At multi-part article at Daily Kos discusses different ways technology can or is being used to track people. Beware some of the items discussed may give you the shivers…
Monthly Archive for April, 2006
Page 3 of 4
An article from Fast Company tells the story of Josh Rushing an ex-Marine who has resigned his commission within the US army to become a host on Al Jazeera International (AJI). This would be a new channel in English aimed at reaching a larger population, set to launch in Spring AJI has already poached staff from the BBC and CNN. Right wing channels like Fox have declared war on Rushing with photos of him labelled with “traitor” having been aired…
Rushing can be seen here in a film called ‘Control Room’ that discusses none other than Al Jazira recently shown at the Sundance Film Festival. Moorish Girl does a great review of the film that can still be read in the blog archives.
Yet another example of how I feel I’m sometimes living in a different world :
Bloggers have suggested that a special-ops team “take him out.”.
The article continues to explain how Rushing made a few unusual decisions and was fed up of being told by the US Army that he couldn’t comment on anything to journalists. So the army seems to have pushed him into a job at Al Jazeera International in trying to keep him quiet. Al Jazira that is obviously behind the launch of Al Jazira International has previously shown the world that channels like Fox are showing the US only part of the story but is this is a reason to have fanatic bloggers to start preaching death and suggesting a fatwa on him !!??
I also suspect that the Al Jazira International project has similar goals to Jacques Chirac’s French international news channel project : a French CNN to provide another view on what is happening around us. So when can we expect a global Chinese equivalent to CNN ?
In a New York Times article, journalist Jack Hitt discusses the effects that criminalizing abortion has had on El Salvador. The article is not only nicely written it slowly brings you in to a country that’s catholic beliefs are putting women in prison for up to 30 years should they have, or participate in, an abortion. I actually read the first paragraph twice because I was so astonished by the setting for the article. The article spans out over 9 web pages and you need to register with the New York Times site to read it. The New York Times is however a valuable source of content and like this article it is well worth registering with the site. Registration is free by the way…
The article was an eye opener for me. Learning that South Dakota and soon Mississippi uphold anti-abortion laws that only accept cases where the life of the mother is at risk excluding pregnancy due to rape and incest was astonishing. In El Salvador however there are no exceptions !
The effects described are not what you would have expected and it’s not a simple black and white “criminalizing abortion is good or bad”. Events demonstrate that leaving no choice is a source of the up most psychological turmoil for the women confronted with the issue.
One point in the article that I found interesting is the question of who is prosecuted. Parties upholding the criminalization of abortion seem to find it difficult to say they will prosecute the women aborting, preferring to indicate that the people organising abortions are the real culprits without really clarifying anything else. Women do seem to be treated as criminals though during most investigations described.
It just shows how events can be extremely difficult and take time to get over in one country and will destroy your life as you know it in another.
My dear friends Christine and François brought me a thank you note on Sunday. I’d helped out over the phone with Windows XP installation support. Passing on knowledge from having worked at a software company !
However, guess what happens when you put the thank you note on an external hard drive that uses the aluminium casing to enhance heat dissipation :
The chocolate slowly melts as the two hard drives in it dissipate their heat !
It’s going to be fun when I get to the bottom, maybe I’ll start sharing them when I get there 
And thanks 
An interesting article on the Guardian unlimited web site today about how Harry Potter books have transformed the publishing company Bloomsbury, for better or for worse. The success of the Harry Potter is so undeniable that it is appropriately described as a “the greatest phenomenon in publishing history” by Bloomsbury founding editor Liz Calder. The effect on Bloomsbury however is still uncertain; JK Rowling’s magically mastered success has provided the publishers with a tremendous amount of available cash. If this cash is used wisely it may well keep Bloomsbury in it’s position of the “most successful independent publisher in Britain by far”. This cash, competitors are complaining, has enabled Bloomsbury to steal numerous deals from under their noses.
It is curious to read how some feel that Bloomsbury is loosing it’s soul : “The Bloomsbury culture used to be all about growing authors. Now they’re acting more like a big publisher – and perhaps overpaying,” says Geller. “The challenge is not losing their identity. They have to preserve the values of their brand.” Only time will tell if the wise decision to taken on Rowling is just the first of many…
Click here to read the article on the Guardian
Bloomsbury is also in the news for having just started offering digital downloadable versions of 24 books.
This venture also seems to be in light of Nigel Newton’s (chief executive of Bloomsbury) will to find an interesting way to counter Google that is offering parts of the book for free. Newton said “Google I do have a problem with, as they’re giving away segments of books for free”, see this post on the BookFace blog for more details.
This leads to another discussion on the value of Google scanning books and this blog seems to give Google reason too easily when discussing inappropriate advertising. It seems a bit naive to me to say well magazines do it so why criticise Google !? Financing such a project is obviously important but not at any cost. It refers to another article from the Guardian (this article is from a speech by Newton and is also referred to in the BookFace blog). I have already discussed how I feel that Google’s AdSense is not a good service when you can’t choose not to display certain adverts, especially when they turn out to be your close competitors ads !
