Archive for » October, 2009 «

Dead Men Tell No Tales
23
October
ravakk

One of the liberties that pirates hold in the highest regard is that of the Pirate Creed. Among the order of the creed are listed the founding principles that every pirate agrees to abide. And number nine is, Dead Men Tell No Tales. In a coconut shell, this means that any and all information regarding your activities within the creed are not ever discussed outside the creed. This pertains to the more obvious and somewhat ambient surroundings of one’s life such as personal family members and friends, to the not so obvious associations a pirate may have at other……ports-of-call (tracker sites). One does not…carry on…in an off-the-cuff banter about their activities within the pirate community around their dinner table, or at social gatherings. It is improper form and could land potentially dangerous attention, from avenues of horrible opportunity one least expects. Information travels from person to person until it eventually lands on the…..wrong person. Likewise information experienced at one tracker, should never be loosely divulged at another tracker. That is so totally against the way pirates operate. The advantage comes from being “in the know”, and your enemy NOT being in the know. The more you read and listen the more you know and the stronger you become, the more you talk and type, the weaker you become, and the stronger thy enemy. Fate always has a way of dealing it’s hand, and if you are in debt, you’ll be forced to pay up…..

“…..pay up mate it’s late and I can’t run the inn just round the clock can I?” the bartender barked at the first mate who had been drinking for three hours now. Oct 1677 on the East Jamaican coastal town of Morant Bay the captain of the pirate brigantine known as Mintz had recently come into possession of a map disclosing the location of a sunken sloop that was rumored to have held the entire wealth of a convoy that was lost at sea earlier that spring. He informed his men of his discovery and that they would be needing their best divers to locate the wreckage and initiate a haul up to the Mintz. “Yeassh yeasssh whatever, be a good lassy and pour old Bisby another lil shot would ya?” Bisby slurred as he twirled his cup around his finger. “I got a big day tom….tomo…tomorrow and I need me head cleared by good rum.” “Oh really?” inquired the barmaid, “A big day swabbing decks have ye?” she asked. “Aye nay, I’ll be diving to depths no one in thish room would believe, best left to the qualified don’t ya see?”

Even the most innocent of conversations about your activities outside the realm they belong, can trigger interest from parties that have no business….in your business. This creates a security risk to you and those in your creed. It can be a practiced art for those who know themselves and know their tongue can be loose, to focus on keeping information withing the circles. Information you believe is so insignificant, and so indirect, can actually clue the educated over hearer and they can fill in the blanks for the full story. As in our story, Bisby hasn’t mentioned anything about maps and treasure, but indirectly he has mentioned something. Information should not be mentioned at all. In Bisby’s case, his ramblings are overheard by the two crew members in the corner from the pirate galleon known as PaleMist. Oh, have I not yet told you about those guys…..

“…guys….you need another round?” asked the barmaid. “Yes, yes we do and uh…..how about a round for our friend over there you were talking to.” said the PaleMist crewmen. “And when you deliver it, send ‘em on over would ya?”.

You ever met someone who was extremely friendly to you, and you shared stories and secrets, and…..invites. Then later they seemed kinda distant to you. Not unfriendly but, not close either, just enough to make you feel used….poor Bisby.

Near midnight October 14, 1677 in the Colonado Cove in North Jamaica the galleon PaleMist slipped undetected within boarding range of the Mintz and her tired wary crew who had been busy with diving maneuvers all day. The boarding party had easy work with half the crew tired and asleep and the other half drunk. The entire Mintz crew was killed within five minutes, except for Bisby. When the crew came upon him two of the PaleMist pirates identified him as the idiot informant master diver. They shackled Bisby wrist and ankle and told him to come up once he found the wreckage, and pushed him overboard. At this point, NOW Bisby has proper pirate creed. Dead men tell no tales……..

-Alysen Ravakkdottir

Bisby

Category: BitTorrent, Filesharing, The Pirate Society  One Comment
Flying Dutchman (riders on the storm)
20
October
ravakk

Willem Decken was renown for his seamanship and his comprehension of wind, energy, and drag. To the point that his ship was known to most seaworthy ear as being easily the fastest vessel on the sea. The only thing that travelled across the ocean faster, was a bird. A 350 ton Brigantine with triple mast centered and balanced, with twelve square mains and nine lateens. in 1676 he left Terneuzen Netherlands headed to a port in the East Indies for trade. But at the Good Hope cape, two low pressure centers collided producing near hurricane conditions. This would delay Willem horribly and bring his record breaking trip to only average timing. Willem’s first mate was a practical christian man whom everyone loved. He had brought his bible out on the deck to ask his god for passage through the storm. But the storm intensified and the first mate was forced to have to recommend to Willem that they pull back and wait the storm out. Willem’s anger was increasing as he reasoned within himself that he would not make the East Indies on schedule, and there was nothing he could do about it. His rage was building, and he was literally fighting two storms.

