E. Michael Harrington

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ARE THERE 45 DAYS LEFT TO RE-EVALUATE THE PORTS DEAL? I look forward to the great changes American citizens will be going through in these 45 days as, no doubt, all Americans "will get behind their President" and realize that liking the United Arab Emigrates is "as American as apple pie."

I heard someone joking that we Americans should try to get Colombia to take over the U. S. Customs offices in Miami while we're outsourcing and out-managing parts of our national interests. Would Colombians be more likely to allow in illegal drugs? Would UAE'ers be more likely to allow in terrorists and/or their weapons? I don't think throwing bags of marijuana against buildings will do much to terrorize Americans. Bags of drugs can't hijack and usually don't blow up.

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YESTERDAY, I GAVE A LECTURE-PRESENTATION on racism in music to a group of university students. I did not know anything other than that it should last for 45 minutes (there's that 45 number again). I assumed that I should discuss white oppression of blacks in the U. S. and not discuss racism, bigotry and oppression outside of the U. S., or of other non-black minorities in the U. S. (or outside the U. S.), and not sexism inside of outside the U. S.

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I thought to divide this subject into the following ten (10) categories:

Describing the problems (Holiday, Simone, Broonzy, Wonder, etc.)

Attacking the problems (Brown, Chuck D, etc.)

Attacking the message or the messenger (Chuck D, etc.)

Songs that are extremely insensitive (Al Jolson, Luke The Drifter)

Minorities proud of their heritage (James Brown, Wonder)

Others proud of minorities (Beatles, Neil Young, Cash)

Unique Message (Bob Dylan - Only A Pawn)

Positive Message (Sly & The Family Stone, Wonder, Brown, etc.)

Coded message (Chuck Berry, Beatles, etc.)

Humor and racism (Randy Newman, Eddie Murphy)

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THE FIRST SONGS THAT CAME TO MY MIND WERE THESE (arranged alphabetically even though/because I do not conceive alphabetically, dream alphabetically or dream in black and white):

Beach Boys - Trader

Beatles - Blackbird

Chuck Berry - Brown-Eyed Handsome Man

Big Bill Broonzy - Black, Brown And White

James Brown - Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud; Soul Power

Byrds- Drug Store Truck Drivin' Man

Johnny Cash - Pocahontas; The Ballad Of Ira Hayes

Bob Dylan - Oxford Town; Ballad Of Hollis Brown; The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll;
Only A Pawn In Their Game

Billie Holiday - Strange Fruit

Mississippi John Hurt - Stack O'Lee Blues

Al Jolson - Sewanee; Mammy

Luke The Drifter (Hank Williams) - The Funeral

Bob Marley - Buffalo Soldier

Milton Nascimento - Curi Curi

Randy Newman - Rednecks; Christmas In Capetown; Yellow Man

Pearl Jam - W. M. A.

Public Enemy - Fight The Power

Nina Simone - Mississippi Goddam

Sly & The Family Stone - Everyday People

They Might Be Giants - Your Racist Friend

Stevie Wonder - Livin' For The City; Black Man; Cash In Your Face; Happy Birthday; Conversation Peace

Neil Young- Alabama; Southern Man; Cortez The Killer; Inca Queen; Like An Inca; Pocahontas

GREAT songs, huh?

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PRPARING FOR THIS - STUDYING, LISTENING TO, WATCHING (I used a video of Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit," as well as some Time/Life stuff, All In The Family, and Eddie Murphy as a white man in a white world from SNL) - made me want to teach a course on this. I have taught related courses. Someday maybe I will.

I couldn't resist and had to mention songs that address problems of native North Americans, as well as Asian Americans and Indians of the Amazon (Milton Nascimento's "Curi Curi."") Whenever I set a rule, or anyone does, that rule needs to GET BENT, as does the author. Ah, "get bent" ......a phrase from high school days.

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The BOSTON GLOBE has a Red Sox blog. I'm usually one who wants to steer clear of "corporate blogs," as they seem to be incompatible, but I think I should make this exception with this Red Sox blog.

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/

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TOMORROW I GET TO DO ANOTHER NOT-NORMAL TALK. (By "not-normal," I mean not part of a usual workplace activity.) This will be about originality and creativity. As with racism, I will have lots to express and am getting wound up for it right now.

TIME to hike Radnor Lake with tech podcasts. It's 75 F right now. [This has been updated because I received more accurate weather information, from my car and other local/non-Internet sources.]

http://www.weather.com/weather/hourbyhour/37064?locid=37064&from=36hr_fcstHourLink_undeclared

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CLOSING THOUGHTS/CLOSING QUOTE

RANDY NEWMAN - from "Rednecks"

"...We got no-necked oilmen from Texas
And good ol' boys from Tennessee
And college men from LSU
Went in dumb - come out dumb too
Hustlin' 'round Atlanta in their alligator shoes
Gettin' drunk every weekend at the barbecues..."

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Posted by EMH at 07:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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Many fools make predictions. Many predictions are made by fools. In the words of Archie Bunker, "Present company suspected." But unfortunately, my gut instinct, based somewhat on my study of life on Earth and especially American politics, was correct. Since last summer I have thought that civil war in Iraq is not new but has been a fact of life for awhile. And this civil war began because we destroyed the law and order (and killed thousands of people) in Iraq. Yes, Hussein is out of power but Iraqis have much more instability, violence, less hope, more despair, a worsened infrastructure, more fear, more oppression, more hatred and a CIVIL WAR. Fear and loathing in Baghdad. Fear and loathing in the entire country.

