] The music industry, which this week filed suit against
] another 531 Internet users, says its tactics are slowing
] the tide of free downloads, citing cases like Kullberg's.
]
] A study released in January that surveyed 1,358 Internet
] users in late fall found the number of Americans
] downloading music dropped by half %u2014 17 million fewer
] countrywide %u2014 compared with six months earlier.
]
] But some experts and users say that file sharers are only
] being more secretive, and that file swapping is actually
] increasing. At least two research firms say more than 150
] million songs are being downloaded free every month.

The RIAA need only do the math to figure out why this is happening. A buck a track? 18 cuts will cost me $18??? There is no physical product to press, package, ship, distribute and stick on a retail rack. The irony is that several "middle men" have been cut from the equasion yet the labels have a larger profit margin (bandwidth/disk space = cheap). Drop the price per track to what it SHOULD cost - about 25 cents a pop and their online sales should soar.

Apparently they didn't think consumers were smart enough to figure out they were STILL being ripped off. The RIAA fucked up - again.

Download lawsuits scare some, but song trading still popular

] The U.S. and other world governments already have
] detailed secret plans for first contact.

Not surprisingly, none of these plans include the release of any "doves of peace" at the landing site.

LB

When UFOs Arrive

Nanochick wrote:
] ] An experimental vaccine wiped out lung cancer in some
] ] patients and slowed its spread in others in a small but
] ] promising study, researchers say.
]
]
] [wow...thats awesome. -nano]

indeed it is. now they just need to figure out a vaccine that wipes out smoking - the #1 cause of lung cancer, and they will really be on to something!

LB

RE: CNN.com - Vaccine halts lung cancer in small study - Feb. 19, 2004

] A federal appeals court has agreed to hear a request from
] the woman formerly known as "Jane Roe" to reconsider the
] 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade that
] legalized abortion.
]
] Norma McCorvey, who joined with anti-abortion activists
] nearly 10 years ago, is seeking to have the decision
] overturned, citing what she says is more than 30 years of
] evidence that abortions are psychologically harmful to
] women.
]
] A federal district judge threw out her initial request in
] June, saying it was not made within a reasonable time.
] But the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of
] Appeals has agreed to hear McCorvey's arguments March 2.
]
] "It's something that I've wanted ever since Day One, and
] it's happening," McCorvey said from her Dallas home.
]
] Dallas County District Attorney Bill Hill, whose
] predecessor Henry Wade who was named in the original
] lawsuit, has not filed a response to McCorvey's appeal.
] That may put the appeals court in the unusual position of
] hearing arguments from only one side.

Court to hear case to reopen Roe V. Wade

] Astronomers announced Friday that a white dwarf star
] they've been studying is a chunk of crystallized carbon
] that weighs 5 million trillion trillion pounds. That's
] the same as a diamond that is approximately 10 billion
] trillion trillion carats, or a one followed by 34 zeros.
]
] "It's the mother of all diamonds," said astronomer Travis
] Metcalfe, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
] "Bill Gates and Donald Trump together couldn't begin to
] afford it."
]
] The object, a burned out corpse of a star named BPM
] 37093, is about 50 light-years from in the constellation
] Centaurus. It is a mere 2,500 miles wide. It's coated
] with a thin layer of hydrogen and helium. Astronomers had
] long suspected the interiors of white dwarfs
] crystallized, but only recently did they determine it to
] be so. The star pulsates like a giant gong, and the
] researchers studied those pulsations -- like seismic
] waves inside Earth -- to figure out the carbon interior
] was solidified.

