:: The Freewheelin' Reader ::

:: 30.3.05 ::

Huh?
Lars Ulrich, Fair Use Crusader?
By Xeni Jardin, BoingBoing.net
Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich is winning back some of the points he lost when he sued thousands of fans for illegally downloading his band's music through Napster. His new cause: protecting fair use -- the doctrine that says you can copy, share, and modify copyrighted works provided it's for the purpose of education, criticism, satire, or to create derivative works. When Sony Music, Metallica's record label, recently forced the Milwaukee cover band Beatallica to shut down its website, Ulrich came to the rescue, personally financing Beatallica's legal defense. -- Leif Utne

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On March 24, 1989, the nation's worst oil spill occurred as the supertanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on a reef in Alaska's Prince William Sound and began leaking 11 million gallons of crude.

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On March 25, 1965, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. led 25,000 marchers to the state capitol in Montgomery, Ala., to protest the denial of voting rights to blacks.

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Only in America!
Colorado Court Bars Execution Because Jurors Consulted Bible
By KIRK JOHNSON
The Bible, the court said, constituted an improper outside influence and a reliance on what the court called a "higher authority.
Actually, it's a pleseant suprise that the judge ruled as he did.

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Greetings,The largest commercial slaughter of marine mammals on the planethas begun. By the end of this year's hunt, more than 300,000 seals willhave been brutally killed - many of them babies as young as 12days old. Some of them will have been skinned while stillconscious and able to feel pain. The Humane Society of theUnited States is on the front lines in Canada, fighting to haltthis atrocity. Please stand with us today and stop the seal huntforever.
[STEP 1] TELL THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT TO END THE SEAL HUNT.Seal hunting is an off-season activity conducted by fishers fromCanada's East Coast. They earn, on average, a small fraction oftheir incomes from seal hunting - the rest from commercialfisheries. Canada earns $3 billion annually from seafoodexports to the United States. The connection between thecommercial fishing industry and the seal hunt in Canada givesconsumers all over the world the power to end this brutalslaughter. Click here to sign the pledge to boycott Canadianseafood.
http://ga3.org/ct/21zhf951rm35/
We'll deliver your pledge to Canada's government so thepoliticians will know you've joined our efforts and arecommitted to ending the seal hunt once and for all.
[STEP 2] SPREAD THE WORD.Canada is sensitive to world opinion. Hundreds of thousands ofpeople protesting and, in particular, refusing to buy Canadianseafood will make a difference. Taking the pledge is simple andeffective. Click here to pass it on!http://ga3.org/ct/Npzhf951rm3v/
[STEP 3] DOWNLOAD YOUR POCKET SEAFOOD GUIDE.We've made your pledge to boycott Canadian seafood EASY with ourwallet-sized guide. Once you've signed the pledge, click here todownload your free guide.
http://ga3.org/ct/2pzhf951rm3b/
An HSUS team of seal experts, campaigners, and journalists iscurrently on the ice in Canada. We're using a spotter plane topinpoint the slaughter locations, and helicopters take our teamsonto the ice so they can record the ugly truth about whathappens away from public view. You can stay in touch with ourbiggest animal protection campaign of the year and findup-to-the-minute news, videos and actions athttp://ga3.org/ct/wdzhf951rm3O/. I know that it's painful to think about this awful abuse, butyour involvement and action are critical to ending it. Thank youfor joining us today in our fight to abolish the brutal sealhunt forever.
Sincerely,Wayne PacellePresident & CEOThe Humane Society of the United States
P.S. Get frequent updates from Rebecca Aldworth, our Director ofCanadian Wildlife Issues, who will be on the ice during thefirst phase of the hunt to witness and report. Click here.http://ga3.org/ct/27zhf951rm3g/

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Raw food eaters thin but healthy
People who follow a raw food vegetarian diet are light in weight but healthy, according to US researchers.