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On December 31, 2005, as I was pondering the year 2005, and making predictions about 2006, I stated that. "I will continue to hope that the civil war we have started in Iraq will end."

Three months earlier (October 14, 2005), in one of my haiku, I wrote that Iraqis were now free to have a civil war and cheap gas.

The exact haiku:

Right now they're free to
Have civil war and cheap gas
But soon they'll love us

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It is from this collection of haiku in which I criticized the foolish disingenuous staging of the "town hall" type chat the Pentagon set up between Bush and a small group of specially selected troops:

Allison Barber
made her directorial
Debut yesterday

Allison Barber
A pentagon director
I think she did well

She managed to coach
Some non-actor soldiers to
Smile and answer right

You troops can smile from
Time to time and don't go off
Script. He never does

If he stumbles or
starts to stutter, please make sure
that you stutter too

We'll pretend these are
Technical difficulties
And no one will know

It's important that
We convey the happiness
Of the Iraq War

That Iraqis want
Us there, that we'll help them vote
Help them become free

Right now they're free to
Have civil war and cheap gas
But soon they'll love us

Bush had chat time with
The troops yesterday as he
Wanted "to visit"

George's homespun ways
Are as sincere as those of
a used car salesman

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Many people are talking about the potential for civil war in Iraq today after what has been going on the past 48 hours. I am one who is convinced that this civil war in Iraq has been going on for almost a year (maybe more, maybe a few months less). It is not a declared war, nor does it have to be. It is obvious to many that it is here.

My fervent desire is that there be peace and that the foreign enemy invaders - we - leave. We've dug a very deep hole and yet we keep digging. God help them.

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THIS IS A DAY THAT THE RECORDING INDUSTRY TRIED ITS VERY BEST TO PREVENT. EARLIER THIS MORNING, the one billionth (1,000,000,000) song was purchased from the Apple iTunes store. If the RIAA had their way, there would be no iPods.

The RIAA sued the manufacturer of the first iPod - the predecessor for the iPod, known as the Diamond Rio - back in October 1998. They were successful and got an injunction so that the end of the world was put off until June 14, 1999 when the injunction was lifted and the original MP3 player was allowed out of its cell and the digital music revolution, how the world is supposed to have evolved, began a new and exciting chapter.

THOSE of us who love technology were thrilled. The RIAA now will keep their mouths shut and their tails between their legs, I suspect, as none of them will admit that they were wrong. BIG THUGS can become very quiet when they lose. I want to hear them say,

WE WERE WRONG. THE iPOD is a GREAT THING, an important revenue generator for us, and we were wrong to oppose technology.

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All technology threatens business as usual but then becomes business as usual.

The political corollary to this is, "TODAY'S revolutionaries are tomorrow's conservatives."

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This is my father's burthday. I always loved this day for that reason as it was part of a two day birthday period for two heroes of mine, my father and George Washington (February 22).

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"The general rule of law is, that the noblest of human productions - knowledge, truths ascertained, conceptions and ideas - become after voluntary communication to others, free as the air to common use." - Justice Brandeis (1918)

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Posted by EMH at 08:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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The United Arab Emigrates and George Bush's passionate backing of the UAE have dislodged Dick "Go F_____ Yourself" Cheney as the hot and ubiquitous new Bush Administration problem.

The Democrats suddenly look like the tough ones on national security. Oh my! The Republicans are angrier now than they were over Harriet Miers, but this time, many centrists of both parties and most U. S. citizens will be strongly against Bush. He has done his arrogance once too often - this problem, to many, seems to matter.

Again, Democrats, the mouse of a party and out of power in each branch of government, get to sit back and laugh again as Republicans, especially the conservatives ones - Frist, Graham, Hastert and others - are savaging each other and doing the deed (cannibalism) for the Democrats.

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Go George Bush! I am waiting and excited to hear the first Republicans - of any age, any status, anywhere - defend George Bush's love for the UAE and back the United Arab Emigrates and their nationally owned company as being the best people to work for the national defense of our ports, especially at a time when OSAMA BIN LADEN has already set off his cues to the terror cells (his remarks this week that he will not be taken alive, and other recent statements).

I live in one of the most Republican communities in the United States (an exaggerated over-the-top Stepford Wives town and county). I can't imagine any of my fellow townspeople being able to say anything factual, specific or positive about the United Arab Emigrates. Of course, by tomorrow, when Karl Rove and the Republican Machine has spoken, they will have a few talking points (we can't send a message of discrimination against Arabs, the Middle East is watching - we must trust these nations, the UAE has done everything to be our ally in the war against terrorism, etc.).

This was a very fun transition from a Vice President who shoots individuals without cause, to a President who hires terrorists to guard important United States ports. In both cases, we can be assured that both actors are not forthcoming or honest. The UAE love fest must be based on oil and/or George H. W. Bush relations.

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This is a difficult anniversary for my family and me. On this day in 2003, my favorite cousin, Matthew Pickett, died in the tragic fire at the Great White Concert in Rhode Island. Matthew was the youngest of five very good kids. He was their favorite. I am the oldest of all of the grandchildren on both sides of my family. Matthew was one of the youngest, and he and I were always great pals, and he was my favorite cousin. He was like a little brother to me. If I could have had a brother, I would have wanted him to be Matthew. He had such a passion and love for life and for all people he met. His attitude was one of happiness, attentiveness, energy and enthusiasm - when you saw Matthew, you couldn't help but smile. He exuded fun, kindness and sweetness. He viewed all strangers as new friends. People were extremely attracted to him. He made everyone happy and we were much better off for having had any encounter with Matthew. He was a Dead Head and had an enormous collection of live Grateful Dead recordings but his taste was as diverse as his life experiences. He had traveled extensively and spoke French and Spanish. One of the last things Matthew did was to make me a CD of some jazz that he wanted me to hear. I was hoping to see him again. I'll always treasure the times I had with him and I can only hope that the great person he was can inspire me, my extended family and all of his friends.

