The quality is bad but Warner Bros. is hard pressed to stop it.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Friday, December 14, 2007
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Friday, October 26, 2007
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Friday, October 12, 2007
Monday, October 08, 2007
Friday, October 05, 2007
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Mixing
2007-10-02 17:14:00
hello we have mixed all the tracks and the whole album is shit, so were going to start all over again. ok only kidding...sorry ! its sound pretty good but we have to go back to a few things in the next few weeks though. it sound pretty different from what we have done before i dont think the fondue society will be happy oh well , like the bee joke ends....... fuk em bye geoff
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Joe Frank live at Largo Restaurant
DAMN! DAMN! DAMN!
I found out about this too late to make a reservation.
Grrrrr!
Abandon all hope for Vista! Go back to Xp or OSX
Technology writer Don Reisinger nails it on the head.
"While Vista was originally touted by Microsoft as the operating system savior we've all been waiting for, it has turned out to be one of the biggest blunders in technology. With a host of issues that are inexcusable and features that are taken from the Mac OS X and Linux playbook, Microsoft has once again lost sight of what we really want."
Read the whole article here
Friday, September 21, 2007
The Legend of Zelda Theme on theremin
All Hail Zelda!
And all the geeky things that people do on her behalf.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Friday, September 14, 2007
TRON 2
BTW - It has been announced that the project has been green lighted and is in the process of looking for a director.
I wonder if a certain J. Lassiter would be interested?
JohnY
10-11-2000, 08:48 AM
From Coming Attractions:
Tron 2
Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy/Sequel.
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures.
Production Company: Unknown.
Project Phase: Script Stage.
Who's In It: No one confirmed as yet.
Who's Making It: Steven Lisberger (Screenwriter, possibly Director).
Premise: A return to the computer world we visited in the 1982 original, but with the magic of modern CGI wizardry.
Release Date: Unknown.
Comments: Released in 1982, Tron holds a special place in fanboys hearts. It postulated a world that existed inside a computer where programs lived and died playing brutal games under the evil reign of the Master Control Program. Tron's then state-of-the-art computer generated effects were never seen before by audiences; keep in mind this was before the term CGI had been defined, and before computers had even been used for creating special effects.
Unfortunately the film wasn't a success at the box office. To studio eyes, the luke-warm ticket sales and a harsh critical drubbing by the media equalled a failure, but the film's dazzling visuals and two immensely popular arcade games brought Tron recognition as a cult favorite. Nearly 20 years after the summer of its release fans still talk about Flynn, Sark and what color was their favorite lightcycles.
Rumors: Unknown.
Scoop Feedback:
[Page draft submitted by Widgett, who wants Deadpool in the games until he dies playing.]
June 21, 1999... All kidding aside, Cinescape Insider reports something a little bird told them, namely that Disney is looking at dusting off the notion of doing a sequel, this time utilizing their friends over in Pixar to realize the world within the machine. [Originally appeared in Cinescape Online; reported by Widgett.]
July 14, 1999... Oh man, we've got it in a print magazine that Disney is thinking about not only Tron 2 but TRON 3. How cool is that? Wait a minute, this is an Electronic Games magazine from the early 80's. Never mind. If you're interested in seeing the proof for yourself, check out the 1982 article for yourself right here. [Thanks to Greg razier, Brian's Coinop History Archive, and of course, Electronic Games. Brought to you by Rosanne Rosanna Widgett.]
August 8, 1999... A few weeks ago Coming Attractions (and other movie web sites) were scooped that there was a sequel to Tron in development. A scooper e-mailed us details about a supposed storyline that saw an older Flynn serve as mentor to four youths who were digitized and entered the video game world, with the title of the premise to this alleged sequel being 'Warriors of Tron'. After doing some digging we turned up the answer: it was pure baloney.
But then as luck would have it our investigation into the matter of a Tron sequel netted us a very fascinating and unexpected side effect: shortly after we had proved to ourselves that the 'Warriors of Tron' premise was false, we were tipped off that Disney was indeed developing a Tron 2 project -- and that they were in the final stages of signing the director of the original Tron, Steven Lisberger, to write the new film's screenplay!
So we now have the exclusive: Coming Attractions can now say with absolute certainty that Steven Lisberger has done a deal to not only write the sequel to Tron but possibly direct the film (with the key emphasis being on 'possibly'.) We called Lisberger's agency to see if they wanted to officially confirm the story but they declined to comment about the matter at this time. For now Lisberger's involvement with Tron 2 is just as the screenwriter of the project and Disney isn't saying a word about it. We couldn't turn up anything else, solid or rumored, about what Lisberger's take on the storyline for Tron 2 could be (if, indeed, he's decided upon one at the present time.) For now, we can at least report to you there has indeed been a positive step forward on making this long-rumored project a reality...and by God, we sure hope there's gonna be some lightcycles in the new film.
October 10, 2000... A year ago Coming Attractions broke the exclusive that Disney was developing a feature length sequel to its 1982 film Tron. We also had proof that the original film's director, Steven Lisberger, had been hired to write the sequel's screenplay, even though Lisberger's agency offered no comment at the time.
Now Lisberger's talking about Tron 2. The VFXPro website has posted an article looking back at the original Tron and interviewed Listberger about his memories working on that project -- and then the article confirms Listberger's involvement working on the sequel.
"It's been an interesting experience for me, certainly, to go back to that film after 20 years and really study it and see what it was about from this perspective," Listberger tells VFXPro. "I learned a lot about my own film. It's going to be interesting on the next TRON to try to create some of the sensuousness that the first film had in terms of the graphics, but to do it in a digital way."
See? We told you so. [First to tell us of the good news were 'Codex Mendosa', 'Aspirin The Fox' and Guy Gordon.]
------------------
John Yaglenski
Chief Imagination Officer
Intercot & Webdisney
john@intercot.com
"...tomorrow's Horizons are here today"
- - -
Don't wait till the last minute to book your room for "2001: An Intercot Odyssey" June 9-16, 2001, the largest gathering of Intercot Fans ever at the Walt Disney World Resort. For more info on the trip, click here (http://www.intercot.com/infocentral/press/odyssey/default.asp) and for details on reserving your room through Kingdom Magic Travel, our trip coordinator, click here (http://www.intercot.com/boards/Forum15/HTML/000022.html).
- -
Visit Our Intercot Family Sites:
Webdisney (http://www.webdisney.com): The Definitive Guide To Disney On The Internet
Intercot West (http://www.intercotwest.com): Disneyland Inside & Out
Intercot (http://www.intercot.com): Walt Disney World Inside & Out
I wonder if a certain J. Lassiter would be interested?
JohnY
10-11-2000, 08:48 AM
From Coming Attractions:
Tron 2
Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy/Sequel.
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures.
Production Company: Unknown.
Project Phase: Script Stage.
Who's In It: No one confirmed as yet.
Who's Making It: Steven Lisberger (Screenwriter, possibly Director).
Premise: A return to the computer world we visited in the 1982 original, but with the magic of modern CGI wizardry.
Release Date: Unknown.
Comments: Released in 1982, Tron holds a special place in fanboys hearts. It postulated a world that existed inside a computer where programs lived and died playing brutal games under the evil reign of the Master Control Program. Tron's then state-of-the-art computer generated effects were never seen before by audiences; keep in mind this was before the term CGI had been defined, and before computers had even been used for creating special effects.
