Producer's Edge Magazine / Producer's Edge Magazine Forums / The Larger World

You shouldn't look at this...

Griffin Avid — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 07:21:22 GMT

Thinking of bringing this to market.

1. included drum machine which is also a dongle for the software ala Digidesign. we partnered up with Behringer to bring you the Hammerhead Rhythm experience.

2. Bundled software, which is was downloaded from the KVR developers results page. I will highlight a ridiculous "Bundled software worth XXXX" amount to really let the customer know this has great value.

3. All-star endorsements from popular internet iconic celebrities to lend credibility. Only those with high post counts need apply.

4.It will certainly be expensive- furthering its credibilty

5. We will use phrases like Hot Urban and Banga. Our newsletters will all start with "It's ya boy.." Well hire a rock and roll cat or maybe even someone from our accounting dept to demonstrate its abilities.

6. we will release an expensive *must have* Producer Kit and use BobbleHead producer graphics to explain what the kits sound like. And ..and we'll bundle those Hollow Sun samples as our exclusive drum sounds. Long as we show a picture of a wall of crates, it won't make a difference.

Monsters! All of them!

Jane Alias — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 19:30:24 GMT

These men are monsters!

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The images in the Basra police file are nauseating: Page after page of women killed in brutal fashion -- some strangled to death, their faces disfigured; others beheaded. All bear signs of torture.

Police chief Gen. Abdul Jalil Khalaf holds a book cataloging the dead.

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The women are killed, police say, because they failed to wear a headscarf or because they ignored other "rules" that secretive fundamentalist groups want to enforce.

"Fear, fear is always there," says 30-year-old Safana, an artist and university professor. "We don't know who to be afraid of. Maybe it's a friend or a student you teach. There is no break, no security. I don't know who to be afraid of."

Her fear is justified. Iraq's second-largest city, Basra, is a stronghold of conservative Shia groups. As many as 133 women were killed in Basra last year -- 79 for violation of "Islamic teachings" and 47 for so-called honor killings, according to IRIN, the news branch of the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

One glance through the police file is enough to understand the consequences. Basra's police chief, Gen. Abdul Jalil Khalaf, flips through the file, pointing to one unsolved case after another. Watch Khalaf show evidence of the brutality »

"I think so far, we have been unable to tackle this problem properly," he says. "There are many motives for these crimes and parties involved in killing women, by strangling, beheading, chopping off their hands, legs, heads."

"When I came to Basra a year ago," he says, "two women were killed in front of their kids. Their blood was flowing in front of their kids, they were crying. Another woman was killed in front of her 6-year-old son, another in front of her 11-year-old child, and yet another who was pregnant."

The killers enforcing their own version of Islamic justice are rarely caught, while women live in fear.

Boldly splattered in red paint just outside the main downtown market, a chilling sign reads: "We warn against not wearing a headscarf and wearing makeup. Those who do not abide by this will be punished. God is our witness, we have notified you."

The attacks on the women of Basra have intensified since British forces withdrew to their base at the airport back in September, police say. Iraqi security forces took over after British troops pulled back, but are heavily infiltrated by militias.

And tracking the perpetrators of these crimes is nearly impossible, Khalaf says, adding that he doesn't have control of the thousands of policemen and officers.

"We're trying to trace crimes carried out by an anonymous enemy," he says.

Amnesty International has raised concern about the increasing violence toward women in Iraq, saying abductions, rapes and "honor killings" are on the rise.

"Politically active women, those who did not follow a strict dress code, and women [who are] human rights defenders were increasingly at risk of abuses, including by armed groups and religious extremists," Amnesty said in a 2007 report.

Sometimes, it's just the color of a woman's headscarf that can draw unwanted attention.

"One time, one of my female colleagues commented on the color of my headscarf," Safana says. "She said it would draw attention ... [and I should] avoid it and stick to colors like gray, brown and black."

This extremist ideology enrages many secular Muslim women, who say it's a misrepresentation of Islam.

Sawsan, another woman who works at a university, says the message from the radicals to women is simple: "They seem to be sending us a message to stay at home and keep your mouth shut."

After the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, Sawsan says, the situation was "the best." But now, she says, it's "the worst."

"We thought there would be freedom and democracy and women would have their rights. But all the things we were promised have not come true. There is only fear and horror."

Exclusive First Look at 'Watchmen'

Oscar Wilde — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:12:29 GMT

http://www.moviefone.com/insidemovies/2008/07/23/exclusive-first-look-at-watchmen/

Exclusive First Look at 'Watchmen'

We were on set of the upcoming screen version of the Alan Moore classic -- and bring you early scoop.

The news that Zack Snyder was going to tackle the epic comic universe of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' 'Watchmen' brought excitement and trepidation to the fanboy world. Snyder's the guy whose vision guided '300' to unexpected blockbuster status, after all, but '300' is no 'Watchmen' -- that is, an iconic, revered graphic novel that brings to life an intricately written alternate reality of superheroes, crime and Doomsday.

''If you filmed everything, it would be a five-hour movie,'' Snyder told us. But have no fear, ''It follows the structure really closely. We flip through it to try to find out where we are. It's super close, I think.''

Shortly before Halloween '07, when we visited, the costumes had just arrived on set, Zack was filming Rorschach's bloody prison scenes, Laurie and Dan (the second Silk Spectre and Nite Owl) were storming the jail in full force, and it was clear that this wasn't your everyday hero movie.

There was a palpable excitement -- from the eager gleam in Snyder's eye, to the chatter of the men behind the scenes. Unlike the digitally created world of '300,' there were real-world sets for 'Watchmen' on its Vancouver soundstage. The Gunga Diner, nestled on a New York street in the making, was slowly coming together with plywood. Nite Owl's ship hovered in the air, its two large eyes gleaming while it waited to be finished. Dr. Manhattan's lab loomed powerfully, just waiting for the blue hero to conduct experiments.

Topped off with actors who really become their roles, 'Watchmen' looks simply irresistible from every angle. Jackie Earle Haley has become a solid, lean mass of muscle to play Rorschach. Jeffrey Dean Morgan becomes tough and slimy in the Comedian's gear. Even Patrick Wilson, who might seem too slight to play Dan Dreiberg, becomes a different person as Nite Owl. His cap comes off, his posture straightens, and he's suddenly a man of power, ripping through prison inmates.

But this is only a teaser. Stay tuned for more close to 'Watchmen''s big screen bow in 2009.

--Reporting by Monika Bartyzel

Robot Police - Terminator meets Reality

xodus phoenix — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:41:58 GMT

Griffin, I know you gonna dig this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQX_TcVDFnI&feature=related

Favorite movie list

Jane Alias — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 02:07:19 GMT

10. Romancing the stone

9. Pretty Woman

8. Thelma and Louise

7. West Side Story

6. GI Jane

5. Sleepless In Seattle

4. Scream

3. Mississippi Salsa

2. Titanic

1. Officer and a Gentleman

Torque-movie freeze frame blooper.

Griffin Avid — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:17:10 GMT

This is an actual scene in the movie where you can clearly see the film crew on the far right. Wow.

Guilty plea to killing woman, her fetus and kids

Jane Alias — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 04:01:45 GMT

Guilty plea to killing woman, her fetus and kids

Deal means Tiffany Hall, 26, will avoid execution, serve life without parole

BELLEVILLE, Ill. - A woman pleaded guilty Monday to killing her pregnant friend, the unborn child and the victim's three children in a plea deal that allowed her to avoid the death penalty.

Tiffany Hall, 26, pleaded guilty to all five charges against her — four counts of murder and one count of intentional homicide in the death of the fetus — and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Hall struck her friend Jimella Tunstall, 23, on the head repeatedly with a table leg, then cut Tunstall's fetus from her womb in a bathtub, prosecutor Robert Haida said. Tunstall bled to death, Haida said. Hall then dumped her friend's body in an East St. Louis lot.

Jeff Roberson / AP

Tiffany Hall walks out of court Monday in Belleville, Ill., after pleading guilty to killing her pregnant friend, her unborn child and the woman's three children.

Hours later, Hall told police in Illinois she had given birth to a stillborn child. When police arrived, she had the dead fetus with her. She refused to be examined at a hospital.