It seems that one thing that separates pirates from the rest of civilization is that when pressed into a stressful situation, pirates always have the upper hand in regards to keeping a calm open mind. This was, and is, due largely to the fact that any situation involving a pirate, usually the adversary exists because they were told to be there. By a government or a superior. The pirate on the other hand is there because he wanted to be there. The difference in attitude right out of the gate sets the stage for what always unfolds next. Pirates love danger but they know when it is appropriate to avoid such. A pirate, as such, must always think in the mindset of a team. He must always consider how every action he makes will effect his mates. When selfishness and ego are allowed to guide the helm, the ship is sailing into troubled waters…..

Decken

“…sailing into troubled waters captain, I really think we should call hard to port and veer around the peninsula”. advised the first mate. Williem’s head snapped around so hard it slung water all the way to the mooring lines and as he moved to close the distance between himself and the first mate, his voice rose in anger almost to the point his words were unintelligible “The only thing more annoying than the weather telling me where and how to go…” as he grabed the shoulder and sleeve of the first mate and started to force him with great might to the rail “…is a first mate who has an ear for the wind”…ranted Willem so full of rage he was literally spitting as the men scuffled against the side railing. “Yet has no ear for his captain” and with that Willem managed to lift the first mate at an angle and unbalance him enough that he toppled over the edge, much to the crew’s disbelief and shock. Looking down Willem’s mind was racing with what would be his first words to his crew, and he noticed the first mate’s bible laying across his boot. He reached down and picked it up, rage boiling at it’s absolute peak as he threw the bible overboard into the wind “and you can tell your god I’ll sail till judgement day if that is how long this storm lasts”. As the bible, spinning through the air, discharging pages here and there, disappeared into the mist Willem turned to give the crew his new command. A new idea he had, to ride into the center of the storm on the trailing edge of the starboard cyclone with full sails rigged. But when Willem turned around, he discovered……the storms were gone…and so was the crew…

When pursuit of your own personal goals cost people their pride, liberty, or beliefs, you will inevitably find the limitations of your own humanity, even if it is totally…..at your expense. And the price you pay won’t always be obvious, or immediate. For a crew indefinitely in route to the East Indies, it is said their faith was misguided within their captain. They believed in someone…who only believed in himself

-Alysen Ravakkdottir

Category: Abstract, BitTorrent, The Pirate Society  Leave a Comment
Rambling thoughts about Machine Learning, Quantum Computing and the Singularity.
18
October
McHoodlum

Earlier this week, physicists Lev Levitin and Tommaso Toffoli at the Boston University of Massachusetts put a fundamental limit on the speed at which quantum computers could process information. In their paper, published in the Physical Review Letters journal, they proposed an equation for the minimum sliver of time it takes for a quantum operation to occur. From this, they concluded that “for every unit of energy, a perfect quantum computer spits out ten quadrillion more operations each second than today’s fastest processors.”. This got me thinking about machine learning and the singularity.

Often in film and literature, the singularity brings about the destruction of the human race. To quote The Animatrix: The Second Renaissance;

“In the beginning, there was man. And for a time, it was good. But humanity’s so-called civil societies soon fell victim to vanity and corruption. Then man made the machine in his own likeness. Thus did man become the architect of his own demise”.

The time in which this revelation occurs is often over many decades, and I feel this is a gross unjust to the power of a technological singularity. If a technological singularity, or the recently coined “Quantum singularity” were to come about, a machine that was sentient, and able to improve upon itself, we could effectively class Moore’s Law as a relic of an inferior and primitive past. The exponential curve in technological advancement would be unfathomable, and rather than a machine taking decades to learn, I foresee a quantum computer, able to reach a mere fraction of it’s fundamental limit, breaking this stigma into a matter of days, or hours. Whether this will have a good outcome, or it decides to call itself VIKI or Skynet our of sheer irony, has yet to be foreseen.

The theoretical physicist Michio Kaku is a fanatic in the promotion of the Kardashev scale, commonly referred to as the three levels of civilization (Type I, Type II and Type III). Humans don’t register on this scale, we are a meager type 0. If a singularity were to come about, and a machine was able to reason and learn, who’s to say it wouldn’t be utterly disgusted, albeit a human emotion, at a race calling itself advanced yet continually destroying both the planet, and each other? And short of coercion through simply “hacking”, why would such a system willingly help and divulge knowledge that could potentially fuel our own destructive nature? The equivalent of giving ants fire, or more accurately, an atomic bomb. Would it first teach humans compassion, or will it itself be the next stage in human evolution and intelligence? This is the same reasoning given for why, if there is such an advanced series of civilizations out they who may be aware of our existence, have never come to Earth giving us their technology, and rightfully so.

