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April 24, 2007

Downloading hotels and altruistic intent, Justice Potter Stewart, steroidically stupid and a moving high tech Idaho wedding video

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WHILE I HAVE A FEW MINUTES and intellectual property and the music and entertainment industries are on my mind in this pre-conference moment, I thought it would be good to post something profound, and something stupid.

Here's the profound:


"The immediate effect of our copyright law is to secure a fair return for an author's creative labor. But the ultimate aim is, by this incentive, to stimulate artistic creativity for the public good." - U. S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart (1975)

The public's interest is more important than the creator's interest, this according to a USSC justice.

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Here's SOMETHING STUPID, very stupid, more stupid than stupid is normally stupid. Stupid given a steroidic boost:



"When someone steals a movie that cost you $120 million, that's theft on a scale that's unimaginable. It's like stealing a hotel."
Jim Gianopulos, co-chairman of News Corp.'s Fox Filmed Entertainment,
quoted in Bloomberg News, (June 30, 2004)


Stealing a movie is like stealing a hotel. If that's so, then why don't those stealers/evil doers go ahead and charge the public to spend the night in their movie? If I owned a hotel, I would strongly consider charging money for people to spend the night in my downloaded hotel/movie despite my altruistic manner and tendency to share that which I own. Of course this downloaded movie-hotel would not be really mine as it is someone else's hotel/movie and I would have only been the one to download it. Perhaps I could pay for it - say, $15, $20 or $30 - and then I would own a relatively cheap movie hotel.

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A WEDDING


AND LOVE IS ALWAYS A GOOD THING, and especially marriage. I've got marriage on my mind. My wedding ceremony might be as good as Kip's. I'll write some music for it but I bet I'll never equal that of Kip's, and I doubt there will be any magnificent horses, let alone a "wild honeymoon stallion" at the ceremony.

Here's a wedding in which we should all be inspired.


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April 23, 2007

Manny Ramirez, J. D. Drew, Mike Lowell, Jason Varitek and the Boston Tea Party, an insider's understanding of nuance vs. a non-nappy headed man who falls over furniture, Anna Nicole Smith before and after Virginia Tech

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SINCE I LAST E-Diarized, Don Imus said "nappy headed ho" to describe some very accomplished highly respectable female student athletes from Rutgers, 32 innocent people died unnecessarily at Virginia Tech, Alberto Gonzales, of Gonzo-Gate infamy, squirmed and said "I don't recall" 72 or 76 times, kind of like 72 or 76 virgins like the Al Qaeda myth that awaits the suicide of those charming religious moderates (I bet if Alberto had 72 or 76 virgins waiting for him if he could recall he would recall), and the Boston Red Sox swept the New York Yankees in three games.

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Throughout tragedies in Iraq and Virginia and Gonzo-Gate, Anna Nicole Smith remains the most important and widely discussed person. I was not around when Christopher Columbus was around but how he could Columbus be as important or widely discussed just for getting lost on a sailboat outing - not a three hour cruise a three hour cruise (Sherwood Schwartz needs royalties for that copy, distribution and unauthorized derivative)?

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I've taken to writing haiku again but some will not be for public dissemination.

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Nappy Headed Imus


Imus was wrong but if he gets fired, why should Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage and Glenn Beck not get fired, as they've been much meaner much more often. If Imus had an urge to say "nappy," he should have said, "looking back on when I was a little nappy headed boy, then my only worry was for Christmas what would be my toy..." I first heard that song, "I Wish," when I bought SONGS IN THE KEY OF LIFE in 1976. It was one song on Stevie Wonder's anxiously awaited masterpiece. I had to use a dictionary (pre-the days of dictionary.com) to look up the meaning of the word, "nappy." Nappy didn't apply to me so I never used hat word until now. Nappy is not a word Imus should use. And "ho." That's the bad one. It's bad because of its offensive nature - accusing a woman you don't know of being a "whore," is bad. And shortening whore, an already-short one-syllable word, to "ho," is also bad. Imus' CONTRITION Tour did not work out (claiming drug dependence seems to con more people more successfully), so he'll next write a book about it, go on Oprah (Sharpton's show is not enough), make a lot more money and sign on to satellite radio. He could have been XM's answer to Sirius' Stern but S & X might be bedding down later this year so who will have Imus? Which nappy headed CEO need apply?

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Nappy Headed Decision by Nappy NBC

NBC should never have aired the Virginia Tech killer's video material as that only makes him succeed from the grave and possibly inspire those few who might look up to this evil kid. It was not newsworthy and just because you can is never a good enough reason. Their "exclusive" was sickening and depressing.

