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The Bible Supports the Idea of Extraterrestrial Beings

by reflections on May 20, 2007 at 1:44 pm · Comments
Categorized by General / Related Information

Probably the best ancient example of standard alien abduction is the story of “Jacob’s ladder” found in Genesis 28 which reads:

“And he [Jacob] dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said…. thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest…. And Jacob awaked out of his sleep… And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place!”

Given this text, and remembering Jacob’s frame of reference, try to put aside, for a second everything you have learned since you were knee high, and consider logically how similar modern day abductees’ claims are to what Jacob is reported to have experienced.

Remember too that intense fear and genetic manipulation are the two most commonly cited aspects of extraterrestrial encounters by modern day UFO abductees claiming to have experienced anomalous pregnancies that suddenly end mid-term with no miscarriage. Among these supposed abductees are several young adolescent girls who gynecologists confirmed pregnant while maintaining finding of physical evidence of their virginity. Then realize that for one’s “seed” to spread around the world it must first be removed from the testes or ovary and the only way a virgin woman can get pregnant and bear a child is through artificial insemination.

If one raises this question regarding the Holy Child, fundamentalist will scream heresy but other than Jesus, one must note that other civilizations also believed in messiahs. For example, the Aztecs believed in a messiah, Quetzalcoatl, who derived his lighter skin tone and heavier facial hair from godly genes and according to their beliefs was created to improve their civilization. Quetzalcoatl was then followed by Cortes, the Spanish conquistador, whom the Aztecs mistakenly believed fulfilled the prophecy of the demigod’s second coming. Another example is found in the copious writings of the Egyptians who hailed their own messiah, Imhotep, who they claimed built the first pyramid and taught them advanced sciences, only to ascend to the heavens one day leaving behind tremendous legends and an improved society. However, the belief in messiahs did not stop there as still others claimed their own variety of demigod, like the Mesopotamians, Gilgamesh and the Maya’s Kukulkan; and the list goes on.

Messiah literally means “godly king” which fits our belief in Jesus Christ who the Hebrew people expected to be a being who would combine the necessary human traits of King David with the desirable superhuman traits of Yahweh. Given that assumption then Jesus was a “Son of God, as well as, a son of man” simply because he was half alien and half human! We find evidence for this idea in Luke 1:26-32,34-35,38 which reads:

“… the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee… And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying…. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favour with God.” She is thus visited by a superhuman being who tells her she is somehow special or chosen, and she is afraid. The story goes on to reveal the visitation’s remarkable purpose. “And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest…. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing that I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.”

Meanwhile, a UFO had already heralded the forthcoming birth of Jesus to King Herod’s astrologers, in the well-known story of the “Star of David.” Contrary to the traditional interpretation, however, the Bible makes it clear that this object was not really a star at all.

This strangely moving “star” which leads the astrologers directly to the place of Jesus’ birth is described in the apocryphal book of Protevangelion, chapter 15 which reads:

“They answered him (Herod) we saw an extraordinary large star shining among the stars of heaven, and so out-shined all the other stars, as that they became not visible… So the wise men went forth, and behold, the star which they saw in the east went before them, till it came and stood over the cave where the young child was with Mary his mother.”

Incredibly, another incident in Matthew 17 describes yet again an excellent array of UFO-related phenomena when Jesus met his disciples up on a mountain and Jesus revealed himself to them as the glorious figure of a godly superhuman.

“And He, Jesus, was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light….” Then a strange object appears in the sky, provoking intense fear in the onlookers. “… behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud…. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid.”

This is picked up again in Luke 9 which reads, “… they feared as they entered into the cloud.” Did more happen to them during this time we will never know since it was never recorded on paper.

Additionally, one must consider the ridiculous stereotypes attributed to angels that show them as winged cherubs strumming harps instead of as the powerful beings set forth in the Bible and other ancient text. In reality, the Bible repeatedly shows angels provoking fear in those who see them, which shows that not all extraterrestrial encounters are necessarily pleasant and that some must carry out certain disturbing tasks making it feasible that one of those tasks involves what we explain as alien abduction.

It is safe to assume that the many people who contributed to the Western Bible just wrote down what they thought and experienced - and this includes a tremendous amount of material which can be considered representative of the UFO phenomenon throughout history. The crucial fact remains that superhuman extraterrestrials have seemingly been with us since the dawn of Man.

In The Omega Project by prominent psychologist and paranormal researcher Kenneth Ring, a professional survey is presented which found that 85 percent of all UFO abductees report an increase in their concern for the welfare of our world, with 60 percent saying it has strongly increased. The same survey also shows that 71 percent of abductees believe humanity is on the verge of a new age. Compare these findings with those in Revelations that occurred almost two thousand years ago when an angel took John on a dramatic journey above the earth during which he was told of a climactic future period and a utopian world thereafter. Perhaps the dramatic increase in observed extraterrestrial activity during the past few decades is largely because human civilization is undergoing dramatic changes including encounters by devout Christians such as Mennonite, Lynn Miller, who is discussed in the book, Secret Life, by ufologist David M. Jacobs in which she remembers having “flown with the angels” at age 12. Miller came down with diphtheria when six years old, and since the family did not believe in modern medicine they prayed to God for a miracle and sure enough, that very night what she describes as angels visited her and the very next day she was totally cured.

