In this age of rapidly inflating incomes and ridiculous corporate bonuses I'm not even sure which class I fall into. Label me an employed dropout.
Having said that, I'm not so sure I like the increasing stratification of cities...
Here's the digg.com summary of the NYTimes article:
Cities Shed Middle Class, and Are Richer and Poorer for It
"Places like New York and San Francisco appear to be richer and more dazzling than ever: crime remains low, new arrivals pour in, neighborhoods have risen from the dead. But middle-class city dwellers across the country are being squeezed by the rich as much, or more so, as by the poor ."
read more | digg story
Thursday, July 27, 2006
(Almost) Confirmed: Tour de France winner Landis gives positive drug test
Here's the summary from Digg:
"It is not confirmed that the Unnamed Tour rider that tested positive for doping is in fact Landis. MSNBC's website now lists a headline at the top of the page confirming that his team mates have indeed said he tested positive after recieving a drug test."
The MSNBC article points out that there is still the B sample to be tested to verify wether or not doping took place.
read more | digg story
"It is not confirmed that the Unnamed Tour rider that tested positive for doping is in fact Landis. MSNBC's website now lists a headline at the top of the page confirming that his team mates have indeed said he tested positive after recieving a drug test."
The MSNBC article points out that there is still the B sample to be tested to verify wether or not doping took place.
read more | digg story
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Working on Sunday... But I'm rocking out so it's OK...
Feeling productive, getting some work done.
Totally rocking out to the Burning Brides' 2001 release, "The Fall of the Plastic Empire", the track in question is "Arctic Snow".
Ass-kicking.
Totally rocking out to the Burning Brides' 2001 release, "The Fall of the Plastic Empire", the track in question is "Arctic Snow".
Ass-kicking.
Friday, July 21, 2006
Greg Graffin: Cold as the Clay live (July 20, Lee's Palace, Toronto)
"We just got here, like, literally 20 minutes ago from the airport, so we're a little tired [...]but damnit, the show must go on."
With that, Greg Graffin and company launched into the material from Cold as the Clay.
Disclaimer: I'm not going to lie, I have been a Bad Religion fan for years. I think Stranger than Fiction may well have been the first CD I bought after finally giving up on tapes.
Having said that, this was a very different vibe than a Bad Religion show, the pace is slower the arrangements are traditional.
It's also very, very good live show. Here's how it played out:
Don't be Afraid to Run
Cold as the Clay
Talk about suffering
Omie Wise
Little Sadie
California Cotton Fields
The Rebel's Goodbye
Cease (Bad Religion) (Greg solo on piano)
God Song (Bad Religion) (Greg solo on acoustic guitar)
Willie Moore (Greg on acoustic guitar, Chris on banjo)
Highway (electric guitar version, not the album cut)
Watchmaker's Dial
One More Hill
The "fake" encore:
Suffer (Bad Religion) (Greg solo, acoustic guitar)
Sorrow (Bad Religion) (aborted)
Sorrow (Bad Religion) (re-take) (Greg solo, acoustic guitar, crowd singing chorus and stamping feet throughout, later joined with keyboards)
Damn... I have never seen a crowd that wanted an encore so badly. We didn't get it though. Ah well. I'm not complaining.
With that, Greg Graffin and company launched into the material from Cold as the Clay.
Disclaimer: I'm not going to lie, I have been a Bad Religion fan for years. I think Stranger than Fiction may well have been the first CD I bought after finally giving up on tapes.
Having said that, this was a very different vibe than a Bad Religion show, the pace is slower the arrangements are traditional.
It's also very, very good live show. Here's how it played out:
Don't be Afraid to Run
Cold as the Clay
Talk about suffering
Omie Wise
Little Sadie
California Cotton Fields
The Rebel's Goodbye
Cease (Bad Religion) (Greg solo on piano)
God Song (Bad Religion) (Greg solo on acoustic guitar)
Willie Moore (Greg on acoustic guitar, Chris on banjo)
Highway (electric guitar version, not the album cut)
Watchmaker's Dial
One More Hill
The "fake" encore:
Suffer (Bad Religion) (Greg solo, acoustic guitar)
Sorrow (Bad Religion) (aborted)
Sorrow (Bad Religion) (re-take) (Greg solo, acoustic guitar, crowd singing chorus and stamping feet throughout, later joined with keyboards)
Damn... I have never seen a crowd that wanted an encore so badly. We didn't get it though. Ah well. I'm not complaining.