Unfortunately the film wasn't a success at the box office. To studio eyes, the luke-warm ticket sales and a harsh critical drubbing by the media equalled a failure, but the film's dazzling visuals and two immensely popular arcade games brought Tron recognition as a cult favorite. Nearly 20 years after the summer of its release fans still talk about Flynn, Sark and what color was their favorite lightcycles.
Rumors: Unknown.
Scoop Feedback:
[Page draft submitted by Widgett, who wants Deadpool in the games until he dies playing.]
June 21, 1999... All kidding aside, Cinescape Insider reports something a little bird told them, namely that Disney is looking at dusting off the notion of doing a sequel, this time utilizing their friends over in Pixar to realize the world within the machine. [Originally appeared in Cinescape Online; reported by Widgett.]
July 14, 1999... Oh man, we've got it in a print magazine that Disney is thinking about not only Tron 2 but TRON 3. How cool is that? Wait a minute, this is an Electronic Games magazine from the early 80's. Never mind. If you're interested in seeing the proof for yourself, check out the 1982 article for yourself right here. [Thanks to Greg razier, Brian's Coinop History Archive, and of course, Electronic Games. Brought to you by Rosanne Rosanna Widgett.]
August 8, 1999... A few weeks ago Coming Attractions (and other movie web sites) were scooped that there was a sequel to Tron in development. A scooper e-mailed us details about a supposed storyline that saw an older Flynn serve as mentor to four youths who were digitized and entered the video game world, with the title of the premise to this alleged sequel being 'Warriors of Tron'. After doing some digging we turned up the answer: it was pure baloney.
But then as luck would have it our investigation into the matter of a Tron sequel netted us a very fascinating and unexpected side effect: shortly after we had proved to ourselves that the 'Warriors of Tron' premise was false, we were tipped off that Disney was indeed developing a Tron 2 project -- and that they were in the final stages of signing the director of the original Tron, Steven Lisberger, to write the new film's screenplay!
So we now have the exclusive: Coming Attractions can now say with absolute certainty that Steven Lisberger has done a deal to not only write the sequel to Tron but possibly direct the film (with the key emphasis being on 'possibly'.) We called Lisberger's agency to see if they wanted to officially confirm the story but they declined to comment about the matter at this time. For now Lisberger's involvement with Tron 2 is just as the screenwriter of the project and Disney isn't saying a word about it. We couldn't turn up anything else, solid or rumored, about what Lisberger's take on the storyline for Tron 2 could be (if, indeed, he's decided upon one at the present time.) For now, we can at least report to you there has indeed been a positive step forward on making this long-rumored project a reality...and by God, we sure hope there's gonna be some lightcycles in the new film.
October 10, 2000... A year ago Coming Attractions broke the exclusive that Disney was developing a feature length sequel to its 1982 film Tron. We also had proof that the original film's director, Steven Lisberger, had been hired to write the sequel's screenplay, even though Lisberger's agency offered no comment at the time.
Now Lisberger's talking about Tron 2. The VFXPro website has posted an article looking back at the original Tron and interviewed Listberger about his memories working on that project -- and then the article confirms Listberger's involvement working on the sequel.
"It's been an interesting experience for me, certainly, to go back to that film after 20 years and really study it and see what it was about from this perspective," Listberger tells VFXPro. "I learned a lot about my own film. It's going to be interesting on the next TRON to try to create some of the sensuousness that the first film had in terms of the graphics, but to do it in a digital way."
See? We told you so. [First to tell us of the good news were 'Codex Mendosa', 'Aspirin The Fox' and Guy Gordon.]
------------------
John Yaglenski
Chief Imagination Officer
Intercot & Webdisney
john@intercot.com
"...tomorrow's Horizons are here today"
- - -
Don't wait till the last minute to book your room for "2001: An Intercot Odyssey" June 9-16, 2001, the largest gathering of Intercot Fans ever at the Walt Disney World Resort. For more info on the trip, click here (http://www.intercot.com/infocentral/press/odyssey/default.asp) and for details on reserving your room through Kingdom Magic Travel, our trip coordinator, click here (http://www.intercot.com/boards/Forum15/HTML/000022.html).
- -
Visit Our Intercot Family Sites:
Webdisney (http://www.webdisney.com): The Definitive Guide To Disney On The Internet
Intercot West (http://www.intercotwest.com): Disneyland Inside & Out
Intercot (http://www.intercot.com): Walt Disney World Inside & Out
Monday, August 27, 2007
Gotham Bound
So I am gettng myself ready for my first adult trip to Gotham. I have always dreamed about going to New York City and I finally get my chance to run around and act like a total rube in the busiest city in all the world.
I fly out Saturday night and will be spend a couple of days there after which its off to the city that steel built.
Friday, August 17, 2007
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
The Guild - Episode 2: Zaboo'd
Creeepy!
I hate to admit that I know guys like Zaboo.
/shiver
I ma gonna go hide in my clset now, kthnx!
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Dateline NBC 'mole' outed, booted at Defcon
Dateline NBC associate producer Michelle Madigan was heckled and derided as she ran from DefCon, the world's largest computer hackers conference, and raced away in a car.
"They sent a moderately attractive young lady with a purse cam whose mission was to first capture someone on film admitting to a felony, which is really not cool, and second to catch a fed on film," said DefCon spokesman "Priest."
"She was basically trying to do a slam piece."
Federal agents openly, and covertly, mingle with hackers at the conference, which features a panel discussion titled "Meet the Fed."
"This is the Switzerland of hacking, neutral ground on which hackers and feds meet with a common goal of making computers safer," said Priest.
Dateline did not respond to AFP requests for comment but issued a general statement saying it does not discuss reporting tactics.
DefCon organizers were alerted to Madigan's mission prior to her arrival and contacted her, offering her a press badge that would give her free rein of the conference while letting attendees easily see she is a reporter, Priest said.
Madigan declined the offer.
She opted to attend with a "Human" badge granting access to hackers and other general attendees.
Priest and DefCon founder Jeff Moss, whose hacker name is Dark Tangent, lured Madigan to a packed conference room by putting out word they were going to have hackers finger federal agents in a game called "spot the fed."
After she was in the audience, it was announced the game was actually "spot the undercover reporter."
Without naming Madigan, Moss condemned her stealth tactics from a stage. Boos and jeers erupted from hundreds of hackers, one calling for her to be tarred and feathered.
Madigan shoved aside a DefCon "goon," one of the volunteers working at the event, and dashed from the room as the mob called for her to be booted from the premises.
Madigan's flight was followed by hackers and reporting peers openly disapproving her methods.
"If I had 150 people from this place chasing me across the parking lot, I wouldn't be in a hurry to come back," Priest said.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
All But Confirmed, Wrath of the Lich King!
Found this post on The Blue Report
MMOChampion <http://www.mmo-champion.com/index.php?topic=584.0> broke
the story that Blizzard Entertainment <http://www.blizzard.com> has
filed for three new patents.
*Word Mark* WRATH OF THE LICH KING
*Goods and Services* IC 041. US 100 101 107. G & S: Entertainment
services, namely, providing online computer games; providing
computer games that may be accessed via a global computer network;
and providing online information in the field of computer gaming
entertainment.
*Word Mark* WRATH OF THE LICH KING
*Goods and Services* IC 016. US 002 005 022 023 029 037 038 050. G &
S: Comic books, strategy guides, trading cards, coloring books,
adhesive stickers, rub-on transfers, notebooks, stationery-type
portfolios, posters, greeting cards, calendars, instructional
leaflets, manuals, advertisement boards of paper or cardboard,
catalogues, photographs, art prints.
