Good article.
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| Author | Content |
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| salparadise Oct 30, 2005 6:19 AM EDT |
Modding is just another word for creativity when it comes right down to it.
Using the car analogy again, if certain companies had their way there would be two makers of cars and a couple of road makers. Cars would mostly only be able to use the roads of one or other of the makers but not both.
Anyone would be free to make a car just as long as it didn't have wheels, an engine, windows, a steering wheel, doors, seats and wasn't called "a car" because they are all "patentend technologies" and "protected words". There's a new economical model about. One where you pay for something but don't actually get to own it. This has to be one of the biggest cons of all time. |
| dinotrac Oct 30, 2005 6:32 AM EDT |
The whole control of post-purchase use is fundamentally un-American. I suspect it's also un-European, un-Asian, un-Australian, etc. We need merely to look around us to see that "modding" -- perhaps without the name and recognition -- is all around us. Easy examples would be hot-rods and custom cars. Even little things like custom paint jobs. We like to make our things our own. We add on to our houses, we paint them colors we like. We get tacky wallpaper that only we could love. We wear sneakers with suitcoats, we get our hair cut and then never do it up the way the stylist meant for it to be done. We replace our shoelaces with something colorful. Guitar players put pickups in acoustic instruments, or replace the pickups on their electrics. They shave the necks to improve the feel. We embroider our shirts. You can't look very far in our society, and, I'm sure, many others, without seeing the fundamental modding instinct. People gotta breathe, and people who gotta breathe gotta mod. |
| Corriher Oct 31, 2005 12:50 AM EDT |
WMDs -- Weapons of Mass Distraction (With patience, you'll see this is actually on topic) From listening to international and domestic shortwave broadcasts, my suspicions of how much our typical media sources are controlled and filtered have been confirmed. Often when a story is finally reported, it is crafted to lack half the information in order to produce the desired effect. This becomes apparent in time from the repeated patterns. Fox news is in a class all by itself: if it can be even called news. If ever you have suffered with depression, then make certain never to get a shortwave radio. There are a couple of executive orders (one signed by Kennedy, another by Reagan) which potentially places media organizations under the control or either President and/or FEMA and/or the CIA, and this naturally has never been reported. The power agency in question need only pretend a "National Emergency" -- whether this be a "Cold War", a "War On Drugs", or the most bogus of all boggie men: "The War On Terror" in order to set a "media policy". I'll bet you folks didn't hear any news reports of a new "Office of Media Policy" -- or better yet, the Orwellian: "Office Of Propaganda" (no joke!) -- which I believe was shortly given a more acceptable name. It begs the question: How many of the Americans who have been abducted and secretly sent overseas to torture camps were undercover reporters? Let me tell you a general pattern that I have noticed. Wherever the media organization are piling onto a "Big Story" like they are now; they are in actuality, engaged in deflecting attention away from another story. I have not been monitoring the air waves enough recently to know what is the real "Big Story" this time -- perhaps another war, or a corruption so serious they are deflecting attention to a story of more acceptable corruption among fall guys. Whatever is happening behind the scenes is serious news that we'd want to know. In the case of the DMCA type issues, I'm not sure if our concentration on IP rights is more a product of our natural zeal, or of outside manipuation; because by far, these are not the most frightening elements. Whether coincidental or intentional, these issues have stuck us like another Weapon of Mass Distraction. The Big Story is how companies like DieBold have used the DMCA to prevent discussions about the issues of the interesting "enhancements" in the "security" of their voting machines -- the same machines which were installed to "fix the voting problems" -- which by the way has an interesting list of investors who are also rather successful professional politicians. I probably don't have to spell out the implications. Such things are difficult even for me to accept, even as I write them. So, if you feel brave, I encourage you to get shortware, or research the interesting DieBold problems, gag orders, and election "surprises" that have resulted since the election problems were "fixed" to avoid paper trails. Due to DieBold's lawyering, much of the information is self-admittedly sketchy -- which alone is telling. If you're a person with blood-pressure or depression problems, then it is best if you just move along, This is a strong part of why I don't concern myself with the software issues so much anymore. The software issues are merely symptoms of much larger problems. God help us. |
| Corriher Oct 31, 2005 2:08 AM EDT |
