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December 26, 2005
The Battle Over Books
The Nov. 17th Panel on Google Book Search
At the New York Public Library
See the official webpage, HERE.
My initial reaction to this panel is that Google is doomed if it continues to rely upon David Drummond to represent its legal interests. Larry Lessig carried Google's side of the debate, and I couldn't quite tell how well Mr. Drummond understood copyright law (clearly not on the level of a Stanford Law Professor). Google should hire Mr. Lessig as its attorney for this matter, and I'm sure that Larry Lessig would agree (though he clearly wants this case to go to litigation, and wouldn't be interested in a settlement).
Posted by andrewanissi at 05:41 PM
December 23, 2005
Google Book Search
In case you're interested in the copyright issues in the cases against Google for its Book Search, check back here. I am diving into a great deal of research on the subject, and will update this site accordingly. I should warn you, though, that I support Google's position on this, so if you want a completely unbiased view, go ask a robot.
Posted by andrewanissi at 04:03 PM
December 22, 2005
NYC Transit Strike - Over
The strike is over. The TWU guys felt their knees shaking, and felt butterflies in their stomachs, and started to sweat, and eventually succombed to their very cowardly natures and cut a deal. Now the MTA and the City of New York will NEVER respect them, and will feel free to happily walk all over them. If they had any guts, they all would have quit their jobs before signing a deal with the MTA without all of the terms they were after. The negotiations will now continue behind closed doors, and with a press blackout, so that no one can see the TWU leaders getting bent over a desk and fucked up the ass.
Posted by andrewanissi at 10:13 PM
The Great God Pan
by Arthur Machen
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THE EXPERIMENT
"I am glad you came, Clarke; very glad indeed. I was
not sure you could spare the time."
"I was able to make arrangements for a few days; things
are not very lively just now. But have you no misgivings,
Raymond? Is it absolutely safe?"
The two men were slowly pacing the terrace in front of
Dr. Raymond's house. The sun still hung above the western
mountain-line, but it shone with a dull red glow that cast no
shadows, and all the air was quiet; a sweet breath came from the
great wood on the hillside above, and with it, at intervals, the
soft murmuring call of the wild doves. Below, in the long
lovely valley, the river wound in and out between the lonely
hills, and, as the sun hovered and vanished into the west, a
faint mist, pure white, began to rise from the hills. Dr.
Raymond turned sharply to his friend.
"Safe? Of course it is. In itself the operation is a
perfectly simple one; any surgeon could do it."
"And there is no danger at any other stage?"
"None; absolutely no physical danger whatsoever, I give
you my word. You are always timid, Clarke, always; but you know
my history. I have devoted myself to transcendental medicine
for the last twenty years. I have heard myself called quack and
charlatan and impostor, but all the while I knew I was on the
right path. Five years ago I reached the goal, and since then
every day has been a preparation for what we shall do tonight."
Continue reading "The Great God Pan"
Posted by andrewanissi at 04:03 AM
The Bowmen and Other Noble Ghosts
by "The Londoner" (Arthur Machen)
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* *
Of course his story had to be about the war; there are no other
stories nowadays. And so he wrote of English soldiers who, in the dusk
on a field of France, faced the sullen mass of the oncoming Huns. They
were few against fearful odds, but, as they sent the breech-bolt home
and aimed and fired, they became aware that others fought beside them.
Down the air came cries to St. George and twanging of the bow-string;
the old bowmen of England had risen at England's need from their
graves in that French earth and were fighting for England.
* *
He said that he made up that story by himself, that he sat down and
wrote it out of his head. But others knew better. It must really have
happened. There was, I remember, a clergyman of good credit who told
him that he was clean mistaken; the archers had really and truly risen
up to fight for England: the tale was all up and down the front.
