Now that they’re being sued on racketeering grounds, the RIAA says “to hell with appearances” and files suit against a 14-year-old girl.
Candy Chan might have succeeded in getting charges against her dismissed, but in claiming victory, she probably didn’t have much of an idea that the music cartel would proceed to file suit against her 14-year-old daughter specifically requesting that the court appoint a “legal guardian” for her. Whatever happens in this case, it’ll probably be less embarassing than some of their previous cock-ups.

I suspect that if this case gets thrown out as well, the RIAA’s next step will be to simply kill and eat the girl whole and unboned.

When all the zebras keep together as a big group, the pattern of each zebra’s stripes blends in with the stripes of the zebras around it. This is confusing to the lion, who sees a large, moving, striped mass instead of many individual zebras. The lion has trouble picking out any one zebra, and so it doesn’t have a very good plan of attack. It’s hard for the lion to even recognize which way each zebra is moving: Imagine the difference in pursuing one animal and charging into an amorphous blob of animals moving every which way. The lion’s inability to distinguish zebras also makes it more difficult for it to target and track weaker zebras in the herd.

So do zebra stripes confuse zebras as much as they confuse lions? Oddly enough, while making zebras indistinguishable to other animals, zebra stripes actually help zebras recognize one another. Stripe patterns are like zebra fingerprints: Every zebra has a slightly different arrangement. Zoologists believe this is how zebras distinguish who’s who in a zebra herd.

Human pattern recognition is very good – it’s one of the things we are really known for – so we can tell that the above photo is different zebras, and not just one big mass of zebra-something. But try to count them.

Go ahead, try it, I’ll wait.

No, really, how many zebras are in that picture?

OK. You counted the heads, and then you got confused in the bodies. That’s your pattern recognition at work; because you are human, you’re strongly biased towards finding differences in faces. You can recognize different people by tiny differences in their faces, and your brain is actually optimized for that task.

A zebra would look at that picture and say right away, oh sure, there are 11 zebras. A lion would look at it and say, I have no idea, it’s a big pack, how annoying, the gazelle next door is easier.

[Quote:]

Both the FBI and CIA are calling it the first case of espionage in the White House in modern history.

Officials tell ABC News the alleged spy worked undetected at the White House for almost three years. Leandro Aragoncillo, 46, was a U.S. Marine most recently assigned to the staff of Vice President Dick Cheney.

“I don’t know of a case where the vetting broke down before and resulted in a spy being in the White House,” said Richard Clarke, a former White House advisor who is now an ABC News consultant.

Federal investigators say Aragoncillo, a naturalized citizen from the Philippines, used his top secret clearance to steal classified intelligence documents from White House computers.

In 2000, Aragoncillo worked on the staff of then-Vice President Al Gore. When interviewed by Philippine television, he remarked how valued Philippine employees were at the White House.

“I think what they like most is our integrity and loyalty,” Aragoncillo said.

(please note, republican readers – this guy started working under Gore, I’m not bashing W on this one. But you have to admit, when it rains it pours.)

In 1974, an assistant to Berlin Mayor Willy Brandt was discovered to have been spying for the East Germans. It had nothing to do with Brandt, except that the guy had been working for him, and there was nothing in the world for Brandt to do but take responsibility for that. So he resigned. I find the exact quote, my google-fu is lacking today, but his resignation was built around the idea that it wasn’t enough that he (Brandt) was “innocent” as regards his intentions or actions. He said something like that the most important thing was that the citizens of Germany be able to trust their leaders, and that he had quite unintentionally betrayed their trust. Something about how no one was doing anyone any favors by continuing to lead in the absence of trust.

Da’s dik een 45000 euri per automaat! Da’s dik een ton oude guldens! Per. Auto. Maat.

Wow.

Schenken ze vast en zeker goudmerk…

[Quote:]

Last night I appeared on the conservative TV talk show The O’Reilly Factor, ostensibly to talk about political blogs and the impact they are having on the American political process.

Or so I was told by the two producers for the show who spent over an hour pre-interviewing me. Unbeknownst to me, however, the show turned out to be a total set-up job in which host Bill O’Reilly and guest Jed Babbin spent the entire time attacking the web site Media Matters for having posted commentary in the past critical of them both.

If you’re interested in how shows like the O’Reilly Factor work, then let me explain how the ambush against Media Matters — and against political blogs in general — came about.

[Quote:]

The federal prosecutor investigating who leaked the identity of a CIA operative is expected to signal within days whether he intends to bring indictments in the case, legal sources close to the investigation said on Wednesday.

As a first step, prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald was expected to notify officials by letter if they have become targets, said the lawyers, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Fitzgerald could announce plea agreements, bring indictments, or conclude that no crime was committed. By the end of this month he is expected to wrap up his nearly two-year-old investigation into who leaked CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity.