Friday, July 14, 2006
Cien
Well... wow... 100 posts.
Never thought I'd get by 10.
Finally replaced my copy of Peter Tosh - Live at the One Love Peace Concert (which vanished under mysterious circumstances last summer) with Peter Tosh - Talking Revolution. The latter's a nice double disc with an acoustic bonus disc.
Ah well... I have the music and I still have the transcript of the speeches that came with the Live at the One Love Peace Concert disc. I win.
Alright... I made some comments about Metric... For the record, after listening to Live it Out, I have recanted. They're OK. I can dig it. I can admit when I'm wrong.
And ask Dr. Lono Teufel about the rudest question Emily Haines was ever asked (as per her 60 second interview on the CBC Radio 3 podcast last summer).
All right... tonight Bonde de Role, Cansei de Ser Sexy and Diplo at the Mod Club. Should be a lot of fun.
Never thought I'd get by 10.
Finally replaced my copy of Peter Tosh - Live at the One Love Peace Concert (which vanished under mysterious circumstances last summer) with Peter Tosh - Talking Revolution. The latter's a nice double disc with an acoustic bonus disc.
Ah well... I have the music and I still have the transcript of the speeches that came with the Live at the One Love Peace Concert disc. I win.
Alright... I made some comments about Metric... For the record, after listening to Live it Out, I have recanted. They're OK. I can dig it. I can admit when I'm wrong.
And ask Dr. Lono Teufel about the rudest question Emily Haines was ever asked (as per her 60 second interview on the CBC Radio 3 podcast last summer).
All right... tonight Bonde de Role, Cansei de Ser Sexy and Diplo at the Mod Club. Should be a lot of fun.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
ISP stands up for customers' rights
The Legal department of Tiscali, a UK ISP, sent this letter in
response to demands by a British recording industry association to
disclose information about 17 subscribers alleged to have been
violating copyright.
Full text available at http://craphound.com/tiscalibpiresponse.txt.
Also reprinted below:
Alleged Copyright Infringement
Suspension and Disclosure of Customer Information
Thank you for your letter dated 10 July 2006, notifying us of your
allegations that certain customers of Tiscali UK Limited
("Tiscali") have and continue to infringe the copyright in various
sounds recordings owned or controlled by certain members of The
British Phonographic IndustryLimited ("BPI").
In your letter, you request that Tiscali:
1. suspends the relevant customers until such time as they enter
into an undertaking with the BPI in the form required by you;
2. discloses the personal details of the relevant customers to the
BPI; and
3. itself enters into a legal agreement with the BPI obliging it
to do the above.
I will deal with each of these issues in turn below.
Firstly, however, I would like to be clear that Tiscali does not
support or condone use of its network for abuse or infringement of
copyright. Tiscali has a history of co-operating with those
investigating any such matters, within the limits of its own legal
obligations and whilst respecting the legal rights of our
customers. Moreover, Tiscali has done a great deal of work to
further the development of the legitimate online music community
and has developed and enjoys an excellent working relationship with
most of the major record labels in the UK and many independent
labels, the majority of which are your members.
Suspension
You have sent us a spreadsheet setting out a list of 17 IP
addresses you allege belong to Tiscali customers, whom you allege
have infringed the copyright of your members, together with the
dates and times and with which sound recording you allege that they
have done so. You have also sent us extracts of screenshots of the
shared drive of one of those customers. You state that such
evidence is "overwhelming". However, you have provided no actual
evidence in respect of 16 of the accounts. Further, you have
provided no evidence of downloading taking place nor have you
provided evidence that the shared drive was connected by the
relevant IP address at the relevant time.
Similar requests we have dealt with in the past, have included such
information and, indeed, the bodies conducting those investigations
have felt that a court would consider it necessary to see such
evidence, supported by sworn statements, before being able to grant
any order.
