Tittle: Music for nothing and your tracks for free.
Source: www.articlecity.com
Date of Publication: July 02, 2007.
Author: Morgan Hamilton.
Vocabulary:
-Spin: noun, informal, a way of presenting information or a situation in a particular way, especially one that makes you or your ideas seen good.
-Subtle: adjective, often approving, not very noticeable or obvious.
-Spurious: adjective, based on false ideas or ways of thinking. False although seeming to be geniune.
-Scrape the botton of the barrel: idiom, disapproving, to have to use whatever things or people you can get because there is not much choice available.
-Resort: phrasal verb, "resort to something", to make use of something, especially something bad, as a mean of achieving something, often becasue there is no other posible situation.
-Sue: verb, to make a claim against somebody in a court of law about something that they have said or done to harm you.
-Stamp out: phrasal verb, to get rid of something that is bad, unpleasant or dangerous, especially by using force or a lot of effort.
Main Ideas:
-The record industry claims that "illegal downloading" seriuosly threatens the development of music and artists.
-This industry have not published any factual information to support its claim.
-There is information that shows that downloading spends 27% more on music than on legal activity in download sites.
-The UK software house, Remlap Software, suggest that "illegal downloaders" are anything but the thieves the record industry labels them as.
-The term "illegal download" would be defined by most people as an activity which is outlawed under Criminal Law.
-But the Oxford Dictionary merely states that "illegal" is "contrary to the law".
-The difference between the public perception of the definition and the officially recognized version may only be subtle, but it is powerful enough for the record industry to exploit.
-In making people believe that illegal downloading of music is theft, the record industry re-enforces the public perception that such activity is in contrary to criminal law, with all the serious consequences that such an offence implies.
-The truth of the matter is that there is no criminal offence in either the EU or USA of downloading music without paying for it.
-All best, the record industry could claim that "illegal downloading" are a violation of Civil Law but even this would be spurious.
-In desperation, the record industry has scraped the botton of the barrel, and now resorts to suing its own customers.
-But to date, they have not been able to prosecute one case of "illegal downloading".
-In every case, they have sued on the allegation that the defendat has distributed music in violation of copyright.
-The basis of Peer-to Peer network is that users share their music collecton with the rest of the network, and it is that act which is the offence, not what they have downloaded.
-In the effort to force the world to only use Pay-for-music download sites, the record industry has already persuade a number of universities to turn-off Peer-to Peer traffic.
-In respond to this situation, Remlap Software considered that there are probably more mp3 files sitting on the web serves, than there are in all the Peer-to Peer networks put together.
- Clickster, the first legal mp3 downloader, gives acces to over a million individual tracks, all found on Internet web servers and available for download.
-With Clickster clearly navigating around the lastest attemps of the record industry to stamp out what they call "illegal download", the future remains bright.
Personal Reaction:
Two main problems are clearly detected when discussing illegal downloading of music. The first one is the fact that the record industry is the main agent who uploads music on the Interent, generally for prommotion. And in the end, they complain for a situation that they created themselves. And the second one, is the fact of the difficulty that arises when the law has to take into account issues related to technology.
Technology moves fowards quicker than Law. Day by day, new problems appear which are not even mentioned in the Civil Codes of most countries. Not until this types of cases are analyzed by courts of law and not until people involved with the launch of new laws decide on explicit regulations to cope with music piracy, can we determine to what extend is music downloading illegal or not.
In my personal opinion there is no doubt that such activity afects the development of artists and the music industry, for its main consequence is a huge falling of the sells in what refers to albums. But at the same time million of artist grew and continue growing in their careers becasue of the massive advertising that the Internet offers to them.
So, it will take a long time untill all people involved in the uploading and downloading of music come to a final decision in what regards the control of such activities. 'Till then, this will continue to be a trivial topic of discussion and will continue working as it does, just to answer to the personal interest of everyone related to the downloading af music...things will change, when we think on the general interest of the community and on what is better for all of us, no if we keep on thinking in an individual way.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Journal: The Imortal King of Rock an Roll.
At the beginnig of the year 1935, in a small town called Tupelo, a mother gave birth to twin brothers. One of them, called Jessie, died minutes later, the other one, called Elvis started his short but famous life...
At the age of 13, Elvis and his parents had their home in Menphis, Tennessee. This locattion was the place where the life of this boy who had a very humble american way of life was influenced for ever and in a great scale, by music. The sounds of the 40's and 50's, like the gospel music, the blues and the jazz, the country music and the rockabilly situated Elvis Presley inside a musical dream, that he decided to achieved.