Continue reading "The Bowmen and Other Noble Ghosts"
Posted by andrewanissi at 03:58 AM
The Dazzling Light
by Arthur Machen
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protecting the skull are particularly thick, and the weight of the
helmet renders its use in open warfare out of the question. The rim
is large, like that of the headpiece of Mambrino, and the soldier
can at will either bring the helmet forward and protect his eyes or
wear it so as to protect the base of the skull . . . Military
experts admit that continuance of the present trench warfare may
lead to those engaged in it, especially bombing parties and barbed
wire cutters, being more heavily armoured than the knights, who
fought at Bouvines and at Agincourt.--The Times, July 22, 1915
The war is already a fruitful mother of legends. Some people think
that there are too many war legends, and a Croydon gentleman--or lady,
I am not sure which--wrote to me quite recently telling me that a
certain particular legend, which I will not specify, had become the
"chief horror of the war." There may be something to be said for this
point of view, but it strikes me as interesting that the old
myth-making faculty has survived into these days, a relic of noble,
far-off Homeric battles. And after all, what do we know? It does not
do to be too sure that this, that, or the other hasn't happened and
couldn't have happened.
Continue reading "The Dazzling Light"
Posted by andrewanissi at 03:56 AM
The Monstrance
by Arthur Machen
1914
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priest heaved up the Host there came a beam redder than any rose and
smote upon it, and then it was changed bodily into the shape and
fashion of a Child having his arms stretched forth, as he had been
nailed upon the Tree.--Old Romance.
So far things were going very well indeed. The night was thick and
black and cloudy, and the German force had come three-quarters of their
way or more without an alarm. There was no challenge from the English
lines; and indeed the English were being kept busy by a high shell-fire
on their front. This had been the German plan; and it was coming off
admirably. Nobody thought that there was any danger on the left; and so
the Prussians, writhing on their stomachs over the ploughed field, were
drawing nearer and nearer to the wood. Once there they could establish
themselves comfortably and securely during what remained of the night;
and at dawn the English left would be hopelessly enfiladed--and there
would be another of those movements which people who really understand
military matters call "readjustments of our line."
The noise made by the men creeping and crawling over the fields was
drowned by the cannonade, from the English side as well as the German.
On the English centre and right things were indeed very brisk; the big
guns were thundering and shrieking and roaring, the machine-guns were
keeping up the very devil's racket; the flares and illuminating shells
were as good as the Crystal Palace in the old days, as the soldiers
said to one another. All this had been thought of and thought out on
the other side. The German force was beautifully organised. The men who
crept nearer and nearer to the wood carried quite a number of machine
guns in bits on their backs; others of them had small bags full of
sand; yet others big bags that were empty. When the wood was reached
the sand from the small bags was to be emptied into the big bags; the
machine-gun parts were to be put together, the guns mounted behind the
sandbag redoubt, and then, as Major Von und Zu pleasantly observed,
"the English pigs shall to gehenna-fire quickly come."
Continue reading "The Monstrance"
Posted by andrewanissi at 03:54 AM
The Soldiers' Rest
by Arthur Machen
1914
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He still felt drowsy and dazed with some fierce experience through
which he had passed, but so far he could not recollect much about it.
But--an agreeable glow began to steal about his heart--such a glow as
comes to people who have been in a tight place and have come through
it better than they had expected. In its mildest form this set of
emotions may be observed in passengers who have crossed the Channel on
a windy day without being sick. They triumph a little internally, and
are suffused with vague, kindly feelings.
The wounded soldier was somewhat of this disposition as he opened his
eyes, pulled himself together, and looked about him. He felt a sense
of delicious ease and repose in bones that had been racked and weary,
and deep in the heart that had so lately been tormented there was an
assurance of comfort--of the battle won. The thundering, roaring waves
were passed; he had entered into the haven of calm waters. After
fatigues and terrors that as yet he could not recollect he seemed now
to be resting in the easiest of all easy chairs in a dim, low room.
In the hearth there was a glint of fire and a blue, sweet-scented puff
of wood smoke; a great black oak beam roughly hewn crossed the
ceiling. Through the leaded panes of the windows he saw a rich glow of
sunlight, green lawns, and against the deepest and most radiant of all
blue skies the wonderful far-lifted towers of a vast, Gothic
cathedral--mystic, rich with imagery.
