All Things News

Straight from The Best Page In The Universe comes Maddox the Pirate’s latest rant on why Sony hates you: “You may know Sony most readily as the company that recently recalled something on the order of every laptop battery ever made because of a small glitch (they explode). Then there was the “rootkit” debacle, where Sony secretly installed hidden bullshit on your computer. One of Sony BMG’s presidents handled the situation with the delicacy of a gang rape with this quote: “Most people, I think, don’t even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?” Good point, shit-head! And before that, Sony was known for its shitty optical drives in their PS2s, resulting in a class action lawsuit. The word “shitty” in the previous sentence is a bit misleading, since I also use the word to describe Renée Zellweger’s life, and having to void your warranty by adjusting a cog to fix a misaligned laser inside your PS2 is slightly shittier.”

You’ve got to go and read the entire rant, the animated image at the top of the page alone is worth clicking on the link.

Straight from Ars Technica: “Remember Patricia Santangelo? She was the first defendant in the RIAA’s massive campaign of lawsuits to go all the way to court with her case, which has cost her much more than the settlement offer would have. Now the RIAA has decided to file suit against two of her five children, based on alleged admissions of wrongdoing during depositions in their mother’s case.”

Straight from the New York Times: “WASHINGTON, Nov. 12 — Democratic leaders in the Senate vowed on Sunday to use their new Congressional majority to press for troop reductions in Iraq within a matter of months, stepping up pressure on the administration just as President Bush is to be interviewed by a bipartisan panel examining future strategy for the war.

The Democrats — the incoming majority leader, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada; the incoming Armed Services Committee chairman, Senator Carl Levin of Michigan; and the incoming Foreign Relations Committee chairman, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware — said a phased redeployment of troops would be their top priority when the new Congress convenes in January, even before an investigation of the conduct of the war.”

Straight from Slashdot: “”I’m a scientist. I like Al Gore. I donate to the Sierra club, I bicycle everywhere and I eat granola. And I just read a very convincing article in the UK Telegraph that makes me think that the ’scientific consensus’ on global warming is more than a little shaky. Now IANACS (I am not a climate scientist). And the Telegraph is notoriously reactionary. Can anyone out there go through this piece and tell me why it might be wrong? Because it seems to be solid, well researched, and somewhat damning of a host of authorities (the UN, the editors of Nature, the Canadian Government) who seem to have picked a side in the global warming debate without looking at the evidence.”

The author of the Telegraph piece is Christopher Monckton, a retired journalist and former policy advisor to Margaret Thatcher.”

Straight from Slashdot: “The TimesOnline is reporting that six Middle Eastern nations have announced interest in developing nuclear technology. The nations involved are Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. The Middle East Economic Digest states that most of these nations are interested in developing nuclear technology for the purpose of powering desalination plants. However, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, suggests that the sudden interest in nuclear technology is driven by the desire of the six nations to create a ’security hedge’ in response to Iran’s recent nuclear development program.”

Straight from Slashdot: “”Peter Jenner, former manager of bands like Pink Floyd, T.Rex and the Clash, states in an interview with the Register that music label executives have lost faith in DRM and dollar-per-track online music selling isn’t working too well as a model. He predicts that in two to three years time, many countries will have moved to a blanket licensing regime.”

The article goes on at some length, talking about the value of digital music, patterns in the music industry, and some business at the end about ‘the tyranny of the playlist’ that I’m not hep enough to follow. I’m not sure this rant has any connection whatsoever with reality, but it is something to think about.”

Straight from Slashdot: “NASA’s Constellation Project has approved the Rollercoaster Escape System to be used as the Emergency Egress Systems (EES) for astronauts and pad crew to race away from the Ares I pad, should an emergency be called. The Ares I is the first of NASA’s new moon/Mars rockets and is scheduled for a first manned flight in 2014.”

From the article: “An unpowered fixed single-rail system from the access arm level of the ML tower to the existing bunker would be used. The railcars could be enclosed to provide personnel protection. Each railcar can hold four to six people. The rail would follow the ML tower vertically down to the pad surface, then turn and continue close to the ground to the safety bunker. A passive magnetic and friction braking system will decelerate the cars at the tracks end as well as prevent the cars from hitting each other.”

Straight from Slashdot: “Rob writes writes to mention a Computer Business Review article about the recent Microsoft/Novell Linux deal. Article author Matthew Aslet warns that while some may see the announcement as a step forward, it may ultimately be very divisive for the Linux community.

From the article: “Microsoft made it clear that only SUSE users and developers, as well as unsalaried Linux developers, are protected. ‘Let me be clear about one thing, we don’t license our intellectual property to Linux because of the way Linux licensing GPL framework works, that’s not really a possibility,’ said Microsoft chief executive, Steve Ballmer. ‘Novell is actually just a proxy for its customers, and it’s only for its customers,’ he added. ‘This does not apply to any forms of Linux other than Novell’s SUSE Linux. And if people want to have peace and interoperability, they’ll look at Novell’s SUSE Linux. If they make other choices, they have all of the compliance and intellectual property issues that are associated with that.’”"

Straight from Billboard.com: “These devices are just repositories for stolen music, and they all know it,” UMG chairman/CEO Doug Morris says. “So it’s time to get paid for it.”

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Straight from Bare Knuckle Politics: “TEHRAN, Iran — President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday said Iran would soon celebrate completion of its controversial nuclear fuel program.“With the wisdom and resistance of the nation, today our position has stabilized. I’m very hopeful that we will be able to hold the big celebration of Iran’s full nuclearization in the current year,” the hard-line president said referring to the country’s nuclear fuel program.

Iran’s current calendar year ends on March 20.

The hard-line president also claimed that the international community was caving in to Tehran’s demands to continue its nuclear program.”