Here is a picture of Matthew and a short article about him.

http://www.boston.com/news/packages/nightclub_fire/victims/mpickett.htm

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CONFUCIUS - "The Master said, 'The man of virtue makes the diffficult to be overcome his first business, and success only a subsequent consideration - this may be called perfect virtue.'"

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Posted by EMH at 08:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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The RIAA - I've got an idea for them. They love using law to their advantage (that is sensible) but they go too far. Under close inspection, they are hypocritical about how they function. They deprive their own recording artists of money by concocting contracts that are historically traditional or traditionally historic, i.e., these contracts have been illogical, but worse, illicit with respect to respecting artists. These contracts, to paraphrase NEWT GINGRICH and HILLARY CLINTON, are designed to keep recording artists "on the plantation" and with little hope of doing well.

There are numerous excellent resources - books, websites and more - to see just how this happens. Here is one of my favorite sites (from the Future of Music Coalition) that demonstrates how boilerplate recording contracts from the Recording Industry Association of America's companies seriously and sleazily deprive their artists.

http://www.futureofmusic.org/contractcrit.cfm

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The other thing they do is a simple nickel-and-diming practice but one that shows clearly another part of their hypocrisy. They follow the ages-old practice of giving away a lot of recording artist CD's - they give these CD's to their fellow employees as a perk for being an employee, and then to those who might be able to help them - radio, publicists, publishers, etc.

When they give away material, they are giving away the work of recording artists who have paid for this material. The recording artists are not being on these promotional materials. And most importantly, THE RIAA EMPLOYEES and friends ARE GETTING CD'S FOR FREE. They are getting music without paying for it, the exact crime for which they prosecute non-employees - 12 year olds, dead octogenarian grandmothers, etc.

THEY CAN RIP OFF RECORDING ARTISTS but the PUBLIC CANNOT (rip off recording artists). "They are our artists to rip off, not yours," says the RIAA lawyer. "We've been doing this for decades. No one cares and no one ever will. This is how it's done and there's nothing anyone can do about it. This is business as usual. Long live our business!"

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I'VE BEEN ASKING PEOPLE WHO OWN iPODS, if they ever imported one of their CD's into their iPod. EVERYONE I spoke to has done this. I've imported more than 8,500 songs from my CD's to my iPod. The other 450 have been edited from these songs (I ahve extracted choruses, verses, etc. for comparison sake), and the other 15 have been purchased from the Apple iTunes store.

According to the RIAA, I have infringed copyright and so have the many others I have spoken to, as well as millions of music fans/iPod owners from around the country.

It is very important that we are aware of what the RIAA do, planning and purchasing (members of Congress to write, push and pass regressive legislation, as well as sue thousands of their customers in an effort to turn back time and stop technology in its tracks).

For a clear explanation of the RIAA's new obnoxious twist, read Fred von Lohmann of the Electronic Frontier Foundation:

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004409.php

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MY IDEA and suggestion for the RIAA is to start a new kind of NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH.

Go to neighborhoods, sit in unmarked cars (or use some of those snazzy FBI Logos on the sides of cars), wear those really cool dark blue JACKETS with the bright yellow F-B-I letters, and wait for crime to happen. If you wait a short while, you'll see children going from house to house. [Other times wives and/or husbands will traverse the neighborhood.] Sometimes the children are wanting to play with their friends, but other times they will be transporting DVD's, CD's or video games.

Yes, these children and neighbors, who often think of themselves as caring, good citizens, are engaging in DELIBERATE VICIOUS ILLICIT behavior. They are sharing intellectual property - they are letting others have access to music, movies and games without paying the copyright owners again and again. The children and parents are breaking federal law and are supposed to understand and adhere to the 120,000 word law. Why can't Johnny be law abiding?

The RIAA will have to be very careful as once the neighbors know they are being watched, they can simply put the DVD's and CD's inside boxes of flour or bags of sugar to disguise the illegal trafficking.

Of course if things get too hot in the neighborhood, the neighbors might get smart and go to usenet groups or other online means to share their intellectual property. In the real world, they could drive to another house or even drive to work and exchange intellectual property at the workplace. Hopefully more EDUCATION, lawsuits and name calling ("your mother wears army boots and your kid is an infringer") by the RIAA will finally work.

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On The SOPRANOS tonight, Adrianna got killed and is now off the show (Of course this is from Season Five, I have watched the episode many times, but it still is very dramatic.) It was really sad but it can be very difficult to have a made boyfriends - crime tends to follow you around. MARCH 12 marks Season 6. I wish it was here now - I am becoming impatient.

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The obscene language in the episode tonight reminded me of Dick "Go F___ Yourself" Cheney as almost every character except Carmella Soprano, kept using the F___ word, you know, the word DICK CHENEY proudly used to address Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy. From the floor of the United States Senate, Vice President Dick "The Seasoner" Cheney told Leahy to go "F____ himself," thought about it for a day, and then told people that he was glad to have used the profane language and that others wished they had.

