Samwise rides again

From the Beebee See …

French schools should teach children the virtues of drinking wine, a report by France’s governing party says.

The report says children who learn how wines are “cultivated and transformed to acquire their taste” are more likely to stay healthy and respect nature.

`Learning about healthy living starts from childhood and primary school,` the report says, citing studies that have indicated drinking red wine can stave off diseases.

The report also says children should be warned of the dangers of drinking too much alcohol.

Just received this via email from No2ID, looks like the British Government are playing dirty.

Pubs and clubs around the country are introducing fingerprint scanning systems for drinkers. The scheme which is backed by the Home Office was first trialled in Yeovil but plans are afoot to expand the system to Coventry, Hull, Sheffield, Leeds, Gwent, Nottingham, Taunton and possibly Swindon. Drinkers must have their thumbprints scanned and supply their name, address and date of birth to enrol onto the system before they are allowed to enter licensed premises taking part in the scheme. An increasing number of authoritarian measures are being introduced by UK pubs and clubs following new licensing laws which were introduced in November 2005. Licensees are now subject to increased fines and possible criminal prosecution with a maximum penalty of six months imprisonment for knowingly serving someone who is under-age. As a result many pubs have responded with extreme measures that threaten the freedoms of *everyone*, not just those who happen to look under 18, such as fingerprinting and ID-ing all customers as if they were all potential troublemakers. If you are in any of the towns affected, especially Yeovil, and are willing to do something then send an e-mail to phil@no2id.net (please put `pub fingerprinting` in the Subject).Don’t get depressed, don’t give in and get a home-brew kit - get angry and do something!

PS. If anyone knows a pub that would like to take NO2ID beer mats,Newcastle NO2ID has created some with our logo on the front and key counter-arguments on the back, ideal for starting the discussions of the scheme that we need. Beermats are produced in huge quantities, so they need more than a handful to make up an order(if we can make up a total order of several thousand we can produce beermats for £15 per 100). Enquiries to newcastle@no2id.net

With it being the month of Movember now, I thought I would post something topical, and, oddly enough, came across an article with a subject close to my heart, “How do you know if you’re depressed?” from AllMenAreLiars.

I have to admit, I have been feeling a little low recently.

I am wandering around my apartment trying to work out what happened last night by the evidence I find laying around.

Which lights are on ? the computers on and the amp is on, the volume is set low and “Back like that” is queued …. though probably not played. I think I woke up next to the computer at one point and dragged myself off to bed … or it was a dream … pretty crap dream if it was. Was I eating toast out of a bowl ?

The list goes on …

I went drinking last night and I think I remember most of the night, certainly I remember the walk home, I don’t remember anything after that.

I’m only awake now because painkillers and water are in the waking world.

As always, the opinions I expressed last night were not those of my employer, my friends or family, are not representative of my race, sex or profession … I’m not even sure they were mine either come to think of it.

It looks like a perfect day outside.

I’m not particularly superstitious, but today has taken a turn for the worst.

I’ve missed my flight to Honolulu, which means I’ve missed my flight to LA, which means I’ll probably miss my flight to Tucson, which means I’ll probably miss ADASS.

Hawai’ian have got me on a flight to Honolulu tomorrow at the crack of dawn, American can put me on standby at best, United would be happy for me to change to a flight the following day, which would be sweet, unfortunatly they refuse to do it, for some inexplicable reason, I have to call the travel agent who booked it, and the number United gave me to call them went to a fax. It’s 11pm and flight leaves LA in 6 hours, which is about the same time I’ve got to be on the flight to Honolulu.

Did I mention the first time I tried to change my flight with United, they were about to book the flight for the Sunday, put me on-hold and cut off the call, so I had to ring them back.

Theres a blessing in all this I’m sure, but right now I’m not seeing it.

UPDATE : So I caught the flight to Honolulu, United changed my ticket to coincide with the next American flight out to LA, which I have a stand-by for. 

UPDATE : Made it to LA, the rest *should* be easy.

UPDATE : Made it to Tucson, missed the earthquake.

I’ve heard for years that smoking enhances the effects of alcohol, so I am quite surprised to hear that smoking ‘reduces alcohol effect’.

I think I’ll have to go back to Jellinek for some facts.

Domoic acid in algae is the likely cause for inebriated seabirds

For a while now, I have been thinking of drafting a “Declaration of Impedance”

Apart from being a clever play on words, what does this mean ?

The key word here being a play on the word “impedance”

In electronics, impedance, is a measure of opposition to a sinusoidal electric current.

In this context it is a declaration of the level of oppostion, I, or any other, is prepared to make in relation to the powers that be.

I’ll try and start from the beginning.

