TV deal partners Orioles, Nationals

The 90%/10% split might just be an april fools day prank, but I don't think so.

The upshot of the O's having all the risk on this is that TV networks like this have failed in the past. And if this deal, as it plays out, truly looks like a stinker, then DC's fans, as the larger market, can sink the network in an instant by refusing to watch. A boycott of the network called by any of the DC sportswriters could sink the zeppelin pretty quickly, and although Angelos might try to sue every resident of the city of DC individually, I doubt that he'd get too far with that. (I'm reminded of an old Mr. Show bit about Coupon: The Movie, where a movie studio successfully sued all of America for not watching their crappy movie.)

Notes on grokster oral arguments

One of the first bits of fallout from Grokster, says Timothy Armstrong, is that you will always be able to rip your CDs legally for use on other devices:

How, some of the Justices asked MGM, could the inventors of the iPod (or the VCR, or the photocopier, or even the printing press) know whether they could go ahead with developing their invention? It surely would not be difficult for them to imagine that somebody might hit upon the idea of marketing their device as a tool for infringement.

MGM’s answer to this was pretty unsatisfying. They said that at the time the iPod was invented, it was clear that there were many perfectly lawful uses for it, such as ripping one’s own CD and storing it in the iPod. This was a very interesting point for them to make, not least because I would wager that there are a substantial number of people on MGM’s side of the case who don’t think that example is one bit legal. But they’ve now conceded the contrary in open court, so if they actually win this case they’ll be barred from challenging “ripping” in the future under the doctrine of judicial estoppel.

SCOTUSblog: MGM v. Grokster: Background and Analysis

Happy Grokster day.

Click the link above to get some background while watching an old episode of ALF on your Betamax VCR.

Who likes maths?

Go see my friend Ed give a math lecture:

In the unlikely event that you find yourself in western Massachusetts this Wednesday, come check out my talk about the concept of duality in projective geometry.

WHERE?: Lederle Graduate Research Tower, Room 1521D, UMass Amherst

WHEN?: Wednesday, March 30, 2005, 7:00 p.m.

WHAT?: Projective geometry is a non-Euclidean geometry where there is no such thing as parallel lines, and no concept of distance or angle measure. Duality is a valid concept of projective geometry where points and lines are mathematically indistinguishable from each other. This is cool because if you prove a theorem, it can be dualized to give you a new theorem that will be true (unless the theorem is self-dual to begin with)! It's like a 2-for-1 sale on mathematical concepts.

Happy Easter

from our friends in FLA protesting the rule of law....

Win or Lose (washingtonpost.com)

"Yet another franchise came along in 1901, now in the American League. This time, Washington did something we had never done before: signed a bona fide star still near the peak of his powers. Ed Delahanty was a strapping, square-jawed slugger, the best hitter of his day. An esteemed authority on baseball history, Bill James, has compared Delahanty to the seemingly incomparable Joe DiMaggio. The man batted .346 over 16 seasons. He once went 9 for 9 in a double-header.

But after just one full season in Washington, Big Ed started drinking even more heavily than usual. Suspended from the team during a trip to Detroit, he boarded a train for home. Blotto, he brandished a straight razor at other passengers. The conductor stopped the train near the Canadian border and dumped Delahanty trackside. Our star went reeling into the night, plunged from the International Bridge into the Niagara River, washed over Niagara Falls, and was pureed by the propeller of a sightseeing boat."

Breakpoints the official blog of the botz

just so you know, the robots are back.

Hunter S. Thompson v. Richard M. Nixon v. DJ Buck Wheaton

So here's the psychedelic disaster. It's in two parts.

Part One
Part Two

Enjoy it. Like I said, listen to it in a dark room, alone.

hot hot heat

yes they're canadian but they're stand up fellows and they know how to trash a hotel room. this is a link to a page with a new mp3 from a new album. it's really poppy and I'm not sure how I feel about it, which along with singer steve bay's growing gheri curls gets me worried, but hopefully there'll be some rockers on the rest of the album.

DURKL

the clothes are aight but the song is absolutely off the chain. buy something.

Comments

The old comments system seems to have died, so this is a test of a new one.

Skype

Do any of you use this thing? If you don't know it's free voice phone calls over the internet. I just called someone who didn't have a mic, and she could hear me while I talked to my computer.

It felt strange and dirty in a futuristic sort of way.

If you're on skype, and I know you, holler at your boy: skypename: derekteslik.

An aside

There is really nothing like a 'dormant commerce clause' case about contoured mudguards in IL to welcome one back to another thrilling week of law school. For real, when I read about this case as an aside in America: The Book I thought is was a joke. I was wrong. Bibb v. Navajo Freight Lines, Inc., 359 U.S. 520 (1959), ain't no joke, people. Look alive, and watch out for heat buildup in the brake well caused by the interlining.....

Blink O Rama

There is now officially a blog for everything.

Coming later this week: a two hour psychedelic disaster named Hunter S. Thompson v. Richard M. Nixon v. DJ Buck Wheaton.

It was recorded live on location in St. Louis, MO, on Saturday, February 26th, 2005. My parents were listening to it from a parked car in a hotel parking lot. An anonymous 52-year-old called it "the most creative radio [he] had heard in years." I don't believe him.

The aforementioned psychedelic disaster will be presented in .mp3 format, and it is suggested that you listen to it alone in the dark.

This always cruel month is almost over.

Debunking Punk - What the Clash meant to rock 'n' roll. By Stephen Metcalf

great rock writing is a pleasure to encounter in a world of garbage reviews and limp glossy magazines.

Metcalf does a nice job tying the birth and death of rock and roll up in a bow shaped like London Calling, and driving a socio-historic highway from elvis to the clash passing directly though the beatles and the stones.

it's not the history of rock in 2500 words, but it's a nice picture, and it's worth your time.