RIAA accuses amigascne.org site of illegally "offering 0 song files for download.
 

RIAA alleged the Amigascne.org site illegally "offers approximately 0 sound files for download. Many of these files contain recordings owned by our member companies, including songs by such artists as Creed."

Those dumbasses at the RIAA have since apologized. Is this the only way that the Amiga name gets on news.com?

http://news.com.com/2100-1025_3-1001...g=fd_lede2_hed

LOL! :lol

I wait for the instant when the German Verfassungsschutz (~= Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution) sends out mails with a content like

"You're accused of offering 0 forbidden Nazi-propagandistic games for download on your page. Please remove them immediately or we're forced to take legal action against you."

I DO like automated form-mailers! :lol
That's the government's 'Babelfish'!! :lol

"No keyboard attached to your computer found. Press F1 to continue." :D

If one is scolded for offering 0 songs for illegal download, this begs the question of just how many songs you have to offer for download in order to be legal, doesn't it? ;)

BAHAHAHAHAHAH

The RIAA is a fucking joke :D. This is an excellent example of how STUPID their system is. They programmed a bunch of idiotic bots that can't do their job right, just like the IDSA

<guess>
Are *you* a mathematician?
</guess>
Seriously, that's a typically mathematician's answer style. ;)

Two mathematicians watching a building:
Math. #1: "Hmm ... OK, 3 people were entering the building one hour ago. Now there's 3 in the building ... but look! 4 are leaving the building now!
Math. #2: Yeah, I see it. Now 1 has to enter the building, so that there's nobody inside anymore.
:lol

Is it possible to sue the RIAA for defamation? They have alledged that amigascne.org and it's owner have broken the law, when they clearly haven't. An open and shut case of defamation if ever there was one.... What makes it worse, is that this defamation has been disseminated around the world, and causing material loss (time spent sorting it out).

SUE THEIR ASSES!

No, actually I'm a computer programmer (since the days of 80 column punch cards). There is a certain warped similarity though between the mindsets of mathematicians and programmers, I think.

BTW, there is an old definition of the term "Programmer" that I've always been fond of that springs to mind:

Programmer: A red-eyed mumbling mammal, capable of communicating with inanimate objects.

And to think that before computers came along, they used to put people who exhibited that sort of behavior in white jackets with long sleeves that tie in the back. Just another example of how machines have improved the human condition. :laughing

I always liked the paper tape myself, remember the magnetic drums :cheese

That is a good one :lol

Ah yes, there coming to take me away ha, ha.
There coming to take me away he, he.
To the funny farm, where life is beautiful all the time and there coming to take me away ha, ha :laughing

I remember creating paper tapes offline on the old KSR-33 teletypes to type in my programs when I was in school, then we'd use the paper tape reader to transmit them when we got online - typos, corrections and all. Slow but it worked. And I remember the big disk pack drums that you had to mount on a washing machine size drive. Wow - 300 megs! Who'd EVER need more than THAT! My how times change, sometimes even for the better.


Wow! Not only did you recognize my own obscure reference, but you matched it with an equally obscure reference of your own (which I also recognize). I'm impressed! :laughing

In the USAF we trained on older Harris and DEC machines, remember the PDP-11 ;)


Yes well I still have the original volume one of Dr. Demento on vinyl :lol

I never used either of those machines - I learned to program on a Burroughs B5500 that we dialed into from a teletype. The modem connected us at a blazing 110 baud, and was an acoustic coupler type. You had to dial the number by hand on a regular telephone, then place the handset in a padded recess in a large box that picked up the sounds from the earpiece. You closed the lid to cut down on it picking up other noises. There were 12 of us that had to share the one connection, and whenever one person was reluctant to disconnect when they were supposed to so that the next person could get their turn, a few of us would begin to whistle loudly - The modem would pick up the whistling and get confused, begin typing garbage, and then break the connection.

Small world! I don't have the original, but I do have Dementia Royale on vinyl not 10 feet from where I'm sitting now. Gotta love the classics such as "Shaving Cream" and "Frosty the Dope Man", eh? :laughing

You can't sue them as long as they act in "good faith". Only if they sent out this threat knowingly based on false facts, they're responsible for any harm done. Take this example:
RIAA sends out false legal threat. Site owner, knowing it's bullshit, itgnores it. RIAA, not receiving any reaction, gets ISP to take 'offending' site down. Webmaster loses business, has to go through a lot of hassle to get back up again (not to mention the damaged reputation). He can't sue the RIAA, though, because then, he'd have to prove they knew what they claimed was wrong before they sent out the notice. How is anyone supposed to prove that? Dumb laws!

