Jul 1, 2003 · 1 minute
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Except, of course, for the fifteen minute advert breaks.
Liz Phair responds to the NYTimes review of her latest album. Genius, or a further indication that she's completely lost the plot?
The British Phonographic Industry threatens to follow the RIAA's lead and sue P2P users. Meanwhile, there's renewed interest in the anonymous Freenet Project. This next-generation P2P platform is designed to allow untraceable filesharing. Oh, and it works.
Officially endorsed R.E.M. and U2 trading posts, collecting hundreds of live recordings.
Cat Stevens is slightly better off as of last weekend, as EMI settles a lawsuit over similarities between his "Father and Son" and The Flaming Lips' "Fight Test".
In other news, I'm grateful to Apple for giving me lots of warnings about installing Panther. I've decided to wait until the official release comes out, as the Preview can't be upgraded to the final version. That's probably not a good idea. I can wait. Honest.
In further other news, my face appears to be peeling off.
- I will wear sunscreen in future.
- I will wear sunscreen in future.
- I will wear sunscreen in future.
- I will wear sunscreen in future.
- I will wear sunscreen in future
currently playing: Radiohead - Knives Out
Jun 30, 2003 · 1 minute
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You have to give the record industry some credit. Orrin Hatch recently spoke about destroying the computers of people who break copyright laws. The industry is way ahead of him on this; copies of Tubular Bells 2003 are reported to be destroying CD-ROM, DVD-ROM and DVD drives. Nice. Why can’t this technology be applied for good? If only all the copies of Fast Food Rockers CDs were similarly inflicted…
Okay, so that's the depressing news. To compensate, I present: THE GREATEST PRINTER IN ALL RECORDED HISTORY. I have to admit that it sounds a little far-fetched, but it looks really cool. I hope they're producing a henna ink-cartridge - instant henna tattoos!
Finally, in case you need a laugh, have a read of the latest RSS Wars. Yes, even software developers act like four-year-olds who take their toys home when things don't go their way.
currently playing: Brassy - Play Some D
Jun 29, 2003 · 1 minute
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Okay, so I dreamed I had pizza at McSweeney’s last night. Eating foodstuffs at imaginary restaurants based on a literary magazine. Is that weird?
I should just stop talking now, right?
currently playing: Longpigs - Far
Jun 28, 2003 · 1 minute
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Domo-Kun! Domo-Kun! Domo-Kun!
currently playing: The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
Jun 27, 2003 · 1 minute
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Well, new in the sense that you may not have heard them before.
Cat Power - Wonderwall
Chan Marshall does her deconstruction thing on Oasis. As a free bonus, the MP3 includes John Peel (i.e. I couldn't be bothered to edit it down).
Neko Case - Porchlight
Ooh.
Lauren Laverne - Mexico
Sigh. Could somebody get this girl back into a recording studio, and away from cheaply-made TV programmes? Thanks.
Mos Def - Travelling Man
Because rap isn't all about gangsters and money.
Shonen Knife - Daydream Believer
Bouncy! Japanese! Monkees!
currently playing: R.E.M. - Cuyahoga
Jun 25, 2003 · 1 minute
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The next Pixar film: The Invincibles The Incredibles. Out in November 2004 (unless you live outside the US, in which case, I’d suggest you start reserving seats for February 2005).
Yes, I know that making fun of Scientology is like shooting fat fish in a small barrel, but this promotional leaflet from the 1970s is hilarious. My favourite part is when they talk about the Locational Assist Technique (yes! You can give people directions! And guide them when they're drunk!). Genius.
(link found via jwz)
How to know that you've been assimilated into the Cult of Mac: you spend far too much time hitting reload during Steve Jobs's keynote address, wanting to find out just exactly what features will be in the necessary $129 upgrade in the Autumn. I have crossed over to the dark side, my friends. Expect the black turtleneck jumpers soon. Oh, and when I go back to Chapel Hill in October, can people please keep me away from the Apple Store? For my own safety? Thanks.
currently playing: Nick Cave - Bring It On
Jun 24, 2003 · 5 minute
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From http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/senate/senate12cp107.html:
Gen. Telford Taylor, an American prosecutor at
Nuremberg, charged McCarthy with conducting "a new and
indefensible kind of hearing, which is neither a public hearing
nor an executive session." In Taylor's view, the closed
sessions were a device that enabled the chairman to tell
newspapers whatever he saw fit about what happened, without
giving witnesses a chance to defend themselves or reporters a
chance to check the accuracy of the accusations.
McCarthy and his staff also called hearings on
short notice, and often outside of Washington, which prevented
the other Republican senators from attending. Senators Everett
Dirksen and Charles Potter occasionally sent staff members to
represent them (and at times to interrogate witnesses). By
operating so often as a "one-man committee,'' Senator McCarthy
gave witnesses the impression, as Harvard law school dean Erwin
Griswold observed, that they were facing a "judge, jury,
prosecutor, castigator, and press agent, all in one".
Theoretically the
committee, rather than the chairman, issued subpoenas, Army
Counsel John G. Adams noted. "But McCarthy ignored the Senate
rule that required a vote of the other members every time he
wanted to haul someone in.He signed scores of blank subpoenas
which his staff members carried in their inside pockets, and issued as
regularly as traffic tickets.'' Witnesses repeatedly complained that
subpoenas to appear were served on them just before the hearings,
either the night before or the morning of, making it hard for them to
obtain legal representation. Even if they obtained a lawyer, the
senator would not permit attorneys to raise objections or to talk for
the witness. Normally, a quorum of at least one-third of the committee
or subcommittee members was needed to take sworn testimony, although a
single senator could hold hearings if authorized by the committee. The
rules did not bar "one-man hearings,'' because senators often came and
went during a committee hearing and committee business could come to a
halt if a minimum number of senators were required to hold a
hearing.