Stories like these show convincingly that religion and ufology are inseparably tied together and that no matter what we choose to call them, superhuman beings are here and have always been watching over us.

As in my last article regarding extraterrestrial beings, I am sure many people will erupt in anger at my argument that the Bible supports the theory of super humans and extraterrestrial encounters in biblical times. For that, I apologize but I believe that the evidence remains available for all to see if they are willing to look at it objectively.
http://www.lockergnome.com/nexus/re...supports-the-idea-of-extraterrestrial-beings/

 

The Concrete Pyramids of Egypt?? Huh? Wha?

The Surprising Truth Behind the Construction of the Great Pyramids

The widely accepted theory-that the pyramids were crafted of carved-out giant limestone blocks that workers carried up ramps-had not only not been embraced by everyone, but as important had quite a number of holes.

According to the caller, the mysteries had actually been solved by Joseph Davidovits, Director of the Geopolymer Institute in St. Quentin, France, more than two decades ago. Davidovits claimed that the stones of the pyramids were actually made of a very early form of concrete created using a mixture of limestone, clay, lime, and water.

“It was at this point in the conversation that I burst out laughing,” says Barsoum. If the pyramids were indeed cast, he says, someone should have proven it beyond a doubt by now, in this day and age, with just a few hours of electron microscopy.
[…]
A year and a half later, after extensive scanning electron microscope (SEM) observations and other testing, Barsoum and his research group finally began to draw some conclusions about the pyramids. They found that the tiniest structures within the inner and outer casing stones were indeed consistent with a reconstituted limestone. The cement binding the limestone aggregate was either silicon dioxide (the building block of quartz) or a calcium and magnesium-rich silicate mineral.

– MORE –


The Surprising Truth Behind the Construction of the Great Pyramids
By Sheila Berninger, and Dorilona Rose

posted: 18 May 2007 09:42 am ET




This Behind the Scenes article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation.

"This is not my day job." So begins Michel Barsoum as he recounts his foray into the mysteries of the Great Pyramids of Egypt. As a well respected researcher in the field of ceramics, Barsoum never expected his career to take him down a path of history, archaeology, and "political" science, with materials research mixed in.

As a distinguished professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Drexel University, his daily routine consists mainly of teaching students about ceramics, or performing research on a new class of materials, the so-called MAX Phases, that he and his colleagues discovered in the 1990s. These modern ceramics are machinable, thermal-shock resistant, and are better conductors of heat and electricity than many metals-making them potential candidates for use in nuclear power plants, the automotive industry, jet engines, and a range of other high-demand systems.

Then Barsoum received an unexpected phone call from Michael Carrell, a friend of a retired colleague of Barsoum, who called to chat with the Egyptian-born Barsoum about how much he knew of the mysteries surrounding the building of the Great Pyramids of Giza, the only remaining of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

The widely accepted theory-that the pyramids were crafted of carved-out giant limestone blocks that workers carried up ramps-had not only not been embraced by everyone, but as important had quite a number of holes.

Burst out laughing

According to the caller, the mysteries had actually been solved by Joseph Davidovits, Director of the Geopolymer Institute in St. Quentin, France, more than two decades ago. Davidovits claimed that the stones of the pyramids were actually made of a very early form of concrete created using a mixture of limestone, clay, lime, and water.

"It was at this point in the conversation that I burst out laughing," says Barsoum. If the pyramids were indeed cast, he says, someone should have proven it beyond a doubt by now, in this day and age, with just a few hours of electron microscopy.

It turned out that nobody had completely proven the theory...yet.

"What started as a two-hour project turned into a five-year odyssey that I undertook with one of my graduate students, Adrish Ganguly, and a colleague in France, Gilles Hug," Barsoum says.

A year and a half later, after extensive scanning electron microscope (SEM) observations and other testing, Barsoum and his research group finally began to draw some conclusions about the pyramids. They found that the tiniest structures within the inner and outer casing stones were indeed consistent with a reconstituted limestone. The cement binding the limestone aggregate was either silicon dioxide (the building block of quartz) or a calcium and magnesium-rich silicate mineral.

The stones also had a high water content-unusual for the normally dry, natural limestone found on the Giza plateau-and the cementing phases, in both the inner and outer casing stones, were amorphous, in other words, their atoms were not arranged in a regular and periodic array. Sedimentary rocks such as limestone are seldom, if ever, amorphous.

The sample chemistries the researchers found do not exist anywhere in nature. "Therefore," says Barsoum, "it's very improbable that the outer and inner casing stones that we examined were chiseled from a natural limestone block."

More startlingly, Barsoum and another of his graduate students, Aaron Sakulich, recently discovered the presence of silicon dioxide nanoscale spheres (with diameters only billionths of a meter across) in one of the samples. This discovery further confirms that these blocks are not natural limestone.

Generations misled

At the end of their most recent paper reporting these findings, the researchers reflect that it is "ironic, sublime and truly humbling" that this 4,500-year-old limestone is so true to the original that it has misled generations of Egyptologists and geologists and, "because the ancient Egyptians were the original-albeit unknowing-nanotechnologists."