The inquiry has ensnared President George W. Bush’s top political adviser, Karl Rove, and Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, Lewis “Scooter” Libby. The White House had long maintained that Rove and Libby had nothing to do with the leak but reporters have since named them as sources.

Rove’s attorney, Robert Luskin, declined to say whether his client had been contacted by Fitzgerald. In the past, Luskin has said that Rove was assured that he was not a target.

Libby’s lawyer was not immediately available to comment.

[Quote:]

Energiebedrijven berekenen de CO2-rechten die zij gratis hebben ontvangen grotendeels door in de stroomprijs. Voor grootverbruikers steeg de gemiddelde elektriciteitsprijs in het eerste halfjaar hierdoor met 5 a 23 procent. Volgend jaar zullen ook huishoudens de rekening van de CO2-rechten gepresenteerd krijgen.

Dat bleek woensdag uit een rapport van het Energieonderzoek Centrum Nederland (ECN). In de eerste zes maanden werd 39 tot 55 procent van de uitstootrechten doorberekend in de groothandelsprijs, berekende ECN.

De energiebedrijven en grote industrieën ontvingen begin dit jaar gratis emissie-rechten voor CO2. Stoten de bedrijven meer koolstofdioxide uit dan hun quotum, dan moeten zij rechten bijkopen. Zo willen regeringen, conform de afspraken van Kyoto, de uitstoot terugdringen.

(via)

You see a large shipping crate. It has been wrapped in chains and secured with a stout padlock. Curiously, each link is engraved with the letters “BSA.”

> unlock crate
[unlocking the padlock instead.]
[using the key embossed with "EA".]

The mechanism turns with difficulty, but eventually the padlock springs open.

> open crate
[removing the chains first, which fall to the concrete floor in an enormous clatter.]

The top of the crate slides off easily. Something gleams inside. Treasure, perhaps?

> examine treasure

Dozens of brightly colored, shiny boxes fill the crate, reflecting the harsh warehouse lighting. A piece of parchment, covered with writing, sits on top.

> read parchment
[Taking the parchment first.]

“Welcome, adventure seeker! The Interactive Fiction Gnomes have been slaving away, preparing this year’s competition, and you are one of the many lucky recipients of their largesse. These are entirely free games, modeled after the Infocom classics of yesteryear. You should be able to run these on nearly any machine. NOTE: certain commercial software interests would prefer that you remain ignorant of these products. Should last year’s shipment have mysteriously gone astray, be sure to request a new one. This year’s polls close November 15. Enjoy!”

> take treasure

[Quote:]

Bob Dylan is singing “The Times They Are A-Changin’ ” in a television ad for healthcare giant Kaiser Permanente these days, and who could argue? With Led Zeppelin pitching Cadillacs, the Rolling Stones strutting in an Ameriquest Mortgage ad and Paul McCartney warbling for Fidelity Investments, it’s clear that the old counterculture heroes of classic rock are now firmly entrenched as the house band of corporate America.

That only makes the case of John Densmore all the more intriguing.

Once, back when rock ‘n’ roll still seemed dangerous, Densmore was the drummer for the Doors, the band with dark hits such as “Light My Fire” and “People Are Strange.” That band more or less went into the grave with lead singer Jim Morrison in 1971, but, like all top classic-rock franchises, it now has the chance to exploit a lucrative afterlife in television commercials. Offers keep coming in, such as the $15 million dangled by Cadillac last year to lease the song “Break On Through (to the Other Side)” to hawk its luxury SUVs.

To the surprise of the corporation and the chagrin of his former bandmates, Densmore vetoed the idea. He said he did the same when Apple Computer called with a $4-million offer, and every time “some deodorant company wants to use ‘Light My Fire.’ ”

The reason? Prepare to get a lump in your throat � or to roll your eyes.

“People lost their virginity to this music, got high for the first time to this music,” Densmore said. “I’ve had people say kids died in Vietnam listening to this music, other people say they know someone who didn’t commit suicide because of this music�. On stage, when we played these songs, they felt mysterious and magic. That’s not for rent.”

That not only sets the Doors apart from the long, long list of classic rock acts that have had their songs licensed for major U.S. commercial campaigns, it also has added considerably to Densmore’s estrangement from former bandmates Ray Manzarek and Robbie Krieger, a trio that last set eyes on one another in the Los Angeles County Superior Courthouse last year.

“Everyone wanted him to do it,” said John Branca, an attorney who worked on the Cadillac proposal. “I told him that, really, people don’t frown on this anymore. It’s considered a branding exercise for the music. He told me he just couldn’t sell a song to a company that was polluting the world.

“I shook my head,” Branca said, “but, hey, you have to respect that. How many of your principles would you reconsider when people start talking millions of dollars?”