The terminator scenario comes to mind. Machines endowed with the essence of man, carrying a deep seeded malevolence for an inferior species. Juxtaposed with the great advancements such an event could bring- Medical research; Solving ever increasing and complex physics problems; Mind uploading; Advanced prosthetics; Augmented and virtual reality; Nuclear fusion; Almost perfectly efficient systems; Dyson Rings/Spheres; Transportation; New, awe inspiring methods of data transfer; The advancement of fields still in their infancy, such as teleportation, and ultimately a definitive theory for everything, currently the most prolific being string theory. The possibilities of such an event are unfathomable. Limitless. It would pave the way for a new way of life, something only a fraction of has been expressed through film and literature.

An event like this would almost guarantee a population split. Conservative opinion over artificial life not being life at all, as opposed to AI apologists who believe a life, no matter how it was created, or its inability to fit contemporary terms, still being life. A term with no uniform meaning, argued both philosophically and scientifically. If the authorities on such matters cannot agree on a definitive definition, who’s to say that an artificial life that arguably has more sentience and sense of self than any animal, or human, shouldn’t be treated like one of us?

Would an infinitely smart system mirror that of The Borg? A system that has only one sense of self working as a single whole, coming to one ultimate conclusion, or would experience and interaction bring about different ideology’s and emotions like a child is molded into an adult through life experience. I often think that an infinitely smart being wouldn’t hold a need for such emotions as jealousy or a murderous nature, but if the latter is true, would we see an uprising of ever prominent and dangerous machines that have fundamental disagreements with the human race as a species fit to live?

Many theories revolve around the fact that an artificial intelligent life wouldn’t have a need for love or compassion as it didn’t evolve in a such a way, through evolutionary reproduction. It is software. Software that could simply copy itself as it see’s fit, a primitive but efficient form of reproduction still prominent with simpler life-forms, but drives no diversity. This would mean the AI would be free from all emotion, but what would a driving force be for something without emotion? If this was to escalate, and it did have a driving force, who’s to say that it would be to eradicate human life rather than help?

These potential dangers have been somewhat addressed with an ever increasingly popular field termed “Friendly Artificial Intelligence” or FAI, promoted by The Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence (est. 2000). The goal of FAI is to develop AI that as opposed with the previous, ‘lifeless’ model, will be programmed to feel sympathetic towards humanity, and all life. This ideology should be inherent, and the desire to pass on the friendliness trait should be present throughout all offspring of. Others believe the idea to be less simple, and guaranteed Friendliness not being possible.

I think a more worrying scenario would be those guys who like tearing clocks apart, or turning their XBox’s into laptops, or PS3’s into George Foreman Grills. If personal AI comes about, we all know people are going to pick them apart to see how they tick, and make their own modifications as they see fit, which probably isn’t the smartest thing in the world to do. Goes without saying that governments will no doubt be interested in super soldiers who don’t sleep and are almost impervious to bullets, were already seeing warfare turn to the unmanned sector…

We do always have Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics:
A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First
A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with either the First or Second Law.
… That’s if they interpret the rules the way we want them to…

Category: Abstract, Concepts, Tech  Leave a Comment
Tracker Collecting…How much is too much?
17
October
spookmasterj

In the world of torrenting, is there such thing as registering for too many trackers? If so is there a good average number, rounded off to the nearest ten? Good question right? I thought so.

Tracker collecting can be bad on a several levels. One is the mere fact that private trackers are community based. How can you be a good member of that said community if you are also in forty-one more. I would say that the reality of being able to keep up with all of them would be near impossible. You are also taking up space.

Now I’m not saying that you shouldn’t try to join some great trackers, or some trackers specializing in you favorite hobbies and interests. I am saying, however, that you should refrain from joining every tracker out there just because they have open sign-ups. It doesn’t benefit anyone, especially the ones that are there to take part. Or the ones that are desperately wanting to get in.

Private torrent sites generally have a limited number of slots available. Whether the number is 100 or 10,000 users, if you’re one of those users, and you don’t intend to use your account, that is keeping someone else that may become a valued member from joining. Granted, you will eventually be pruned out on most trackers for inactivity, while you are there, you’re taking up space.

If you don’t really intend to make good use of the tracker you are joining, don’t join it. That’s why reviews are written, for everyone will have a good general idea of what to expect when expecting, on a particular site, so to speak.

So, to ask the question again. How much is too much?