They proved it by addmiting that he had zero files that they could take action on... ergo, sue!

No, they said he offers approximately 0 illegal files. 1 is approximately 0, too ;) Besides, in this case, every court in the world would assume the first 'threat' was a mistake since it didn't really make any sense... :rolleyes

DR DEMENTO!!!
 

Wow! I have been looking for Dr Demento albums for ages! Could you be so kind as to list some album names to help me on my search :cheese

Obviously Dementia Royale is one :cheese

Im so excited :cheese

Is Funny Farm Dr Demento? I have that (well dad does) on a various record.

Dr. Demento is actually more of a "Master of Ceremonies" presiding over the presentation of the bizarre/absurd via his radio show than he is a performer, though "Shaving Cream" is an exception where he does actually perform (on Dementia Royale).

As for "Funny Farm", the actual title of the song is "They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" by the immortal Napoleon XIV.

If you're really interested in finding Dr. Demento stuff, I'd suggest you check out:

http://www.drdemento.com

You'll probably find more Dr. Demento related stuff there than you could even imagine, though the bits that are for sale seem awfully pricey to me.

A discography of Dr. Demento can also be found at:

http://mypage.iu.edu/~jbmorris/FAQ/demento.disco.html

Yep on all of that. For purists, the hit version of "Shaving Cream" from the 70's was by Benny Bell and is just hilarious.

If you are usenet savvy, alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.comedy gets more Dr. Demento files posted than you'll ever find the time to listen to. I believe they are rips from his weekly radio show, which has existed for decades, so don't even think about completing any collections or anything ridiculous like that. I worked at a radio station before that let me have their entire backlog of Dr. Demento radios shows (on 12" vinyl). I probably still have them somewhere (circa early 80's) if I didn't sell them already. There was a couple of other radio comedy shows that featured a host playing bits (Dick Cavett hosted such a show, plus someone else whom I've forgotten) that was pretty good stuff; I have a lot of that stuff, but I'd need a bonus life if I was ever to consider ripping the stuff to mpeg. I'll end up unloading it all on ebay one day and whatever fanatic buys it will surely dump it all to mpeg for "preservation".

Speaking of radio comedy shows, there was one that was fairly short-lived that I would LOVE to find recordings of somewhere. Around 1974 or 1975, there was a radio show called "The National Lampoon Comedy Hour", which of course was only a half hour in length. The stars of the show were a bunch of writers from National Lampoon at a time when it was still funny who had yet to hit the big time. Of course within a few more years the names Belushi, Akroyd, Radner, Murray and the rest would be well known, but I think some of their absolutely funniest stuff was done on radio. There was one bit in particular from a Christmas show with Bill Murray as an evil department store Santa, and Gilda Radner as a sweet little girl sitting on his lap telling him what she wanted for Christmas that still leaves me in stitches even though I haven't heard it in over a quarter of a century. If you ever see anything from that show available anywhere, do yourself a favor and check it out. Better yet, do me a favor and tell me where you found it. ;)

Oops! Methinks it possible that we may have strayed just a bit off topic, so in order to somewhat validate this, let me add that insofar as I can tell those shows are most likely still under copyright. I therefore suspect that the RIAA may be sending out notices soon to various webmasters to inform them that it has come to their attention that "0 of these files are available for download on your site". :laughing :laughing

Yeah, I was noticing our off-topic swing, but since I am having a very depressed weekend, I decided to exploit my condition and indulge.

I was gonna mention TNLRH in my last post, since at a different radio station I worked at, I took home a pile of those, as well (these even came in formal album jackets!). They were re-issues of the original show, but the content was all there. I don't remember if I ever got the entire series or even if I still have them, but I thought I'd heard this set has been made available on CD commercially. Either way, this collection is yet another staple of the aforementioned comedy.mp3 newsgroup (which the RIAA seems powerless to stop...OK, this addendum is now officially on topic!).

EDIT: Fixed my THLRH to TNLRH. LOL!

And now for something completly different!
 

T H E L A R C H

:lol