Correction: The name "Office of Propaganda" was incorrect, and it has changed several times: 1. Office of Disinformation (Quickly changed!) 2. Office of Strategic Influence 3. Current Name ? (It was "disbanded") ;) Part of the plan was (is) a media astroturfing campaign for reporters who weren't "team players" through e-mail from ".com" addresses, since they determined that e-mail from ".mil" and ".gov" would be too obvious. I had to add this, since it is a familiar story to some of us. "I told Secretary Rumsfeld -- I didn't even need to tell him this; he knows how I feel, I saw it reflected in his comments the other day -- that we'll tell the American people the truth. And he was just as amazed as I was about reading, you know, some allegation that somehow our government would never tell the American people the truth." ... "he'll handle this in the right way." -- Dubya The Greatful Slave: http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/2917/slave.html |
| dinotrac Oct 31, 2005 2:28 AM EDT |
Tom - It's unfair to single out Fox because you disagree with its slant. What you'll find is that all the news organizations filter out important news. You tend to notice the ones you disagree with. |
| Corriher Oct 31, 2005 2:45 AM EDT |
Its "Slant"? That just makes my point, doesn't it? Just because I'm not explicitly slamming all of them doesn't mean Fox hasn't earned it. From what I've seen, I don't think there is anything I could say about Fox which would be unfair to them. Granted, perhaps my personal bias makes certain slants more obvious in certain areas, when the same might be seen mostly elsewhere by others instead. However, in the case of Fox, I don't see how anyone could miss it; for I mentioned them as the example, since they seem to carry it to a greater extreme with what is dubbed "infotainment"... perhaps in their case "infomercials". Geesss... I mean... to drum up public support... these people actually have licensed "theme music" for the "wars". Yeah, I know they are not alone. Anyway... we can probably agree that skepticism is in order for the media as a whole, even if you don't agree Fox is the worst offender. |
| salparadise Oct 31, 2005 3:19 AM EDT |
A fair amount of the worlds media is owned by one Rupert Murdoch.
We've had reports in the UK of how Blair et al had "to check everything with Murdoch" before it was spoken of in case he didn't like what he heard.
Certainly he is the effective "King maker" these days. A concerted campaign of lies and smeers, or praise and support, can be launched globally against whoever at a word from this man. On all 5 continents, via TV, radio and the press. DANGER WILL ROBINSON I suspect, but have little proof, that most of the Western Industrialists, leaders, "shakers and movers" are connected via various little known organisations. They are, or at least appear to be, by and large, singing from the same song sheet. The internet grants us an opportunity to get at stories, news, accounts and opinions that would not make it into the News at Ten. No surprise then that the internet is rubbished as a resource by all with things to hide. |
| dinotrac Oct 31, 2005 3:59 AM EDT |
Guys - I'm very grateful to Fox because I've had to live with the New York Times, the Major American Network News, PBS, et al for years without any balance at all. You think Fox has a slant? Everybody has a slant. Perhaps you've forgotten the whole "RatherGate" thing at CBS. Perhaps, in the noise of Nigerian yellowcake allegation, you were never told by your "trustworthy" media sources about the undisputed 500 tons of yellowcake uranium Saddam already had. In all the coverage of "Peace Mother" Cindy Sheehan, all the talk about "C'mon Mr. President, she lost a son, the least you could do is meet with her" -- how many times were you told that she had, in fact, already met with the President? Etc, etc, etc, etc, etc. |
| PaulFerris Oct 31, 2005 5:03 AM EDT |
Dean: Fox news bites -- At least CNN's tag line isn't "Fair and Balanced" while they branch off to the left. That's my main problem with FOX. Call a spade a spade. If their tag line was "The right view of the news!" I would give them far more credit where credit is due. PBS may have a lot of left-leaning news -- big fat hairy deal. There used to be this concept, it was called "the loyal opposition". Near as I can tell, some people have forgotten this concept and the fact that we live in a democracy. It's a democracy that's getting subverted by large corporate cash and forced that don't want open and honest discussions -- that's the part most of us are nervous about. Still, can we please get back to Linux News sometime soon? |
| dinotrac Oct 31, 2005 6:07 AM EDT |
Paul - I forgot that I was going to behave myself... I woudl, however, point out that I was not the one to digress, merely the one whose opinion differs. |
| PaulFerris Oct 31, 2005 6:43 AM EDT |
Quoting: I woudl, however, point out that I was not the one to digress, merely the one whose opinion differs. Oh, surprise, surprise! Listen, Mr. Right, don't get all minority-sensitive on me now ;) BTW, saw my brother Art yesterday, he said to say hi. I think the final boating days are coming to an end, so maybe next year? |
| dinotrac Oct 31, 2005 6:58 AM EDT |
Paulie -- I'm afraid so. We have had "issues". Sigh. |
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