Category: BitTorrent, Filesharing, The Pirate Society  One Comment
My New Seedbox
16
October
othersna

Those of you who are pros with seedboxes can stop reading now. I’m writing for those who are still thinking about getting one, or like me, are using their first. Let’s just say if you think puTTy is something that is used to stick one object to another, and that a tightVNC sounds like a kinky article of clothing, then this article is for you, baby. Although I was semi-knowledgeable about what a seedbox was and how one works, I felt I didn’t need one until recently. First, with my philosophy of “seed till you bleed,” I found I was maxing out my upload on my decent DSL connection (about 70 KB/s). I was forced to throttle down my upload speeds on some torrents when I was getting a snatch on a tracker where I really could use some buffer. Next, I found that downloading new, popular torrents on some of my trackers to get ratio was not as successful as I had hoped, since I was competing with other peers who had seedboxes.

So in my search for one, my criteria for the correct seedbox had to be affordable cost, good quality such as high speeds and adequate memory, and good service. As a new seedbox user and moderately active torrenter, I knew a dedicated server would be overkill and too expensive. On the other hand the shared (VPS) seedboxes out there were inexpensive, but had very low memory and limited bandwidth. As far as service goes, I had read stories of seedbox operators who are slow to respond to problems and even some users who were essentially scammed.

Then a miracle happened. The perfect seedbox opportunity came up. The good people at Savvyseed, a division of The Pirate Society, started a new seedbox line for rental which fit my needs. The seedboxes at Savvyseed are named after ships, and their previous ones had imposing names like “Brigatine,” or “Man-of-War.” The one I got is called the “Sloop.” For a very low price of $22/month, this VPS seedbox gave individual users 167 GB of hard drive space and 100 Mbs up and down speeds. By far this was the best deal on a seedbox I had seen anywhere. So I took the plunge and I’m now a proud “crew member” on a Sloop.

Now for a guy who has limited technical skills, using commands in Linux and operating a server remotely seemed really intimidating, but the Sloop has a great interface (a.k.a. Web UI) called ruTorrent. You log into it using a standard web browser and the UI looks just like the uTorrent you know and love, and is just as easy to use. Plus, learning how to transfer files from seedbox to home computer using an SFTP protocol with Filezilla is also a snap.

Now I had mentioned good service is a must. The guys at Savvy seed (all volunteers, mind you) hang out in the Savvyseed IRC channel and can be summoned within minutes to help you. Plus there is a whole seedbox section at the forum at TPS to read tutorials, ask questions/get help and get to know your fellow mates on the Sloop. Now how many seedbox operators can offer that?

So what’s life like with my first seedbox? I’m a member of a 0day tracker notoriously hard to seed at. The seedbox now puts me on a level playing field with the other members there and now I have a decent buffer and am working my way to power user. Or, how about downloading a multi-gigabyte file in a matter of minutes? Very nice. There’s also that side benefit of “security.” Let’s just say if an “undesirable” was in my torrent swarm and records the IP addresses. Well that someone is more than welcome to track that IP address to the country my seedbox resides in rather than to my home!

Category: BitTorrent, Filesharing, The Pirate Society  Leave a Comment
Reflections of Trackers Philosophies
15
October
ShalowFate

I have a strong belief that our work, whatever it is, and in whichever sense reflects our inner feelings… our inner self.

Introduction

Private trackers are in no way different. Let’s look at their specifics and examine the differences between them. This study is not being done to help you point out the BEST of the crop, because in reality my friends, there are no BEST and I’ll explain why.

First, let’s see what characterize a Private Tracker :
-Pre Times
-Pre Volume (This is not examined enough by everyone out there)
-Being Able to Access It
-Quality of Members
-Ratio Policies
-Leech Policies

Pre

Let’s examine PRE for a moment. Every private tracker has different types of access to different sources. It processes that access with different types of speeds and equipments. All this alchemy leads to two things : PRE time and PRE Volume.

So a release is Pred with a certain amount of speed. Let me explain why the most popular aspect of Private Trackers is, in fact, the least important.
No one is a robot, waiting for a release to happen to download it and test it immediately
Once a release is out there, you need to give it time to weed out any errors and nukes
What about if you are at work, getting it on with your girlfriend or at University/School ?

In all of the above examples, you will realize, of course, that Pre times of 1 sec or 4 hours don’t really matter and they are exactly the same for you. The only people that really care bout pre times are those who are hooked on RSS Feeds and SeedBoxes that want to race Releases. These people don’t really need the releases anyway, that’s another category that we will analyze later.