Three days later, Hall visited the father of two of Tunstall's children and the unborn child, Haida said. The father was caring for all the children, Haida said. Hall told the father that Tunstall wanted her to pick up the children and Tunstall's vehicle, he told police.

The father told the officers that was the last time he saw his children, Haida said.

Hall then drowned the three children — DeMond Tunstall, 7, Ivan Tunstall-Collins 2, and Jinella Tunstall, 1 — in the same bathtub where she killed their mother, Haida said.

Story begins to unravel
Authorities said Hall's story began to unravel on Sept. 21, 2006, about a week after Tunstall's death, when she told her boyfriend that she killed a pregnant woman and stole the fetus. He told police.

The bodies of the three children were found two days later hidden in a washer and dryer inside the East St. Louis apartment where the children had lived with their mother.

One of Hall's attorneys, James Gomric, said he could not speak to a motive or discuss whether his client had shown remorse. He said Hall had been mentally fit to stand trial, but she also had unresolved mental health issues and had an IQ in the mid-70s.

After the hearing, some of Tunstall's relatives said they had already forgiven Hall. Sandra Myers, Jimella Tunstall's mother, said taking one life would not have been justice for losing the lives of others. "I have to forgive her," she said.

ATTN: Jane Alias

xodus phoenix — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 16:08:53 GMT

The inflation of Steve Austin

P.R.O. — Mon, 26 May 2008 17:11:38 GMT

What would the $6 Million Man cost today?
These days, six mil might not even buy a finger. Here's a look at some pop culture icons - what they went for back in the day, and how much they might cost now.

Steve Austin - 1974[img]http://i2.cdn.turner.com/money/galleries/2008/pf/0805/gallery.inflation_pop_culture/images/6_million.jpg[/img]
# 1974 cost: $6 million
# 2008 inflation adj. cost: $26 million
# Actual 2008 cost: Up to $100 million

We can rebuild him, but for how much? Back in 1974, $6 million was enough to buy crashed-astronaut Steve Austin a new arm, an eye, and a pair of legs with super strength and vision.

Today, we might call him the Twenty-Six Million Dollar Man. That's the value of $6 million in 1974 dollars when adjusted for inflation using tools from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

But the real cost of a modern-day cyborg in 2008 would be quite different, according to Greg Chirikjian, professor of mechanical engineering at The Johns Hopkins Institute and a big fan of the original TV show.

According to Chirikjian, research and development costs to design a bionic man would be $50 million to $100 million today. But with a completed design, production costs would only be several hundred thousand dollars per person, he said, but they'd lack Austin's super powers.

"These are not individuals who are going to jump three stories onto a building and see three miles away," Chirikjian said, noting that replacement parts "would approximate the functionality of the original limbs."

This cybernetic technology is not yet available, he said, but it is achievable: "It would require further R&D, though people are working on various aspects of it."
By Aaron Smith, CNNMoney.com staff writer

You are the most important factor in reaching your goals.....

xodus phoenix — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 15:26:38 GMT

You are the most important factor in reaching your goals.....

Objective: Personal Growth

How many of us have been inspired by the actions of others and have said to ourselves “ You know, I’ve been thinking a long time about finally taking the time to ……..” , only to file it away in our daydream cabinet moments, or sometimes days later?

Every day life consumes our thoughts and actions and distracts us from things that help us to be better to ourselves and others around us. Though not always pleasant, we prefer to stay in our own ‘comfort zones’ and make excuses as to why we can’t do those things that we’ve wanted to do.

Personal growth can include a variety of things that you would like to accomplish. Perhaps the goal is to learn a new skill, or improve on one that you already have. Maybe it’s finding time in your schedule to exercise, or changing a ‘people’ skill that would enable you to be a better leader, companion, or teacher. It could be that you’ve always wanted to volunteer and help others.

Instead of saying “I’m just not good at that” and chalking it up to being a weakness and moving on, do a little research into how to improve that particular skill. There is a huge variety of resources available even if you have little time or money to spare.

Be realistic in your goal setting. You have years ahead of you to learn or do new things. Lay out your Personal Growth outline and list the goals needed to reach that level of growth. Don’t try to do them all at once. Maybe you can listen to one self help audio book a month. Utilize time where you’re normally just ‘killing time’. Sometimes it takes only a small amount of time each day once it’s broken down into more manageable groups. What in the beginning takes discipline, soon becomes habit. There may be days where you are not able to accomplish your daily growth task. That’s OK, just don’t let that become the new habit.

Personal growth not only affects our lives, but the lives of those around us. It doesn’t even have to be shared with others or discussed, people around you will know.

If you wait too long to take those first few steps, the opportunity to do so may pass.

Be that person whose actions inspire others. Make them say to themselves “ You know, I’ve been thinking a long time about finally taking the time to ……..”, and let ripple effects begin.

Government eaves-dropping!

Jane Alias — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 15:20:01 GMT

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush on Monday urged the House of Representatives to vote on an update to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, saying, "If the enemy is calling to America, we really need to know what they're saying."

A temporary update to FISA permitting the intelligence community to conduct surveillance on foreigners without a warrant expired more than a week ago.

Bush has been pressing Congress to pass a permanent update to FISA, arguing that its delayed passage hurts national security.

Democrats have said the existing 1978 FISA law gives the government all the authority it needs to carry out surveillance and that passage of the final bill can wait until the House and Senate reconcile their differences.

Both the House and Senate versions of the bill would allow U.S. intelligence to tap into phone and Internet traffic overseas without obtaining a judge's warrant, even if the calls were routed through communications centers in the United States.

But the Senate version contains a controversial measure that grants legal immunity to telecommunications companies that cooperated with the warrantless wiretapping program Bush acknowledged in 2005. The immunity would apply retroactively.

Critics said the program violated the law, and phone and Internet companies face as many as 40 lawsuits related to their participation. The House has balked at passing the immunity measure.

"It was a very strong bipartisan bill that passed the Senate, and it's a bill that we can live with ... and it's a bill that should be put on the House floor for a vote up or down," Bush told the National Governors Association meeting at the White House.

Bush stressed the economic impact that telecommunications companies could face if an update of the bill is not passed.

"The problem is, should companies who are believed to have helped us after 9/11 until today get information necessary to protect the country be sued? My answer is absolutely not. They shouldn't be sued."

Bush said the threat of lawsuits would create doubt among private-sector "folks who we need to help protect us" and would make it harder to convince these companies to participate in the future.

On Friday, National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell and Attorney General Michael Mukasey sent a formal letter to the House Intelligence Committee saying the House's failure to pass the Senate bill has harmed the country.

"Our experience in the past few days since the expiration of the act demonstrates that these concerns are neither speculative nor theoretical: allowing the act to expire without passing the bipartisan Senate bill has had real and negative consequences for our national security," the two said in the letter.

But on Saturday McConnell appeared to backtrack, saying that new surveillance could begin without the legislation.

"We learned last night after sending this letter that, as a result of these efforts, new surveillances under existing directives issued pursuant to the Protect America Act will resume, at least for now," McConnell said.

The Protect America Act was the name of the temporary fix to FISA that was passed last summer.

"Unfortunately, the delay resulting from this discussion impaired our ability to cover foreign intelligence targets, which resulted in missed intelligence information," he said

FBI wants palm prints, eye scans, tattoo mapping

xodus phoenix — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 04:48:34 GMT

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/02/04/fbi.biometrics/index.html

CLARKSBURG, West Virginia (CNN) -- The FBI is gearing up to create a massive computer database of people's physical characteristics, all part of an effort the bureau says to better identify criminals and terrorists.

The FBI wants to use eye scans, combined with other data, to help identify suspects.

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But it's an issue that raises major privacy concerns -- what one civil liberties expert says should concern all Americans.

The bureau is expected to announce in coming days the awarding of a $1 billion, 10-year contract to help create the database that will compile an array of biometric information -- from palm prints to eye scans.

Kimberly Del Greco, the FBI's Biometric Services section chief, said adding to the database is "important to protect the borders to keep the terrorists out, protect our citizens, our neighbors, our children so they can have good jobs, and have a safe country to live in."

But it's unnerving to privacy experts.

"It's the beginning of the surveillance society where you can be tracked anywhere, any time and all your movements, and eventually all your activities will be tracked and noted and correlated," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Technology and Liberty Project.