Further reading on this topic lead me to a blog by Mike Collins and an article about how Amazon seems to have frightened publishers somewhat with new services allowing for people to access digital books from anywhere in the world. Novel concept there : being able to access content from anywhere in the world, sounds a bit like a thing called the World Wide Web ! This stance of fighting for the old way things used to be done and trying to stop anything changing was what lead the music industry to the MP3 fiasco. It sounds like, rather than look at ways to adapt the old to the new, it’s once again the will to stop change at all costs that is getting the better ! I wonder how the UK edition of Harry Potter is different to the US edition !?
A quote from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night that seems to fit this very Shakespearean story of a war between two prestigious Apples…
On one side a music company called Apple Corps founded in 1968 by The Beatles and on the other a computer/software company called Apple Computer founded in 1976 that is now famous for it’s product the iPod but also iTunes both of which have brought Apple Computer to the forefront of the music industry’s attention.
However both companies came to an agreement in 1991 that prevented Apple (the computer one) from going into the music market. The issue seems to be with the selling of pre-recorded music. They have obviously not been able to come to some amicable agreement over this change of heart since Apple Corp has taken Apple Computer to court and a ruling is expected shortly…
Justice Edward Mann presiding over the case cut Apple Computer’s lawyer short when they were explaining how Apple software worked with an “I’ve got it and I use it”. Some articles I’ve read about this were curious as to why a recusal wasn’t requested !!?? Also the judge is supposed to have asked each party if they minded that he himself owned an iPod. Imagine nearly getting into trouble over owning an iPod !
Some interesting information that has come out concerning this trial is that the current boss of Apple Corps, Neil Aspinall, quotes Steve Jobs as having admitted to him that Apple Computer had been named after the record label.
Can you tell the difference between the two logos ? And do you need a photo to remember who the Beatles are ?
But when considering the raw facts of the case “What you will” call the real motivation is neither romantic courtship between two famous Apples nor negotiations in disguise (rumours of negotiations of inclusion of The Beatles in iTunes) but rather about bringing the opponent to his knees in order to claim the bounty.
To come back to the title, money does seem to be the reason that prevails in this case. On the one hand it is difficult to uphold that one could mistake Apple the record label with Apple Computer especially with regards to the design of the logo. The dispute however seems mainly about the fact that the agreement was that Apple Computer would not use the Apple logo to sell music which is what they are now doing…
Update: In a Washinton Post article today (April 13, 2006) it has been confirmed that the Beatles are ready to ‘join the online Revolution’, well, as soon as they are ready; digitally remastered versions of their songs are being made at the moment. Aspinall, quoted in the WP article, from a court statement says :
I think it would be wrong to offer downloads of the old masters when I am making new masters
So Beatles fans like myslef will be able to get digital versions of our favourite songs, maybe from iTunes !? LOL
Yesterday I posted a video about a cat, sorry cats, that talk to their owners. Today I was reading an article on the Guardian about blogs and rewards they gave out to blogs they considered worthy. Well there is this blog called Scaryduck and well I took a look at it and why it came first is beyond me especially when you look at the runners up…
A runner up called imakecontent is really interesting, notably this article that talks about how several US TV channels are just airing content directly from the PR guy’s mouth without checking it and sometimes even trying to disguise it as news !!
Then I came across blogjam that I find nicely written, nicely presented and funny. Also Charlotte (from one of the plays) would love it ! Why ? Well, she’s not a teenager but she likes dogs, cats and babies, I’m not really sure of the order here but I’m sure going to be sending her the link to kittenwar.com so she click away to her hearts content. I can just see her going “aaaah”, “oooh look at that one” “Oh isn’t that one cute”. Although frankly I’m a bit worried that Charlotte might mess her exams up being stuck in front of kittenwar.com and not being able to pull away from it. Why ? Well don’t tell anyone but I have just clicked through (hold on let me count) 26 cats ! Yeah OK kittens look cute and some cats look nice, but just imagine what Charlotte is going to be like who luuves cats. Maybe not a great idea. Maybe I should wait until after her exams…
This video is pretty exceptional as it goes on because you think wow that is cool, I would have liked to have been there and then…
maybe it’s quite nice sitting here behind your screen looking at it
Note: video length : 2 min 49 sec
Well I know this may sound to be a weird question but after seeing the below video you may not react the same way. It’s very funny in any case
See what I mean ?
I must say I don’t really like either cats or dogs and prefer humans, mainly…
Note: video length : 1 min 10 sec
Just a short note to say that I would really appreciate it if people sending me emails whether I know you or not, would please do not send me “chain emails”. For those that are lucky and don’t know what this is, it consists of picking up or creating an email that is supposed to be cute, lucky, interesting or all of the above and try to make people think that without sending it to as many people as they can they will be unlucky. So I have already had quite a few promising emails. Among other things, i was promised that my hair would grow back, that my penis would get bigger, that I would become rich etc. and nothing like that has happened LOL;) so be a sport, please leave me out from now on…
BTW, I’m losing my hair OK like everybody above a certain age, but I’m far from bald yet…
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