Right Where You Are Sitting Now...

2008-05-20T04:50:00.001-07:00

Amy Bruce Strikes Facebook!

2007-11-30T09:00:00.001-08:00

I remember back in '99 when a chain email appeared all over newsgroups and mailing lists proclaiming:

'Hi, my name is Amy Bruce. I am 7 years old, and I have severe lung cancer from second hand smoke. I also have a large tumor in my brain, from repeated beatings The doctors say I will die soon if this isn't fixed, and my family can't pay the bills. The Make A Wish Foundation, has agreed to donate 7 cents for every name on this list. For those of you who send this along, I thank you so much, but for those who don't send it, what goes around comes around. Have a Heart, please send this.'

Sad, but untrue I am afriad.

Now, however, it appears Miss Bruce is back and striking the hearts and minds of Facebook. Today my profiles 'notifications' were nearly all 'Bruce-centric', and struck me with a question: "why do people not do a quick google check?", surley this sad case would be hevily publised, especially when a huge charity entity such as the Make a Wish Foundation are involved? Personally I think it may be "...but for those who don't send it, what goes around comes around", a line loaded with sinister implications.

I was struck with a sense that although we apparantly live in the digital age, where an abundance of information is readily available via the internet, we still fear the most basic 'curses' and 'spells' allegedly exterminated by the industrial revolutions and modern mainstream religions.

for more information on Internet hoax's and 'net-lore' visit About.com's Urban Legend page.

Right Where you are Sitting Now podcast coming in 2008

2007-11-29T16:33:00.000-08:00

2008 see's the arrival of the RWYASN podcast! A bi-monthly adventure into the countercultural jungle of the Internet. I have a bunch of very cool interviews lined up with musicians, writers and practioners of weird religions groups to stick in your iPods or shove through your speakers!

The podcast will be recorded at the UCCA Farnham studios and on location for face to face interviews and will stride to bring great quality interviews and ponderings from some of the worlds coolest people!

The Pilot episode will feature interviews with some of my favourite podcasters, inc. the cast of WUOG's 'Out There Radio' and i am hoping to grab some time with P. Dilly of Podcast Pickle (tbc). What better way to start a new podcast than getting input from other podcasters?

The Pilot will be available on the 7th January via this blog, and will feed to iTunes, Juice and all other podcatchers and news services.

Rollins goes YouTube!

2007-11-19T08:35:00.000-08:00

'Ageing Alternative icon' Henry Rollins has begun posting streaming video to his website, providing a behind the scenes insight into his life and the 2.13.61. office. There is currently no way to embed the vid, so i'm afraid you'll have to click this link instead.

Rollins is known for being the lead singer of the 'Rollins band' and the seminal hardcore outfit 'Black Flag', as well as a long spoken word career:

I'll be keeping an eye on this, as it provides us fans with a valuble insight into the life of one of America's hidden gems!

Boing Boing TV!!!

2007-10-24T07:12:00.000-07:00

The very cool people over at Boing Boing are doing there own TV posts!

http://tv.boingboing.net/

Go watch, they are amazing!

2007-10-24T07:06:00.000-07:00

TV-Links man was arrested under trademark laws

Curiouser and curiouser

By Lucy Sherriff

Gloucestershire police have confirmed that a 26-year-old Cheltenham man at the centre of an investigation into the website TV-Links was arrested under section 92 of the Trade Mark Act, on suspicion of supplying property with a registered trademark, without permission.

The man was taken into custody on Thursday last week after an investigation by the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) and the local trading standards office. Initial reports from FACT said he had been arrested for "offences relating to the facilitation of copyright infringement on the Internet.

TV-links, by all accounts, was (it is no more) a place where users could post links to content from TV shows, movies and so on, so that other web users could view them. The site didn't host the material directly, but did, according to reports, embed some video clips.

The man has not been charged with any offence, and has been released pending further investigation.

According to legal experts, the revelation that the 26 year-old was arrested under trademark law adds further uncertainty to an already cutting edge legal situation.

