I’m always interested in tech stories. I’m a little bit of techie, I suppose. I like to read about the newest contraptions, the new trends, new improvements in technology. I don’t often do the topics about technology on the air, so, maybe I’ll post some on here… I mean you’re on our Web site, so you at least have a computer, so they may be interest to you.

The Record Industry, RIAA, is angering everybody today with the latest story about unauthorized music copying. Now, I fully agree that trading, giving away, stealing people’s mp3s, bitTorrent-ing songs, copying mp3s off of other peoples computers, iPods, giving away CD-r copies of songs and e-mailing mp3s is stealing and for the most part wrong. It’s so easy these days with record stores online, amazon.com, Best Buy, Walmart, half.com, iTunes, CDbaby.com, and countless other services and stores to get music, and get it cheap, that trading songs amongst your friends is wrong. CD sales are down again 20% this holiday season because kids, adults and everyone seems to be trading music. To curb this trend, the RIAA is now saying that copying/ripping a CD that you purchased into your computer is illegal.

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/28/AR2007122800693.html

So, according to the RIAA, if you go to Walmart(s) and buy the new Barry Manilow Christmas CD, take it home, put it in your PC, rip it to iTunes and jam it on your mp3 player or iPod, you are “Breaking the law” - cue Judas Priest.

I’ve never illegally downloaded a song, call me an mp3 saint. Everything that I have was purchased legitimately at a record store, online, at iTunes or actually given to me by the artist. However, I have copied CDs to my iPod, to listen to in my car, so that these rare CDs I just bought don’t get scuffed. According to the RIAA, that is “unauthorized” - Even if no one besides myself ever touches my iPod or even hears it. It’s not illegal to listen to a CD in my car, but, it is illegal to listen to a copy of that CD. It’s akin to the debate in the 1980s regarding copying that Air Supply record to a tape and listening to it in your car.

A similar debate came about regarding the ownership of Roms of video games about 10 years ago. A lot of people figured out how to “rip” the rom images of old Nintendo and Atari games. Nintendo of America threatened lawsuits and shut down a myriad of Web sites offering free download of Roms of old Nintendo Games. Their legal said “it’s only legal to own a backup rom if you already own the cartridge” - that you could, in effect, own one backup copy, anything else was illegal. It was actually the same problem as the problem facing the music industry. Lots of unscrupulous people were downloading Rom images of brand new Playstation games and Nintendo 64 games, and either playing them on video game emulators on their computers or creating a CD-rom and playing them on mod-ed Playstations, or later, Gamecubes and Wiis.

It’s essentially the same problem. People want to own the content without paying for the right to own it. Whether it be DVD movies, music or video games…. The digital revolution, the lack or a hard copy, has created a generation of people who feel entitled and don’t want to dish out any cash for other people’s work. Bands just starting out feel like they have to give away their music to get any attention, established bands like Radiohead are offering their music for “whatever you want to pay for it” for publicity because their real CDs aren’t selling. The RIAA thinks that telling people that creating back-ups is illegal will help curb this behavior. But it won’t.

It’s a losing battle, but thousand of digital thieves have caused these reactionary tactics.

Every December media outlets recap their favorite and/or biggest stories for the year. In that same tradition, I’ve decided to put up some of my favorite blog pictures of the year and 10 posts I’ve made that I feel changed the course of world history and, of course, saved all of humanity.

My Favorite Pictures of 2007

A beautiful day at Tower Road.

A Civil War Reenactment during Milton’s 200th Anniversary.

Governor Ruth Ann Minner running away from me and out of the Georgia House in Millsboro the night of the 41st District special election.

Even after his resignation from the State House for ethics issues, John Atkins’ supporters launched a failed write in campaign to send him back to Dover. His campaign signs cropped up all over the 41st.

The table where Laura Bush ate breakfast at the Royal Treat on Wilmington Avenue in Rehoboth Beach.

The Cohen brothers, they found the ill fated Rissos dolphin washed up at Tower Road.

The Rissos dolphin dying on the beach at Tower Road.

The SINKING South Side approach of the “new” Indian River Inlet bridge and the road it tried to pull down with it.

John Andretti, I met him. How cool.

The “Dic Dang” sandwich at the Corner Market Bistro in Milton.

Lighting the balloons up like lanterns during Milton’s 200th Anniversary celebration.

Joe Biden talking about Iraq at Browseabout Books on Rehoboth Avenue.