*Word Mark* WRATH OF THE LICH KING
*Goods and Services* IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. G & S: Computer
game software and related instruction manuals and guides sold
together as a unit; downloadable software for use in connection with
computer games; interactive multimedia computer game program; mousepads.
Looks like an expansion for the computer game, trading card game and
other such goodies is in the works!
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
The Guild - Episode 1: Wake-Up Call
OMG! diz b da r0xxorz.
Come take a look at the rich and fruitful lives of those individuals who interact in the virtual world.
I would mock but I would find myself laughing at my mirror.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Friday, July 20, 2007
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Monday, July 16, 2007
Alas poor E3, we hardly knew you
Well the word on the street from those people "privileged " enough to be invited to the formerly spectacular E3 video game conference is that it is "officially" dead.
People had a crap time going from hotel to hotel to airport hanger to view the meager showings of those developers who even bothered to show up.
To all you former E3 fans I leave you this last message in tribute.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Monday, July 09, 2007
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Friday, June 22, 2007
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Super Mario Brothers
Just in case you didn't get enough Super Mario geek goodness. I present to you and utter waste of time to the tune of Mario.
*bows*
Enjoy mon petit pois.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
If only Walt were with us again
I found this little gem of a comic form one of my favorite artists Roman Dirge.
What would Walt say if he saw his company now?
What would Walt say if he saw his company now?
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Why we should fear the Religious Right.
Further proof that the religious right will end up destroying our country.
Help combat this menace! Teach your children about the scientific method and the importance of being a skeptic.
http://www.skepticality.com/index.php
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Friday, June 08, 2007
Amateur - Lasse Gjertsen
You hear an awful lot of bragging from media outlets claiming that the general public does not have the talent or the expertise to create truly engaging or original content.
This proves otherwise.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Portishead at All Tomorrow's Parties
Could it be? Is it possible? Is the new Portishead album that has been rumored for so long finally coming out?
Portishead are to be the next curators and will be performing exclusively at All Tomorrow's Parties, Nightmare Before Christmas in December 2007.
They will be playing their first full live set featuring new material in nearly 10 years at the event which is set for December 7, 8 & 9 at Butlins Holiday Camp at Minehead.
"We have always loved the All Tomorrow's Parties set up and we're happy our first shows will be there. It's great to have the opportunity to introduce bands we love or have influenced us. We've chosen a diverse collection of artists to play with us and we're really looking forward to it"
Details of the line up will be announced here and at the All Tomorrow's Parties site www.atpfestival.com where you'll also find details of how to buy tickets, accomodation available and how to get there.
Signing up to the mailing list instantly makes you eligible in a draw to win a pair of tickets for ATP
The first artists we can confirm will be playing are Aphex Twin, Black Mountain, Crippled Black Phoenix, Fuzz against Junk, Julian Cope, Oneida, Seasick Steve, Sparklehorse & Team Brick. More to be announced soon.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
We are number 96! We are number 96!
So the index of Global Peace Ranking just came out.
I hope King George and his "Bushy" flunkies are proud
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
How do you get people to stop drinking Diet Coke? Why put vitamins in it. Duh!
Talk about one the most stupidest, ill conceived and downright desperate attempts to get people to drink more soda.
I can't wait to see it fail! ^_^ *squeal!
What Would Happen if You Bought 25 Bottles of Nyquil?
Just a little story that I thought you might find amusing.
Ever since I was a little girl, I have periodically played a game I like to call ‘What would happen if…’
The very first time I played this game I was 5 years old and riding in the car with my Mother. She had allowed me to sit in the front seat, but the novelty of that wore off rather quickly and I got bored. Almost immediately after we merged onto the expressway, I spied the car door handle. I thought to myself, I wonder what would happen if I opened the car door right now?
Would the door fly open? Or would it stay closed since the car was in motion? If it flew open, would the wind rip the door completely off of the car? My seatbelt was secure, so I was pretty sure I wouldn’t fly out of the car, but would anything else fly out? What would my Mother do?
I looked over at my Mother who was paying careful attention to the road and vaguely singing along with the radio. Then I looked over at the gleaming car handle. I knew that opening the door while we were driving was a very stupid and potentially dangerous thing to do, but it was almost as if the handle was calling my name. It wanted me to open it. I tried to resist, but my curiosity overwhelmed me. Slowly, I reached over…and opened the door.
Turns out the only thing that happens when you open the car door on the expressway is your Mother screams, “OH MY GOD! HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?” pulls over, closes your door, and then goes homes and bitches to your Father about her vehicle being unsafe and demands he buy her a new one.
It wasn’t the most exciting outcome in the world, but at least I knew.
This past Friday evening, I found myself inadvertently playing another game of ‘What would happen if…’
My husband has been dealing with a particularly nasty summer cold and it’s making it difficult for him to fall asleep. Shortly after midnight one evening, he asked me to run to the store and pick him up some medicine. I agreed because I’m nice like that.
After selecting a bottle of Nyquil and my Husband’s favorite brand of ice cream, it was time to check-out. I elected to go through the self check-out lane because the group of kids who normally jockeyed the registers looked thoroughly engrossed in a conversation about their parents sucking or their jobs sucking or who de-friended them on myspace recently or whatever and I didn’t want to interrupt them. Besides, I have two fully functioning arms. I am capable of scanning and bagging my own ice cream.
However, after I scanned my items, the computer started beeping.
“You have selected an age restricted item. Please wait for a cashier,” it said.
“What the Hell?” I mused, “Ice cream and Nyquil is age restricted now?”
A teenager with a lip piercing and bad dye job came rushing over. “Can I see your ID?” she chirped.
“What did I order that needs ID?” I asked.
She looked over my purchases and shrugged. “I guess it’s the Nyquil.”
I sighed deeply and handed her my driver’s license. She glanced at it quickly, typed my birthday into the computer, handed it back, and scurried away. Even though I didn’t show it, I was all kinds of annoyed.
I mean, what kind of nanny state am I living in right now? I can’t even buy cold medicine anymore without the government all up in my shit? Why is my right to privacy being invaded in favor of incompetent police officers who lack the ability to catch drug dealers without spying on the average law abiding citizen?
Then, out of nowhere, I thought, I wonder what would happen if I tried to buy all the Nyquil on the shelf?
Would they laugh? Would they get angry? Would they sell it to me? Would they call the cops? Would they interrogate me until I told them what it was for?
No matter how many years pass, I remain easily seduced by my curiosity. The harder I try to shake the wondering thoughts from my head, the more they burrow into my brain and demand recognition. By the time I got home from the grocery store, I simply had to know what would happen if I tried to buy an entire shelf full of Nyquil.
The next morning, I woke up bright and early with the intent of carrying out my plan. Now I’m not really sure how the typical Meth Head dresses, so I took a guess. I clad myself in an old T-shirt and a ripped pair of pants that were covered in paint. I pulled my hair back in a ratty ponytail and slipped on a pair of dirty sandals. My goal was to look as shady as possible without overdoing it.
Upon entering the store, I grabbed one of those hand-held shopping baskets and walked with single minded purpose over to the drug isle. I then proceeded to fill my basket with every bottle of Nyquil sitting on the shelf. There weren’t that many and I really wanted to be obvious, so I decided to buy all the generic versions as well. Then I marched my ass right over to the cashier and emptied my basket onto the conveyor belt. At first she wasn’t really paying attention as she grabbed bottle after bottle and flipped them through the scanner. Then a little light must have gone off in her head because she suddenly paused.
