Dave! – Page 47

This Land

July 29, 2004 by Dave!

I’m sure you’ve probably already seen it, but if not, you need to visit JibJab and watch the This Land parody. It’s quite funny.

What isn’t funny is the reaction of Ludlow Music, the copyright owner of Woody Guthrie’s song. They want the parody taken down. How ironic, since Boing Boing points out that one of Guthrie’s frequently used copyright statements was:

“This song is Copyrighted in U.S., under Seal of Copyright # 154085, for a period of 28 years, and anybody caught singin it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ourn, cause we don’t give a dern. Publish it. Write it. Sing it. Swing to it. Yodel it. We wrote it, that’s all we wanted to do.”

It just goes to show how perverted copyright has become in our country. What started as a means to protect the artist who created, it’s now the means to protect the company that takes control of the creation when the artist dies (Disney, anyone?). And just in case you thought the original This Land was just a cheesy feel-good song, it might be a good idea to re-read the last two stanzas, which are often left out when people sing the tune:

As I was walkin’ – I saw a sign there
And that sign said – no tress passin’
But on the other side …. it didn’t say nothin!
Now that side was made for you and me!

In the squares of the city – In the shadwow of the steeple
Near the relief office – I see my people
And some are grumblin’ and some are wonderin’
If this land’s still made for you and me.

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: politics

Chris Isaak

July 26, 2004 by Dave!

My wife and I went to see Chris Isaak last night at the H.O.B. here. I have to say, that man is quite an entertainer. I’m not the biggest “rockabilly” fan in the world, actually, quite far from it. But he (and his band) really enjoy themselves on stage… they have a good time, and consequently the crowd has a good time. It was a really good show, and I would recommend catching him if he comes through your town.

Filed Under: Music Tagged With: music

An Upgrade

July 26, 2004 by Dave!

Well, I made the jump… I’ve upgraded the site to MovableType 3.0. I did it for a couple of reasons:

1. I think the folks at Six Apart deserve some hard earned $$$ for building a very nice, robust blogging system, which I have enjoyed for a long time without paying them anything.
2. I needed better comment spam protection.
3. I just like futzing around with the site.

So there you have it. MT3.0. So far it’s been a painless upgrade and smooth going on new features. I’ll let you know if I run into any problems.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: blogging mt

Google, Attorneys and Ethics

July 15, 2004 by Dave!

There?s a really interesting discussion about an attorney in Kentucky, Ben Cowgill, who purchased a Google AdWord to promote his new law practice. No big deal, you might say, except that the term he purchased was ?Peter Ostermiller? his local competition.

Now, there has been a huge outcry about the ethics of this move. Mr. Cowgill, ironically, represents attorneys who are facing ethics charges. Kevin O?Keefe at Lexblog,com compared his actions to “standing in front of another lawyer’s office with a sandwich board saying, `Would you consider coming down to my office instead?'”

This really isn’t the same as standing in front of a competitor’s practice with a sandwich board directing clients to your firm at all. A much more accurate analogy would be taking out an ad in the same section of the yellow pages as your competitor. That’s hardly illegal, or unethical. I think the problem here is the confusion about what Google is and what it is not. Certainly both men have websites which are indexed and searchable via Google. Similarly, AdWords purchased from Google are not exclusive. So, how is this different from competitors buying billboards on the same stretch of highway, or paying retail chains for adjacent shelf space? I personally don?t think it is any different.

The link displayed for Mr. Cowgill when users searched for Mr. Ostermiller wasn’t misleading, it was clearly marked as advertising, and obviously it might be of value to someone searching for that type of legal service. The only real argument I’ve heard that I buy in this case is from Carolyn Elefant, who notes that Mr. Ostermiller should have the first right to use his own name (in essence a trademark) as his own search term. But his failure to do so does not make Mr. Cowgill’s behavior unethical, and in fact, there was nothing to prevent him from doing so.
I do agree that Mr. Cowgill stepped into a hornet’s nest on this one, and it would have been wise to avoid the issue altogether. However, there seems to be a lot of confusion out there about what Mr. Cowgill really did, which is to simply purchase an ad that would be displayed in the same place as a competitor?s ad. I?ve read several blawgs about how it?s this kind of action that gives lawyers a bad name, but in reality, I think what gives lawyers a bad name is over-reaction and hyperbole.

Filed Under: Law Tagged With: law

8,000 New Bloggers a Day, and Still Not Much Worth Reading

July 13, 2004 by Dave!

Here are some interesting blog stats from Technorati, courtesy The Register…

Weblog search engine Technorati says it is now tracking over three million webblogs, with 8,000-17,000 new blogs created every single day. That means that a new weblog is created somewhere in the world every 5.8 seconds. Of these, a reported 36 per cent irritate friends or family with their twitterings, while a staggering 12 per cent attract the attention of lawyers with their biting commentary.