Jared Morris and Dan Gaffney having fun at the Best of Delaware celebration in Dover. (And yes, Dan always has that light shining above him, it’s the most amazing thing…).

The French invade Rehoboth Beach.

Disheveled Barbies from Washington DC spotted loitering on Columbia Avenue after their Dream House furniture was recalled.

Dr Wray and Stell Parker Selby changing seats at the Cape Henlopen School Board meeting in December after Wray resigned the Presidency.

My Favorite Posts of 2007

# Ten: Your Sussex County Council

# Neuf: The French visit Rehoboth

# Eight: The Atkins Scandal

# Seven: The Indian River Inlet Bridge

# Six: Biden at Browseabout Books

# Five: European Football

# Four: Laura Bush visits Rehoboth Beach

# Three: My interview with John Andretti

# Two: Toy Recalls

# One: The Global Warming

I wanted to share this story that I read about a US soldier, a single man, who opened his heart to an Iraqi boy with cerebral palsy:

Capt. Scott Southworth knew he’d face violence, political strife and blistering heat when he was deployed to one of Baghdad’s most dangerous areas. But he didn’t expect Ala’a Eddeen.

Ala’a was 9 years old, strong of will but weak of body _ he suffered from cerebral palsy and weighed just 55 pounds. He lived among about 20 kids with physical or mental disabilities at the Mother Teresa orphanage, under the care of nuns who preserved this small oasis in a dangerous place.

On Sept. 6, 2003, halfway through his 13-month deployment, Southworth and his military police unit paid a visit to the orphanage. They played and chatted with the children; Southworth was talking with one little girl when Ala’a dragged his body to the soldier’s side. READ MORE HERE…

Christine Sheddy has been missing from our area since November 13, 2007.

WGMD Report:

A reward is being offered for information that leads to finding Christine Marie Sheddy, who has been missing since last month. Sheddy is 27 years old, about 5 feet, 3 inches tall and weighs 100 pounds. She went missing on Nov. 13, and at that time Sheddy had blond, shoulder-length hair. Sheddy and her two young sons were staying with her mother at her Bowers Beach home. Sheddy told her mother she was going to Pocomoke to visit a couple she met through her boyfriend, who is the father of her children. Anyone with information about Sheddy should contact the Worcester County Bureau of Investigation or the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office. Those numbers – 410-352-3476 or 410-632-1111.

The Maryland Coast Dispatch gives us this detail

Sheddy left her Bowers Beach, Del. home on Nov. 13 with her two sons, ages two and four, in tow to visit a couple in Pocomoke she had met earlier through her boyfriend. Sheddy remained behind with her two sons at the Pocomoke residence while the couple went to pick up their own children at school.
When the couple returned, Sheddy was gone and her two boys were left home alone. Sheddy was supposed to have returned to her Bowers Beach residence on Nov. 17. She was reported missing, touching off a search throughout the county and beyond. According to reports, Sheddy’s two sons are now staying with their father.

The couple is only known to me as “Tia and Junior”.  Family and friends tell me Christine had only recently met “Tia and Junior”.  I have also learned the couple has left the property where the disappearance happened and are living elsewhere in the area.

The girls mother Lynn Dodenhoff tells me her missing daughter will turn 27 years old Saturday.  I have interviewed friends, and family and other acquaintances of Christine; no on has heard from her.
 

Christine’s Myspace page.

Boyfriend and children’s father Levi’s Myspace page.

Tia’s Myspace page?

I put a virtual end to unwanted forwarded emails from people I know.

At the beginning of this dilemma I was much more polite and proper but this type of response did not cause change in their behavior so I was forced to get more strict about it.

May I suggest that if you want to take more control of your “In Box” and end the endless barrage of ‘forwards’, simply cut and paste this in a direct response to your friend or family member. Obviously, you may feel the need to customize certain elements of the wording but if you reduce the urgency and importance of it, you will fail in your quest.

Dear friend,

I want you to know that I appreciate your friendship. The idea that you think of me when you find a funny joke or amazing fact or photo on the internet and wish to share your joy with me is a great compliment. I wish to share something with you which is very important to me and hopefully to you as well.

I have learned that hackers, spammers and other generally evil people often use innocent email messages and images to secretly plant spyware into the computers of innocent people. They often use cute or funny photos, heartwarming stories, political statements and various non-profit donations letters to hide invisible computer bugs in the script.