“Are these on sale or something?” she asked.
“Nope.” I replied noncommittally.
“I’m going to need to see your ID,” she responded.
“Sure.” I said as I handed it over.
“I’ll be right back,” she told me as she scampered over to the customer service desk to show my ID to who I assumed was the manager.
The guy in line behind me asked, “Someone sick?”
“I’m having a yard sale,” I replied. Yeah, my answer didn’t make much sense. But it was none of his business, so fuck him.
After about 10 minutes, the cashier came back and gave me my ID. Then she finished ringing me up and handed over two bags of Nyquil. “Um, have a nice day,” she said.
I thanked her politely and headed out to my car thinking to myself that the whole scenario ended up being fairly anticlimactic. This time, bending to the will of my curiosity earned me nothing more than 10 minutes of inconvenience and 25 bottles of unneeded Nyquil. Fucking fantastic.
I went home, unloaded my spoils onto my kitchen table and decided to take a nap on my couch. Right before I fell asleep, I thought to myself, I really need to stop playing that game.
A couple of hours later, my brother and his girlfriend woke me up.
“What the hell is with all the Nyquil?” he asked.
I told him about my game and how nothing really exciting happened. Then, he said, “Probably because you bought the wrong shit.”
I said, “Huh?”
With a smirk on his face, my brother explained, “The ingredient in Nyquil that is used to make crystal meth is called pseudoephedrine. But these don’t have it in them. Look! It even says right here on the front, ‘Now Made without pseudoephedrine.’
“Then why did they card me for them?”
“How the hell am I supposed to know? All I know is that you can’t make meth out of these.”
“Son of a bitch!” I exclaimed.
“You are the worst fake drug dealer ever,” my brother admonished.
His girlfriend cut in, “You know what you should get? Sudafed. They sell it behind the counter at the pharmacy and they probably won’t give you more than one or two. But it might be funny if you asked to exchange your Nyquil for 25 boxes of Sudafed.”
For me, failure tends to make me more determined, so I decided that was exactly what I was going to do. But, this time, I wanted to start my adventure with a bit more planning. I decided to call the grocery store and ask if it was even possible to return Nyquil since it was technically a medicine. The manager I spoke to assured me that as long as I had the receipt and the seal wasn’t broken, they would take it back.
So the next day, I packed up my bags of Nyquil and headed back to the grocery store. I plopped the bags on the counter of the customer service desk and amicably said, “I’d like to return these, please.”
The cashier looked shocked. “All of these?”
“Yes please,” I answered mildly, “Here is the receipt.”
“How many bottles are in here?”
“25.”
“25? You bought 25 bottles of Nyquil? Why would you do that?” she asked.
“I wasn’t feeling well.” I answered.
“So why are you returning them now?” She countered.
I slightly hardened my voice. “I’m feeling better.”
“Normal people don’t buy 25 bottles of Nyquil!” she exclaimed.
“So?” I snapped.
She started stammering. “Well….its just that I don’t….I don’t know…if we can take this many back. We’d have to throw them away and….I….uh….”
“I called and spoke to a manager yesterday,” I informed her, “And he told me that as long as the seal wasn’t broken and I had the receipt, you would take them back.”
“Well I’m sure he didn’t know how many you bought!”
“Does it matter?” I questioned, “Is there some sort of store policy that states you can only return so many things at a time?”
“I’m going to get my manger,” she replied.
“Fine.”
The manger came over, obviously perturbed, and we argued back and forth for a few minutes. Finally she said, “I’ll take them back this time. But next time, I won’t.”
“That’s fine by me,” I agreed.
I filled out a form with my name, address, and phone number, got my cash back and walked directly over to the pharmacy.
An older lady walked over to wait on me. “Can I please buy some Sudafed?” I requested.
“Sure!” she said as she held out her hand, “I’m going to need some proof that you’re over 18, though.”
“That’s fine,” I told her, “But I’m going to need more than one.”
“How many do you need?”
“25.”
“25 tablets?”
“No, 25 boxes.”
I’m not sure if my answer extremely shocked her or extremely angered her, but her response was to shriek, “NO!”
Calmly, I asked, “Why not?”
“NO!” she bellowed again.
“But why not?” I repeated.
“BECAUSE OF THE METH!” she hollered.
I smiled a little and said, “I promise I won’t use it to make meth.”
Again: “NO!”
A concerned Pharmacist walked around the counter. “What seems to be the problem here?” he questioned.
“I’m just trying to by some Sudafed.” I answered.
The cashier squawked again, “NO! YOU CAN’T HAVE ANY!”
And I was supposed to be the crazy one!
The Pharmacist gave her a confused look and she said to him, “She wants 25 boxes!”
“Whoa, wait a minute, ma’am!” he said to me.
Just then, out of the corner of my eye, I realized that the manager who did my return and a couple of stock boys were walking up behind me. They were closing in on me!
I thought to myself what better time to walk away, all shifty, like I was a real drug dealer than now. So I abruptly did an about-face and briskly started striding towards the door.
The Pharmacist tried to stop me. “Ma’am!” he called after me, “Ma’am! I’m going to need you to come back here! Ma’am!”
Seriously, I couldn’t believe he actually thought I would fall for that. I mean, what am I? 12 years old? Did he actually think I would be naïve enough to believe that a goddamn Pharmacist had the legal right to forcibly detain me in a grocery store?
But the ridiculousness of the situation was only a fleeting thought in my mind. At that precise moment, I had more pressing matters to concern myself with. Namely, how I was going to shake the manager and the stock boy goons who were in the process of following me out of the store.
I increased my walking speed a little and made it outside. I paused for a second, thinking the chase was over, but I was wrong. The manager had tailed me into the parking lot. Frantically, she started waving the cart boys over to her and pointing in my direction. Before I knew it, I had a small army of grocery store employees following me around the parking lot. It was fucking surreal. I felt like I was starring in the deleted scenes of one of those Terminator movies.
My theory was that they were waiting until I got into my car so they could write down my license plate number. To me, this was odd, considering the fact that they had my name, address, and phone number written on a slip of paper behind the customer service desk.
Anyway, I finally thwarted them for good by electing to simply walk home. Because I live a couple of miles from the grocery store, I decided to call my brother.
“Hey, if the cops show up at my door, do not let them in without a warrant,” I told him, “That’s a violation of my 4th amendment rights!”
“No problem.” He said. He’s learned to quit asking questions.
The end result of my little escapade, however, produced no angry police officers ruthlessly pounding on my door. In fact, outside of a couple of grocery store employees who briefly pretended to be Rambo, nothing really exciting happened at all.
All in all, I ended up fairly disappointed with my most recent game of ‘What would happen if….’ You see, that’s the problem with letting yourself become randomly consumed by curiosity. Things rarely live up to your expectations.
Ever since I was a little girl, I have periodically played a game I like to call ‘What would happen if…’
The very first time I played this game I was 5 years old and riding in the car with my Mother. She had allowed me to sit in the front seat, but the novelty of that wore off rather quickly and I got bored. Almost immediately after we merged onto the expressway, I spied the car door handle. I thought to myself, I wonder what would happen if I opened the car door right now?
Would the door fly open? Or would it stay closed since the car was in motion? If it flew open, would the wind rip the door completely off of the car? My seatbelt was secure, so I was pretty sure I wouldn’t fly out of the car, but would anything else fly out? What would my Mother do?