If witnesses refused to cooperate, the chairman threatened
them with indictment and incarceration. At the end of his first
year as chairman, he advised one witness: " During the course
of these hearings, I think up to this time we have some--this
is just a rough guess--twenty cases we submitted to the grand
jury, either for perjury or for contempt before this committee.
Do not just assume that your name was pulled out of a hat.
Before you were brought here, we make a fairly thorough and
complete investigation. So I would like to strongly advise you
to either tell the truth or, if you think the truth will
incriminate you, then you are entitled to refuse to answer. I
cannot urge that upon you too strongly. I have given that
advice to other people here before the committee. They thought
they were smarter than our investigators. They will end up in
jail. This is not a threat; this is just friendly advice I am
giving you. Do you understand that?'' In the end, however, no
witness who appeared before the subcommittee during his
chairmanship was imprisoned for perjury, contempt, espionage,
or subversion. Several witnesses were tried for contempt, and
some were convicted, but each case was overturned on
appeal
In 1950, Senator McCarthy
denounced "those Communists and queers who have sold 400
million Asiatic people into atheistic slavery and have American
people in a hypnotic trance, headed blindly toward the same
precipice.''
If witnesses disagreed on the facts, someone
had to be lying. The Fort Monmouth investigation, for instance,
had been spurred by reports of information from the Army Signal
Corps laboratories turning up in Eastern Europe. Since Julius
Rosenberg had worked at Fort Monmouth, McCarthy and Cohn were
convinced that other Communist sympathizers were still
supplying secrets to the enemy. But the Soviet Union had been
an ally during the Second World War, and during that time had
openly designated representatives at the laboratories, making
espionage there superfluous. Nevertheless, McCarthy's pursuit
of a spy ring caused officials at Fort Monmouth to suspend
forty-two civilian employees. After the investigations, all but
two were reinstated in their former jobs.
In July 1954, Vermont Republican Senator Ralph Flanders
introduced a resolution calling for the censure of Senator
Joseph R. McCarthy for conduct unbecoming a senator. The
resolution was referred to a select committee chaired by Utah
Republican Senator Arthur Watkins. In September, after the
Senate had recessed, the Watkins committee issued a report
recommending the senator's censure. Following the November
congressional elections, when Democrats won narrow majorities
in both the Senate and House, the Senate returned in a lame
duck session to debate the Watkins report and vote on censure.
Friends from both parties appealed to Senator McCarthy to avoid
censure by apologizing for his conduct, but he would hear none
of it. On December 2, 1954, the Senate voted 67 to 22 to
condemn McCarthy's conduct for having been "contrary to
senatorial tradition.''
Yes, Ann. The man was a hero. As ever, you miss the point. Yes, there were Communists in the USA during the 1950s. Yes, there were spies. The reason why McCarthy is justly vilified is not because he tried to find spies, but due to the methods he used; the browbeating of witnesses, testimonies taken contrary to Congressional rules, shoddy investigations, and blatant scaremongering to try and drum up public support for his witch hunt. Your President recently railed against the idea of 'revisionist history', so perhaps you might want to turn your focus onto subjects more worthy of your attention, like, say, Tom DeLay's dubious attempts to redistrict Texas, the embarrassing lack of WMDs, or the increasingly Vietnam-like conditions around Baghdad and Basra? Just a thought.
currently playing: Wilco - I am trying to break your heart
Jun 22, 2003 · 1 minute
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Let me say that again: Somebody who has worked long hours his whole life to save for his son’s college has to pay taxes at more than twice the rate as his boss. Where I come from, that man’s hard work means at least as much to the future of this country – not half as much – as what his boss does. After the biggest lapse in corporate responsibility in our lifetimes, we shouldn’t be letting a CEO who pays himself hundreds of times more than his workers pay lower taxes than the workers themselves.
Mr. President, I challenge you. Explain why you think a multimillionaire should pay 15% on his next million, while a fireman has to pay over 30% for each extra dollar of overtime. Mr. President, explain how you square that with America’s values.
John Edwards comes out fighting.
The Senate Commerce Committee starts to reverse the recent FCC ownership adjustments.
A guarded Hurrah! all round, I think.
currently playing: Billy Bragg - St. Swithin's Day
Jun 21, 2003 · 2 minute
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The ITC has reported back on the complaints it received during the recent war in Iraq. Fox News has been cleared of all charges of bias. I'm in two minds about this; while I don't believe that Fox should be taken off air, the channel does have a definite bias, which is something that news channels in this country are not supposed to have. The ITC say that
Our own monitoring of Fox News suggests that a range of opinions are heard on the station.
Which is true, I suppose, but differing viewpoints do tend to be shouted down if they disagree with the Fox line. And I would be appalled if any news organization treated a guest in the way that
Bill O'Reilly did a few months ago. So I'm a little baffled with parts of the ITC decision.
In other, possibly related, news, rumours are flying that Al Gore is looking to start up a new US news channel. The intriguing part is the suggestion that the new channel would rely on amateur footage and reporting; using mobile phones, digital cameras, and blogging tools to create a format so far yet unseen on a news channel. If there's any truth to any of this, we could be in for some interesting times in the near future...
currently playing: Oasis - Round Are Way