Elvis first opportunity of succes arrived when he was 19. A record company called Sun, edited his first two singles. His voice and style started to turned down the socio-racial barriers of those times....Elvis was white, but he sang with the soul of a black man. He adopted the rythm originated in the black american culture and proyected it to the world for the appreciation of all ethnic type of audiences.
Two years later from this beginning, Elvis Presley had already popularized Rock and Roll all around the world. After that, he took part in 33 movies , bated the records in what refers to live presentations and tv shows, sold more than a thousand million albums, was nominated to 13 grammy awards and he finally died under strange cicumstances in the year 1977 at the age of 42. The abuse of drugs and the preassure of his enormous succes are believe to be the causes of the end of his full of excess way of life.
Any way, Elvis death was only a phisical disappearence, though he inmidiatly after it, became the icon of rebeldy, what makes him to be "alive" in a way, even after 30 years of his departure. It is probably a mistery the reason why Elvis could not yet be reduced to the categorie of a simple legendary popular idol. And he undoubtly continue to be a unique phenomenon in what regards all types of millionary sells. If you wonder haw is this posible, let me tell you and anecdote that will clarify this : on Dicember 15, 1956, Elvis gave a presentation in a radio programme at Louisiana. The shouts of the fans where so stronge that it was impossible to detect which song was Elvis and his band performing. This was the day when the famous phrase "Elvis has left the building" saw the light, which was said to the ardent audience when Elvis left the show and the people satrted to leave their seats to follow him all around the place! The phrase became as popular as Elvis worlwide and its used to refer to something that is finally over.... this clerly shows not the reasons, but the fact, that Elvis became the intouchable, unforgetable, inmortal king of rock and roll. And will continue to be seen as that....
At the age of 13, Elvis and his parents had their home in Menphis, Tennessee. This locattion was the place where the life of this boy who had a very humble american way of life was influenced for ever and in a great scale, by music. The sounds of the 40's and 50's, like the gospel music, the blues and the jazz, the country music and the rockabilly situated Elvis Presley inside a musical dream, that he decided to achieved.
Elvis first opportunity of succes arrived when he was 19. A record company called Sun, edited his first two singles. His voice and style started to turned down the socio-racial barriers of those times....Elvis was white, but he sang with the soul of a black man. He adopted the rythm originated in the black american culture and proyected it to the world for the appreciation of all ethnic type of audiences.
Two years later from this beginning, Elvis Presley had already popularized Rock and Roll all around the world. After that, he took part in 33 movies , bated the records in what refers to live presentations and tv shows, sold more than a thousand million albums, was nominated to 13 grammy awards and he finally died under strange cicumstances in the year 1977 at the age of 42. The abuse of drugs and the preassure of his enormous succes are believe to be the causes of the end of his full of excess way of life.
Any way, Elvis death was only a phisical disappearence, though he inmidiatly after it, became the icon of rebeldy, what makes him to be "alive" in a way, even after 30 years of his departure. It is probably a mistery the reason why Elvis could not yet be reduced to the categorie of a simple legendary popular idol. And he undoubtly continue to be a unique phenomenon in what regards all types of millionary sells. If you wonder haw is this posible, let me tell you and anecdote that will clarify this : on Dicember 15, 1956, Elvis gave a presentation in a radio programme at Louisiana. The shouts of the fans where so stronge that it was impossible to detect which song was Elvis and his band performing. This was the day when the famous phrase "Elvis has left the building" saw the light, which was said to the ardent audience when Elvis left the show and the people satrted to leave their seats to follow him all around the place! The phrase became as popular as Elvis worlwide and its used to refer to something that is finally over.... this clerly shows not the reasons, but the fact, that Elvis became the intouchable, unforgetable, inmortal king of rock and roll. And will continue to be seen as that....
Journal: The new generation
The Internet is full of sites related to the interchanging of personal information, in the form of photographs, images and videos. "YouTube" is probaby the most visited of all those types of sites. What you can find there is generally home made videos, amateur photograph productions and all sort of personal information that people would like to publish. Eventhough there are rules to control what users publish, websites allow people to post almost all kind of things. And some of the publications are sometime very shocking. This is the case of the many videos already uplowded in the Internet where teenagers show themselves and their peers in brutal acts of violence, performed against their own classmates and public buildings. The most dramatic ones are the cases of bullying videos, which are shooted all over the wolrd, including Argentina. In those videos you can see how teachers are treated badly by the students, and how other students fall prey and become victims of the most traumatic and cruel types of physical and verbal agression form part of their own classmates.