Yes, after a day of reflecting on his use of profanity, Vice President Dick Cheney was proud to have resorted to using the F____ word to insult a U. S. Senator in the Senate chamber. The family values President who oftens speaks to HIS HIGHER FATHER and no other Republicans objected to Cheney's use of profane language. Had it been Vice President Al Gore who used a profanity on a Republican senator, I suspect that many of the Family Values Republicans would have been outraged and demanded an apology.

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Posted by EMH at 07:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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HOW CAN THE RECORDING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA - the RIAA - ALWAYS BE SO OFFENSIVE, OBNOXIOUS AND OPPOSED TO THEIR CONSUMERS? I have bought more than 6, 500 CD's. I am, unlike most of them, a real musician and a passionate fan of music. Unlike most RIAA employees, I do not get my music for free. I buy it. I have since my first iPod, converted my CD's and put many of them on my Macintosh and then did what I feel is my right - I transferred them to my iPod.

The RIAA is claiming that it is against the law to put your CD's into your iPod.

This is why great customers and passionate music fans, such as I, have no respect for the RIAA. I expect to almost always be opposed to them. Even though I work in the music industry and for RIAA companies, I am completely at odds with most of their utterances and actions pertaining to anything having to do with technology. TECHNOLOGY is supposed to happen. TECHNOLOGICAL developments have always been at odds with business as usual but then have become business as usual.

The RIAA is simply hopelessly out of touch with reality, and very mean spirited.

I have often been wrong when I have written, spoken or suggested that the RIAA can not get dumber or meaner or more obsolete or more like totalitarian states, such as North Korea, or "sunk to a new low." The RIAA sees and seizes stupid whenever they can. They concoct new ways of failure better than any other industry.

Hopefully they will start to enforce this "NO CD's in iPOD" idea. Our FBI and police really have few other worries - they should come to the RIAA's rescue and Americans caught wiith legally purchased music in their iiPods, should be prosecuted.

I think what DICK CHENEY said to SENATOR PATRICK LEAHY should be said instead to the North Koreans running the RIAA.

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Here's a story on the subject:

Macworld Daily News
Friday - February 17, 2006
RIAA claims copying CDs to iPods is unlawful

By Emru Townsend

US record-label body the RIAA and movie-industry moguls at the MPAA are attempting to argue that copying a CD to a computer for carrying on an iPod does not, and has never, constituted fair use.

A report from the Electronic Frontier Foundation says 14 organisations, including the two mentioned, have submitted a filing as part of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's regular review process of exemptions to provisions against tampering with technological protection measures.

This means that, in essence, all rights to copy anything are held by the copyright owner. Those rights can be sold or assigned, which is why a record label can reproduce and distribute a given musician's songs. Since copyright holders haven't granted specific permission to make a copy of a song, you aren't allowed to, by the letter of the law.

Within American law, "fair use" is an exception that, among other things, allows people to make copies within certain circumstances and constraints. So making a copy of a CD for your own personal use is within the scope of fair use. That's the way copyright law has worked for quite some time.

But these new claims show that the right to tote your CD's contents around on your MP3 player were never expressly given, and that, for some reason, fair use doesn't apply. The implication is that all this time, they've been graciously allowing us to make tapes and MP3s from CDs bought for personal use.

The RIAA also claims that digital rights management has only increased legitimate access to copyright works.

http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?NewsID=13879&Page=1&pagePos=8

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I better predict this before someone else does........

DICK CHENEY WILL RESIGN on March ___ 2006. I guessed at the date - I expect it to be on a Friday at 8 PM Eastern Standard Time (the last Friday night of March would work well - the baseball season will be opening and people will forget Dick's withdrawal). It would make great sense as Dick Cheney has outlived his uselessness to this faltering presidency, and getting a new conservative in as Vice President will only help Republicans in their quest to maintain the presidency in 2008.

The closer it gets to November, the least likely it will be that Cheney will resign as that would focus negative attention on this administration. And resigning in the next 10 days is too soon and too close to RIFLE-GATE and would be regarded as too much a victory for Democrats.

I've been wrong before - about the RIAA, and about Henry Cisneros becoming the first U. S. Hispanic President, and thousands of other things. I hated seeing Tom DeLay step down and I will hate it if I am right and Cheney steps down as I love the humor that sweet affable Dick brings to "the American people."

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To be continued......

Posted by EMH at 08:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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I AM SO PROUD TO BE FROM MASSACHUSETTS, whether it's because we started the United States of America and were very good terrorists for the right cause between 1770-1789 and 1812-1814, or because we were the only enlightened state in 1972 and voted for Senator George McGovern instead of Richard Milhous Nixon - "RiCHARD E. NIXON," in the words of Archie Bunker), or because we are the most pro-consumer pro-freedom pro-free speech and liberty state, or because POLITICS is an intellectual and humanistic pursuit, as well as a SPORT, or because we hate the New York Yankees. Fighting evil, whether it be the New York Yankees, corporate greed, or the British monarchy, is in our genes.

I am also deeply proud of our excellent lower, middle and higher education in the state (Harvard, MIT and Radcliffe are located in my sweet, quaint, soft spoken and modest hometown of CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts).

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This leads me to what triggered this current spurt of pride:

"The Lowell Spinners, the Red Sox Class A affiliate, announced last week that they would foot the cost of jerseys for any youth league that was willing to change the name of its Yankees squad to the Spinners.

The response has been overwhelming. At the start of the week, the Spinners had been contacted by more than 30 baseball and softball leagues from 25 communities across Massachusetts."

