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By Sheila Lennon
'Bottom-up' journalism from the pros
Looking for the Narragansett Indian raid items? Scroll down to the
photo of the smokeshop and, below that, to the photo of the raid. The
email address of Indian activist Sheila Spencer Stover (Firehair Shining
spirit) below was incorrect. The correct address is ItsShngSprt2@aol.com
I'm off Monday. Next blog will be Tuesday.
July 18, 2003 6:30 p.m. -- (Last
week's weblog)
Calling all Southern
New England Bloggers: If you're blogging in what we sometimes
call Greater Rhode Island, these folks would love to know about you.
This is a community site developed to help link bloggers in the Rhode
Island, Connecticut and Southeastern Massachusetts area together and
provide a resource for relevant news and events. Inspired by similar
sites in places like New York,
Los Angeles, Boston
and Dallas/Fort Worth, this was
devised and designed by Jonathan Biggs (motor
skills) with help from Jason Fournier (binarytoybox)
who donated hosting and provided some crucial backend work. All you
need to do to participate is live in the area and run a weblog or reasonable
facsimile thereof.
Link
to this item | Comment
House
bill would make single music upload a felony: That 99 cent song
is suddenly valued at $2,500. Who talked these older Congressmen into
such foolishness? Taxpayers would build prisons for millions of music
swappers? Here's the InfoWorld version of the story:
WASHINGTON - Two Democratic congressman have introduced a bill that
would make a single unauthorized upload of a copyrighted work such as
a song a federal felony, and one critic is calling the legislation "ridiculous."
Representatives John Conyers Jr., a Michigan Democrat, and Howard Berman,
a California Democrat, introduced the "Author, Consumer, and Computer
Owner Protection and Security Act of 2003" (ACCOPS Act) on Wednesday.
Saying that a single upload to a peer-to-peer file sharing site can
cost the copyright owner thousands of dollars in lost revenue, the bill
clarifies that the uploading of one copyrighted work meets the 10 copy,
$2,500 threshold for felonious copyright infringement in U.S. copyright
law.
The bill also says file-sharing Web sites must get consent from consumers
who download software that takes over their computers either to search
other computers for content or to store files, and makes it a federal
offense to provide misleading contact information when registering a
domain name with knowledge and with fraudulent intent.
The bill also gives the U.S. Department of Justice an additional $15
million to prosecute copyright violations.
The ACCOPS Act is needed because existing laws do not go far enough
to protect copyright holders such as artists, authors, actors, movie
companies, software developers, publishers, and record studios, who
are suffering because people are using technology to share and obtain
their content for free, Conyers said in a statement.
But lawyer Philip Corwin, who represents Sharman Networks, the owner
of the Kazaa peer-to-peer service, questioned whether a law that would
make the millions of Internet users who frequent file-swapping services
potential felons would be a good idea. "Any bill that would turn
57 million U.S. citizens into criminals needs to be clearly scrutinized,"
Corwin said. "The idea of sending a kid who's downloaded a couple
of songs to jail is just ridiculous."
Large copyright holders have argued unauthorized file trading should
be treated like theft, but Corwin said the punishment doesn't fit the
crime in the ACCOPS Act. Based on pay download services, the value of
a single downloaded song on the Internet is about 99 cents, he said.
"I don't know of anybody who's been sent to federal jail for stealing
something worth 99 cents," he added. "It's just totally way
over the top."
Link
to this item | Comment
Family
sues priest over damning eulogy: From the Santa Fe New
Mexican:
At the funeral for former Chama councilman Ben Martinez, a priest said
"clearly, loudly and without hesitation that the Lord vomited people
like Ben out of his mouth to hell," according to a lawsuit filed
by Martinez's family against the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.
The Rev. Scott Mansfield's comments at the 80-year-old man's funeral,
the lawsuit states, have had a devastating effect, resulting in nightmares,
depression, anxiety attacks and the need for psychological counseling
for Martinez's family.
"It has really damaged us, as well as our children," Martinez's
daughter-in-law, Joanne Martinez, said this week. "It's hard to
believe a man of the cloth would actually talk that way about a person.
God is supposed to be love, but we didn't see any love that day."
