Tomorrow, the Army Times -- and all other Military Times papers, including Navy and Air Force Times -- will run an editorial calling for Donald Rumsfeld to tender his resignation or be fired, due to his gross incompetence in handling the Iraq quagmire.

For two years, American sergeants, captains and majors training the Iraqis have told their bosses that Iraqi troops have no sense of national identity, are only in it for the money, don't show up for duty and cannot sustain themselves.

Meanwhile, colonels and generals have asked their bosses for more troops. Service chiefs have asked for more money.

And all along, Rumsfeld has assured us that things are well in hand.

Now, the president says he'll stick with Rumsfeld for the balance of his term in the White House.

This is a mistake.

It is one thing for the majority of Americans to think Rumsfeld has failed. But when the nation's current military leaders start to break publicly with their defense secretary, then it is clear that he is losing control of the institution he ostensibly leads.

These officers have been loyal public promoters of a war policy many privately feared would fail. They have kept their counsel private, adhering to more than two centuries of American tradition of subordination of the military to civilian authority.

Link

The Institute for Public Policy Research, a UK think tank, has released a report on the deplorable state of British copyright law, where it is still illegal to rip your CDs and put them on your iPod. Britain is seriously considering extending the term of copyright on sound recordings by 45 years, to a whopping 95 years -- and not just for new recordings, but retroactively. Nearly all the 50-year-old sound recordings ever made are out of print. Locking them away for 45 more years creates the very real possibility that every known copy of these recordings will expire before their copyright does. Adding another 45 years to these old records can't possibly provide an incentive to make new recordings -- Elvis Presley isn't going back into the studio, not even if you gave him a million years' worth of copyright.

Most British copyright law gets written at the behest of giants like EMI, without any public interest analysis -- and it's time that changed.

IPPR deputy director Dr Ian Kearns said: "When it comes to protecting the interests of copyright holders, the emphasis the music industry has put on tackling illegal distribution and not prosecuting for personal copying, is right.

"But it is not the music industry's job to decide what rights consumers have that is the job of government."

Report author Kay Withers said: "The idea of all-rights reserved doesn't make sense for the digital era and it doesn't make sense to have a law that everyone breaks. To give the IP regime legitimacy it must command public respect."

Link (Thanks to everyone who suggested this link!)

The UK information commissioner called Britain a surveillance society, where "dataveillance" of buying habits is combined with cameras and other surveillance methods to track practically every movement of Britons.

I saw this first hand, as when the London Underground phased out almost all forms of paper tickets in favor of the inherently less private RFID-based Oyster card (the only paper tickets remaining were single-rideday tickets, and the LU doubled the price of those). Even the banks get in on the act -- Citibank UK sent me a "mandatory questionnaire" that demanded that I disclose every source of income I have or might have or had, all property I owned all over the world, whom I loaned mney to and why, and so on -- they claimed that this was to comply with British terrorism rules. When I confronted them on this, they backed down and said it was an optional mandatory questionnaire.

Not only are cameras all over Britain -- especially London -- but many indoor spaces have rules that say you aren't allowed to shield yourself from their gaze, prohibiting motorcycle helmets and even hooded sweatshirts. The hoodie has become a symbol of surveillance-dodging hooligans -- a favorite (ab)use of the expansive, extra-judicial "anti-social behaviour orders" (ASBOs) is to order kids to stop wearing camera-foiling hooded jumpers.

The report's co-writer Dr David Murakami-Wood told BBC News that, compared to other industrialised Western states, the UK was "the most surveilled country".

"We have more CCTV cameras and we have looser laws on privacy and data protection," he said.

"We really do have a society which is premised both on state secrecy and the state not giving up its supposed right to keep information under control while, at the same time, wanting to know as much as it can about us."

Link (Thanks to everyone who suggested this link!)

McAuliflower sez, "KookiSushi inspired me to create my own candy fake sushi for April Fools Day. I was so happy with the resulting marshmallow nigiri (tamago, unagi, ebi) that I created a how-to guide on my food blog. The candy sushi can look startling real!"

Shaping rice for your sweet sushi treats is best down when the krispy mixture is still slightly warm. If it cools and firms up too much, warm it slightly in the microwave for easier forming.

