Radiohead Fights Piracy - Gives Away New CD Online!

So called "Music Piracy" has dominated the intellectual property headlines ever since Lars Ulrich (of Metallica) decided to punish his fans and take on Napster. Well the times they are a changing. For those of you who are not aware, Radiohead has found a new way to fight music piracy - Give the music away to your fans and allow them to pay as much or as little (£0.00) as they feel like paying! You heard me right! The new album In Rainbows is available at Radiohead.com for any amount.

A recent survey of U.K. listeners indicated that as much as 2/3 of all downloaders paid some amount to the band, and some paid as much as £20 (almost $40). One Radiohead fan even paid £100 for the album! The early reports are that Radiohead will ultimately make the same profit that they traditionally make. This will set an interesting precedent in the music world. Clearly there are only a handful of bands that could afford to take such a gamble. In the last 15 years (since piracy became an issue) bands have relied heavily on concert ticket sales to balance out their bottom line. With that being the trend (and ticket prices going up as much as 40% over that span), will more artist take a gamble on the "good faith" of their consumer and put their work out for public consumption? Perhaps the larger issue is the quality of the music that many of the artist are putting out today.

I can personally say that I did not pay anything to download the album. That being said, if I like it I will go back to the site and pay them something (though I am not sure how much) for the music. I am a firm believer in rewarding artists that put out quality music, not just 15 tracks of crap and 1 radio-play single.

Legally Radiohead, unlike many artist who sign with big labels without equal bargining power, was in full control of thier music and could make this release if they choose to. There are a lot of other artist who do similar things, but you tend to see that from small artist trying to get their name out there and are thus willing to spread their music far & wide in the hopes of landing a record deal. Trent Reznor, of Nine Inch Nails, has recently taken the music industry head-on in an attempt to put out the second half of the Year Zero album in much the same way. Reznor released this statement October 8th on the Nine Inch Nails Website:

"...as of right now nine inch nails is a totally free agent, free of any recording contract with any label. I have been under recording contracts for 18 years and have watched the business radically mutate from one thing to something inherently very different and it gives me great pleasure to finally be able to have a direct relationship with the audience as I see fit and appropriate."

The long story short is that artist are starting to stand up for their fans and challenge the record executives. The RCAs and Sonys of the world are nothing without their talent and their fans, and when the two join forces freedom might be obtainable. For now, we will settle for a free album.

Kudos to Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails for taking a chance on their fans - I hope it works out, and I hope other artists learn from it. Thats right Metallica - I'm looking at you.

Stay Tuned...

LSU Writer Defends Alabama -

The Black Coaches & Administrators put out an annual report card grading the "coaching searches" conducted by college athletic programs. In an absolutely shameful act, the BCA gave the UNiversity of Alabama an "F" for the coaching search that ultimately led to the hiring of Nick "CNMFS" Saban.

The BCA disregarded the fact that Rich Rodrigquez (a latino) was not only a candidate, but he was offered the job of Head Coach, before balking to remain at WVU.

If the BCA wants to stand for equality and diverse hiring practices, then maybe they should recognize minorities other than African American. It is so hypocritical that its almost laughable. If it wasn't true, you'd never believe it.

As Mr. Scott (of tigerbait.com) writes below, the BCA not only owes the Crimson Tide an appology, but they should take a full page ad out in the USA Today and correct their mistake. It hurts UA across the board - recruiting, retention, ticket sales, image and national impressions. Further it hurts the entire state of Alabama.

I will point out, as does Mr. Scott, that its hilarious that he has now had to defend the University of Alabama (and more specifically its coaching search that ultimately yielded CNMFS).

NO Fs IN ALABAMA

By Chadd Scott

The Black Coaches and Administrators, an organization whose primary purpose is to foster the growth and development of ethnic minorities at all levels of sports (that's taken straight from its web page), has come out with its annual report card for college football on its hiring practices and the news is not good for some.

