Laurenn McCubbin's new web comic, Harvest Gypsy, is now available on Artbomb.net. [I can't link directly to the comic, so go to Artbomb and look for the link on the far left side of the page.) Go look. Also, if you've never seen her print comic, XXX Live Nude Girls (co-created with Nikki Coffman), you really should see the corresponding website [Flash required].
California Senator Barbara Boxer introduced the following bill to the U.S. Senate on May 23:
S.1158: A bill to exempt bookstores and libraries from orders requiring the production of tangible things for foreign intelligence investigations, and to exempt libraries from counterintelligence access to certain records, ensuring that libraries and bookstores are subjected to the regular system of court-ordered warrants.
Vermont Representative Bernard Sanders introduced a similar bill to the House on May 3.
The issue here involves the USA Patriot Act, which enables law enforcement agencies to gain access to patron and customer records at libraries and bookstores. In section 215, the Act gives agencies the right to access such information based only on warrants obtained from Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) courts. These courts are secret, meaning their proceedings are not a matter of the public record. Also, the Patriot Act does not require law enforcement to show probable cause. Finally, Patriot makes it illegal for libraries or bookstores to inform patrons that their records have been seized.
The bills introduced in the House and Senate would amend U.S. code to require agents to obtain subpoenas or search warrants in open courts before demanding access to patron records.
The things I miss when I go about my day job. This shootout happened nearly two weeks ago, and this is the first I've heard of it. (Note to self: Read Teresa Nielsen Hayden's weblog more often.)
We tried last night to get to the Burlesque Festival shindig at Knitting Factory, but by the time we arrived, tickets had already sold out. The burlesque revival seems to me to be one of the most interesting cultural things happening in this city, and this festival is just one facet of that. Today's burlesque brunch has also sold out. Maybe we'll make it out next year.
Judge Richard Posner wrote, earlier this week, a concise and short essay for Newsday about plagiarism:
...Plagiarism can be a form of fraud, but it is no accident that, unlike real theft, it is not a crime. If a thief steals your car, you are out the market value of the car; but if a writer copies material from a book you wrote, you don't have to replace the book. At worst, the undetected plagiarist obtains a reputation that he does not deserve (that is the element of fraud in plagiarism)....
...Plagiarism of work in the public domain is more common than otherwise. Consider a few examples: "West Side Story" is a thinly veiled copy (with music added) of "Romeo and Juliet," which in turn plagiarized Arthur Brooke's "The Tragicall Historye of Romeo and Juliet," published in 1562, which in turn copied from several earlier Romeo and Juliets, all of which were copies of Ovid's story of Pyramus and Thisbe....
...Judges, who try to conceal rather than to flaunt their originality, far from crediting their predecessors with original thinking like to pretend that there is no original thinking in law, that judges are just a transmission belt for rules and principles laid down by the framers of statutes or the Constitution....
The whole essay's worth reading, so go check it out.
Last night, I was on the F train to West 4th Street. Somewhere around East Broadway, a young woman boarded the train and sat across from me. I noticed she was reading something, but I didn't pay much attention to her as I read my book. Shortly, I heard her start to sing--"Ooooooooooooklahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plain"--and I looked up again to see that was she was "reading" was sheet music.
At West 4th, I was chuckling to myself about this as I left the train, but the music seemed to follow me. I turned to look over my shoulder and I saw the woman behind me on the escalator, still singing.
From the music sheet to the MP3. From Sheet Music to MP3: Music through the 20th Century Among the current notices of legal online music stores finally coming of age across the 'Net, this is a lengthy but quite deep and interesting analysis (deepest I've seen so far) on how the music industry ended up being what it is today, how "pop" music came to be, and more. If anything, it shows how corporate greed and shady business practices are far from being a recent happening in the industry everybody loves to hate. The study ends with the state of the industry circa 1999, but that makes it no less valuable. [MetaFilter]
A Garden for All as Private Eden. Central Park, which celebrates its 150th anniversary this year, is our great urban oasis. By Herbert Muschamp. [New York Times: NYT HomePage]
There's a couple of lovely pictures in this article; I'll have to wander up that way this weekend.
Via the newthings blog:
Koolhaas Deconstructs New York. Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas writes a postscript to the building -- and unbuilding -- of the United States' largest city, from the late 19th century to the post-9/11 era. From Wired magazine. [Wired News]
The lineup for the summer-concert series (most of them free shows) at Prospect Park has been announced. Highlights include Joan Armatrading, Roseanne Cash, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, and a Leonard Cohen tribute featuring Rufus Wainwright and the McGarrigle sisters. [via 601am]
Lessig spoke at Cooper Union on Monday evening. His speech was titled Free Culture: The Struggle to Liberate Creativity and the Internet from the Law. He explained, using Walt Disney as an example, how creative types have always appropriated ideas and images from others when building their own creations. "Steamboat Willie," the animated short that introduced Mickey Mouse, was based in large part on a Buster Keaton movie, Steamboat Bill, Jr.
The digital age, Lessig argues, makes it much easier to use existing culture in such innovative ways. Digital video, sampling, and other technologies make it simple for an artist to create a digital collage of sound or image. The threat to this innovation is a growing body of law that protects the interests of copyright holders--which, more and more, are large corporations operating in an age of increased media concentration.
This is really just a quick-and-dirty summary. His talk was interesting, although I've encounted the main ideas before, in his writings and in those of other commentators.
Finally getting into Cooper Union was also a treat. The centerpiece of the CU campus is an imposing large stone building near Astor Place. That thing is so solid, I suspect that thing could survive a direct nuclear assault. It opened in the 1850s and among the first speakers to grace its halls was Abraham Lincoln.
You'll notice some changes to the sidebars here. First, I've added a "Currently Reading" sidebar, courtesy the folks at All Consuming. The interface is nice; now that I've added the proper code to my Web log and tweaked the appearance to match my design, I only need to update my info on All Consuming when I start or finish a book (I say "only," but I'm a horrible procrastinator, so it's not really simple where I'm concerned.)
Also, I've tweaked the appearance of the links sidebar, and I think it's now much easier to read.
My next tasks are to continue categorizing my archived blog posts, straighten out the links system so that archived posts actually link correctly (many links are currently broken), and then create links to the categories pages.
"When I Grow Up I Want to Be an Old Woman".
You Know You're a Grown-up When You Grumble at This
"A new poll by the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center reports that most Americans think people need to be 26 to be considered 'grown up.'
College-educated Americans put the age even higher--between 28 and 29.
Tom Smith, director of the center's General Social Survey, said he had never asked the question before but, using other surveys, he thinks that Americans' notion of when adulthood starts is later now than in the past.
Indeed, some social scientists have declared that '30 is the new 20.' "
[Chicago Sun-Times via The Shifted Librarian]
"30 is the new 20." Perhaps that explains why I'm catting around New York like a college student.
Apple Squashes E-Store ID Bug. A programming error at the company's online store leaves customer accounts vulnerable to hijacking by intruders. The key to breaking in: knowing a victim's e-mail address. By Brian McWilliams. [Wired News]
Oh shit.
The Economist covers the lay of the digital music land. [via GrepLaw]
I keep telling myself I have something intelligent to say about all this, but I haven't taken the time yet to write it all down. Feh to my busy damn life.