Need To Know 2002-10-25

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"My belief - which was sort of wrong, but may in the long term be right - is that [the net] is going to change business slowly, over a long period of time..." http://www.sanfran.com/features/transcripts/John_Battelle.html ...ie, a sufficiently long period of time for me to become right again >> HARD NEWS << debating ingenues Sure, after both BRUCE DICKINSON and CHUCK D dropped out, we were mainly going to last night's Oxford Union "free music" debate to give RIAA chair (and erstwhile Napster-slayer) HILARY ROSEN a hard time. But, as it turned out, there was no need - Rosen was quite happy to make extraordinary claims that no copy-protected CDs have been released in the USA (fatchucks.com, we imagine, would beg to differ), and that musicians will continue making music whatever happens, which surely doesn't quite back up her anti-file-sharing position. Reassuringly, the motion that "This House believes that the free music mentality is a threat to the future of music" was resoundingly defeated by a hefty 256 "Noes" to 72 "Ayes" - so: if we can demolish them this effectively on our home ground, why can't we do it in real life? Though we did give Hilary and Jay Berman (of the International Federation of Phonographic Industries) a special round of applause when we later ran into them in the garden outside. "Tough crowd", we sympathised, and "You did very well considering your indefensible position". http://www.oxford-union.org/mod.php?mod=calendar&op=show_event&event_id=10 - some problems finding students to speak for the motion too http://tirian.magd.ox.ac.uk/~nick/UnionDebate/ - vs http://www.mba-experience.com/ http://alumni.ox.compsoc.net/~agk/photos/CDR/full/C0889.jpg - Hilary averts eyes from CD shirt, of which more later Nice to see so many NTK subscribers at the Oxford Hilarython - still no news of a coach party to the forthcoming software patents "public meeting" (the one, you remember, in Brussels on 2002-11-07, in the cupboard beneath the European Parliament stairs, next to the sign saying "Beware of the Leopard"). However, Andy Ellam wrote in to point out that the person doing the drafting for the Parliament is slightly closer to home. ARLENE MCCARTHY, MEP for the North West, will be writing the software patent legislation - so if you're a concerned constituent, you might want to give her a little note explaining your worries. Or, if there's a crowd of you, see if you can't organise a meeting. Fax and email details are at http://www.arlenemccarthy.labour.co.uk/ . Mail us at tips@spesh.com with "Come On Arlene" if you'd like to be introduced to people with similar interests. "She hasn't declared any relevant financial interests", says Andy, peering over the PDF of her declarations, "but rather worryingly, she does seem to be a Roxy Music Fan". http://wwwdb.europarl.eu.int/ep-dif/2173_19-02-2002.pdf - paging Mr "Friend of the Technologist" Eno! http://swpat.ffii.org/index.en.html - all you need to know about software patents, and slightly more Usenet has always been the Eastern Front of the Net: it was they who faced the first Newbie invasions, the first spam warlords, the deprivations of scaling, the raiding-parties of early censors. And yet, despite all the ravages, running it behind the scenes has been the same old sinister, lowercase cabal. It takes its toll, though: and thus it came to pass that the seeming everlasting, often quiescent, David C. Lawrence a.k.a "tale", has stepped down as moderator of news.announce.newsgroups. tale's been around since the beginning of known time, and was king of the newgroup and rmgroup message - the official seal of approval for the creation and destruction of froups in the Big 8 (comp, sci, talk, biz, rec, news, misc and kibo) - even after a nasty bike accident a few years ago. Stepping into his place are Russ Allbery, Todd