b. medusa 29 May 2007 12:03:23 pm
U.S. High-Speed Internet Is Slow
From Canada IFP, May 23, 2007
According to statistics provided by CWA 80 percent of households in Japan can connect to a fiber network at a speed of 100 megabits per second. This is 30 times the average speed of a US cable modem or DSL connection, at roughly the same cost (emphasis mine – b. medusa).
Cohen pointed out that the average upload speed was in the US was only 371 kilobits per second, not nearly enough to send quality medical information over the Internet. full article
feeling ganked yet? wait, there’s more:
The FCC is on the verge of turning over a large chunk of the public airwaves to the same giant phone and cable companies that control high-speed Internet access for more than 96 percent of connected American homes…Don’t let the FCC give away our wireless Internet to these price-gouging giants. The FCC deadline is fast approaching. Act now:
Tell the FCC: Use Our Airwaves for the Public Good
do it!
b. medusa 29 May 2007 10:14:34 am
from brownfemipower:
As you all may know, Women of Color Blog (brownfemipower.com) is currently directing readers and supporters to the blogs (and pay pal buttons) of some really great feminists of color media makers. These amazing women are raising money so that they can attend the Allied Media Conference being held in Detroit on June 22-24th. While there, they will have the opportunity to participate in the women of color track that is being sponsored by Incite! Women of Color Against Violence.
I strongly encourage you to dig a little into your piggy banks, sofas and sock drawers-cash in your pop bottles, pick up pennies off the sidewalk-and donate it to one of the amazing bloggers on this list. You will be helping to support ground breaking and necessary feminist action-ending violence against women of color and their communities in all it’s manifestations through the use of media technology.
To get more information and see a list of the bloggers who are accepting donations, please visit: http://brownfemipower.com/?p=1440.
b. medusa 16 May 2007 11:18:26 pm
from the freepress.net listserve:
Greetings,
Internet music may soon fall silent.
A new rule concerning a massive increase in fees paid by Internet radio webcasters could force thousands of independent and noncommercial Internet radio operators off the Web. The ruling will go into effect on July 15 unless we act now and urge Congress to rescue Internet radio:
Rescue Internet Radio: Take Action Now
After intense lobbying from the recording industry, the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) ignored a massive public outcry and ruled to dramatically increase the rates webcasters must pay every time they stream a song.
These draconian rules will shut down many noncommercial and independent Internet radio outlets, leaving the Web with the same cookie-cutter music formats that have destroyed commercial broadcast radio.
Independent musicians, independent labels, webcasters, media reformers and thousands of Internet radio listeners have joined forces with members of Congress to reverse this bad decision. The bipartisan “Internet Radio Equality Act of 2007″ has been introduced in the House by Reps. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) and Donald Manzullo (R-Ill.) and in the Senate by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Sam Brownback (R-Kan.). The legislation would reverse the CRB decision in favor of a balanced structure that supports artists without putting webcasters out of business.
Rescue Internet Radio: Support the Internet Radio Equality Act
Musicians must be compensated for their work. But the new regulations would silence many outlets that play independent artists and musical genres that just can’t be found on the radio dial. And nonprofit NPR, Pacifica and community radio stations would be forced to take down most of their online musical programming for fear of unmanageable royalty fees.
The bills introduced in the House and Senate would allow artists and musicians to thrive on Internet radio. Help pass the “Internet Radio Equality Act of 2007″ by telling all your friends to take action now:
Tell Your Friends to Help Rescue Internet Radio
Industry-wide consolidation has destroyed musical diversity on commercial broadcast radio. We must not let this happen to the Internet.
