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| "I don't think the report is true, but these crises work for those who want to make fights between people." Kulam Dastagir, 28, a bird seller in Afghanistan
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| Topic: Technology |
1:21 am EDT, May 15, 2002 |
"On a tumultuous Tuesday that encapsulated its stormy history, CEO Konrad Hilbers announced his resignation. Shortly after, Napster's approximately 70 remaining employees were offered two unappealing options: Quit now and receive severance pay, or take one week of unpaid leave, hoping somebody will revive the once powerful file-trading company, sources close to the situation said." Napster is dead. Last Rites for Napster |
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USATODAY.com - Kazaa, Verizon propose to pay artists directly |
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| Topic: Economics |
1:16 am EDT, May 15, 2002 |
"Kazaa lobbyist Phil Corwin says a $1-a-month fee per user on Internet providers alone (it's unclear whether costs would be passed along to subscribers) would generate $2 billion yearly: "We're talking about a modest fee on all the parties who benefit from the availability of this content." Recording Industry Association of America president Hilary Rosen calls the proposal "the most disingenuous thing I've ever heard. It's ridiculous."" This is an interesting development. Its CLEAR that costs would be passed down to subscribers. The logistics of this are apt to be messy, but essentially, this is like paying for intellectual property with a tax, which is redistributed via a use tracking system. The RIAA is opposed because they are cut out of the loop and because they don't get to monkey around with the industry using agressive fees. Either way, I imagine that this is going to make things more messy rather than less messy. People would LOVE to make file sharing legal, but when it comes time to pay for it, I think they are liable to all say "file trading is not my fault." USATODAY.com - Kazaa, Verizon propose to pay artists directly |
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CNN.com - ISPs seek to void ruling on police searches - May 14, 2002 |
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| Topic: Politics and Law |
1:11 am EDT, May 15, 2002 |
"Web giant Yahoo! Inc. and several Internet trade associations filed papers Monday seeking to overturn a court ruling which they said could fill the offices of Internet companies with police officers overseeing the execution of search warrants. " CNN.com - ISPs seek to void ruling on police searches - May 14, 2002 |
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The President's BioEthics Council |
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| Topic: Politics and Law |
5:05 pm EDT, May 14, 2002 |
"As emeritus University of Virginia bioethicist John Fletcher has pointed out, "All of the (federal bioethics) commissions in the past have made recommendations that have had their effects in federal regulations. So they are a source eventually of regulations." Regulations like outright bans on certain biomedical practices, and even criminalizing mere research." Who's on first, and why were they put there? This articles goes over the backgrounds of the various people on the President's BioEthics Council... The President's BioEthics Council |
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Wired 10.06: Spielberg in the Twilight Zone |
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| Topic: Movies |
4:57 pm EDT, May 14, 2002 |
"Adorable aliens and menacing dinos made him the biggest science fiction director of all time. With Minority Report he's finally turning to the dark side." I balked at the previews for this, but it actually sounds like it could be really cool... Wired 10.06: Spielberg in the Twilight Zone |
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United Press International: Conference: Europeans 'ready for Iraq' |
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| Topic: Current Events |
3:39 am EDT, May 14, 2002 |
"FLORENCE, Italy, May 11 (UPI) -- A majority of the European Union's 15 nations are now expected to support President George Bush's plans for "regime change" in Iraq, and many of them are prepared to offer military support, a conference of American and European scholars on transatlantic relations concluded Saturday." United Press International: Conference: Europeans 'ready for Iraq' |
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| Topic: Music |
2:11 am EDT, May 14, 2002 |
Jega is awesome... AphexTwin/Autechre style strangeness... Check the MP3 on this link. Matador Records | Jega |
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| Topic: Politics and Law |
11:07 pm EDT, May 13, 2002 |
"At its best, the Internet can educate more people faster than any media tool we've ever had. At its worst, it can make people dumber faster than any media tool we've ever had. The lie that 4,000 Jews were warned not to go into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11 was spread entirely over the Internet and is now thoroughly believed in the Muslim world. Because the Internet has an aura of "technology" surrounding it, the uneducated believe information from it even more. They don't realize that the Internet, at its ugliest, is just an open sewer: an electronic conduit for untreated, unfiltered information." Global Village Idiocy |
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WIPP Exhibit: Message to 12,000 A.D. |
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| Topic: Miscellaneous |
4:09 pm EDT, May 13, 2002 |
how do you tell a culture 10,000 years from now that we've created something dangerous?
This place is not a place of honor.
No highly esteemed deed is commemorated here.
Nothing valued is here.
This place is a message and part of a system of messages.
Pay attention to it!
Sending this message was important to us.
We considered ourselves to be a powerful culture. WIPP Exhibit: Message to 12,000 A.D. |
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Patently Provoking a Debate |
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| Topic: Politics and Law |
12:51 am EDT, May 13, 2002 |
"Newman has never made a humouse and says he probably never would. In fact, he and his patent partner, technology critic Jeremy Rifkin, have deep moral objections to manipulating human life and oppose patenting any living organisms. They believe that federal law does not sufficiently limit scientific work with human embryos and human life, and their humouse is intended to change just that. Patent law does not require them to make a humouse, but they must show it can be done. Newman says he could take an embryo from one species, either man or mouse, and inject it with embryonic cells from the other species. The result would be an animal with cells from both species scattered throughout and working cooperatively. A similar technique was used in the early 1980s to make a sheep-goat hybrid, dubbed a "geep," though no one is known to have tried a similar cross-species mix with humans. "There really is no boundary on what you can do with human life. There's no natural stopping point," Newman said. "That troubles me. I think it will ultimately lead to genetically engineered human beings made for sale." Making the humouse would be legal under federal law, as long as no taxpayer money was used and certain administrative rules were followed." A very interesting way of raising questions about bio-ethics and the law. Highly recommended. This sort of thought experiment is exactly the way to make people think... Patently Provoking a Debate |
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