The FBI already has 55 million sets of fingerprints on file. In coming years, the bureau wants to compare palm prints, scars and tattoos, iris eye patterns, and facial shapes. The idea is to combine various pieces of biometric information to positively identify a potential suspect.

lot will depend on how quickly technology is perfected, according to Thomas Bush, the FBI official in charge of the Clarksburg, West Virginia, facility where the FBI houses its current fingerprint database. Watch what the FBI hopes to gain »

"Fingerprints will still be the big player," Bush, assistant director of the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division, told CNN.

But he added, "Whatever the biometric that comes down the road, we need to be able to plug that in and play."

First up, he said, are palm prints. The FBI has already begun collecting images and hopes to soon use these as an additional means of making identifications. Countries that are already using such images find 20 percent of their positive matches come from latent palm prints left at crime scenes, the FBI's Bush said.

The FBI has also started collecting mug shots and pictures of scars and tattoos. These images are being stored for now as the technology is fine-tuned. All of the FBI's biometric data is stored on computers 30-feet underground in the Clarksburg facility.

In addition, the FBI could soon start comparing people's eyes -- specifically the iris, or the colored part of an eye -- as part of its new biometrics program called Next Generation Identification.

Nearby, at West Virginia University's Center for Identification Technology Research, researchers are already testing some of these technologies that will ultimately be used by the FBI.

"The best increase in accuracy will come from fusing different biometrics together," said Bojan Cukic, the co-director of the center.

But while law enforcement officials are excited about the possibilities of these new technologies, privacy advocates are upset the FBI will be collecting so much personal information.

"People who don't think mistakes are going to be made I don't think fly enough," said Steinhardt.

He said thousands of mistakes have been made with the use of the so-called no-fly lists at airports -- and that giving law enforcement widespread data collection techniques should cause major privacy alarms.

"There are real consequences to people," Steinhardt said. Watch concerns over more data collection »

You don't have to be a criminal or a terrorist to be checked against the database. More than 55 percent of the checks the FBI runs involve criminal background checks for people applying for sensitive jobs in government or jobs working with vulnerable people such as children and the elderly, according to the FBI.

The FBI says it hasn't been saving the fingerprints for those checks, but that may change. The FBI plans a so-called "rap-back" service in which an employer could ask the FBI to keep the prints for an employee on file and let the employer know if the person ever has a brush with the law. The FBI says it will first have to clear hurdles with state privacy laws, and people would have to sign waivers allowing their information to be kept.

Critics say people are being forced to give up too much personal information. But Lawrence Hornak, the co-director of the research center at West Virginia University, said it could actually enhance people's privacy.

"It allows you to project your identity as being you," said Hornak. "And it allows people to avoid identity theft, things of that nature." Watch Hornak describe why he thinks it's a "privacy enhancer" »

There remains the question of how reliable these new biometric technologies will be. A 2006 German study looking at facial recognition in a crowded train station found successful matches could be made 60 percent of the time during the day. But when lighting conditions worsened at night, the results shrank to a success rate of 10 to 20 percent.

As work on these technologies continues, researchers are quick to admit what's proven to be the most accurate so far. "Iris technology is perceived today, together with fingerprints, to be the most accurate," said Cukic.

But in the future all kinds of methods may be employed. Some researchers are looking at the way people walk as a possible additional means of identification.

The FBI says it will protect all this personal data and only collect information on criminals and those seeking sensitive jobs.

The ACLU's Steinhardt doesn't believe it will stop there.

"This had started out being a program to track or identify criminals," he said. "Now we're talking about large swaths of the population -- workers, volunteers in youth programs. Eventually, it's going to be everybody."

From Kelli Arena and Carol Cratty
CNN

Jane and Vanhelsing get Pwned by XO

xodus phoenix — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 05:38:41 GMT

http://zendrum.com/forums/index.php?topic=1041.new;topicseen#new

For everyone at Zendrum, I am pleased to announce the immediate release of a totally new Zendrum model for 2008, at a breakthrough price of $999. We have just completed tooling up for production of the Zendrum Articulating Programmer - the ZAP.

(Zendrum ZAP in Walnut)

It is specifically a stationary desktop MIDI controller with the same proven triggers and circuitry used in the mobile ZX and LT models, and designed with a smaller footprint to fit in tight spaces and studio environments. It is the perfect hardware for playing multisampled drum software, which until now has been severely limited by yesterday's mushy-feeling touchpad devices. None of them is as fast, sensitive, or intuitive to play as the ZAP. Nothing else feels like a real instrument that you can depend on for years of hard work. Still the same reliable quality you expect from Zendrum with my personal lifetime warranty.

The ZAP features a unique, very tightly clustered 19-trigger arrangement in five offset rows. This staggered cluster can be played as a single instrument with many different articulations, or used as separate voices that can be expressed either individually or together with a minimum of physical effort. The ZAP is also surprisingly adaptable as a melodic instrument with the Zendrum default note map scales suggesting many new techniques and applications waiting to be explored. Already, VST instrument and sample designers are hard at work creating a new generation of software that maximize the potential of the ZAP. You can even strum it like a guitar!

There are 3 extra 1/4" trigger pedal inputs and a 1/4" sustain pedal input for "drummer-friendly" footwork as well as the Zendrum momentary sustain button on the top that acts as a "choke" for longer sounds and MIDI effects.

This is the smallest Zendrum ever at 12"wide X 10.5"deep X 2"high. Solid heavyweight wood species were chosen for beauty and lasting value as well as for density and trigger isolation under the hardest playing conditions.

-----------------------------------------------

Didn't know if Griffie or you was sitting on this- seeing you've got the article in this issue and the personal attachment thing. But it's blast so I ran it here. Let's kick it.

New Years Resolutions With a twist

Griffin Avid — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 11:37:30 GMT

Thinking about a fresh start for a new year and wondering what changes we will all go through.

1. Name something ( a habit/skill/tendency) you want to pick up.

2. Name something you want to put down and stop doing.

3. A goal for the year's end.

iSound Artist Blog: Great read

xodus phoenix — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 02:41:56 GMT

Tuesday, January 2nd, 2007
A NEW YEAR IS THE BEST TIME TO MAKE POSITIVE CAREER CHANGES
A New Year's Resolution is simple Goal-Setting in action... and this annual ritual offers us a good opportunity to adjust our strategy for personal improvement.

The beginning of another year is always a great time to reflect on our progress and analyze the results of our efforts over the previous 12 months. The purpose of this exercise is to encourage ourselves to make better choices, set challenging goals, and develop a detailed action plan for the coming year. This article will review some practical and useful tips that I hope will help you to passionately embrace the New Year with purpose and hope.

The pursuit of excellence goes hand in hand with confidence. And, how we achieve confidence is by continually setting goals and reaching them... one little step after the other, over a period of time. There is no shortcut... there is no magic wand. I cannot overstate the importance of goal-setting, focus and commitment... these are the characteristics that are always inherent with highly successful people in every field. Goal-setting can be very intimidating for the insecure performer who is often afraid to setup any chance for failure. However, this fear can be overcome. You are unconsciously setting goals when you systematically set out to get a certain gig and get it... that is definitely achieving a set goal. Just because you don't have a written plan doesn't mean you're not setting goals. So, most of us are halfway there without even knowing it. But, writing down our goals gives us a stronger focus and a much better picture of where we're going, where we want to go, and how to get there. This step by step process will be invaluable when it comes time to prepare a full-scale marketing plan... which every career performer should be thinking about.

Whether we become world-class performers or not is unimportant, but when we begin demanding higher standards through goal-setting and personal accountability, we are giving ourselves the opportunity to develop the self-confidence necessary to advance our expectations to another level. The following tips will help you start the year in a positive direction...

1. List Failures & Achievements - If you are not already keeping a "book" of activities, dig out your date book, contract agreements, etc. and list all your performances over the past year with a brief comment about each gig. Review everything and highlight your failures first... YOUR MOST UNHAPPY CUSTOMERS ARE YOUR GREATEST SOURCE FOR LEARNING. Analyze what went wrong. What part did you play in each failure? What could you have done differently? What can you do in the future to improve your performance?

