Can you distinguish true art from fake art?

Take this quiz to find out:

http://www.ee.ucla.edu/~simkin/true_art_or_fake_art.html

You will see a dozen of images.
Some of them are True Masterpieces of Abstract Art, created by Immortal Artists. They carry Profound Meanings, which are, however, beyond the apprehensions of the vulgar. The rest were produced by the author of the quiz using common software (like Microsoft Word). They mean nothing.
You are asked to decide on each of the images. Afterwards the quiz is graded automatically.

Are you a philistine?

] He spoke of Islamic extremists hating the United States
] because "we're a Christian nation" and added that our
] "spiritual enemy will only be defeated if we come against
] them in the name of Jesus." He said that President Bush
] "is in the White House because God put him there," and
] that "we in the army of God . . . have been raised for
] such a time as this."
]
]
] Discussing a U.S. Army battle against a Muslim warlord in
] Somalia in 1993, Boykin told one audience: "I knew my god
] was bigger than his. I knew that my god was a real god
] and his was an idol."

grand. thanks for exemplifying exactly why we end up fighting these wars in the first place. other people enjoy it when you tell them the basis of their spiritual beliefs are a sham, and that they're all wrong. so wrong in fact, that they're satan worshippers, and we, "God's army" must cleanse them from the earth. sickening.

General Rebuked For Talk Of God (washingtonpost.com)

aparently BayStar wants to lose a shitload of cash.

Forbes.com: SCO secures $50 mln investment from BayStar

] Introducing CEO of AOL - Jon Miller
]
] - AOL users don't have to put in their Credit Card. Can
] enter their AOL ID and that's it.
]
] - Talking about AOL's music store. Going to put iTunes
] buttons next to every song/album on AOL's music site.
] Will launch iTunes and show the song/album
]
] - Exclusive partnership with AOL and Apple.
]
] - But what if that's not enough? What else should we do?
] We're going to make it really easy for 25 million online
] users to discover music to get iTunes... to do that, we
] are announcing a partnership with AOL.

this is a guy typing while watching the apple presentation... exclusive partnership w/ AOL! as much as i hate AOL sometimes, thats 35 million consumers that will be one click away from buying straight from iTMS. this is smart, if you ask me.

MacRumors.com - Live Apple Music Event Coverage

] Microsoft promised to improve the way in which Windows
] manages computer memory to protect users against commonly
] exploited software flaws known as buffer overruns, which
] can trick Windows into accepting dangerous commands. Some
] of the most damaging attacks in recent months fall under
] this category.

MS deploys non-executable stack patch. (What year is it?)

CNN.com - Microsoft plans Windows overhaul to fight hackers - Oct. 16, 2003

"On January 22, 1879 -- the legendary "Day of the Zulu," when more than twenty thousand Zulu warriors nearly wiped out the forces of the invading British army -- even the sun was on the side of the Zulu Nation. A partial solar eclipse during the battle obscured the view of the redcoats, making it difficult for them to see the attacking Zulu warriors. But the Zulu triumph on that day was no freak victory: it came about through a combination of superior battle strategy and fierce weapons, aided by potent traditional medicine.
...
Download Screensaver

Of course, the Zulu might never have vanquished the British at Isandlwana without the help of traditional Zulu medicines. Some scholars have suggested that Zulu pharmacopoeia provided more of a psychological boost than any real physiological effect. But recent scientific studies show that the medicines contained some very potent drugs. For example, warriors were given a cannabis (marijuana)-based snuff to take during battle. Analysis of the snuff has revealed that it contained extremely high levels of THC, a powerful hallucinogen, and yet no detectable levels of the chemicals that cause the sedative effects of marijuana.

Also in the Zulu war medicine chest: the bulb of a flower in the Amaryllis family, called Boophane disticha, or the Bushman Poison Bulb. Studies have shown that the bulb -- which was also used by southern Africans to help mummify bodies -- contains buphanidrine, an alkaloid, like codeine and morphine (although it is not related to them) with hallucinogenic and pain-killing properties. According to botanist Ben-Erik van Wyk of Rand Afrikaans University in Johannesburg, South Africa, the dosage of buphanidrine necessary to reduce pain is very close to the toxic dose, "but in a very experienced traditional healer's hands it should be safe. They usually assess the strength of a bulb by testing it on themselves."

In addition, warriors sometimes ingested a hallucinogenic mushroom containing a toxin called muscimol. The chemical, present in fly agaric -- a mushroom that can attract and kill flies -- is said to induce a state of expanded perception in those who ingest it. Warriors who consumed those mushrooms, researchers speculate, might have been utterly without fear, believing themselves impervious to British bullets. "

I saw this last night. Fuck amsterdam, go to africa and become a zulu warrior.

