> > _ _ _____ _ __ <*the* weekly high-tech sarcastic update for the uk> > | | |_ _| |/ / _ __ __2003-09-05_ o join! sign up at > | | | | | | ' / | '_ / _ \ / / / o http://lists.ntk.net/ > | | | | | | . | | | | (_) v v / o website (+ archive) lives at: > |_| _| |_| |_|_\|_| |_|___/ _/_/ o http://www.ntk.net/ > > > "My practice is to delete all of those who do not reply to my > email, or who are so tardy to be ineffective, and similarly > web pages and hyperlinks. And it really works!" > - Earth 98% full... delete Peter Cochrane's "ineffectives" > immediately > http://www.silicon.com/opinion/166-500001/1/5686.html > > > >> HARD NEWS << > motley crews > > She's got a little list: the McCarthy witchhunt continued in > Brussels this week, with Arlene M., leader of the software > patent campaign, sending a "factsheet" to MEPs, correcting > the errors of those subversive programmers who've been > fighting her proposal. She gets as far as the second > sentence before blowing the "fact" part of her mission. > There she describes her pursuers as "the Free Software > Alliance": an organisation that doesn't appear to exist. > Then again, when you have the EuroLinux Alliance, the > Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure, the Free > Software Foundation, the Oxford Internet Institute, Super > Mecha Donald Knuth, the Soros Foundation, SUSE, Redhat and > the 228,137 people who've signed the anti-software patents > petition against you, it must be easy to mix up names. The > fiendishly efficient FFII have already written a detailed > reply to this rearguard action. It also works as a decent > summary of the positions of both Arlene *and* the sinister > Free Software Alliance if you haven't been keeping up. If > you're bored this weekend - or would prefer to keep your job > producing patent-free software in Europe - you might want to > read it, then have a word with your MEP about a few of those "facts". > http://swpat.ffii.org/papers/eubsa-swpat0202/amccarthy030901/ > - point by point > http://www.europarl.org.uk/uk_meps/MembersMain.htm > - digging up your MEP > http://petition.eurolinux.org/ > - or just sign the petition, you lazy COMMIE > > Just to emphasise the positive power of protest: rogue gamer > STUART CAMPBELL has been back on the campaign trail, once > again tackling games-biz body ELSPA, but this time over the > informatively incorrect FAQ on their website. "Am I legally > entitled to make a backup of my original software?" you ask; > they used to unequivocally answer: "No". As Stuart's superfast > reflexes rapidly tracked down, section 50A of the amended 1988 > Copyright, Designs and Patents act in fact encourages "a > lawful user of a copy of a computer program to make any back > up copy of it which it is necessary for him to have for the > purposes of his lawful use", a difference of opinion which > Stuart felt necessary to report to the Advertising Standards > Authority. They said it wasn't really their area and pointed > him in the direction of Trading Standards, who said it wasn't > their area either - but they had a word with ELSPA anyway, > who've now modified the wording to warn against backing up the > "film and sound" copyrights which they believe games inevitably > contain. Of course, making backup copies of lawfully obtained > audio or video material for your personal use isn't quite so > explicitly permitted under UK law, but - and please correct us > if you know any differently - we're not sure if it's actually > specifically banned either? > http://www.rllmuk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic006 > - chipping Playstations also not *that* illegal, yet > http://www.rllmuk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic505 > - result, though not clear who ELSPA should be reported to > http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/3192927.stm > - and still illegal to circumvent lame anti-copying tech > > Everyone's praising the Hutton Inquiry's data dumps, but is > anyone actually ploughing through the online evidence? Yes > they are - including bits that they shouldn't be. Subscriber > WILLIAM ANDERSON spotted that some of the BBC's submitted > evidence wasn't all as [redacted] as it could be. Take > Gilligan's phone bill: "Not all of the data has been > properly blanked... visible within the first couple of > inches are the BT account number, the bill number (... > usually used by BT as proof that you are who you say you > are) and, critically an 0208 phone number". All gone now, > replaced with a time-warping note that says the phone bill > is "not yet available". Wonder how many people phoned > Gilligan up and started hassling him for a