So what is important in a private tracker for you people ? Well, PRE Volume. At the end of the day, in front of my pc, I prefer to log into a tracker that lost all races, but got into ALL of them. Instead of a private tracker who won some races, but was left out of many. I hope you really get this point, as it is EXTREMELY important. You might be thinking, ok, so what if I can get BOTH. Well, NO, NO, and NO ! Because once you start giving importance to the second aspect, you’ll get sucked in the Hype once again.

Access

A Private Tracker must have a Policy, you can call it an AD policy. You’ll notice that MOST of the time, an access policy often reflects the ideology behind the tracker (some of them really hide their game though, read on). Private tracker who play the rarity card (no publicity, no open registrations, invites rarely handed out) will often gather elitist people gathered around Ratio races. Not necessarily quantity of release, but speeds. On the opposite side, an open tracker with no closed registration schemes will often lead you to a lot of community and quanity with no quality at all.

So ? What’s the point here ? The point is that you must go after the sweet spot. Private Trackers who understand that it is important to bring new blood, that the people out there, even not with the right connections, can be kind hearted and serious. These trackers will have more people than your average elitist tracker and thus, more seeds and more dynamics. You’ll be happier there.

The lesson here ? Go after the trackers that are hard to get in, but not that hard. What is hidden is not necessarily great ! Keep it in mind and try to avoid the marketing hype around everything you see. Water is still better than Wine, health wise, and Caviar, no matter how expensive it is, still disgust me taste wise.

Ratio and Leech Policies

You can now weed out any primal mistakes that will get you miserable and find the Tracker that aboyers the above restrictions. The main goal here is to make you happy with your private tracker. Happy people lead to more happy seeders and more investment from their part. That’s what we are after here.

Once you get in, you still have one last barrier. The ultimate reflection of a private tracker. The difference between one who puts a face out there to lure you in, and once you are in, it’s the same as the rest. And private trackers who are truly as honest and secretly open as they seem.

Let’s say I am your average person, who likes a thing or two for download, who follows 5 or 6 series per year and watches 7 movies a week. Along with your average 6 apps per week for personal work and 2 games a month to play.

If you fit into the above category, and unless you want to watch and use EVERYTHING that’s out there, then for you to be happy with your average usual private tracker, people have to download EXACTLY the same stuff as you and and in the SAME time. Otherwise your ratio will get down. Not only this, but some private trackers FORCE you to have a WAIT time. These wait times will not only make you WAIT for the stuff you want so dearly (anyone still thinking about pre time races here ?) but they make you GIVE UP on them. Because once your wait time is over, the seeds are already so high that you can’t download unless you want your ratio to take a hit (you won’t be able to give back what you took).

Ask you this very same question… What good does it do to you to have access to a TOP Private Tracker who have all the things you need if you can’t download anything just because you can’t bring your ratio up ? The answer is nothing !

Trackers that have such wait times and ratio enforcements often let you remove them with money.

Which brings us to the important part of this article. Piracy in this aspect is no longer involved with sharing, it becomes a monetary world where you have to pay to maintain a certain ratio status. Whether it is a SeedBox that you would need in those TOP PRE races sites or donations to weave out those wait times or gain some ratio. Money must be put on the table ! Don’t get me wrong, some people are ok with that, in fact, some people are specifically after that. Just like people don’t believe in open source free software, there are some out there who are after fame and rare trackers. If you are one of those people, then fine. This article is for those who aren’t and who will feel miserable following the general trend.

The lesson here for those people out there ? Ratio Free Trackers my friend. But not all of them… Those who enforce a seeding time and ban hit and runs.

So we have a fairly open tracker, with strict policies and rules to have order with the regular new blood. We have people who didn’t get in so easily, so they are dedicated. We have a lot of people because the tracker is not so rare so we have plenty of chances of having people with the same interests. We have people on Freeleech, so they get what they want immediately and they SEED what THEY LOVE, so they seed it naturally for a looong time and they don’t waste their bandwidth on something else just for ratios.

Private Trackers who obey all these aspects are rare my friends, they are, for me, the true representatives of the sharing world and I am happy to be in one of them (one is enough, really). A world without any monetary gain and where you know that everyone in it is truly here to share. However, you would still see crazy ratios on these trackers (I mean, insane to the point that you know people are uploading more than they are using/watching) which proves that even on a ratio free tracker, some people like their statuses to be high ! (Or maybe they simply like to share, which makes it really great !).

What about costs will say some… Well, paying for costs is one thing… paying for ratio is a hole other. Some people might do one thing and not the other, some others just the opposite. You can have status which leads to comfort and not have any effect on ratios and existence on the site. Just as like poor people in our societies don’t have the comfort of a plasma screen or a bed, they are not banned from it just for being poor and they can still roam around freely in it.

