Beer Steak Bullshit

Lindsay Lohan told In Touch that rehab was a “sobering” experience for her. Lindsay made that confession in her first interview since leaving Utah’s Cirque Lodge Treatment Center on Friday. Even though she went to the clubs to party right after finishing a rehab, Lindsay Lohan stressed that she’s not going to be rekindling her nightlife anytime soon. To avoid possible distractions (it’s not like she can actually go without clubs for too long wherever she goes), Lindsey Lohan will be staying in Utah until she starts shooting the upcoming flick “Dare to Love Me.”

“Going out all the time was very self-destructive,” she said. “Partying and having all of those pictures taken distracts from the work that I do. It’s not why I started acting. I didn’t get into acting to be written about. I want to act like a woman rather than a teenager. I am doing the best I can.” Oh my goodness… so much crap at the same time?

Lindsay Lohan also opened up about seeing her estranged father for the first time in more than three years, while at Cirque Lodge. “It was really good for me … it was really important for me to get a connection back with my dad, because I hadn’t had that in a while.”

And if you heard those rumors about Lindsey Lohan developing a relationship with a man while in rehab… well, apparently they were true. “Yes, I am seeing someone,” she confirmed. “His name is Riley. I am really happy and taking it day by day.” The Riley in question is Riley Giles, a 25-year-old snowboarder from California. Last but not least, just as Paris Hilton said she was committing herself to philanthropic efforts after her own debacle, Lohan revealed that she’s trying to put together a December trip to Africa with the Red Cross. Hmmm…

When Radiohead released their album “In Rainbows” they offered the pay-what-you-want download scheme which astonished music fans and critics alike. At present time, Radiohead are finilizing their deal with a major label which should take care of album distribution. Radiohead manager told BBC Radio 4 in an interview that they expect to sign a deal within the week.

Co-manager Chris Hutton said “We’ve got about seven days to sort it out. We tend to fly by the seat of our pants,”. Chris Hutton also said “The band are incredibly proud of this record and feel that it deserves to be brought into the mass marketplace. That’s why we need a record company who have that infrastructure to deliver the CD.”

Nirvana‘s historic “MTV Unplugged in New York” performance will finally be released on DVD. Due date is set to November 20, 2007 and it will contain all 66 minutes of unedited show, including “Something in the Way” and “Oh, Me,” which were featured on previouslly released CD but not in the originally aired show as well as previously unreleased rehearsal and documentary footage.

Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins is making himself heard in order to help the family of Dr. Robert Moog preserve the late electronic-synthesizer pioneer’s legacy. The Bob Moog Foundation, which was created after Bob’s death in 2005, is planning to open a Bob Moog Museum and looking to preserve decaying Moog artifacts — schematics, Moog prototypes, reel-to-reel tapes and beyond.

Billy Corgan said: “I directly appeal to any musician who has been touched by the work of this great man and spirit to help contribute to the foundation, to please help preserve the work and legacy of Dr. Moog before time has taken an irreversible toll on his archives,”

RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) gets $220,000 from Jammie Thomas of Brainerd, Minnesota who was sued for illegally downloading music. RIAA formerly originally offered the woman to have her illegal downloading settled with a standard “low cost” fine of only a few hundred or thousand dollar, but she refused and went to court instead. She lost! RIAA wins!

Now, I’m in no way advocating illegal downloading – it’s bad and I encourage everyone to buy legal music, however there is something not quite right about this case. The woman was found guilty of illegal downloading based on the IP address that was used to download. Not even her hard drive was presented as the evidence. In the year 2007, when hacking to unprotected wireless networks happens on day to day basis, in the age when Trojans hijack people’s computers, in an age like that a woman is found guilty illegal downloading of music based on her IP address? No other evidence that the woman was in fact doing it… nothing but her IP address!

Anyway, it’s about time illegal downloaders start getting busted. Maybe it will help send clear message to those who are still doing it…

Another interesting finding is, that she wasn’t sued because she was downloading music, it was because Jammie Thomas made music available for others to download. So it looks like it’s not even illegal downloading that’s an issue here, it’s offering the music for others to download without paying royalties to the artist.

That however makes some sense to the point:

If there were no people who share copyrighted music, there would be no people downloading it illegally – that makes sense. Furthermore – from the prosecutor’s point of view – it’s easier to bust the ass of someone who shared the music 2500 times, than go after the 2500 people who illegally downloaded it from them. It also sends clear message to the others who offer files for illegal downloads and might contribute to making them stop.

What RIAA needs to do right now is to invest extra money and time to giving this case more exposure. That would improve their settlement conversion rate significantly and would become great source of income for RIAA. Even by sending out letters to small offenders and collecting as little as $1000 from them would boost their bank to fight serious sharers and downloaders, or organized groups.

