Voluntary Collective Licensing

The EFF has published a "Let the Music Play" whitepaper which outlines their suggestion for Voluntary Collective Licensing of Music File Sharing. It's a very well reasoned and workable idea. So the music industry will reject it out of hand. But it's worth a read, because to me, it's the most reasonable suggestion I've heard to solve the "filesharing" issue.

Do Job Boards Work?

Apparently not. Or at least, not well. Here's a very interesting article from "Ask the Headhunter" about how effective some of the major job boards (Monster, HotJobs, CareerBuilder) are at helping you find employment. The bottom line: they aren't very effective at all.

JVC HD Camcorder...

Last night at the MCAI meeting, JVC was on hand to do a presentation about their new "consumer" High-Definition video format, tentatively called HDV. To make a long story short, the have basically taken an HD resolution signal and compressed it in the camera using MPEG-2 compression, to create an MPEG-2 Transport Stream which gets recorded onto a standard Mini-DV formatted tape. Pretty nifty, overall, but there are a few drawbacks:

• The compression is done in hardware, so you don't get a true HD signal, you get an MPEG-2
  
• You need a special HDV Deck (or to use your camcorder for editing) and the format is not widely supported.
  
• The cameras are only 1-CCD (more on that later)
  

JVC has two cameras out, the consumer GR-HD1, and the professional JY-HD10. Price aside, there are two really critical differences:

• The professional unit allows you to generate color bars
  
• The professional unit has XLR inputs
  

If you don't know why those are big deals, the consumer level camera is for you. Otherwise, go for the professional unit.

The camera can record in SD at 480i or 480p, compressed w/MPEG-2, it can also record in standard DV format, or in HD at 720p, also MPEG-2 compressed. JVC boasts that it can playback 1080i, but it can't record in 1080i.

The camera is also only a 1-CCD chip. For a one chip camera, it does take a very sharp, crisp image that doesn't blow out too badly on highlights and it doesn't crush blacks horribly. JVC claims to be using layer technology on the CCD to eliminate the need for multiple CCDs (like the Foveon chip) however, they either need to license the Foveon chip or do a better job implementing the technology, in the SD range, any 3-CCD camera I've seen produces a better image.

Of course, the technology is not designed to be a replacement for higher end HD Cams (like the Sony HDWF900 or the Panasonic AJ-HDC27 VariCam) but I think it falls a bit short on the lower end.

The camera features are extremely limited. You can do far more tweaking on a Canon XL1s or Sony DCR-VX2100 both of which compete with the JVC on price point.

Frankly, I think the "HD" aspect of it is a bit gimmicky, and if what you really want is a great looking NTSC picture, pass on this one. If HD is really what you want, don't jump into it with this JVC. The HDV standard is being adopted by other vendors, and there might be some announcements at NAB in April. I'd be very interested to see what Sony and Canon plan for the format (they are both supposedly developing with it). If you're a die hard early adopter, or have a clear project that justifies it, the JVC is okay, but I have a feeling in a year we'll have a lot more camera to choose from.

Don't Run Ralph

Here's an interesting Flash that points out how Nader cost Gore the election, and asks him not to run. Ralph does stand for a lot of good things, but as his last campaign showed:

1. He can't even come close to winning.

2. He can draw enough liberal Democrat votes to swing a close election.

You might not agree entirely with whoever gets the democratic nomination, however, ask yourself this: do you agree with them more than you agree with Bush? Because a vote cast in protest in this election is a vote cast for Bush.

Why Gay Marriage Should Not Be Legalized

1. Homosexuality is not natural, much like eyeglasses, polyester, and birth control.

2. Heterosexual marriages are valid becasue they produce children. Infertile couples and old people can't legally get married because the world needs more children.

3. Obviously, gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.

4. Straight marriage will be less meaningful if Gay marriage is allowed, since Britney Spears' 55-hour just-for-fun marriage was meaningful.

5. Heterosexual marriage has been around a long time and hasn't changed at all; women are property, blacks can't marry whites, and divorce is illegal.

6. Gay marriage should be decided by people, not the courts, because the majority-elected legislatures, not courts, have historically protected the rights of the minorities.

7. Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire counrty. That's why we have only one religion in America.

8. Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.

9. Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

10. Children can never suceed without a male and a female role model at home. That's why single parents are forbidden to raise children.

11. Gay marriage will change the foundation of society. Heterosexual marriage has been around for a long time, and we could never adapt to new social norms because we haven't adapted to things like cars or longer lifespans.

12. Civil unions, providing most of the same benefits as marriage with a different name are better, because a "seperate but equal" institution is always constitutional. Seperate schools for African-Americans worked just as well as seperate marriages for gays and lesbians will.

[Via BEB]

Meet Dudley Hiibel

Meet Dudley Hiibel. He's a 59 year old cowboy who owns a small ranch outside of Winnemucca, Nevada. He lives a simple life, but he's his own man. You probably never would have heard of Dudley Hiibel if it weren't for his belief in the U.S. Constitution.

One balmy May evening back in 2000, Dudley was standing around minding his own business when all of a sudden, a policeman pulled-up and demanded that Dudley produce his ID. Dudley, having done nothing wrong, declined. He was arrested and charged with "failure to cooperate" for refusing to show ID on demand. And it's all on video.