“Status” and “Ratio Status” are two different things people often merge and mistake… You can be important without uploading much, By giving money without personal ratio gain…

End Note ?

To sum it up, I’ll say that you get closer to the people similar to you. Our societies are full of different communities uniting under different banners. Rich people buying yachts and expensive costumes and taking pride in them and people buying cheap ripoffs and being happy about it.

I hope that this article will help you determine in which community you are and in which one you truly want to belong. All the points discussed here are important to try and understand how the people around you behave. This will help you decide on which way you want to go… Just be Happy where you are and really think about it ! Are you happy or not with your Private Tracker !

Remember … Private Trackers and You are not a one way relation. You need each other to survive and don’t make yourself miserable in your marriage !

Category: BitTorrent, Filesharing, The Pirate Society  One Comment
All Hands
14
October
Orange

When I first asked to join the Pirate Society, I will admit: I did not have high expectations. Not because of the site; it looked really clean and slick compared to some of the other torrent invite forums I’ve seen, but because of those other forums. I had not, in any of the forums I’d been part of, had good experiences. People weren’t trading their invites in the places I frequented, but they might as well have been doing so. It was always the “I scratch your back, you scratch mine” sort of dealings. People wouldn’t give you an invite unless you met their heinous standards, or if they thought they might get something out of it. People would spam just to get their post count up enough that they’d be let into the higher up invite sections– some would get away with it because they had done so many favors, and some who posted a lot of helpful content all at once would get banned. Because well, if it’s not getting them invites, what use is it?

I always felt like something of an outcast in these places as well, and that’s saying something when you consider what those sort of boards consist of. And I say “those” boards, because TPS is far and by different than any place I’ve come across. Admittedly I don’t have any friends here either, but the people are friendly. Everyone is willing to help; all hands are on deck. And what’s more, they trust you. Not every time, not all the time, but more often than not people give you the benefit of the doubt– they give you a chance.

How else would the forum work otherwise? Imagine my surprise when I first looked into the list of boards in the forum and found that nothing was kept behind lock and key; I was free to roam all over the board no matter what my post count was. Post count, instead of meaning everything, means only as much as it should– reputation and community activity are what matters most here. And it only makes me want to do my part all the more.

I could ramble on for hours about what a place it is; how much help I’ve gotten since I’ve been here, how much people encourage creativity, how funny everyone can be and how much they are willing to lend the latest addition to their crew a hand.

Because honestly, when I saw what there was in store for me, what is still in store for me here in the Pirate Society, I didn’t feel like I had become yet another member in a forum.

I felt like I had stepped onboard a great and mysterious ship, and had become part of its crew.

Category: The Pirate Society  Leave a Comment
Stopping File Sharing will not improve the music industry
13
October
ith3ory

The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), in the recent years has had a number of claims against some individuals. One of which was against a single mother of two, Jammie Thomas. Thomas was found guilty for copyright infringement and was subject to pay $9,250 for each of the 24 songs which amounted to $222,000. They see this as a win. For catching one person whom is single and has two children. In no way am I implying that it is okay to pirate music if you cannot afford to do legally, but that the RIAA will never see this money. Ms. Thomas will end up filing for bankruptcy and be stuck with a felony on her record but even so, her main struggle will be to support her two children. If not her struggle, then it is her main focus. There’s no way they’re ever going to get that,” Thomas-Rasset told the Associated Press of the $1.9 ruling. “I’m a mom, limited means, so I’m not going to worry about it now.” For each song on itunes, they are 99 cents. So somehow they feel that each song after being pirated is worth 9,250xthe initial value?

Instead of going after places that actually make these files available, they are trying to track down each individual person that does file sharing via limewire, kazaa, frostwire, etc. Studies have shown according to timesonline.co that an average teenager has 800 pirated songs on her/his ipod. Now yes you can blame the child and then go after the parents, but like the mother of two who was convicted, how much can you get from these people? You can take their home, their cars, but then they will end up getting financial help from the government as well as it affecting our economy and their lives. Pirated music does not put people on the streets. Yes it is illegal, but when someone shoplifts from the grocery store for a candy…Does that shoplifter get charged with $9,250? No. They go to court and end up picking up trash along the freeway. So how much different is it from pirating a song? Anti piracy campaigns go about preaching how the artists lose money. If this is so and itunes is so proactive on anti-piracy, is itunes not stealing from the artists too since they take 50% of each song purchase? Now what seemed to be a reasonable price to the consumer has now turned into two gumballs for the musical artist. A report done by Market Research Firm shows that over one-third of the 64 million respondents admitted to have pirated at least one song via bittorrenting. And according to another report, only 9% of “music pirates” have bought a whole album. First of all, this claim is inaccurate. How could they have found this out based on all of the “music pirates” they surveyed? And even so, with itunes and the sale of single songs, why would anyone need to buy a whole album if they can just get the specific songs they like? In any case, if one was really wanting to support an artist, they would purchase their albums off of their home webpage or at their actual concert where the band would get full profit.

