Here [via falkvinge]

Perhaps we have not yet given it a name, perhaps we are not yet fully aware of it, but I guess what we want is real, genuine democracy. Democracy that, perhaps, is more than is dreamt of in your journalism. [ouch]

Remember This Post in 25 Years, When We’re All Speaking South Korean
Posted by Goldy on Tue, Feb 22, 2011 at 8:32 AM [via slog]

South Korea, whose citizens already enjoy the fastest average broadband speeds in the world, is about to get much, much faster:

By the end of 2012, South Korea intends to connect every home in the country to the Internet at one gigabit per second. That would be a tenfold increase from the already blazing national standard and more than 200 times as fast as the average household setup in the United States.

And the cost to consumers of this blazing fast Internet? A pilot project is currently charging less than $27 a month.
But don’t worry, I have faith that Comcast, Verizon, Qwest, et al will soon offer even faster service at an even lower cost, because American-style capitalism is always the most efficient and productive way of doing everything. (It’s in the Bible, or something.)
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Remember This Post in 25 Years, When We’re All Speaking Hong Konganese
Posted by Goldy on Mon, Mar 7, 2011 at 3:03 PM [via slog]

A couple weeks back, when I made fun of American-style capitalism for failing to give US consumers the option of affordable, gigabit Internet like South Koreans will soon enjoy, my musings generated a fairly hostile comment thread.

South Korea can support affordable, fast broadband because they have a much higher population density, I was lectured, and a much lower cost of living. Besides, they’ll only use it for playing Starcraft 2… a line of argument that other commenters expanded upon to insist that no one now, nor would ever need one gigabit per second throughput.

Oh… and by the way Goldy… you’re a “commie.”

Which of course is just the kinda discourse that encourages me to revisit the topic:

HONG KONG residents can enjoy astoundingly fast broadband at an astoundingly low price. It became available last year, when a scrappy company called Hong Kong Broadband Network introduced a new option for its fiber-to-the-home service: a speed of 1,000 megabits a second — known as a “gig” — for less than $26 a month.
In the United States, we don’t have anything close to that. But we could. And we should.

That’s right, gigabit Internet—which nobody needs—is now widely available in Hong Kong for an unsubsidized $26 a month, a buck less then the $27 a month the service goes for in South Korea. Meanwhile the closest we can manage here is one twentieth the speed at almost six times the price. U S A !

Of course, population density is an issue, and thus the cost-benefit analysis wouldn't necessarily make sense everywhere, but there are plenty of cities in the US where something in the range of gigabit Internet would make sense if only our cable and telco monopolies were forced to open up to a little competition.

Dane Jasper, the chief executive of Sonic.net, an Internet provider based in Santa Rosa, Calif., says that most broadband markets in the United States today are dominated by one phone company and one cable company.

“Why doesn’t Verizon offer gigabit service?” Mr. Jasper asks. “Because it doesn’t have to.”

But, you know, this is America, goddammit, so if Verizon and Comcast say we don't need gigabit Internet, then I guess we don't need it. And God bless America.

Here's one from my favourites from Kiwi cartoonist Roger Langridge; Fred the Clown.

The latest comic I wanna plug is from Jeff Smith (of Bone fame), it's called RASL.

Here are some spoilers, but if you'd rather have just an idea of what's in here, check this out:

Tesla

Noir

Sci-fi

Homeland Security

Alternate dimensions

Love

Anti-hero

Bone wasn't really my thing, but this series is! Sci-fi geeks should love it.

I run my turntable into a line level preamp and then into my recording interface. Not a cheap option and not for everyone. A lot of those USB turntables have built in MP3 codecs and spit the music out at a set bit rate and of course you still get that MP3 style compression happening which does kill the vinyl dynamic. If you're not a fussy vinyl junkie type then one of those turntables is probably the way to go, but I will say, the listening quality of any record always starts at the stylus. Crap stylus = crap sound.

I have found that having a turntable strapped on my back while while jogging is not exactly the best way to go. So I am looking for alternatives to digitize some of my vinyl.  I have been pricing some equipment like the Ion Profile Pro USB turntable (about $100) but was wondering about sound quality. Does anybody have any experience in this and maybe some recommendations? Thanks!