For Alabama, the news is downright ugly. The BCA slapped the Tide with a big, fat, red, "F" for the way it conducted its search that ultimately ended with the hiring of Nick Saban.

There are three things about this I don't like. One, I don't appreciate the competition when it comes to ripping the Alabama football program; I staked my claim to that fertile turf long ago and I don't need any company. Two, these claims are total b.s. and the BCA owes Alabama a public apology for them. Three, because of number two, I'm forced to defend Alabama which puts me in a bad spot because of number one.

From the USA Today story Wednesday about this "report card:" "Alabama got F's for the makeup of its search committee and for minority candidates considered."

An "F" for minority candidates considered, huh?

Funny, I thought Rich Rodriguez, who was offered the Alabama job and turned it down, was Hispanic?

Is he not?

I just checked his biography, he is.

Do Hispanics not count to the BCA?

Is Rich Rodriguez not "minority" enough?

Are some minorities more important than others in the eyes of the BCA?

Is this just an attempt to smear the reputation of Alabama – again, bordering real close to infringement on my territory – regardless of the truth?

Is the BCA just plain stupid?

Is the BCA lazy?

Is the BCA playing off Southern stereotypes by trying to portray Alabama in a negative racial light despite the school's best effort to hire a minority?

All these are questions that have to be asked and deserved to be answered by the BCA, because the BCA loves to dish it out and call people names and threaten lawsuits, but it has libeled Alabama in my opinion with the gross misrepresentation – no, downright total and blatant fallacy – that Alabama did not pursue a minority football coach when it had a vacancy.

Alabama didn't just pursue a minority candidate, it hired one. Or so the school thought before Rodriguez wriggled away at the last moment.

Alabama doesn't deserve an "F" for its hiring practices, it deserves an "A."

But just correcting the Tide's "F" to an "A" by this irrelevant pressure group doesn't go nearly far enough in correcting the damage done to the reputation of the University and its athletic department because of this completely false and inflammatory accusation.

The BCA should immediately, and I mean today, run a public apology to the University of Alabama in the form of a full page advertisement taken out in the USA Today.

The BCA, in a highly public and visible manner so that no one can be left with the incorrect impression it has created, needs to take total blame for its lack of accuracy in researching the Alabama football coaching hire and applaud the University for the job it did in trying to promote minority coaches within its football program.

This story was mentioned on the cover of the most widely read newspaper in the country. It was fodder for talk shows all over America. The buzz words were "race," "Alabama," "denied opportunity," "F," "Black," "Saban."

Those buzz words and the utter mistruths promoted by the BCA through its shocking ignorance in researching this report only foster the misconception, a still widely held misconception in many parts of the county, that Southerners and people from Alabama are a bunch of racists who view someone by skin color first and promote a good old boy network that excludes outsiders.

I spent the last four years of my life living in Connecticut. I know that presumption exists.

I lived 10 years in Alabama and know that reality does not.

It is erroneous and agenda driven reports like this that continue to feed the prejudices of people outside the South that we Southerners are all bigoted hillbillies clinging to Jim Crow.

That's incendiary, it's malicious, and the BCA owes the University of Alabama an apology for casting those aspersions on it.

The intimation from the BCA with this "F" grade on minority hiring is that the University of Alabama is racist.

How do you think that effects recruiting?

How do you think that effects perception?

Not just of the University, but of the state of Alabama.

How do you think that affects the lives of the people at the University of Alabama who've tried to do everything they know how to break from the racial injustices of the past?

The BCA, through this poisonous "report card," has slurred an entire state in general, and a proud university in specific, and it has slurred them over something they did not do!

Where is the apology?

Where is the correction?

Where is the recognition that Alabama not only considered a minority candidate for its vacant head football coaching position, but interviewed one and offered its job to one?
Or does the BCA not offer corrections and apologies when it damages somebody? Does the BCA just chalk that up to breaking a few eggs to make an omelet? Does the BCA not consider facts important when it wants to promote a stereotype?