Densmore relented once. Back in the 1970s, he agreed to let “Riders on the Storm” be used to sell Pirelli Tires in a TV spot in England. When he saw it he was sick. “I gave every cent to charity. Jim’s ghost was in my ear, and I felt terrible. If I needed proof that it was the wrong thing to do, I got it.”

What country should USA invade after Iraq?

This reminds of a Dutch TV show, years and years ago, where the interviewer asked people to put a pin in the map at the location they were at.

[Quote:]

David Dingwall resigned Wednesday as president of the Royal Canadian Mint amid controversy over his failure to register as a lobbyist and expenses he filed while heading up the Crown corporation.

Head of the Mint resigns because felt he wasn’t making enough money. Hmmmmm….

[Quote:]

Finnish Parliament approved today a controversial new copyright legislation, based on European Union’s Copyright Directive (EUCD). The legislation sparked enormous opposition from worried citizens, but despite the public critique even in mainstream media, the parties currently in coalition government decided to approve the legislation without further modifications.

Legislation has several confusing details and extremely badly worded chapters, making it one of the most draconian versions of EUCD in Europe. Once Finland’s president (who has right to veto the law, but the right is used extremely rarely) approves the legislation, it will come into effect, typically within few months.

As Finland has traditionally enjoyed quite relaxed copyright legislation, the change is dramatic. Previously, copying for own personal use (whether you owned the CD/DVD/book/whatever) was perfectly legal and the authors were compensated by blank media levy. Now, the blank media levy will remain in place, but at least the following things will change:

• Circumventing copy protections, even for personal use, will be illegal. (it states so in the law, even tho the government tried to argue that the right wont be pursued by government, but nothing stops record labels, movie studios, etc to do so)
• Distributing (even for free) tools (whether physical devices or software) that allow circumventing copy protection mechanisms will be illegal. (this includes DVD rippers, tools that allow copying copy-protected CDs, etc)
• Advertising tools that allow circumventing copy protection mechanisms will be illegal. (and the law doesn’t state how advertising is determined. So, basically simply linking to a page that has DVD ripper downloads from your own site can be considered “advertising”)
• Possession of tools that allow circumventing copy protection mechanisms will be illegal. Even for personal use.
• Guides on how to circumvent copy protection mechanisms can be considered as “tools” and thus are also illegal.
• Worryingly, even “organized discussion” on how to circumvent copy protection mechanisms, will be illegal. (and no, Finland doesn’t have similar to American Supreme Court that determines whether laws are against constitution, but when laws are approved, they by default are in harmony with constitution and can’t be later overturned on basis that they are un-constitutional)

Ironically, Finnish education minister, Ms. Tanja Karpela, argued that “only 1 percent of current music CDs include copy protection mechanisms”, thus making the legislation invisible to users. However, she forgot to mention that virtually 100 percent of DVDs do have copy protection and therefor the former right to backup and copy DVDs will disappear. Also, by using at least some level of logic, one can assume that once breaking copy-protection mechanisms will be illegal, most new CDs will feature such mechanism.

So, basically — buy a portable MP3 player and a copy-protected CD. And you can’t copy the music from the CD to your MP3 player legally any more, as you’d break law if you circumvent the copy protection mechanism found on CD.

According to the new legislation, it is a lesser offense to download an illegal than to rip a copy-protected CD-wannabe you have paid for. I wonder how long it’s going to take to sue the Finish government for breaking the UN Human Rights charter:

Article 19
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Article 20
1. Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
2. No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

And take the “we won’t persue copying” claim, in practice, to mean that people will continue pirating, but only those who politically are the enemies of the record labels will be singled out for it. Want to download the entire Led Zeppelin song catalog, in clear and obvious violation of law? No one will stop you. Want to create an innovative new software program which could change the way music is distributed, but which incidentally could maybe be used to pirate music? Prepare to have the copyright directive, and tens of thousands of dollars in legal bills, come down on your head. This law is purely to protect a failing business model, the politicians were bought, plain and simple. The EU was sold to us as an economic union. Then we were told we needed a constitution. That the EU would guard our basic rights.

Well, thanks a lot you bastards. Thanks a lot for the corruption and injustice you’ve brought with you. Seems like old Finnish legislation was doing a better job until your directives forced it to change.

[Quote:]

An unusual clash between a 6-foot (1.8m) alligator and a 13-foot (3.9m) python has left two of the deadliest predators dead in Florida’s swamps.

The Burmese python tried to swallow its fearsome rival whole but then exploded.

The remains of the two giant reptiles were found by astonished rangers in the Everglades National Park.

The rangers say the find suggests that non-native Burmese pythons might even challenge alligators’ leading position in the food chain in the swamps.