I looked over at my Mother who was paying careful attention to the road and vaguely singing along with the radio. Then I looked over at the gleaming car handle. I knew that opening the door while we were driving was a very stupid and potentially dangerous thing to do, but it was almost as if the handle was calling my name. It wanted me to open it. I tried to resist, but my curiosity overwhelmed me. Slowly, I reached over…and opened the door.
Turns out the only thing that happens when you open the car door on the expressway is your Mother screams, “OH MY GOD! HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?” pulls over, closes your door, and then goes homes and bitches to your Father about her vehicle being unsafe and demands he buy her a new one.
It wasn’t the most exciting outcome in the world, but at least I knew.
This past Friday evening, I found myself inadvertently playing another game of ‘What would happen if…’
My husband has been dealing with a particularly nasty summer cold and it’s making it difficult for him to fall asleep. Shortly after midnight one evening, he asked me to run to the store and pick him up some medicine. I agreed because I’m nice like that.
After selecting a bottle of Nyquil and my Husband’s favorite brand of ice cream, it was time to check-out. I elected to go through the self check-out lane because the group of kids who normally jockeyed the registers looked thoroughly engrossed in a conversation about their parents sucking or their jobs sucking or who de-friended them on myspace recently or whatever and I didn’t want to interrupt them. Besides, I have two fully functioning arms. I am capable of scanning and bagging my own ice cream.
However, after I scanned my items, the computer started beeping.
“You have selected an age restricted item. Please wait for a cashier,” it said.
“What the Hell?” I mused, “Ice cream and Nyquil is age restricted now?”
A teenager with a lip piercing and bad dye job came rushing over. “Can I see your ID?” she chirped.
“What did I order that needs ID?” I asked.
She looked over my purchases and shrugged. “I guess it’s the Nyquil.”
I sighed deeply and handed her my driver’s license. She glanced at it quickly, typed my birthday into the computer, handed it back, and scurried away. Even though I didn’t show it, I was all kinds of annoyed.
I mean, what kind of nanny state am I living in right now? I can’t even buy cold medicine anymore without the government all up in my shit? Why is my right to privacy being invaded in favor of incompetent police officers who lack the ability to catch drug dealers without spying on the average law abiding citizen?
Then, out of nowhere, I thought, I wonder what would happen if I tried to buy all the Nyquil on the shelf?
Would they laugh? Would they get angry? Would they sell it to me? Would they call the cops? Would they interrogate me until I told them what it was for?
No matter how many years pass, I remain easily seduced by my curiosity. The harder I try to shake the wondering thoughts from my head, the more they burrow into my brain and demand recognition. By the time I got home from the grocery store, I simply had to know what would happen if I tried to buy an entire shelf full of Nyquil.
The next morning, I woke up bright and early with the intent of carrying out my plan. Now I’m not really sure how the typical Meth Head dresses, so I took a guess. I clad myself in an old T-shirt and a ripped pair of pants that were covered in paint. I pulled my hair back in a ratty ponytail and slipped on a pair of dirty sandals. My goal was to look as shady as possible without overdoing it.
Upon entering the store, I grabbed one of those hand-held shopping baskets and walked with single minded purpose over to the drug isle. I then proceeded to fill my basket with every bottle of Nyquil sitting on the shelf. There weren’t that many and I really wanted to be obvious, so I decided to buy all the generic versions as well. Then I marched my ass right over to the cashier and emptied my basket onto the conveyor belt. At first she wasn’t really paying attention as she grabbed bottle after bottle and flipped them through the scanner. Then a little light must have gone off in her head because she suddenly paused.
“Are these on sale or something?” she asked.
“Nope.” I replied noncommittally.
“I’m going to need to see your ID,” she responded.
“Sure.” I said as I handed it over.
“I’ll be right back,” she told me as she scampered over to the customer service desk to show my ID to who I assumed was the manager.
The guy in line behind me asked, “Someone sick?”
“I’m having a yard sale,” I replied. Yeah, my answer didn’t make much sense. But it was none of his business, so fuck him.
After about 10 minutes, the cashier came back and gave me my ID. Then she finished ringing me up and handed over two bags of Nyquil. “Um, have a nice day,” she said.
I thanked her politely and headed out to my car thinking to myself that the whole scenario ended up being fairly anticlimactic. This time, bending to the will of my curiosity earned me nothing more than 10 minutes of inconvenience and 25 bottles of unneeded Nyquil. Fucking fantastic.
I went home, unloaded my spoils onto my kitchen table and decided to take a nap on my couch. Right before I fell asleep, I thought to myself, I really need to stop playing that game.
A couple of hours later, my brother and his girlfriend woke me up.
“What the hell is with all the Nyquil?” he asked.
I told him about my game and how nothing really exciting happened. Then, he said, “Probably because you bought the wrong shit.”
I said, “Huh?”
With a smirk on his face, my brother explained, “The ingredient in Nyquil that is used to make crystal meth is called pseudoephedrine. But these don’t have it in them. Look! It even says right here on the front, ‘Now Made without pseudoephedrine.’
“Then why did they card me for them?”
“How the hell am I supposed to know? All I know is that you can’t make meth out of these.”
“Son of a bitch!” I exclaimed.
“You are the worst fake drug dealer ever,” my brother admonished.
His girlfriend cut in, “You know what you should get? Sudafed. They sell it behind the counter at the pharmacy and they probably won’t give you more than one or two. But it might be funny if you asked to exchange your Nyquil for 25 boxes of Sudafed.”
For me, failure tends to make me more determined, so I decided that was exactly what I was going to do. But, this time, I wanted to start my adventure with a bit more planning. I decided to call the grocery store and ask if it was even possible to return Nyquil since it was technically a medicine. The manager I spoke to assured me that as long as I had the receipt and the seal wasn’t broken, they would take it back.
So the next day, I packed up my bags of Nyquil and headed back to the grocery store. I plopped the bags on the counter of the customer service desk and amicably said, “I’d like to return these, please.”
The cashier looked shocked. “All of these?”
“Yes please,” I answered mildly, “Here is the receipt.”
“How many bottles are in here?”
“25.”
“25? You bought 25 bottles of Nyquil? Why would you do that?” she asked.
“I wasn’t feeling well.” I answered.
“So why are you returning them now?” She countered.
I slightly hardened my voice. “I’m feeling better.”
“Normal people don’t buy 25 bottles of Nyquil!” she exclaimed.
“So?” I snapped.
She started stammering. “Well….its just that I don’t….I don’t know…if we can take this many back. We’d have to throw them away and….I….uh….”
“I called and spoke to a manager yesterday,” I informed her, “And he told me that as long as the seal wasn’t broken and I had the receipt, you would take them back.”
“Well I’m sure he didn’t know how many you bought!”
“Does it matter?” I questioned, “Is there some sort of store policy that states you can only return so many things at a time?”
“I’m going to get my manger,” she replied.
“Fine.”
The manger came over, obviously perturbed, and we argued back and forth for a few minutes. Finally she said, “I’ll take them back this time. But next time, I won’t.”
“That’s fine by me,” I agreed.
I filled out a form with my name, address, and phone number, got my cash back and walked directly over to the pharmacy.
An older lady walked over to wait on me. “Can I please buy some Sudafed?” I requested.
“Sure!” she said as she held out her hand, “I’m going to need some proof that you’re over 18, though.”
“That’s fine,” I told her, “But I’m going to need more than one.”
“How many do you need?”
“25.”
“25 tablets?”
“No, 25 boxes.”
I’m not sure if my answer extremely shocked her or extremely angered her, but her response was to shriek, “NO!”