As if the scientific evidence isn't enough, Barsoum has pointed out a number of common sense reasons why the pyramids were not likely constructed entirely of chiseled limestone blocks.

Egyptologists are consistently confronted by unanswered questions: How is it possible that some of the blocks are so perfectly matched that not even a human hair can be inserted between them? Why, despite the existence of millions of tons of stone, carved presumably with copper chisels, has not one copper chisel ever been found on the Giza Plateau?

Although Barsoum's research has not answered all of these questions, his work provides insight into some of the key questions. For example, it is now more likely than not that the tops of the pyramids are cast, as it would have been increasingly difficult to drag the stones to the summit.

Also, casting would explain why some of the stones fit so closely together. Still, as with all great mysteries, not every aspect of the pyramids can be explained. How the Egyptians hoisted 70-ton granite slabs halfway up the great pyramid remains as mysterious as ever.

Why do the results of Barsoum's research matter most today? Two words: earth cements.

"How energy intensive and/or complicated can a 4,500 year old technology really be? The answer to both questions is not very," Barsoum explains. "The basic raw materials used for this early form of concrete-limestone, lime, and diatomaceous earth-can be found virtually anywhere in the world," he adds. "Replicating this method of construction would be cost effective, long lasting, and much more environmentally friendly than the current building material of choice: Portland cement that alone pumps roughly 6 billion tons of CO2 annually into the atmosphere when it's manufactured."

"Ironically," says Barsoum, "this study of 4,500 year old rocks is not about the past, but about the future."

More to Explore

* Michel Barsoum's pyramid Web site
* Department of Materials Science and Engineering website
* A presentation on the pyramid discoveries by Michel Barsoum

Editor's Note: This research was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF ), the federal agency charged with funding basic research and education across all fields of science and engineering.�

http://www.livescience.com/history/070518_bts_barsoum_pyramids.html

 

Hardware Western Digital Launches 250GB 2.5" Notebook Driveby Souka.. on May 21 at 5:08 PM

Please enter the characters in the image below.

Western Digital joins Fujitsu with a 250GB 5400RPM SATA notebook HDD

Not to be outdone by Fujitsu which recently announced its 250GB 2.5" 5400RPM MHY2 BH Series notebook HDDs, Western Digital today announced its new 250GB Scorpio notebook HDD.

Western Digital's 250GB Scorpio takes full advantage of perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) and features a Serial ATA interface. Spindle speed for the new drive is a respectable 5400RPM.

Other features of the new Scorpio drive include IntelliSeek technology which improves seek performance, WhisperDrive to ensure near-silent operation and ShockGuard technology to protect the drive in the event of shock/jostling.

"The 2.5-inch market continues to be a major focus for WD, and this 250 GB WD Scorpio drive represents our second-generation PMR platform," said Jim Morris, Western Digital's VP and GM of notebook storage.

"The WD Scorpio 250 GB hard drive is a direct result of the significant investments WD has made in proprietary head technologies as well as significant system level feature innovation. With the introduction of our latest-generation WD Scorpio drives, WD continues to offer mobile computing and portable storage customers the same outstanding quality, reliability and performance that have earned the company a leadership position in the desktop PC market."

The new Scorpio WD2500BEVS drives are available now from Western Digital's online store for $199.99 USD.
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=7377

 

http://p2pnet.net/story/12300

 

One of the best HDD utilities is free

Seagate's new drive utility worth a solid gold

By Theo Valich: Tuesday 22 May 2007, 18:51
EVERY HARD DRIVE manufacturer usually offers some piece of software that will ease the moving of stuff between the drives, but also proves a good backup tool.

Usually, the hard drive manufacturers team up with utility makers and offer baseline features. Until now, that is.

Seagate has released a version of Disc Wizard and Maxtor's Max Blast 5, but what makes these utilities highly on the "me want" list is the fact that both are based on the OEM version of the excellent True Image app. Disc Wizard and Max Blast utilities now offer a plethora of options that give people options previously offered only by commercial applications. Disc Wizard/Max Blast feature disk drive cloning, full disk imaging, formatting drives, creating partitions, erasing all the data on the drive - for the best price of them all.

There is a grand total of 14 supported languages, and is totally free for owners of hard drives manufactured by Seagate or companies owned by Seagate. You need to have at least one drive in order for this utility to work, but worst case scenario would be using those external USB 2.0 drives by Seagate... when it comes to distribution, you can find this utility on CDs that are shipping with retail drives, or simply download the latest version.

Acronis is a well known company in this biz, but we were surprised to see both Seagate and Acronis keeping their mouths shut and not talking out loud about the co-operation. We wonder is there some agreement over keeping this cooperation silent, but Seagate missed out the fact that this hack uses Seagate drives. If you own Seagate or Maxtor hard drive, don't think - just follow our complementary L'INQs to get the software. µ

L'INQ
Seagate DiscWizard
http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.j...toid=d9fd4a3cdde5c010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD

Maxtor MaxBlast
http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.j...toid=7add8b9c4a8ff010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD


Acronis website
http://www.acronis.com/

 

are they not locked to Seagate and maxtor HDs and do not work on sata HDs?