Back to the court ordered fine – $220 000. Damn… That’s a pretty high fine. Granted, Jammie Thomas should have taken on the offer she got from the RIAA to settle it without court, but still… $220 000 is a lot. I’m glad it set strong precedence, but how did they get to such high figure? Well, let’s see:

It seems to be based on the premise form the recording industry which assumes that everyone who downloads a file would have bought the CD but they didn’t because they were able to get the music illegally. So in other words they assume that every illegal download translates as a lost sale. That is what pumps the price of your fine up this high and if you ask me… it’s a bit of a bald statement right there and not a very good premise to build your court conclusion upon.

On the other hand – court decisions are made as punishments to those who broke the law as well as deterrents to those considering breaking the law. If the punishments were reasonable, people would weigh the punishment against the crime and many might realize that they can “afford” to do the crime. If the judgment is lofty, the deterrent is greater.

Russia says: “We were first” – and rightly so. Today marks the 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik satellite.

On October 4th, 1597, Russia (The Soviet Union at the time) entered a new age by sending first ever man made satellite into the space and the world shrank.

Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated the space scientists, saying: “The launch of the Earth’s first satellite was a truly historic event, which started a space age.”

Sputnik 1 was a huge propaganda coup for the Soviet Union in its rivalry with the United States and is being interpreted in the same vein 50 years later amid heightened Russian assertiveness.

Sputnik satellite was a small silver-coloured ball 58cm (2 feet) in diameter, with four frond-like antennae and two radio transmitters.

Big Congratulations to the first time parents! Anthony Kiedis, the singer of Red Hot Chili Peppers and his girlfriend Heather Christie became parents after Heather Christie gave birth to a son at Los Angeles Cedars Sinai Hospital on Tuesday. Congratulations to both of you

Anthony Kiedis is 44 years old and this is his first child. Heather Christie, who is a model is 21. According to reports they named their son Everly B. Kiedis.

Dear old soon to be leaving the white house president of the US George W Bush vetoed a bill passed by congress to expand the health care system and provide more health insurance for children of the USA. To help the children and provide them with better health care, the bill would have cost $30 billion, but George Bush vetoed it, after the bill was passed by the congress.

“30 billion to take care of USA children? No, sorry… ain’t gonna happen!” George Bush says…

…and then he asks for $195 billion for his war!

George Bush is so focused on the war, that he can no longer (actually, he never has) on his own people. Afterall… he likes to spend money on killing children, and they’re asking him to spend it to save them? Nope, ain’t gonna happen! He’s a warlord, not a savior!

By vetoing the child health care bill, George Bush, the president of the USA sends clear message to his fellow citizen and everybody else for that matter – he likes to see children die! Children who don’t live in America are OK to get killed by $195 billion worth of bombs, and children in his homeland are OK to die because of lacking health care. He’s a true hero!

And you know what the funny thing is? If you turn on the TV, this story is just a sideline there. It’s just mentioned as something of insignificant importance.

Verizon has just released few pretty cool cell phones to the wide audiences out there and LG Voyager seems to be the most kicks ass of all. The Voyager comes equipped with full QWERTY keyboard; it runs on faster Verizon network with much superior wireless web connection speed to that of iPhones so this latest release from LG is expected to shake the ground under Apple’s iPhones. Voyager also known as LG VX10000 will be cheaper than iPhone and Verizon do not seem to hide the excitement and came with bold statements such as that that LG Voyager phone will kill Apple’s iPhone. Lack of a traditional keyboard on iPhones is definitely something that plays in favor of a Voyager plus the latter has a second screen.
The LG Voyager is exclusive to Verizon Wireless and apart from opening like a laptop to reveal the second screen with a QWERTY keyboard, it also features a 2.0 megapixel camera with video capture, a microSD card slot, capable to accommodate memory cards with capacity of up to 8GB. The LG Voyager will be in stores by the end of November 2007, pricing has not yet been announced.

Courtney Love has settled a lawsuit brought against her by the attorneys who represented her in legal battles with the surviving members of Nirvana. Katherine Hendricks and O. Yale Lewis claimed that Courtney Love owed them more than $340,000, plus interest, for their work on a 2002 suit that Courtney Love filed against Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic and drummer Dave Grohl. Courtney Love, controller of the share of Nirvana’s business that had belonged to her late husband, Kurt Cobain, allegedly did not fully pay her lawyers, even though she eventually earned at least $9 million as a result of that suit. Courtney Love settled with Hendricks and Lewis for an undisclosed sum, and the settlement went into effect on September 17. According to court records, Courtney Love paid the Seattle attorneys more than $1 million for their work on the Nirvana suit, but they claim she still owed them $341,000, plus as much as $200,000 in interest.