Christmas cheer

The FBI's House Calls -- pretty scary story about how the FBI might end up visiting you if you question the government too much. [link from JD's blog]

10 Big Myths about copyright explained written by Brad Templeton, chairman of the board of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).

Adam Baer (Slate): Why Handel's Messiah is a holiday soundtrack for the ages. "The result is that Handel's music sounds better with more singers singing louder, contrary to Bach's, which needs fewer singers and an intimate concert space. And Handel, lest we forget, wrote his music for money—to be a star in a city chock-full of compositional luminaries. Bach wrote his music for a church—for God, and some would say himself: He wasn't concerned with what made good entertainment."

Maybe Ecco is built upon Faircom's CTree database. I wonder whether this fact opens the possiblity that we'll now be able to parse our Ecco files.

Electronic download version of the Globe and Mail

I am tempted to subscribe electronically to my favorite Canadian paper, The Toronto Globe and Mail. The service is provided in a partnership between the Globe and Newsstand. I was about to buy today's issue of the Globe until I saw the following stipulation: "At the end of your subscription period, delivery will continue at the publisher's regular rate unless you cancel. Your credit card will automatically be charged for each subscription period in advance." This really annoys me -- my other subscriptions don't automatically get renewed if I don't send in my request.

BTW, The New York Times is also using Newsstand. I found some analysis from Wired Magazine and Mark Pilgrim on the electronic edition. (MetaFilter also has a good discussion, including one user report of his experience with the interface.)

Nov Jan

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