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Surprising nearly everyone, Richard Kramer, a Republican-appointed judge on San Francisco County's Superior Court, ruled on March 14th that the state's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. He wrote that California's “protracted denial of due process cannot be justified simply because such constitutional violation has become traditional. Simply put, same-sex marriage cannot be prohibited because California has always done so before”.
Mr Kramer was presiding over a lawsuit challenging the ban filed by same-sex couples and the city of San Francisco. In early 2004, Gavin Newsom, San Francisco's mayor, granted marriage licenses to nearly 4,000 same-sex couples. The state Supreme Court later ruled that he had exceeded his authority, but did not weigh in on the validity of the ban. Under state law, Mr Kramer's decision is stayed for 60 days to allow time for appeals. Opponents plan to do just that, and have also renewed calls for a federal constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. They have promised to try for a statewide referendum on the issue.

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A major study will examine what limits should be put on the continued use of non-human primates in UK experiments.

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The media coverage of the Schiavo case doesn't include oneimportant detail: a Texas law that authorizes health careproviders to remove their patients from life support. Guesswho signed it into law?

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A number puzzle originating in the work of self-taught maths genius Srinivasa Ramanujan nearly a century ago has been solved. The solution may one day lead to advances in particle physics and computer security.

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Apparently I was blog crazy back in '03 b/c I started a Walrus journal too.
Huh.

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I don't know what all this information means, but it looks like someone might be buying my blog

URL
http://freewheeling.blogspot.com/
News feed
Syndic8.com
Valuation
B$1,000.00
Added
20:26 02 Apr 2004
Last Updated
15:44 23 Feb 2005
Status
Available to Trade.

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Fox provides us with some

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It’s been three years since the Belgian duo 2 Many DJs first popularized the mash-up — a renegade copyright-infringing multi-artist cut-up. Since then the art form has gone worldwide. New York-based DJ Reset (AKA Jeremy Brown) is now taking things to the next level. His latest single, “Frontin’ on Debra”, a soulful lovers-only concoction of Beck’s “Debra” (from 1999’s Midnight Vultures) and Pharrell Williams and Jay-Z’s 2003 single “Frontin’” is the first commercially released song of its kind ever, and has made considerable waves on Apple’s iTunes music store. That Beck, Pharrell, and Jay-Z all signed off is an indication that the new style is being accepted beyond what Reset could have imagined. He has also created other musical crossbreeds: Mary J. Blige and the Rolling Stones’ lamentable (“Sympathy Dayz”), Eminem and the White Stripes’ anthemic (“7 Superman Army”), and the Beatles and Slick Rick’s soft-spoken (“Mother Nature’s Rick”).Brown’s sights are set on an even greater accomplishment — a hybrid of Paul McCartney and Wings’ “With a Little Luck” and Prince’s “1999.” He sounds hopeful — McCartney is said to be a fan.
JASON BLACK, Planet mag.

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The government of Niger, which had blessed the release of 7,000 slaves, scheduled for last week, changed its mind, denied that there were any slaves on its territory and intimidated the slave-owners into parroting this denial. No slaves were freed.
See article
Thank gawd for people, eh.

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Matthew Scott Kelemen,
AlterNet
The children featured in 'Born into Brothels' are growing upfast. Filmmakers Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman hope to givethem some tools to navigate with.

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JETSGO SHUTS DOWN, STRANDS TRAVELLERS
Discount airline Jetsgo is grounding its fleet immediately and advising travellers to find another way to get to their destination.
A couple of my students have been affected by Jetsgo shutting down. Big news. I thought they were doing really well.

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Remember I told you there would be wars over water. I'm like a friggin' prophet.
Two of Kenya's prominent ethnic groups--the Maasai and the Kikuyu--continue to battle over use of water from the Ewaso Kedong River. At least 14 have been killed and hundreds forced to flee since the fighting began in late January.

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'Me Decade' Celebrates 35th Year
NEW YORK—
The "Me Decade," a period beginning in 1970 and marked by self-awareness and self-fulfillment, celebrated its 35th year Monday. "With careerism, materialism, and general self-involvement as popular as they were was decades ago, the Me Decade may well go on for another 35 years," said historian and Columbia University professor Dr. Vera Conklin. "It's been the longest-running decade in American history, beating the selfless 'Greatest Generation' of the '40s by a good 15 years. Selfishness, it seems, is here to stay." Author Tom Wolfe, who coined the term in his essay "The Me Decade And The Third Great Awakening," was unavailable for comment, as he is working on his memoirs.
- The Onion

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