Calmly, I asked, “Why not?”
“NO!” she bellowed again.
“But why not?” I repeated.
“BECAUSE OF THE METH!” she hollered.
I smiled a little and said, “I promise I won’t use it to make meth.”
Again: “NO!”
A concerned Pharmacist walked around the counter. “What seems to be the problem here?” he questioned.
“I’m just trying to by some Sudafed.” I answered.
The cashier squawked again, “NO! YOU CAN’T HAVE ANY!”
And I was supposed to be the crazy one!
The Pharmacist gave her a confused look and she said to him, “She wants 25 boxes!”
“Whoa, wait a minute, ma’am!” he said to me.
Just then, out of the corner of my eye, I realized that the manager who did my return and a couple of stock boys were walking up behind me. They were closing in on me!
I thought to myself what better time to walk away, all shifty, like I was a real drug dealer than now. So I abruptly did an about-face and briskly started striding towards the door.
The Pharmacist tried to stop me. “Ma’am!” he called after me, “Ma’am! I’m going to need you to come back here! Ma’am!”
Seriously, I couldn’t believe he actually thought I would fall for that. I mean, what am I? 12 years old? Did he actually think I would be naïve enough to believe that a goddamn Pharmacist had the legal right to forcibly detain me in a grocery store?
But the ridiculousness of the situation was only a fleeting thought in my mind. At that precise moment, I had more pressing matters to concern myself with. Namely, how I was going to shake the manager and the stock boy goons who were in the process of following me out of the store.
I increased my walking speed a little and made it outside. I paused for a second, thinking the chase was over, but I was wrong. The manager had tailed me into the parking lot. Frantically, she started waving the cart boys over to her and pointing in my direction. Before I knew it, I had a small army of grocery store employees following me around the parking lot. It was fucking surreal. I felt like I was starring in the deleted scenes of one of those Terminator movies.
My theory was that they were waiting until I got into my car so they could write down my license plate number. To me, this was odd, considering the fact that they had my name, address, and phone number written on a slip of paper behind the customer service desk.
Anyway, I finally thwarted them for good by electing to simply walk home. Because I live a couple of miles from the grocery store, I decided to call my brother.
“Hey, if the cops show up at my door, do not let them in without a warrant,” I told him, “That’s a violation of my 4th amendment rights!”
“No problem.” He said. He’s learned to quit asking questions.
The end result of my little escapade, however, produced no angry police officers ruthlessly pounding on my door. In fact, outside of a couple of grocery store employees who briefly pretended to be Rambo, nothing really exciting happened at all.
All in all, I ended up fairly disappointed with my most recent game of ‘What would happen if….’ You see, that’s the problem with letting yourself become randomly consumed by curiosity. Things rarely live up to your expectations.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Engadget Founder Plans IPod Challenger
By Adario Strange EmailMay 24, 2007
Rjasegd The idea that originated as a joke on Jason Calacanis’ blog that had Dave Winer and Engadget’s Peter Rojas putting together a podcast player is still very much alive as a real possibility.
“We saw so much interest and excitement about the prospect of building one, it’d be awesome to get a bunch of smart, creative people all in the same place at the same time to talk about it.”
Here’s the original idea for the device, as originally fielded by Calacanis: “what if Peter designed a wifi-enabled media player for geeks. Like something with built in podcasting software and the ability to sync podcasts whenever and IP device is detected?” The idea then ballooned into a kind of open source project that would include input from various volunteers. The dream gadget seemed like idle speculation at the time, but Rojas’ recent comments indicate that we may eventually see the product become a reality.
Rjasegd The idea that originated as a joke on Jason Calacanis’ blog that had Dave Winer and Engadget’s Peter Rojas putting together a podcast player is still very much alive as a real possibility.
“We saw so much interest and excitement about the prospect of building one, it’d be awesome to get a bunch of smart, creative people all in the same place at the same time to talk about it.”
Here’s the original idea for the device, as originally fielded by Calacanis: “what if Peter designed a wifi-enabled media player for geeks. Like something with built in podcasting software and the ability to sync podcasts whenever and IP device is detected?” The idea then ballooned into a kind of open source project that would include input from various volunteers. The dream gadget seemed like idle speculation at the time, but Rojas’ recent comments indicate that we may eventually see the product become a reality.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
World Of Warcraft: Dancing
I always wondered where the Blizzard developers got the dances for players avatars for World of Warcraft. They definitely seem to be an ecletic group but makes me wonder, when are they gonna allow players to create their own dances?
I can see my blood elf paladin doing the cabbage patch.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Profit-Driven Viver Trojan Hits Smart Phones
*New Trojan horse variants steal money from smart phone users by sending
text messages to premium-rate numbers.*
text messages to premium-rate numbers.*
*Matthew Broersma, Techworld*
Antivirus researchers have turned up three Trojan horse variants that are the most successful attempts yet to steal money from smartphone users.
The variants on the Viver Trojan (short for Trojan-SMS.SymbOS.Viver) send text messages to premium-rate numbers in Russia, a tactic used by some previous malware. But Viver is more sophisticated, according to <http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/archive-052007.html#00001194> Kaspersky Lab, which discovered all three Trojan variants last week.
Viver was uploaded to a popular file-sharing site and was downloaded by hundreds of users before it was removed, according to Kaspersky senior virus analyst Aleks Gostev.
The first pieces of malware to try the premium-number tactic were RedBrowser and Wesber, but those were written in Java and required user interaction for each message sent.
Because the earlier programs made use of Russian premium-rate numbers and didn't include a country code, they were only able to function properly from within Russia.
The Viver variants remove those limitations. To begin with, they are written for the Symbian platform - specifically Nokia's S60 version of the operating system, second edition and earlier versions, according to antivirus firm F-Secure.
"Viver is coded to run on phones with Symbian, making it the first Trojan of this type for smartphones," said Kaspersky's Gostev in a research note.
The new Trojans still text to a Russian number but use correct international dialling codes, and thus can work from any country, Gostev said. They don't require any user interaction, but simply begin sending texts as soon as they're installed.
Each text costs the user 177 roubles, or about £3.50 (US$7).
Gostev said Kaspersky discovered the Trojans on a popular file-sharing site for mobile users, presenting itself as a photo editor, set of video codecs or other utility.
He said one of the Viver variants was downloaded by around 200 people in less than 24 hours, before the site administrator removed it.
Security experts said the Trojan represents a worrying trend.
"Prior to 2003 there was little for-profit malware on the PC platform, and now almost all malware is written for one or other profit motivation," said F-Secure researcher Jarno Niemela on the company's blog <http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/archive-052007.html#00001194>. "It is very likely that more for-profit malware will also appear on mobile platforms."
Kaspersky's Gostev said for-profit mobile malware already seems to be proliferating quickly. "This month alone we've logged three similar incidents," he wrote. "We can only guess how many more of these Trojans are out there, but one thing is for sure - if there's money to be made, virus writers won't be slow to take up the opportunity."
Friday, May 11, 2007
Mario: Game Over
ZOMG!
It looks like our boy Mario is fallen on hard times. With Link stealing the show on the Wii is a stint on a reality television show next?
Pirate Bay Hacked! Ohhh the Irony...
Pirate Bay hacked, database stolen by ZDNet's Ryan Naraine -- According to an alert posted on The Pirate Bay's blog, the stolen user credentials were encrypted but the site is still urging users to immediately change usernames and passwords to avoid the risk of identity theft.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
OMG! I finally found it. DEADSY!