Day of the zulu

] "He pointed out a relatively remote baseball diamond that
] was enclosed in a chain-link fence," Neel recalled in an
] interview with Salon. "I could see these people behind
] the fence, with their faces up against it, and their
] hands on the wire." (The ACLU posted photos of the
] demonstrators and supporters at that event on its Web
] site.) "It looked more like a concentration camp than a
] free speech area to me, so I said, 'I'm not going in
] there. I thought the whole country was a free speech
] area.'" The detective asked Neel, 66, to go to the area
] six or eight times, and when he politely refused, he
] handcuffed and arrested the retired steelworker on a
] charge of disorderly conduct. When Neel's sister argued
] against his arrest, she was cuffed and hauled off as
] well. The two spent the president's visit in a firehouse
] that was serving as Secret Service and police
] headquarters for the event.
]
] It appears that the Neels' experience is not unique. Late
] last month, on Sept. 23, the American Civil Liberties
] Union filed a lawsuit in a federal court in Philadelphia
] against the Secret Service, alleging that the agency, a
] unit of the new Homeland Security Department charged with
] protecting the president, vice president and other key
] government officials, instituted a policy in the months
] even before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks of instructing
] local police to cordon off protesters from the president
] and Vice President Dick Cheney. Plaintiffs include the
] National Organization for Women, ACORN, USA Action and
] United for Justice, and groups and individuals who have
] been penned up during presidential visits, or arrested
] for refusing to go into a "free speech area," in places
] ranging from California to New Mexico, Missouri,
] Connecticut, New Jersey, South Carolina and elsewhere in
] Pennsylvania.

'I thought the whole country was a free speech zone.'

Decius wrote:
] ] RIAA agents, backed up by police, have started to raid
] ] Midwestern record stores that carry DJ mixes. On
] ] September 23, Berry's Music in Indianapolis, Indiana, was
] ] raided; according to proprietor Alan Berry, police
] ] confiscated $10,000 worth of mix discs by the likes of DJ
] ] World and DJ Paul Bunyan. "The record labels want the
] ] independent record stores out of the business," Berry
] ] says.

This is why you should buy your music from labels not affiliated with the RIAA cartel. There are plenty of great labels out there.

Sorry, but if a mix CD is sold and has unlicensed usage of an RIAA cartel copyrighted song, it's fair game for them to bust the store. There are rules related to sample clearance, licensing, etc. Selling mix CDs is not covered by fair use. Even if you get the mix CD from the artist, if the artist has inked the deal with the RIAA, they are almost always forfeiting their hold on the copyright. This article is not very clear on whether the $10000 worth of mix discs were actually licensed or not. If they weren't, that $10000 was probably inflated out of nowhere for dramatic effect, sort of like the bogus figures you hear from the RIAA about lost sales. I'm imagining they just tallied up what the asking price was for them, rather than the cost of physical media and packaging.

This article also seems to be missing another big point. Downloading copyrighted songs without permission from the copyright holder is illegal. It really is THAT simple. Want to avoid getting sued by the RIAA? Don't illegally download music, forget the first two bullet points.

I don't understand the whole derision towards actually purchasing recorded music. Check out this quote from the article:

"Alternately, you can be a good little consumer and pay for everything you listen to."

When did buying music become a bad thing? Personally, I believe music can still be a commodity in this day and age. There is plenty of free music out there as well though. But if you want RIAA music but you don't want to pay for it? Boo hoo. Yes, the RIAA sucks and they are fighting change rather than adapting. Yes, the DMCA sucks and should be repealed. It will take time to undo these bad things. But getting into a pissing match with them is only making their case stronger.

With regard to the economics of "independent" record stores not being able to get the bulk discounts like the big chains do, sorry, them's the breaks. If the RIAA people are satan incarnate, don't deal with them. If your store can't keep the lights on by selling independent music, it's the symptom of a changing world. I've seen really great indie stores come and go in Nashville. With the internet, I can order direct with so many labels now that I don't need to visit a physical store. And when you are in direct contact with the label or it's authorized distributor, they are usually MUCH cooler about giving you bigger samples of the music to hear before you buy. The writing is on the wall for independent music stores. Time to evolve or die.

[Updated]

Oh, and if you want to check out what exactly is in question:

http://www.djregency.freeservers.com/photo4.html

These do not look like legitimately licensed compilations to me. And they are charging $14.00 for them. They must have inflated that $10000 claim. I don't feel sorry for these people at all.

RE: RIAA raiding small music stores for selling DJ mix CDs

] Clear Channel is a product of the deregulation of radio
] in the United States through the Telecommunication Act of
] 1996, which overturned the rule limiting to forty the
] number of radio stations around the country that a single
] company could own.
]
] Today Clear Channel owns over 1,200 stations, or roughly
] one in every ten in the country, over 776,000 outdoor
] advertising displays, such as billboards and street
] benches, as well as 200 major concert halls across the
] nation. The company represents the biggest and most
] profitable bands and stars in the business, ranging from
] N'Sync, Tina Turner and Pearl Jam to sports legends like
] Michael Jordan and Andre Agassi.

If you aren't very familiar with the corporate machine that Clear Channel Communications is, please read. Many of our local stations in this area have banded together to keep Clear Channel's presence in this market to a minimum. Clear Channel needs to have their level of power cut back severely.

CorpWatch.org - Issues - Utility Deregulation - Articles - Clear Channel Rewrites Rules of Radio Broadcasting

] China's first piloted spacecraft has entered the outer
] space, and Lieutenant Colonel Yang Liwei is now the first
] Chinese astronaut in space in the world's 241st manned
] space mission.

] At around 9:10, Shenzhou-5 moved into the
] preset orbit, indicating success of China's endeavor to
] hurl a piloted space vehicle of its own into the orbit.

] In the meantime, The Yuanwang-1 measuring vessel has
] been monitoring the target over the Pacific Ocean; and
] the Beijing Space Command and Control Center ordered
] the craft to open up the solar panels.

a big moment for the world.

:: Xinhuanet - English :: China's first manned spacecraft in orbit