USATODAY.com - Diamond at heart of star outweighs any on Earth

inignoct wrote:
] Elonka wrote:
] ] To be honest, even if it was true (and I don't believe it
] is),
] ] it wouldn't have an impact on my opinion. Someone cut
] school
] ] for a day? Big whoop.
]
] [ With all due respect, this isn't about skipping school.
] It's about reneging on a sworn promise to serve in the United
] States Armed Forces. If this is true, it means that the
] President is a man who couldn't find it in himself to commit
] fully to the National Guard, an honorable position that
] nonetheless was a gift from god compared with fighting in a
] foreign war. For such a man to talk to *anyone* about
] patriotism, honor, or duty, much less command this generation
] of soldiers to wage war is outrageous.
]
] I'm as skeptical as anyone about this situation... it seems
] to me like much ado without much data, but it's not about
] nothing. If it comes out as fact, then we're talking about
] hypocracy of the worst sort -- the kind in which people die
] under orders from a false leader. If it comes out to be
] nothing, then we can reprimand the accusers, demand their
] apology, and then move on. But to claim it's unimportant is
] completely absurd and does a disservice to those who don't
] equivocate their dedication to the oaths they take. -k]

The repubs lambaseded Clinton as a "draft dodger" then crucifided him for becoming commander in chief. Turn-a-bout is fair play.

Kids - don't believe what the history books tell you. Go ask someone - ANYone that served in 'Nam. They will tell you someone drafted into the Guard dodged the draft as well, because you had to have big political connections to get into the guard.

Now if W not only got favored into the NG because of daddys political connections, but went AWOL for an extended period of time, we have a SERIOUS problem...

LB

RE: Spokesman Defends Bush's Military Service

] Some 400 pages of President Bush's military files were
] made public Friday amid questions about whether he
] fulfilled his required service in the Air National Guard.
] None of the documents relate to service between May 1972
] to May 1973, when Bush transferred from Texas to Alabama.

BURN!!!

CNN.com

] No member of President Bush's Air National Guard unit has
] come forward yet with recollections of him at the
] Montgomery, Ala., base, but a Selma Republican leader who
] campaigned with Bush says she saw him in uniform on his
] way to drills in 1972.

No conflict of interests. Not at all.

LB

USATODAY.com - Bush seen in Alabama in 1972

janelane wrote:
] ] President Bartlet (Martin Sheen): I like how you call
] ] homosexuality an abombination.
] ]
] ] Jenna Jacobs: I don't say homosexuality is an
] ] abomination, Mr. President, the Bible does.
] ]
] ] President Bartlet: Yes, it does. Leviticus.
] ]
] ] Jenna Jacobs: 18:22.
] ]
] ] President Bartlet: Chapter and verse. I wanted to ask you
] ] a couple of questions while I have you here. I'm
] ] interested in selling my youngest daughter into slavery
] ] as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. She's a Georgetown
] ] sophmore, speaks fluent Italian, always cleared the table
] ] when it was her turn. What would a good price for her be?
] ] While thinking about that, can I ask another? My Chief of
] ] Staff Leo McGarry insists on working on the Sabbath.
] ] Exodus 35:2 clearly says he should be put to death. Am I
] ] morally obligated to kill him myself or is it okay to
] ] call the police? Here's one that's really important
] ] because we've got a lot of sports fans in this town:
] ] touching the skin of a dead pig makes one unclean.
] ] Leviticus 11:7. If they promise to wear gloves, can the
] ] Washington Redskins still play football? Can Notre Dame?
] ] Can West Point? Does the whole town really have to be
] ] together to stone my brother John for planting different
] ] crops side by side? Can I burn my mother in a small
] ] family gathering for wearing garments made from two
] ] different threads? Think about those questions, would
] ] you?
]
] Found this the other day and thought the Memestreams audience
] should share the laugh. FYI: The stoning commences tomorrow.

I cant help but wonder how many people have ever tried to plead "not guilty because the bible says so!" and quote chapter/verse in their criminal defense?

LB

RE: The West Wing

] Just like J.Lo and Ben, the romance is over for Barbie
] and Ken.
]
] After 43 years as one of the world's prettiest pairs, the
] perfect plastic couple is breaking up. The couple's
] "business manager," Russell Arons, vice president of
] marketing at Mattel, said that Barbie and Ken "feel it's
] time to spend some quality time -- apart."
]
] "Like other celebrity couples, their Hollywood romance
] has come to an end," said Arons, who quickly added that
] the duo "will remain friends."

You gotta be fucking kidding me??? This sounds like a bad April fools day joke, but AFD is 6 weeks away.

LB

It's splitsville for Barbie and Ken