...actual distinct voices speaking in my mind? Or is it just the weblog of James Lindenschmidt? Here you can see me wrestle with this and other questions, while spewing forth my writings, opinions, and hallucinations.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

 

Terrorists Infiltrating the Super Bowl

According to espn.com, they've started rounding up the terrorists at the Super Bowl. So don't worry, sports fans. It's articles like these that make me feel both safe and proud to be an American™:

Nearly 70 foreign-born security guards and drivers working at or around the Super Bowl were arrested by immigration agents in a three-month operation designed to ensure the safety of fans, authorities said Friday. Another 41 were being sought.

As part of Operation Game Day, the Immigration and Naturalization Service arrested 45 security guards and 24 cab drivers. Of those, 34 had criminal convictions.

Those detained on immigration violations could be deported. Six face prosecution on federal criminal charges.

The probe targeted workers in industries operating in and around Qualcomm Stadium who have access to restricted areas.

"In the aftermath of 9-11, our priority is to examine areas that pose the highest security threat and take appropriate action,'' said Adele J. Fasano, director of the INS' San Diego district.

^ posted at 12:26 AM

 

The Year The Music Died

I have been thinking a lot in the past few years about the Intellectual Property crisis. This interest was triggered when I started paying attention to the Free Software Movement. But it applies to many aspects of modern life, not least the music industry.

This article makes an interesting point about the music industry: the music industry is doomed not because of technological advances, but because most people won't care if it does. As you saw in my previous entry (Bitch Slap), bands and people who work in the music industry regard it with disdain or disgust. And now, they are alienating their customers, too. Do you know anyone who would shed a tear if the major record labels went away? There must be some Britney Spears fan somewhere who would shed a tear. Maybe.

^ posted at 12:17 PM

 

MixerMan and Bitch Slap

OK, this has been linked from all over the Internet. It is a diary of a recording engineer (MixerMan) working with a big-time producer and a newly-signed band (Bitch Slap) for a major label. It purports to be real (with names changed to protect the guilty), but it may be fictional. Who knows. Either way, it's a fascinating read. Well worth the time. I laughed out loud in several places, and was hooked instantly. He tells a great story with humor and insight into The Music Bizz, and the process of creating music in a studio.

The first part is here, with the second part here, with additional commentary by another player here. Someone even imagined what a movie of this story would be like, and put up a site here telling that iteration of the story.

Further proof that all creativity builds on previous creativity ...

^ posted at 1:35 PM

 

The Unseen Gulf War

By Peter Turnley is online at The Digital Journalist.

From his introduction:

As we approach the likelihood of a new Gulf War, I have an idea and it occurs to me that the Digital Journalist may be the place for it. As we all know, the military pool system created then was meant to be, and was, a major impediment for photojournalists in their quest to communicate the realities of war (This fact does not diminish the great efforts, courage, and many important images created by many of my colleagues who participated in these pools.). Aside from that, while you would have a very difficult time finding an editor of an American publication today that wouldn't condemn this pool system and its restrictions during the Gulf War, most publications and television entities more or less bought the program before the war began (this reality has been far less discussed than the critiques of the pools themselves).

'Nuff said.

^ posted at 1:29 PM

 

Mickey is invincible, it turns out ...

In a 7-2 ruling, the Supreme Court of the United States has denied Lawrence Lessig's challenge to (in practice) perpetual copyrights in the Eldred v. Ashcroft case.

While not in the least unexpected, this ruling represents a devastating blow to creativity, culture, and individual freedoms. When I have more time I'll post more as to what I mean by this. I also intend to read the court's majority opinion, in addition to the two different dissenting opinions.

A sad day ...

^ posted at 11:34 AM

 

On Writing

My attention lately has been commanded by two writing projects. One is a fiction project. It's been fun, writing on the advice of Stephen King, where I don't have the entire story outline in my head when I begin writing. Rather, the writing takes me on a journey.