Mansfield is now the priest for Holy Child Parish in Tijeras. A receptionist
there said he couldn't be reached because he is on a retreat in Colorado.
...
Later:
Archdiocese Seeks to Change Venue of Priest Lawsuit
Link
to this item | Comment
Being
Invisible: "Next-gen optical camouflage is busting out of
defense labs and into the street. This is technology you have to see to
believe." At Wired.
Link
to this item | Comment
Careful:
The FB-eye may be watching. From Creative Loafing in Atlanta comes
a bizarre tale of a bookstore employee visited by FBI agents after someone
reported him for reading a printout of a news story headlined "Weapons
of Mass Stupidity" over his morning coffee.
Link
to this item | Comment
Tim
Bray on the future of browsers: Bray
looks ahead and what he sees is not what you might expect.
Today, the human experience of the Net stands at a crossroads, paths
diverging into the future, and nobody knows which one we’ll be
on in a year. A lot of people who will read this have the chance to
make a difference in the decision. Let’s look at the options.
Evidence: To start, some selections from the newsflow:
Item: Mozilla has a foundation, with a couple million in the bank,
a few smart people on payroll, and a ton of volunteer energy.
Item: There won’t be an Internet Explorer 7; if you want a better
browser, you’ll have to pay for the next release of Windows, which
is scheduled for release in 2005, and most corporate desktops won’t
get there for a couple of years after that. ...
Link
to this item | Comment
July 17, 2003 7:26 p.m.
The Narragansett Raid: "Firehair" writes...
Sheila
Spencer Stover of Bunn, N.C., (ItsShngSprt2@aol.com link corrected)
whose Indian name is Firehair Shining Spirit, counts among her ancestors
Narragansett Indians named Hopkins, Brown, Weeden, Green, Slocumb and
Wilcox. She sent the following email to R.I. Gov. Donald Carcieri, to
Secretary of State Matthew Brown and to me. I have lightly edited punctuation
for readability, but nothing has been omitted. Please email
comments, reaction, related links.
17 July, 2003
Since the raid happened (on Monday) I have been running news/reporting
on my Internet Native News and Issues List.
Born in N.Y. State's Catskill Mountains, I resided from 1984-1992 on
the Connecticut shoreline. I have familial ties to the Narragansetts,
although I am not on their rolls. People say I'm an activist, I do what
I can across the board/country for Native rights, issues, problems,
concerns.
The Narragansetts are a Federally recognized Tribe.
This gives them status as a sovereign nation, with a government-to-government
relationship. (Remember after Hurricane Bob, then-Tribal Chairman John
Brown was asked if he was going to get help/be helped, by the state
of R.I.? He replied "We are a sovereign nation, we do business
with the Federal government"-- this article may still be archived
with your paper.) Note: The 1991 story follows this email.
Nothing has changed.
Under Sovereign Status, Federal Recognition, there are very specific
laws. I suggest having a copy of the publication The Rights of Indians
and Tribes -- the Basic ACLU Guide to Indian and Tribal Rights edited
and revised by Stephen L. Pevar. Paperback, available at any large bookstore.
I have three (copies), one with me at all times, one at home near my
computer, one to lend.
State and local law enforcement are NOT allowed onto Tribal land without
a FEDERAL warrant, signed by a FEDERAL Judge. This law has been tested
on a number of occasions, nationwide, Washington State all the way to
N.Y. and Maine. And upheld.
Try page 112, "B" Congressional Authorization of State Jurisdiction:
"State laws are powerless in Indian country, as a general rule,
unless authorized by the congress" The ensuing information, especially
pages 119, 120, clarify.
Using land given up for land awarded in exchange, has no bearing --
read the law. More simply: If your house gets wiped out by a falling
plane, or a tornado, (and) you buy/are given a different piece of property,
build a new home -- it is no less protected than the original piece.
They were/are, both under your ownership.
As sovereign citizens of the United States, the Constitution still
applies. As it is meant to, for R.I. citizens, any others.
If the governor ordered the troops in without permission of the Tribal
leaders, he was badly, sadly, wrong. Needs a new advisor. (Save state
funds, buy the book above.) He could use my rule: When in doubt--DON'T.
The governor put his own people in as much danger as he did the Narragansetts.