Continue reading "The Soldiers' Rest"
Posted by andrewanissi at 03:52 AM
The Bowmen
by Arthur Machen
1914
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On this dreadful day, then, when three hundred thousand men in arms
with all their artillery swelled like a flood against the little
English company, there was one point above all other points in our
battle line that was for a time in awful danger, not merely of defeat,
but of utter annihilation. With the permission of the Censorship and
of the military expert, this corner may, perhaps, be described as a
salient, and if this angle were crushed and broken, then the English
force as a whole would be shattered, the Allied left would be turned,
and Sedan would inevitably follow.
All the morning the German guns had thundered and shrieked against
this corner, and against the thousand or so of men who held it. The
men joked at the shells, and found funny names for them, and had bets
about them, and greeted them with scraps of music-hall songs. But the
shells came on and burst, and tore good Englishmen limb from limb, and
tore brother from brother, and as the heat of the day increased so did
the fury of that terrific cannonade. There was no help, it seemed. The
English artillery was good, but there was not nearly enough of it; it
was being steadily battered into scrap iron.
Posted by andrewanissi at 03:47 AM
December 20, 2005
NYC Transit Strike - 3:03 AM
The strike is now official, announced by Roger Toussaint, the head of Local 100 of the TWU. All passengers...get the fudge off! Transit is closed.
Posted by andrewanissi at 03:02 AM
NYC Transit Strike - 2:00 AM
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That's right, the strike is ON! An official announcement should be coming up soon, but now that we already know, do we care? Strike! Strike! Strike! Let's see how New Yorkers, so dependent on the system like little babies will react when the system stops working. Who out there lives their lives to be self sufficient? We'll soon find out.
Check this out at the NY1 site: CLICK HERE
Posted by andrewanissi at 01:59 AM
NYC Transit Strike - 1:40 AM
Looks like there has been no change in the situation. Probably the TWU guys will puss out like the pussies they are.
Posted by andrewanissi at 01:40 AM
NYC Transit Strike - 12:15 AM
It seems that the TWU dude who rejected the MTA's offer, didn't have full authority, which is why the TWU's executive committee has to discuss the offer and make an agreement on it. So that could take a while. In the meantime, I'm stepping out to Veselka for a bite. - AAA
Posted by andrewanissi at 12:14 AM
NYC Transit Strike
It's 12:09 AM, and still no announcement on the strike. TWU's executive board is voting on it now. Looks like there's still some reluctance by those guys to just strap it on and plunge it in. Not very manly, if you ask me.
Posted by andrewanissi at 12:08 AM
December 19, 2005
NYC Transit Strike Imminent
by Andrew A. Anissi
It's Monday night, within the final hour of decision, and it appears that the Transit Workers Union will indeed strike against the Metropolitan Transit Authority. NY1 reports that the TWU has rejected the MTA's final offer and has walked away from the bargaining table. I guess I was wrong when I said those MTA guys are a pathetic, cowardly bunch of hairless pussies. The New York Supreme Court has placed an injunction on the strike, since it's illegal for transit workers to strike, but they're going ahead with it anyway! Power to the proletariat! Defeat the plutocrats!
Posted by andrewanissi at 11:35 PM
Christians killed pagans, then stole their traditions
Copyright © 2005 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
Original article available HERE.
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Early Christians did more than just take the "virgin born resurrected deity" myth from the Pagans. They also took the communion, 12 disciples, the fish symbol, the star of the east, the clasped-hands prayer position, the miracle-working central cult figure, the return delusion and numerous other myths, theological fairy tales and rituals.
It wouldn't be correct to say that those early doomsday cultists actually stole these theological inventions from the pagans. Instead, what happened was that several groups of Jews began combining elements of Judaism with Greek, Egyptian and other pagan religions. They eventually became called Christians.
It would not be long, however, before these overblown doomsday cultists began committing large-scale acts of vandalism and murder, now actually stealing the fairy tales of the people they brutalized. Please don't believe the lies of the myth-pushers or their brainwashed victims.
