Moby: “i’m almost tempted to go onto kazaa and download some of my own music, just to see if the riaa would sue me for having mp3’s of my own songs on my hard-drive.”
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Nick Denton looks at the possible pitfalls of Calacanis’ weblog ‘trade-publishing’. Many of the successful things on the web are to do with brand and having control over look and feel. The web itself scored over Gopher and WAIS in that it allowed pages to look unique. Weblogs could be seen as a decentralized Usenet with individual branding. If, as Nick argues, a decentralized About.com model is to learn from this then perhaps simple things like having unique domain names and control over look and feel are very important.
The distinction between voice and data is non-existent in many cases, but it seems that new laws don’t reflect this, and are therefore inconsistent and obsolete as soon they are passed. A federal judge throws out the national ‘do not call list’. Meanwhile, at the state level, California bans spam, and in the UK spam is made illegal altogether. What if anti-spam laws could be formulated to prevent unwanted telemarketing calls? “The [Californian] law also prohibits collecting e-mail addresses or registering multiple e-mail addresses for the purpose of initiating or advertising in an unsolicited commercial e-mail advertisement from California or to a California e-mail address.” Aside from the fact that this begs the question, what is a California email address? What if there were a law that covered not just email but any unsolicited electronic communication? Surely this would be more logical since ’email’ is merely a particular technical implementation…
A team of crack geeks come round and set your VCR. “give three geeks US$15,000 and three days to bring a family of four up to date with technology. The average family doesn’t know which DVD player to buy or how to setup a wireless network. What happens when even the geeks can’t get it work?” Slashdot | Geek Eye for the Average Guy
Michael Savage: “… whether people accept it or not, I am in touch with God all day long.” FOXNews.com – The O’Reilly Factor – Interview – Radio Talk Show Host Michael Savage
The Atkins diet seems to work, but some nutritionists suggest this is only in the short term and with longer term health risks. We should perhaps be suspicious of anything that offers a quick fix. Smoking, for example, is a good way to lose weight. Even if there are factors which affect how we metabolize food, these will always be secondary effects, you get fat if you burn less calories than you eat, period. Unfortunately our appetites are calibrated for food scarcity, so the only effective diet, a balanced input of moderate quantity and plenty exercise, requires effort. “The [UK] Food Standards Agency, which is responsible for all the Government’s nutritional guidance, has published a statement alerting the public to the health risks of low-carbohydrate diets, including Atkins, claiming that they are linked to heart disease, cancer and even obesity.” Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Official: Atkins diet can…
Want to buy a real piece of history? Muscle Shoals (the whole kit ‘n caboodle) is ffor sale on Ebay for $650,000. OK its not the original location, but having been its home since 1978, this is still a piece of American heritage. It would be a great shame if this were torn down to make space for condos as David Hood has suggested.
Glenn Reynolds has missed the big picture in the latest events in the Hutton enquiry when he says: “Things just get worse for the British Broadcasting Corp., as the initial claim that Tony Blair’s government ‘sexed up an intelligence dossier about Iraq has exploded, and revealed a miserable tissue of lies and shoddiness at the BBC. “ Yesterday was a bad day for the BBC in an enquiry which has hurt both the BBC and the government in a game of political ping pong. Glenn either hasn’t been following the Hutton enquiry or is grinding a big axe.
Peopleaggregator is up, contrats to Marc and Eric and all involved. Lots more to come.
Duralex glasses are a design classic. I like drinking wine, but even in San Francisco, friends sneer at me, if I don’t order a man’s drink. I think the real problem isn’t the drink, it’s the glass. I hate wine glasses. The solution would be if wine in bars were served in sturdy Duralex tumblers. Bormioli Rocco – Products – Duralex