Fortunately, for everyone involved, the Narragansetts acted/reacted,
in a way that did not cause the situation to deteriorate any more than
it did.
Considering some folks opinions of us all in general--, we could interject
here "Hmmmm, who's the "Savage?"
The entire eastern seaboard was once Indian land, Indian country. The
Indians of R.I. and environs held out welcoming, helping, hands to the
Immigrants from across ocean.
NOT a good idea, as it turned out. (Bumper sticker: "Indians had
bad immigration laws).
Just as the Providence Journal has the right to conduct their business,
in their offices, without search, seizure, interference, or threats,
just as the people of R.I. have the right to go home, shut their doors,
live, without fear, perhaps sell crafts, baked goods, car parts, do
taxes, telemarketing, whatever, from their home, garage (cottage industry
I believe it's called), the Narragansetts were even more within their
rights -- as a Sovereign Nation, on their own land, selling a legal
product -- to conduct business.
Let's see how big the governor, the state is on this -- an apology,
help towards self-determination for the Narragansetts -- or blame, finger
pointing, passing the buck.
One more time, making the victim look to be the guilty party.
Someone wiser than I said "Those who do not learn from history
are bound to repeat it."
Sheila Spencer Stover
aka Firehair Shining Spirit
Delaware/Minisink Band
enrolled Seeconk
Box 99
Bunn, NC 27508
919-496-1604
Here's the story "Firehair" (Ms. Stover) cites:
Tribe to get $12,000 for hurricane damage (Providence Journal,
Oct. 21, 1991):
The Federal Emergency Management Agency will reimburse the Narragansett
Indian Tribe $12,000 for the cost of removing debris and restoring buildings
that Hurricane Bob damaged in August.
Agency Coordinating Officer Edward A. Thomas said the tribe's request
for aid marks the first time an Indian tribe has dealt with the federal
agency directly, rather than going through the state to get its aid.
Tribal Councilman John B. Brown said the tribe is a sovereign nation
and, like any other governing body, acted as such in dealing with the
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) directly.
"We are a governing body and that has been recognized by FEMA,"
Brown said. "The Narragansetts are first in many things."
Representatives of the federal agency and the Narragansetts met Saturday
at tribal headquarters for a formal signing of the aid agreement.
"This kind of agreement we are entering into with the Narragansetts
has never been done in the United States," Thomas said. "You
folks came to us directly. It wasn't what we expected."
Town Councilman Daniel Shanley, who also attended the meeting, congratulated
the tribe on being the first to approach the agency on its own, and
said he hoped the agency would make the money available quickly.
FEMA has run out of money for such purposes, Thomas said, and will
process the aid request as Congress makes the money available.
Federal agents who visited the tribe's 1,800-acre property between
Route 2 and Kings Factory Road assessed damage to buildings, trees and
the cost of debris removal at $16,000. FEMA agreed to pay 75 percent
of the cost.
More links: Full
coverage of the dispute on projo.com (reg.req)
The
Narragansetts' Smokeshop at ripolicyanalysis.org,
a website by Tom Coyne, a management consultant, and Susan Miller, a former
investment banker at Kidder, Peabody Inc. They moved to Rhode Island from
San Francisco in 2000.
alt.rhodeisland newsgroup thread (Google News): Bury
My Heart at Charlestown Smoke Shop. (199 messages at 7:15 p.m.)
Related: New
(Washington state) tax law all but abolishes Indians' lower cigarette
prices: The state of Washington, which has more than 50 Indian smokeshops,
has passed a law that the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on July 12 described
as
... a compromise that seeks to address Indian and non-Indian concerns
by authorizing the governor to enter into cigarette-tax compacts with
the tribes. The compacts will require tribal governments to collect
a tax equal to that collected by non-Indian retailers outside reservations.
But the tribes get to keep the money to fund basic tribal government
services.
The story delves into some of the other issues this raises about sovereignty,
putting the Indian retailers out of business, and Indians' objections to
serving as tax collectors, but most telling is that only 16 of the state's
28 federally recognized tribes have agreed to participate.
The Squaxin Island Tribe, a southwest Washington neighbor of the Shoalwater
Bay Tribe, was a driving force behind the new law. But the Squaxins
have a special advantage that made it logical to seek a compromise that
would end the constant enforcement pressure but still keep a big price
advantage in cigarettes.
