I’m not really into astrology – I mean, there are only twelve star signs so what is right for you is right for one twelfth of the world population, go figure. But I was discussing it the other day and it suddenly struck me as being all wrong.
If, like me, you are born in June in the northern hemisphere then you are a Gemini. But isn’t that because the overhead constellation on that date is Gemini. If you were born in the southern hemisphere in June then the overhead constellation would be Aquarius. Surely, if the stars and planets are going to affect your fate at all it will be those ones seen in the sky when you are born, not the ones that are round the other side of the globe ?
Last word: for those of you born under Taurus, the bull – I suggest you wash your hair !
There has been a previous thread on music copyright but now a couple of UK bands are taking things a step further.
Radiohead have release their seventh album, In Rainbows, as an internet download only. Downloaders pay as little or as much as they choose.
The Charlatans made their latest single available on the web for free.
Both these groups are very well known in the UK and this is seen as a ‘get stuffed’ message to the fat cats of the major record labels.
An expensive gesture ? Not so. Free national news publicity without the usual rigmarole of sending promotional copies to music reviewers and radio stations, only to see pirated versions all over the internet before the CD even reaches the shops.
And both bands agree that the real money is in live gigs – not cd sales.
So where does this leave the record companies, whose cd sales are already falling ?
If blank cd’s can be distributed and sold for a few cents each why does a music cd cost $20 ? Sounds like a $19 rip off to me.
When the law of diminishing returns kicks in, less cd sales will lead to higher prices which in turn will lead to more file sharing. But if music is released on to the internet then file sharing is no longer illegal !
It seems, if all the opinion polls are right, that John Howard, the consummate politician, will be ditched by the electorate for all the wrong reasons. Elected in ‘96 and subsequently re-elected three times - he must be doing something right. But now he stands to be ousted by a relatively inexperienced newcomer who espouses every popular cause in order to be - well, popular. A man who only got his present job because his three predecessors were so totally incompetent but despite this fact were voted in as party leaders anyway. What does this say of the judgement of the ALP?
And what about Peter Costello, the poor guy must be spewing. After waiting patiently in the wings for little Johnny to hand over the reins (as promised ?) he could now be watching his lifelong ambition thwarted and find his only claim to fame will be Leader of the Opposition.
C’mon guys, Vote for Howard. Who would you rather have as your next PM, Krudd or Petey Boy ?
What do retired people do all day ? Working people frequently ask retired people what they do to make their days interesting.
Well, for example, the other day I went into town and went into a shop. I was only in there for about 5 minutes. When I came out there was a cop writing out a parking ticket. I went up to him and said, “Aw, c’mon man, how about giving a senior citizen a break ?” He ignored me and continued writing the ticket. I swore and called him a fascist pig. He glared at me and started writing another ticket for having worn tires. So I called him a dickhead. He finished writing the second ticket and stuck it on the windscreen with the first. Then he started writing a third ticket for a chip in the glass. This went on for about 20 minutes. The more I abused him the more tickets he wrote.
Personally, I didn’t care. I came into town by bus. I try to have a little fun each day now I’m retired. It’s important at my age to keep the brain active.
Saw Diehard 4.0 at the weekend. My opinion, don’t bother. The plot is ridiculous; a disillusioned security expert decides to teach US national security a lesson by recruiting a team of hackers, whom he subsequently wipes out with professional hit-men, and hacking into everything: traffic management, stock exchange, tv& radio - all simualtaneously. The action is much less believable than previous, i.e. taking out a gun-toting baddie in a chopper by driving over a fire hydrant so the resulting water spout washes him out. huh ?
Above average marks for Justin Long, the computer geek, and Mary Winstead, McClane’s daughter. Below average for everyone else, especially Brucie.
If it wasn’t for the language I’d say it was a kids movie. it certainly lacks any sophistication to be considered as a serious adult movie. Compared to Bourne, this is cheap trashy nonsense.
Sousveillance is the recording or monitoring of real or apparent authority figures by others, particularly those who are generally the subject of surveillance.
The term “sousveillance” stems from the contrasting French words sur, meaning “above”, and sous, meaning “below”, i.e. “surveillance” denotes the “eye-in-the-sky” watching from above, whereas “sousveillance” denotes bringing the camera or other means of observation down to human level, either physically (mounting cameras on people rather than on buildings), or hierarchically (ordinary people doing the watching, rather than higher authorities or architectures doing the watching).
Inverse surveillance is the concept of citizens to photograph police, shoppers to photograph shopkeepers, or passengers to photograph taxicab drivers. It could also mean telling the telemarketer who just rang you that you are recording the conversation.
Personal sousveillance is the art, science, and technology of personal experience capture, processing, storage, retrieval, and transmission. This could be something as simple as a weblog or phone camera or something more technically complicated such as a cyborglog.
An emerging theory seeks to demonstrate the equilibrium between surveillance and sousveillance. Current “equiveillance theory” holds that sousveillance, to some extent, often reduces or eliminates the need for surveillance. Crimes, for example, might then be solved by way of collaboration among the citizenry rather than through the watching over the citizenry from above. This is already happening; one example is the US police beating of Rodney King.
What does this mean for us? As usual a convergence of newly emerged technologies has caught governments and legal professionals on the back foot:
If you acting legally and are under surveillance is it legal to use sousveillance on your watchers? Imagine walking into your bank and videoing the experience of your transaction with teller.
If an individual wants to go several steps further than keeping a diary and wants to keep a digital record of what they do, who they talk to etc. do they have a legal right to do so?
If they do, does this make “No Photography” signs meaningless?
If you are stopped from making your own video of a particular event is subsequent video from the authority that prevented you admissible in court?
Personally I think HG Wells got it wrong in ‘1984’ because he did not foresee the advances in technology that allow sousveillance. Not only can we watch the watchers but we can use this technology to protect ourselves. Instead of a personal attack alarm imagine wearing a personal video camera constantly transmitting pictures of where you are and what you see direct to the internet. Would that make you feel safe?
Question for Admin. How many nooks, nookers, nooksters, nookites are there? The number of new nooks increases daily but it seems the vast majority of these never post. Are there any sats? Can we see them?
If there’s a worse storyline than the last McLeods Daughters then I don’t want to see it. Some weird angel turns up, pashes Kate and disappears without solving anything. After waiting years for the match-up of the century, Stevies husband Alex is a no-show and her dippy daughter Rose tries to ‘kill’ herself by free-wheeling a car 20 metres down a slope into a tree. Meanwhile Grace can’t see further than her nose and couldn’t organize a booze up in a brewery, much less run a farm.
It‘s almost as bad as Sea Patrol where a handful of pinups present an recruiting advert for the navy. Its all high jinx and high adventure. Where’s the drudgery, the endless cleaning, scrubbing, painting and polishing. A ship like the Hammersly would be almost white with dried on salt spray but no-one ever cleans it. In my experience it was a toss up between the buffer and the swain who was the ugliest and who was the drunkest, the XO was bitter at doing all the work, getting none of the credit and not having a command and the Nav was belittled for his ability to read a chart and nothing else. It’s about as true to life as the Simpsons.
Up Spirits! (standfast the Holy Ghost).
I apologise in advance if this offends anyone. I don’t think its sexist, I think its funny and deserves to be shared.
A woman is lying in bed reading a book when her husband comes into the bedroom with a sheep under his arm. “This is the pig I make love to when you’ve got a headache.” he says. The woman looks up ” I think you’ll find that’s a sheep.” she says. “I think you’ll find I’m talking to the sheep.” the man replies.
I know G1 is designing the nook currency, just thought she might draw inspiration from the latest Canadian notes.