What should we believe? Where did the pagans get the idea to make this holiday the birthday of their imaginary gods?
I have a holiday card that depicts a character who is telling the truth about the natural origins of Christmas. It says, "I'm the reason for your holiday season" -- the Sun.
I believe it is truly immoral, and even criminal, to claim that Christian fairy tales are uniquely Christian. In reality, it is an act of re-stealing from and re-murdering our ancient ancestors.
Believe the truth. Merry solstice.
Terry E. Libby
Posted by andrewanissi at 11:04 PM
December 18, 2005
FILM REVIEW: Bell, Book, and Candle
by Andrew A. Anissi
Bell, Book, and Candle (1958), starring Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak
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Posted by andrewanissi at 02:34 AM
December 11, 2005
First Vision of Joseph Smith, Founder of Mormon Church - in Palmyra, NY (about 45 minutes east of Rochester)
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1 OWING to the many reports which have been put in circulation by evil-disposed and designing persons, in relation to the rise and progress of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, all of which have been designed by the authors thereof to militate against its character as a Church and its progress in the world—I have been induced to write this history, to disabuse the public mind, and put all inquirers after truth in possession of the facts•, as they have transpired, in relation both to myself and the Church, so far as I have such facts in my possession.
2 In this history I shall present the various events in relation to this Church, in truth and righteousness, as they have transpired, or as they at present exist, being now [1838] the eighth• year• since the organization of the said Church.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FULL WRITTEN STATEMENT OF JOSEPH SMITH
Posted by andrewanissi at 02:14 PM
December 09, 2005
Bush on the Constitution: 'It's just a goddamned piece of paper'
SOURCE: Capitol Hill Blue
Dec 9, 2005, 07:53
By DOUG THOMPSON
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Several provisions of the act, passed in the shell shocked period immediately following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, caused enough anger that liberal groups like the American Civil Liberties Union had joined forces with prominent conservatives like Phyllis Schlafly and Bob Barr to oppose renewal.
GOP leaders told Bush that his hardcore push to renew the more onerous provisions of the act could further alienate conservatives still mad at the President from his botched attempt to nominate White House Counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.
“I don’t give a goddamn,” Bush retorted. “I’m the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way.”
“Mr. President,” one aide in the meeting said. “There is a valid case that the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution.”
“Stop throwing the Constitution in my face,” Bush screamed back. “It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!”
Continue reading "Bush on the Constitution: 'It's just a goddamned piece of paper'"
Posted by andrewanissi at 09:53 PM
Sol Invictus: The Persian and Roman Origin of Christmas
by Andrew A. Anissi
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The yearly rebirth of Mithra was viewed as a yearly renewal of the Roman Empire. Mithra, by the way, was born on December 25, of a virgin. His birth was witnessed by shepherds and magicians [magi]. Mithra raised the dead and healed the sick and cast out demons. He returned to heaven at the spring equinox and before doing so had a last supper with his 12 disciples (representing the 12 signs of the zodiac), eating mizd, a piece of bread marked with a cross (an almost universal symbol of the sun). Sound familiar?
