Pirate Party UK
From the Pirate Party UK website, (via an anonymous comment):
"The Pirate Party of the United Kingdom is an, as yet, unregistered single-issue political party in the United Kingdom. We seek to gain reform for the following principles for the benefit of citizens."
Twittered
Most of us, if not all, are familiar with the concept of the 'one hit wonder.' In the music business, it's a band, or singer, that is famous for only a single success. This concept also carries over to blogs (see One Post Wonder, a blog about blogs that have one post) and to media and celeb darling: Twitter.
According to Conversation Starter, an HBS blog, a random sample of 300,000 Twitter users (greater than the population of the island of Barbados) revealed that:
Men have 15% more followers than women
An average man is almost twice more likely to follow another man than a woman.
An average woman is 25% more likely to follow a man than a woman.
An average man is 40% more likely to be followed by another man than by a woman.
Most importantly, the analysis carried out by Heil and Piskorski (2009) revealed that the top 10% of Twitter users accounted for over 90% of tweets. The title of their post on Conversation Starter says it all: Men follow Men and Nobody Tweets.
Tweeting torrents
More Twitter-ness. Now you can share your favourite torrents with the rest of the world. According to the TorrentTwitter website:
"TorrentTwitter is a micro-blogging service that allows people to share their favorite torrents with their friends, families and fans. More cool torrents that they share, more popular they become."
Remember folks, sharing (seeding) is caring. Enjoy.
"Together we have changed the landscape of European politics," Pirate Party leader Rick Falkvinge told file-sharing news Web site TorrentFreak after the win.
"The citizens have understood it's time to make a difference."
"The Pirate Party is seen a serious competitor in Swedish politics now, a fact underscored by the Prime Minister who said that his own party will formulate a clear policy regarding net integrity and copyright issues in preparation for the Swedish national elections in September 2010."
"The Pirate Party wants to fundamentally reform copyright law, get rid of the patent system, and ensure that citizens' rights to privacy are respected. With this agenda, and only this, we are making a bid for representation in the European and Swedish parliaments.
Not only do we think these are worthwhile goals. We also believe they are realistically achievable on a European basis. The sentiments that led to the formation of the Pirate Party in Sweden are present throughout Europe. There are already similar political initiatives under way in several other member states. Together, we will be able to set a new course for a Europe that is currently heading in a very dangerous direction."
Governments, politicians, big media and others, like it or not: The Information Age is here, and has been for quite some time. Ignore it at your own peril.
Pirates always win
Not that I am advocating piracy in any form or fashion, but Charles Dunstone, head honcho of UK-based mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse, gets it:
"If you try speed humps or disconnections for peer-to-peer, people will simply either disguise their traffic or share the content another way. It is a game of Tom and Jerry and you will never catch the mouse. The mouse always wins in this battle and we need to be careful that politicians do not get talked into putting legislation in place that, in the end, ends up looking stupid."
2009 Hurricane season
Today, June 1st, marks the start of the 2009 hurricane season. Right on cue, Mother Nature appears to have given Barbadians, at least those who live in my neck of the woods, a hint, nay, a preview of what is to come: grey, brooding skies, accompanied off and on, by thunder showers.
Free goat with new Mitsubishi
Mitsubishi New Zealand is offering a free goat with every new Mitsubishi Triton purchased before August.
Somehow, I really don't see the local agents for Mitsubish in Barbados offering the equivalent, i.e., a black-belly sheep, or anything similar like a chicken, or pig.
A comment from a Digg user, where I originally read about the goat giveaway:
jorisb: If the goat breaks, is there any kind of warranty on it?
Pull! Push! Your not-so-daily dose of news, lolcats and personal opinion from the dark side of the Moon.
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