 

ZIppyDSM
FOR SEAGATE AND MAXTOR,IT WILL DO OTHER BRANDS
if ye have a maxtor or seagate installed,i did them..

look under this page
Hardware setup instructions:
ATA Hard Drives
SATA Hard Drives
http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.j...toid=d9fd4a3cdde5c010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
IF YOU HAVE a seagate or maxtor drive installed

I just learned how to use windows disk management stuff its not to bad and dosent have odd size limits.

 

FREE,VSO Image Resizer 1.0.14

Size: 2.95MB

Publisher: Visit Website

Release Date: 2007-05-22

Submit Date: 2007-05-22

OS: Win 2K/XP/Vista

Publisher's Description
VSO Image resizer organizes your photos by shrinking their resolution or moving them within your hard drive. It is the perfect tool for those who store their digital pictures and images on their PC and who want to resize, compress, convert, create copies, import or organize photos.

With this freeware, you can create e-mail friendly versions of your images, load them faster, move them easily from folder to folder, change their format, edit large numbers of image files and thus save space on your hard drive. VSO Image resizer is integrated into the Windows explorer shell, right click on your pictures and start working on your pictures!

Features:

* Convert between different graphic formats
* Configurable compression/resolution ratio
* Support file formats: Jpeg, gif, bmp
* Handle single picture or batch mode
* Reduce size photos perfect for web publishing/share photos by email
* Integrate in windows explorer or works as a stand-alone application
* Fast processing
* Import directly from your memory cards
* Save history of destination folder
* Variable options and settings for advanced users
* Multilingual support (available languages...)
* Optimized for Windows 2000 / XP / Vista

DOWNLOAD HERE
http://www.freewarefiles.com/program_3_42_20127.html

 

FREE,OpenOffice.org 2.2.1 RC2

Size: 97.02MB

Publisher: Visit Website

Release Date: 2007-05-22

Submit Date: 2007-05-22

OS: Win NT/2000/XP

Publisher's Description
OpenOffice.org is an Open Source, community-developed, multiplatform office-productivity suite. It includes the key desktop applications, such as a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation manager, and drawing program, with a user interface and feature set similar to other office suites.

Sophisticated and flexible, OpenOffice.org also works transparently with a variety of file formats, including Microsoft´s.

Localizations of OpenOffice.org are available in 27 languages with more being constantly added by the community. OpenOffice.org runs stably and natively on Solaris, Linux (including PPC Linux), and Windows. Additional ports, such as for FreeBSD, IRIX, and Mac OS X, are in various stages of completion.

Written in C++ and with documented APIs licensed under the LGPL and SISSL Open Source licenses, OpenOffice.org allows any knowledgeable developer to benefit from the source. And, because the file format for OpenOffice.org is in XML, interoperability is easy, making future development and adoption more certain.

Download the stable version. OpenOffice.org 2.2.0.
See: this page for non windows releases.

DOWNLOAD HERE
http://www.freewarefiles.com/program_8_182_2542.html

 

RIAA comes a cropper,

p2pnet.net news:- Below is a seemingly innocuous document. It's typically bland, but it represents a potential disaster for the corporate music industry.

The following transaction was entered on 5/23/2007 at 9:58 AM EDT and filed on 5/18/2007

Case Name: Lava Records LLC et al v. Amurao
Case Number: 7:07-cv-321
Filer:
Document Number: No document attached
Docket Text:

Minute Entry for proceedings held before Judge Charles L. Brieant : Oral Argument held on 5/18/2007 re: [15]

MOTION to File Amicus Brief In Support of Defendant's Opposition to Plaintiffs' Motion to Dismiss Counterclaims. filed by Electronic Frontier Foundation, [8] MOTION to Dismiss or Strike Defendant's Counterclaims. filed by Lava Records LLC.....Motion Dke #15 for leave to file amicus brief is Granted.

Motion Dkt#8 is denied. Plaintiff's may respond to Counterclaims within 10 day's.

See transcrip. So Ordered Brieant, J.

New York's Rolando Amurao is yet another of the people Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG's RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) claims is a "massive distributor" of digital music files.

Represented by Richard Altman, Amurao protests he's not now, and never has been, anything of the kind.

In fact, says Altman, the RIAA is itself at fault for misusing US copyright laws. And the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) is supporting Altman in a friends of the court brief which judge Brieant now says can be officially filed.

Slashdot Slashdot it!

Also See:
massive distributor - EFF in RIAA vs Amurao fray, April 10, 2007
Recording Industry vs The People - Judge Rejects RIAA Motion in Lava v. Amurao; Counterclaims for Copyright Misuse and Declaratory Judgment Stand, May 23, 2007
http://p2pnet.net/story/12313

 

You receive an access violation error and the system may appear to become unresponsive when you try to install an update from Windows Update or from Microsoft Update................
927891

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927891

 

US House passes anti-spyware bill

p2pnet.net news:- One of the principal claims to fame of Sharman Networks' Kazaa p2p file sharing application, currently on a list of people and entities named in a new lawsuit, is that it was largely responsible for originally introducing spyware to the net.

Spyware, malware, adware and other Net nasties now cause surfers and computer users a huge amount of trouble, also draining resources and costing billions of dollars as people and companies search constantly to find new ways of defeating them.

The US House of Representatives has past the Internet Spyware Prevention Act, or I-Spy, which would, "impose specific penalties for the fraudulent use of spyware," says Reuters.

