] ''Although Uday and Qusay are criminals, displaying their
] corpses like this is disgusting and repulsive. America
] claims it is civilised but is behaving like a thug,''
] Saudi civil servant Saad Brikan, 42, told Reuters in
] Riyadh.
] Another civil servant Hasan Hammoud, 35, said:
] ''America always spoils its own image by doing something
] like this. What is the advantage of showing these bodies?
] Didn't they think about the humanitarian aspect? About
] their mother and the rest of their family when they see
] these images?''

sigh.. Taking this seriously is going to make me angry, for reasons that should be obvious. I choose another route.

Can we get them stuffed? Put on display at one of the buildings on the Mall is DC? Keep the admission cheap, like under $5. A show maybe. Have some sword/fire swallowers or something.. The Smithsonian needs something like this, it being 2003 and all.. Clearly, the bar for surreal shit can be pushed a little higher, press conferences with putty'd and makeup'd bodies in Iraq being the norm these days.

Let some of the Hollywood people get their hands on the bodies before they rot.. Make sure to get good 3d models done. At some point or another, they are going to need some rockin' shows for Iraq's TV networks.. "Saddam and Sons" could be a hit.

Remember, if we want to rebuild Iraq and be on good terms with the people, we need to give them what they want.. If you have been paying attention, that's Demoraracy, Whiskey, and Sexy. We took this golden opportunity to win some mindshare with the Iraqi people, and completely botched it. You read what Salam Pax said, he wants a street party! You don't just apply some makeup and show the bodies, damnit. This is America here doing the liberating, and we are capable of so much _more_. There needed to be lights, laser beams, and animatronic dancing Qusay/Uday taxomy wonders dressed in red, white, and blue.. All with some kinda "Don't Mess with Texas" theme woven in. Something with a very festive feel.

I continue to be disappointed with this administration. In order to ridiclue them anymore, I'm forced to shove my tongue so far into my cheek, it comes out of my ass.. I don't like the taste. Therefore, I am voting for "Not Bush" in the next election.. Does anyone know who that is yet?

Arabs shocked by TV images of Saddam's sons

] The parents of Ghyslain Raza, the Quebec teenager who
] became a celebrity this spring after classmates posted on
] the Internet a video of him mimicking a Star Wars
] character, allege that their son was so humiliated by the
] experience that he had to get psychiatric care.
]
] The revelation is made in a lawsuit his parents have
] filed against the families of four classmates they accuse
] of maliciously turning their son into an object of
] mockery.

] One group collected more than $3,000 (U.S.), which they
] used to buy him an Apple iPod portable music player.
]
] In the excerpts from Internet chats filed in court, the
] four appear to be plotting ways to get the gifts sent to
] another address so they can keep the iPod for themselves.

Evil.

Globetechnology | Star Wars Kid Sues

] When I mentioned in last week's column that I would this
] week be writing about a legal way to do a successful
] music downloading business -- a business that would
] threaten the Recording Industry Association of America
] and its hegemony -- dozens of readers wrote to me trying
] to predict what I would write. Some readers came at the
] problem from a purely technical perspective, ignoring the
] fact that the real issues here aren't technical but
] legal. Some readers took a legal approach, but they
] tended to ignore the business model. Some were looking
] solely for the business model. Interestingly, nobody
] even came close to my idea, which makes me either a total
] loon or a diabolical genius. Truth be told, I'm probably
] more of a diabolical loon.
]
]
] The reason I am even writing this column is two-fold.
] The biggest reason is simply because I would like people
] to consider lateral solutions to problems. I am pushing
] the concept of problem solving in a new way. There is no
] particular methodology here, just the underlying concept
] that if things aren't working the way you like, think of
] something different. Too often, people restrict their
] thinking or they somehow expect the world to change just
] for them, which it won't. But taking a lateral approach
] often yields interesting results. And once you've found
] an approach, maybe it can be applied to a different
] problem. What I am abo

Cringely's crazy idea

] The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to
] overturn controversial rules adopted by the Federal
] Communications Commission that would greatly increase
] the number of television stations a single company is
] allowed to own.
]
] The FCC last month voted to ease ownership restrictions,
] lifting the national broadcast "cap" -- or reach of any
] single company -- to 45 percent of the national market
] from 35 percent and letting TV, radio and newspaper
] companies buy each other more freely.
]
] But by a vote of 400 to 21 the House rejected those
] changes.

