Daily Archives: September 10, 2004

Sensenbrenner Carries More Water for Hollywood; How does this benefit his Wisconsin Constituents?

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Nice to see Republican Jim Sensenbrenner working hard to help our economic, education and health care concerns by carrying water for Hollywood….

Thwarted by the courts, copyright holders and their lobby groups, notably the Recording Industry Ass. of America (RIAA), have been forced to file “John Doe” suits against infringers. But HR.4077 brings the full power of the state to their aid:
The FBI will be required to serve as propaganda ministry, or in the words of the bill, “develop a program based on providing of information and notice to deter members of the public from committing acts of copyright infringement through the Internet,” and enforcer.
The Feds must “facilitate the sharing among law enforcement agencies, Internet service providers, and copyright owners of information concerning acts of copyright infringement described in paragraph”.
The chairman of the House Committee which nodded through the measure, Rep James Sensenbrenner (R.-Wis), was paid $18,000 by the Recording Industry Ass. of America to make a trip to Taiwan and Thailand in January 2003, a breach of the House ethics rules, say critics. [WaPo | Reg] Sensenbrenner said it was a “fact-finding mission”, even though his schedule was arranged by the State Department.
But the distinction between State and corporate interests are now so close as to be indistinguishable.

This is all about killing our fair use rights AND trying to make the internet a one way pipe (ala cable tv). How this benefits Wisconsin residents is beyond me. Let Sensenbrenner know your thoughts on how his time is spent working hard for Wisconsin. More from the EFF.

OODA Loop Round and Round Old Media – Amazing!

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Observation, Orientation, Decision, Action – John Boyd’s OODA Loop applies to military as well as business and now media issues. Yesterday, the Minneapolis based powerlineblog used the power of the net to raise questions about a Wednesday CBS News/60 Minutes story. By the end of the day Thursday, the basis of CBS’s story was in doubt, as John Podhoretz explains.
This is truly a new day for citizen information (likely resulting in a variety of outcomes). Years ago, the only “check” on old media would have been a letter to the editor. Today, web writers (for better or worse) operate at a much higher cycle rate than the MSM (Main Stream Media) or old media types. This is the real change: the OODA loop is light years faster than the pre-internet days. Lileks and instapundit have more.
Counterpoint: The Daily Kos. This is funny….

Nicole Miller’s unplanned business success story

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I remember buying a number of Nicole Miller ties in the early 1990’s…

he first Nicole Miller boutique opened on New York’s Madison Avenue in 1986. The store did well, but Miller’s first big break came by accident.
Miller had made a series of silk dresses with a print made out of a design of theater tickets. Bud Konheim, her business partner of 22 years, remembers the dresses were “awful.” Konheim and Miller discussed using the silk to make women’s scarves but settled on men’s ties instead. A security guard at the Madison Avenue boutique also happened to work nights at the Metropolitan Opera. He borrowed one of the ties and showed it to a buyer of the Met’s gift shop.

Elizabeth Blair

Yin & Yang of Ginseng

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Elizabeth Thompson:

In work that emphasizes the need for stronger regulation of herbal drugs, an international team of MIT scientists and colleagues has unraveled the yin and the yang of ginseng, or why the popular alternative medicine can have two entirely different, opposing effects on the body.
Conflicting scientific articles report that ginseng can both promote the growth of blood vessels (key to wound healing) and stymie that process. The latter is important because preventing the formation of blood vessels can be enlisted against cancer. Tumors are fed by blood vessels; cutting off their supply can kill them

Psst: Want some Wisconsin Ginseng?