McComb and piranha - Usenet (and, to some embarrassment, Usenet 2) veterans all. The switchover is a time for some long-time hatchet burials: the rogue INET newsgroups (briefly a breakaway republic from the Big 8 empire) have been readmitted. But that's it. As tale always seemed to like it, it's all quiet again. For now. http://groups.google.com/groups?th=f6f9d75f53e66649 - two weeks ago, and nothing's broken yet http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=tale.23467.aa_ty34g345%40ten.uu.net - and not April 1st this time http://www.usenet2.org/rant.txt - new triumvirate not always as taciturn as tale >> ANTI-NEWS << berating the obvious "Grand Theft Auto Vice City is brilliant" writes LUCIEN KING, co-founder of RockStar Games, developers of Grand Theft Auto: http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3605,817488,00.html ... PETA changes tack: http://www.ntk.net/2002/10/25/dohpet.gif ... self-similiar self-help http://www.xu.edu/lac/Procrastination.htm .... proof-reading doesn't get more high-profile than this: http://www.spicypictures.com/ ... although perhaps it should be: http://www.google.com/search?q=%22at+it%27s+best%22 (esp. number 10) ... attracting the lucrative "Viz reader" tourist market: http://www.geocities.com/afrikanherbman/theturtleshead.html ... well, somebody's going to get a lot of telephone calls: http://www.idedata.no/butikk/produktbilde.asp?ID=1005xs4.jpg ... for organic, but presumably irradiated produce: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/021021/161/2hkfs.html a database error with a fine playground taunt tone to it: http://www.ntk.net/2002/10/25/doharcher.gif ... for unusually precise shoppers http://www.microbuyer.co.uk/en-gb/dept_55.html ... >> EVENT QUEUE << goto's considered non-harmful BOB CRAVEN, DANNY & BETTY BOON, Miami Vice tribute band MIAMI SPICE and, of course, disgraced New Romantic pop icon GARY LE STRANGE will be gracing the stage at the irregular talent show hosted by PETERFORD GOLF CLUB (7.30pm, Tue 2002-10-29, Canal Cafe Theatre, London W2, UKP5), kind of like "Vic Reeves' Big Night Out", but with a plot. A somewhat less motley lineup will be discussing CHARGING FOR CONTENT: CAN IT WORK? (6.30pm, Wed 2002-10-30, The Media Centre, London W1P, free - including one drink - to pre-registered editorial professionals), where speakers include FT.com's JAMES BOXELL and The Friday Thing's PAUL CARR who, we're pleased to report, was never charged with *anything* over the content of thinkofthechildren.co.uk. Heh. http://www.chortle.co.uk/venues/canal.html - doesn't appear on here for some reason http://www.onlinecontentuk.org/Oct02event.html - third speaker reassuringly "TBC" http://www.alljustwords.co.uk/aboutme.shtml - "Tee hee hee", indeed http://www.ieee.org.uk/event.html#SONY - also on Wed: the IEEE hack the PS2 http://www.ox.compsoc.net/events/termcards/current/ - in Oxford on Thu: the Richard Clayton bankrobbing roadshow >> TRACKING << sufficiently advanced technology : the gathering Penance week here at Tracking, after everybody and their second monitor wrote in to say that X2VNC does everything that last week's SYNERGY does - and has been doing it since 199X. So what better rod for our backs than the W3C's newly-revamped HTML VALIDATOR? No less strict, but more explanatory, this new beta of the Web's dominatrix is still handing out chinese burns for the slightest HTML deviation. Only nowadays it won't take those pathetic "dog ate my character encoding" and "left my DOCTYPE at home" excuses. We'll take that as a cue to fix NTK's shameful ill-formedness over the weekend. Just as soon as we've tried to upgrade to the all new FREENET 0.5 - the other part of our self-imposed punishment. Oh, we are so very very bad. http://fredrik.hubbe.net/x2vnc.html - responsible parties have been "degaussed" http://validator.w3.org:8001/ - public beta; will arrive at its destination