New Mars Forums

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/3552087.stm] <span style='font-size:17pt;line-height:100%'>WOWSERS maties,</span> get the settee booked for THIS SATURDAY at 7.30pm!!

BBC2 :http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/news/drwho/2005/03/04/17586.shtml]In a one-off Mastermind Doctor Who Special, four Doctor Who aficionados will be put through their paces by Mastermind host, John Humphrys, to find out who will be crowned the UK's top Doctor Who fan. The prize will be presented by the new Doctor, Christopher Eccleston.

Some Things You Need To Know About Doctor Who will be packed full of Doctor Who trivia, plus there is another chance to see The Story of Doctor Who - a nostalgic archive documentary about the longest running TV drama series.

WRAP UP!! This is too good to be true!! DON'T MISS IT 7.30pm - 9.10pm includes the lost episode "Dr Who meets Batman" .. sheesh this will prove to be a most incredible night, hold all calls, chuck the mobile in the goldfish bowl, shut down the PC I AM NOT AVAILABLE

........ AND if you can make it a little earlier at 3.50pm on BBC2 the 1965 "DR WHO AND THE DALEKS" the director's cut with an extra 45 minutes of out takes http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/3552087.stm] schmeg am I dreaming? somebody pinch me

<span style='font-size:17pt;line-height:100%'>Downloading music</span>
CBC News Online | Updated June 30, 2004

In a unanimous 9-0 decision on June 30, 2004, the Supreme Count of Canada ruled that internet service providers are not responsible for paying royalties on music downloaded by users.

The court said although ISPs provide the hardware and technology, they are only "intermediaries" who are not responsible for what people download and are not bound by federal copyright legislation.

The decision is the latest legal blow to the music recording industry, which is trying to stop the unauthorized downloading of millions of songs over the internet. Musicians, composers and artists are not usually paid royalties when songs are downloaded to a computer over file-sharing networks.

Court rules ISPs don't have to identify music sharers

Federal Court of Canada Justice Konrad von Finckenstien's March 31, 2004, ruling on downloading music from the internet was seen as a major setback by the music industry and a victory by internet service providers.

The Canadian Recording Industry Association wanted a court order to identify 29 uploaders that CRIA claims illegally posted hundreds of songs on the internet. Finckenstein refused and without the names, CRIA cannot take legal action for damages.

"No evidence was presented that the alleged infringers either distributed or authorized the reproduction of sound recordings," von Finckenstein wrote in his 28-page ruling. "They merely placed personal copies into their shared directories which were accessible by other computer users via a P2P service."

The ruling stipulates that:
Downloading a song for personal use is not an infringement.

Placing a song in an on-line music-sharing directory such as Kazaa is not considered distribution.
The music industry claims the rising practice of sharing music on the internet is the reason CD sales are dropping. But a study released in March 2004 by Harvard Business School claims that swapping had no impact on sales.

Other surveys show the opposite result, claiming Internet sharing of music does hurt sales. The Harvard study claims that the people surveyed - who were file-swapping users - did not answer truthfully when asked if they buy copies of the music they download. The authors of the Harvard study got permission to track the files being downloaded and then tracked the U.S. sales of the same music and found that an increase in downloading didn't correlate with a decrease in sales.

In May 2004, the standing committee on Canadian heritage released its recommendations on strengthening copyright law. They include signing two World Intellectual Property Organization treaties that would:

Clarify the definition of distribution to include putting copyrighted material on a peer-to-peer file-sharing network. Allow music companies to use software to limit the number of copies that can be made from a recording. Make it illegal to sell software that cracks through the copy-protection coding.

The committee also asked for changes in the Copyright Act to make internet service providers (ISPs) subject to liability for copyrighted information.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/inter … sic.html]> last year's report from Canada here <

<span style='font-size:17pt;line-height:100%'>Is downloading copyrighted music tantamount to stealing?</span>
Lawrence Lessig, an expert on Internet law from Stanford University's Law School, and Matt Oppenheim, senior vice president of business and legal affairs for the Recording Industry Association of America, answer your questions about this heated debate]

A. Eric from Duluth, Minn. asks:

I ask this question from the standpoint of a musician. My question is: how much money will the artists receive from the alleged online 'pirates' whom the RIAA is prosecuting and suing for billions in damages?

How much of any money gained from lawsuits will go back to the original artists for the violation/theft of their copyrighted works? How are funds gained from settlements and/or lawsuits distributed among the record companies, the RIAA, and the musicians? Thank you for your time.

B. Brian Boyko from Allendale, N.J. asks:

The RIAA claims that Internet users who download free of charge deprive artists, producers and companies a major portion of their revenue, which, the RIAA claim, is having devastating effects on the industry. However, artists are being cheated out of their revenue -- royalties on sold CDs - by the record companies, not Internet downloaders. Please comment.

Lawrence Lessig from Stanford Law School responds to both questions:

The RIAA is the Recording Industry Association of America. It is not the Recording Industry and Artists Association of America. It says its concern is artists. That's true, in just the sense that a cattle rancher is concerned about its cattle.

Many, including I, doubt that the RIAA's actions actually benefit artists. They clearly benefit the relatively concentrated recording industry, which is fighting like hell to protect itself against new forms of competition. But there are many who believe that these new forms of competition -- if allowed to develop and mature -- would directly benefit artists.

Maybe not Madonna -- but it would certainly help the vast majority of artists who can barely scrape by under the existing system.

Matt Oppenheim from the Recording Industry Association of America responds:

A. When record companies file infringement suits, we frequently are trying to stop the piracy and deter others from engaging in that same form of piracy. Indeed, more often than not, our litigations are attempting to establish a legal precedent or make clear that we are prepared to sue music thieves if they do not stop. Unfortunately, the vast majority of music thieves that are sued are not well enough off to pay a large judgment that would cover the costs of enforcement and pay the copyright owners and artists for their losses.