For whatever reason, there were some teams that had adopted this terrible name (Yankees) for their teams. [This is the only time when I would have hoped that arrogant trademark owners would have trampled those people who had selected such a distatsteful name for their teams - the NY Yankees should have threatened these teams for using their mark without permission, but, alas they did not and now the LOWELL SPINNERS/BOSTON RED SOX will come to the rescue.]

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This is such good news - we will be able to save our children and protect them from evil and embarking on the Highway to Hell, i.e., life as a New York Yankees fan.

THANK YOU LOWELL SPINNERS for protecting the youth of America. I look forward to attending some SPINNERS games this summer and contributing to ENLGHTENMENT and a love of leading a good and moral life, away from that evil name, YANKEES. Annuit Coeptis - May God favor you and your children and your children's children.

The complete story of salvation (saving children's souls) can be found in today's BOSTON GLOBE:

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2006/02/16/anti_yankees_fever_grips_youth_leagues/

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I SURVIVED VALENTINE'S DAY again. As is almost always the case, I was female-less on V-Day ("V" in this case is a double entendre - Valentine and Victory - what I've won is peace - I am not in trouble on this worst-day-of-the-year for heterosexual males).

I had a good V Day in 2000. I was in love/we were in love and looked forward to making her happy and having our usual great time. I "went all out" and felt romantic, did romantic things (may I be struck dead if I ever write those two phrases again! Am I on Oprah or something?) and got her some really nice thoughtful things. She cried (the happy kind of cry) and life was great. A week later though she decided that she couldn't love me the way she should. I was crushed. She did not want me to leave her, however, and wanted me to spend every minute with her. But she would also keep crying annd telling me that she can't love me the way she should. But she also told me that she loved me. Whatever the hell that means.... I use the technical term, "nuts" or "crazy" to describe this kind of behavior.

I should know better and delete the entire paragraph but I won't. (Unless I go back and delete later...)

Back to V-Day.

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On Valentine's Day, every male becomes a janitor. I was a janitor. It is a very rewarding job because, unlike most of my present day life, there is a specific do-able, finish-able finite job to do. It can get done. Like any job, one takes pride and satisfaction and there are many skill levels.

BUT, here's where V-Day for a male is being a janitor.

WHEN YOU DO A GOOD JOB AS A JANITOR, NO ONE NOTICES. The building looks good because it's supposed to look good. Janitors rarely get thanked or acknowledged for doing a good job. He's supposed to do a good job.

ON V-DAY, if the guy does well or extraordinarily well, it's no big deal as he is supposed to do well. If the guy is anything less than very good, great, or excellent, then he gets noticed.

I survived this Valentine's Day very well and even got very nice cards, emails and items from friends, and especially married friends (they're great because there is no drama or uncertainty as to our relationship - we are friends and she might as well be male. We are safe together.)

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My new passion today is Willie Nelson's new song, "Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly (Fond Of Each Other)." I heard about it recently and bought it on iTunes last night. (Its "Apple DRM" will get busted later tonight as I will not let Apple stand in my way of editing for private, noncommercial home use. Cheney those who would DRM me.)

Willie has hit the nail on the head in this song. He's wise, eloquent and correct.

The first lyrics are below. The music is great as well, perfectly suited, especially with the acoustic guitar "SHOT." (I'll reprint the "shot down dead" section in my next blog.)

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Well there's many a strange impulse out on the plains of West Texas
There's many a young boy who feels things he can't comprehend

And a small town don't like it when somebody falls between sexes
No a small town don't like it when a cowboy has feelings for men

And I believe to my soul that inside every man there's a feminine
And inside every lady there's a deep manly voice loud and clear

Well the cowboy may brag about things that he's done with his women
But the ones that brag loudest are the ones that are most likely queer

Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other
Say what do you think all them saddles and boots was about

And there's many a cowboy who don't understand the way that he feels for his brother
And inside every cowboy there's a lady that'd like to slip out

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Wow - and the songs goes on. It is easily the best 99 cents I've spent in a long time. Only 99 cents to capture an historic recording.

Imagine if the Dixie Chicks had written this or its counterpart (I can imagine one - I know there's a lesbian inside of me and she's been screaming lately! LOL)- what a hell of a price they would have to pay. Fortunately, in the land of the Free and Free Speech, Willie Nelson will thrive.

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Posted by EMH at 01:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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DICK "Go F____ Yourself" CHENEY, the most foul mouth Vice President in U. S. history, shot 78 year old Harry Whittington yesterday while they were hunting for quail in Texas. Surprisingly, Whittington is a Republican and not a Democrat. But he is a lawyer and everyone knows how Republicans feel about lawyers, unless the lawyer has turned into a Republican appointed judge, i.e., one of the "good ones" (attorneys) who would never

"L-E-G-I-S-L-A-T-E-------F-R-O-M------T-H-E -------B-E-N-C-H."

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This makes me think that it is probably a good thing that Dick "Shooter" Cheney is a chicken-hawk - one of those cowardly pro-war behind-the-desk immersed-in-safety warriors. I need to re-think my views on CHENEY'S DODGE DRAFTING as it was probably good that he got multiple draft deferments and chickened out of serving in Vietnam. I think all U. S. Vietnam veterans are probably glad now that he was not one of them as who knows how many U. S. troops' lives were probably spared. The U. S. troops in Vietnam did not need an additional shooter not on their side.

Perhaps Dick "Eagle Eye" Cheney was subconsciously wishing that his gun had more oomph and that his hunting partner was named, I. Lewis Libby, or Patrick Fitzgerald or some other enemy.

