Worldwide Incarceration Rates
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Copyright 2011 I AM NOT A RAPPER
28th Jul2011
4 Comm
27th Jul2011
Public Enemy – Reflections of the Black Panther Party (1999) {Full Video}
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Copyright 2011 I AM NOT A RAPPER
27th Jul2011
Relevant Classics: Smif N Wessun – Hellucination
Smif N Wessun – Hellucination
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Copyright 2011 I AM NOT A RAPPER
27th Jul2011
Study: 81% of iTunes Collections Never Get Played. Ever
Data wonks have been hinting at this sort of statistic for years. And now, mobile music firm Music WithMe has published a report saying that 81 percent of personal iTunes collections never get played – not once. “The average iTunes library has 5,409 songs of which 4,195 have never been played,” Music WithMe community manager Michelle Jones relayed. ”Put another way: we listen to about 19% of the music we own.”
You mean, 4,195 songs are downloaded and never listened to? Ever? Music WithMe offers an application solution that allows users to wirelessly sync their iTunes collections to Android devices. And the finding comes from an anonymous review of these collections – and their 0 play counts.
But data error could be skewing the number higher, including heavy 0 counts on rebuilt iTunes playlists. For example, when a collection from a portable drive is loaded onto a new computer and iTunes software installation, everything resets.
Either way, Music WithMe is using the data to make a point about cloud-based collections. Digital Music News made a big deal about the painstakingly-long upload process on Google Beta Music, but how many of those uploaded tracks will actually get listened to? ”Why upload your entire library when you only listen to 19% of your music? Ever?” Jones asked.
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Copyright 2011 I AM NOT A RAPPER
27th Jul2011
Converse Opens FREE Recording Studio in Brooklyn ‘Rubber Tracks’
Today Converse Inc. officially announced the opening of its Brooklyn recording studio, Converse Rubber Tracks, which allows artists to sign up and record songs for free.
Converse announced the studio last fall, and bands were able to apply for studio time on the Converse website until May 31.
New York and New Jersey artists Aabaraki, Majuscules, G.I.C. & Funk Face, Andre Henry and Super Rocket Car were selected as the first musicians to begin recording this summer. Starting today, funk/R&B group Aabaraki is entering the studio. Each artist is given at least a day or two of studio time, depending on what needs to be accomplished. Applications run in three-month windows, and at the end of the summer, the next set of musicians will be able to apply online.
“By opening Converse Rubber Tracks, it’s a way for us to say thank you to musicians all over who have helped us become the brand we are and to provide a place for new artists to have access to resources they may not be able to afford,” said Converse Chief Marketing Officer Geoff Cottrill in a release. “This is our way to invest in the future of music and we couldn’t be more excited about it.”
Artists are given the opportunity to record on top of the line equipment with a staff of engineers, and when the tracks are finished, the artists themselves will retain all rights to their music. Although, as the Converse website explains, musicians will have the option of giving Converse limited rights so that the company can publish the tracks online and across social media sites.
Said Ra Ra Riot’s Rebecca Zeller in a statement released Wednesday: “Knowing how hard it is to make a living as a musician and the amount of money it takes to get into a studio of that caliber, it’s unbelievably generous for Converse to provide it for free… Coupled with the fact that artists retain all rights to their music is a testament to Converse.”
Guitar Center supplied the studio with equipment, instruments, and the Ocean Way HR2 large-format monitor system designed by Grammy award-winning producer/engineer Allen Sides. There will also be Fender, Gibson, Ernie Ball, BlackStar, Marshall and Schecter gear available for use.
Later this summer, Converse is hosting the Grammy Foundation’s annual Grammy Camp. The camp will be in Los Angeles in July and will be held at the Converse Rubber Tracks studio, Aug. 2-8.
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Copyright 2011 I AM NOT A RAPPER
27th Jul2011
#IAmNotADictionary Word Of The Day: Echolalia
#IAmNotADictionary Word Of The Day: Echolalia – [ek-oh-ley-lee-uh] noun 1. Psychiatry . the uncontrollable and immediate repetition of words spoken by another person. 2. the imitation by a baby of the vocal sounds produced by others, occurring as a natural phase of childhood development.
psychiatry the tendency to repeat mechanically words just spoken by another person: can occur in cases of brain damage, mental retardation, and schizophrenia
[C19: from New Latin, from echo + Greek lalia talk, chatter, from lalein to chatter]
Or in other words when you say something to someone and they repeat it back to you as if it was an original thought or idea…yeah, that.
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Copyright 2011 I AM NOT A RAPPER
27th Jul2011
Hackers Grab 90,000 Military Emails, Encrypted Passwords
An online break-in at a defense contractor left tens of thousands of .mil email users at risk of having their account illegally accessed or even hijacked for nefarious purposes.
A hacker collective that calls itself AntiSec said Monday that it had stolen 90,000 military email addresses and encrypted passwords from the servers of Booz Allen Hamilton, a consulting firm and Pentagon contractor.