Thank GOD!!! Stick THAT in your pipe and smoke it, Clear Channel.

US House of Representatives nixes FCC rules expanding ownership

] "MIT recently received a subpoena from the Recording
] Industry Association of America that was issued under the
] terms of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The
] subpoena requests the name and address of the individual
] whose computer was, according to the RIAA, sending out
] copyrighted songs on the Internet.
]
] "A different federal law, the Family Education Rights and
] Privacy Act, prohibits colleges and universities from
] disclosing information about students except in certain
] situations.

MIT responds to RIAA subpoena

] The movie industry announced a broad new anti-piracy
] public education campaign today, with commercials set to
] appear on all six broadcast television networks, more
] than two dozen cable channels and in 5,000 movie theaters
] nationwide.
]
] The ads are scheduled to launch at the same time on all
] participating channels during prime-time telecasts on
] Thursday. They also are slated to run between previews
] showing before Friday night's movies. Encompassing one
] 30-second and five 65-second spots, the campaign asks
] consumers not to digitally download unauthorized versions
] of movies they may find on the Internet.
]
] The spots feature actor Ben Affleck and "Titanic"
] director James Cameron, but they focus on
] behind-the-scenes movie employees, such as set painters,
] security guards, costumers, editors and theater
] concessionaires who make up the bulk of the industry's
] 580,000 workers. The point of the campaign is to persuade
] illegal downloaders that they are stealing paycheck money
] not just from multi-millionaire stars but from regular
] working folks -- folks like them.

Comments from Dementia:

Now, I understand that this may be the case. I sympathize with "the little guys." And when Hollywood puts out a film I like, I go to the theatre and see it, and later I buy it on DVD - I don't get a crappy pirated copy, I want quality. But if they're putting out the same old crap, well, I'm not going, and I'm not buying.

But this blatant heart-string-ing makes me ill. "Aw, look at these poor guys... but don't mind us millionaires/billionaires over here, though." If they really felt so bad about the little guy, they wouldn't fight union contracts so hard, and they'd be more open to independent filmmakers. And maybe some of these CEOs would take a pay cut to up the wages for the guys who aren't able to "put together 12 straight months" (from the article). There was a meme not too long ago about Keanu Reeves giving something like 75% of what he made back to his stunt crew because he didn't feel they were compensated enough - maybe Big Hollywood should take a cue.

Screw you, Big Hollywood. I don't buy your play.

Movie Industry Unveils Anti-Piracy Public Education Campaign (TechNews.com)

Music Industry Wins 871 Subpoenas Against Internet Users.

...and they are not just going after people offering large amounts of mp3s either...

Notice the slightly conflicting statements:

" The trade group for the largest music labels, the Washington-based RIAA, previously indicated its lawyers would target Internet users who offer substantial collections of MP3 song files but declined to say how many songs might qualify for a lawsuit."

"We are identifying substantial infringers and we're going to whatever entity is providing (Internet) service for that potential infringer,"

[Brain21]So from these statements we think that, as the RIAA said a few weeks ago, they are only going after people who have huge mp3 collections online. However, other statements in the article show that this may not be true:

"In some cases, subpoenas cite as few as five songs as "representative recordings" of music files available for downloading from these users."

"the RIAA asked Depaul on July 2 to track down a user known as "anon39023" who was allegedly offering at least eight songs."

FOXNews.com

flynn23 wrote:
] So the bottomline here is that Memestreams could easily plug
] into a lot of toolsets used in the KM universe (mailing lists,
] BBS's, content management, change management, etc) as a
] reputation engine to help drive up utilization. You get the
] benefit of working with a B2B market, in a very legitimate and
] hot sector, and you're solving a very real problem with
] adoption of that sector. Bling Bling!

Yep, I pretty much agree with you.. This particular line of thought has been around since the beginning of the project. Tom did the search plugin for OSX awhile back, shooting at the "agumented memory system" thing, sort of like Steve Mann has in his heads up display. The ability to take notes, mark resources, etc, and be able to pull then up at will based upon keyword searches. Different from what you were talking about, but I'm sure its clear how these things play in the same space..