But it would impose no new requirements on software makers.

"House lawmakers approved a bill providing for up to five years in jail for those who use spyware to commit fraud but stops short of regulatory requirements sought by some lawmakers," says the story, continuing:

"Spyware has emerged as a major headache for computer users. It can end up on users' computers through a virus or through downloaded games or other free programs off the Internet. Spyware can sap computing power, crash machines and bury users under a blizzard of unwanted ads. Scam artists can use spyware to capture passwords, account numbers and other sensitive personal data."

However, " Even though the House approved some kind of antispyware legislation in 2004 and 2005, the Senate never acted," says CNET News. "It's not an uncommon fate for legislation passed by the lower chamber, and it could happen again.

"Also, if the House leadership eventually permits a vote on the more regulatory alternative, called the Spy Act, the software industry would face a renewed threat. The Spy Act was approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee on May 10. "

Industry representatives, "have said those regulations could threaten Web sites that rely on cookies and other commonly used techniques to target ads and to provide free content to their users," says the story.

I-Spy, supported by the software industry, doesn't include provisions in the Spy Act which would, "require software distributors and advertisers to clearly notify and obtain consent from consumers before programs can be loaded onto a computer," says Reuters.

Slashdot Slashdot it!

Also See:
new lawsuit - StreamCast sues Joost, May 23, 2007
Reuters - U.S. House approves less stringent anti-spyware bill, May 22, 2007
CNET News - House passes more tech-friendly antispyware bill, May 22, 2007
http://p2pnet.net/story/12304

 

There's freedom, then there's Freedom

p2pnet.net news:- Yesterday, we featured a p2pnet special on an Open Net Initiative analysis of international efforts to restrict access to the Net.

"The idea that the internet is an unregulated space where free expression is the guiding principle and we can all talk openly took another blow last week with the latest report on net filtering from the Open Net Initiative," says Bill Thompson.

"Their [the Open Net Initiative] study found many countries were filtering websites and email, and some were blocking new services like voice over IP," he says. "China, Burma, Tunisia and Iran were among the countries mentioned, and the overall message was that things are getting worse for the open internet."

But countries and states aren't all that's at fault.

Thompson goes on >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I had been discussing many of the same issues just a few days earlier at a seminar at Wolfson College, Cambridge, where I am spending a term as a Press Fellow.

My colleague, Chinese journalist and blogger Michael Anti, pointed out that although political expression is tightly controlled in China the government is not really interested in other aspects of people's lives, while here in the UK we can talk about democracy but other forms of speech are restricted for legal and commercial reasons.

He has a point. The ONI report only looked at official, state-sanctioned filtering, and it did not consider the situation in the UK or US where most controls are imposed by companies trying to protect their reputation or achieve competitive advantage.

Here we see numerous examples of limits on free speech.

Apple has repeatedly sued journalists for revealing details of its product plans.

A Romanian blogger has been threatened with prosecution by a US internet radio station for revealing how to link directly to its audio streams and bypass the media player it wants you to use.

Respected online publisher Jon Newton has been sued over the comments added to an article he posted on the popular p2pnet news site.

Yahoo! has been roundly criticised for removing comments made on the Flickr photosharing site it owns after photographer Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir complained that a commercial company was selling prints of her photos without permission.

And we recently saw the fiasco that resulted when the group that manages copy protection for the new generation of high capacity disks tried to use the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act to stop people publishing the number 09:F9:11:02:9D: 74:E3:5B8: 41:56:C5: 63:56:88:C0 because with the right software it can be used to decrypt some titles.

These sorts of restrictions happen all the time, and rarely involve direct government action, as we can see on the Chilling Effects website where there are copies of thousands of 'cease and desist' letters from lawyers trying to remove web content, including some from the BBC.

Most of us recognise that there are limits on what we can say or do, limits imposed to benefit the wider society and which serve us all, even if they sometimes seem onerous.

The point is not that speech is controlled but the openness with which it is done, the way that limits are discussed and agreed on and the ease with which unreasonable restrictions to freedom of expression can be challenged.

There is also a difference between censorship imposed by governments and the restrictions put in place by people or organisations for themselves.

Yahoo! says that it made a mistake in taking down Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir's posting, but in fact if the discussion went against the terms of use and included abusive comments then it is under no obligation to host them.

Just as I can't expect to be allowed to wander into your home and shout at you because you spend your time watching trash TV instead of reading improving books, so my ability to say what I want on private forums is limited.

The same principle applies to Slashdot, Digg, The Guardian or any other organisation that hosts content. Every day I delete dozens of spam comments from my blog and I don't consider that to be unreasonable censorship.

If the controls are too onerous then the discussion will move elsewhere. If the policy is inconsistently applied or seen to be biased then that will itself form the basis of public discussion, perhaps in other forums.

I'm happy to allow anyone to decide for themselves what they will or will not publish on their own site or service, but it gets a lot more dangerous when we allow individuals or governments to use legal remedies to stop other people speaking out, as with the furore over the HD-DVD key.

And the limits on speech that are acceptable when imposed by private companies as part of their terms and conditions would not be acceptable when imposed by governments.

In an open society we want to be as permissive as possible, limiting free expression only when it is absolutely necessary, and debating such limitations openly.

