The MC5 get some recognition

The MC5 were among the best, most powerful rock bands ever. Their Kick Out The Jams LP, recorded live in ‘68, remains a wondrous, politicized, take-no-prisoners sonic barrage.  And political they were. Upfront revolutionaries, in fact.

They were the only band to play to the crowds of protesters at the ‘68 Chicago Democratic Convention - just before the ”police riot” (those are the words of the commission that investigated what happened, not mine). No other band, I think it’s safe to say, was crazy enough to play there.

Their music was overtly political, and they pissed off the powers-that-be to the point where their manager, John Sinclair, got 7 1/2 years for two joints. Mostly though, they were a rock and roll band who took things to whole new levels.  Not unlike another Michigan band of the time, Iggy and the Stooges.

The MC5 influenced many bands, especially punks. And still do. Their music was garage punk (before punk, that is), with sometimes incendiary lyrics and massive amounts of energy, passion and talent.  William Burroughs meets Sun Ra in Detroit back alley and glorious rock and roll is the result.

They broke up in the early 70’s amid bad blood and too much junkie business.  Guiitarist Wayne Kramer did a couple of years on drug sale charges that seem like entrapment to me.  Fred Smith married punk poetess/singer Patti Smith (which made her Patti Smith Smith, I guess…).  Some rare cuts, etc. have been released on various labels, notably Alive/Total-Energy, but it seemed like it was over, except for long time fans and punk bands. 

Now, all these years later, the MC5 has been nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003.  Plus a movie about them, MC5 * A True Testimonial, is near release.  They’re finally getting long overdue recognition (and if the movie does well, money too - something they never saw much of in the MC5 days).  Sadly, there can never be a reunion tour, as two members, Fred Smith and Rob Tyner are dead (from natural causes).

Wayne Kramer has released four excellent solo CDs over the past several years, as well as doing collaborations with others.  His latest, Adult World, was just released on his own label.  He calls his current stuff “rock and roll for adults”.  His guitar work is still ferocious, and the lyrics tends towards street level slice-of-life vignettes, with heart.  Adult world indeed.

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Stealware: Kazaa et al Stealing Link Commissions.

“We all heard about spyware, well now Kazaa, Morpheus and LimeWire are sneaking a new type of nastiness onto your computer, software that - without you even knowing it - redirects commissions for online purchases you make from other vendors you make back to them. For example, if you buy a CD from an affiliate of Amazon.com, say some charity, the software fools Amazon into crediting the commission to Morpheus, not the charity! The story quotes a LimeWire Developer who admits ‘While I agree that this is really a bit of a scam, it is a way for us to pay salaries while not adversely affecting our users.’ The insidious part is the stealware program remains even if you delete the original P2P software. And you supposedly gave your permission when you clicked through the EULA.” Via [Privacy Digest]

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Let one hundred browsers bloom

Mozilla is open source browser software.  With open source, anyone can build their own browser.  Netscape 7 is a notable example.

Different strokes for different folks. The browser features you need may not be ones I want at all.  So, instead of having one ponderously bloated browser <Hi Internet Explorer!>, why not have browsers with specific feature sets aimed at specific audiences.  All built around common (and free) software.

There are many Mozilla-based browsers now, with more coming.  I’m currently using Phoenix, a stripped-down version of Mozilla built for speed.

… the several different browser development projects that are currently under way are one of the Mozilla community’s greatest assets. The simple reason for this is that one browser can’t be all things to all people. Each new browser built is filling a need that’s not being met by any other existing option and has the potential to appeal to a whole new audience, which in turn will help expand Mozilla’s adoption.

AOL to use Mozilla?

One of the most interesting possibilities for future browser development comes from AOL, the same company that owns Netscape and which is the main sponsor of the Mozilla community. Currently, the Windows version of the AOL client software uses Internet Explorer as the core of its browser, but there are indications that this may soon change. If AOL were to switch and use Mozilla in a new version of their software, tens of millions of people would be exposed to Mozilla.

Don’t forget, Mozilla ain’t Netscape!

Mozilla.org is the developer community for Mozilla developers, many of whom work for Netscape. (Ah, here’s where some folks get confused … and rightly so.) Netscape, in this instance, is the corporate entity behind the Mozilla project, providing overall direction, funding, and a sense of purpose and control. At the same time, Netscape uses mozilla.org and the developer community around it to leverage their development of Netscape 6, which is a commercial web browser built on top of the Mozilla codebase.