Therefore, in order to assist you, we will require the following
information from you:
1. in respect of the remaining 16 IP addresses, please provide
screenshots of each user's shared drive so that you can prima facie
establish communication to the public;
2. in respect of all 17 IP addresses, please provide evidence that
shows that the user id is connected via the IP address concerned at
the relevant date and time;
3. if you wish to establish that downloading is taking place,
please also provide evidence of this; and
3. as these IP address are dynamic and are allocated to a user
upon connection for the duration of the connection only, please
confirm that the timings provided are all BST, so that we may
accurately identify the customer details.
In the meantime, we have contacted the customer, in respect of whom
you have provided partial evidence of communication to the public
of copyrighted sound recordings and have given such customer seven
days from the date of receipt of our letter to provide an
explanation. Should we not receive an adequate explanation during
such period, we shall suspend the user's account pending resolution
of your investigation, assuming by that time we have received
evidence from you of a link between the user account and the IP
address at the relevant time.
At this point, I would like to make it clear that a similar
procedure will be followed in respect of the remaining 16
customers, once you have provided proper evidence. Tiscali does
not intend to require its customers to enter into the undertakings
proposed by you and, in any event, our initial view is that they
are more restrictive than is reasonable or necessary. However,
should you wish our customers to enter into your undertakings, you
will need to approach them directly. It is a matter for them to
decide whether they wish to enter into such undertakings or defend
proceedings against them in the courts. It is not for Tiscali, as
an ISP, nor the BPI, as a trade association, to effectively act as
a regulator or law enforcement agency and deny individuals the
right to defend themselves against the allegations made against them.
Disclosure of Customer Details
As you will already be fully aware, Tiscali will not be able to
disclose customer details to you unless you obtain a court order
requiring us to do so. To disclose without a court order would put
Tiscali at risk of breaching the terms and conditions of its
customer agreements, and the provisions of the Data Protection Act
1998.
Tiscali Undertakings
As we have mentioned above, Tiscali has always co-operated with
investigations into alleged infringement conducted by copyright
owners, whilst observing its own legal obligations and respecting
the legal rights of its customers. In the circumstances, we do not
consider it necessary nor desirable to enter into such undertakings
nor do we believe that, in circumstances where we are co-operating
with your investigation in the manner we have outlined in this
letter, that a court would require us to do so. Furthermore, we do
not believe that you have at present satisfied the requirements of
section 97A of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 with the
information you have provided.
We look forward to receiving the information requested above.
Yours sincerely
Tiscali UK Limited
response to demands by a British recording industry association to
disclose information about 17 subscribers alleged to have been
violating copyright.
Full text available at http://craphound.com/tiscalibpiresponse.txt.
Also reprinted below:
Alleged Copyright Infringement
Suspension and Disclosure of Customer Information
Thank you for your letter dated 10 July 2006, notifying us of your
allegations that certain customers of Tiscali UK Limited
("Tiscali") have and continue to infringe the copyright in various
sounds recordings owned or controlled by certain members of The
British Phonographic IndustryLimited ("BPI").
In your letter, you request that Tiscali:
1. suspends the relevant customers until such time as they enter
into an undertaking with the BPI in the form required by you;
2. discloses the personal details of the relevant customers to the
BPI; and
3. itself enters into a legal agreement with the BPI obliging it
to do the above.
I will deal with each of these issues in turn below.
Firstly, however, I would like to be clear that Tiscali does not
support or condone use of its network for abuse or infringement of
copyright. Tiscali has a history of co-operating with those
investigating any such matters, within the limits of its own legal
obligations and whilst respecting the legal rights of our
customers. Moreover, Tiscali has done a great deal of work to
further the development of the legitimate online music community
and has developed and enjoys an excellent working relationship with
most of the major record labels in the UK and many independent
labels, the majority of which are your members.
Suspension
You have sent us a spreadsheet setting out a list of 17 IP
addresses you allege belong to Tiscali customers, whom you allege
have infringed the copyright of your members, together with the
dates and times and with which sound recording you allege that they
have done so. You have also sent us extracts of screenshots of the
shared drive of one of those customers. You state that such
evidence is "overwhelming". However, you have provided no actual
evidence in respect of 16 of the accounts. Further, you have
provided no evidence of downloading taking place nor have you
provided evidence that the shared drive was connected by the
relevant IP address at the relevant time.