But we should not expect the rules to be straightforward or universal.

We need to take a more nuanced approach to this fundamental issue, one which allows that different nations, cultures and groups will have different standards, and one which also respects the difference between public and private provision of spaces for publication and debate.

Unfortunately, as I've pointed out in the past, nearly all of the open spaces we occupy online are in fact privately controlled and managed.

The real danger in the coming years might not be that governments look at what China has achieved with its 'Great Firewall' and decide to emulate it, but that the companies behind our online gathering places become more conservative, more limiting and more repressive, while we find we have nowhere else to go.

Perhaps it's time for the Open Net Initiative to have a look at filtering policies at Facebook, Bebo and MySpace as well as Burma, Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Bill Thompson - andfinally.com
[Thompson is a UK-based writer and broadcaster. He has a weekly column on the BBC WebWise site, and contributes both on and off-line to The Guardian, The Register and The New Statesman, among others. His "inappropriately-titled 'billblog' "appears weekly on BBC News Online in the technology news section.]

Slashdot Slashdot it!

Also See:
p2pnet special - State-led Net censorship on the rise, May 22, 2007
(Wednesday 23rd May 2007)
http://p2pnet.net/story/12307

 

Adobe Illustrator CS3

By Dave Girard | Published: May 23, 2007 - 01:06AM CT
The poster child

Adobe Illustrator CS3
Manufacturer: Adobe
Operating system support: Windows XP SP2, Vista Home Premium or better, Mac OS X 10.4.8
Price: Illustrator CS3 full version: $599; upgrade from Illustrator 10, CS, CS2, CorelDraw, Freehand 9, 10, or MX: $199 (shop for Illustrator CS3)

Overall, the transition to Mac OS X was relatively smooth, but one of the rough periods for professional graphic designers was Illustrator 10. This first native OS X version was the poster child for reasons to wait to move to Mac OS X on older hardware, since everything was glacially slow compared to Illustrator 9 on OS 9. This wasn't all Adobe's fault, and there were worse culprits for sure. Eventually, updates made it incrementally faster, and with version 12, it was finally zippy enough to run on a first-gen G5 without feeling like you were designing in bullet time.

Okay, it wasn't that bad, but Adobe knew it had issues with the older code; with CS3, they've completely overhauled the drawing engine to get a much larger boost and bring an end to any nostalgia for the speedy—yet crashy—days of yore. Of course, this update also comes with Universal Binary Intel Mac support, a new interface, and some things called "new features" that we'll also take a look at. So without further ado...
System requirements
Mac OS X

* PowerPC® G4 or G5 or Intel processor (single or multicore)
* Mac OS X v.10.4.8
* 512MB of RAM (1GB recommended)
* 2.5GB of available hard-disk space (additional free space required during installation)
* DVD-ROM drive

Windows

* Intel® Pentium® 4, Intel Centrino®, Intel Xeon®, or Intel Core™ Solo/Duo (or compatible) processor
* Microsoft® Windows® XP with Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista™ Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise (certified for 32-bit editions)
* 512MB of RAM (1GB recommended)
* 2GB of available hard-disk space (additional free space required during installation)
* DVD-ROM drive

Note that none of the CS3 applications are 64-bit. The Mac version requires more space because of the Universal Binary application format.
Test hardware
MacBook Pro Core Duo 2.0 GHz

* 2GB RAM
* Mac OS X 10.4.9

Mac Pro 2.66 GHz Quad Xeon

* 3GB RAM
* Mac OS X 10.4.9

Dual G5 2.0 GHz

* 4.5GB RAM
* Mac OS X 10.4.9

http://arstechnica.com/reviews/apps/adobe-illustrator-cs3.ars

 

More Microsoft DRM?

p2pnet.net news:- Are Microsoft Windows Media Center users "suddenly facing restrictions forbidding playback of recorded analog cable TV content? - asks the EFF's Deep Links, quoting a slashdot post.

"Was DRM smuggled along with an "update" into unsuspecting users' machines?" - the story enquires, continuing >>>>>

In fact, Windows Media Center has always obeyed CGMS-A, a DRM system that TV stations can use. Pay-per-view, VOD, and premium channels like HBO can (and do) mark programming as "Copy Once" or "Copy Never." Tech creators are free to build DVRs and other devices that ignore CGMS-A signals and create restriction-free recordings, but Microsoft opted to kowtow to content providers and infect Media Centers with the DRM anyway. (You may recall that TiVo decided to cripple its DVRs so that they recognize a similar DRM flag developed by Macrovision.)

As if the deliberate use restrictions weren't bad enough, obeying CGMS-A has also caused technical errors and haphazard incompatibilities. Remember Windows' "blue screen of death," signaling an unexpected failure? DRM creates more ways for your system to fail -- your Media Center may work reliably today, but a software or hardware change could create unpredictable limitations.

According to PC World, this sort of technical problem probably led to the complaints featured on Slashdot. You can bet that this won't be the last time customers bump up against such problems both with CGMS-A and other DRM.

It's worth noting that the DRM can get even worse when it comes to digital cable. Media Center users can look forward to even more limits on streaming throughout their house, copying to portable devices, and other legitimate uses.