From the tech side: I think alot of these ideas will be easier to pursue when we impliment a web services API. Expect the blogger and metaweblog APIs to get supported, but there will be more. I want every function that exists in the site, to be available for use thru an API. For MemeStreams to be useful in the enterprise, it would have to be able to tie in very directly with existing infrastructure. Web services is how that will happen. And to _really_ make it work for enterprise uses, we will need to have a more decentralized architecture, and probably will need to be able to OEM our technology so that it can operate completely _inside_ the enterprise.

On the biz side: A shitload of research would need to be done, analysing what the enterprise wants & needs, before it makes any sense to really push into that space. Think MBA type thoughts, and it becomes clear that we are _not_ ready to push into any space with the word "enterprise" in it. And honestly, there are _very_ big players in that space right now. Look at how much buzz has been around the blog in the enterprise lately. Having an idea that can make money in the enterprise is one thing.. Having a way to produce & market that idea is another, and its more important. We don't have that peice, and its not an easy peice to get. I think we will be able to get other peices first.

The focus of things is on personal web publishing & interaction, and will likely stay there for awhile. (There are revenue models there too) We will be able to make the site compelling for the average web user who wants to publish "whatever" and discuss it, long before its going to be really tasty for business enterprise uses. Currently, we have the luxury of low operating costs, so I think we should continue to drive in that direction for awhile. If we aim directly for enterprise users, I think we are going to shoot right over what will become the center of our user base, that being the average end-user.. Ie, the type of fo... [ Read More (0.3k in body) ]

RE: A business model for Memestreams

LA to SF:

linksys 00:04:5A:F5:8C:FD No
Beach 00:04:5A:EE:DE:F1 No
linksys 00:06:25:89:49:2F No
cryptorepublic.net 00:30:AB:0B:24:56 No
linksys 00:06:25:B6:10:E1 No
NETGEAR 00:09:5B:4D:6C:26 No
Front Computer 02:00:33:C6:AD:E7 No
burundi 00:09:5B:3E:3E:86 No
Home 00:50:F2:CA:7D:44 Yes
2WIRE563 00:02:2D:89:BB:60 Yes
gianttcr0 00:06:25:97:F8:32 No
ANY 00:60:B3:6F:7F:88 No
linksys 00:06:25:59:C5:58 Yes
Denise's Airport 00:03:93:ED:6E:C7 Yes
linksys 00:06:25:B4:0D:87 No
Ali's Appt. Wireless Network 00:09:5B:24:7D:CA No
CASAMARINA 00:02:A5:2D:67:EB No
Apple Network 054fc1 00:30:65:05:4F:C1 No
linksys 00:04:5A:2E:18:D9 No
edwardii 00:06:25:55:8E:6E Yes
Wireless 00:09:5B:11:73:40 No
Mercury Interactive 00:02:2D:30:4E:43 No
default 00:40:05:C3:1E:C3 No
linksys 00:04:5A:FA:23:A7 No
linksys 00:06:25:B3:FC:C9 No
dbw 00:02:6F:01:C9:B9 No
garnetcaptive 00:04:5A:EE:58:3D Yes
metrosportsf 00:80:C8:B0:6A:6E Yes
Kingman 00:80:C8:0B:89:30 Yes
linksys 00:06:25:6D:C4:89 No
laurel 00:06:25:9A:B9:C2 No
linksys 00:06:25:B9:5B:AA No
westie14 00:06:25:B6:35:D3 No
kps95 00:40:96:34:F2:14 No
jeff1j 00:06:25:B9:69:79 No
linksys 00:06:25:62:FF:78 No
LANPARTY 00:04:5A:DD:4A:23 Yes
linksys 00:06:25:DF:44:0D No
WGIPS 00:90:4B:08:1D:6D Yes
Wireless 00:09:5B:27:37:6E No
2WIRE661 00:02:2D:8D:30:D0 Yes
firehorse 00:03:93:ED:F9:65 Yes
wireless 00:90:4B:32:AA:3E No
default 00:40:05:CA:B2:6E No
tmobile 00:40:96:56:4B:05 No
linksys 00:06:25:7D:84:9B No
San Fran 00:30:65:0A:02:60 No
SurfandSip 00:90:4B:21:42:AE No
linksys 00:06:... [ Read More (2.9k in body) ]

I'm back! :)

Drove up Rt 1 from LA. Thats a _really_ fun drive.

While I was gone, someone stole the 101's Fell St exit..