What an interesting petition and link == thanks Dav-O.

dave said:

A note from Roger [Waters]- February 23, 2012
Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 6:57pm ·

On the day of Pfc Bradley Manning's arraignment, please join with me in support of him.

I have often stated my belief that each of us has a human duty to stand up to errant authority."My country right or wrong" won't wash anymore.

Bradley Manning knows that, he is a very brave young man, who in my opinion deserves his nomination for the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize. He is symbolic of the growing resistance to the Military Industrial Complex that Dwight D. Eisenhower warned us of.

Bradley is doing this for all of us, and for all our children, and our children's children.

He must not stand alone.

Please raise your voice in his support.

Roger

---

2012 Nobel Peace Prize nominee Pfc. Bradley Manning will be arraigned on all charges today at Ft. Meade.

Bradley's Article 32 pre-trial hearing was just the first step in what appears to be a show trial, and as he heads towards court martial this summer, we want the US Government to know the world will be watching and demanding fair justice.

We need your help to turn everyone's attention back to this critical case that could have harrowing consequences for Bradley, journalists and future whistleblowers.

We're starting a letter urging the Norwegian Nobel Committee to award him the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize and call attention to both his contributions and unjust treatment. Can you add your name to our letter?

http://action.firedoglake.com/page/s/manning-nobel

A note from Roger [Waters]- February 23, 2012
Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 6:57pm ·

On the day of Pfc Bradley Manning's arraignment, please join with me in support of him.

I have often stated my belief that each of us has a human duty to stand up to errant authority."My country right or wrong" won't wash anymore.

Bradley Manning knows that, he is a very brave young man, who in my opinion deserves his nomination for the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize. He is symbolic of the growing resistance to the Military Industrial Complex that Dwight D. Eisenhower warned us of.

Bradley is doing this for all of us, and for all our children, and our children's children.

He must not stand alone.

Please raise your voice in his support.

Roger

---

2012 Nobel Peace Prize nominee Pfc. Bradley Manning will be arraigned on all charges today at Ft. Meade.

Bradley's Article 32 pre-trial hearing was just the first step in what appears to be a show trial, and as he heads towards court martial this summer, we want the US Government to know the world will be watching and demanding fair justice.

We need your help to turn everyone's attention back to this critical case that could have harrowing consequences for Bradley, journalists and future whistleblowers.

We're starting a letter urging the Norwegian Nobel Committee to award him the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize and call attention to both his contributions and unjust treatment. Can you add your name to our letter?

http://action.firedoglake.com/page/s/manning-nobel

Stephenson says here (video here) that America should have more huge projects like the Space program to boost our morale/give us more tech dividends.

Somewhat related- Deathmatch on Mars: An Interview with Warren Ellis on Newt Gingrich, Space Realism and Future America gives hard arguments to refute certain comments...

What do you think? I'm a space program booster and sci-fi fan from way back, but even I think that today we can't afford to spend any more on monolithic projects (never mind that NASA is basically scrapped, plus, how are we going to pay back China for what we've already borrowed?), and any sort of rah-rah patriot talk like this smacks of hubris and propaganda.

Thoughts?

Very cool!

At Hollywood cemetary, Dee Dee is there too but his grave is pretty plain in comparison.

The Pygmies said:

Me and Johnny Ramone

Love the yum yums

MikeL said:

Here's one of me and Vibeke Saugestad of the Yum Yums at Gooski's in Pittsburgh, PA, in March 2009.

Me and Johnny Ramone

This actually hasn't come out yet, but I can't resist. They are making a Disney version of John Carter of Mars, and even the studio heads are shaking their heads, BUT this is the best part, the actor's last name is Kitsch!!! AAAA!, it's just-too-perfect!

(But he won't take the place of Sam Jones for quoteability. Flash Gordon is the Spinal Tap of fantasy films [or something like that].)

Riots also often kick off after an indended peaceful protest. But the authorities can determine often which protest marches should be allowed to go ahead. I don't think it was a coincidence that the British authorities stopped the EDL a fascist organisation from marching but allowed the student demonstrations.

Had they stopped the student protests it would have looked bad on the government. As it was there were enough idiots both students and thugs to start a violent riot and thus leave most of the country siding against the students.