Netscape 6 can be thought of as a branded version of Mozilla with some extra functionality and software components thrown in. For instance, Netscape is a wholly owned subsidiary of AOL, so AOL has funded the development of a Mozilla-based AOL Instant Messenger client, which is included in the default installation of Netscape 6. This is an example of software that isn’t available in the default Mozilla installation, and serves as an important distinction between the two.

Hmmm

…the reason that IE is so fast on modern computers running Windows 98 or Windows 2000 is that IE is actually loaded into the system memory upon startup. This is an example of how Microsoft is taking advantage of their monopoly in the desktop computer market.

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The skateboard car

Last January, Larry Burns, General Motors’ vice president for research and development and planning, unveiled the company’s plans for the car of the future. It wasn’t exactly a car but the underpinnings of one, sort of a 16-foot-long, two-dimensional wine carafe on wheels — what Burns called the ‘’skateboard.” The car would come in two parts, Burns explained. The car’s power and control system would be encased in the skateboard, which could be kept for decades while customers shuffled car bodies as tastes changed. And the bodies, too, would be radically different from what we know, with the windshield extending all the way down to the floor because the car’s essential systems are kept underfoot. The first working prototype, dubbed Hy-wire, made its debut at the Paris Motor Show last week.

Hy-wire represents a merging of technologies: the hydrogen fuel cell, a power system that creates electrical current from chemical reactions and drive-by-wire, which replaces mechanical linkages between parts with electronic ones. Taken together, the technologies would move the automobile from the machine age to the digital age and result in a car that emits only water vapor. … automakers have been focused on fuel cells for less than a decade, compared with a century of dead ends on batteries, and are quickly closing the gap.

Via [Synergic Earth News]

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It’s not just Lefties who have circular firing squads

California GOP convenes and, as usual, devotes itself to fratricidal feuding

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War with Iraq?

Steve Lopez, L.A. Times columnist, on the consequences of an Iraq War.

Imagine Los Angeles if you were to get rid of all official authority and turn the city over to the Crips and Bloods. That’s what we’d be looking at in Iraq, only worse, and American troops would be caught in the middle of it.

The Crips in this case are the Shiites, and the Bloods are the Sunnis, who currently rule the country. They don’t much like each other, and it’ll be a race to see who gets to the Sunnis first–the Shiites or the equally vengeful Kurds, who have been gassed, and persecuted for years, by Saddam’s people.

I happen to have spent some time in Iraq’s Kurdish reaches, and I can tell you firsthand that they don’t even get along with each other. And one faction has been particularly close to Iran, which arguably is more dangerous than Iraq, and could conceivably get drawn into this mess. If so, <authority on international terrorism> Dekmejian says, Russia could follow.

Given the long, complex histories of these conflicts, and the depth of hatred that exists, Dekmejian has a neat summary of any expectation for democracy to triumph in Iraq.

“It’s completely insane.”

“First of all,” Dekmejian explains, “you need some precedent for democracy, some cultural inclination and homogeneity, and the fellows opposing Saddam don’t even run their own organizations democratically.

“We’ll need a massive military force to occupy the place and keep people from killing each other, so it will mean a long-term commitment financially and militarily.”

And that, believe it or not, could be the least of our concerns. Bombing Iraq could work wonders for the recruiting efforts of the world’s anti-American terrorist organizations, says Dekmejian, who fears the radicalization of untold thousands of Muslims.

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250,0000 marched against war in London on Saturday

Demonstrators bring the streets of London to a standstill with a message of peace.

Next Sunday Oct 6, it’s our turn.

Not in Our Name, nationwide anti-war protests in the US.

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Brokerage assistant flipped, may testify against Martha Stewart

An assistant at Merrill Lynch has reportedly agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor and testify against Martha Stewart in the federal probe of ImClone stock sales.

Martha’s goose is cooked, no question, however

An upstate New York congressman says regulators and lawmakers have been paying too much attention to possible wrongdoing by Martha Stewart.

Maurice Hinchey said not enough scrutiny is being given to corporate executives who may have been involved in far more serious business dealings.

Good point…

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