David Crosby, from Frontline’s The Way the Music Died:
It changed from being about the music to being about what you look like. And that was a terrible blow to music, because now you’ve got all these people who look great and can’t write, sing or play.
Dan Gillmor writes about Vermont Democrat Pat Leahy’s shilling for the copyright cartel: Copyright Cartel Buying Another Federal Anti-Infringement Law (“Piracy Act”). Evidently, Democrat Leahy needs more cash from Hollywood. The worse part of this insanity: the law would require us (via the Department of Justice) to pay for tracking file sharers and filing lawsuits….
Barry Steinhardt referenced today’s GAO Report on Government Data Mining (full report – PDF) – (Highlights PDF). Steinhardt mentions four programs of special concern:
Minneapolis’s Walker Art Center features Rock the Garden 2004 (June 18). Looks like fun! Featuring David Byrne | Tosca Strings | Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra among others.
From Wired: They are masters of innovation, technology, and strategic vision: 40 companies driving the global economy.
Old-school business types found some solace in the bust – at least the upstarts got their comeuppance. Hardly! With the economy finally perking up, newcomers are running the show: Three of the top five companies in this year’s Wired 40, our annual list of enterprises leading the charge toward a connected global economy, were founded in the past decade. One-third are less than 20 years old.
This year’s list reflects the churn we’ve come to expect in the tech economy. Only nine selections appeared on the original list back in 1998. Still, the criteria for inclusion remain unchanged. These 40 leaders have demonstrated an uncommon mastery of technology, innovation, globalism, networked communication, and strategic vision – skills essential to thriving in the information age.
Randall, co-auther (along with Peter Schwartz) of Abrupt Climate Change [PDF] is interviewed by World Changing Blog:
Their scenaric findings — that the gradual global warming we’re experiencing could plausibly trigger an abrupt climate snap, and that its effects would be massive, perhaps catastrophic, and of direct relevance to the national security of the United States — we’re picked up by media around the world, gathering a snowball of controversy and hype along the way. Their scenarios, freely available on the Web, were termed a “secret Pentagon report,” and their descriptions of possible climate catastrophe taken as bald prediction.
But underneath the hype was a reasoned attempt to judge the seriousness of the threat posed by climate instability. That’s something all of us hoping to change the world have to take into account. So we asked Doug about the implications of that report (now that the dust has settled), the movie The Day After Tomorrow, and how to think about the future of climate change.
Mike Ivey updates us on Madison’s Air Service (and the possible entry of Southwest):
Livingston said Southwest Airlines has expressed some interest in coming into this market but said the low-cost carrier hasn’t committed to anything. Southwest is one of the few airlines that has remained profitable despite the fallout from the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the slow economy and soaring jet fuel prices.
“They aren’t telling us much, only that Madison is one of 350 cities they are looking at,” he said.
Southwest makes a great deal of sense for Madison, both from a cultural and service perspective.
As reported by Ernie, Disney is lobbying to get indecency regulations applied to cable ? yet another example (after the Sonny Bono Act) to use law to protect itself against competition. When your movies flop, and you?ve driven away the greatest animation company in the world, I guess there?s not much strategy left.
Recruits at the Corps’ two recruit training depots will know Cpl. Jason L. Dunham. They will know that the 22-year-old Marine lived up to the Corps’ largest legends and laid down his own life ? diving on a grenade, no less ? to save his Marines.
One Marine dubbed it a “selfless” act of valor. Another said it’s destined to make him “everybody’s hero.” A third said it defined him as “something special” ? so special that Sgt. Maj. Wayne R. Bell, the 1st Marine Division sergeant major, believes Dunham may wind up with an honor not conferred upon a Marine since the Vietnam War.
Doc Searls on the RIAA’s latest lobbying to maintain its monopoly
First the RIAA successfully lobbies the Librarian of Congress to impose a distribution fee and reporting regime on the infant Internet radio business, essentially preventing it from happening. That was in 2002, though the lobbying started in ’98, right after the same kinda guys got the DMCA pushed through.
Now comes news from J.D. that the RIAA wants to get the FCC to impose a “broadcast flag” on radio as well as TV. It’s creepy shit:
The Recording Industry Association of America has discovered that digital radio broadcasts can be copied and redistributed over the Internet.
?
The horror.
And so the RIAA, the music business’s trade and lobbying group, has asked the Federal Communications Commission to step in and impose an “audio broadcast flag” on certain forms of digital radio.
On April 15, the FCC bowed to the RIAA’s request and initiated a notice of inquiry, typically a step leading to formal rule-making. The public may submit comments to the FCC between June 16 and July 16.