port soonest http://freenetproject.org/cgi-bin/twiki/view/Main/WebHome - Windows users get an auto-installer, the lucky devils >> MEMEPOOL << ceci n'est pas une http://www.gagpipe.com/ oh, those annoying higher-rated GOOGLE name-alikes: http://www.erotica-readers.com/ERA/xvid-johnleslie.htm ... not to be confused with the "John Leslie" unceremoniously "disappeared" from http://makeashorterlink.com/?N21162A32 ... http://homepage.virgin.net/vernon.jenkins/PS.htm - the darker side of: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/iso-paper.html ?... Wharf TV: http://www.frisnit.com/radar/radar.html vs DAVID ICKE's "you will invariably find a skyscraper shaped like an obelisk because of the effect that has on the energy field": http://www.davidicke.net/symbolism/jclicker/series1page26.html ... life: http://www.ahleman.com/ElectriClerk6.html imitates JWZ: http://www.jwz.org/gruntle/tty.html ... related artists: http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=B3x63mp9f9f8o ... http://www.justinspace.com/ebay/ebayart.html gone too far: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1390007452 ... at last - a POWERPOINT HAMLET which doesn't need frickin' Powerpoint: http://home.nyc.rr.com/dradosh/ppaol.html ... >> GEEK MEDIA << blimey, new http://www.tvgohome.com/ TV>> nerdy Ben Stiller private detective indie curio ZERO EFFECT (12.55am, Fri, C5) is, nonetheless, one of the all-too- few films that ends with someone saying the title... Channel 4's bid to move away from list-based Saturday nights is undermined by the American Film Institute's 100 YEARS - 100 THRILLS (9pm, Sat, C4)... while CLASSIC ALBUMS (12midnight, Sat, ITV) presents a long-overdue appreciation of "Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols"... FOYLE'S WAR (8pm, Sun, ITV) appears to be a non-ironic adaptation of TVGoHome's "Inspector Bumhat"... TRUE SPIES (9pm, Sun, BBC2) is a fly-on- the-wall documentary about life at Special Branch and MI5... and marrying into unexpected complications is the dual theme of both MICKEY BLUE EYES (9pm, Sun, C4) and THE CHERYL BARRYMORE STORY (9pm, Sun, C5)... "You are feeling sleepy... You *will* add a programme reminder...", insists the Digiguide listing for DERREN BROWN: MIND CONTROL 3 (10.55pm, Sun, C4): http://www.ntk.net/2002/10/18/dohderren.gif ... the makers of "From Hell" take a look at the other side of the business in AMERICAN PIMP (11.10pm, Mon, C4)... and THE STATE WE'RE IN (9.30pm, Tue, BBC Choice) is the current affairs show developed under the working title of as "News Is My Bitch"... Iain "not Clive" Sinclair helps put psychogeography on the map - http://www.martian.fm/psychogeography.htm - in his M25 profile LONDON ORBITAL (11.40pm, Tue, C4)... "consolidation is inevitable" is the bizarre pro-corporate message of Meg Ryan AOL product placement atrocity YOU'VE GOT MAIL (9pm, Wed, C5)... and child-prodigy composer Daniel Pemberton proudly announces he's done the soundtrack for the COMEDY LAB (11.40pm, Thu, C4) adaptation of East London's sub-Nathan Barley fanzine "Shoreditch Twat"... FILM>> we weren't too impressed with Andrew "Gattaca" Niccol's high-concept Al Pacino non-CGI synthespian goatee-stroker S1MONE ( http://www.capalert.com/capreports/simone.htm : talk of godhood; full nudity, brief; three men urinating in a restroom; vehicular irresponsibility; fraud throughout)... nor, for that matter, self-consciously surreal goth "Back To The Future" knockoff DONNIE DARKO ( http://www.bbfc.co.uk/ : Contains strong language and psychological horror)... Neil "In The Company Of Men" LaBute puts his trademark misanthropy on hold for historic Gwyneth Paltrow flashback romance POSSESSION ( http://www.capalert.com/capreports/possession.htm : lesbian snuggling; gaping mouth kissing; mockery of God's Grace; portrayal that a lesbian choice is acceptable; suicide by lesbian, viewed twice)... making this week's surprise recommendation - assuming you can withstand sustained exposure to near-lethal levels of cod Russian accents - endlessly grim Harrison Ford Soviet nuclear sub tension-twister K-19: THE WIDOWMAKER ( http://www.bbfc.co.uk/ : Moderate grisly images and sustained moderate peril)... FULL SHIRTS BAD! T-SHIRTS GOOD!