Now, highlight all your successful dates and contact each one of these buyers to remind them of your past performance and announce your availability for the coming year. You can also take this opportunity to disclose any new accomplishments, additions or changes you have made since your last engagement with them.

Satisfied customers are usually more than willing to give you a good reference. Therefore, you should encourage them to put their good comments in writing... especially the high profile engagements. Always think about adding prestigious referrals to your promotion package. These testimonials may help you move to another performance level.

2. Update Your Contact List - Review your achievements and successful gigs over the past year and go after more of the same. Check available listings of similar agents, producers, buyers, companies or venues in the telephone directory and/or other sources and prepare a target group of potential clients. Then, call to find out the name of the correct recipient for your publicity materials and send him/her a variety of promotional items that accurately represent you and your services. Be sure to reflect that past success you have had with them, or refer to a similar venue or event where you were well accepted.

Pull out all your old business card files and contact names (especially those that haven't hired you in a long time) and send them an e-mail and/or a regular mail postcard informing them of your availability and updated information. Your dead file list of old clients is the best source of future business. They may have forgotten about you, or lost your contact information... so, renew the contact and make sure they know you haven't forgotten about them.

3. Set Your Goals For The Year - Don't make the mistake of setting unrealistic goals. You're not going to go from being a club band to an international concert star overnight. Set your sights on getting better club dates, or trying to book one more special event, casino or corporate show. Try and increase revenues by making catchy t-shirts or a CD/DVD of your music (or show) that can be sold at all your performances. Make plans to promote at least one special event (on your own) to showcase your talents to prospective agents, buyers, etc. while raising your profile at the same time. A feature spot at your local fair, or an appearance at a high-profile charity function are great ways to attract some valuable attention

4. Take Care of Your Health - Success depends a great deal on our happiness - and our happiness depends a great deal on our health. All three are intertwined... when the mind and body are in balance, the things you tell yourself you are going to do become much easier to do. It has been proven that those who take care of the soul or spiritual aspect of their health are in fact mentally, if not physically, healthier than those of us that do not.

If you don't believe it, try a little experiment. The next time you see a young child in torn and tattered clothing beside a broken, destitute mother... watch the gratitude expressed when you unceremoniously give them a $20 bill just because you care. Your mind and spirit will be magnified immensely by reaching out to enrich the life of someone who needs you to make a difference in their life... and you'll feel so much better about yourself.

Miguel Cotto VERSE, Shane Mosley

Griffin Avid — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 19:14:02 GMT

I predict Mosley in 8. I say Cotto is hurt bad at the end of 7, but falls in 8.

Tonight’s Cotto-Mosley fight at Madison Square Garden, though well publicized, has not had the buzz of De La Hoya-Mayweather. And that is too bad, said De La Hoya, the president of Golden Boy Promotions.

Cotto and Mosley, each known for his aggressiveness in the ring, are expected to put on an action-packed show. But star power trumps punching power. So Cotto and Mosley almost certainly will play to a smaller audience than De La Hoya and Mayweather.

“Sugar Shane Mosley always makes an exciting fight,” said De La Hoya, who employs Mosley as a co-promoter with Golden Boy. “And when you pair him up with an exciting, strong, young champion like Miguel Cotto, the fight is guaranteed to be fireworks. This is what a promoter dreams of.”

Cotto (30-0, 25 knockouts) continues to build a reputation. He is fighting in the Garden for the fourth time. He has drawn boisterous crowds each time.

Cotto, who is from Puerto Rico, fought against Zab Judah in the Garden in June, winning by technical knockout in the 11th round. In that fight, Cotto, 27, displayed his persistent, move-forward attack, setting up Judah with powerful body shots before finishing him off with blows to the head.

It is an attack he said he planned to maintain against Mosley.

“I don’t think at the age of 36 years old Shane can handle Miguel Cotto,” Cotto said, adding that he did not think Mosley was as dangerous as Judah.

But Mosley (44-4, 1 no contest) is probably the most decorated opponent Cotto has faced. He has won world titles in three weight classes and is widely considered one of the best pound-for-pound fighters of the last 15 years.

Mosley, who has two victories over De La Hoya, is known for his speed, which he transforms into power. Though his reflexes are not as sharp as they were when he was younger, Mosley is on a five-fight winning streak and he appears as dangerous as ever. He said he would retire if he lost.

“I think I’m the wrong fighter for anyone to step in the ring with at this point in my career,” he said. “I’m hungrier than ever.”

Though Mosley’s quickness sets him apart from Cotto, the fighters are similar in their willingness to face any opponent, as well as in their attacking styles. That, according to Cotto’s promoter, Todd duBoef, is what could set tonight’s fight apart.

DuBoef, the president of Top Rank Inc., said it was time the boxing world focused on the fights and not the names of the fighters.

“This fight epitomizes what the brand of boxing is about,” he said. “Everybody has abandoned the brand and kind of gravitated toward the names. And because of that, people would say, the sport suffers.”

The top-earning musicians

xodus phoenix — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 00:07:12 GMT

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20944976/

By Lou Hau

Updated: 12:47 p.m. ET Sept 28, 2007

Pop music has long been a young person's game. But when it comes to pocketing the biggest returns, oldsters rule.

The Rolling Stones, Madonna and Elton John are no one's idea of fresh-faced talent. Yet they and other veterans account for most of the top-earning musicians as measured by Forbes.

From June 2006 to June 2007, the geriatric Stones earned an estimated $88 million. The Material-Girl-turned-middle-aged mom pocketed $72 million. And nearly 37 years since he first reached the American Top 10 with "Your Song," Mr. Crocodile Rock pulled down an impressive $53 million.

That's not to say that the occasional green upstart can't boast some serious earning power too. Relative youngsters 50 Cent and Justin Timberlake made our list as well, with "Fitty" earning $33 million and ex-'N Sync star Timberlake getting $20 million. Of course, smarts and business savvy help too, as in the case of hip-hop entrepreneur Jay-Z, who has enjoyed an exceptionally lucrative 12 months with earnings of around $83 million.

But at the end of the day, most of the music industry's top earners are of older vintage. At a time when the recording industry is reeling from plunging music sales and rampant piracy, how do they accomplish such commercial success? Here are a few things to consider:

Tour, tour, tour
It goes without saying that recording artists establish their fame through sales of their music. And even with all the industry's problems, established favorites can still count on strong demand for their recorded product. Country star Tim McGraw, another member of our top earners list, released his new album "Let It Go" in March and has already sold 1.1 million units in the U.S., according to Nielsen/SoundScan.

But the really serious money comes from touring. And no one can pull in the big bucks like an older, established music act. The Stones had the highest-grossing tour in North America last year, pulling in a cool $139 million. Madonna's 2006 "Confessions" tour was the biggest ever for a female artist, grossing $194 million worldwide.

Helping drive those big grosses are eye-popping ticket prices. Madonna charged an average of $183.76 during her 2006 North American tour, while tickets to the Stones' concerts here averaged $136.63 and seats to Celine Dion's "A New Day..." show at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas averaged $135.33, according to Pollstar.

How do they — or, more specifically, their concert promoters — get away with such prices? Simple: because they can. These older artists' fans aren't cash-poor college kids waiting tables to earn beer money. They're Baby Boomers and Gen X'ers who have the means to pay up to see their favorite stars.

By contrast, younger bands, even those that have enjoyed massive buzz or considerable commercial success, can't come close to commanding such prices. During the first half of this year, Arcade Fire charged an average of $30.74 per concert ticket, while the average ticket to a Snow Patrol show cost $31.27, according to Pollstar.

Be big in Japan and ...
Cracking the U.S. music market is the dream of every would-be pop star, American or otherwise. But there's no accounting for popular taste in any one country. What's hot one minute is stone cold over the next. Even platinum-selling recording artists can experience being "in" and "out" and then back "in." Just ask veteran acts like Mariah Carey or Aerosmith.

Many of top earning musicians maximize their earning potential by going out of their way to cultivate a fan base outside the U.S. as well, particularly in Europe and Asia. Madonna, Bon Jovi and Celine Dion aren't just popular musicians. They're worldwide pop stars.