“We infiltrated a server on their network that basically had no security measures in place,” the group said in a statement posted on a file-sharing website. “We were able to run our own application, which turned out to be a shell and began plundering some booty. Most shiny is probably a list of roughly 90,000 military emails and password hashes.”
A later analysis by the Associated Press suggested the number of military email addresses was closer to 50,000. Whatever the number, the security risk is real, said a cybersecurity analyst.
Password decrypting tools called “rainbow tables” are available online, said Jerry Dixon, of the Chicago nonprofit cyber security firm Team Cymru. Simple passwords, like those composed of common words and all lowercase letters, might be vulnerable to cracking within minutes using the tables and common computer graphics processing hardware.
“My suspicion is that yes, someone has already gotten into some accounts,” he said. “Maybe they’re using them now to social engineer someone” – using a hijacked account to trick unsuspecting email users into divulging privileged information or granting access into other computer networks.
The solution to the email theft, Dixon said, is to require affected users to immediately change their passwords or face having their accounts locked. Booz Allen Hamilton and the Pentagon likely took that action as soon as the breach was known, he said.
“I’m sure they have already been working to get those passwords reset,” he said. “The passwords are stolen and now they’re racing the clock.”
Even if all accounts are locked down before any are broken into, the AntiSec group scores a malicious victory of sorts by forcing thousands of hours of work to clean up the mess, Dixon said.
The loose hacker confederation targets corporations and governments to protest what it calls over-aggressive Internet monitoring. Also called Operation AntiSec, it formed as an outgrowth of a now-defunct hacker group, LulzSec, with cooperation from members of the Anonymous group. Collectively, the groups have defaced government websites and broken into the networks of major corporations worldwide.
Booz Allen Hamilton did not respond to requests for comment, but via Twitter on Monday declined to offer details: “As part of @BoozAllen security policy, we generally do not comment on specific threats or actions taken against our systems.”
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Copyright 2011 I AM NOT A RAPPER
27th Jul2011
DOJ and FBI Make Arrests in PayPal Hacking Case
Following LulzSec’s defacement of The Sun on Monday, the FBI swooped down on Anonymous and arrested 16 people in several states for allegedly attacking PayPal.
A federal indictment against 14 of the arrested accuses them of launching a Ddos (denial of service) against PayPal after it closed down a Wikileaks donation account.
LulzSec hacked Rupert Murdoch’s The Sun last Monday. A redirect sent users to a web page claiming the corporate media magnate died of a drug overdose.
In addition to the defacement, LulzSec members said on Twitter they had made off with emails from The Sun‘s now defunct sister newspaper, News of the World. The shadowy hacktivist group is said to also have hacked other Murdoch properties including News International and the Times of London in the hours following the first attack.
On Tuesday, members of Anonymous and LulzSec said they would release the email and passwords from the now defunct Murdoch newspaper. “Sun/News of the world OWNED. We’re sitting on their emails,” a hacker known as Sabu tweeted last Tuesday.
Murdoch is currently under investigation in a phone hacking scandal. It is alleged that employees working for the tabloid newspaper News of the World hacked celebrities, politicians, members of the British Royal Family, and others beginning in 2006.
Suspects in the PayPal case were arrested in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Washington DC, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico and Ohio, according to a statement released by the Department of Justice and the FBI. The indictment claims members of Anonymous conspired to “intentionally damage protected computers at PayPal” between December 6-10, 2010, as part the group’s “Operation Avenge Assange.”
Suspects connected to the case were separately arrested in Florida and New Jersey while British police arrested one suspect and Dutch authorities four.
The FBI claims it traced internet protocol addresses of the hackers to Canada and then to California where one of the IP addresses used a virtual server for the attack. A separate investigation revealed Ddos attacks came from a server based in Texas.
In June, accusations surfaced claiming a member LulzSec is a Marine who works for military intelligence.
Arrests in the PayPal case arrive a few days after the Pentagon asked the private sector to join in a pilot program dubbed “Strategy for Operating in Cyberspace.” The plan envisions a unified plan incorporating DoD’s military, intelligence and business operations. It calls on AT&T, Verizon, and other telecoms and defense contractors to play a role.
The plan includes an effort for private companies to share information with the Defense Department and the Department of Homeland Security.
The Pentagon’s pilot program came after a March 24 cyber attack against an unnamed defense company. Around 24,000 of that company’s files containing military secrets were allegedly hacked into.
Two months later, defense contractor Lockheed Martin claimed it was the victim of a cyber attack of undisclosed magnitude.
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Copyright 2011 I AM NOT A RAPPER
26th Jul2011
26th Jul2011
Relevant Classics: ODB – Shimmy Shimmy Ya
You can say what you want…but you know you like this song…still
ODB – Shimmy Shimmy Ya
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Copyright 2011 I AM NOT A RAPPER
