update on the swtichfoot cd issue

EMI recalls DRM-encumbered CD | The Register: "EMI has recalled a best-selling CD after it was inadvertently encumbered with over-zealous DRM. And Sony has recalled a web posting by one of the bands advising fans how to unbork the borked disc.

Switchfoot's CD debuted at No.3 on the Billboard chart last week, but DRM prevented fans burning backups - or making copies of any kind as they soon discovered.

A member of the band, Tim Foreman, professed himself 'horrified' and advised fans how to work around the DRM. The board is hosted by Sony Music, which has since deleted the post.

Now EMI says it's removing the settings, which it says were put in place accidentally, and is offering an exchange. Fans can swap a version of the CD that doesn't allow any copies to be made for one that permits three burns - as the record company intended."

firefighter challenge

hot 96 WSTO-FM: "The Firefighter Combat Challenge is coming to Evansville!

The Scott Firefighter Combat Challenge has been broadcast on ESPN for over a decade. The Challenge attracts hundreds of U.S. and Canadian municipal fire departments each year at more than 25 locations and is seen by millions of people worldwide. The Challenge seeks to encourage firefighter fitness and demonstrate the profession's rigors to the public. Wearing 'full bunker gear' and the SCOTT Air-Pak breathing apparatus, pairs of competitors simulate the physical demands of real-life firefighting by performing a linked series of five tasks including climbing the 5-story tower, hoisting, chopping, dragging hoses and rescuing a life-sized, 175 lb. 'victim' as they race against themselves, their opponent and the clock.

Join HOT 96 live at the Evansville Riverfront, October 2nd, 12-2pm for the Firefighter Combat Challenge!"

Sudoku

Sudoku - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "The word Sudoku means 'numbers singly' in Japanese. (This name is a registered trademark of puzzle publisher Nikoli Co. Ltd in Japan, and other Japanese publishers generally refer to it as 'number place'. See History section, below) The numerals in Sudoku puzzles are used for convenience; arithmetic relationships between numerals are absolutely irrelevant. Any set of distinct symbols will do; letters, shapes, or colours may be used without altering the rules (Penny Press' Scramblets and Knight Features Syndicate's Sudoku Word both use letters). Dell Magazines, the puzzle's originator, has been using numerals for Number Place in its magazines since they first published it over 25 years ago. Numerals are used throughout this article.

The attraction of the puzzle is that the completion rules are simple, yet the line of reasoning required to reach the completion may be difficult. Sudoku is recommended by some teachers as an exercise in logical reasoning. The level of difficulty of the puzzles can be selected to suit the audience. The puzzles are often available free from published sources and also may be custom-generated using software.

The puzzle is most frequently a 9×9 grid made up of 3×3 subgrids (called "regions"). Some cells already contain numbers, known as "givens". The goal is to fill in the empty cells, one number in each, so that each column, row, and region contains the numbers 1–9 exactly once. Each number in the solution therefore occurs only once in each of three "directions", hence the "single numbers" implied by the puzzle's name."

fall festival

I think in the future the fall festival should be moved. I want to see it downtown. All this talk about revitalizing the downtown area but nothing is ever done. I would put the rides on riverside where the freedom festival usually is and the food booths up the walkway on Main Street. It just makes sense to me.

really?

CourierPress: News: "Evansville has been named one of the nation's top 100 communities for young people, according to a study that is being featured in a Newsweek article and on a planned television news segment."

sounds reasonable

Idaho:

An Idaho weatherman says Japan's Yakuza mafia used a Russian-made electromagnetic generator to cause Hurricane Katrina in a bid to avenge itself for the Hiroshima atom bomb attack — and that this technology will soon be wielded again to hit another U.S. city.

Random Chuck Norris Fact

Random Chuck Norris Fact: "...and now a random fact about Chuck Norris:

Chuck Norris was secretly contracted to cause the 1989 San Francisco earthquake by the front office of the Giants. He graciously accepted the proposal and while he was only asked to create a minor 5.0 earthquake, his deft karate chop was so accurately placed on the faultline that he caused a 6.9 magnitude earthquake."

Baseball Card facts

CardCollection2: "After this picture was taken, Steve Swisher made love to the Topps camera woman."

familiar

Rich, Joe, who does this remind you of?

Rock band shows fans how to crack DRM

vnunet.com: "A rock musician has expressed anger at digital rights management (DRM) technology after hearing complaints from fans who are having difficulty importing his group's songs to programs like iTunes.

Speaking on a music forum, Tim Foreman, bassist with San Diego rock band Switchfoot, wrote: 'My heart is heavy with this whole copy-protection thing.

'We were horrified when we first heard about the new copy-protection policy that is being implemented by most major labels, including Sony (our own label), and immediately looked into all our options for removing this from our new album.

'Unfortunately, this is the new policy for all new major releases from these record companies. It is heartbreaking to see our blood, sweat and tears over the past two years blurred by the confusion and frustration surrounding this new technology.

