The websites targeted by the campaign include the biggest torrent pages and file-hosting search engines, like ExtraTorrent, Torrentz, TorrentReactor.The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is also threatening to ask courts to block US-based music streaming group Grooveshark.While most of the torrent sites currently set to be blocked for copyright infringement are small operations, Grooveshark is an exception as a larger company that has been battling the majors in particular for some time now, Musicweek noted.“It looks like we could be facing an onslaught of web blackouts here in the UK,” the leader of the UK Pirate Party Loz Kaye told RT. “What we’ve seen from 2012 is that it hasn’t helped with music sales at all, that actually album sales failed 10 per cent.”Loz Kaye is also sure the record companies will eventually face their plight if they don’t change their policies.“Essentially, this is about the record labels trying to remain gatekeepers and actually push other companies out. But this approach will not work! It’s going to alienate a generation of music lovers, and it’s going to perhaps radicalize internet users.”However, the BPI told RT in an online statement that their only intention is to protect the artists’ and legal services’ rights. They also confirmed that the music licensing group PPL has begun polling its members on licensing content for particular websites.“We’re not really doing any interviews about this. I can say, though, that it’s correct PPL has asked its members to confirm to us if they’ve licensed their recorded music to particular websites. This is part of our ongoing work to ensure that legal music services can flourish and that artists and labels are rewarded for their work,” a representative of the British trade body said in an email to RT. Now, it seems the BPI is starting the biggest anti-piracy initiative yet.“Over the past years, UK music labels have innovated to build one of the most vibrant digital music sectors in the world. However, the growth of digital music in the UK is held back by a raft of illegal businesses commercially exploiting music without a license from the copyright holders,” the group indicated in their official statement. In the latest successful court initiative, the BPI blocked three torrent sites (KickAssTorrents, H33T and Fenopy) three months ago. It happened after almost a year ago, an unknown official from the music industry told the TorrentFreak website that PPL had started polling its members on the matter of privacy. … Read More
New volume of Fidel Castro memoirs to be published
Former president Fidel Castro will be the subject of a new volume of memoirs about his life as a Cuban revolutionary, the country’s larger-than-life leader and a longtime nemesis of the United States. In the twilight of his life, the latest tome about Castro will be written by Katiuska…
Surviving Job Loss
Losing your job can certainly feel like the end of the world, but sometimes it is the beginning of a new and better world. For a person who lives a prepared lifestyle, it can be a bump in the road instead of an all-out catastrophe … Read More
EPA finds higher-than-expected levels of toxic chemical in air and water near Superfund site
The Environmental Protection Agency says that an area larger than previously thought has been affected by the toxic chemical TCE at an underground Superfund site and has been “leeching into the air” in two specific spots, reported NBC Bay Area. The area, located in Moffet Field and…
Venezuela releases first photos of Chavez in hospital
Venezuela on Friday released the first photos of President Hugo Chavez since he underwent his fourth round of cancer surgery in Havana back in December. The shots gave Venezuelans living in a state of limbo without their once media-happy and larger than life commandante a first glimpse of him as he…
Ed Koch, iconic NYC mayor, dies at 88
NEW YORK (AP) — Former Mayor Ed Koch, the combative, acid-tongued politician who rescued the city from near-financial ruin during a three-term City Hall run in which he embodied New York chutzpah for the rest of the world, died Friday. He was 88.
Koch died at 2 a.m., spokesman George Arzt said. The funeral will be Monday at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan.
After leaving City Hall in January 1990, Koch battled assorted health problems and heart disease.
The larger-than-life Koch, who breezed through the streets of New York flashing his signature thumbs-up sign, won a national reputation with his feisty style. “How’m I doing?” was his trademark question to constituents, although the answer mattered little to Koch. The mayor always thought he was doing wonderfully.
Bald and bombastic, paunchy and pretentious, the city’s 105th mayor was quick with a friendly quip and equally fast with a cutting remark for his political enemies.
“You punch me, I punch back,” Koch once memorably observed. “I do not believe it’s good for one’s self-respect to be a punching bag.”
The mayor dismissed his critics as “wackos,” waged verbal war with developer Donald Trump (“piggy”) and mayoral successor Rudolph Giuliani (“nasty man”), lambasted the Rev. Jesse Jackson, and once reduced the head of the City Council to tears.
The BuzzFeed Inaugural Guide To Hometown Washington
If you're coming to DC for the inauguration, forget what you think you know about the nation's Capitol.
WASHINGTON — So you’re coming to DC for President Barack Obama's second inauguration. You've got your warm mittens, your map of the relevant museums and historical sites and enough cash to get back and forth your hotel and the National Mall or Georgetown.
After all, that's the only place you'd want to go since the rest of the city is a wasteland of boring Anne Taylor pants suits or crack addled zombies murdering their way through the day, right?
Not so! Regardless of what certain people may have you believe, Washington is a wonderful, vibrant city full of great food, music, people, and more history than you can shake an upper east side ego at. Trust me, I'd know. This is my hometown.
So forget Ben's Chili Bowl (which is delicious) and Café Milano (which is not), forget the Lincoln Memorial and the Kennedy Center, and come see what Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton lovingly refers to as “Hometown Washington.”
Eat Breakfast Like A Gangster
Via: floridagirlindc.blogspot.com
Florida Ave Grill
1100 Florida Avenue NW Washington, DC 20009
(202) 265-1586
http://floridaavenuegrill.com/index.html
Before there was Avon Barksdale and the crew from The Wire, there was Rayful Edmund.
For Washingtonians who grew up in the region in the 1980s, Edmund continues to be a mythical, larger-than-life figure. In the minds of many residents, Edmund is equal parts ruthless gangster, pop icon, drug dealer, and Robin Hood-type hero.
As the old families who controlled the drug trade in Washington began to collapse, Edmund and his crew stepped in, flooding the streets with cheap crack and cheaper bullets.
According to legend, Edmund would regularly hold court at the Florida Ave. Grill, located just a few blocks off the historic U St. corridor.
Established in 1944, the Florida Ave Grill is one of the best soul food joints in D.C., and it’s a perfect spot to fill up before heading down to the mall for the festivities — or get over that banging post-inaugural hangover.
Catch A Show At The 930 Club
930 Club
815 V Street NW Washington, DC 20001
(202) 265-0930
www.930.com
The 930 club is a legendary institution in Washington. Originally located at 930 F St. NW — now home to a criminally sited J Crew store — the club was one of the homes for Washington’s hardcore punk scene in the 1980s. Minor Threat, Bad Brains, Government Issue, Scream and other influential acts cut their teeth in the clostrophobic former gentlemen’s club, as hundreds of sweaty, angry, awkward teens danced and drank away their aggressions.
In 1996, the club moved into another local punk rock venue, the WUST Radio Music Hall.
And while the 930 doesn’t normally put on hardcore shows in its new home on V St. in the U St. Shaw area, they’ve become one of the best music venues in the world with top bands playing almost nightly.
An added bonus for inaugural weekend? Thievery Corporation, one of Washington’s most successful musical acts ever, will be wrapping up a three-night run at the club Saturday.
Via: welovedc.com