Onward,
Frannie Wellings
Associate Policy Director
Free Press
www.freepress.net
i remember when fm radio was full of the innovative music you can only find online now. it would be a shame to see online radio become as useless as broadcast. so even though i think congress is all asshats all the time, in this case i’m going to put my distaste aside to try to save internet radio. i hope you do too.
b. medusa 16 May 2007 2:29:17 am
and being the irreverent bitch that i am, i’d have no problem saying, “ding, dong, the witch is dead!”
if it didn’t denigrate witches.
b. medusa 8 May 2007 5:35:30 pm
“can you relate? we livin’ in a police state.” Dead Prez
Parents who fight back against racial injustice often become targets for local police. Last month, 7-year-old Gerard Mungo, Jr. was arrested in East Baltimore for sitting on a motorized dirt bike in front of his home, with the engine off….Less than two weeks later, Gerard’s mom, Lakisa Dinkins, was arrested under dubious circumstances. Gerard told reporters as he waited for her release, “They took my mama because I was on TV.” The boy is too young to understand that his mother was targeted for defending his rights. She had the audacity to ask for the arresting officer’s supervisor to approve of the arrest (he did). And just hours before her own arrest, 100 activists had staged a protest against the boy’s arrest outside her home. That same afternoon, police broke down the door of Dinkins’ sister’s home, allegedly searching for “a drug suspect.” No drugs were found, but police nevertheless gathered all 11 family members into the living room for further interrogation. Apparently, one of the officers recognized Gerard’s mother. She heard him tell his supervisor ‘I have the woman whose 7-year-old was arrested for sitting on the bike,’” she said. “Then they arrested me.”
Dinkins was not charged with a crime. Such tactics are designed to intimate activists, yet they seem to have had the opposite effect in this case. – from ‘The Rights of Children in America’ by Sharon Smith, Counterpunch, April 25, 2007
i’ve been meaning to post about this, because it shocked me & i’m not easily shocked by the actions of the police anymore. this little boy was handcuffed, had mug shots taken & was questioned. i understand that dirt bikes are illegal in baltimore city, god knows i get sick of hearing, seeing & watching out so as not to hit them. i have a scooter that i ride for short trips/small errands to save putting gas in the car, & i hate the thought i might be regarded as a menace to society like the dirt bikers. but this was a 7-year-old CHILD, under no circumstances are the actions the police took excusable behavior to me.
b. medusa 3 May 2007 11:46:59 am
the newest member of the b. medusa-jahhannibal clan…
Continue Reading »
b. medusa 2 May 2007 7:34:09 am
Have you ever wanted the chance to turn Rapunzel into a national football hero? Hercules into a world-class jazzercizer? Make Bert and Ernie their very own queen-size bed that they actually get to sleep in together? Now’s your chance! Let the synthesis of your feminist sensibilities and all the fairy tales that have hurt your feelings bring your imagination and creativity to a whole new level. Come hang out with other boys who always wanted to be the Little Mermaid, women who engineer dare-devil rollercoasters, and everyone in between. Jacinta Bunnell, co-creator of the Girls Not Chicks and Girls Will Be Boys Will Be Girls Will Be helps the children-at-heart of Baltimore make their very own radical coloring books! More info…
b. medusa 2 May 2007 7:29:31 am
From the Lacandon jungle of Chiapas to the streets of insurgent Oaxaca, from the killing fields of the war on drugs to the heights of the new Latin American popular insurgency, Al Giordano and Narco News has for the past seven years been the most consistently dead-on sources of information about developments south of the U.S. border. Combining journalistic integrity with a commitment to justice, Narco News has been an essential tool for anyone wanting to break through the corporate media’s veil of ignorance and disinformation regarding Latin America. On his first U.S. tour in ten years, founder and editor Al Giordano will be offering his perspective on authentic journalism and recent developments in Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America. More info…
b. medusa 2 May 2007 7:04:17 am
Free Preview Screening!! We’re happy to invite all of you to a free advance screening of the new film, THE HIP HOP PROJECT, which opens in theaters on May 11. We haven’t seen the film yet, but here’s what we’ve heard: ” The Hip Hop Project is the compelling story of Kazi, a formerly homeless teenager who inspired a group of New York City teens to transform their life stories into powerful works of art, using hip hop as a vehicle for self-development and personal discovery.” Come on by 2640 for one of several free screenings of this new project throughout Baltimore! More info…
b. medusa 2 May 2007 6:57:28 am
Following up where John Perkins’ Confessions Of An Economic Hit Man left off, A Game As Old As Empire collects more exposes and insider accounts of the real machinations of international development finance. We’ll be joined at Red Emma’s by contributor Steve Berkman, a former World Bank staffer who blows the whistle on billion-dollar corruption endemic in loan dispersement in the Global South. More info…