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THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE DAYS OF THE YEAR as it is President Abraham Lincoln's birthday. It used to mean kids got the day off from school and if it fell on a Saturday or Sunday, that was too bad as we had the day off anyway. But now, because of America's love of the three-day weekend and holiday blowout sales, Lincoln and Washington's birthdays have been run together - I think we snag a Monday in between the two birthdays (February 12 and Februay 22) and start shopping.

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I HAD PLANNED TO RANT AGAINST A PATENT DISPUTE INVOLVING THE MP4, a trademark dispute involving the Red Cross, and MOTHER OF THE YEAR, Britney Spears, but these will have to wait as there are some new demands on my time this afternoon. Well, I can offer a few heartfelt haiku to memorialize Britney's maternal instincts.

"I made a mistake
and so it is what it is
I guess," said Britney

It's my child and
He likes to sit on my lap
I know all men do

Those paparazzi
Were putting me into a
Funny position

They were like really
Hostile and stuff and chasing
Me with their cam'ras

They're like totally
Out of control and won't leave
Us alone, assholes

I'm publicity
Shy and can't stand people in
My face all the time

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Only four Sundays until the new season of THE SOPRANOS begins.

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I WISH I WAS ON A BEACH IN MASSACHUSETTS or Connecticut or playing in the 26 inches of snow in Central Park. Instead, I am watching some beautiful snow falling outside here in middle Tennessee, and just to make it even better and to "double my pleasure" (trademark infringement) I am also watching the Weather Channel live from Quincy, Massachusetts.

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AND MY LOVE FOR DENMARK and particular Danish cartoons keeps growing!

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Posted by EMH at 04:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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I USED TO BLOG EVERYDAY but then got caught up in too many cases, outside stuff to promote music and music/entertainment business, pro bono stuff (the real stuff of my life), excessive workplace adjustments and demands, and commuting via beautiful Acura but on highways occupied by terrorists (people who drive slowly or stay in the passing lane, secretly sent here by Al Qaeda and doing more to cause harm hourly than the hateful cartoon haters in Pakistan, Afghanistan and other countries filled wiith moderates).

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We had the world's finest sunrise this morning - excellent shades of pink and orange and blue, and now the yellow is starting to predominate. And there is excitement in the air as we are supposed to get 2-4 inches of snow in Nashville today. Two to four inches here brings on the same panic as two to four feet would in Boston!!! But I love the feel of the air today - the actual chemical on the skin thing, as well as the excitement, dread and adrenaline rush of people at Starbucks and elsewhere. Between the excitement and the colors and the 29 degree temperature, life is going to be great today!

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MIKE "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job" BROWN is going to testify on Capitol Hill today. He knows even more than he initially revealed about who he killed in New Orleans. Oops, that's a little harsh - he didn't kill anyone, he just got out of nature's way! Perhaps it was a deep religious conviction that led BROWNIE YOU'RE DOING A HECK OF A JOB to let God do his job?

It should be enlightening to hear what BROWNIE YOU'RE DOING A HECKUVA OF A JOB has to say. As the saying goes, ONLY in America could someone who failed so miserably in his job as FEMA head become a well paid consultant and get hired to tell people how not to be like him.

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The RIAA are worrying that people are selling their iPods in order to buy bigger better iPods. BUT these criminals, in the eyes of the RIAA, are not stripping their iPods before they sell them. OH NO!!! And I think some people somewhere have sold computers with software still installed. Why can't Johnny read his end user license agreement?

When are the music customers ever going to learn that before they do anything with their iPods they need to thoroughly study Title 17 of the United States Code

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode17/usc_sup_01_17.html

(too bad that it's more than 120,000 words in length - that's why God gave us eyes), all relevant common law, the end user license agreements (what came with your iPod when you bought it, and the end user license agreement that comes with each new version of iTunes), and then side with the RIAA whenever there is any doubt about anything. If the RIAA's Cary Sherman speaks, he is correct and any other advice from any other source would be incorrect. Of course Cary Sherman fought to try stop the iPod and its dangerous predecessor, the Diamond Rio MP3 player. They lost and the end of the world brought on by downloading music is upon us. There is not much time left, is there?

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Of course there are other opinions that really matter more and there is reasonable dispute as to whether one can sell one's iPod loaded or not.

Here is a much more reasonable opinion (I'll keep mine out of it for now):

""There is very clear provision in the statute that says that if you are in possession of a copy that has been lawfully made, you can distribute that copy without violating the copyright holder's copyright. That seems to suggest that there shouldn't be a case against a casual user disposing of copies they made for personal use when one is getting rid of one's own iPod."

taken from this article:

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1524099/20060209/index.jhtml?headlines=true

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Here is a picture of Cary Sherman:

http://www.mccullagh.org/image/d30-25/cary-sherman-riaa.html

With a seven-figure salary, you think he would wear a tie and be more believable, wouldn't you? But, casual clothing aside, this man knows what's what and will tell you what's what. He commands the RIAA and has his way with the United States Copyright Office. At his request, the United States Copyright Office removed the very harmful phrase from the U. S. Constitution that is the basis for copyright in the United States.

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The RIAA have convinced the U. S. Copyrght Office that Article 1, Section 8 of the U. S. Constitution is just a quaint old relic that has no relevance or pertinence in our modern digital times.

That subversive phrase (perhaps it came from the 18th century version of the Taliban?) that the RIAA had removed from the U. S. Copyright Office's website is:

"THE CONGRESS SHALL HAVE THE POWER...