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BOSTON RED SOX


The BOSTON RED SOX JUST BEAT THE NEW YORK YANKEES, a team with unlimited money, three times in a row culminating with the ten-pitch four consecutive home run desecration of a rookie. The FOUR are Manny Ramirez, J. D. Drew, Mike Lowell and Jason Varitek. The Four will now enter Bostonian folklore. They will "join the ranks of" the Bston Tea Party, the Boston Massacre, the shot heard around the world (April 19, 1775), Paul Revere, John Hancock, the Minutemen, guys named Adams, Joseph Kennedy and Albert DeSalvo. (DeSalvo was praised by the Texas State legislature - hating Northerners does not always take place in the South. There are those Rodney King moments.)


http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2007/04/23/smashing_success/


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I'll be attending the 2007 Digital Summit tomorrow. I was on a panel at the 2006 Digital Summit. The lowlight this year wll be the same as it would be any year - words from the RIAA. When the RIAA speaks, I, a lover of music and a buyer of music, am saddened and angered and almost embarrassed that I work in the music industry. The RIAA, like the North Korean government, want the future to arrive only if it can arrive in the fashion that suits them. Suits, like lawsuits. The RIAA are happiest when they initiate lawsuits even though their propaganda/education has worked as well as their lawsuits. But they have to sue, just like a wild animal has to hunt, the tides have to come and go, and male dogs have to be male dogs.

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I do like the RIAA for two things:

1. I like their cute counting and awarding of gold, platinum and diamond awards, and

2. how they defend their right to release albums with objectionable lyrics. I could give them credit for defending free speech when they defend their artists' lyrics but they are really not that noble. It's about money only but it does have the potential for positive spin. So, realistically, I guess I only like them for being able to count in multiples of 500,000 and 1,000,000.


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Here is the schedule for tomorrow's events.

I love the description of Mitch Bainwol, the RIAA CEO:


"Bainwol has brought to the RIAA a lengthy track record of developing strategic initiatives, a consummate insider's understanding of political nuance in Washington..."


What a great way to be memorialized - he had an insider's understanding of NUANCE. May I remain looking like a guy who falls over furniture if what Bainwol does is referred to as "nuance," "articulate" and "highly effective." (He is highly effective. He makes us forget Osama Bin Laden.)


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I hope Alberto Gonzales hangs in there in the same way, and for all the wrong reasons, that I hated to see Rumsfeld step down or Harriet Miers go away.


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April 06, 2007

Dice-K's 108 pitches, Romney's hunting of GIGANTIC masculine insects and little animals, Cheney for President, Goodling's Good Friday resignation, moral relativity, Japan will stop on Wednesday

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THE DICE-K ERA HAS BEGUN. Yesterday in Kansas City, Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched 108 pitches ranging in speed from 75-95 mph, for 7 innings, struck out 10, walked 1 and made Boston Red Sox fans realize why we are Boston Red Sox fans. The Boston Red Sox won 4-1 and looked great. It is early but it's hard not to stop smiling and loving the number 18. [Number 18 had been worn by Johnny Damon, the Red Sox traitor with the always-limp throwing arm who signed with the NY Yankees. The number 18 now has virtue again - 18 has been restored to its important place in numbers.]


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Other great things are going on - as of 2:30 PM today, my taxes are done. Caiparinha time!


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RUN DICK RUN - One Chicken Hawk Preceding Another Chicken Hawk


Some conservative Republicans want Dick Cheney to run for President of the United States. I will pray that Cheney runs and continues to be the hateful, arrogant, smirking Cheney, the CEO who is wrong on all things political, domestic or foreign, and especially all things related to terrorism. Hopefully this New York Sun article is for real and not a late April Fool's prank or an Onion joke or an M.I.T. hack. It would be great to get to have Dick Cheney not in hiding but more out in the open - to be able to hear his profanities - to capture the sights, the sounds, the smells [the only time I'll quote SPINAL TAP in the vicinity of the name, Dick Cheney] of this always wrong but always confident man.


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REPUBLICANS are having tough times. Even if Bush called Iraq "a catastrophic success" [one should give him the benefit of the doubt - he likely meant that things were good, not catastrophic], there's Katrina fallout, Walter Reed fallout, and now Monica Goodling, the US DOJ official who felt compelled to do that most non-Republican thing - invoke the 5th Amendment, the criminal's best friend - has now resigned! YIKES! She must be privy to some very dangerous information. And to do it on a Friday afternoon.... that's always a good sign for the other side.

From CNN:

Justice Department official Monica Goodling resigned her position as counselor to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Friday afternoon.