"I've never heard of using trademarks law for anything like this,"said Struan Robertson, legal eagle at Pinsent Masons, and editor of Out-Law.com.

"There are criminal provisions in the Trade Marks Act, but they are intended to catch the sale of counterfeit goods, not the supply of a service. I'd be surprised if the provision of links was found to be a criminal offence under the Trade Marks Act."

Indeed, section 92 is very clear that:

"A person does not commit an offence under this section unless- (a) the goods are goods in respect of which the trade mark is registered, or (b) the trade mark has a reputation in the United Kingdom and the use of the sign takes or would take unfair advantage of, or is or would be detrimental to, the distinctive character or the repute of the trade mark."

There has been no suggestion (so far) that TV-Links was involved in anything other than providing access, via web links, to copyrighted material.

Robertson speculated that they'd have a better chance of bringing a case for copyright offenses, but even that would be on new legal ground.

"They'd have to show that he was distributing or communicating copyrighted works. And that is a legal argument to be had between the prosecution and defence. It sounds like they are trying to crow-bar activity that looks wrong into laws that aren't really designed to deal with it," he told us.

We contacted the Federation Against Copyright Theft, but the organisation offered no further comment on what it describes as an ongoing investigation. ®

Source - http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/23/tv_links_trademark_law/

Ok time to start doing this more often!

2007-10-14T15:01:00.001-07:00

Wow, lots of updatage!

1.) the lights i saw in the sky were followed by more a few days later!

finally!, I have always wanted to see a UFO!

2.) I am to be involved in two podcasts! the first is titled 'A Romanian Werewolf in Farnham' and is general banter between three idiots (myself included). We recorded the pilot episode and it will go up on Monday/Tuesday sometime...i'll keep you posted. The second more serious one is ttled 'counter-cast' and is centred around counter-culture such as Underground Musicians, Paranormal Researchers, Conspiracy Theorists etc. I will be recording this alone from the Farnham University radio studio, so it should sound pretty decent (the other one did).

4.) Hitler could rap!!! or at least he appears to be in this risque YouTube vid:

UFO's in Guildford?

2007-07-06T07:31:00.000-07:00

The other night I was chatting on MSN to a friend, all was quiet.

The next thing I know, about 4 helicopters appeared over Stoke Park (near where I live) and circled what I can only describe as a motionless ball of light. This went on for about 20 minutes until the light moved off towards Dorking!

Weird shizz!

x

Swedish Porn invades News!

2007-05-04T13:01:00.001-07:00

This is really funny!..

Swedish blunder puts porn on news

The monitor showed Canal Plus' switch to X-rated content

Swedish state broadcaster SVT has admitted a "huge blunder" after a porn film was accidentally shown in the background of a news bulletin.

A five-minute news update shown at the weekend included explicit scenes from a Czech porn movie on a monitor behind the anchor Peter Dahlgren.

"This is highly embarrassing and unfortunate," said SVT's Per Yng.

The monitor had been switched by workers who had then forgotten to change it back, he told agency AP.

"It must not happen again," he added.

Rapporn

Usually, the monitor shows the output of other news channels - but the workers had changed it to watch a sports event on cable channel Canal Plus.

However, they did not remember to change the channel back - which, because Canal Plus shows adult content after midnight, resulted in the error.

A producer quickly spotted the sex scenes and ran into the control room and turned off the monitor, news director Mr Yng said.

"One monitor in the background, behind the newsreader, was showing some porn scenes," he said.

"It lasted no more than 30 seconds - only during the first item on the midnight news on Saturday."

While no viewers complained about the incident, he admitted there had been "enormous interest from media."

The show, called Rapport, has been renamed "Rapporn" by Swedish tabloids.

Magnus Akerlund, who oversees the hourly news updates, told Swedish newspapers he was "shocked and dismayed" at the mistake.

"It's a huge blunder by us," he said.

Melvins!

2007-04-29T18:21:00.000-07:00

I know this is pretty old now, but its still very cool!