Last year, en extremelly shocking video of this type saw the light in Italy. In it images of several types of brutality where shown. The images where registered with the video cam of a cell phone and they showed kids between the ages of 12 and 17 attacking teachers, their school building, kids who suffered from disabilities and physical incapaity, and even episodes of sexual aggression.
Those kinds of situations occur also in our country. Some weeks ago, 5 students from a public school recorded themselves while destroying their classroom almost completely. Instead of trying to hide the incident, the protagonist of the video published it on the Internet. The images produced the reaction of their other classmates who confessed that they rejected for not having took part of the shooting and that they feel envy for the 5 who did, because they became famous!.
This is the new generation. They are our future. And this is how our children and teenagers are born and bred. In the confusion between what is right and what is wrong. In a time where there's no family structure anymore due to various reasons, and which leads to the fact that children grow up almost alone. Heavily influenced by the mass media and the consuming society in which we live, our kinds do not have a clear guide to follow in the path of what is really healthy and good for them. Our society have lost it scale of values, or let say that it has changed it drmmatically, placing in first place, superficial interests, like the importance of appearence, succes obtained in a rapid and corrupted way and money. And in this way it permits aggressions of all types in every place. This destroyed the use of common sence, the importance of eductaion, the family and the taditional values, and as a result it destroys our future also, because this type of society is damaging very hard the minds of our new generation.
Last year, en extremelly shocking video of this type saw the light in Italy. In it images of several types of brutality where shown. The images where registered with the video cam of a cell phone and they showed kids between the ages of 12 and 17 attacking teachers, their school building, kids who suffered from disabilities and physical incapaity, and even episodes of sexual aggression.
Those kinds of situations occur also in our country. Some weeks ago, 5 students from a public school recorded themselves while destroying their classroom almost completely. Instead of trying to hide the incident, the protagonist of the video published it on the Internet. The images produced the reaction of their other classmates who confessed that they rejected for not having took part of the shooting and that they feel envy for the 5 who did, because they became famous!.
This is the new generation. They are our future. And this is how our children and teenagers are born and bred. In the confusion between what is right and what is wrong. In a time where there's no family structure anymore due to various reasons, and which leads to the fact that children grow up almost alone. Heavily influenced by the mass media and the consuming society in which we live, our kinds do not have a clear guide to follow in the path of what is really healthy and good for them. Our society have lost it scale of values, or let say that it has changed it drmmatically, placing in first place, superficial interests, like the importance of appearence, succes obtained in a rapid and corrupted way and money. And in this way it permits aggressions of all types in every place. This destroyed the use of common sence, the importance of eductaion, the family and the taditional values, and as a result it destroys our future also, because this type of society is damaging very hard the minds of our new generation.
Solar activity 'not the cause of global warming
Tittle: Solar activity 'not the cause of global warming.
Source: www.articlecity.com
Date of Publication: 11 July, 2007.
Author: Steve Connor, Science Editor.
Vocabulary:
- Disprove: verb, to show that something is wrong or false. Opposite: prove.
- U-turn: noun, informal, a complete change in behaviour.
- Counter: combinig form, against, opposite.
- Ascribe: verb, to consider that something is caused by a particular thing or person.
- Swindle: noun, a situation in which somebody uses dishonest or illegal methods in orther to get money from a company, another person, etc.
- Outrage: verb, to make somebody very shocked and angry.
Main Ideas:
- A detailed study of the Sun, revealed that solar activity is not the cause of global warming.
- Scientists have abandoned the theory that global warming can be explained by vaiations of the natural cycle sof the sun.
- An analysis of the records of the Sun's activities shows that since 1985 solar activity has decreased while global warming increased.
- Over the past twenty years the Sun did a U-turn in every respect and has run in the opposite direction to global warming.
- There is considerable evidence for solar influence on Earth's pre industrial climate and the Sun may have been a factor in the post industrial climate change during the 1st half of the last century.
- The theory that past changes in solar activity may have explained some changes in the climate before the Industrial Revolution is not under dispute.
- However, after 1985, the rapid rise in global mean temperatures cannot be ascribed to solar variability.
- Climate sceptics have exploited the old theory to dispute the idea that man-made emissions are responsible for global wraming.
- Recently, a doummentary erroneously presented the rise in solar activity over the latter half of the 20th century as the cause of the rise in global average temperatures.
- Scientist were outrage when they saw the docummentary because it showed graphs of temperature rises and sunspot cycles that were cut off in the 1980's.
- The sceptics are believed to be using the theory of solar activity as the cause of modern-day warming in a misappropriate way and to be bringing the new theory into disrespect.