Between 320 or 353 C.E., during the reign of Emperor Constantine, the Church decreed that December 25 would become the standard day of observance for the birth of Christ, since this date had long been recognized in antiquity as the return of the sun. Christmas, during the early centuries, was the most variable of the Christian feast days, and was often confused with the Epiphany, and celebrated in the months of April and May. Pope Julius I, in the fourth century commanded a committee of bishops to establish the date of the nativity of Jesus. December 25 (the day of Sol Invictus, the invincible sun) was decided upon. Not coincidentally, that is the day when the "pagan world celebrated the birth of their Sun Gods-Egyptian Osiris, Greek Apollo and Bacchus, Chaldean Adonis, Persian Mithra-when the Zodiacal sign of Virgo (the sun is born of a virgin) rose on the horizon. Thus the ancient festival of the Winter Solstice, the pagan festival of the birth of the Sun, came to be adopted by the Christian Church as the nativity of Jesus, and was called Christmas" (Crosbie). The church found itself:
By the end of the fourth century the whole Christian world was celebrating Christmas on that day, with the exception of the Eastern churches, where it was celebrated on January 6. The choice of December 25 was probably influenced by the fact that on this day the Romans celebrated the Mithraic feast of the Sun-god (natalis solis invicti), and that the Saturnalia also came at this time
Further, according to Annie Besant:
He is always born at the winter solstice, after the shortest day in the year, at the midnight of the 24th December when the sign Virgo is rising above the horizon; born as this Sign is rising, he is born always of a virgin, and she remains a virgin after she has given birth to her Sun-child as the celestial Virgo remains unchanged and unsullied when the Sun comes forth from her in the Heavens. Weak, feeble as an infant is he, born when the days are shortest and the nights are longest....(qtd. in Bailey)
The connection to the sun as a solar deity, the light and soul of the world, when it is reborn at the winter solstice, became the birthday of Christ, and he is but one manifestation of many ancient archetypal savior deities.
Posted by andrewanissi at 03:14 PM
Grammy nominations sing praises of Eastman's elite
SOURCE: Democrat and Chronicle
December 9, 2005
John Pitcher
Staff music critic
Recordings featuring Eastman School of Music faculty and alumni netted nearly a dozen Grammy nominations on Thursday, with such notable personalities as Renée Fleming, Paul O'Dette and the Ying Quartet all appearing on albums recognized by the recording academy.
Also, Jars of Clay, a contemporary Christian rock band with Chili natives Matt Odmark and Charlie Lowell, was nominated in the best pop/contemporary gospel album category for Redemption Songs.
Continue reading "Grammy nominations sing praises of Eastman's elite"
Posted by andrewanissi at 08:45 AM
Israel should move to Europe, Iranian president says
SOURCE: EUobserver.com
09.12.2005 - 10:06 CET
By Mark Beunderman
Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has sparked fresh outrage with the suggestion that the state of Israel should be moved to Europe...
Speaking in Mecca on Thursday (8 December), he stated according to media reports:
"If European countries claim that they have killed Jews in World War II (...) why don't they provide the Zionist regime with a piece of Europe?" "Germany and Austria can provide the (...) regime with two or three provinces for this regime to establish itself, and the issue will be resolved", he added.
The Iranian leader also questioned the holocaust, stating "Some European countries insist on saying that Hitler killed millions of innocent Jews in furnaces and they insist on it to the extent that if anyone proves something contrary to that they condemn that person and throw them in jail."
Continue reading "Israel should move to Europe, Iranian president says"
Posted by andrewanissi at 08:39 AM
December 08, 2005
And Now, the Fake News From Iraq
Our top 10 suggested headlines for the Pentagon's new, new journalism
SOURCE: The Village Voice
December 2nd, 2005 9:46 AM
by Jason Vest
So the Pentagon has been planting news stories in Iraq, eh? Yesterday, the New York Times reported that one of the headlines straight from the brass reads: "The Sands Are Blowing Toward a Democratic Iraq."
We think the long arm of the American Empire can do better than that. To wit, we submit the following:
Continue reading "And Now, the Fake News From Iraq"
Posted by andrewanissi at 07:53 PM
The Twilight of Conservatism
By Thomas E. Woods Jr.
December 5, 2005 Issue
The American Conservative
The rise of Bushism wouldn’t have surprised Robert Nisbet.
“War and the military are, without question, among the very worst of the earth’s afflictions,” an American conservative of distinction once wrote, “responsible for the majority of the torments, oppressions, tyrannies, and suffocations of thought the West has for long been exposed to. In military or war society anything resembling true freedom of thought, true individual initiative in the intellectual and cultural and economic areas, is made impossible—not only cut off when they threaten to appear but, worse, extinguished more or less at root. Between military and civil values there is, and always has been, relentless opposition. Nothing has proved more destructive of kinship, religion, and local patriotisms than has war and the accompanying military mind.”