Rolls: The rice base for the rolls is easily shaped when one finds the appropriate sized circular object to cut out cylinders of rice krispy pieces. The average sushi roll slice is just over 1 inch across. Many circular cookie cutter packs will come with a circle small enough to cut pieces for the rolls. When in doubt- make your piece small so that it is bite sized and can be popped into your mouth in one fell swoop.

Nigiri: To shape the rice base for sushi draped nigiri, I was fortunate to have a nigiri press (featured in the picture) on hand. It produces a piece that is a 1″ x 2″ rectangle with rounded corners, much like a pillow. Alternatively, this shape can be formed by hand.

Link (Thanks, McAuliflower!)

See also Chocolate sushi

Five record companies are suing the children of a New Jersey soccer mom who refused to pay them blood money when she was accused of downloading music. Patti Santangelo is a "computer illiterate parent" whom the record companies accused of downloading infringing music and from whom they demanded $7500. Santangelo had never downloaded anything, so she refused. The record companies sued her. She defended herself.

Now Warner Music, EMI, Sony BMG and Vivendi Universal are suing her children, alleging that they are the infringers. It's apparently a publicity stunt, as the record companies leaked the news of the suit before they served the children with papers.

It said Michelle Santangelo, 20, has acknowledged downloading songs on the family computer and that her brother, Robert, 16, had been implicated in statements his best friend made. It accuses the two of downloading and distributing over 1,000 songs, including "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)" by the Offspring, "MMMBop" by Hanson and "Beat It" by Michael Jackson.

"In short, each of the defendants participated in the substantial violations of plaintiffs' copyrights at issue and then concealed their involvement, standing idly by as Patricia Santangelo repeatedly protested their innocence and chastised plaintiffs for filing allegedly frivolous litigation," the complaint said.

The Santangelos' lawyer, Jordan Glass, disputed the recording industry's allegations and said he was at Michelle Santangelo's deposition and does not recall her "admitting or acknowledging downloading."

Link

See also:
Interview with mom who won't pay off the RIAA shakedown
RIAA using kids' private info to attack their mother
Judge to RIAA: Keep your "conference center" out of my court
Anti-RIAA lawyer: no limit on how many people we can defend
Online fundraiser for mom being sued by the RIAA

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Make magazine publisher and editor Dale Doughtery is at the Punkin Chunkin' World Championships (where contestants build machines to fling pumpkins as far as possible).

He says: "I thought you'd like the Loaded Boing truck, which accompanied a huge slingshot pumpkin thrower. It's clear and crisp in Delaware."

Link | Flickr photos of past Punkin Chunks

KookiSushi: fetishistically accurate replicas of sushi, executed in fine chocolate, including green-tea "wasabi" and chocolate soy sauce. Link (via Popgadget)

The Exploratorium has instructions for building a projector to view the transit of Mercury across the Sun, an event the occurs only 12 times a century. Link

Korea -- famed as a kind of net.paradise where the DSL runs to 100 megabits and penetrates every home -- has pioneered a darker Internet phenomenon: a wholesale breach of net neutrality by a cablemodem company owned by LG.

The ISP in question runs a broadband video service that is being creamed by a competing Internet service. In order to "compete" better with the winning player, they simply cut off access to it for their customers, saying "IPTV is a broadcasting, not a telecommunications service."

Two million cable modem subscribers and one million LG Powercomm broadband customers are being blocked from watching video from video on demand service HanaTV, Korea Times reports. Korea’s innovative Hanaro, #2 to Korea Telecom in broadband, has signed up 60,000 customers for video on demand in the first three months. KT Vice President Shim Ju-kyo tells Korea Times ``We are 100 percent ready to introduce Internet TV services and we will do so next year as soon as the legal framework is set up,’’ LG’s sister company, Dacom, has an IPTV offering of their own in the works. Hanaro is controlled by U.S. investors AIG and Newbridge, while Goldman Sachs and Bill Kennard’s Carlyle Group have been investing in Korean cable companies.

The Korea Cable TV Association is maintaining “IPTV is a broadcasting, not a telecommunications service” and boycotting the Hanaro offering. Cable networks have been fighting a regulatory battle to keep telcos out of the TV business.

Link (via Isen)