Just because Microsoft decided to obey CGMS-A doesn't mean you have to. You can look to PC DVR alternatives, and you can make DRM-free, analog-to-digital conversions of TV content using tools like the Neuros recorder that don't recognize CGMS-A.

Slashdot Slashdot it!

Also See:
Deep Links - Windows Media Center DRM - Now With More Bugs!, May 23, 2007
slashdot - Windows Media Center Restrict
http://p2pnet.net/story/12324

 

Museums and misleading 'copyright'

p2pnet.net news view:- The Associated Press has picked up on a story involving public access to images in the Smithsonian Institution. Public.Resource.Org has posted 6,288 images currently sold by the Smithsonian on Flickr (a book of the images can be downloaded for free from Lulu.com), arguing that the U.S. institution is overreaching by claiming copyright or control over images that are in the public domain.

The issue is an important one that should also resonate in Canada. Some readers may recall the battle between a small school division in Manitoba and the National Gallery of Canada over fees levied for a public domain Paul Kane painting. In the wake of that incident, I've been working with some students to identify how Canadian museums address access to public domain works in their collections. The research is not yet complete, however, the preliminary news is not good.

Museums are strapped for cash and therefore use their physical control over images to levy fees over public domain works. While a cost-recovery fee for digitization or administration is understandable, many institutions go much further charging "surrogate copyright fees" or "user's fees" for public domain works or deploy technology to limit the potential uses of digitized versions of those works.

For example, consider Emily Carr, whose work entered the public domain in 1996.

A B.C. site focused on Carr advises that her work is in the public domain but that reproductions of her works are subject to copyright, which resides with the galleries. The Art Gallery of Ontario's excellent Collection X site features some of Carr's work, with a copyright notice as well as low-resolution photographs that limits the ability to re-use the image. The AGO is not alone - Canadian Heritage's Artefacts Canada posts thumbnail images of hundreds of Carr works all implying that the works are subject to copyright.

These claims are open to serious challenge. The seminal case on point is a U.S. decision, Bridgeman Art Library v. Corel Corp., in which the court ruled that exact photographic copies of public domain images could not be protected by copyright because the copies lack originality (the court also ruled that it thought that UK copyright law would treat the issue in the same manner).

It is very likely that Canadian courts would adopt the Bridgeman analysis. The Supreme Court of Canada's CCH decision addresses the issue of originality under copyright, with a unanimous court ruling that:

For a work to be "original" within the meaning of the Copyright Act, it must be more than a mere copy of another work. At the same time, it need not be creative, in the sense of being novel or unique. What is required to attract copyright protection in the expression of an idea is an exercise of skill and judgment. By skill, I mean the use of one's knowledge, developed aptitude or practised ability in producing the work. By judgment, I mean the use of one's capacity for discernment or ability to form an opinion or evaluation by comparing different possible options in producing the work. This exercise of skill and judgment will necessarily involve intellectual effort. The exercise of skill and judgment required to produce the work must not be so trivial that it could be characterized as a purely mechanical exercise. For example, any skill and judgment that might be involved in simply changing the font of a work to produce "another" work would be too trivial to merit copyright protection as an 'original' work.

The court went on to state that:

this Court stated that the purpose of copyright law was to balance the public interest in promoting the encouragement and dissemination of works of the arts and intellect and obtaining a just reward for the creator. When courts adopt a standard of originality requiring only that something be more than a mere copy or that someone simply show industriousness to ground copyright in a work, they tip the scale in favour of the author's or creator's rights, at the loss of society's interest in maintaining a robust public domain that could help foster future creative innovation.

So what does this mean for images of public domain works? As the court says, the image must be more than a mere copy of another work. In many instances (ie. the Carr images), it does not appear that there is anything more than a mere copy of a public domain work. While museums are understandably searching for revenue streams, doing so on the basis of misleading copyright claims is not the way to do it. In fact, as Canadian Heritage Minister Bev Oda finalizes the long-awaited museum policy, she should use the opportunity to say so by creating a clear link between access to public domain works and public financial support for the institutions that house those works.

Michael Geist
[Geist is the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa. He can be reached by email at mgeist[at]uottawa.ca and is on-line at www.michaelgeist.ca.]

Slashdot Slashdot it!

Also See:
for free - $43 Smithsonian image book online, May 24, 2007
http://p2pnet.net/story/12323

 

University of Washington file sharing

p2pnet.net news:- Right now, mention p2p file sharing and American universities in the same breath and you'll almost certainly be talking about the lawsuits launched by Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG against student customers across the country.

However, as is often pointed out online but usually ignored by the mainstream media, there's far more to peer-to-peer sharing than mere music and movies.

For example, p2p file sharing has arrived at the University of Washington in a big way, and there's nothing negative about it.

Wanting to make classroom lessons almost immediately available to everyone, it's using IP-based audio encoding devices throughout 24 classrooms, standardizing on Barix Instreamers.

"The implementation is part of a pilot program through U Washington's 'coursecasting' initiative, headed up by the university's classroom support services," says David Nagel on Campus Technology, going on:

"The 24 classrooms, in 13 campus buildings, have been equipped with one Interstreamer each in the projection booth at the back of each classroom. The Instreamer's line input is connected to the audio output of the PA systems in the classes. Audio is recorded and encoded, at which point the Instreamers connect through the campus network to Classroom Support Services' central capture server, which processes the audio and uploads it to an archive on one of the university's portal pages. The portal provides access to the recordings (encoded at lowest quality to keep file sizes small) via RSS."