This is the cold, hard, truth as I see it: the Black Coaches and Administrators is not a fair minded organization seeking to raise awareness about the problem of too few minority coaches in college football, a problem which is real and deserves attention.

The BCA is a hostile pressure group well read in the Jackson/Sharpton race-baiting handbook and it's using a sympathetic media and totally biased research to try and force colleges and universities into hiring black – not minority, black – coaches whether those coaches are qualified or not.

No one else has the guts to say it, I will.
Prejudice and stereotypes have two sides, I've already been suspended and demoted from jobs for attempting to shed light on both of those sides so if I go down over what I've just written, so be it.

I have no allegiance to the University of Alabama, thousands of people think I hate the University of Alabama, but the University of Alabama was wronged in a deeply sinister way by the BCA and someone has to stand up and expose the lies and the jackals who tell them.

The perception that we're racist is something Southern people need to get serious about.

It's something we need to fight.

It's a sick fallacy perpetuated by insulting reports like the one issued by the BCA.

It's something I take personally because I know it's not true and I know it negatively influences the way Southern people and Southern institutions are thought of in ways you can't even imagine.

The BCA is calling the University of Alabama racist; I've researched the claims, they are untrue.

Who's going to hold the BCA accountable for this outrage?

One last thing –

My report card on organizations who claim to promote equality gives the BCA an "F."

Will we ever get tired of seeing groups advocate for an ideal that they don't themselves

Stay Tuned...

Sold!

Ran into a guy today at the Apple store who was buying 5 iPhones!

Told him my situation...

Yada, Yada, Yada...

He bought my phone.

It no longer sits on my desk taunting me.

My bank account and pride, however, are not yet healed.

Stay Tuned...

Failed the Bar & Grill, Monday at 8/7c

Coming to NBC next fall, the story of recent law graduates without a real job...

Follow the gang as they deal with the misadventures of failed law aspirations and overcooked filets at your favorite local pub, Failed the Bar & Grill.

Simultaneous to the launch of the show will be the opening of the very first Failed the Bar & Grill in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Enjoy such delicious items as:

Opening Statements: All your favorite Bar food!

The Jury Sampler - all 12 of our delicious appetizers on one plate! A word of warning, the choice of sauce must be unanimous at your table!

Title VII Nacho's - with multicolored tortilla chips and a non-discriminatory array of toppings!

The PMBR & Jelly Sandwich - Only $800 if you order before October 11th!

California Crab Cakes - Unlike crab cakes in any other jursidiction!

Case-in-Cheif: Tasty dishes to meet that burden!

The Chief Justice Warren Earl Burger - a 1/2lb of fresh angus beef, garnished with Lemon and Roe!

Bifurcated Fajitas - perfect for sharing!

Res Ipsa Lasagna - So good, the thing speaks for itself.

Strict Scrutiny Spagetti - This dish is narrowly tailored to serve the compelling interest of your hunger.

Trade Secret Tartar - What's in this dish? We'll never tell!

Chapter 7 Curry - It will liquify your assets!

The Wrongful Termination T-Bone - 22 ounces, available at-will! Don't worry if you can't finish it, we can always wrap it up in one of our severance packages.

Closing Arguments: Finish your deliberations with one of our famous desserts!

Raspberry Tort, a common law favorite!

Decadence per se - A cake so rich that it violates the T.C.A.

Joint & Several Pie - It doesn't matter how you divide it up, as long as the whole thing gets eaten!

Stare Decisis Sundae - It hasn't changed in years.

Cake of First Impression - We promise you've never seen cake like this before!

Also join us for our Hypothetical Happy Hour where we never discriminate on the basis of age. Find your way to voluntary intoxication with our famous punitive punch, and the full array of culpable cocktails like the knowing kamakazis, intentional irish carbombs, reckless rum & coke, and negligent sex on the beach!