- The general claim is that there is a small minority which is seeking to confuse the public an the causes of climate change.
- This minority is believed to be misrepresenting the science when the reality is that the evidence of man-made greenhoses gasses as responsible for actual global warming is getting stronger every day.
Personal Reaction:
The position of the ones who object the theory of the sun as not loger responsible for global warming, is a clear evidence of a type of scepticism based on the personal interests of some people in contrast to the general interest of preserving our planet shared by the rest of the world.
There's no other reason than a stronge economical interest from part of those sceptics to show themselves in opposition to what is finally scientific demostrated.
No matter how ridiculous their attitude is or how inappropriate is to continue supporting a theory that was blowed away, for it is evidently more important to make money for those ones, despite the fact that the path they take to do this grately contributes to global warming.
Those sceptics are surely the ones who produce more greenhouse gasses than anybody else in the world.They are the owners, excecutive representatives and business men in charge of the most important and at the same time most contaminating plants, industries and factories of the world, which are the origin of non friendly gasses to our atmosphere, in the form of products of several types and industrial garbage.
Luckily, they are a small group in comparision to the ones that already support the new theories regarding global warming...Soon or later they will have to accept their responsibility in relation to this. The science will keep on demostrating which are the real causes of the problem and there will come the day when the reason of the rise in Earth's mean temperature, will be finally proved to be men pollution, and sceptics will no longer be in the position to discuss that.
Source: www.articlecity.com
Date of Publication: 11 July, 2007.
Author: Steve Connor, Science Editor.
Vocabulary:
- Disprove: verb, to show that something is wrong or false. Opposite: prove.
- U-turn: noun, informal, a complete change in behaviour.
- Counter: combinig form, against, opposite.
- Ascribe: verb, to consider that something is caused by a particular thing or person.
- Swindle: noun, a situation in which somebody uses dishonest or illegal methods in orther to get money from a company, another person, etc.
- Outrage: verb, to make somebody very shocked and angry.
Main Ideas:
- A detailed study of the Sun, revealed that solar activity is not the cause of global warming.
- Scientists have abandoned the theory that global warming can be explained by vaiations of the natural cycle sof the sun.
- An analysis of the records of the Sun's activities shows that since 1985 solar activity has decreased while global warming increased.
- Over the past twenty years the Sun did a U-turn in every respect and has run in the opposite direction to global warming.
- There is considerable evidence for solar influence on Earth's pre industrial climate and the Sun may have been a factor in the post industrial climate change during the 1st half of the last century.
- The theory that past changes in solar activity may have explained some changes in the climate before the Industrial Revolution is not under dispute.
- However, after 1985, the rapid rise in global mean temperatures cannot be ascribed to solar variability.
- Climate sceptics have exploited the old theory to dispute the idea that man-made emissions are responsible for global wraming.
- Recently, a doummentary erroneously presented the rise in solar activity over the latter half of the 20th century as the cause of the rise in global average temperatures.
- Scientist were outrage when they saw the docummentary because it showed graphs of temperature rises and sunspot cycles that were cut off in the 1980's.
- The sceptics are believed to be using the theory of solar activity as the cause of modern-day warming in a misappropriate way and to be bringing the new theory into disrespect.
- The general claim is that there is a small minority which is seeking to confuse the public an the causes of climate change.
- This minority is believed to be misrepresenting the science when the reality is that the evidence of man-made greenhoses gasses as responsible for actual global warming is getting stronger every day.
Personal Reaction:
The position of the ones who object the theory of the sun as not loger responsible for global warming, is a clear evidence of a type of scepticism based on the personal interests of some people in contrast to the general interest of preserving our planet shared by the rest of the world.
There's no other reason than a stronge economical interest from part of those sceptics to show themselves in opposition to what is finally scientific demostrated.
No matter how ridiculous their attitude is or how inappropriate is to continue supporting a theory that was blowed away, for it is evidently more important to make money for those ones, despite the fact that the path they take to do this grately contributes to global warming.
Those sceptics are surely the ones who produce more greenhouse gasses than anybody else in the world.They are the owners, excecutive representatives and business men in charge of the most important and at the same time most contaminating plants, industries and factories of the world, which are the origin of non friendly gasses to our atmosphere, in the form of products of several types and industrial garbage.
Luckily, they are a small group in comparision to the ones that already support the new theories regarding global warming...Soon or later they will have to accept their responsibility in relation to this. The science will keep on demostrating which are the real causes of the problem and there will come the day when the reason of the rise in Earth's mean temperature, will be finally proved to be men pollution, and sceptics will no longer be in the position to discuss that.
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