On the 22nd of March 2004, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether Dudley and the rest of us live in a free society, or in a country where we must show "the papers" whenever a cop demands them.

[Via Boing Boing]

The "New" Preaching to the Perverted!

Welcome to the new home of Preaching to the Perverted!

As you can see, everything really looks pretty much the same. In fact, nothing has really changed except the publishing software and host. You can now subscribe to the RRS Feed for the site here:

http://www.gulbransen.net/preaching/index.rdf

I moved because I wanted to start using MT, and I wanted the blog to be hosted under my own domain. You'll still find the same incoherent ramblings you are used to... enjoy!

Web Comics Round Up

I love animation, but I'll get to that in a minute. I thought I would do a quick summary of some web based comics out there that I check out regularly. Some are more geeky than others, but all of them have (I think) something going for them. Check them out, you might find one or two of interest:

• Something Positive
  
• Her!
  
• Red Meat
  
• Rehabilitating Mr. Wiggles
  
• Penny Arcade
  
• User Friendly
  
• /usr/bin/w00t
  
• The Devil's Panties
  

Beware, some of these (Especially Mr. Wiggles and Red Meat) are probably not for the faint of heart. But they are still damn funny.

Web Animation Round Up

There was a post on boing-boing today with some web animation links, and since I love animation, I thought I'd repost them and add some to the list.

• Animwatch
  
• AtomFilms (Animation Category)
  
• Muffin Films
  
• Robot Love
  
• Door Steps (An Animated Music Video)
  

This is certainly not an inclusive list of web animation... I'd love to see other sites that showcase what's going on out there. Send me your links!

We love the subs

Quizno's Subs is running a new ad campaign that features the singing, um, things, from the Moon Song Flash. I have to say, these things are some of the funniest ads I've seen in a long time. Quizno's has the ads on the site... check them out! Damn, those things are funny!

Federal Budget - As Oreo Cookies

Stunning political advocacy Flash. This is one of the most effective pieces of political advocacy I've ever seen. Ben Cohen, the Ben of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream, narrates a short Flash movie for TrueMajority.org, in which he explains -- using Oreo cookies -- the way that the federal budget is currently apportioned, and how little rearrangement would be necessary to renew all of America's social programs. The examples are vivid and charming, and the logic is compelling.

Music Plasma

Check out the awesome visual music mapping interface musicplasma.com. Type in your favorite bands and it maps out funky relations with others of similar style or musical influence.

Multiple Protocol IM for OS X?

Now that I'm using my Mac more and more (Thank god for OS X!) I'm trying to find decent replacements for the applications I actually use regularly under windows.

One of those apps is Trillian, which is an Instant Messaging (IM) client that supports multiple connection protocols (AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, MSN, and Jabber). Trillian's not perfect, but I have some friends that use AIM, some that use Yahoo, and some that use ICQ, and Trillian allows me to run one client and chat with them all.

So far, I've found Proteus and Fire for OS X, but I've read both are shakey... I guess I'll find out. What I really wish is that the fine folks at Cerulean (who make Trillian) would see fit to do an OS X port. That would be sweet.

Drool...

LaCie has announced a 1TB drive... :) Of course, it's currently $1299, but I remember when the first 1GB drives hit the market at $1000... three years later, we were all buying 30-40GB drives for $200...

Why I Love Red Meat

German Band Release CD with Blanks for Burning!

"German band Eisbrecher has decided to make a statement for its fans and for music consumers in general and is releasing their album Eisbrecher with 2 blank CD-Rs which have the same label as the CD itself. Alexx Wesselsky (singer and head of the group): "We are of the opinion that the music buyers are criminalized enough and have been made responsible for the wretched state in the music industry. We are giving them the chance to make 2 legal copies for private use with 'official blanks'."

Cinema Now

I'm not quite sure how I missed this one... but here it is, movie delivery via the net from CinemaNow! You can either download the entire movie file to play later, or you can have it streamed to you. Now, I have no desire to sit at my PC and watch movies, but it's also trivial to hook my PC up to my TV (and that ability is becoming more and more common each day). Of course, CinemaNow was started by Lions Gate along with Microsoft and Blockbuster. I haven't used it yet, but I'm going to try it out... it represents a possible future for content distribution, and another potential outlet for independent films that might not get wide distribution otherwise.

Why IDs Create a False Sense of Security

Bruce Schneier has written a really excellent piece in the San Francisco Chronicle, called "How We Are Fighting the War on Terrorism: IDs and the Illusion of Security". He raises several excellent points about how merely having an ID these days is essentially meaningless, and why the ID of using IDs as a stalwart of national security is a dangerously flawed idea.

Superbowl Half-Time Craptacular!!

Um, okay... Janet Jackson and Kid Rock? Apparenly I missed something. I didn't realize they still had careers. It's like I've been time-warped to 1997!! Help!!

I mean, seriously, no one expects it to be good but c'mon. P. Diddy has resorted to ripping off Toni Basil??! I'm going to fire up Garage Band and launch my musical career posthaste. Apparently, I have enough talent in my average turd to get a spot in the Superbowl half-time show.

Not even Janet's tit could save this monstrosity. And I'm sorry, if that wasn't a planned exposure (and I could care less one way or the other) then why did she have on that sunburst nipple ring/pastie on under the bodice? Hmm?? Accident? Me thinks not.