Similar requests we have dealt with in the past, have included such
information and, indeed, the bodies conducting those investigations
have felt that a court would consider it necessary to see such
evidence, supported by sworn statements, before being able to grant
any order.
Therefore, in order to assist you, we will require the following
information from you:
1. in respect of the remaining 16 IP addresses, please provide
screenshots of each user's shared drive so that you can prima facie
establish communication to the public;
2. in respect of all 17 IP addresses, please provide evidence that
shows that the user id is connected via the IP address concerned at
the relevant date and time;
3. if you wish to establish that downloading is taking place,
please also provide evidence of this; and
3. as these IP address are dynamic and are allocated to a user
upon connection for the duration of the connection only, please
confirm that the timings provided are all BST, so that we may
accurately identify the customer details.
In the meantime, we have contacted the customer, in respect of whom
you have provided partial evidence of communication to the public
of copyrighted sound recordings and have given such customer seven
days from the date of receipt of our letter to provide an
explanation. Should we not receive an adequate explanation during
such period, we shall suspend the user's account pending resolution
of your investigation, assuming by that time we have received
evidence from you of a link between the user account and the IP
address at the relevant time.
At this point, I would like to make it clear that a similar
procedure will be followed in respect of the remaining 16
customers, once you have provided proper evidence. Tiscali does
not intend to require its customers to enter into the undertakings
proposed by you and, in any event, our initial view is that they
are more restrictive than is reasonable or necessary. However,
should you wish our customers to enter into your undertakings, you
will need to approach them directly. It is a matter for them to
decide whether they wish to enter into such undertakings or defend
proceedings against them in the courts. It is not for Tiscali, as
an ISP, nor the BPI, as a trade association, to effectively act as
a regulator or law enforcement agency and deny individuals the
right to defend themselves against the allegations made against them.
Disclosure of Customer Details
As you will already be fully aware, Tiscali will not be able to
disclose customer details to you unless you obtain a court order
requiring us to do so. To disclose without a court order would put
Tiscali at risk of breaching the terms and conditions of its
customer agreements, and the provisions of the Data Protection Act
1998.
Tiscali Undertakings
As we have mentioned above, Tiscali has always co-operated with
investigations into alleged infringement conducted by copyright
owners, whilst observing its own legal obligations and respecting
the legal rights of its customers. In the circumstances, we do not
consider it necessary nor desirable to enter into such undertakings
nor do we believe that, in circumstances where we are co-operating
with your investigation in the manner we have outlined in this
letter, that a court would require us to do so. Furthermore, we do
not believe that you have at present satisfied the requirements of
section 97A of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 with the
information you have provided.
We look forward to receiving the information requested above.
Yours sincerely
Tiscali UK Limited
Sunday, July 09, 2006
The (World) Cup runneth over...
...into the streets.
I was on my way back from Duke's Cycle, where I ordered a new headset (ah yes... the bike will be built) and I noticed that I could hear the Grand Prix down on the Lakeshore.
I was heading north on Euclid, pushing to reach College before the penalty kicks from the World Cup were finished - I could hear the race all the way up.
I reached College, just as Italy nailed their last penalty to take their fourth World Cup title while denying France their second.
As soon as that ball crossed the goal line, I could no longer hear the race. People spilled off of patios and into the streets, flags were waving, chaos ensued.
Going to be a fun evening.
I was on my way back from Duke's Cycle, where I ordered a new headset (ah yes... the bike will be built) and I noticed that I could hear the Grand Prix down on the Lakeshore.
I was heading north on Euclid, pushing to reach College before the penalty kicks from the World Cup were finished - I could hear the race all the way up.
I reached College, just as Italy nailed their last penalty to take their fourth World Cup title while denying France their second.
As soon as that ball crossed the goal line, I could no longer hear the race. People spilled off of patios and into the streets, flags were waving, chaos ensued.
Going to be a fun evening.
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Props to Linux Australia
Linux Australia has set up sites for fair use petitions for the media that we all (well, some of us anyway) fork over cash for. Check out www.iownmymusic.org and www.iownmydvds.org for details.