'It is also unfortunate when bands such as ourselves, Foo Fighters, Coldplay, etc. are the target of this criticism, when there is no possible way to avoid this new industry policy.'

Foreman then went on to provide details of how to crack the digital rights protection.

He justified his actions saying: 'We refuse to allow corporate policy to taint the family we've developed together.

'We deeply regret that there exists the need for any of our listeners to spend more than 30 seconds importing our music, but we're asking as friends and partners in this journey together to spend the extra 10 minutes that it takes to import these songs.'

John Buckman, founder of music download service Magnatune, said: 'Users do not want DRM so I am not surprised that a band is doing this.

'Music sales are sold by the four majors and not many bands are actually in favour of DRM because it stops you ripping CDs and is implemented in a range of ways by the online music sellers like iTunes.

'Advising fans to get round the technology could be a bit risky. It is a crime in the US to subvert DRM and therefore it may be a crime to incite people to do so.'

The title of Switchfoot's latest album, Nothing is Sound, seems strangely prescient."

Sling Media

The Slingbox is a compact and elegantly designed, state-of-the-art electronic device that connects to the back of your TV. It redirects, or “placeshifts,” the TV signal from your cable box, satellite receiver, or digital video recorder (DVR) to your computer or laptop of choice, no matter your location — so long as you have a high-speed Internet connection. This utterly unique device will transform the way you watch TV. Whether you want to watch your soaps in the laundry room, or catch the big game during a conference call, or watch your local news from China, the power is now in your hands.

yep

Ananova - 'Merman' spotted in Caspian: "Fishermen claim to have spotted an amphibious creature resembling a human in the Caspian sea.

Gafar Gasanof, the captain of the Baku, an Azeri trawler, told Iranian newspaper Zindagi: 'The creature was swimming a parallel course near the boat for a long time.

'At the beginning we thought it was a big fish, but then we spotted hair on the head of the monster and his fins looked pretty strange, the front part of his body was equipped with arms.'

According to the paper the 'man of the sea' has been spotted with increasing regularity since off-shore oil production began in the Caspian.

Eyewitness say the marine humanoid is about 5ft 6ins, of strong build with a protruding stomach, webbed hands and black-green hair.

His lower lip is said to join smoothly to his neck above the gills."

DRM Sux

Had my first encounter with DRM music. Bought the new Switchfoot CD and it wouldn't let me open it in itunes. It installed some kind of player software that only let me rip to wma files. Fortunately I was able to burn a disc from the wma files and then rip that down to mp3. Nothing like extra steps to make me happy.

a lot of gangs wanted to recruit me for my foxpro skills

Programming Community Index: The index can be used to check whether your programming skills are still up to date or to make a strategic decision about what programming language should be adopted when starting to build a new software system.

well I have to learn this

Introducing JSON: "JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is a lightweight data-interchange format. It is easy for humans to read and write. It is easy for machines to parse and generate. It is based on a subset of the JavaScript Programming Language, Standard ECMA-262 3rd Edition - December 1999. JSON is a text format that is completely language independent but uses conventions that are familiar to programmers of the C-family of languages, including C, C , C#, Java, JavaScript, Perl, Python, and many others. These properties make JSON an ideal data-interchange language."

check please

Chinese restaurant raided for selling tiger urine dish: "A restaurant in northeast China has been raided and closed for listing stir fried-tiger meat on its menu, a dish that turned out to be donkey dressed with tiger urine.

The 'Hufulou' restaurant in Hailin city in Heilongjiang province is located barely one kilometre (less than a mile) from the Hengdaohezi Siberian Tiger Park, home to a species listed as one of the 10 most endangered in the world.

It was offering a dish of stir-fried tiger meat with hot peppers for 800 yuan (98 dollars), and raw tiger meat at 7,000 yuan (863 dollars) a kilogram, the China Daily reported Thursday.

Diners could wash it down with a bottle of wine pickled with tiger bone.

When asked how the restaurant obtained the meat, a waiter reportedly said the owner had good connections within the tiger park and got the meat of dead tigers.

Police subsequently raided the restaurant and the owner confessed the so-called tiger meat was actually donkey meat dressed with tiger urine to give it a 'special' flavour."

Save at the Pump

knightopia.com | Journal: "Top 25 Ways to Save at the Pump"

release dates

CDs:

Switchfoot - Nothing is Sound 09/13/2005  
Clay Crosse - Eternity with You: Live Worship 09/15/2005  
David Crowder Band - A Collision 09/27/2005
BarlowGirl - Another Journal Entry 09/27/2005
Newsboys - He Reigns: The Worship Collection 10/04/2005
Kevin Max - The Impostor 10/11/2005  
Various - The Chronicles of Narnia - Mainstream 10/25/2005
Jeremy Camp - Live Unplugged 11/08/2005
P.O.D. - Testify 11/22/2005

DVDs:
Star Wars, Episode III - Revenge of the Sith 11/01/2005
Batman Begins - 10/18/05
Lost - The Complete First Season  - 09/06/05