After years of searching for this gem of a disturbing animated short.
Please enjoy Deadsy.
Friday, May 04, 2007
Happy Medieval Friday
Tired of casual Friday?
Why not start a new trend, introduce Medieval Fridays.
Because nothing says comfort and global commercial domination than a spiffy set of pauldrons.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Digg Rebellion Shows That Crowd Is Law
Reposted from Information Week
Allowing the posting of the "processing key" for HD-DVD and Blu-ray video signals the rise of social computing as a countervailing force.
By Thomas Claburn
InformationWeek
May 2, 2007 06:00 PM
In late 1999, law professor Lawrence Lessig published a book called "Code Is Law," exploring how the technical architecture of the Internet -- the code -- would regulate the Internet, in conjunction with the legal system. His aim was to counter the notion that the Internet was somehow beyond control -- a view that emerged as the Internet came of age in the 1990s -- and to clarify the choices faced by the Internet community going forward.
Lessig revisited the issue in a follow-up book, Code 2.0. "We can build, or architect, or code cyberspace to protect values that we believe are fundamental," he wrote. "Or we can build, or architect, or code cyberspace to allow those values to disappear." Since then, countries like China, not to mention the companies that do business there and supply governments with technology to censorship and monitor, have demonstrated that the Internet and its users can be brought to heel, mostly.
But social computing -- blogging, commenting, messaging's movement beyond e-mail, and other group-oriented, collaborative systems -- is emerging as a countervailing force. When everyone is an individual publisher, they are vulnerable as individuals. But when they band together in groups, when they form communities, when they connect, they become powerful, both politically and economically.
This has always been the case. It is the reason that governments try to limit public assembly. Now, thanks to Web 2.0 and social networking technologies, the crowd has become self-aware and self-protective.
For Digg at least, crowd is law.
On Tuesday, Digg users rejected the community news site's effort to censor posts that revealed a 32-digit number, the "processing key" that can be used to open the digital lock protecting HD-DVD and Blu-ray video discs. Digg tried to remove posts containing the number in order to avoid liability for publishing information that could be used to facilitate copyright infringement.
The rebellion is rooted in longstanding contempt that many members of the online community have for digital rights management (DRM) technology. "What the revolt speaks to is the frustration of consumers' ability to control a property that they purchased," said Gregory Rutchik, founding attorney at the San Francisco-based Arts & Technology Law Group.
In dealing with this broad dislike for DRM and the state of copyright law, Digg faces the same problem that confronts YouTube: How do you deal with user-generated content that's really generated by someone else? In YouTube's case, filtering technology should eventually be able to identify infringing submissions. Digg, however, faces a much tougher problem due to the nature of the information in question: How do you censor a number?
The short answer is you don't. And that has implications for would-be rebels everywhere. It shows that given the right circumstances, systems of censorship can be overcome. Coordinated group efforts like this may well become the virtual equivalent of standing in front of a tank in Tiananmen Square. Others have likened it to the Boston Tea Party.
"It turns out that the 'government' of Digg's community gets its power from the consent of the governed," Princeton computer science professor Ed Felten wrote in a blog post about the uprising. "Users of other Web 2.0 sites will surely take note."
As far as the law is concerned, however, nothing has changed. And Digg, by openly throwing in the towel and siding with its users, may be inviting a lawsuit. It would be a difficult lawsuit to win because the courts have already ruled on a very similar case.
"It reminds me of the 2600 magazine case on the DeCSS code," said Rutchik. "In 2002, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals basically held that the magazine could be banned from publishing or linking to the DeCSS code."
The DeCSS code, like the processing key code that has been plastered all over the Net, served to decrypt encrypted video content, an act that violates of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's anti-circumvention provision.
Rutchik observes that the Digg insurrection may prompt some reconsideration of copyright law. "It's through revolution that business and government often change," he said. "Plaintiff lawsuits made cars safer, they made pajamas fireproof. Revolt bought about the birth of this nation."
But as Rutchik sees it, flouting the law isn't the answer. "This is a capitalist economy," he explained. "And copyright owners are entitled to put up fences. They remind people that the yard of another can only be entered with permission. And boundaries in a capitalist society are necessary to incentivize creators."
The problem is that Hollywood's fence looks like shackles to many in the Internet community. And evidently this rather vocal group isn't into bondage.
Allowing the posting of the "processing key" for HD-DVD and Blu-ray video signals the rise of social computing as a countervailing force.
By Thomas Claburn
InformationWeek
May 2, 2007 06:00 PM
In late 1999, law professor Lawrence Lessig published a book called "Code Is Law," exploring how the technical architecture of the Internet -- the code -- would regulate the Internet, in conjunction with the legal system. His aim was to counter the notion that the Internet was somehow beyond control -- a view that emerged as the Internet came of age in the 1990s -- and to clarify the choices faced by the Internet community going forward.
Lessig revisited the issue in a follow-up book, Code 2.0. "We can build, or architect, or code cyberspace to protect values that we believe are fundamental," he wrote. "Or we can build, or architect, or code cyberspace to allow those values to disappear." Since then, countries like China, not to mention the companies that do business there and supply governments with technology to censorship and monitor, have demonstrated that the Internet and its users can be brought to heel, mostly.
But social computing -- blogging, commenting, messaging's movement beyond e-mail, and other group-oriented, collaborative systems -- is emerging as a countervailing force. When everyone is an individual publisher, they are vulnerable as individuals. But when they band together in groups, when they form communities, when they connect, they become powerful, both politically and economically.
This has always been the case. It is the reason that governments try to limit public assembly. Now, thanks to Web 2.0 and social networking technologies, the crowd has become self-aware and self-protective.
For Digg at least, crowd is law.
On Tuesday, Digg users rejected the community news site's effort to censor posts that revealed a 32-digit number, the "processing key" that can be used to open the digital lock protecting HD-DVD and Blu-ray video discs. Digg tried to remove posts containing the number in order to avoid liability for publishing information that could be used to facilitate copyright infringement.
The rebellion is rooted in longstanding contempt that many members of the online community have for digital rights management (DRM) technology. "What the revolt speaks to is the frustration of consumers' ability to control a property that they purchased," said Gregory Rutchik, founding attorney at the San Francisco-based Arts & Technology Law Group.
In dealing with this broad dislike for DRM and the state of copyright law, Digg faces the same problem that confronts YouTube: How do you deal with user-generated content that's really generated by someone else? In YouTube's case, filtering technology should eventually be able to identify infringing submissions. Digg, however, faces a much tougher problem due to the nature of the information in question: How do you censor a number?
The short answer is you don't. And that has implications for would-be rebels everywhere. It shows that given the right circumstances, systems of censorship can be overcome. Coordinated group efforts like this may well become the virtual equivalent of standing in front of a tank in Tiananmen Square. Others have likened it to the Boston Tea Party.
"It turns out that the 'government' of Digg's community gets its power from the consent of the governed," Princeton computer science professor Ed Felten wrote in a blog post about the uprising. "Users of other Web 2.0 sites will surely take note."
As far as the law is concerned, however, nothing has changed. And Digg, by openly throwing in the towel and siding with its users, may be inviting a lawsuit. It would be a difficult lawsuit to win because the courts have already ruled on a very similar case.
"It reminds me of the 2600 magazine case on the DeCSS code," said Rutchik. "In 2002, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals basically held that the magazine could be banned from publishing or linking to the DeCSS code."