>> well done to long-term reader (but first-time winner!) LLOYD WOOD who, after many years of sending in bizarre t-shirt slogans - we particularly remember his Slashdot-baiting "stuff the nerds - news that matters" - has at last hit paydirt with his oh-so-simple suggestion of "++UNGOOD;" - you know, "double-plus", like in "1984"? The judges were especially impressed by the elaborate, J Peterman- catalogue-style exposition he provided to support his case: http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/L.Wood/double-plus-ungood/ - and of course the fact that, once you've decided which distressed typewriter font to go for, the shirt almost designs itself. It's on sale now at http://www.ntkmart.com/ , along with some (limited) new stock of the ever-popular "404 /SHIRT/TIE NOT FOUND", lowtech.org's "SKIP RAIDER" technology recycling design, the "CORRUPT CD" one which Hilary Rosen looked so unamused by, and (relatively uncommon) first edition printings of Mil Millington's THINGS MY GIRLFRIEND AND I HAVE ARGUED ABOUT book (not currently available in t-shirt form) ... a good response to last month's "Ben Franklin" idea http://www.cs.nott.ac.uk/~djm/ntk/franklin_small.png submitted by DUNCAN MARTIN, so we'll try and push that up the print queue before Christmas. On a similar note, there's been a real cyberactivist emphasis to your recent entries, including TOMMY's http://www.vertebrate.co.uk/shirts/killingmusic.gif and http://www.vertebrate.co.uk/shirts/criminal.gif ; JAMES SWIFT's http://www.geekstyle.co.uk/images/fnuck.png ; and the mysterious "JONATHAN"'s http://www.castlecoole.com/ . But don't forget: you can always just send us a text slogan - like the anonymous poster behind "STDIO ERGO SUM" - and still win up to UKP2.00 royalty per item!... no major media sightings this month - though Martian FM's IAN MARTIN saw an NTK shirt on September's "Stop The War" march, worn by a "30-something bespectacled Londoner with a commanding moral grandeur" - but we have at last got to the bottom of the appearance in the Buffy The Vampire Slayer Roleplaying Game [NTK 2002-09-27]. "I am just a silly yank illustrator that had no knowledge of your edgy publication!", writes the original artist, one RK POST http://www.rkpost.com/ . "I didn't want to infringe on any trademark characters. So I thought that I made something up... or was it fate?" Punishment withheld - this time - RK; truly our control of the world's media subconscious is now complete... >> SMALL PRINT << Need to Know is a useful and interesting UK digest of things that happened last week or might happen next week. You can read it on Friday afternoon or print it out then take it home if you have nothing better to do. It is compiled by NTK from stuff they get sent. Registered at the Post Office as "If there is a mixture of standing and kneeling, then stand" http://www.theologic.com/oflweb/inchurch/etiquet.htm NEED TO KNOW THEY STOLE OUR REVOLUTION. NOW WE'RE STEALING IT BACK. Archive - http://www.ntk.net/ Unsubscribe? Mail ntknow-unsubscribe@lists.ntk.net Subscribe? Mail ntknow-subscribe@lists.ntk.net NTK now is supported by UNFORTU.NET, and by you: http://www.ntkmart.com/ (K) 2002 Special Projects. Copying is fine, but include URL: http://www.ntk.net/ Tips, news and gossip to tips@spesh.com All communication is for publication, unless you beg. Press releases from naive PR people to pr@spesh.com Remember: Your work email may be monitored if sending sensitive material. Sending >500KB attachments is forbidden by the Geneva Convention. Your country may be at risk if you fail to comply.