjust light to save on battery life (5 hours talk time, 16 for audio playback), and a "accellerometer" sensor to tell if the landscape or portrait "mode" depending on how holding the phone. With OS X, Safari browser, IMAP yahoo email and Google Earth, the phone is a mini-computer cell phone. If not for the price and being forced to sign up with Cingular/AT&T, I would be getting this phone.

- iPhone Accessories: Also announced where Apple designed stereo headphones with a dongle mic and switch and a tiny black bluetooth ear set.

- Apple, Inc: From today forward, as an indication of Apple Computers, Inc move away from just computers and into entertainment and multi-media, they have changed the name of the computer to just Apple, Inc.

So there you go Macworld 07 ends. iPhone (video here and here) and Apple TV. To major new forays into the entertainment arena. One is basically a cell phone with a built in fully functioning computer and the other is that missing piece to get multi-media data from the computer to the TV. If you have the money, if you don't already own some Apple stock, now is the time as chances are high that Apple is about to become king in two new electronic markets.

College Saga, A Final Fantasy Parody

If your a fan of the Final Fantasy series, especially from the early days, then this fan made video should bring back some memories and laughs. Mark Leung's College Saga tells the story of saving the earth from vegetarians FF style including leveling up, the silly environment pans before a fight and the up and down motions that characters constantly did.

Part 1:


Part 2:


Part 3:


Final Part:

(source)

How To Beat the Claw Game

Remember those annoying claw games where for a fifty cents you could win a stuff animal, except the claw seems to have the grip of a new born baby? Where it turns out that's intentional. Its seems that the simple devices are set up so that only every X person could win at it if their touch with the controls is good enough. In other words, they might set it so that every 10th person, or 20th person wins. The key then is to simply spy on the machine and figure out what the pattern is with winners and losers. Once do that, just make sure you are that Xth person and the booty is yours.

This video from Brainiac that airs on G4 explains it better:

(source)

RIAA, Intertainer Playing Dirty

Two stories came out today that demonstrate just how easily it is to use the law and ignorance of others to gain wealth.

The first story is from the RIAA who having a high old time suing old ladies, the dead, and children in an effort to "protect" the musicians they supposedly represent. Of course when those musicians are suing them for various tactics, all it proves is the consumers and the creators have nothing to do with it. Its the record labels that are driving everything. We all know this but doesn't hurt to see it confirmed.

Any case, in UMG vs Lindor, someone realized that RIAA has been using some pretty wacky numbers in compiling its various reports about how much piracy is costing the music industry. Keep in mind that in saying X billions lost a year, that the numbers are based on higher then normal price for music, say $20-25 per CD, assumes sales number that probably wouldn't exist (say 1000000 copies would have sold instead of the 200000 that did of X title) and assumes that everything that was pirated would have been bought if the option wasn't available (you would bought the CD if couldn't have downloaded it). Thanks to an enterprising lawyer realizing this, the defendants lawyers is asking the RIAA to disclose they wholesale price they get for each downloaded song which likely be less then a dollar. The RIAA is refusing as afraid the value would be provided to others in their litigation campaign.

The logic behind the request and the refusal is that the RIAA is suing basically claiming that the pirated music from defendant Y is costing the music industry Z number of dollars. This value of course is highly inflated so they tend to ask for thousands and thousands of dollars. But if the wholesale cost (amount they get from say iTunes for each song) is $.75, then isn't that the real cost the RIAA is experiencing for each song? So instead of owing $10,000 for 2000 pirated songs, isn't the real damage more like $1500? Not only would such a ruling be a blow to the RIAA's efforts to threaten through litigation but it would show how the RIAA uses deceptive values to compile their data. In a society where many people trust whatever statistics they are presented with, this could be a big blow to what the RIAA is trying to accomplish with their PR campaigns.

The other story is the good ole US Patent Office which rubricate anything sent through it real or imagined. If you can make it incomprehensible enough on paper, you can pretty much patent anything under the sun. It wouldn't surprise me if someone already holds a patent for a time machine. The problem with this "beats me what it is, so I will approve it" mentality is it opens things up to abuse.

In this case a failed dot com company Intertainer, which was granted a patent on downloading digital content that was filed on March 2001. Considering that anything on the internet is digital content that you download as text, pictures, sound and movies they essential got a patent for writing down a convoluted description on what the internet does. Considering that the internet has been around for now 15 years, its pretty clear this company had nothing to do with "inventing" digital downloads.

So you have now been given a patent for something that already existed and you didn't invent it, what now? Simple, you sue others for using your non-invention. SCO did it to great benefit by claiming people where using violating the UNIX patent, which it didn't create. This company is doing the same against Google, Apple, Napster with others sure to follow.

Go read the patent, anywhere you see "the system of" think "server". Anywhere see "interface" think Netscape, Internet Explorer or any other web browser. Anywhere see "processor" or "manage information" think "database". All these things that have been around long before 2001. I give credit for Intertainer for trying to get a patent on the internet. Can't hurt to try, but its inexcusable for them to sue over it and even worse offense that the patent office approved it rather then seeking clarification on what the patent was for. It all comes down to ego, not money, not power. Those two just feed the ego and not admitting "I don't know" is a fine example of the ego in action.

Sadly most companies don't fight these things as the patent office tends to protect the stupidity of its own as most people are loath to admit their own ignorance. Afterall, it doesn't look good if you get the approving patent manager to appear in court and he can't explain the patent he had approved. So sadly the patent licensing companies that are being created by abusing the system will more then likely get a nice feather in their cap and encourage others.