Chris just reminded me to post something about this.

The movie industry announced yesterday it will file its first wave of lawsuits later this month against those it alleges are illegally sharing copyrighted films on the Internet, joining the music industry in its fight against piracy.

The Motion Picture Association of America, which represents major Hollywood studios such as Sony Pictures Entertainment and Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures Corp., plans to file about 200 suits against computer users who put illegally obtained movies on Internet file-sharing services for other users to download and watch for free.

"We haven't suffered the damage that the music industry has, but we needed some form of preemptive activity," the MPAA's new president, Dan Glickman, said in an interview yesterday.

For years, we've been hearing that the motion picture industry wouldn't make the same mistakes as the recording industry. In one rather depressing move, the motion picture industry proves they have learned nothing, that they will act as lazily and shamefully as the recording industry.

They moved slowly to provide access to films online. They allowed an online film-sharing community to develop. Now they'll try to slice off the hydra's head with the sharp edge of a law suit. But it is too late.

If the motion picture industry wanted to combat piracy, they'd target the Asian duplication factories that have been turning out bad copies of films for decades. Instead, like corporate cowards, they'll bring American teenagers to court. They'll attack the very people who want to wach what they create.

Every day, it seems more and more like the time to look for a new job.

POTD

Sorry everybody.

My God -- this guy can really drive [Windows Media format]

Via vowe.net.

I'm shocked that it didn't work.

POTD

Fall is finally moving into Manhattan.

Let them sing it for you. Type in a phrase, have famous recording artists sing for you. A rather limited phrase database, though.

Alternate banana phone animation. Also, this great one. Apparently, these are rather old.

New badger! Banana phone.

The internet is shit.

I wasn't going to write any more about the election, but I keep reading statements to the effect of, "even though I didn't vote for president Bush, he was elected and I will support him.

What kind of shit is this?

• Do I support the president after lying to start a war that has killed 100,000 civilians? No.
• Do I support the president when he cuts taxes in the middle of a $250 billion military action? No.
• Do I support the president in his efforts to gut environmental protection law? No.
• Do I support a president who uses asinine wedge issues to frighten and divide the American public? No.
• Do I support the president in his efforts to infringe on civil rights? No.
• Do I support a president who irresponsibly runs up the nation's debt, all the while ignoring the impending crisis in the social security system? No.
• Do I support a president who turned unprecedented world unity in 2001 into unprecedented world hatred in 2004? No.
• Do I support a president who authorizes large-scale torture and indefinite detention of foreign nationals? No.
• Do I support the president's failure of foreign policy and strategy that has swelled al Qaida's ranks and that has turned Osama Bin Laden into a legitimate Muslim leader? No.

I don't have to support President Bush, nor do I have to support his neo-conservative cultist administration, nor the Republican congress. Dissent is a most American act. I didn't vote for him, and I'm proud of that.

"Wrong, wrong, yet again, I was, we are, wrong. I was on an airplane last night, from SFO to London, so at least I didn't suffer the minute by minute awfulness of this result. But it's 5am PST, and we should remember some principles: When Bush "lost" in 2000, we said it was because (1) he had lost the popular vote, and (2) he had short circuited the count in one state to win in the College.

Bush has won the popular vote. And it would take a freak of nature to imagine the 220,000 provisional ballots would fall strongly enough to shift Ohio. He will win the College. He is our President -- legitimately, and credibly.

Our criticism of this administration must now focus narrowly and sharply: on the policies, not on the credibility of the man."

[Lawrence Lessig]

How to dress like a sumo wrestler.

POTD

New York Times: "It's a generic urban mall for West Siders, tourists and football fans that would efface the neighborhood's gritty but powerful mix of railyards and industrial buildings. It sends a message that the desires of developers once again trump public welfare."

Washington Post: "In southern Ohio, a masked man unleashed a live skunk at a county Bush-Cheney headquarters, spraying GOP activists."

While I don't condone this kind of behavior, that is pretty funny.

Brent Simmons: An idea for an app.

I agree. I do this all the time. Also have disks cross-mounted between three machines just to share info between them.

Japan national yoyo competition. Pretty insane.

POTD

This is Ed.

News report from The BBC on voting issues in Florida.

Bill Clinton: "If one candidate's trying to scare you, and the other one's trying to get you to think; if one candidate's appealing to your fears, and the other one's appealing to your hopes; you better vote for the person who wants you to think and hope [...]"

Swarm Films: War Corporatism is the new Fascism.

Actually, I think it is the same old fascism.