The DeCSS code, like the processing key code that has been plastered all over the Net, served to decrypt encrypted video content, an act that violates of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's anti-circumvention provision.
Rutchik observes that the Digg insurrection may prompt some reconsideration of copyright law. "It's through revolution that business and government often change," he said. "Plaintiff lawsuits made cars safer, they made pajamas fireproof. Revolt bought about the birth of this nation."
But as Rutchik sees it, flouting the law isn't the answer. "This is a capitalist economy," he explained. "And copyright owners are entitled to put up fences. They remind people that the yard of another can only be entered with permission. And boundaries in a capitalist society are necessary to incentivize creators."
The problem is that Hollywood's fence looks like shackles to many in the Internet community. And evidently this rather vocal group isn't into bondage.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
My sister in-law and the lil bruiser
So I just wanted to share a picture on my sister in-law Mari, and her new little bundle.
Digg This: 09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0
"But now, after seeing hundreds of stories and reading thousands of comments, you’ve made it clear. You’d rather see Digg go down fighting than bow down to a bigger company. We hear you, and effective immediately we won’t delete stories or comments containing the code and will deal with whatever the consequences might be."
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
HD-DVD key fiasco is an example of 21st century digital revolt
It's the most circulated number of the week. Sixteen hexadecimal digits that unlock the wonder of most currently released HD-DVD titles from the surly clutches of the AACS revenue content protection system. Sixteen digits that have been posted in so many places -- and in many cases, removed only to be reposted -- that they're hard to avoid.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Jonathan Coulton in LA -03-First Of May
Have a happy First of May!
Make sure your brush the ants off.
Monday, April 23, 2007
I came, I saw, I Wii'ed!
FINALLY!
After searching high and low, I finally got the Wii.
I did it without having to get up at some ungodly hour and waiting in line in freezing temperatures.
I did it without having to BRIBE a Best Buy employee to let me know when it was being shipped or to hide one for me in the stockroom. But it comes with a price. I am no longer mindless, happy, shinny Nintendo fan. I am now a cynical fan of Nintendo.
Friday, April 20, 2007
Xavier V. Gomez
Awwwww
They look so sweet right now, but just you wait.
We are gonna make him an ub3r l33t h4xx0r.
My brother and sister in-law are gonna hate me.
They look so sweet right now, but just you wait.
We are gonna make him an ub3r l33t h4xx0r.
My brother and sister in-law are gonna hate me.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
AEMMA
This is a freaking hilarious commercial for AEMMA.
If you were born 500 years too late then this is for you.
Pictures of the n00blet
So here are the first images of the new addition to the Gomez clan.
Xavier Valentino Gomez
Looks like he's gonna be a bruiser and Moma and my brother are doing well.
More later
Xavier Valentino Gomez
Looks like he's gonna be a bruiser and Moma and my brother are doing well.
More later
Meanwhile in the political world
As the saying goes, if a friend of yours votes Republican "Give them a boot in the head".
Paul Wolfowitz Scandal
It is unfortunate that people's attention is centered on other tragedies because vipers like Wolfowitz and his Bushie pay masters count on people being distracted by other things.
Paul Wolfowitz Scandal
It is unfortunate that people's attention is centered on other tragedies because vipers like Wolfowitz and his Bushie pay masters count on people being distracted by other things.
OMG! We are multiplying
Well it is official.
My branch of the Gomez clan has officially spawned.
The as so far unnamed n00blet son of my brother was born around 9:30 am, thus cementing the continued growth of the family name.
This is going to be fun as I now get to hear my brothers stories of
perpetual lack of sleep, spit up stories, pee in the face moments and
the never ending stream of dirty diapers.
Only 13 years from open defiance and insurrection.
I so can't wait to fill this kid with complexes and idiosyncrasies.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
David Sedaris on Letterman
And people wonder how I got so twisted.
I point and blame Public Broadcasting. Ernie made me do it!
Wii envy
I want a Wii! ><
Since Christmas I have been asking around trying to get one of those hydro cephalic trogs that works at the big electronics stores to let me know when the next shipment of Wii's come in.
Each time I get the same answer.
Me: When is your next Wii shipment?
Trog with finger up his nose: Uhhh, we do not know when the next shipment is coming in.
Me: Is there a way for you to let me know when they do come in?
Trog sniffing his finger: We sorry first come first serve.
Me: So let me get this straight, you do not know when it's coming in and you can not tell me when it comes in and I can not pre-buy it either/
Trog licking finger: uh, yeah.
Now do not get me wrong. I could have gotten it a long time ago. I did not buy it then because I did not want to spend and additional $300.00 American above and beyond the base sticker price.
I mean who does that?
Who is willing to spend that much money on a Wii?
Honestly, If you have nothing better to do with your cash, buy that steaming piece of turd the PS3. Do not continue to allow hardware vendors to prey on your desperation (and or stupidity) and allow them to jack up the price 2X or 3X of what it usually is. Do not buy the bundles systems either, those are a total waste of cash as they stick you with a bunch of titles that you will never play, sell or give away.
I'm going to go play Wow now.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Muwahahahaha! I am evil in a "Good" way
Just something that I did to prove to myself that I am not the norm.
This little jewel brought to you by Quiz farm.
http://quizfarm.com/test.php?q_id=382
| You scored as Chaotic Good. A Chaotic Good person is someone who has little intrinsic respect for laws or authority, seeing them as insufficient to sustain what's right. These people work according to their own moral compass which, while good, is not necessarily always aligned with that of society. Despite their chaotic tendancies, these people are good at heart.
What is your Alignment? created with QuizFarm.com |
This little jewel brought to you by Quiz farm.
http://quizfarm.com/test.php?q_id=382
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Yes I am a geek!
So I admit I play World of Warcraft.
*waits for the laughter to subside*
Yes it is true. The reason for my chronic lack of sleep is that I log in 2 or 3 times a week and kill tiny lil' electronic monsters and make fun of pimply faced teenagers for their abilities in mangling the English language.
pwnD u st00p1d n00b!
lol
Well I just found out that Blizzard Entertainment is having the second Blizzcon this August in Anaheim.
Yes I want to go.
Yes I am a geek.
So now I am planning to spend time with other Blizzard game playing dorks and ogle at girls dressed as Blood Elves and make disparaging remarks about the Disney Parks.
/sigh
*waits for the laughter to subside*
Yes it is true. The reason for my chronic lack of sleep is that I log in 2 or 3 times a week and kill tiny lil' electronic monsters and make fun of pimply faced teenagers for their abilities in mangling the English language.
pwnD u st00p1d n00b!
lol
Well I just found out that Blizzard Entertainment is having the second Blizzcon this August in Anaheim.
Yes I want to go.
Yes I am a geek.
So now I am planning to spend time with other Blizzard game playing dorks and ogle at girls dressed as Blood Elves and make disparaging remarks about the Disney Parks.
/sigh
Now powered by Jaiku!
Now you can see what I am doing and pester me to no end.
Ain't the Interweb grand!
Ain't the Interweb grand!
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Wow! went a whole freakin year with out posting
Let me see, what happened during that time.
1. Wife graduated with her Masters Degree
Yipeee!
2. Wife has a lot more financial aid debt.
Jesus freakin Christ! 0.o
I wonder how much I will get for a kidney.
3. I am back in school and on my way to FINALLY getting my degree
4. Work still 5uXX0R5
5. Our dog Odo passed on
6. We got a new cat named Vincent (after Vincent Price)
7. Got a newer to us junker car
Learned to appreciate the little things in life. (yeah right!)
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