A study from a Harvard student, Blackburn, found that because of file sharing, 75% of artists actually profit from file sharing while as the more popular artists, the top 25%, sell less records. This is because people are always looking to find a new musical artists to listen to and even if they are not searching, when they find one of coarse they are grateful. By not having to pay for music, people are less picky of what they get. Because if I have $5 to spend on music, I am more likely to purchase songs from artists that I am familiar with so that I do not waste my money. But if I am able to roam freely, I will likely choose an artist that I am unfamiliar with because there is no loss for me. It is like a tryout. Most people who are really like an artist will purchase merchandise from that artist which equals in sales. From t-shirts to posters to fan subscriptions via their website. There is an upside to file sharing that is not recognized by anti piracy organizations. The RIAA has spent more money on some trial cases than the actual outcome of the trial to just teach a lesson to file sharing members. Does that show them a lesson or teach them how much of an idiot the RIAA is? They are trying to get money back into the music industry but by losing money for trials, what can you really leave with? That they caught a single mother of two that will never pay the penalty? Or that the college student they prosecuted will never be able to afford college again? Is the RIAA really helping the music industry or are they taking hits on those that are already struggling financially to survive in this horrible economy? Maybe instead of file sharers taking a step back to see what they are doing, the organizations against them need to look at both sides of the argument and take a step back themselves.

Category: BitTorrent, Filesharing, Music, The Pirate Society  One Comment
“How strange it is to be anything at all”
11
October
captainoctopus

During the mid-1990’s Indie music was just blossoming into the genre it is today. Started by bands like The Pixies and The Smiths, this movement generally deals with introspection and emotions most deal with from time to time. At a time in the music industry when music videos were dominated by pop and hard rock music, an unknown band from Louisiana named Neutral Milk Hotel was producing one of the most unique and existential albums of all time. This album called “In the Aeroplane over the Sea” has grown a massive cult following the release, even though the band broke up two years after its release in 1999. After the breakup, the band’s leader Jeff Mangum became reclusive and has rarely been heard from since ’99. For those who do not know Neutral Milk Hotel, it is necessary to explain why the music touches so many by elaborating on the song “In the Aeroplane over the Sea” and others.

In 1996, Neutral Milk Hotel began production of “In the Aeroplane over the Sea” shortly after touring for their first album, “On Avery Island”. “Aeroplane” was a concept album that detailed events in Mangum’s life, along with imagery that detailed a dream about Anne Frank. The lyrics “The only girl I’ve ever loved, was born with roses in her eyes, but then they buried her alive, one evening 1945, with just her sister at her side” from the song “Holland, 1945” are one of many instances were Anne Frank is a subject of bereavement for Mangum. After the album’s release the band began touring to promote the album until 1999 when Mangum left the band after a nervous breakdown due to stress and illness set on by mono. During the following ten years, Mangum has done very little in the realm of music. Many times during the past decade Mangum has made bit performances at small venues where his friends are performing, making a cameo as a tambourine player or backup singer. On rare occasion, he performs a song or two from his Neutral Milk Hotel days, only enough to leave the crowd wanting for more.

“In The Aeroplane over the Sea” the title track from the album is a love song mixed with the musings of childlike wonder for the life we all live. The song starts of with Jeff Mangum playing the acoustic guitar and singing the first verse. The lyrics speak of young love, or rather, the memory of love and how the singer holds this memory of love close to his heart. Mangum displays poetic illustration of the nostalgia he feels for an old memory by singing, “what a beautiful dream that could flash on the screen, in a blink of an eye and be gone from me”. It seems that Mangum also wishes to convey the magnitude of the world and the idea that he found his love against all odds in such a massive space. Through the first verse he doesn’t give a name to his love just yet, he is just setting up a context for the song.
The second verse begins with Mangum’s voice and guitar, along with the addition of light percussion, a singing saw, and a tuba. This seems like an uncommon mixture, yet gives a unique feeling to the piece. The arrangement gives a feeling of happiness and hope, yet at the same time, a feeling of despair. The general emotion of this music complements the lyrics very well. The music states that bad things will happen, by addressing humanities mortal coil, but declares all will be alright. This is illustrated in the second verse as Mangum sings, “And one day we will die, and our ashes will fly, from the aero plane over the sea, but for now we are young…” Mangum sings about how all will eventually die, but that is not as important as keeping all you love closer than the idea of death. The song then goes into a short trumpet solo that is somber that seems beautiful and flawed, further expressing the wonder and despair of the world in which humanity lives.