quote? > http://www.the-hutton-inquiry.org.uk/content/evidence-lists/evidence-bbc.htm > - BBC/13/0058-0067, 0068-0096 > http://www.ntk.net/index.cgi?b003-08-22&l2#l > - (sort of) in accordance with prophecy > > > >> ANTI-NEWS << > berating the obvious > > hey, once you get those 400-year old Londoners talking about > the "old days": http://www.ntk.net/2003/09/05/dohgreat.gif > ... SYDNEY advertises October street parade followed by "an > apple": http://duxton.com/upcoming_hotel_main.asp?hotel_id=2 > ... WIDDECOMBE of the week (you can come up with ruder ones): > http://www.365london.co.uk/locationdetail.asp?title=Ram%20Raiding > ... ah, the old "The Helpdesk/ The Helpless" comedy confusion: > http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/its/aboutus/latestnews/#0 > ... monthly return of the ever-popular PUERILE GOOGLE GOOFS: > http://www.google.com/search?q=baptits , "breech of contract", > http://news.google.com/news?q=javascript+fella , "rdf tripes", > and what *is* so special about "Cack Cocaine"?... THE FRIDAY > THING's Paul Carr slams viral marketers' attempts "to drive > traffic away from other people's websites towards their own": > http://media.guardian.co.uk/mediaguardian/story/0,7558,1028727,00.html > - harsh words from former promoter of "buy Cheeky Girls record" > campaign: http://www.ntk.net/2003/09/05/dohcheek.gif ... > > > >> EVENT QUEUE << > goto's considered non-harmful > > MARK THOMAS is officially opening the centre to co-ordinate > protests against next week's DEFENCE SYSTEMS AND EQUIPMENT > INTERNATIONAL (various times and venues around Excel > Exhibition Centre, pre-registration necessary for arms fair). > Meanwhile, controversy-magnets SPIKED MAGAZINE tackle the > issues that really matter with a short season of net-related > debates, starting with INTERNET REGULATION: IS THERE SUCH A > THING AS HARMFUL CONTENT? (7pm, next Wed 2003-09-10, Hill and > Knowlton, 35 Red Lion Square, London WC1R, from UKP10), in the > company of ROLAND "Internet Policy Agency" PERRY and YAMAN > AKDENIZ from Cyber-Rights and Cyber-Liberties UK. Then, > assuming proper WiFi protocol is observed, expect the usual > flurry of uninformative "I'm actually blogging this *from the > event*" postings the week after when GONE TO THE BLOGS: THE > BLOGGING PHENOMENON IN PERSPECTIVE (7pm, Wed 2003-09-17, IBM > South Bank, 76 Upper Ground, London SE1) annotates the musings > of bonkers anti-blog blogger BILL THOMPSON and the iSociety's > inescapable Chris Evans-lookalike JAMES CRABTREE. > http://www.dsei.org/ > - "There will also be music from Cello Man" > http://www.dsei.co.uk/ > - "Vessels are berthed immediately alongside the exhibition hall" > http://www.spiked-online.com/event/ > - it's basically Lee and Herring's "Ironic Review". Ahhhhh. > > > >> TRACKING << > sufficiently advanced technology : the gathering > > E-mail is dead! Long live Usenet! Wait, is that right? GMANE > is a website that subscribes to all your favourite tech > mailing lists, then spits them out as despammed NNTP feeds. > Searchable, skimmable, threadable and disposable, it lets > you hang on with your fingernails to a bunch of different > online discussions without drowning in filters and > mailboxes. Thanks to gmane's constant Great Renaming, it can > be a little hard to find your old haunts: who, for instance, > knew that gmane.emacs.code-browser was really a feed of > ecb-list@lists.sf.net? But at least the tree format > encourages browsing - and if your favourite mailing list > isn't there, there's a simple one page form to add it. > Instant Web archive! > http://gmane.org/ > - of course, potentially instant Web archive you don't know about > http://gmane.org/about.php > - but at least it's run by a good guy > http://www.google.com/groups?q=%22please+respect+x-no+archive+when%22 > - oops > > > >> MEMEPOOL << > contains a source of http://snackspot.org/ > > DHTML LEMMINGS dead: http://www.xs4all.nl/~crisp/lemmings/ - > predictably... but some things will never die (Flash, sorry): > http://www.powerstrike.net/Tehkan/mamejump.html ... the new > "Quake haikus": http://www.twhi.org/rip/wizard/bluewizard.htm > ... raising possibility that DMX's lyrics "What these bitches > want", "Where's my bitches?" and "bitches drippin sweat" are > actually about female dogs: http://www.boomer129.com/home.html > ... DULLEST TITLED BOOK ON AMAZON contender #2 "You'll design > longer-lasting, more cost-effective road pavements", thanks to > http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0070144516/ ... > Commodore said "most famous author in sci-fi history" *above* > Jakki Brambles: http://amiga.emugaming.com/celebrities.html > ... September 11 will inevitably "happen again", experts warn: > http://www.cullenleeds.force9.co.uk/september11tm/infonationstation.htm > ... Babelfish Japlish: http://qwer.org/cnnjaplish.html ... Comic > Sans != a feature: http://www.ntk.net/2003/09/05/messengerad.gif > ... what situationist prank is this? http://www.paulmorley.com ... > > > >> GEEK MEDIA << > get out less > > TV>> "Pitch Black" director David Twohy provides rather more > pedestrian ET incursions in THE ARRIVAL (1.20am, Fri, BBC1)... > romantic comedy DON'T GO BREAKING MY HEART (2.30am, Sat, C4) > was memorably promoted with the poster tagline "He couldn't if > he tried!"