'Race row' Nobel winner suspended

xodus phoenix — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 23:57:04 GMT

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/10/19/uk.race/index.html

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Nobel laureate biologist James Watson was suspended Friday from his longtime post at a research laboratory and canceled his planned British book tour after controversial comments that black people are not as intelligent as white people.

James Watson won the 1962 Nobel prize for discovering the structure of DNA.

Watson has apologized for the controversial remarks.

He failed to appear to a book signing at a London bookshop Friday afternoon, and organizers of his planned Sunday evening talk at Newcastle's Center for Life said they had been informed Watson would not appear because he was already on a flight home to the States.

The board of trustees at New York's Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, which Watson has led for nearly four decades, said they had suspended his administrative responsibilities pending a review of his comments.

Watson, 79, an American who won the 1962 Nobel prize for his role in discovering the double-helix structure of DNA, apologized Thursday for his remarks -- but not before London's Science Museum canceled his talk there, planned for Friday evening.

The museum said Watson's words had "gone beyond the point of acceptable debate."

The controvery began with an October 14 interview Watson gave to the Sunday Times, which quoted him saying he was "inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa" because "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours, whereas all the testing says not really."

Watson also asserted there was no reason to believe different races separated by geography should have evolved identically, and he said that while he hoped everyone was equal, "people who have to deal with black employees find this is not true."

The biologist apologized "unreservedly" Thursday for his comments and said he was "mortified" by the words attributed to him.

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"I cannot understand how I could have said what I am quoted as having said," Watson said during an appearance at the Royal Society in London. "I can certainly understand why people, reading those words, have reacted in the ways that they have."

"To all those who have drawn the inference from my words that Africa, as a continent, is somehow genetically inferior, I can only apologize unreservedly. That is not what I meant. More importantly from my point of view, there is no scientific basis for such a belief."

Watson was expected to sign copies of his new book, Avoid Boring People: Lessons from a Life in Science, at Blackwell bookshop in central London Friday afternoon but failed to appear. Soon afterward, a spokeswoman for the Center for Life in Newcastle, where Watson was expected to speak Sunday night, said they had been told Watson was canceling all speaking engagements and was already flying home.

Center spokeswoman Julia Hankin said they were disappointed.

"We welcomed the opportunity to discuss his controversial comments," Hankin said. "We had hoped for a rigorous and lively debate."

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, the institute on New York's Long Island which Watson has headed since 1968, confirmed it had suspended his responsibilities as chancellor "pending further deliberation by the board."

It said the board publicly disagreed with the comments attributed to Watson in the Sunday Times.

Late Thursday, The 1990 Trust, a British civil rights group, called for a boycott of Watson's books and pressure to be put on venues to cancel his planned appearances.

Watson's remarks to the Sunday Times were but the latest controversial comments from the eminent biologist.

In 1997, Britain's Sunday Telegraph quoted Watson as saying that if a gene for homosexuality were isolated, women who find that their unborn child has the gene should be allowed to have an abortion.

During a lecture tour in 2000, he suggested there might be links between skin color and sexual prowess and between a person's weight and their level of ambition.

And in a British TV documentary that aired in 2003, Watson suggested that stupidity was a genetic disease that should be treated.

Time.com/CNN: America's Other Army

xodus phoenix — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 23:51:41 GMT

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1672792,00.html?xid=feed-cnn-topics

Close to midnight last Christmas Eve, a Blackwater security contractor named Andrew Moonen emerged from a boozy party in Baghdad's Green Zone and took a wrong turn on the way back to his hooch. There is as yet no satisfactory explanation for what happened next. An Iraqi guard named Raheem Khalif, who was protecting the compound of Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi, was fatally shot three times. TIME interviewed three Iraqi guards who were on duty that night and reviewed two signed witness statements: all say the shooter was a white male, wearing an ID badge typically used by security contractors. The day after the shooting, Moonen was fired by Blackwater and flown out of Iraq. His name was not directly linked to the incident until earlier this month, when a Seattle lawyer told the New York Times he was representing Moonen, 27, a former Army paratrooper, in connection with the investigation into the shooting.

The killing of Khalif barely registered outside the Green Zone. For Iraqis, it was just another in a long series of stories — stretching back to the early days of the U.S. occupation — about how private security contractors seem to operate with impunity in their country. Brought into Iraq because an undermanned U.S. military couldn't guard vital facilities and top American officials, contractors were armed with a decree by U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer that made them practically exempt from prosecution under Iraq law. They quickly earned a reputation as cowboys, the kind that shoot first and never have to answer any questions afterward. As the number of contractors has grown, so has the volume and frequency of Iraqi complaints. A report by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform found that Blackwater alone has been involved in 195 "escalation of force" incidents since early 2005.

But these went largely unnoticed outside Iraq until Sept. 16, when a Blackwater security convoy shot and killed 17 civilians at a major traffic intersection in western Baghdad. The company claimed its men were responding to an attack on the convoy, but an investigation by the Iraqi Ministry of Interior the week of the shooting said the contractors had fired first. The incident sparked furor in the U.S., where it was seized upon by Bush Administration critics as yet more proof of botched planning of the Iraq war and the consequence of outsourcing too many military tasks.

Back in Baghdad, the Iraqi government briefly pulled Blackwater's authorization to carry weapons and gave the U.S. embassy six months to end all contracts with the firm. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice launched an internal review to determine if U.S. embassies are too reliant on contractors.

Guns for Hire

Blackwater has more than 1,000 men under arms in Iraq, but it is just one of dozens of security companies there. Across the country, there are now anywhere from 20,000 to 30,000 armed contractors, many of them performing duties that in previous conflicts were the domain of uniformed soldiers. Contractors are often the first line of defense on roads and at checkpoints to government compounds. They guard food and fuel convoys that supply the troops and protect embassies, aid workers and foreign businesses. Hundreds of contractors are based in the Green Zone, 4 sq. mi. (about 10 sq km) of riverfront buffered from the rest of Baghdad by concrete walls and manned checkpoints. Conversations with current and former guns for hire paint a picture of a world unique unto itself: insular, tribal, wary of the limelight, competitive and, for the most part, highly professional. The contractors — and they are almost all men — tend to be former soldiers and come from the U.S., as well as Britain, Ireland, South Africa, Nepal, Fiji, Russia, Australia, Chile and Peru. Their motivations vary from a thirst for adventure to a desire for a nest egg (or to pay down debt) to a refracted form of patriotism.

James Thornett was typical. The rugged 34-year-old fought in the invasion of Iraq as a British paratrooper. When the war ended, he left the military rather than take a quieter assignment. "I didn't join the military to sit at a desk," he says. "I joined the military to jump out of airplanes and fight." Seeking that excitement, he returned to Baghdad with Global Risk Strategies, a London-based firm that had set up security for the U.S. embassy. Thornett discovered that he liked Baghdad, and the money was "great" — contractors can make up to $12,000 to $33,000 a month. So he stayed on, switching first to Edinburgh Risk and Security Management, then to Aegis, both British firms. Then, for a change of pace, he set up a bar and restaurant in the Green Zone called the Baghdad Country Club, a popular hangout for contractors until it was shut down last May.

Not all contractors have Thornett's entrepreneurial instinct, and their lives in the Green Zone are far from plush. The typical contractor lives in half an aluminum trailer that has been reinforced with sandbags. The work is often dangerous, especially convoy duty beyond the concrete walls in what is known as the Red Zone.

Some security convoys keep a low profile, using cars and dress that blend into the bustling streets of the city. Others — especially Blackwater — "roll heavy" in large convoys of big, armored SUVs, driving aggressively to keep a 100-ft. (about 30 m) bubble of space around the client at all times, intended to ward off suicide car bombers. To maintain that bubble, convoy drivers bump other cars off the road, and gunners fire shots into radiators. Iraqi drivers have learned from painful experience to stay well clear of convoys, but in crowded Baghdad streets it's not always possible to swerve out of the way. All too often, accidents turn fatal. (There are no reliable statistics on the number of Iraqis killed or hurt in such incidents.)

Contractors defend their actions by pointing out that they are targeted by insurgent and terrorist groups; convoys frequently come under fire or are hit by roadside bombs and suicide bombers. Aggressive driving is a defensive measure, they say, designed to safeguard their clients. And it works. Blackwater founder Erik Prince told a congressional hearing this month that although 27 of his employees have died in Iraq, no one under the firm's care had been killed. President Bush on Wednesday praised Blackwater, saying, "They protect people's lives. And I appreciate the sacrifice and the service that the Blackwater employees have made."