TO PROMOTE THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE AND THE USEFUL ARTS BY SECURING FOR LIMITED TIMES TO AUTHORS AND INVENTORS THE EXCLUSIVE RIGHT TO THEIR RESPECTIVE WRITINGS AND DISCOVERIES."

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Marybeth Peters is the boss at the USCO, that division of the Library of Congress that once proudly displayed its constitutional charge. Here is Marybeth Peters:

http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9801/copy.html

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The beautiful sunrise is gone and I think of this song and these colors:

"Black, white, green, red,
Can I take my friend to bed,
Pink, brown, yellow, orange, and blue,
I love you."

The author of the above?

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Posted by EMH at 07:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

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SOME HAIKU for this morning

How long has it been
since President Bush declared
"Mission Accomplished?"

Those were good times - we
were liberators and kids
spanked Hussein's statue

It was going to
cost One billion dollars and
we would have oil

They would be free but
we would have something better
than freedom - oil

Catching Saddam took
a while but we did well to
kill his lovely sons

We made sure to show
everyone how they looked with
bullets in their heads

Their scars and stitches
their shaved heads, their no longer
smug arrogant looks

But we made sure not
to show dead American
soldiers coming home

If people were to
see coffins with flags, it would
remind them of loss

And the too-high price
of attacking a country
that had not harmed us

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THUGS IN MANY COUTRIES ARE USING THE EXCUSE OF DISRESPECTFUL CARTOONS to act like thug bastards. That's too bad. I wish I could draw as I might want to get drawn into the animation wars. As a U. S. citizen, but more so, an Earthling, I feel free speech is everyone's right. If it is offensive, so be it. They should get offended and stay offended - it's their choice. Attacking sacred cows seems like a good thing to me.

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The good times are here - the Superbowl and the Grammys are over (good riddance to both meaningless annual displays) - and baseball's spring training is nigh.

I hope the Grammys in 2007 will add a 263rd Grammy category for "Best Mashup/Best Creative Copyright Infringement." The best music I hear these days, outside of world music which is ignored by most Americans, is MASHUPS, brilliant creative works that do what needs to be done to copyrighted works - use them as inspiration to create more works to benefit the public so that others will build upon the new works, and so on and so on.

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FROM THE AP:

"WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush gave new details Thursday about a foiled terror attack in 2002 in which plotters planned to use hijacked commercial airplanes to strike the West Coast.

Bush said the West Coast plot targeted the tallest building in Los Angeles, since renamed the US Bank Tower, and involved Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the mastermind of the September 11 attacks, who was captured in 2003.

Bush had referred to the plot before. In an address last October, Bush said the United States and its allies had foiled at least 10 serious plots by the al Qaeda terror network in the past four years, including plans for September 11-like attacks on both U.S. coasts.

The White House initially would not give details of the plots but later released a fact sheet with a brief, and vague, description of each....."

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Surely BUSH must have gotten wind of this from wiretapping Quakers or PETA members and surely this itself must be justifiication for having laws that apply to every citizen but the President. As Richard Nixon said and George Bush followed, "When the President does it, it isn't a crime."

My prediction (a very simple obvious one) is that the war on terrorism will be a "war" AS LONG AS REPUBLICANS hold the White House. When and if a Democrat is ever elected President, we will no longer be in a "war," and we'll need to revert back to having civil liberties and Republicans will then lead the charge for the importance of civil liberties. And if we are attacked while a Democrat is President, it will be Bill Clinton or Jimmy Carter's fault. When new species of animals were found in Indonesia, it is because of George Bush. Hurricane Katrina and the Tsunami happened because of Democrats. Everything bad everywhere is due to Godless Democrats.

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I AM IN SHOCK that some Christians are finally realizing that protecting the Earth might show respect for God and that respecting the environment is more important than always being Republican. Thank God for their enlightenment and that of the purpose-driven llfe guy.

From the NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/08/national/08warm.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

"Despite opposition from some of their colleagues, 86 evangelical Christian leaders have decided to back a major initiative to fight global warming, saying "millions of people could die in this century because of climate change, most of them our poorest global neighbors."

The megachurch pastor Rick Warren is a signer of the "Evangelical Climate Initiative."

Among signers of the statement, which will be released in Washington on Wednesday, are the presidents of 39 evangelical colleges, leaders of aid groups and churches, like the Salvation Army, and pastors of megachurches, including Rick Warren, author of the best seller "The Purpose-Driven Life."

"For most of us, until recently this has not been treated as a pressing issue or major priority," the statement said. "Indeed, many of us have required considerable convincing before becoming persuaded that climate change is a real problem and that it ought to matter to us as Christians. But now we have seen and heard enough."

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I would expect Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell to break with these enlightened evangelicals and go on thinking that nothing needs to get in the way of Big Business or the Rapture and that only God's enemies - the ACLU, university professors (a.k.a. terrorists), terrorists, librarians (a.k.a. terrorists) and feminists (a.k.a. the worst of the terrorists) - would support Democrats and their very green policies.

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Posted by EMH at 11:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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Luther Campbell is suing Fifty Cent for copyright infringement claiming that Fifty Cent's "In Da Club" infringed Campbell's oh-so-very-original lyric, "Go Derrick, it's your birthday," from Campbell's "It's Your Birthday," by exclaiming in Fifty Cent's "In Da Club," "Go Shorty, it's your birthhday." This is a classic example of a frivolous copyright infringement lawsuit. Copyright protects original works of authorship - the more original the expression, the more protection it is afforded. This trite birthday expression is NOT COPYRIGHTABLE.

