Journalists are trying to avoid anonymous sources these days, but in this article — about intellectual property ethics, file trading, and wire fraud — they seem to have forgotten to inform those sources that they now publish names: “Yeah, I’ve turned away from file-swapping and started fleecing companies like BMG, said Jill Beady, a senior at the Eastman School of Music, who asked not to be identified.
Update, moments later: apparently a joke article.
Saturday Saturday Saturday!
At one this afternoon I was at the Boston Book Fair and also the print fair, where Megan and I looked at, for example, an eleven-thousand dollar first edition of Dune. We got a 19th century print from Japan, but it was, let’s say, in the three-figure range. Closer to the two-figure range.
Then, on to The New England Motorcycle Expo, which had a decidedly different tone. As in, The New Jersey Bikini Team was there. I got to sit on a twelve thousand dollar motorcycle. They didn’t let me sit on the twelve thousand dollar copy of “Valley of the Dolls,” I’ll tell you that much.
Plus, the lemonade stand at the book fair had a sign about not going near books with lemonade, whereas the lemondade stand at the motorcycle fair had a sign about how for two dollars extra you could have your lemonade with vodka in it.
Finally!
Finally! The mp3 file of my brother’s late-night phone messages!
This has been delayed because I almost never boot to the Windows partition, which has legitimate mp3-related software.
Those of you who still use Windows: Contact me and let me tell you why you should use Linux, or consider the OGG FORMAT or both.
At least you’re using Firefox and not IE, right?
Songs of the day: Axel F, which is Pete Goodall’s cell phone ringtone, dammit, you son of a bitch. And “99 problems.”
Also I should note the long-overdue addition of Kristy and Pat to the left hand nav, for those of you who don’t just read this through some sort of RSS aggregator.
Today at a bar I asked a stranger if she respected someone less if she found out they worked in marketing. She said, as long as they market something worthwhile, no. What do you think of headhunters? And I got halfway through rolling my eyes before I realized she and all her friends were headhunters, and so she and her friends nearly killed us all and pickled our heads. Instead we raised glasses and said “cheers” and laughed. It was OK. Downtown bars are like that.
Trade Policy, RSS Policy
First: yes, I fixed my RSS feed so it shows the whole post. I had cut it down while I was syndicated on Planet N, because I was SO off topic for that feed. But eventually I decided I should just be off that page generally since I’m so off-topic.
And here are two links about why I think our current government should have been voted out: Our stupid trade policy and our even stupider security policy.
More Legal Silliness: Copyright on Scantily Clad Women
How to Hit a Bullseye
You will need:
- Red, white and blue paint
- A bow and arrow
- A barn or other suitable large wall
To hit the bullseye:
- Using the bow, fire the arrow at the side of the barn.
- Paint a small red circle around the area where the arrow strikes the barn.
- Paint concentric circles outwards from this spot.
You’re done!
From Lessig, Gates on Patent Law
Lessig, quoting Gates: “If people had understood how patents would be granted when most of today’s ideas were invented and had taken out patents, the industry would be at a complete standstill today. The solution . . . is patent exchanges . . . and patenting as much as we can. . . . A future start-up with no patents of its own will be forced to pay whatever price the giants choose to impose. That price might be high: Established companies have an interest in excluding future competitors.”
I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that someone’s reaction to a travesty of justice is “take advantage of it” rather than “make it right” but it’s not the way I was raised.
More Casual Catastrophe
We’ve known for years that these laws are irrational and cruel and so, well… we keep them because they are popular. Because irrational cruelty is, despite all they might say, a deeply held American value: torture, intolerance, hate, murder. Ooh, but it’s unpatriotic to point out flaws in our moral complexion.
Sorry.
One for Brad
Brad DeLong often rages at the poor quality of our national press corps but even the people he criticizes seem to have quite high standards, compared to the technology press. Legitimate newsmedia don’t have the problem of articles that quote blogs and pretend they’ve conducted an interview or journalists who do no research whatsoever and just write down any criticism they can find, no matter how blatant the lie.
Well, maybe the mainstream and political press do have problems with the blatant lying part. But I haven’t seen the mainstream press use such sloppy attribution that it quotes a website and implies it’s actually spoken with the writer.
Invitation
I have finally gotten around to placing yet another order at Father’s Country Hams, makers of some of the best salty, smoky pork and beef. All I need to do now is find a pot big enough to cook it, and people to eat it with: the ham on its way is between thirteen and fifteen pounds, dry.
Date suggestions begin now. Eveyone is welcome. Extra bonus for anyone who volunteers to bring collard greens, hoppin’ john, spoonbread, pecan pie, pralines, crayfish, bourbon, corn whiskey, biscuits, blood pressure medication, cardiac defillibrators or angioplasty equipment.
