NewYorkCountryLawyer has been asked to provide a legal analysis of the RIAA tactics to a judicial magazine. From his blog:

Link to the blog can be found here...

The page [with NSFW pic, depending on where you work...] starts with a line guaranteed to catch a geek's attention:

Yep, she's got our attention, especially with that image and the next few lines...

While this is an arguably new approach to changing the minds of people on the subject of NN, would it actually be effective?

Recently, the US House of Representatives passed HR 1955, the "Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007."

From the bill:

One of the main problems here seems that the wording is so vague that simply resisting arrest {an offense that, in the US, is generally considered to be using force} could be deemed prosecutable under the current draft. Some "thought crimes" also appear to be included.

Is this a valid concern? Should it be reworded? Dropped in the Senate? All copies buried in peat moss for three months and recycled as firelighters? {Insert CowboyNeal choice here...}?

And now, another Tale From The Shop....

A client comes in, carrying his SFF PC back in. He'd been earlier, insisting the PC had a problem. At that time, we tested it in front of him; everything tested fine and he left happy.

Flash forward to this afternoon. He'd called in, saying the PC wouldn't make it past POST. He was quick to tell us he'd worked in PC shops before, mainly on Macs. He felt he had his problem pegged. We brought it back to the bench, and after doing a quickie internal check [another tech had handled it this morning] we booted it.

What do I see? MemtestX86.

I ask him if the tech had checked the CD drive before he'd left earlier. Nope. I asked if he'd checked the drive SINCE he'd left the shop. Nope. When I popped our test cd out and rebooted, the PC booted normally.

My gripe? If you're going to present yourself as a tech, PLEASE make sure you've checked the obvious first. Find out where POST starts and ends, and RTFM....

I gotta admit, though, the look on his face was priceless.

And now, another Tale From The Shop....

Oh, for the love of Pete....
Why, oh why, is the basic RTFM mantra no longer preached?

I just had a client in asking for an "X-drive". When queried for specifics, he said this: "Yeah, my friend said there's an $8 cable called an 'X-Drive' that can keep people from telling if you pirate music." I'm not expecting people to list off the standard IRQs and I/O addys for the first four serial ports... I just wish people would at least get the basics down before they show up with these questions.

Holy hertz, Batman! Is THIS the subwoofer we've been waiting for?

While checking links back through a Slashdot story, I came across a post calling this "The Ultimate Subwoofer" or somesuch. I've really get sick of hearing "Ultimate" attached to products that're anything but, so I decided to check the link:

http://www.rotarywoofer.com/

If I'm reading these specs right, THIS is what I've been thinking of all these years. Bein' 70% deaf, I tend to notice bass better, and current subwoofers just don't seem to bring the punch I'm used to feeling around the actual event [Helicopters, explosions, etc...] that make me *feel* immersed. Has anyone else seen good bass response below 10Hz? Is the rotary sub just a scam? Do any of you have one?

Aside from being fairly useless, This also struck me as having the potential for some Big-Brotherish nonsense. What does the Horde think?

From the story:
http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=companyNews&storyID=2006-12-15T154308Z_01_N15295031_RTRIDST_0_IBM-PHARMACEUTICALS.XML

Anyone else think this will really help, or will the RFID tags just be cloned on the fake pharmaceuticals?