Even scanning these forwards with anti-spyware or anti-virus devices may not locate these bugs as they are in a capsule which is sealed on delivery but which self extricate to cause either damage or theft of your personal information including passwords, account numbers and banking information.

Even if the forward does not contain a virus or other spyware bug, you may notice that when the forward first came to you, your email address was amongst an ever-growing list of other email addresses. Well, ONE of those email addresses reports back to a spamming warehouse where you are being added to countless lists of pornographers, businesses and scam organizations who deluge your inbox with more crap than you can delete, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In other words, a friend of yours, who cares about you, added your name and email address (and perhaps other personal information) to people who send a never ending flow of junk mail to your email address and perhaps your physical address. In the worst scenario, your complete information is in the address book of your friend which is compromised by these bugs giving the bad guys access to your entire families names, addresses, phone numbers, birth dates, anniversaries and more.

When you send me a forward you compromise me in the very same way. This is not the act of a friend.

I will assume that you hadn’t considered these possibilities and perhaps even regret sending forwards. I will assume that you will take this information and never send me or anyone a forward ever again. You may even feel the need to send a letter much like this one to the people who send forwards to you.

But,.. If you send me one more forward, regardless of how cute the puppy is or how many starving children will be saved by the simple act of forwarding the message, I will remove you from my address book, block you from my email address and cease to communicate with you, forever.

Oh, and great hearing from you, how’s the family?

Warmest regards,

John Mixon

(more…)

A wind turbine similar to the one recently installed at the Bush’s Kennebunkport home.

George and Barbara Bush are powering their Maine vacation home with the help of a windmill. The 33 foot tall structure is “connected to the electric power grid,” and expected to save the couple money on their electric bill:

If the turbine is not producing all of the power needs in the Bush home, it will draw electricity from the power company. But when it produces excess energy, that power goes to the grid and the homeowner will get credits from the power company.

That will probably be the case with the Bushes, said Greig, because the Bushes’ summer home needs little power during the winter.

“When he comes up, he should have a substantial credit on his bill to start off the summer,” Greig said.

The windmill was made by Southwest Windpower and you can check out their website HERE.

When I covered the current President Bush’s visit to Wilmington last January, he was there to speak about energy, and this is what I wrote about his idea of the future American home, (which was obviously written during a low point in the Delaware off shore windpower saga):

The President looked forward to a future where your house “becomes a power generator,” and he brought up wind power, an idea that’s floundering and dying in Sussex County:

“We’ve got a lot of wind, especially in Washington.” -George Bush

So now the current President Bush’s parents are living his vision in Maine. I think it’s great. Maybe Bush 41 can talk the Kennedys into going a little greener in Cape Cod, and maybe he can do a little lecture tour here in Delaware.

Heather Mills wants you to think that cows are worse than “charity campaigners” in SUVs.

Heather Mills showed up at an “ecological event” in London last Sunday in a “gas guzzling” Mercedes SUV to tell a crowd that eating meat is killing the planet with greenhouse gases. She wondered why we don’t drink “rat’s milk:”

“There are many other kinds of milk available. Why don’t we try drinking rats’ milk and dogs’ milk?”

Mills, who became a vegan when she married Paul McCartney in 2002, allegedly turned down a $50 million dollar divorce settlement from the former Beatle because she wanted $100 million. After the London event, she went to Dublin, Ireland where her hypocrisy took an unexpected turn as she berated wealthy people:

“Because people are very snobby - these people who have lots of money, they’re either snobby or they’re stingy.

“If you have lots of money you have to be stingy because why would you want that amount of money.”

Yes, Heather, “why,” indeed. She went on to explain that basically she needs money because that’s what it takes to hang around rich people all day long “to actually make a change.” Mills apparently suffers greatly at cocktail parties to save the planet, and yet, she feels she’s being mistreated by the media:

“I don’t think anything can prepare you for being treated worse than a murderer or a paedophile when all you have done in 17 years is charity work,” she said.

(17 years? Would it be wrong to mention that if you go back 18 years Mills was shooting a German porn book? Ouch.)

And why does Mills think she’s getting a raw deal from the media?

She suggested at different stages that she is being attacked because she is a woman and also because she is campaigning for real change in the world.

“I’m a woman who puts fear into men who want to control women,” she said.

“If you look at every single person in the history of the world who has tried to make a difference, you’ll find a very long section of their lives where they were treated horrifically by the government or by the media.”