But some security men carry the aggression too far, treating all the Iraqis they encounter as potential enemies, using hostile body language and verbal abuse — and sometimes worse. Many uniformed American soldiers regard the contractors with disdain, describing them as reckless and trigger-happy. Since Iraqis don't always distinguish between private and military convoys, soldiers say, bad behavior by contractors only deepens Iraqi antagonism toward the military. "The contractors caused problems that the Iraqi leaders — imams, tribal sheiks, elected officials, military commanders — expected the U.S. [military] to solve," says retired Army Major General John Batiste, who commanded the 1st Infantry Division in Iraq in 2004 and '05. "Their attitude was, They're Americans and therefore they work for you." Last December, a few weeks before the Christmas Eve shooting, a senior Western diplomat told TIME he was especially alarmed by the attitude of the men guarding senior U.S. embassy officials. "They behave like Iraq is the Wild West and Iraqis are like ?Injuns,' to be treated any way they like," he said, asking to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of inter-embassy relations. "They're better-armed and -armored than the military, but they don't have to follow military rules, and that makes them dangerous." The men he was describing worked for Blackwater.

Who Guards the Guards?

Ten months after the Christmas Eve shooting, there has been little movement on the case. Moonen's lawyer tells TIME his client has not been charged with any crime. Blackwater won't confirm or deny that Moonen ever worked for the firm but has said that an employee was fired for handling a weapon while using alcohol — and that it is cooperating with the FBI investigation into the shooting. The FBI collected forensic evidence at the crime scene, but none of it has been tested in court. Neither the U.S. government nor the Iraqi government can say what laws apply in this case or who has jurisdiction. Vice President Abdul Mahdi's office is angry and frustrated that the U.S. has done little to catch Khalif's killer. "We had hoped the trial would be here in Baghdad, " says Azaid Saeed, the Vice President's head of security, "but, of course, it won't happen; it's only our dreams."

Erik Prince confirmed to the House committee that Blackwater had paid the guard's family $20,000 in compensation. Reached by phone in Baghdad, Khalif's widow Wijdan Muhsin Said would not comment on the payment but told TIME she was disappointed that the Iraqi government had not put her husband's killer before a judge. She said she expected nothing to come from the U.S. investigation: "Unfortunately, it seems that Iraqi blood is cheap to them."

In the days after the shooting, relations between Abdul Mahdi's staff and the U.S. embassy grew testy. Some embassy staffers were nervous about driving past the Vice President's guards every day. "We were getting death stares," says an American official. Saeed had to keep his men from storming the gate of the chancellery, where Khalif's killer had taken shelter. He calmed them by saying, "We already lost one. We don't need to lose another 10 and gain nothing."

Inside the embassy, debate about Blackwater's conduct heated up. Stories of Blackwater guards throwing full water bottles at pedestrians and indiscriminately firing warning shots made some diplomats feel as if their security details were undermining their efforts to win Iraqi hearts and minds. Some felt that the embassy's diplomatic-security team, which is meant to supervise all security contractors who protect embassy personnel, was too close to its charges to police its conduct. "They're all drinking buddies, and they cover for each other," says a U.S. embassy official who recently served in Baghdad

But no serious attempt was made to rein in Blackwater until the Sept. 17 shootings. When the Iraqi government temporarily rescinded the firm's gun permits, it forced the embassy to cancel all convoys into the Red Zone. As a compromise, the embassy announced that all future Blackwater convoys will include video cameras and a diplomatic-security agent to keep a close watch on the contractors. Some U.S. Congressmen have proposed legislation to close the legal loopholes that exempt contractors from Iraqi and American laws.

As the larger issues are parsed in Washington, there's a growing sense in Baghdad that private security companies have to change their ways. On Oct. 9, with Blackwater still dominating the headlines, two women were shot and killed by contractors from Unity Resources Group, a Dubai-based Australian firm. It was the same old story: the women's car had come too close to a convoy protected by Unity. It was the sort of incident that only a few months ago might have gone unnoticed. Now Unity is being investigated by the Iraqi government. The days of the cowboy contractor may be numbered.

With reporting by Mazin Ezzat and Mark Kukis/Baghdad and Massimo Calabresi and mark Thompson/Washington

Making a Mountain Out of a Mole

Griffin Avid — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 17:42:08 GMT

Making a Mountain Out of a Mole
By D.J Vanas © 2007
D.J. Eagle Bear Vanas (Odawa) is a nationally acclaimed motivational storyteller, success coach, author, and owner of Native Discovery Inc., a company dedicated to "building the warriors of tomorrow...today."

I looked out the window of the airplane, letting my mind wander over the canyons and windswept deserts of the American southwest, "So peaceful, so beautiful" I thought. Then I looked down and there it was - a new mole on my arm. It seemed to have come from nowhere. I didn't notice it last week. I eyed the dull brown spot with suspicion and started to connect the dots. I just had another birthday so I'm getting older and it grew so fast. I started to worry. Maybe it's a melanoma, the beginnings of skin cancer. I started rolling through all my options, the possibilities, letting fear and worry wrap their tentacles around my brain. I needed to call my wife when I landed and then the doctor. For the next fifteen minutes, I was in a minor panic and worried sick. I finally got the courage to reach down to touch the mole - it moved. It wasn't a pre-cancerous growth, a melanoma or anything even close. It was a piece of chocolate chip from the kid in the seat next to me who'd just finished ravenously devouring his cookie.
How many times has this happened to us, where we've let fear cloud our judgment? We get all worked up, worried, stressed and needlessly panic over small things - or things that don't exist at all! What would happen if you asked for a promotion? Would you get booed out of the office, branded a lunatic and told you were no longer welcome at work or in your home town?! Not likely. Much more likely you would be told yes, maybe, or at worst, no. What would happen if you left your job to find another one? Would you suddenly be destitute, hungry and homeless, wandering the earth like Cane in Kung Fu? Not likely. Much more likely you'd find another job, probably a better one, because now you have more experience from the last one. What if you left a bad relationship behind you? Went back to school? Said yes to that new leadership opportunity? The truth is, the worst situations in life are not the problems we encounter. They are the problems that we recognize and yet refuse to change because we magnify them to the extreme, giving them a place in our worst worries they don't merit.
When I was in college at the U.S. Air Force Academy, I wanted to quit a million times and faced my toughest challenges - physically, mentally and spiritually - up to that point in my life. When things got really bad and you were scared stiff, someone undoubtedly would say, "Lighten up. What's the worst that could happen? After all, they can't eat you." It was a mantra that not only got me through there, but many difficult and stressful situations since.
So how do we get over the challenges we create in our own minds? First we acknowledge the fear. It's perfectly natural to be afraid of change, new things or new chapters in our lives. However, we need to have faith and act in spite of the fear. Keep your perspective and ask, "What's the worst that could happen here?" Surround yourself with encouraging voices and let one of the loudest be your own. Make a decision to be less afraid of making mistakes in life and more afraid of being bored, stuck or unhappy and you'll be setting yourself up for lifetime success. I've heard it said that even in pitch dark, we can drive from coast to coast only seeing the fifty yards in front of us illuminated by our headlights. We don't need to know (and we can't anyway) what the rest of our lives hold for us, just think about those next fifty yards...

And just remember, they can't eat you.

The first RIAA file-sharing case to go to trial just wrapped

Griffin Avid — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 21:44:50 GMT

RIAA wins first-ever file-sharing case to go to trial, awarded $222,000

Posted Oct 4th 2007 6:21PM by Nilay Patel
Filed under: Portable Audio

The first RIAA file-sharing case to go to trial just wrapped, and sadly, the outcome isn't a positive one. Regardless of the incredibly asinine and consumer-hostile comments made by Sony BMG's head of litigation the other day, the jury found Jammie Thomas, a single mother from Minnesota, liable for willful copyright infringement and awarded the RIAA plaintiffs $222,000 -- that's $9,250 for each of the 24 songs she was alleged to have made available on Kazaa, for those of you keeping track at home, and probably something like, oh, say, $222,000 more than she should have had to pay, since the RIAA plaintiffs weren't required to show that Thomas had a file-sharing program installed on her machine or that she was even the person using the Kazaa account in question. Of course, this is just one case and there's always the possibility of appeal, but anything that emboldens the RIAA's litigation team is never good for the general public.

and....