So come on down to Failed the Bar & Grill and judge for yourself!

Note: We are taking applications. We are an equal opportunity employer, we do not discriminate on the basis of GPA.

Stay Tuned...


("Failed the Bar & Grill" is copyright of Jonathan Louis May and not to be used without the expressed written permission of this blog - October 2, 2007.)

If you are going to buy an iPhone...

Talk to me first! I know the price dropped, but I had two international buyers on ebay SCREW me and I still have 1 iPhone that I paid almost $660 for.

If you are thinking about buying an iPhone, consider buying it from me.

I will sell it to you at the current cost ($400 + tax) and you still get the same warranty from apple either way.

The other perk of buying it from me? You will get a $100 IN STORE CREDIT for the phone, since the receipt (which I will provide as well) says it was purchased at the original price. That is WAY better than buying in the store.

It is new, in the original sealed package - never opened or used.

Someone please help me out? I can't just eat the cost of this phone entirely, and I'm already going to have to eat a huge portion.

Stay Tuned...

"Don't Tase Me, Bro!"

Andrew Meyer, of video infamy and for being the man to coin the phrase "Don't tase me, bro!" has helped to highlight a growing concern about the legality of tasers being used by police officers to incapacitate suspects.

Mr. Meyer was attending a speech at the University of Florida last month when he asked Senator Kerry a question about his affiliation with "Skull and Bones" a legendary and revered secret society at Yale University. He was arrested, and tased multiple times for reasons that are still unclear to this day.

I will note that some humor has come from this, and you should watch the "Can't Tase This" remix of M.C. Hammer's classic 90's rap and Mr. Meyer's plea in this video.

A Taser works like this:

The Taser X26 (Taser, Scottsdale, AZ) is an electrical conducted energy weapon that incapacitates subjects by causing pain and muscular contractions. It is widely used by police agencies throughout the United States and other countries. It delivers a series of 19 electrical shocks per second; each pulse delivers 0.36 J at up to 50,000 V. The discharge is delivered by 2 barbed metal darts that are propelled toward a suspect and remain connected to the device by insulated wires. The standard discharge time is 5 seconds, though this can be shortened or lengthened by the operator.

(from Science Direct)

Among the potential concerns with tasing are:

People who are tased when upright tend to fall over. Any resulting injuries are usually minor but at least one person has died from a head injury. The barbed tips of the Taser darts, which are around 1 centimetre long, can cause serious injuries if they strike sensitive areas such as the eye, though there have been few reports of such injuries. The intense muscle contractions can also be damaging.

A number of weeks ago an autistic child was also subjected to severe tasing when the child, unbeknownst to her, was "resisting arrest".

Recently a paraplelgic, mentally handicapped woman was tased TEN TIMES and died as a result of her injuries.

Serious questions need to be asked about the use of excessive force by police officers, and the use of tasers in general. According to Amnesty Iternational, over 40 people have been killed in the U.S. alone as a result of police instigated tasing.

At a UN committee meeting in Geneva Switzerland, a member of the U.S. Delegation was asked about the use of tasers. This is the response:

[The question] concerns the use of Tasers. The U.S. government and others are conducting extensive research into the safety and effectiveness of electro-muscular disruption devices, including Tasers. In addition, the Department of Justice works with local police agencies to assist them in their development of policies regarding the use of these devices. This policy guidance includes consideration of community acceptance, use-of-force protocols, continuous monitoring of all uses of these devices, medical response, and training.

The use of Tasers to control arrestees and inmates is consistent with the law. Courts have reviewed the application of such devices for consistency with the Eighth Amendment’s "prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment," and have upheld their legality.

Furthermore, use of Tasers often obviates the need to use other forms of more severe, or even deadly, force. Nevertheless, the Department of Justice remains committed to investigating and, where appropriate, prosecuting use of Tasers where the circumstances indicate a willful use of excessive force in violation of Constitutional standards. In addition, the Departments of Justice and Defense continue to develop less-lethal options, including novel electro-muscular devices that may provide improved safety and effectiveness to law enforcement and military personnel.