Heather…are you being “treated horrifically” by the media because you’re a woman trying to exact change, or could it just possibly be because you’re a hypocrite and a total flake?

Let’s face it, the friction created by Linda McCartney spinning in her grave right now is probably contributing more to global warming than all of the earth’s livestock and transportation combined.

(I guess this post means I’m “banned” by Heather Mills now, bummer.)

Thank you, Giorgio Armani.

Let’s start with the most important news, David Beckham has signed a 3 year, $41 million dollar deal to model underwear for Giorgio Armani. Oh, yeah, and Becks is back playing for England’s national team:

Despite only just returning from a long injury layoff himself, Beckham was included in the squad to play Austria in a friendly on Nov. 16 and the potentially decisive Euro qualifier with Croatia five days later.

“He is a big-game player,” McClaren said. “He is an experienced player who has never let England down.”

Meanwhile, striker Wayne Rooney is out for England and for Manchester United with an ankle injury suffered during a game of head tennis. (Apparently “head tennis” is a form of football training on a tennis court where you use your head instead of a racket).

In more England news, national team coach Steve McClaren is one of many Brits concerned that the English Premier League is down to “38%” when it comes to English players:

‘Some reality has to come into it. Of course, the sheer numbers of foreign players in the Premier League cuts down my options.’

Finding a remedy for the problem is not going to be easy.

European employment law prevents the imposition of quotas, which England’s major clubs would forcefully fight the blanket imposition of any way given their need to tackle the biggest sides on the continent.

Some managers have gone so far as to call for minimum numbers of Brits on Premier League teams.

And, of course, ITALY + FOOTBALL = RIOTS. A Lazio football fan was shot and killed last week as police tried to stop fighting between rival football fans:

The police officer who fired the fatal shot is under investigation for manslaughter and has been reassigned to internal duties. Today the officer, who has been named only as Luigi S, said the shooting was a “tragic error”.

“I didn’t point the gun at anything, I didn’t aim at anybody,” he told Corriere della Sera. “The first shot I fired into the air and the second left me while I was running. Now I have destroyed two families, the man’s and mine.”

News of the shooting sparked rioting in Rome where a police station was attacked. You can check out videos of the rioting HERE, and HERE. In response, Italian football has suspended Serie B & C play, and a ruling will be made this week on whether Serie A play will suffer the same fate.

The threat of violence by “Ultras” during a game last Sunday, has AC Milan superstar, Kaka, talking about leaving town:

“Could I leave Italy? Yes, if these violent episodes continue,” Kaka told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

“I love football because it brings me happiness, but at the moment I can’t enjoy myself.

“If there are big problems in Italian football that prevent me doing my job properly, anything could happen.

“I am worried for my family’s safety as my wife and parents frequently come to watch me, so there is a chance I could move to another country.”

You can check out the “Ultras,” the Italian version of British fooball Hooligans HERE. Oi.

Do kangaroos hold the key to ending the global warming?

Greenpeace wants Australians to eat more kangaroo in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the agriculture industry, in a report called, Paths to a Low-Carbon Future.

Greenpeace energy campaigner Mark Wakeham urged Aussies to substitute some red meat for roo to help reduce land clearing and the release of methane gas.

“It is one of the lifestyle changes we can make,” Mr Wakeham said.

Apparently killing the national symbol of Australia isn’t unheard of…

Roughly three million kangaroos are killed and harvested for meat each year. They are shot with high-powered guns between the eyes at night.

…but there is something unsettling about Greenpeace advocating shooting furry little creatures between the eyes and eating them as a way of addressing global warming.

A look at the field.

AJ Allmendinger meeting the people at the Dover Downs…

…he came in last.

Mark Martin arriving in Delaware.

Smiling for his fans.

Martin Truex, Jr. came right up to a group of fans to sign autographs.

Truex came in 13th.

All of the above photographs are courtesy of Barb Jarrell.

Thanks to my friend Barb, I was able to catch some of the drivers leaving Delaware after the race.

Martin Truex, Jr., grabbed some food before leaving the state, the offerings included Maryland crab cakes.

Here’s John Andretti, he came in 37th.

And, yes, race fans, I was actually able to speak to John Andretti after the race. The funny part is that he didn’t even know who won. And can I just add that he had really nice skin. You can LISTEN to John Andretti tell me his thoughts about the race HERE.