Archive for March, 2005

IRA offer to kill killers – surprised no one thanks them

Tuesday, March 8th, 2005

Those who've been following Irish current affairs recently will know that there has been an interesting turn of events in the aftermath of the tragic murder of Robert McCartney in Belfast. McCartney was murdered by a gang of IRA members who chased him out of a pub and beat him ...

More on fakery, drinking and culture

Monday, March 7th, 2005

I have a letter in today's Daily Illini detailing my concerns with "Unofficial St. Patrick's Day."

EU commission still pushing for software patents

Monday, March 7th, 2005

Lessig has rightly brought attention to the European Commission's refusal to back down over software patents, despite losing a vote in the European Parliament. As Matt Drudge would say, "developing..."

Scagaire coverage

Monday, March 7th, 2005

The Scagaire document has been covered - I sent out a press release last night - first by Sascha (who is of course one of the authors), then Nancy Gohring at WiFiNet News, and now Kory Mohr has posted our release on the WISP Centric site. I'll add any other mentions ...

ComReg submission on radio spectrum management

Saturday, March 5th, 2005

Late Thursday evening I submitted Scagaire's response to ComReg document 05/01. As indicated in my earlier posts it deals with: Evaluation of the impact of broadcasting. DAB Wireless broadband ComReg's proposal for Wireless Public Address systems

Bad news for public service media in Europe

Friday, March 4th, 2005

It seems that this was the news on the horizon that the Guardian was referencing earlier this week. The Commission has sent letters to countries, including Ireland, saying that more detail is needed in reporting requirements on use of the license fee and that:The financing system for public service broadcasters ...

Meditations on media reform

Friday, March 4th, 2005

A rant of a different sort now. A relatively harmless list of '10 steps to a more democratic media' does go somewhat beyond the standard list of controls on corporate media, but not enough. Although community WiFi is listed - it's managed to attract support from 'official' media criticism quarters recently, ...

Meditations on cultural appropriation

Friday, March 4th, 2005

I like people. I like being with people, talking with them, walking amongst them. I like seeing large crowds enjoying themselves. I like the anarchic nature of people having fun, of unofficial, spontaneous partying. And yet today, one of the main party days on campus disturbs and upsets me. I hate ...

Homo-/bi-sexuals at risk of suicide

Friday, March 4th, 2005

This comes from France, so the details will vary, but its nonetheless a statistic that jumps out at you:Une enquête indépendante révèle qu'un homo ou bisexuel homme a treize fois plus de risques de faire une tentative de suicide qu'un hétérosexuel.That's 13 times as likely, people. The source is Liberation, ...

Former Sandinista minister refused US visa – branded as terrorist – can’t accept Harvard visiting professorship

Friday, March 4th, 2005

You can't say the Bushies don't have long memories