The tribe plans to start its own cigarette manufacturing plant, said
Bob Whitener, who until recently was executive director of the tribe.
"If we manufacture on reservation, no state taxes would apply
to the cigarettes, even on sales to non-Indians," Whitener said.
Link
to this item | Comment
July 16, 2003 7:04 p.m.
Updated 7.16 11:30 a.m.: House
Panel Votes to Block FCC's New Media Rules
The House Appropriations Committee moved in a bipartisan vote yesterday
to block the Federal Communications Commission from easing a rule that
limits ownership concentration in commercial television markets.
An amendment approved in a 40 to 25 vote applies to a June 2 FCC decision
that would allow networks to acquire stations that reach as much as
45 percent of the national television audience. By preventing the FCC
from spending money to carry out its ruling, the committee's action
effectively would keep the current limit of 35 percent.
Senators
Move to Block New FCC Media Ownership Rules: Washington Post reports,
Thirty-five senators have latched onto a little-used law in an attempt
to overturn the Federal Communications Commission's new media ownership
rules, which opponents say would allow a few corporate giants to gain
too much control of the airwaves and other media.
A "resolution of disapproval," which is permitted under the
Congressional Review Act, has been placed on the Senate calendar for
expedited consideration because it has more than the 30 signatures required
to move it out of committee without a vote.
The maneuver comes as the battle over the controversial media rules
heats up in Congress. Dozens of television station executives from around
the country are set to lobby lawmakers today from the other side of
the fight, encouraging them to keep the FCC's new rules, saying big
broadcasters such as NBC and CBS need to get bigger to continue providing
free over-the-air television.
Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.), the lead sponsor of the resolution,
has signed on 28 Democrats and seven Republicans. The measure is co-sponsored
by eight senators, including Trent Lott (R-Miss.), Ernest F. Hollings
(D-S.C.) and presidential candidate John F. Kerry (D-Mass.).
Link
to this item | Comment
The passing of Compay Segundo: Liz Donovan
at the Miami Herald points to Enrique Fernandez on the
real Compay Segundo -- "Repilado was Eros and Orpheus rolled
into one, fueled by a sexual energy that defied age and interpreted by
a masterly combination of instrumental dexterity and seductive voice."
-- and to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel's music
review, coverage
of the Havana wake, and AP
coverage of yesterday's funeral.)
Link
to this item | Comment
Who's filling GOP treasure chest? You can search
a datebase for donors to the Bush/Cheney campaign on this web page.
If you want to browse the list for friends' and neighbors' names, check
the Rhode Island box and see all 25 pages of local donors.
Link
to this item | Comment
Internet
Donors Can Clean Up National Campaign Financing by Carol C. Darr
in USA Today. (Thanks to Doc
Searls for the link)
Campaigns typically raise small donations, if they bother at all, from
direct mail lists of their previous contributors, but costs usually
consume 50 cents of every dollar raised. This means that average Americans,
unless they have previously given a donation to a candidate, are not
even solicited. That's one of the reasons more than 99% of Americans
don't contribute.
This is what makes Dean's and Kucinich's success in raising money on
the Internet so promising. For the first time, a presidential candidate,
Dean, has catapulted into the top tier with small donations. The Internet
now holds out the possibility that small donors might successfully fuel
serious presidential campaigns — a sea change in American politics.
The way to minimize the corrosive effect of large contributions is
to flood the political system with lots of small contributions. This
will happen only if huge numbers of ordinary American citizens make
modest contributions.
Small money is the only money that is reliably clean.
The Internet is the best way to raise it — quickly, easily and
cheaply.
Link
to this item | Comment
AOL
ends ties with Mozilla but helps keep it alive: Dan Gillmor reports,
Tuesday, AOL said it laid off about 50 people, most involved in browser-development
for AOL's Netscape unit. Meanwhile, AOL said it was ending its ties
entirely with the Mozilla Project (www.mozilla.org).
The project is a Netscape spinoff that is developing Mozilla -- an open-source
Web browser and suite of related software. Mozilla, the collaborative
effort of many different programmers -- mostly volunteers -- is the
platform on which recent versions of Netscape software have been built.