Rick McCullough said:

Old-school 'rioting' usually backfires.  Look at '68.  The rioters then practically handed the election to Nixon.  That doesn't mean some form of direct action is never warrented.  Last year in Wisconsin, protests, demonstrations and sit-ins focused attention on their governor's war on public-sector unions, leading eventually to an unprecedented (in terms of signatures) recall effort.  If there had been actual rioting, the GOP and its media arm would've claimed the moral high ground. 

Agreed on all points. Here's hoping that ass leaves w/ a HUGE boot-mark on his ass.

Rick McCullough said:

Old-school 'rioting' usually backfires.  Look at '68.  The rioters then practically handed the election to Nixon.  That doesn't mean some form of direct action is never warrented.  Last year in Wisconsin, protests, demonstrations and sit-ins focused attention on their governor's war on public-sector unions, leading eventually to an unprecedented (in terms of signatures) recall effort.  If there had been actual rioting, the GOP and its media arm would've claimed the moral high ground. 

Oh, yeah, the powers are losing their shit here. With police and FBI/CIA putting the screws to people, non-resistance really makes them look like the frightened pols that they are.

So, we are winning, it simply may be a cumulative effect over time. Take heart.

Breaking-#Occupy un-occupies its May Day strike campaign

Old-school 'rioting' usually backfires.  Look at '68.  The rioters then practically handed the election to Nixon.  That doesn't mean some form of direct action is never warrented.  Last year in Wisconsin, protests, demonstrations and sit-ins focused attention on their governor's war on public-sector unions, leading eventually to an unprecedented (in terms of signatures) recall effort.  If there had been actual rioting, the GOP and its media arm would've claimed the moral high ground. 

Yes, in the US riot usually means to some people race riot. So, yeah dave, I get that. And of course, property damage of any description gets Americans all freaked out. Like, oh no! You can't break stuff!!! And of course, the only people who really suffer are the people who are the least likely to recover from looting and violence.

There were good examples of that in the riots in London not so long ago. No one went to the estates of Surrey to destroy and loot right?

Isn't the non-violent aspect of Occupy freaking authorities out more than anything? Just a question... mel

dave said:

It's a good question. Is it a trait in a nation's make-up? The Greeks have never had a problem talking back/debating. Mebbe 'riot' here in the USA makes people think of Detroit in the 40s and 60s: violence and anger. Once you define a concept you control it.

p.s Put a reply in yr inbox.

Dave

michael moorcock

What has living in the United States brought to your work as an artist?

A little more understanding of a country which is often baffling to Europeans because they feel it should be a better version of Europe- certainly better than the Europe that settlers left behind. That it is in several ways a worse version is a bit of a shock to us.

The anti-intellectual tradition and the over-intellectualized tradition are both a bit depressing.
- from the interview in Modem Times 2.0

It's a good question. Is it a trait in a nation's make-up? The Greeks have never had a problem talking back/debating. Mebbe 'riot' here in the USA makes people think of Detroit in the 40s and 60s: violence and anger. Once you define a concept you control it.

p.s Put a reply in yr inbox.

Dave

I'm pretty sure Aussies aren't rioters, though we like an occasional protest by students and unions.

I've been playing "White Riot" every day and wondering the same thing -- why no riots? Too comfy still in the West?

Must admit, the best form of protest against guns and gas is non-violent resistance. American police seem to have no idea how to deal with that.

Look at this- Jacob Appelbaum calls for political action with Anonymous!

sage advice

As far as Oskar had it figured, America hadn’t really been suited for its long aand tiresome role as the Last Superpower, the World’s Policemen. As a patriotic American, Oskar was quite content to watch other people’s military coming home in boxes for a while.

The American national character really wasn’t suited for global police duties. It never had been. Tidy and meticulous people such as the Swiss and Swedes were the types who made good cops. America was far better suited to be the world’s Movie Star, the world’s tequila-addled pro-bowler, the world’s bipolar stand-up comedian. Anything but a somber and tedious nation of socially responsible centurions.
-from bruce sterling’s Distraction

Thanks for the post -- btw, I can' view the footage as it's blocked to 'my zone' on the 'net. Geez. Off to surf for another version.