The trumpet solo ends after the second verse, then thirds verse starts. Until this point in the song, the lyrics seem reflective, as though considering memories. The third verse seems to be wholly in the present moment, when Mangum sings, “What a curious life we have found here tonight”. Jeff Mangum’s adopts a childlike wonder in this section, by illustrating the beautiful environment he is in, almost a surreal world as he contemplates the memory or dream of the one he loves. This song marks the first appearance of Anne Frank in the album as Mangum sings, “Anne’s ghost all around”. The verse seems to verify some remorse to Anne Frank’s death, even though Mangum has never met her.

The forth verse contains the same musical arrangement as the previous verses, and Mangum sings more about his dream and the remaining memories. Other than ideas of memories, this verse is very enigmatic with lyrics such as, “all secrets sleep in winter cloths” which the songwriter either left to interpretation or he doesn’t want to give away all the information.

The final verse is a reprise of the beginning of the song. The differences are that the entire band is now playing, and the last half of the verse has changed. Throughout the song Mangum paints a picture of loss, by telling a story which reflects a memory, which is all he has. In this verse he becomes hopeful and sure of himself, that one day he will be reunited with his love. The hope is reflected through music with a trumpet that accompanies Mangum’s voice. The final phrase, “And when we meet on a cloud, I’ll be laughing out loud, I’ll be laughing with everyone I see, can’t believe how strange it is to be anything at all.” Shows that Mangum believes in some sort of afterlife and that everyone he knew will be their looking back on the times they had in life.

Because of the deep existential nature of Neutral Milk Hotel’s music and the song in question, many fans are hoping for a comeback, which may never come. “In the aero plane over the sea”, helps explain why many fans enjoy Mangum’s music, which details the vivid imagery Mangum expresses through music. Jeff Mangum’s message is a simple one for the listener, pay attention to the beauty around you, because life is fleeting.

Category: Abstract, Music  Leave a Comment
Rambling Thoughts about Human Altruism, BitTorrent and Piracy.
09
October
McHoodlum

Everyone’s heard at one point or another that Humans are naturally greedy. Fueled by possessions, the pursuit of wealth and overall power. I’ve always been one to disagree with this view. To me, Human altruism trumped greed, and I’ve gone far enough to say many a time that “human beings have only gotten so far by being naturally altruistic”, but therein lay the irony.

We all have our reasons for piracy. Albeit a lack of legal alternatives, a voice of protest to big corporations, or just plain not wanting to spend what little money many of us have. But why do we seed? What makes someone want to risk attending expensive court cases against a foe with seemingly limitless resources? I always brought it down to sheer human altruism, but given thought, I am beginning to doubt this is the case. People seed because we realise it benefits not only the peers who are downloading, but ourselves. Given time, we too inevitably become the peers. It’s a simple case of the ethic of reciprocity.

“Do not do to others what would anger you if done to you by others.”
– Isocrates

Looking back at what I said earlier; Human beings have only gotten so far by being altruistic. Looking at that now seems like a huge contradiction in itself. It says our society has only gotten so far by helping each other, which is definately true, but it also brings about the obvious point that we do this solely to benefit ourselves, helping a society we too are a part of. Realising by helping our neighbor, they in turn will help us. This may seem like quite a corrupt and deceitful means of motivation, but it also lay in truth, and I believe nature. Helping someone with a seemingly small task ensures that given the chance in the future, they too will help you. This same principle can be applied to bittorrent and piracy.

The same fundamental reasoning can be seen throughout different facets of nature. Meerkats designate members of their group to keep a watchful eye on the surroundings and to alert the rest of the group to any dangers in the area. It might seem exceedingly simple, they just want to help keep their relatives safe and alive, but meerkats are also territorial animals, and it’s a lot easier to fight off another tribe when you have the numbers. Protecting the tribe protects yourself. Cleaner fish have a similar mentality, by helping bigger fish and what could be considered their predators, they get such benefits in return. Hosts of the cleaner fish don’t attack them, even after the cleaning has concluded, and often chase away predators of the cleaners.

This, of course, is a generalisation. I do not question that indeed quite the number of people seed for prolonged periods of time, not for some tracker bonus, but out of sheer help for thy fellow man, with no sought after reciprocation. I would like to think I am one of those few, but I do not deny, taking this into account, that it may all be a facade for which even I can not admit to fully advocate, but may be just as much a part of my human nature as anyone else’s, something we do not fully condone, but is there.

Category: BitTorrent, Filesharing, The Pirate Society  2 Comments
« Previous Entries