A friend once said to me “All software should be free, and you shouldn’t have to pay for it”

It is a popular point of view, however I see things differently, I feel …

“All software is free, and you should pay for it”

I feel this is a more realistic, and unfortunatly, more controversial point of view.

When you copy a file on a computer, the copy is, for all intents and purposes, an identical copy of the original. No ifs. no buts, it is.

This has caused no end of headaches for the commercial sector.

Part of the problem is that the biggest media companies, say SONY, not only produces the equipment to allow you to copy digital media, but also have divisions that work in the moving picture, musical recording and other digital arenas. This is a good example of big industry being so big that the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing.

Now this wasn’t always the case.

In the 80s, the BPI pushed the idea that “Home Taping is Killing Music”. The idea seems ridiculous now, when you copy a record, CD or tape to magnetic media, a certain percentage of quality is lost, the more the copy is copied, the worse the quality. It just deteriorates.

Nowadays we have digital radio, digital tv, digital recording and playback, your choice of digital formats and media .. you can move from one medium to another without much in the way of noticable loss of quality, and there, my friends is “The Rub”

So I’m going to try and get to the point, as this is my first draft of this posting.

The compression algorythms now, do not compare to the the original, but they do not deteriorate it to the point where is unusable, and once it has been compressed, any copy is exactly the same as the original.

This has been a problem since day one for software, and licensing such as the GPL and BSD are all about, you can make perfect copies of the software.

So, all software, and by extension, all digital media , is free.

So, why pay for it ?

In a capitalist society, you get one vote, and that is to vote with your feet.

You buy a product, or you don’t, or I guess for a third option, you become a share-holder in a company.

When you by a product, you are supporting a company, wherever there money goes to, wether it be securing our futures and the futures of our offspring or baby mulching machines, it’s an all or nothing situation. Thats the same for free, as in non-pay, media.

If you are paying for a film, or a tune, or a piece of software, you are doing it because you want the parties involved in producing that, to continue.

My theory for a “Declaration of Impendance”, is this, I am prepared to pay for digital media, wether that be software, films, audio .. whatever, thats fair enough, but I retain that it is all free, and so if I cannot purchase said media, I am prepared to copy it.

Now if I can copy anything I want for nothing, and there are services available to allow that to happen, then I am prepared to copy it, if I cannot obtain it legally.

For example in the case of P2P or other forms of file trading, I can obtain the latest, greatest ( sic, ) tune available, no problem, but that is also available to purchase legally, no problem. The problem for me is that, not everything I want is available to purchase legally, not because it is illegal, but because there is no legal channel to purchase it from.

My thoughts regarding a “Declaration of Impendance”, is to state exactly the level of resistance I am prepared to make, in order to enjoy the media I want.

If there is a legal channel available to me selling what I want, I will use it, otherwise, it is fair game. However I would rather not be prosecuted for it, if there isn’t a legal alternative.

There have been certain items that I have obtained, as it were, illegally, and whenever possible, generally by searching eBay or Amazon or whatever, I have obtained legal copies of said items. That is the way I want to play it, I’m not out to rip anyone off, but you have to understand the power is in my hands, and I vote accordingly.

An example ? I was talking to a friend over a year ago about an album that I wanted, and could not obtain for love nor money ( and I had tried both, ) within days they had found a copy. I was sooo happy. A couple of months later I found an original copy on eBay, so I bought it. It was like an upgrade, because I could sample it at a higher resolution.

Why are these just thoughts ?

I have not decided how to draft it yet, you see there was another album I wanted, but the only copy I could find was unreasonably priced, I mean completely ridiculous. So it would be nice to state how far I am prepared to resist, if I state I am prepared to pay no more than Y, then anyone can charge Y and I’ll have to accept it, alternativly if I say that if it costs Y then I will get rid of my copies, then any company can then charge wel lover the odds for something forcing me to erase my copies.

The “Declaration” is about obtaining the media that I want legally in a way that is reasonable, or being left in piece to enjoy my copy, providing I can not source it, and believe me, whatever you’re experiences, it is not easy to obtain exactly what you want, and if it is, you can probably obtain it legally.

As a final note, I spend an awaful lot of money on iTMS, I love the fact I can buy just the tunes I want ( in most cases, sometimes they try to sell you the whole album, ) each track costs 99c, honestly it is ridiculous how much I spend. I cannot however buy everything I want, and I cannot also download everything I want. Sometimes I will buy an original to justify downloading a different mix from elsewhere, sort of like, if you own a copy of the Grey Album, you owe it to buy a copy of the White Album and the Black Album, and maybe a DJ Dangermouse album, because you cannot buy it legally.

This is just an idea, maybe I’m wrong, but I am going to flesh it out, and I would appreciate comments.