AOL had been contributing programmers and financing to the Mozilla effort.
But AOL said it would put $2 million into a new entity, the Mozilla
Foundation (www.mozillafoundation.org),
which is taking over leadership of Mozilla development. Mitchell Baker,
head of the foundation, said about 10 people will come to work there.
Related: If you're using Mozilla, here's a page of keyboard
shortcuts
Link
to this item | Comment
New
Medical Privacy Rule Is Bad Medicine for Press: Chicago Porch Collapse
Illustrates Problems. At Editor & Publisher.
CHICAGO -- Local journalists are adding their own post-mortem to the
lawsuits and finger-pointing following the June 29 porch collapse at
a Chicago apartment building in which 13 young adults were killed: A
new federal medical privacy rule has undermined their ability to cover
accidents by forbidding the disclosure of patient information that hospitals
had released routinely.
The porch collapse was the first major accident story since the Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) became law on April
14. In this real-life test in Chicago, the rule proved every bit the
hindrance to coverage that journalists had feared.
The Station nightclub fire happened before the bill passed. We might
never have had even a list of victims had our coverage been limited by
these rules.
Link
to this item | Comment
Kazaa
Derivatives Offer RIAA-Blocking Features: At Yahoo News,
Two derivatives of the popular Kazaa peer-to-peer filesharing service
now actively attempt to block scans by the RIAA (news - web sites) and
other agencies, escalating the P2P war to a new level.
Both Kazaa K++ and Kazaa Lite, two very similar modifications to the
Kazaa file-sharing system by Sharman Networks, now contain hooks to
the PeerGuardian database of IP addresses. Both updates were published
to the Web at the end of last week.
The two versions available for download are Kazaa Lite 2.4.0, and Kazaa
K++ 2.4.0. Although the version numbers are the same, the Kazaa Lite
download is 2.67 Mbytes, while the K++ version is 3.11 Mbytes; both
are bundled with different features and apparently contain slightly
different code bases.
The two developers of the program once worked together, but have decided
to release different versions, according to postings by the two authors.
Neither are affiliated with Sharman Networks. Freenet, another network,
was also designed to allow anonymous, encrypted sharing of files and
other information.
Neither developer released any official statement explaining the addition
of the new features designed to defeat the RIAA's scanning efforts,
which the agency reportedly began at the beginning of this month in
an attempt to discover which users are illegally sharing copyrighted
files. Once the IP addresses are matched to individual users, the agency
will begin filing copyright infringement lawsuits this fall.
Related: Hot
spots elude RIAA dragnet at News.com:
Wireless Net access through free, open or publicly available hot spots
is proving to be a last bastion of privacy on an Internet where the
veil of anonymity can now easily pierced. Wi-Fi access points give anyone
who possesses the appropriate computer equipment within a radius of
about 300 feet the ability to reach the Internet.
Related: Freenet
0.5.2 Released. At Slashdot:
"With the RIAA roaring to grab peer-to-peer users by their IP
addresses, Freenet
- fully anonymized production and consumption of content - is gaining
renewed attention. ..."
Link
to this item | Comment
New
gadget reveals car's secrets to the mechanically challenged:
...consider what happens when the "check engine'" light flashes
on the dashboard. The owner's manual tells you to take the car to the
service department. But you have no idea how serious the problem is:
Will the car blow up tonight, or can it wait a few days?
You can address these issues, or just satisfy your curiosity, with
a nifty little gadget called the CarChip.
About the size of a pack of old-fashioned razor blades, it plugs into
an under-dash receptacle that's familiar to mechanics, but virtually
unknown to the public.
Once plugged in, the CarChip monitors the engine's internal sensors
and stores the data on a memory chip every five seconds or so.
When you remove the CarChip and hook it up to your computer, its software
transfers the data and displays a full report.
... The basic CarChip ($139) stores up to 75 hours of data and generates
tables and graphs that show trip duration, minute-by-minute speed, average
speed, maximum speed and incidents of heavy acceleration and braking.
If your "check engine" light comes on, CarChip will tell
you what's wrong — in plain English. If the problem doesn't look
serious, CarChip can reset the check-engine light so that you can see
whether it crops up again (sometimes it's a fluke).
