in lieu of radio ...

a somewhat random collection of pages and thoughts started sept 16 2001. now that i'm not on the radio 6 hours every day, blogger allows all of us to harangue...

Wednesday, August 28, 2002

17 years old. Steals a six pack. Gets caught. Slips out of police car. Gets 10 years. Yes, 10 years. the the judge and prosecutor are up for election??? (story don't say)
Mother in shock over teen's sentence (St. Petersburg Times)

Have I mentioned that we're doomed ?? (ebay auction)

Jim Boughton, still rattling the MLB cage, telling it like it is. Link: Advice for the Fans (NYt - "free" reg. req.)

Saturday, August 24, 2002

Fun column on what celebrities wish they could do (UK bias but some Americans) ...speak French or make gravy. From scientists to writers, comedians to presidents, we know what they can do - but what they can't do is much more revealing Link: Don't ask me how to... (Grauniad UK)

Fun column on what celebrities wish they could do (UK bias but some Americans) ...speak French or make gravy. From scientists to writers, comedians to presidents, we know what they can do - but what they can't do is much more revealing Don't ask me how to... (Grauniad UK)

Friday, August 23, 2002

On the same day that the Ashcroft Gestapo appealed the almost unprecedented FISA rebuke to the FBI, the ACLU Seeks Information on Government's Use of Vast New Surveillance Powers

Thursday, August 22, 2002

More good coverage for the case that file sharing is not the cause of the music industry's troubles. Hit Charade - The music industry's self-inflicted wounds. (Jenkins, Slate)

Ever wonder how many of the "attack Iraq now" gentry in the Bush administration actually served in the military? Not many... Chicken Hawks (Engel, Guardian UK

Wednesday, August 21, 2002

Scott Ritter testified someplace (in Washington?) today. Fuck if i can find any reports or transcripts... He basically said Iraq's no threat to anyone, so why bother?

Nine questions I'll be sending to my Representative and Senators... Iraq: The Doubters Grow (The Nation)

Tuesday, August 20, 2002

Perhaps this is why we don't see more smart folks on TV (cf. Nat Hentoff, etc. etc. ) More dangerous than Grand Theft Auto 3 -- a defender of video games is given the trash talk-show treatment. Here's what he really wanted to say. Coming up next: Ambushed on "Donahue"! (Salon)

Sunday, August 18, 2002

Yay! Trouser Press has relaunched their site. Comprehensive and opinionated reviews of Alt-Rock fom 70s through 80s and a 90s section which is being added to all the while. Love the "random entry" feature! Link:Trouser Press

Thursday, August 15, 2002

Wired News picks up on the suit against the airline ID system. Also some more details on possible "secret government directives" about other aspects of commercial flight.
Disputed Air ID Law May Not Exist

Wednesday, August 14, 2002

Looks like Dell has found a way around the new M$ OEM terms. Dell Computer is making Windows optional for some of its business desktops Note that it's just the business lines... Dell unhooks Windows from desktops (News.com)

Forwarded from my sister. The story is par for the course. Some farmers are now saying you've got to let us stay as we only own the one farm. We'll see what Mugabe and his thugs do about that...


(last names and some details redacted)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter " @.com>
To:
Sent: Wednesday, August 14, 2002 8:55 AM
Subject: Zimbabwe

Hi all,

For those of you who are interested...

My folks are hanging in there. Not going to budge until the last minute. They have been barricaded in their house for the past two days with the braying drunken mobs outside demanding money. Mugabe has told all the farm workers to take as much as they can get before the whites depart - so my parents had to pay them gratuities (up to $20 million for my brother and somewhere around $1 million for my parents skeleton staff) despite having supported them all for the past year without any of them doing a single days
work.
Quite disappointing when your own staff turn on you.

My parents have nurtured most of them since childhood, but I guess they have no-where to go and feel trapped. (Don't we all).

Well Africa can go to hell. Mugabe has done enormous damage to the sub-continent.

Humour still abounds. All the farmers from Chinhoyi who were thrown into jail earlier this year for trying to protect a fellow farmer marched up to the local prison last week with mops and brooms demanding to clean the place
in case they were thrown inside again! Even the cops saw the funny side.

My brother appears to be okay. He is allowed to farm, but no garauntee that he will see the crop to fruition. The general feeling is that those that will be allowed to stay will obviously do it under Mugabes terms - such a 200% rise in wages thus rendering the industry unprofitable. However, for the majority of old timers such as my folks, who have no pensions, this can only be the best option. Who knows.

Unfortunately the extortion does not stop once you have vacated your property. Many people are being followed into Harare and barricaded in their flats by the war veterans and ex-farm workers who are demanding ludicrous
amounts of money despite having already been paid out in full. Rather depressing to think that you are still not over it even though you have given up everything. Even more crazy to think that you have to "pay" to leave your property!

That's it for now.

Cheers, Pete .


Peter
Senior Account Executive
xxx
xxx
Wanchai
Hong Kong
Tel: 852-
Fax: 852-

Sunday, August 11, 2002

Irontic purports to have an internal memo from Dell... Microsoft Says Dell Can't Sell No-OS Computers ::: Slashdot has same memo, forwarded from a SysAdmin who got it from Dell... Dell No Longer Selling Systems w/o Microsoft OS (apparently "this affects our competitors also")

Friday, August 09, 2002

Creative accounting in the music industry. A rare glimpse behind the veil... Did you know that record companies can be audited only on documents they provide? Manufacturing and even shipping records are off limits. Link: Now Ain't the Time for Your Tears (Dave Marsh - CounterPunch)

Wednesday, August 07, 2002

Unusually good Associated Press series on spam. Who gets it, how much, who sends it, how profitable, what people are doing about it. Part I E-Mail Users, Sites Growing Weary of Spam Onslaught --- Part II Spam Fattens Both E-mail And Bank Accounts
---- Part III :Anti-Spam Tools Are Not Perfect, But Can Mitigate Annoyance (all from Salt Lake City Tribune)


And a related story from Italy Even With Anti-Spam Laws, Europe Plagued by Junk E-Mail (AP, again)

Friday, August 02, 2002

Talk about an ethical nightmare! Perhaps they could get the frankenfood companies to waive the IP issue so that if some seeds were replanted, the farmers wouldnt be sues. As to the other issues... Starved for Food, Zimbabwe Rejects U.S. Biotech Corn (Wash. Post)