RIAA Jury Finds Minnesota Woman Liable for Piracy, Awards $222,000

By David Kravets October 04, 2007 | 4:34:32 PM

DULUTH, Minnesota -- Jammie Thomas, a single mother of two, was found liable Thursday for copyright infringement in the nation's first file-sharing case to go before a jury.

Twelve jurors here said the Minnesota woman must pay $9,250 for each of 24 shared songs that were the subject of the lawsuit, amounting to $222,000 in penalties.

They could have dinged her for up to $3.6 million in damages, or awarded as little as $18,000. She was found liable for infringing songs from bands such as Journey, Green Day, AFI, Aerosmith and others.

After the verdict was read, Thomas and her attorney left the courthouse without comment. The jurors also declined to talk to reporters.

The verdict, coming after two days of testimony and about five hours of deliberations, was a mixed victory for the RIAA, which has brought more than 20,000 lawsuits in the last four years as part of its zero-tolerance policy against pirating. The outcome is likely to embolden the RIAA, which began targeting individuals in lawsuits after concluding the legal system could not keep pace with the ever growing number of file-sharing sites and services.

"This is what can happen if you don't settle," RIAA attorney Richard Gabriel told reporters outside the courthouse. "I think we have sent a message we are willing to go to trial."

Still, it's unlikely the RIAA's courtroom victory will translate into a financial windfall or stop piracy, which the industry claims costs it billions in lost sales. Despite the thousands of lawsuits -- the majority of them settling while others have been dismissed or are pending -- the RIAA's litigation war on internet piracy has neither dented illegal, peer-to-peer file sharing or put much fear in the hearts of music swappers.

According to BigChampagne, an online measuring service, the number of peer-to-peer users unlawfully trading goods has nearly tripled since 2003, when the RIAA began legal onslaught targeting individuals.

At the time, BigChampagne says, there were about 3.8 million file sharers trading over the internet at a given moment. Now, the group has measured a record 9 million users trading at the same time. Roughly 70 percent of trading involves digital music, according to BigChampagne.

The case, however, did set legal precedents favoring the industry.

In proving liability, the industry did not have to demonstrate that the defendant's computer had a file-sharing program installed at the time that they inspected her hard drive. And the RIAA did not have to show that the defendant was at the keyboard when RIAA investigators accessed Thomas' share folder.

Also, the judge in the case ruled that jurors may find copyright infringement liability against somebody solely for sharing files on the internet. The RIAA did not have to prove that others downloaded the files. That was a big bone of contention that U.S. District Judge Michael Davis settled in favor of the industry.

Thomas, 30, maintained that she was not the Kazaa user "Tereastarr," whose files were detected by RIAA's investigators. Her attorney speculated to jurors that she could have been the victim of a spoof, cracker, zombie, drone and other attacks.

The jury found her liable after receiving evidence her internet protocol address and cable modem identifier were used to share some 1,700 files. The hard drive linked to Kazaa on Feb. 21, 2005 -- the evening in question -- did not become evidence in the case.

According to testimony, Thomas replaced her hard drive weeks after RIAA investigators accessed her share file and discovered 1,702 files. The industry sued on just 24 of those files.

Meaningful Point:

xodus phoenix — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 19:26:00 GMT

By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
One of my favorite motivational speakers is Brian Tracy, who is one of the world's top experts on success psychology and personal achievement.
I recently attended a seminar Brian held here in New York City. One part of his talk really grabbed my attention, and I'd like to share it with you because it could profoundly affect whether you succeed or fail in your body transformation goals...

Brian said that there are two diseases running rampant across America and much of the industrialized world today. If you had to guess, which two do you think they are? Cancer? Diabetes? Heart Disease? Osteoporosis? Obesity?

Nope. None of the above. In fact, they're not even physical diseases - they are mental diseases.

The first mental disease, according to Tracy, is called something-for-nothing disease.
Something for nothing disease is contracted by people who believe they can take more out than what they put in. These are the people who want all the rewards without paying full price, or as Brian put it, "They want to go through the revolving door of life on someone else's push."

Quick fix disease is the second of the mental diseases. According to Brian, this disease is contracted by people who always want a quick way to reach their goals.

They search for instant cures to solve problems that may have taken months or even years to develop. They seek short cuts to acquire key skills that actually take many months and years of hard work to master.
These diseases are not to be confused with the desire to constantly get better and search for more efficient ways to reach your goals (which is a positive trait). The "diseased" people are those trying to reach their goals faster than nature intended or without any effort (which is a negative trait).

Brian's New York City seminar was mostly filled with businesspeople and sales professionals, so he gave financial examples, such as: wanting to work fewer hours while earning more money, investing in get-rich-quick schemes, or buying lottery tickets.
However, I believe that quick fix and something for nothing disease are more rampant and insidious among people with fitness goals than any other group.

Health and fitness seekers with something for nothing disease think they can get twice the results in half the time. They want weight loss without dieting, fitness without exercise, and perfect health while eating, drinking and smoking whatever they want.
Those with quick fix disease want to take a pill, go to sleep, and wake up skinny. They are forever on a quest to bypass hard work and find short cuts to fitness goals that that normally take months or years to attain.

People afflicted by quick fix disease are suckers for the latest "exercise in a bottle," "fat burning cream," "diet pill," or "steroid replacement" scams. They impulsively buy miracle solutions on a whim, which they haven't researched and know nothing about.

Saddest of all, they often waste YEARS of their lives on a misguided quest for the holy grail of fitness, when they could have reached their goals with a better work ethic and a little bit of persistence.

People with these diseases are violating the most basic laws of the universe: Cause and effect, sowing and reaping, action and reaction. This is just as ridiculous as attempting to violate the law of gravity. Jump off a cliff, and you're going to plummet to the Earth below - 100% of the time.
Not only will you fail and hit bottom if you catch one or both of these diseases - the very act of seeking a quick fix or wanting something for nothing makes you a weaker person.

On the other hand, the act of setting a worthy goal for something you want and reaching it through determination, discipline and hard work changes the very fiber of your being and you become a stronger person, not just physically, but also mentally and emotionally.
It's been said you don't get what you want in life, you get what you deserve. If you want success and achievement, then set the goals and go for it!
But whatever you do, don't catch these two diseases. Avoid the quick fixes, work hard at it, and deserve it. You can have, do or be anything you want... Just pay the price and it's yours!

Sony Creative: Vegas Pro 8 is here! Offer Expires 09/30/07

xodus phoenix — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 16:27:24 GMT

Wasn't sure about sharing this news, but I know a few cats that make their own videos and edit with Vegas so....

Achieve the impossible with the new Vegas Pro 8 collection. The latest version of Vegas offers new functions and features so you can produce almost any project that you can imagine! No matter what type of video you're creating, or what format your media is in, Vegas software can make it all come together. From personal projects to professional films, it is the go-to application for complete video and audio production.

Special introductory pricing through September 30!*
Buy the Vegas Pro 8 collection for $499.95 — Save $200*

DV, HDV and XDCAM users—the Vegas Pro 8 collection has you covered. New video editing and workflow tools make it easier than ever to capture, edit, and deliver in all the latest video formats.

New Vegas Pro 8 features include:

ProType Titler — This powerful new titling engine gives you complete creative control over your stylized text treatments.
Multicamera workflow — Switch among as many as 32 video sources on the fly while editing to create the perfect cuts from multiple cameras.
32-bit floating point video processing — Surpass traditional 10-bit standards and take advantage of greater color range, reduced gradient banding, and many other precision enhancements.
Digital signage and portrait-style video editing — Digital signage is the hottest new way to get your message out whether you're in the retail or sport arena environment. Vegas Pro 8 software makes producing signage from your videos fast and effective.
New audio mixing console — Don't forget, Vegas also provides state-of-the-art audio editing. Its new channel-based mixing console provides a familiar studio layout and lets you monitor all of your audio signals and routing paths in a new optimized layout.
Interactive tutorials — These detailed tutorials provide an easy step-by-step method of learning the software and the workflow necessary to complete most common tasks.
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Just Plain Notes V1.166

xodus phoenix — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 12:40:41 GMT

I get this sent to me with a lot of other clippings. This one hit me today so I thought I'd share it.