The story has David Aldrich, assistant director of classroom support services and director of the coursecasting pilot program, stating:

"We designed our automated coursecasting model around the Instreamer after realizing we could stream directly to a capture server using this device. We liked the fact that the Instreamer had no moving parts and was less likely to fail compared to using computers for audio capture and streaming to a central server. Reliability is a big factor when designing a solution to be scalable. It didn't hurt that the price point was considerably lower than a computer and the associated installation costs."

Aldrich says since October 2005, students have been able to access recordings online, and the university has logged about 110,000 lecture downloads through March 2007.

"Previously classroom recordings were accessed by students physically from the university's library," says Campus Technology.

Slashdot Slashdot it!

Also See:
against student customers - Students 'worst customers': RIAA, March 23, 2007
Campus Technology - U Washington Deploys IP-Based 'Coursecasting', March 23, 2007
http://p2pnet.net/story/12320

 

Fight the Copycrime Proposal

p2pnet.net news:- With the entertainment cartels paving the way, America is slowly becoming a corporate police state.

Should ordinary Americans face jail time for attempted copyright infringement? - asks the EFF's (Electronic Frontier Foundation) Deep Links.

Should the sort of property forfeiture penalties applied in drug busts also threaten p2p users, mixtape makers, and mash-up artists?

The Department of Justice (DoJ) says Yes to this has drafted [PDF], "an outrageous legislative proposal that applies these severe penalties and much more," says the foundation. Take action now to stop it >>>>>>>>>

Criminal copyright infringement already goes beyond situations involving large-scale commercial piracy. Thanks to laws like the No Electronic Theft (NET) Act and the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act (FECA), the federal government can now criminally charge (i.e., send to prison) people for simply uploading a single "pre-release" song (as two Ryan Adams fans discovered last year when they were brought up on federal charges for uploading tracks from pre-release promotional CDs).

Most of the DoJ's proposed changes to copyright's criminal provisions fall into two categories: (1) making it easier to convict people by eliminating the inconvenient necessity of proving that actual infringement took place, and (2) increasing the financial and confinement punishments. Law enforcement would also be allowed to use wiretaps and to spy on personal communications as part of copyright investigations. That potentially translates into wiretap authority for millions of American homes, since surveys show that 1 in 5 American Internet users downloads music and movies from P2P networks.

This guarantees one result: more costly, unnecessary, and draconian investigations and prosecutions funded by taxpayer dollars. Not only will this end up costing Americans tremendous amounts of time, money, and peace of mind, but it will also give law enforcement yet another opportunity to invade your privacy. All it takes is a single attempt to download the wrong file online.

Law enforcement already has enough tools to go after commercial pirates, and the entertainment industry has the tools to pay its own lawyers to sue infringers. Instead of wasting taxpayer dollars, Congress ought to be focusing on meaningful copyright reform that protects fans' rights to use creative material and supports new technologies.

Write to your representatives now.

Slashdot Slashdot it!

Also See:
Deep Links - Action Alert: Fight the Justice Department's Copycrime Proposal!, May 22, 2007
http://p2pnet.net/story/12315

 

Good vibes from iPod plug-'n-play

p2pnet.net news:- British "adult product line" manufacturer Ann& Summers has combined The Beachboys' hit 'Good Vibrations' and the term 'plug-'n-play' for a whole new experience ;P

According to Britain's News of the World, or News of the Screws, as it's popularly known, Apple is blowing a fuse over a new device created specifically to help users get more pleasure from their iPods.

Is it because Steve jobs didn't think of it first?

That's it on the right, and according to its maker, Ann Summers, it was created to work, "hand-in-hand with the Apple iPod for the pleasure of females," says iGasm.

Er, yes. Um ....

It goes on:

The product claims to 'vibrate' to the song's beat, providing a sexual euphoria of sounds and feelings that has not yet been attempted on such a mainstream basis. If you test out the product, we're eager to hear how the experience differs depending on your preference of genres. For example, Louis Armstrong fans may not have such a 'Wonderful' but rather boring experience while a rock fan plugging in to 'Bulls on Parade' may have their own little 'Rage Against the Machine'.

It'll cost Brits 30 quid (59.5696 US dollars, 44.3387 Euros, 7,228.37 Japenese yen, 2,408.54 Indian rupees, 339.181 Egyptian pounds, and so on



But what seems to have really upset Stephen & Co isn't the device. It's the graphic used to advertise it.

"The neon-pink ads feature a curvaceous girl with wires coming OUT of her MP3 player and INTO her knickers," says the News of the World. "And it's definitely turned on."

It finishes up:

"But Apple lawyers claim the poster is a blatant rip-off of their own famous silhouette images used to flog iPods. Their haughty legal letter to the shop chain adds: 'We hope this request to remove it immediately will prevent us having to consider further action.'

Stay tuned.

Slashdot Slashdot it!

Also See:
iGasm - iPod having an iGasm
News of the World - POD IT AWAY!
http://p2pnet.net/story/12327