I've been involved in some foolish and frivolous stuff like this before (of course I've agreed with the defendant !!!). In one case, the defendant allegedly stole an A minor to G Major to A minor chord progression that lasted a few seconds - it was unoriginal and very brief. Of course there was nothing else in common between the songs except for this perfectly uncopyrightable three-chords-in-three-seconds expression. To quote Napoleon Dynamite-----

IDIOTS !

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MY BIRTHDAY celebrating will continue next week ((and a little bit tonight) but this weekend will be about catching up. I look forward to the Superbowl being over so that the world can turn its attention to the pending 162 Boston Red Sox games and the chance to watch the old bloated overpriced New York Yankees have another overpriced overegoed disappointing year. Again I predict that the Yankees will not win the World Series, the only thing that matters to them and their misguided fans.

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I AM SITTING IN A COFFEE HOUSE planning what I will be doing from August until December (I will be in New York), and every child in this coffeehouse is named, "MADISON." It seems as if every child in the U. S. is named MADISON or ADISON or RADISSON. (Oops.... I want to steer clear of discussing children named after hotel chains as that is too apparent and too ubiquitous.) Because of my deep respect for tradition, perhaps I should call my first daughter, TRADISON, as in TRAD-itional.

I've long had the name picked out for my first son. He will be called, SPOT. I resent the fact that dogs think they have a monopoly on the name SPOT. Why can't two-leggers be called, Spot? No, this is only a joke but I look forward to wheeling a child around in a carriage/rolling mobile and having someone look at the beautiful thing and answering, when asked what his/her/its name is, "SPOT." It will be worth some kind of shock value I suppose.

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I think every President's last name should be used as a child's first name. Who is missing? Up until the 1990's there were not a lot of Madison's, I think. Which of our beloved Presidents needs a-naming?

There have been.......

Lincolns, Fords, Clintons, Johnsons, McKinley (as in McKinley Morganfield aka Muddy Waters), Garfield is a cat, Truman, Reagan (I guess there are some of those)

Muddy Waters >>>>>> http://www.muddywaters.com/home.html

But how about a first name of.....

BUSH? (That could cause such trouble for a child, much worse than a boy named Sue)

Nixon?

Polk?

Coolidge?

Van Buren?

or the dreaded-by-Republicans word >>>>>

EISENHOWER?

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ARE THERE ENOUGH GADGETS FOR YOUR iPOD? According to this article from yesterday's NY TIMES there are 2,000 gadgets that comprise a $1 billion business, and that for every $3 one spends on an iPod, it is likely that one will spend $1 on an accompanying python covering/baby stroller/belt buckle. And to think, I've only bought cords and neoprene and plastic covers for my three iPods. I'm not nearly consumer enough.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/03/technology/03ipod.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

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And the sad news that Lance and Sheryl are breaking up.... I wonder how the first Mrs. Lance must feel? If I were her, I'd laugh like hell. Sheryl's music couldn't keep them together? Did Lance's many hours on the seat with all of that pressing on the important parts keep them apart?

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/SPORT/02/04/cycling.armstrong.ap/

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Posted by EMH at 01:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

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TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY. It's not one of those "0" or "5" birthdays so I didn't have to hide and get embarrassed about turning a ZERO or a FIVE. YEA. It's been a great few days before, today and aftterwards. I know that some cool things will be going on regarding the birthday in the next few days - friends taking me out, etc. - and when I go north soon to celebrate some more.

The birthday wishes, cards, emails and presents have been great. One of the most powerful people in the music business, and a great friend, did a crazy song-and-dance HB for me. It was really hysterical, unexpected and very kind and genuine of him.

My mother sent me a gigantic box of my favorite things from TRADER JOE's. Life's too great right now.

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A friend needed to know what I considered to be the most important recent developments in media/IP etcetera stuff lately. I just finished a long detailed email back to him complete with enclosures, attachments, links, lights, action, wind and steam I might elaborate on this later, or not. I think I should blog more often and shorter. I am missing spewing forth nonsense instead of spending so much time at the workplace and in other endeavors. Part of my problems came from the IP work.

No Radnor Lake today. I have hiked Radnor almost everyday in January and on all but two days, I was wearing shorts. It's that warm and beautiful here in NashVegas.

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A guy on Dr. Phil right now wants to keep having sex with his wife, who is raising his four kids, and his woman-on-the-side. He calls it "poly-fidelity." I miss the old days when someone like that would be ashamed and not talk about it in public.

A few minutes ago I saw a television show in which Lisa Loeb wants to get married. She's 37 and wants kids and wants to raise these theoretical kids Jewish. This too is a television show.

And now there's Dora The Explorer coming to Nashville, and a Yoplait yogurt commercial - if you eat this Yoplait, you'll be able to wear a teeny weeny something something yellow polka dot bikini. I've got to turn off the TV or at least go to ESPN or CNN.

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The Arctic Monkeys are really cool. I'm thrilled to see how successful they are in the UK and elsewhere and expect them to do well here too. They embody the ideals of Thomas Jefferson who in 1813 said,

"Give away your CD's to your fans, encourage them to upload them so others can download them, and when your first real CD comes out, you'll outsell everyone and happily diss the control freaks and enemies of technology and innovation at the record labels and show them that intellectual property, unlike physical property, increases in value as it becomes more widespread."

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The Red Sox have 26 year-old Coco Crisp and the Yankees have 32 year-old Johnny Damon. I can't stop thinking how good that is.

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Posted by EMH at 03:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)