The second project is the Intellectual Property story. I've just had an opportunity fall into my lap of possibly getting involved in a book project with others. I will post more about this as the details materialize.

^ posted at 1:30 PM

 

Broadband Down

Well, my cable modem had been down for about 24 hours. I wasn't able to post, get email, or much of anything else during that time. But, it's up now ...

^ posted at 10:07 PM

 

Is the new Congress actually trying to do something useful?

Apparently so. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., has introduced the Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act which would largely limit the sweeping powers granted to Intellectual Property Interests by the Digital Millenium Copyright Act.

The DMCA is a problem, big-time. It limits an individual's rights to fair use, effectively making fair use illegal. Fair use, by the way, is

the principle that the public is entitled, without having to ask permission, to use copyrighted works so long as these uses do not duly interfere with the copyright owner's market for a work. Fair uses include personal, noncommercial uses, such as using a VCR to record a television program for later viewing. Fair use also includes activities undertaken for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research.
--"Unintended Consequences: Three Years Under the DMCA," published by the Electronic Frontier Foundation

It is vital to understand that the DMCA makes these things illegal: it is now possible to limit criticism, commentary, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and private, personal uses under this law. So Boucher's new bill would undo this damage to intellectual freedom done by the DMCA. As a result, I urge anyone reading this to contact their Congressional representatives in support of the Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act.

On a more general note, the Intellectual Property crisis appears to be going in a more positive direction of late. I'll post more about this assertion soon ...

^ posted at 11:41 AM

 

A tame, even amusing, glimpse of what is to come?

There are quite a few federal employees scouring airports these days. Many of them are security people. Well, Penn Jillette, of Penn & Teller fame, has posted a report of his encounter with the Las Vegas airport federal security employees.

It's an ominous account, though a bit funny in spots. He was clearly treated very differently because he is a celebrity (big surprise, right?) What disturbs me about the account is what the federal "customer service" person said to him:

She said, "Well, the airport is very important to all of our incomes and we don't want bad press. It'll hurt everyone, but you have to do what you think is right. But, if you give me your itinerary every time you fly, I'll be at the airport with you and we can make sure it's very pleasant for you."

While her accomodating attitude is commendable, it disturbs me that she wants to hush-up the actions of terrorist-sniffing federal employees at the airport. That was her prime directive. Not fixing any violations of personal space, civil rights, or common courtesy, but avoiding public knowledge of the incident. Keep the American People™ ignorant.

On the other hand, maybe she just had the hots for Penn.

^ posted at 12:09 PM

 

Back to LyX

Well, I've returned to using LyX as my writing utensil of choice. I had been using Kile, which is an Integrated LaTeX editing environment. It's very useful, and I'm very glad I used it to learn more about LaTeX. However, I got tired of looking at code. LyX's WYSIWYM interface is much neater and more intuitive to me. Plus, I can export to the file formats that mean most to me (.txt, .html, .pdf).

Plus, when LyX 1.3 comes out it will be native to Qt, and will therefore work very well with KDE. One of the negative things about the current version of LyX (I'm using 1.2.1) is that its old Xforms interface is clunky.

^ posted at 1:41 AM

 

Winter Wonderland?

It's cold here. But then, I guessed that when I moved to Maine several years ago. :-)

Christmas Day, at about 2pm, it started snowing. It didn't stop for about 24 hours, and we had over 20 inches of snow when it was done. Then, in the week since, it has frequently gone over freezing during the day, and then down into the teens at night. So the snow melts a bit, then freezes again at night. Plus, we've had a couple of days of rain, freezing rain, and sleet since then.

So the net effect of all this is stunning: There is still a bunch of snow outside; some of the piles by the side of the road are 6 feet high. But all the snow has now been frozen into whatever shape it held when the ice came. The snow piles are white, but shiny hard. Ice rules the day.

The sidewalks of Portland are almost all covered with ice; but luckily, most people have put down sand, creating a non-slippery surface to walk on.

Winter in Maine is a beautiful thing, if you don't mind the cold ...

^ posted at 7:58 PM