For $179, the more sophisticated CarChipE/X stores 300 hours of data.
In addition to speed, it collects readings generated by five additional
engine sensors.
Link
to this item | Comment
Vanity publishing made easy: Not sure this
is entirely a good thing, but here it is: Cafe
Press will now publish, sell and distribute your original manuscript
for .03 to .045 cents per page, depending on binding style (plus a few
bucks setup fee).
The book has to be in .pdf format. If you don't have Adobe Acrobat to
make a pdf, the site recommends "a free program called PDF995 - which
can be downloaded at http://www.pdf995.com."
One downside of vanity publishing is that you'll never get your book
reviewed or taken seriously -- hence the sneering nickname for self-published
books -- and of course, no book tours.
Link
to this item | Comment
The
Periodic Table of Dessert: Closeups
July 15, 2003 6:40 p.m.
Note: Friday's blog entries were inadvertently not uploaded to the
link above. If you missed them, click the link -- they're there now.
Spread the "sin taxes" around -- tax
fast food, SUVs, guns, not just cigarettes: The shocking
footage of the R.I. State Police raid on the Narragansett Indians'
new tax-free tobacco shop will haunt us long after the issues work their
way through the courts: The images recall civil-rights confrontations
of the early '60s in Birmingham and elsewhere: Dark-skinned people held
on the ground by burly officers, police dogs nipping at clothing.
All for selling cigarettes, a legal product that's top heavy with taxes.
Ray and Ann Knowles of Narragansett told a Journal reporter they bought
a carton of Merits for $22.99 from the Indians' smokeshop. Tax included,
the same carton would have cost them $54.55 at Rippy's Marketplace, a
little farther up the road. No wonder people have been beating a path
to the Narragansetts' door.
Taxing smokers at this rate seems arbitrary and capricious. Smoking is
bad for you, but so are most of the foods enticingly advertised on TV:
The fat and calories in Big Macs, Oreos, fried fish and chips, and doughnuts
lead to cardiovascular diseases, the number one cause of death in Rhode
Island. But the state is not using its taxing powers to discourage citizens
from eating unhealthy foods.
SUVs contribute to the cemetery population as well: "When a large
pickup broadsides a car, the car's occupants are 26 times as likely to
die as the occupants of the pickup. That is more than three times as high
as the rate in car-to-car crashes," according to Jeffrey W. Runge,
head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (SUV
rollover death rate 3 times normal, Wall Street Journal). How about
a "dangerous cars" tax?
And then there are guns...
The state has brought this confrontation on itself by targeting one product
with which to balance the budget. When taxes ratchet prices up so radically,
black alternative markets traditionally thrive.
Spread the taxes around. If the state were to tax all the "sins"
and dangerous products reasonably and equally, there'd be little incentive
for the Indians to undercut other retailers. Cigarettes, and smokers,
may have seemed a convenient target, but the price, on all levels, has
proven too high.
The damage -- eight people taken to the hospital, seven tribal members
arrested, including Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas, and indelible images
of troopers storming a cigarette shop as though it were a terrorist cell
-- will linger long after the smoke has settled.
Link
to this item | Comment
Cheney under fire: Nicholas Kristof, in today's
N.Y. Times (16
Words, and Counting, reg.req):
Based on conversations with people in the intelligence community, this
picture is emerging: the White House, eager to spice up the State of
the Union address, recklessly resurrected the discredited Niger tidbit.
The Central Intelligence Agency objected, and then it and the National
Security Council negotiated a new wording, attributing it all to the
Brits. It felt less dishonest pinning the falsehood on the cousins.
What troubles me is not that single episode, but the broader pattern
of dishonesty and delusion that helped get us into the Iraq mess —
and that created the false expectations undermining our occupation today.
Some in the administration are trying to make George Tenet the scapegoat
for the affair. But Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, a
group of retired spooks, issued an open letter to President Bush yesterday
reflecting the view of many in the intel community that the central
culprit is Vice President Dick Cheney. The open letter called for Mr.
Cheney's resignation.
... So the problem is not those 16 words, by themselves, but the larger
pattern of abuse of intelligence. The silver lining is that the spooks
are so upset that they're speaking out.