Continue reading "The Twilight of Conservatism"
Posted by andrewanissi at 07:45 PM
December 07, 2005
Anglo-Saxon Woman On Bus Refuses to Give Up Seat For Rosa Parks
BRIT SPOILS US CIVIL RIGHTS TRIBUTE
Source: The Daily Record
3 December 2005
A BRITISH tourist refused to give up a seat on a New York City bus which was left empty to honour civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks.
Fiona Humphreys, 55, sat in a seat symbolically "reserved" for Parks to mark the 50th anniversary of her refusal to move to the back of an Alabamabus for a white man. Posters of Parks were taped to the first seat behind the driver on all city buses, asking passengers to leave them empty in her honour.
Public transport systems across the USA took part in the tribute. Some passengers unwittingly sat inthe seats but promptly got up when told of the tribute.
Many patted the seats and expressed gratitude to former seamstress Parks.
According to the New York Daily News, Humphreys was the only one who refused to get up. Travelling on the M-1 bus on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, she said: "I think I've got a right to sit here."
Rosa Parks' refusal to give up her bus seat on December 1, 1955, helped spark the modern civil rights movement in America.
She died last month, aged 92
Posted by andrewanissi at 08:20 PM
December 06, 2005
Look Mom, No Hands!
SOURCE: Wired News
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Click HERE for the source article.
Posted by andrewanissi at 12:28 PM
December 05, 2005
Born a Witch
Prophesy
Author: Snowden
Source: Witchvox.com, November 27, 2005
"I chose nothing. I was born and this is what I am."
More and more people these days are making the claim, "I was born a Witch." Which is a romantic idea left open for debate just as any other. It is one of those things that is impossible to prove outside of ones own head. Same holds true for the ancient souls/past lives idea. Mysterious thoughts for a mysterious faith. Generalizations made to explain what cannot be explained in our lives. No one really wants to leave it open to mystery. It has to have a name or we are not comfortable with it.
Continue reading "Born a Witch"
Posted by andrewanissi at 12:21 PM
The Revolt of the Generals
By ALEXANDER COCKBURN
Source: counterpunch.org, December 5, 2005
The immense significance of Rep John Murtha's November 17 speech calling for immediate withdrawal from Iraq is that it signals mutiny in the US senior officer corps, seeing the institution they lead as "broken, worn out" and "living hand to mouth", to use the biting words of their spokesman, John Murtha, as he reiterated on December his denunciation of Bush's destruction of the Army.
A CounterPuncher with nearly 40 years experience working in and around the Pentagon told me this week that "The Four Star Generals picked Murtha to make this speech because he has maximum credibility." It's true. Even in the US Senate there's no one with quite Murtha's standing to deliver the message, except maybe for Byrd, but the venerable senator from West Virginia was a vehement opponent of the war from the outset , whereas Murtha voted for it and only recently has turned around.
Continue reading "The Revolt of the Generals"
Posted by andrewanissi at 09:37 AM
December 01, 2005
American Religion
The American civilization, while being the home of numerous sub-cultures, lacks a culture of its own, in many ways. While literature may be running strong and American music is still struggling to stay above water, a true home-grown American religion is one cultural necessity that has always been lacking. Everyone needs an ideal both that they can relate to and that they can respect, but Americans continue to wait for such a god to be born. The only real American religion, the only true ideal, has been that of wealth, excess, and power, and the American is left with nothing else to strive for. A cool cynicism born out of despair has made virtue no longer a virtue, while a strong sense of spirituality and a hunger for something divine has left the country divided up amongst itself. Half of the country has submitted to the ideal of wealth, excess, and power and that half lives for the American dream of crushing one’s enemies and stepping on their shoulders to financial victory, while the other half questions the validity of wealth as a spiritual ideal and the end goal of existence. The younger generations are dissociated with the old religions of thousands of years ago, born in foreign lands and times that do not in any way resemble America today, and the older generations, like a looping algorithm, carry out old religious rituals that have been handed down from ancient times, because they have no alternative and fear the lack of something to hang on to and identify themselves with.
Posted by andrewanissi at 12:25 PM