Goodling had invoked the Fifth Amendment, which protects witnesses from self-incrimination, in refusing to testify before Congress regarding the firings of eight U.S. attorneys."

[I see conservative heads hung in shame.....No - Not That - The Constitution!]


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I've now made guacamole three times. The second was perfect - the third not quite as good. I hope I can get back to my "old" form soon. If guacamole feels this good, it must be right...... Moral relativity, culinary relativity......


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And The Sopranos final episodes begin this Sunday night! I'll be far away in a good hotel in complete escapist isolation with great writing, acting, producing and directing in front of me. My predictions? (Time to be wrong again....) Christopher Moltisanti (and Paulie Walnuts) will not be killed in this episode but both will die in one of the last two episodes. Because I've written this, surely this is not how it will go.


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The next time Dice-K pitches will be on Wednesday in God's Park in Boston. And not that the hype will be too silly BUT Dice-K's first pitch will be to the Second Greatest Hero of Japan - Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners. Japan will likely come to a complete stop - this will have to be Japan's Beatles-on-Ed-Sullivan moment.


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One more funny, and hypocritical, thing re Republicans - many of their most prominent, including David Dreier, are in the position of soft-selling Rudy Guiliani's strong backing of abortion rights. WHAT?!?!?!? Moral relativity for sure! I understand that their need to be pragmatic, and try to hold on to the White House, trumps their moral code.

So, Rudy is pro-abortion, pro-gun control, pro-gay rights, but he is their most electable.

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ROMNEY the Hunter (of moths, butterflies and gnats)


Funnier still is the SLEAZIEST SERIOUS CANDIDATE running for President - Mitt "All Things To All People At All TImes" Romney claiming that he is a lifelong hunter, Twice in his life means "lifelong." Excellent! Worthy of The Onion. It is the little lies - and hunting large bugs and little rodents, and coverup - that will bury you.

No wonder everyone is begging the most presidential looking guy ever born, Fred Thompson, to announce his candidacy and save Republicans from their Top Three. Of course digging into his personal life will be fun

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April 02, 2007

UPDATE - I'm on CNN Radio

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Update for April 2

I was just interviewed by Andy Flick of CNN Radio about what I had just blogged - EMI offering DRM-free music through Apple's iTunes store. He was very good. Hopefully I was OK. Listen at your own risk.


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Time for breakfast. And avocado 1 and avocado 2 (notice how I avoided the plural form of the word, avoacado?) are now ripe and ready to be guac-ed. One lime this time.


Annuit Coeptis to everybody everywhere, and my future guacamole

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$1.29 is the new $0.99, RIAA mascots including Snake Comma Esquire, Mitt Romney's $24 million, Emmylou Harris and Dana Carvey

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THe big deal about Apple & EMI and EMI's decision to offer DRM-free music has at least one catch. EMI has forced Steve Jobs to raise the already-too-high price of $0.99 per song - something Jobs had vowed not to do - to $1.29 per song if that song is DRM-free. And songs with this too high price will be called, "PREMIUM" and will make you feel better about yourself every single time you spin one on your shiny little hard drive.

This is not THE BIG DEAL I had hoped for. It is a bigger deal than if nothing had happened and it has found its way into my Intellectual Property, The Internet, Digital Transmission of Intellectual Property
& Future Issues Timeline. It is good too because April 2 is not of the better days for Big Events, is it? (Surely I've overlooked a friend's birthday with that stupid remark.)

A quick check reveals that April 2 is the birthday of Emmylou Harris and Dana Carvey, and the day when Samuel F. B. Morse, Buddy Rich and Gil Hodges died. Never mind. It is an important day. Anyone born on April 2 must be glad that Mom held out for another 24 hours. Who wants to be celebrated along with foolishness? (That's a bad rhetorical question I posed.)

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because I'm not in nyc and because the television is on various news channels, i've already had an anna nichole smith day. is so and so the father or not.......... anna nichole smith again and again. dick cheney's got the right way to express my contempt for all things anna all the time. as soon as i leave this subject i'll revert back to usign upper and lower case letters nd feel better about myself and my morning as a result.....


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HERE'S SOME HEARTWARMING STUFF from Gizmodo - four potential (or rejected) RIAA mascots.

First, there's Rat Baron

Next, comes Snake comma Esquire

Thirdly, we have Consumer Sheep

Fourthly, there be Lars Ulrich

I would have refrained from using Lars Ulrich for that. I'd rather stick with bad animals as mascots - substitute a cock roach for Lars, for example. Cecil Cock Roach.

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IN THIS QUARTER


Rudy G has raised $15 million in his bid to become Mayor of the United States.