Here's the letter from Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity,
to which he refers. Coming from the retired spies, it's quite a statement.
It's titled Intelligence
Unglued.
And here's an interview with one of the authors of the letter, Ray McGovern:
Interview:
27-Year CIA Veteran.
Link
to this item | Comment
The
Poorhouse Story. 'Yes, Virginia, there really was such a thing
as a Poorhouse! It was not just something your parents made up, like a
boogeyman, to frighten you into saving your money and spending carefully
and to discourage you from making excessive, greedy demands on the family
budget. County Poorhouses dotted the United States throughout most of
the 1800s ..."
You can search for poorhouses by
state here. Here are Rhode
Island's.
Link
to this item | Comment
And you thought you'd read harsh art criticism
before...: From Power
Vacuum by Kim Levin in The Village Voice,
During the first preview days, everyone sidestepped the question of
what they really thought. "I need to reflect. It feels like there's
this tremendous void at the center," said one famously diplomatic
curator. "I haven't made sense of it yet," waffled a fellow
critic. We all wanted to give Chicago-based Francesco Bonami, director
of this Biennale, the benefit of the doubt. But by the third day it
was clear. For perhaps the first time ever, there was complete critical
agreement: The
50th Venice Biennale is an unmitigated disaster, an incoherent mess.
It's a great review, and a great read.
Link
to this item | Comment
The
Fugs live -- though Tuli Kupferberg is 80! N.Y. Times visits Ed
Sanders and Tuli (Rock
'n' Roll Dissidents, Fearless for 4 Decades, reg.req.):
WOODSTOCK, N.Y. — Four decades ago Ed Sanders and Tuli Kupferberg
founded the Fugs in an East Village bookstore on a bedrock of sex, drugs,
rock 'n' roll and poetry.
They sang raunchy encomiums like "Slum Goddess" and set Blake
and Swinburne to a groovy beat at a time when "Leader of the Pack"
and "I Want to Hold Your Hand" were the cutting edge of pop.
With the coming of the Vietnam War they developed a confrontational,
absurdist pacifism in songs like "Kill for Peace" and became
what many pop historians call the first underground rock band.
And though Mr. Sanders, who is 63, and Mr. Kupferberg, who turns 80
in September, have reached what one of their lyrics calls the "time
to think of ultimate things," they still sing about sex and peace
and poetry (though not about drugs so much anymore).
On July 8 they released their latest album, "The Fugs Final CD
(Part 1)," on Artemis Records — "Never let yourself
get painted into a corner," Mr. Sanders said of the title —
and on July 16 the Fugs will sing with their band at the Village Underground
on West Third Street in Greenwich Village, in what they say might be
their last gig.
Link
to this item | Comment
404
page for the New York Times: Anthony Cox -- the
man behind the 404 page for "weapons
of mass destruction" -- strikes again.
Link
to this item | Comment
The
Charlie Parker Residence: "Bird's House" at 151 Avenue
B, New York City, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places
in l994.
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Our
Birds - Rhode Island: 281 species that hang here. You can find
photos of many of them at enature.com
or in Google images. (We think there's a yellow warbler family in our
backyard.)
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How
to Fight for Privacy: Cory
Doctorow points to this, saying, "Bruce Schneier's latest Cryptogram
newsletter leads with a stirring editorial about the erosion of privacy
and the difficulty for average people to address it."
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July 14, 2003 6:40 p.m. -- (Last
week's weblog)
29,000
bathtub toys head for Atlantic beaches: ABC News reports,
...the bevy of 3-inch-high rubber duckies (emblazoned with the words
"The First Years" across their chests and mostly likely faded
from yellow to white) are among the estimated 29,000 bathtub toys packed
in 20 giant containers that fell off a ship in January 1992.
The ducks are expected to wash up on New England coasts soon, along
with rubber red beavers, green frogs and blue turtles that also toppled
off the ship.
Computer models show the toys, which were being shipped from China
to Seattle when they went overboard, have floated 15,000 miles along
the Alaska coast through the Bering Strait and along Labrador to Nova
Scotia. They're expected to wash up soon on U.S. Eastern shores.