... and we still think the "Do not have anything in > your life you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds" > line from HEAT (9pm, Sun, BBC1) would make a good ad for those > USB keyring memory sticks... according to the Radio Times, > SOUL SEARCHING (8pm, Sun, C4) reports that "scientific opinion > is swaying - maybe we do have an inner, God-given spiritual > essence"... the trails list the celebrities as "Gail Porter", > "Mel C" and "Miss World", which is how they'll hopefully refer > to her in "Superstars" remake THE GAMES: LIVE (9pm, Sun, C4) > ... and we previously pondered if Ewan McGregor's character - > called "The Eye" - might like to "hold bees" in bizarro serial > killer romance THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER (10pm, Sun, BBC2)... > THE CURSE OF FRIENDS REUNITED (9pm, Mon, C5) really ought to > include their frankly rubbish "don't give out your email > address" regexp... Sandra Bullock booze battler 28 DAYS (10pm, > Mon, C5) turns out not to be a prequel to "28 Days Later"... > and "Desmond's" veteran Robbie Gee reappears in BBC1's all- > black sitcom THE CROUCHES (10.35pm, Tue, BBC1) - maybe Richard > Blackwood was busy doing "Quote me happy" insurance ads... > JUMP LONDON (10pm, Tue, C4) seems to refer to the activity of > leaping from rooftop to rooftop as "free running" rather than > the original French name of "Le Parkour"... listen out for the > samples from the new UNKLE "Eye for an Eye" single in arthouse > war film THE THIN RED LINE (11pm, Tue, ITV)... Stephen Fry > reunites with Hugh Laurie, John Sessions in urban-legend- > debunking panelgame smugfest QI (10pm, Thu, BBC2)... and > CANTERBURY TALES (9pm, Thu, BBC1) updates some of the Chaucer > classics - just as Dire Straits did all those years ago: > http://www.museumoftechno.org/correspondence/lyrics.html ... > > FILM>> it's Dennis Pennis, Johnny Vegas and Vince "Swingers" > Vaughn - together at last! - in crude crown-green bowling > slapstick BLACKBALL ( http://www.bbfc.co.uk/ : Contains strong > language)... though fans of unclothed middle-aged British > female character actors will already be queuing up for based- > on-a-true-story CALENDAR GIRLS ( http://www.mpaa.org/ : Rated > PG-13 for nudity, some language and drug-related material)... > a slightly odd back-to-school release for "let's do the show > right here" adolescent showbiz-wannabes spectacular CAMP > ( http://www.capalert.com/capreports/camp2003.htm : social > brutality, repeatedly; pelvic thrusts by a small child; belly > sin; one might get the impression most performing artists > choose to be "gay") - disappointingly, not based on either > the Scottish beverage http://www.sybertooth.com/camp/ or the > adenosine nucleotide "cyclic AMP" which regulates various > metabolic processes at a cellular level... despite the "no > special effects" claim, the preponderance of over-water shots > implies a lot of boat-based imprinting during the making of > WINGED MIGRATION (imdb: nature/ avalanche/ farming/ hunting/ > parrot)... and one of the blokes from "Attachments" is hunted > down like a dog in semi-downloadable Brit "Deliverance"-alike > THIS IS NOT A LOVE SONG ( http://www.bbfc.co.uk/ : Contains > strong language, drugs use and violence) - which, for once, > *does* appear to be based on the Public Image Ltd song of the > same name: http://www.thisisnotalovesong.com/ ... > > > >> 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 > "dysfunctional" > http://news.independent.co.uk/digital/features/story.jsp?storyC9760 > > NEED TO KNOW > THEY STOLE OUR REVOLUTION. NOW WE'RE STEALING IT BACK. > Archive - http://www.ntk.net/ > Unsubscribe or subscribe at http://lists.ntk.net/ > NTK now is supported by UNFORTU.NET, and by you: http://www.ntkmart.com/ > > (K) 2003 Special Projects. > Copying is fine, but include URL: http://www.ntk.net/ > Full license at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/1.0 > > Tips, news and gossip to tips@spesh.com > All communication is for publication, unless you beg. > 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. > > > > > >
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