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Wired News: Students Use Next-Gen Downloads

WASHINGTON — College junior Kyle Taylor is downloading hundreds of songs by No Doubt, Bruce Springsteen and others onto the Compaq laptop in his cramped dormitory room. With a few more clicks of his mouse, Taylor is watching commercial-free Seinfeld episodes on his computer. In just minutes, he then downloads the entire movie A League of Their Own.

The 20-year-old is not breaking any laws. Nor is he at risk of expensive lawsuits brought by the entertainment industry over copyright violations.

“Not Breaking any laws, …nor is he at risk“.. that’s the kicker.

It seems more and more that piracy is making headlines, especially since the whole Groakster vs. Big-mean filtthy rich guys who drive Porsche 911 2’s and live in Bevelry Hills is all we hear about. But broken down to just what it is, really downloading is no different then what your mom does with the vcr, what your teacher does with the xerox machine for class lectures, and what you do every time you sing happy birthday. You all know my stance on this, the RIAA is just looking for ways to screw us and control the internet that they lost a long time ago.

I’m proud to say I buy some awesome stuff from iTunes on a regular basis. They have some albums and tracks I can’t find anywhere. But at the same time, iTunes dosen’t have the latest Essential Mix, Ferry Corsten’s latest live set, or BT’s most recent laptop symphony now do they.. there are a few spots like freshlymixed.com that i live by when it comes to finding the new mixes, but when it comes to the music I want, shit you have no choice but to start scouring around looking for it.

Maybe when America’s musicical initiative becomes a little more versed and lenient when it comes to sensorship and openness to new styles and ideas things will make some more sense. Damn, take notes from BBC. I buy american cars to support my country, it’s sad when I get to work and the first thing i do is pop-on NPR news and stream Radio 1 because it beats the shit out of any station I can find on this side of the globe.

ABC News: Pope John Paul II Dies at 84

VATICAN CITY Apr 2, 2005 — John Paul II, who led the Roman Catholic Church for 26 years and helped topple communism in Europe while becoming the most-traveled pope in history, died Saturday night in his Vatican apartment, ending a long public struggle against debilitating illness. He was 84.

“We all feel like orphans this evening,” Undersecretary of State Archbishop Leonardo Sandri told the crowd of 70,000 that gathered in St. Peter’s Square below the pope’s still-lighted apartment windows.

The Vatican said the pope died at 9:37 p.m. (2:37 p.m. EST). The assembled flock fell into a stunned silence before some people broke out in applause an Italian tradition in which mourners often clap for important figures. Others wept.

So this is kind of strange. Just as I’m posting up a few of my pictures I took in Italy, i pop open Sagereader and read this headline that the Pope has passed away. Wow, man, don’t really know what to say here. Even if I did, I’m probably not the one to say it. The man lived his life in bliss. Doing what he loved to do and yes, he did it well. Knowing that I did make it to Vatican City and see where he along with the Cardinals, Bishops & clergy reside makes it a little more worthwhile. *moment of silence for the man who led and molded the Catholic Church for over a quarter century*

Thanks to phil! We’re going to start a link blogger soon for this.

• Drive Thru
• Star Wars Preview
• Get you’r Crunch on
• My Fucking Striped Shirt
• This Duck is Hung

Yahoo! News - Offbeat Photos - AFP

Emperor penguins look up at a giant imposter at Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo, Japan. Zoo director Teruyuki Komiya dressed up for a stint in the penguin enclosure for the annual April Fool event to display a human being at the zoo

Heh, talk about an april fools joke

hat tipp’age to mark*

Chris’s Laptop at Pycon, blogged by cdibona.

The more I use Flickr the more I love it. There’s a huge collection of people who submitted for this idea. Have to say it’s pretty tech.

By the way, be sure to check out this flash tab browser that uses Flickr’s API.