If you find one, Curt Ebbesmeyer, a retired Seattle oceanographer would
like to know about it. His website, beachcombers.org,
has a flotsam
checklist you can print. Or just send a note or an email,
including the exact location where you found the toy, to Dr. Curtis C.
Ebbesmeyer, 6306 21st Ave. NE, Seattle, WA USA 98115. "Please describe
objects found, including height, width, weight, identifying codes and
number found per mile of beach; if possible, include photographs."
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Farewell, Compay
Segundo, dead at 95. From
the N.Y. Times obit (reg.req):
 Compay
Segundo, the salty Cuban singer and guitarist who was the eldest of
the elder musical statesmen featured on the "Buena
Vista Social Club" album and film, died on Sunday at his home
in Havana, an official at his record company in Spain said. He was 95.
Mr. Segundo, who rose to global fame in his 90s after decades of obscurity,
was the most accomplished of the dozen or so Cuban musicians gathered
in Havana in 1996 by the American producer Ry Cooder for a recording
session meant to recapture the lost music of the pre-Revolutionary Havana
nightclub scene.
Mr. Segundo was nearing 90 at the time, but his rich and resonant baritone
was undiluted, and his appearance in the film confirmed that his libido
also remained intact. He boasted of being the father of five, and said
with a mischievous grin that he was keen to sire a sixth.
Here's an appreciation
from the Cuban newspaper Granma.
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Burgers
are as addictive as drugs: From the Times Online ( U.K.),
SCIENTISTS have discovered that high doses of fat and sugar in fast
and processed foods can be as addictive as nicotine — and even
hard drugs.
The research found that foods which are high in fat and sugar can cause
significant changes in brain biochemistry similar to those from drugs
such as heroin and cocaine. Once hooked, the researchers say, many people
find it almost impossible to switch back to a healthy diet, often leading
to obesity.
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Blogs of note:
...turningtables...
is the blog of Moja, an American soldier in Iraq.
Maproom
Blog, a weblog about maps, of course, points to a
map of French cheese that looks as though it might have begun life
as a decorative dishtowel (it's incomplete and grainy). And to last
week's Washington
Post story about the humans who drive around logging additions and
changes to neighborhoods for Navigation
Technologies Corp., which adds their findings for databases used
by MapQuest, Yahoo Maps, Vindigo Inc. and OnStar Corp.
via Liz
Donovan.
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Funding
for TIA All But Dead: Wired reports today,
The controversial Terrorism Information Awareness program, which would
troll Americans' personal records to find terrorists before they strike,
may soon face the same fate Congress meted out to John Ashcroft in his
attempt to create a corps of volunteer domestic spies: death by legislation.
The Senate's $368 billion version of the 2004 defense appropriations
bill, released from committee to the full Senate on Wednesday, contains
a provision that would deny all funds to, and thus would effectively
kill, the Terrorism Information Awareness program, formerly known as
Total Information Awareness. TIA's projected budget for 2004 is $169
million.
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Meat world: Pittsburgh journalist-blogger Dave
Copeland on Pirates first baseman Randall Simon whacking with a bat
a human Italian sausage character as she ran past the dugout, one of four
runners in the traditional Milwaukee Brewer mascots' turn called a "sausage
race." When she fell, she took the hot dog down with her. The Polish
sausage and the bratwurst were unimpeded.
Dave: "God help us. We really need something to do here in Pittsburgh."
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Worth a link:
20
Lies About the War in The
Independent (U.K.).
Into
The Wild Blue Yonder: Adventures with the Blue Man Group at PopMatters.
Opinions
differ widely on plan to alter overtime pay rules. AP.
Charlie
Rose transcript: Interview with former N.Y. Times editor Howell Raines.
Science Toys You Can Make
With Your Kids: It's scitoys.com.
'AOL
Journals' To Bring Blogs To Millions. Leslie Walker in the Washington
Post.
Power
of new Navy sonar worries environmentalists in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Dancing
With the Google Devil: News Exec Sees Danger in Ad Links Program at
Editor & Publisher.
PDF: Unfit for
Human Consumption. Jakob Nielsen says those Adobe Acrobat Reader files
should only be used for documents readers will print. Otherwise, we hate
them.
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Subterranean Homepage News
by Sheila Lennon
features & interactive producer of projo.com |