Oh, and the Jack Valenti quote from 1982 on www.iownmydvds.org is priceless. What kills me about the ongoing fair use debate, is that the movie and music industry are making the same arguments they did over 20 years ago - arguments that proved to be erroneous then.
Oh, and the Jack Valenti quote from 1982 on www.iownmydvds.org is priceless. What kills me about the ongoing fair use debate, is that the movie and music industry are making the same arguments they did over 20 years ago - arguments that proved to be erroneous then.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Afternoon musings
Bah. It's clouding over.
I'm sitting in the study, listening to Gomez' "How We Operate" (its really freakin' good by the way) while I build skeletal PowerPoint decks for three courses.
My mind isn't really on my work.
Feeling a little bitter (though the Gomez is is helping me get past that).
To all those who neglect their correspondence: get bent. Yeah, I'm talking to you... Getting really sick of one-way friendships over here.
Yeah, it's that kind of day - feeling cut off from the world around me.
Nobody's fault but mine I suppose... No, wait... I made the effort. And you? No? Thought not.
So, what's going on in the world... North Korea testing cruise missiles. Lovely.
In Toronto, we have failed as a working city. I have nothing against the Guardian Angels, do what you're going to do; but do we really need what are essentially unaccountable vigilantes watching our streets? As much as people are (and will always be) critical of the police department, at least accountability is built in there.
CBC radio (in Toronto anyway) has a series on solar power, aptly called Solar Revolution. Looks interesting.
...and Cronenberg is co-curating a Warhol retrospective at the AGO. Cool...
I'm sitting in the study, listening to Gomez' "How We Operate" (its really freakin' good by the way) while I build skeletal PowerPoint decks for three courses.
My mind isn't really on my work.
Feeling a little bitter (though the Gomez is is helping me get past that).
To all those who neglect their correspondence: get bent. Yeah, I'm talking to you... Getting really sick of one-way friendships over here.
Yeah, it's that kind of day - feeling cut off from the world around me.
Nobody's fault but mine I suppose... No, wait... I made the effort. And you? No? Thought not.
So, what's going on in the world... North Korea testing cruise missiles. Lovely.
In Toronto, we have failed as a working city. I have nothing against the Guardian Angels, do what you're going to do; but do we really need what are essentially unaccountable vigilantes watching our streets? As much as people are (and will always be) critical of the police department, at least accountability is built in there.
CBC radio (in Toronto anyway) has a series on solar power, aptly called Solar Revolution. Looks interesting.
...and Cronenberg is co-curating a Warhol retrospective at the AGO. Cool...
I have been lax
Boy have I ever.
What's going on? Still building the road bike one piece at a time (not unlike the Johnny Cash song).
Work is good, doing some writing.
World Cup has been good to watch, but painful to accept (3-1 France over Spain... that hurt!).
Saw Gomez at the Guvernment last week. While the Guvernment is not my favourite venue, Gomez puts on one hell of a show. Best time I have had at the Guvernment since I saw Aphex Twin there... crap, NINE years ago?!
OK, now I am feeling old.
So... Net Neutrality. This is a hot button issue with me lately, as it threatens to reshape electronic communication radically.
Yes, I realize that it is a proposed piece of US legislation, not Canadian.
What many people fail to realise is that no nation's network exists in isolation; changes in the US network will have repercussions for all of us.
If you don't know what I'm talking about, I highly suggest you Google this topic.
What's going on? Still building the road bike one piece at a time (not unlike the Johnny Cash song).
Work is good, doing some writing.
World Cup has been good to watch, but painful to accept (3-1 France over Spain... that hurt!).
Saw Gomez at the Guvernment last week. While the Guvernment is not my favourite venue, Gomez puts on one hell of a show. Best time I have had at the Guvernment since I saw Aphex Twin there... crap, NINE years ago?!
OK, now I am feeling old.
So... Net Neutrality. This is a hot button issue with me lately, as it threatens to reshape electronic communication radically.
Yes, I realize that it is a proposed piece of US legislation, not Canadian.
What many people fail to realise is that no nation's network exists in isolation; changes in the US network will have repercussions for all of us.
If you don't know what I'm talking about, I highly suggest you Google this topic.
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