Heh. I still think the blog hype is overrated. It’s a tool, people, not a revolution. Blogs are (generally speaking) just a new varient of vanity web sites; just as some vanity sites were useful and interesting, some blogs are useful and interesting. Blogging software makes it easy for nearly anyone to host a site and update it regularly, but honestly, it’s no more of a revolution than say, Geocities was in the 1990s. If there’s anything from the “Blog-o-lution” that is interesting it’s RSS… syndication, finally done right, well, mostly right. But syndication isn’t a new idea either

(*cough*Pointcast*cough*Marimba*cough*Push*cough*).

Filed Under: Personal Tagged With: blogging personal

The Kerry Campaign Online

July 12, 2004 by Dave!

Dennis Kennedy has an interesting post today about Dave Winer and thoughts on the Kerry campaign, the DNC, and their use of Internet technology in this election.

As usual, Dave has his panties in a bunch over the DNC reliance on television ads. He’s under the impression they are “clueless”:
"Joe Trippi, get a clue. Geez Louise. He thinks the role of the Internet in politics is to raise money so they can run ads on TV. Look at how much good all those TV ads did for Howard Dean. You think he would have figured it out by now. The election will happen here, not there. Probably not the Presidential election of 2004. Perhaps one of our goals for the DNC is to smoke out innovative uses of the Internet by Democrats, where they're doing more than raise money for TV ads. Put that one on the list for sure."
As they say on one of my favorite radio programs, let’s do the numbers:

There are 248 *million* television sets in U.S. Households
98.2% of all households with at least one television
The average number of TVs per home in 2001: 2.4
54 million households have computers
51% of households have one or more computers
41.5% of households with computers have Internet access

Hmmm… yes, what on earth is Joe Trippi smoking?! The DNC definitely needs to pander more to the self-important blog community. The revolution will not be televised, it will be blogged.

Now, let me preface this by saying I’m not a political analyst. But common sense sure tells me that advertising where the greatest number of people will see my message sure makes sense. The Internet is proving to be a very valuable fund raising tool, in spite of the fact that Winer thinks that’s a poor use of the net. However, in June the Kerry campaign raised $34M with about $3M of that being on-line. Impressive use of the net, if you ask me, but it also demonstrates again that the majority of the money and most likely the votes are not coming from on-line.
Is the Kerry campaign making the best use of the net that they can? Probably not. Will the net be more influential in future elections? To put it in terms even Winer can understand, “Duh”. Of course as the net grows in popularity, and as the general populous becomes more comfortable there will be a rise in the influence of the Internet on campaigns. But honestly, stop putting the cart before the horse. The democrats aren’t doing a horrible job on-line; they are raising good money via the web, and they are keeping people informed of campaign info on-line. That’s pretty good for the present state of politics and the present state of the web. They’re even trying some interesting things, such as the custom “Kerry Campaign” newsreader Dennis mentions. (Although, I think that is mis-guided. Why in the hell would I want a Kerry only RSS reader? Answer: I wouldn’t.) But they are trying.

What it really boils down to is that Winer disagrees with anyone who he doesn’t feel is using the net and blogs the way he sees fit. Disagree with him, and you need to “get a clue”. What’s that? You’re raising millions of dollars on the net not doing it his way? Apparently, that still makes you a chump in his book. Whatever. Hey Dave, put your money where your mouth is, run a successful, all Internet political campaign. I dare you.

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: politics

The IE Switch

July 6, 2004 by Dave!

Wow. If ever there was confirmation that I’d done the right thing, switching from Internet Explorer to Mozilla Firefox, this would be it: a CERT Vulnerability Note about IE, which actually lists as a security fix, using a different browser!

For those who may not know, CERT is the Computer Emergency Readiness Team, which issues security alerts about the most pressing computer security issues. For them to have released this about IE is a major indication that Microsoft needs to address these browser security issues post-haste.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: technology

Leaving IE…

June 30, 2004 by Dave!

I was a dedicated Netscape user for many years, until finally, several years back, Internet Explorer eclipsed Netscape in functionality. Then I finally broke down and switched, but it’s always bothered me. However, recently, I discovered there is hope…

I just installed Mozilla Firefox 0.9, and, frankly I’m blown away. Not only does it seem to render pages faster than IE, but it has more features (hooray for tabbed browsing!!) and extensions and themes! So now I have a browser that not only blocks pop-up windows, but also filters out on page ads! Thanks to a little extension called AdBlock. And honestly, I have only discovered a handful of sites that only work with IE (mostly due to Active X stuff) and they are sites I can either live without, or fire up IE just for dealing with those sites.

Oh yeah, and since Microsoft doesn’t seem to care about making IE safe from a number of different security flaws, I’m glad not to use it. I’ll report more later, after I’ve been using Firefox for a while.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: technology

Summer Music

June 30, 2004 by Dave!

ambivalent imbroglio has some summer music recommendations, so I thought I’d chime in with my latest purchases…

Good News for People Who Love Bad News – Modest Mouse

I know you’ve heard “Float On” since it’s everywhere at the moment. It’s good pop tune, but not the best on the album… I like “Ocean Breathes Salty” and “Dig Your Grave” but “The View” has to have some of the catchiest pop licks on the album. Overall, the whole album is a good listen, but my fav Modest Mouse offering is still Lonesome Crowded West.