While the courts have thus far upheld the use of tasers as an effective tool of law enforcement, we are about to see a series of suits brought against state and local officials that will test that theory. The police departments of this country have through guidelines for the use of force, and it would appear that the standards currently in place concerning the use of tasers is due to be revised.

There will be a lot of issues to look at as this moves forward. What of state immunity under the Eleventh Amendment? Certainly if you sue a local police department that will not be an issue, but a state trooper may bring about questions of abrogating that immunity. Further, will the officer be individually liable for the decision to use force? Often there is a (justifiable) tendency to yield to the decision making process of an officer in the line-of-fire, so to speak, because they have the best ability to evaluate the circumstances and make a decision based on the safety of themselves, the suspect, and the bystanders.

There is a lot of material out there on this, and for your reference, I will include a series of links and articles for more information:

State Department Q/A referenced above;

Amnesty International;

Concerns Raised over Taser Saftey at NewScientist.com;

Why Police Should Show Restraint With the Taser at NewScientist.com:

Thoracic Compression Fractures as a Result of Shock From a Conducted Energy Weapon: A Case Report from Science Direct.


Stay Tuned...

Evidence, Innocence, and Baseball

Thats right...hang your head in shame...

The "breaking news" of St. Louis Cardinals pitcher-turned-outfielder Rick Ankiel's "HGH" use is dominating todays sports headlines. There is one problem with that. The story is that Ankiel was receiving shipments of HGH to his Florida home from January to December 2004. Major League Baseball (for better or for worse) did not outlaw HGH use by its players until the 2005 season. In fact, there is no evidence thus far that Ankiel has used HGH since the league banned it. So why is this such a story?

This story, while different in many respects, represents a serious problem with our nations media outlets. It applies to your "traditional outlets" (i.e. CNN, ABC, etc.) as much as it does to your "specialized outlets" (i.e. ESPN, Fox Sports, etc.) or even your "alternative outlets" (i.e. the internet). Even in the absence of hard evidence, the media was prepared to crucify the entire Duke Lacrosse team. Hell, if the ratings were there, they'd have probably put Coach K up there too. The result of the media frenzy? A prosecutor feeds off the blood, fame, and attention and presses a case that had no business being brought.

While there is not legal action being mentioned in regards to Rick Anikel, this entire story is linked to the investigation of a Florida pharmacy that is rumored to have been supplying these steroids to baseball players. The relevance? Every single fact in this story falls with in the bounds of "well, it wasn't banned at the time...but shame on you anyways!" The media is violating one of the cardinal principles (no pun intended, of course) of the Constitution. The prohibition on ex post facto laws. The government cannot charge Ankiel in court. The league cannot suspend him from playing. The press should focus on real stories and stop feeding the frenzy. We just end up with irresponsible prosecutors seeking glory.

Ankiel has been one of the best stories of the 2007 season. I say that while fully acknowledging the carnal pleasure I took in his meltdown, being a Braves fan and all. The Cardinals have overcome so much this season to find themselves only 1 game-back of the division leading Brewers and Cubs. Why do we have to drag that team through the mud now? Like Cardinals GM Walt Jocketty said, "If it's true, obviously it would be very tragic, along with everything else we've had happen to us this year." Is that true? Would it be tragic to find out that before it was banned and over three years ago a minor league pitcher/outfielder was using a supplement? What effect would that really have on the 2007 St. Louis Cardinals. What effect would that have on the record of the 2004 Class A "fill-in-the-blank's"? The answer should be "zero, zip, zilch, none, nada" because it is irrelevant. Ankiel has still overcome so much. He has still hit .358 with 9 HRs and 29 RBIs and almost single-handedly changed the fortunes of that baseball team. And that is in 2007.

Stay Tuned...