The Facebook Murders

Check this out: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7676285.stm - totally brutal, what a fucking psychopath!

That said, having recently (and perhaps, finally) ended a very long relationship i have to admit that when i see activity by my ex on facebook i almost always feel quite emotional: sometimes jealous, sometimes happy, sometimes i just miss her... but i always feel something.  That said, i did change my profile status to single almost immediately... but this end had been a long time coming.  Everyone should be aware that facebook is public, it is for meeting, socialising, gossipping, stalking etc these are it's functions in our lives.  Even hearsay getting back to someone can be devastating enough.  Everyone be careful in love, but have fun, but be careful... you'll be fine!

now check this out: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=MiHsxQJ9ZOo - what the fuck is going on here?!

Michael Bay may be crazy but this new FiOS thing is a rapidly growing television/telephone/internet service using fibre optic cable direct your home.  Apparantly they can get speeds of 50/20 mbps (down/up) which is stupid fast considering ADSL2 in the states only goes up to about 30/5 mbps.  It will be interesting to see how big this gets and if their explosive advertising campaign actually does anything. (Wikipedia)

This is my last blog folks, it's been real.  Stay out of trouble and remember to unplug as much as possible, it's a beautiful day outside.  Peace..xo

The beginning of something more sinister

In the current issue of Q magazine you'll find an short article on a new treaty between the world's wealthiest nations attempting to stop illegal music err... crossing boarders.  The plan to make it legal to search your laptop or MP3 player for illegally downloaded, copyrighted, music with the power to fine per illegal song, confiscate the computer or player and even destroy it.  The article is short because apparently no details of this treaty have been released to civil liberties groups, which stinks of foul play.  It goes on to report that this may lead to increased tracking and surveillance by ISPs of what users download, upload and email.

Surveillance state any one?

While I see it as one of the most innovative and, perhaps, up to speed measures "The Man" has thought of I think it's a really bad idea.  How many people do you know who went to Thailand and came back with a wallet full of pirated movies? Probably heaps, it's just another unnecessary piece of bureaucracy and regulation that the western world just does not need.  Add to that any further powers the authorities may have over citizens which pose no great threat to anyone except major record labels (who are widely regarded as scheisters anyway).  Increased surveillance by a nation on it's own people is almost always a bad idea, it leads to suspicion and doubt for everyone.

I have no link to this article yet as it has not been digitally published that I can find.  I will keep searching though.  But head to the newsagent, it's the issue of Q with Angus Young on the cover, November 2008 p20.

-out-

BACK ONLINE!!

Yes folks, i know the anticipation has been almost to much to bare but i am back online, new computer... i hate vista.

I'm just posting the bibliography Tom and i used for our presentation in case people want to investigate more for themselves. Also feel free to contact me if you want to get into torrenting, i realise my explanation could have been a little better. You made need access to certain journals to view some of the files. Most were found through the La Trobe subscriptions but i have a feeling i found some through the State Library too.

Anderson, David P, and Cobb, Jeff, and Korpela, Eric, and Lebofsky, Matt, and Werthimer, Dan, “SETI@Home: An Experiment in Public-Resource Computing,” Communications of the ACM, Vol 45, No 11, 2002, accessed on 12/09/08, from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=2&hid=113&sid=c8dead94-7a1a-4f12-b0dc-538fa6555412%40SRCSM1

Andrade, Nazareno, and Mowbray, Miranda, and Lima, Aliandro, and Wagner, Gustavo, and Ripeanu, Matei, “Influences on Cooperation in BitTorrent Communities,” Applications, Technologies, Architectures, and Protocols for Computer Communication, Philadelphia, 2005, accessed on 12/09/08, available from: https://portal.acm.org/

Hall, Yensy James, and Piemonte, Patrick, and Weyant, Matt, Joost: A Measurement Study, Carnegie Mellon University, 2007, accessed on 20/09/08 From: http://www.patrickpiemonte.com/15744-Joost.pdf

Izal, M, and Urboy-Keller, G, and Biersack, E W, and Felbder, PA, and Al Hamra, A, and Garces-Erice, L , Dissecting BitTorrent: Five Months in a Torrent’s Lifetime, Institut Eurecom, France, accessed on 10/09/08, from: http://heim.ifi.uio.no/~anwarah/PAM04.pdf

Khambatti, Mujtaba, and Ryu, Kyung, and Dasputa, Partha, Peer-To-Peer Communitiees: Formation and Discovery, Arizona State University, Tempe, accessed on: 12/09/08 from: http://khambatti.com/mujtaba/ArticlesAndPapers/pdcs-iasted-02.pdf

Kevin for Australian-media.com, “Today Tonight misleading the public,” July 24, 2008, accessed on 24/9/08, from http://www.australian-media.com.au/index.php?c=home&p=news&article=11130&from=rss

Kwok, James S H, and Gao, S, “Knowledge Sharing Community in P2P Netowork: A Study of Motivational Perspective”, Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol 8, No 1, 2004, accessed on12/09/08, from http://www.emeraldinsight.com/10.1108/13673270410523934

Leyden, Fleur “Film pirates escape net Indecision holds up crackdown,” Hobart Mercury, 9 August 2008, available through factiva through the LaTrobe Library Website.

Pfahl Michael, “Giving Away Music to Make Money: Independent Musicians on the Internet” First Monday, vol 6, no 8, 2001, accessed on 14/09/08, from http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue6_8/pfahl/index.html

Svensson, Jorgen S & Bannister, Frank, “Pirates, Sharks and Moral Crusaders: Social Control in Peer-To-Peer Networks,” First Monday, vol 9, no 6, 2004, accessed on 22/09/08, from URL: http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_6/svensson/index.html

Taylor, Richard, under the supervision of Dr. Blake Ives, “Peer-to-Peer: Business Applications,” ISRC Future Technology Briefing, Bauer Collage of Business, University of Houston.

I would also like to make some passing comments about facebook:
I went to a party some weeks ago, a "fetish" themed fancy dress party. the theme was to come as some sexual fantasy or fetish, my friend went as a sultry school teacher, there were many girls there were naught but a little black pvc and gaff tape. The party wasn't as massive as i think people thought it was going to be so i was able to overhear a lot of conversations and the one that kept coming up was "i can't wait for monday so i can see all this on facebook" - what. the. fuck. it's a party, people should be partying, not being excited about checking out photos on facebook. the memories are always what is most important, the photos are just an entertaining reminder. it seems like people are more excited about the image of themselves on the internet. friends can see how crazy and fun they are, when really the party wasn't as good as i thought it was going to be.  IS our internet identity more important than our real one?

i have just started dating the most gorgeous kiwi girl, it's very exciting. i looked her up on facebook today because i finally remembered her surname (we've been getting spastic-drunk together... you forget things). i couldn't find her on facebook even though i know she mentioned that she used it so i googled her. no luck there, so i googled her name with "Auckland" (where i think she is from) and i found a photo of a 4 year old girl who i assume is her. it is an 1989 preschool class photograph with her name tagged to it. Subquestion: am i a stalker?

the internet is a weird place. speaking of which, here is a video i have been meaning to post for months. This is a youtube exclusive video for a song on R Kelly's last album "The Double Up" - this is a serious song. check it.