You Are the Quarry – Morrissey

Yes, I am a child of 80s alternative rock. C’mon. I was weaned on The Smiths, I had to buy this. The single, “Irish Blood, English Heart” is a decent song, and the rest of the album doesn’t disappoint… it’s some of Morrissey’s most biting and cynical lyrics yet… but man, the music on his solo works have never held up… where’s Johnny Marr when you need him?

Van Lear Rose – Loretta Lynn/Jack White

Wow. If you thought country sucked (and “radio” country generally does) then pick up this album and hear what good country music sounds like. I was worried that this would be a White Stripes album with Loretta Lynn but it’s not… it’s Lynn through and through, and Jack White does an amazing job as her producer… even his appearances on the album are appropriate and add quite a lot.

Chutes Too Narrow – The Shins

I’m still trying to decide if I like The Shins or if I’m ambivalent about The Shins. One minute, they sound like a well-polished pop band, and another they sound all whiny and moody. I dunno. I think this is a “listen to it a few times in a row until you get it kinda album. I know a lot of people who are way into them though, so you know. But then again I know a lot of people who were into the Flamming Lips… puke.

A Ghost is Born – Wilco

Obligatory. First, I freakin’ loved Uncle Tupelo. Second, I live in Chicago. I think there’s a city ordinance that you have to buy every new Wildo release. That said, I actually like the album… and I actually liked Being There, Summer Teeth and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot too, so who am I kidding? But I still think Tweedy was the lesser song writer from Uncle Tupelo… Jay Farrar was amazing, and the first Son Volt album, Trace is better than anything Wilco’s done. But I’m getting off on a tangent…

I think I’m also going to pick up Franz Ferdinand’s album, because I can’t get “Take Me Out” outta my damn head… what a catchy, well crafted pop tune… and I’m super psyched to hear Interpol’s followup to Turn On the Bright Lights I’ll get that as soon as it’s released…

Filed Under: Music Tagged With: music personal

Supreme Court Decisions

June 29, 2004 by Dave!

It was a busy day yesterday at the Supreme Court (I refuse to use the ?SCOTUS? acronym, it just sounds so wrong). Among the decisions published were Rumsfeld v. Padilla, Rasul v. United States, and Hamdi v. Rumsfeld. There are some excellent discussions of these cases out there, which would be of value for all Americans to read. They provide some insight into how the court will approach protecting our Constitution during this war on terror, and frankly, more American?s should take an interest in protecting their Constitutional Rights.

There?s a great blog, SCOTUSBlog, which tracks Supreme Court decisions, and offers some good insight, despite the horrible name. And Tung Yin offers some interesting analysis over at the Yin Blog.

The Court copped out on the Padilla case, dismissing it on a technicality. Of course, it was split along the typical conservative/liberal 5-4 vote count. Can you guess who voted each way? I?ll bet you can. Essentially, they ruled that Padilla had not named the proper respondent in his original suit, claiming that habeas challenges should have the warden of the facility where the prisoner is held as the proper respondent. I doubt we?ve heard the last of this case.

The Rasul case, commonly known as the “Gitmo” detainee case, was a bit of a blow to the administration, but was a clear victory for the power of the courts. In a 6-3 vote (Rehnquist, Scalia, Thomas dissent) the court ruled that the habeas statute does extend to detainees in Cuba, which essentially means that all the enemy combatants in Guantanamo Bay have the right to have their appeal heard.

By far the most interesting of the rulings is Hamdi, which was one weird breakdown on the vote. The majority opinion was written by O?Conner, and joined by Rehnquist, Kennedy and Breyer. Souter and Ginsberg wrote their own opinion, but joined the majority on the fact that U.S. Citizens should be given the right to challenge their classification as an enemy combatant. Now, how?s this for strange-bedfellows!? Scalia and Stevens wrote that the government only had two options: get congress to suspend the writ of habeas corpus (yeah, right) or that barring that, the government should charge him with treason, and proceed as normal through the court system on those charges.

I’m glad the court found that detainees have a right to at least plead their case; it does help promote the values we espouse here in America to the rest of the world. I mean, either they are prisoners of war, in which case, we need to follow the Geneva Convention, or they are criminals who should be processed through our legal system. I?m disappointed that the court found congress did give the president the power to declare people ?enemy combatants? but at least there is some remedy for them.

As for the Hamdi case, again, at least some of the rights of a U.S. Citizen are protected, and I suspect this will have some bearing on the Padilla case eventually as well, but I think Scalia and Stevens were correct: with a U.S. Citizen, he should be tried as a U.S. Citizen, and the government should have no rights to “reclassify” someone as an enemy combatant, essentially stripping them of their rights as an American.

Interesting cases?

Filed Under: Law Tagged With: law scotus