Just Plain Notes: Volume 1.166, September 7th, 2007 Written by Brian Austin Whitney Visit the Website: www.jpfolks.com

Just Plain Quotes:

"Happiness is not something you experience, it's something you remember." -Oscar Levant

"Nothing inspires forgiveness quite like revenge." -Scott Adams

"The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them." -Albert Einstein

"The thing you most often learn after many years of trying to do something is not how to do it just right, but instead just how many ways you can screw it up." -Brian Austin Whitney

My Take:

So I am watching a PBS show called "Lords of the Gourd" which is about people who try to grow the largest possible pumpkins. As I watch this show, it occurs to me that there's probably a lot that musicians and songwriters could learn from it. No, they don't give tips on melodies, bass technique, how to book a gig or even how to really get the largest pumpkin for that matter (I suspect they keep their best secrets to themselves). What I think we can learn from, however, is the sheer amount of attention, work, thought and most importantly passion, that they put into the process. Though several dream of some day having a world record setting pumpkin (the current record is over 1400 pounds with one "Lord" dreamily thinking of having pumpkins that could reach a full ton while others simply day dream about hitting 1000 pounds) there doesn't seem to be any further motivation than a job well done and perhaps some bragging rights at the yearly contests these folks enter.

So often I think we lose sight of the simple joy and pleasure of making the best music we can solely for the sake of doing it. If we all focused more on that motivation than external fame and fortune, I suspect we'd all make a lot better music for it. And before you think that there's nothing complicated about growing a large pumpkin compared to writing, recording, performing and marketing a song, I suggest you watch the documentary or do a Google search. These folks have turned it into a science and live and breath these pumpkins with far more focus than most musicians I know spend on their album projects. Of course I think some of them pass into obsession a bit, which is probably not the healthiest or most productive behavior, but in the scheme of things it seems pretty harmless. (Though there is one scene where a guy is caressing his pumpkin a bit too seductively for my comfort.. but I digress).

I guess my point here is that I just learned about a whole community of people with a passion for something that will never really have much public attention (in fact I imagine appearing in this PBS documentary must be akin to reaching the stage of the Pumpkin Academy Awards with the Pumpkin Oscar in hand or something) and yet they have the times of their lives pursuing their interest with just as much gusto and hard earned expertise as any musician you'll find. They wake up each day excited about their pumpkins much like songwriters spring out of bed to continue work on their latest song idea. They invest money in it like a guitar player buys gear or a hair band lead singer buys new hair gel and spandex (sorry.. couldn't resist), but unlike their musical counter parts, they know it's not going to lead to a rock star lifestyle, but that's okay with them. It doesn't lessen their fun. It doesn't lessen the positive impact it has on their lives. It doesn't make them work any less on perfecting their results to the best of their ability. And best of all, they don't seem to care much about what all the other people in the world think of their life's calling. Can you imagine how much we'd collectively save on therapy (drug, medical, food, drink, vice and otherwise) if we could just be more like that about our music? (Though they do shed some tears over their pumpkin failures. It's quite touching).

As we enter into the fall season (my favorite season of the year) and you start seeing pumpkins on display everywhere you turn, I thought I would leave you with this little thought. Next time you're frustrated with your music career and can't take it anymore, remember that for every 1400 pound record breaking pumpkin whopper, there's a lot of little jack-o-lantern sized ones out there only suited for being carved into horrific figures with burning candles inside to decorate your porch and scare the little kids with for Halloween. And when your frustration hits its peak, won't it feel great to pick one of those cute, under performing but well loved little pumpkins up and smash it against your sidewalk as you curse the music industry and all those people who have made your life a living hell? Won't you feel so much better afterwards? Go ahead. Get it off your chest. You'll thank me for it later! = )

Have a great fall everyone! We'll be in Europe meeting some of you (details below) and thinking of all our friends back in the US celebrating Halloween in the frigid October chill while we're touring and basking in the South of France!

Learn, Succeed, Thrive. We're All In This Together!

The first serious candidate for president?

Griffin Avid — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 01:14:13 GMT

From out of left field comes an Afro-American presidential candidate. He's making alot of people nervous. His official site: http://obama.senate.gov/about/

About Barack Obama

United States Senator for Illinois

Barack Obama has dedicated his life to public service as a community organizer, civil rights attorney, and leader in the Illinois state Senate. Obama now continues his fight for working families following his recent election to the United States Senate.

Sworn into office January 4, 2005, Senator Obama is focused on promoting economic growth and bringing good paying jobs to Illinois. Obama serves on the important Environment and Public Works Committee, which oversees legislation and funding for the environment and public works projects throughout the country, including the national transportation bill. He also serves on the Veterans ’ Affairs Committee where he is focused on investigating the disability pay discrepancies that have left thousands of Illinois veterans without the benefits they earned. Senator Obama also serves on the Foreign Relations Committee.

During his seven years in the Illinois state Senate, Obama worked with both Democrats and Republicans to help working families get ahead by creating programs like the state Earned Income Tax Credit, which in three years provided over $100 million in tax cuts to families across the state. Obama also pushed through an expansion of early childhood education, and after a number of inmates on death row were found innocent, Senator Obama enlisted the support of law enforcement officials to draft legislation requiring the videotaping of interrogations and confessions in all capital cases.

Obama is especially proud of being a husband and father of two daughters, Malia, 8 and Sasha, 4. Obama and his wife, Michelle, married in 1992 and live on Chicago ’s South Side where they attend Trinity United Church of Christ.

Barack Obama was born on August 4th, 1961, in Hawaii to Barack Obama, Sr. and Ann Dunham. Obama graduated from Columbia University in 1983, and moved to Chicago in 1985 to work for a church-based group seeking to improve living conditions in poor neighborhoods plagued with crime and high unemployment. In 1991, Obama graduated from Harvard Law School where he was the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review.

Oscar De La Hoya verse Floyd Mayweather

Griffin Avid — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 23:11:17 GMT

Oscar De La Hoya verse Floyd Mayweather

Early on I was a harsh critic of Oscar with all the questionable decisions. What I respected most was his determination to fight everyone. I’ve also been amazed at the work of Floyd and have been his supporter. That said, I’m backing Oscar on this fight based purely on size.

Speed-wise Oscar is fast enough to be in the game. Zab Judah gave Mayweather problems for the first 5 rounds and was on his way until he faded. Power-wise I don’t think this is even a question. 1 week away and Mayweather is still below weight.

Most people predicted Arturo Gotti would be a problem because of the size difference but they looked the same size during the fight. That won’t be the case here.

The guys who gave Oscar problems were always in his class power-wise and the one horrible performance against Purnell Whitaker. That leads me to believe Excellent Boxing is Floyds only option. Now that brings me to the problem of a bad decision. Id Oscar is truly in his twilight, he may still get the duke being out-boxed but moving forward. So the pressure as far as I see is all on Floyd to really out perform Oscar that night. In most of his fights (like Bernard Hopkins) he’s content to cruise instead of closing the show. That’s another factor.

Early on I predicted a long and boring fight ( to most casual fans) that’s based on strategy, but if Mayweather can’t hurt or stun Oscar early then I think a lot of Floyds Fans are going to be upset next week. Oscar in the end!

Mike Tyson

Dr Strange — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 19:04:29 GMT

Anybody hear about Mike Tyson joining Pride fighting, MMA? Read for yourself and see. I found a link at http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/headlines/158028645.shtml

Stranger

Chevy

Dr Strange — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 16:12:17 GMT

Hey! Question for all you avid football watchers. Have you watched the games recently and seen the new Chevy commercial? Well if you haven't it shows the newest truck plowing through mud and has a country singer singing "This is our country". What bothered me is the fact that other than showing the truck while this song is playing all they do is show white people!!! I aint racist one bit but whats really good with Chevy? Should they just show the truck or try to show every nationality in this country? I don't know ya'll you tell me.

NYC Interest: Parties //MAD WEDNESDAYS @ MOOD...........

xodus phoenix — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 00:55:11 GMT

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