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28. desember 2006
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A $1.65 trillion lawsuit against AllofMP3.com is the biggest, and probably most futile, ever brought by the RIAA:
The December 21 lawsuit argues that 11 million songs were allegedly pirated, and seeks damages totaling $150,000 per violation. That's a $1.65 trillion lawsuit - a value slightly less than the Gross Domestic Product for the United Kingdom in 2005.
In an odd game of reverse "oneupmanship", where in this case each side is less impressed with the argument of the other, AllofMP3 has responded coolly and with indifference to the staggering dollar amount of the RIAA's lawsuit.
"AllofMP3 understands that several U.S. record label companies filed a lawsuit against Media Services in New York," an unnamed "senior company official" stated. "This suit is unjustified as AllofMP3 does not operate in New York. Certainly the labels are free to file any suit they wish, despite knowing full well that AllofMP3 operates legally in Russia. In the mean time, AllofMP3 plans to continue to operate legally and comply with all Russian laws."
They may be thieving bastards, but I do like their attitude. Maybe they can borrow some polonium from the FSB? That'd certainly raise their public popularity in the east and west alike.
PS: In 2000, the total music sale in the entire world was estimated at US$37 billion, and it's probably in the same ballpark now, slumping sales and inflation considered. Thus, the RIAA is suing the Russian company for almost 45 times the entire world music sale for a year!
6:17:53 PM 
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This list of 100 perhaps unexpected truths brought to us by the BBC can provide some hours of entertainment, at least if you use the opportunity to check out the often amusing stories from 2006 that goes with them (some of which actually ended up on this blog).
This article on an answering service had a stumper, though, and the writer cruelly left out the answer.
For instance, can you think of three words in English ending in the letters "gry"?
Yes, there is hungry and angry, ... and, well, it's those two.
Apparently, I have been victimised by an old riddle/joke that has harassed the entire English-speaking world for decades. Now I'm ready to pass on the misery.
4:08:45 PM
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I wrote about the sinister NORAD conspiracy some days ago, and now the plot thickens. On its NORAD Tracks Santa site, you way notice the northernmost star being placed on the Norwegian arctic island Svalbard, strangely enough indicating two sightings on a very sparsely populated island. Svalbard people are obviously very nice. But, when you hover over the star, it says King William Island, Nunavut, Canada! That is very far from Svalbard.
NORAD, you will remember, is a cooperation between Canada and the United States. And now Canada is claiming a bit of Norwegian territory. Well, Canadians, you weren't too lucky against the Danes, and this trick is not going to go over well, either.
2:18:18 PM
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The Islamic Courts militia is abandoning the capital Mogadishu, and the Ethiopia-backed government is planning to take over.
Gunmen who had been allied with Islamist militias changed out of their uniforms and submitted to the command of traditional elders. Gunfire echoed through the streets as the fighters began looting Islamist bases and buildings belonging to Islamist officials, witnesses said. One resident said three men and a woman had been killed in the looting.
Clans called on their young men to form militias to protect their neighborhoods. Hussein Haji Bod, a well-known clan leader, appealed for calm and said elders would meet Thursday to discuss the future of the capital. The government was expected to offer the clans a truce.
"I have seen that the Islamists are defeated, I'm going to rejoin my clan," said one gunman, Mohamed Barre Sidow. "I was forced to join the Islamic courts by my clan, so I now I will return to my clan and they will decide my fate, whether I join the government or not."
The Islamists had an air of invincibility after swooping the country after years of lawlessness, and consigning the government forces to a small corner of the vast country, but now the opportunists at least are jumping ship. It is possible, I guess, that my dire predictions will not happen, but it's clear that the Islamic courts are wisely planning to fight another day. How are the government forces planning on keeping control of the entire country, where, as we see above, clan and religious loyalties are everything and a national identity hardly exist? The Ethiopian army, superior in every respect in open battle, is unlikely to want to attempt to hold onto a lawless city like Mogadishu in face of guerrilla and terrorist tactics. If the Islamist militia has not lost its popular support completely, it is likely to reestablish itself as a force once the Ethiopians withdraw.
Ethiopia has made its point: it can swoop away a lightly armed militia. Its military objects reached and the Islamists beaten, it can leave Somalia to its own chaos, where the government, made up of former warlords, is unlikely to assert itself, not to mention keep itself from splintering into its original fractions.
PS: More details on the Ethiopian victory and the threat of insurgency warfare in Bill Roggio's blog.
10:53:32 AM
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The Taliban first denied that a US airstrike had killed Akhtar Mohammad Osmani, a top-level commander, but now admits that was the case.
But a senior Taliban commander who declined to be identified confirmed Osmani had been killed.
"He has died. We got this information on the day of the strike but our leadership ordered us not to disclose it," the commander, speaking by telephone, told a Reuters reporter in the Pakistani border town of Chaman.
"He was not only an experienced military commander but also good in making financial transactions for us. He had good contacts," he said, without elaborating.
"His death will have some bad impact on our movement for some time," he added.
Sounds good.
5:57:30 AM
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© Copyright 2007 Jan Haugland.
Last update: 01.01.2007; 08:22:59.
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