Hillary RC has raised $26 million.

But the new big news is that Mitt Romney has raised $23 million!!!!! Strangely, some Republicans do not see how much of a sleazy snake oil salesman Romney really is. Romney will say and do anything to get elected. Small insects have more backbone than Mitt Romney.


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JOHN McCAIN, War Hero, is now showing his age


John McCain is seeming to be crazier than ever with his remarks of how safe and peaceful Baghdad is now that The Surge is on.

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April 01, 2007

EMI without DRM, is it guacamole time, a day of sanctioned and heralded foolishness, receiving Gonzalo Rubalcaba from Japan

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YIKES - HERE'S A FASCINATING ABOUT-TO-BREAK PIECE OF NEWS. (We'll have to wait until 7 AM Central to know for sure.) If the rumors are right - and I love rumors re technology as much as I love to make errant political predictions of potential Dick Cheney shooting victims - this is great news for those of us who want to use our music and video how, when and where we want. I'll be able to better edit sound files, and therefore, be able to better understand and discuss music, copyright and IP issues.


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From this website:


Apple CEO Steve Jobs will appear at a joint EMI and Apple press conference on Monday 2 April at 1pm.

Jobs will join EMI CEO Eric Nicoli at the event, which takes place at EMI's London headquarters, according to invitations from the music company distributed to journalists on the afternoon of Sunday 1 April.

The invitation reads: "Please join EMI Group CEO Eric Nicoli at EMI's headquarters on Monday 2 April at 1pm London/8am New York time to hear about an exciting new digital offering, with special guest, Apple CEO Steve Jobs."

A special live performance by an unannounced artist will also feature at the event, the invitation confirms.

This event takes place after months of rumours claiming that music from The Beatles will be made available through iTunes, but Macworld sources have warned that tomorrow's announcement is not related to that particular piece of speculation."


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And there could be more, the REALLY IMPORTANT STUFF - the stripping of DRM from EMI songs....


"Late last week, MacRumors had heard rumblings that Steve Jobs and EMI would jointly announce the dropping of Digital Rights Management for EMI's music associated with iTunes. We were unable to confirm, so we were unable to publish, but this invitation certainly adds credence to this story.

EMI has previously been rumored to have been considering dropping Digital Rights Management from their music. Add to this, Steve Jobs plea to the industry to stop forcing Digital Rights Manangement.

Macworld.co.uk speculates that this may also relate to the rumored Beatles / iTunes distribution partnership, but no new rumors on this have emerged."

Thanks, KP for this information.

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OTHER THINGS - this is April 1, the anniversary of Marvin Gaye's death. On this day in 1984, in what I hoped would have been a very distasteful April Fool's joke, Marvin Gaye's father shot and killed his son.

On April 1, 1917, Scott Jopin died.

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And my April One began late last night as the midpoint of a five-hour conversation - an excellent "date" with an old girlfriend who is in New York.

I just heard Gene Simmons say, "Life seems to happen to me while I'm busy making other plans." I wish he had credited John Lennon with that great line. Gene Simmons is on A & E holding a baby and bragging to a woman from social services that he's never been marrried or divorced, I'm writing some technical stuff, pondering what to drink, what to write about the five hour conversation, someone near Gene Simmons just stated or likes "sex-ercise," wondering whether my avocados (would Dan Quayle spell the singular, "A-V-O-C-A-D-O-E?") are ripe and ready to be brutalized and made into guacomole (this time I'll be less lime-heavy - two limes were a mistake but I always think that if something is really good, more of it must be better), how will the Red Sox do in Kansas City tomorrow, should I leave Gene Simmons (yes, I will right now), and will this sentence ever end.


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I wonder what happened at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology today.... They are the best at hacks (what they call pranks - good old fashioned juvenile delinquency). Check out this Wikipedia entry on MIT hacks.

I behaved today, damn it. I need to make up for my unexpectedly mature ways later on. Tomorrow might be good to extend the day of sanctioned and heralded foolishness, i.e., April Fool's Day.

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GONZALO RUBALCABA


IF YOU DON'T THINK Gonzalo Rubalcaba is the best pianist on the planet, watch, hear, receive, transcribe and study this performance from the 1992 Mt Fuji Jazz Festival. God made him much different than others. I have had the supreme good fortune of hearing him live six times - receiving his music - and meeting and talking with him. He is a fantastic and nice person as well.

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Dave Matthews' bus driver did this to many people in Chicago a few years ago. Sadly, I bet there were many groupies who wish they could have been stationed or floating under the bus along with the Coalition of the Unwilling.


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