In those instances in which there have been recoveries, such as the case against MP3.com, each individual record company pays their artists according to the individual contract that they have with the artist. There is no single industry rate or manner of dealing with this.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/forum/june0 … ht6.html]> the Q + A session continues <

but what do YOU think? Do YOU download music off the internet? Or do you prefer to get your music from HMV?   

February 14, 2005

Fiancée leads crusade against IRA killers
By David Lister
Murder of young father may prove to be the turning point as support for republican extremists begins to fade
 
BRIDGEEN Hagans has just one word for the men who killed her fiancé — “scum”.
In any other part of the United Kingdom the description would barely raise an eyebrow, given the circumstances in which Robert McCartney died. He was stabbed in the stomach and kicked repeatedly in the head as he fell to the pavement outside a city-centre pub.

This, though, is the Short Strand in Belfast, where if anybody is to be referred to as “scum” it is certainly not the local IRA.

In this tight-knit republican neighbourhood, it is no surprise that Ms Hagans, 27, can name every one of the IRA members who, she believes, killed her boyfriend; what is astonishing is that she is prepared to do it publicly.

The IRA may be adept at dealing with political crises, but it has been caught off-guard after Mr McCartney’s murder sparked an unprecedented community rebellion and a wave of support from nationalist areas across Northern Ireland.

http://avantgo.thetimes.co.uk/services/ … .html]full story here and http://www.westwindnet.com/ireland/deba … t=]ireland uncensored FORUMS here

There are some harrowing photos of the brave widow, Bridgeen Hagans and her two boys aged 2 and 4 in yesterday's TIMES newspaper. Together with the article, it makes powerful reading alright 

<ul><li>They’re psychopaths who have been empowered
<li>his murder may prove a turning point as other communities across the province wrestle against their paramilitary rulers
<li>When a 17-year-old was forced to put his hands together as if in prayer before being shot through both wrists, there was no outcry</ul>

Intimidation on such a grand scale is a massive challenge to overcome for authorities in Northern Ireland. These "psychopaths" rely on this intimidation and score heavily by it. In the 1920s Chicago mobsters enjoyed such horrific intimidation skills that they were virtually untouchable. Nobody would dare give evidence against them and if they tried, they were often killed. What's changed?   :angry:

Digital fly-by-wire primary flight controls on the A380

The world’s only twin-deck, four-aisle airliner

The airlines’ solution to growing demand for air travel

The green giant, more fuel-efficient than your car

The A380’s twin-aisle twin deck passenger cabin offers the long distance traveller a whole new level of comfort. A cabin designed around a large sample of today’s real passengers providing more space regardless of class of ticket, wider seats and aisles. Optional lower deck use for rest areas, business, bar or other amenities can further enhance the A380 travel experience.

COCKPIT:
FLY-BY-WIRE AND SIDESTICKS

Reflecting its fly-by-wire advantages, the flight deck entirely lacks the cumbersome, old-generation control columns of its competitors. Instead, it has the neat and simple sidesticks which pilots find so easy to use. Additional benefits are an unobstructed view of the instrument panel and a slide-out working table in front of each pilot.

ECAM AND EFIS SCREEN DISPLAYS

Gone are the dozens of round instrument dials, now replaced by just six CRT screen displays. All six screens are fully display/function interchangeable and there are electro-mechanical instruments as back-up.

Four screens, two in front of each pilot, form the Electronic Flight Instrument System, while two central screens are the display part of the Electronic Centralized Aircraft Monitor (ECAM).

Four screens, two in front of each pilot, perform Electronic Flight Instrument System (EFIS) functions.

The outboard screens - Primary Flight Displays (PFDs) - carry data on a range of parameters including speed, altitude, aircraft attitude and heading. Current status of the Flight Management System (FMS) is also shown. The inboard Navigation Display (ND) screens show data on the aircraft’s position and course. These may be displayed in selectable modes: Arc, Rose ILS, Rose VOR or Plan.

Two screens in the centre of the main instrument panel display information derived from the ECAM whose sensors throughout the aircraft keep systems under constant surveillance. The upper and lower screens - both manually and automatically - show engine and systems parameters and warnings.
===========================
Yikes what a monster, just check out that double decker bus of the AIR!! But how long is it going to take to check in 555 passengers? It can take well over an hour to check in 320 passengers for standard 747s, so what are we talking for 555 passengers? 2 hour checks in? Then at the other end how long will it take for you to find your luggage? British Airways have bought a grand total of zero.

http://www.airbus.com/product/a320_flight_deck.asp] hey will this thing take us to Mars?

What is safe to download? Is it a trap or do you KNOW it is genuine and without virus (to the best of your knowledge) ?

Well there's only one way that you could recommend such a download! You downloaded it yourself - it works, it's good quality and you didn't get a virus or any spyware (that you know of)

Ok me first

Click http://www.blitzcoder.com/cgi-bin/showc … etup.exe]> HERE to download a SUPERB 1.8MB screen saver<

What the heck is a screensaver? Well if you leave your PC in mid sentence, the phone rings - it's your great Uncle Bulgaria who launches into a 20 minute conversation about what Auntie Mavis did at the shops, when you get BACK to your PC, what do you see? A Black screen with alternating "Windows" icons, you move the mouse and that screen disolves

THAT SCREEN was the screensaver but imagine if instead of that boring old black screen you could have a slowly spinning world, clouds, stars, sunflare, cities - YEP!! It is free, stable, high quality and yep!! I recommend it!! Just download it  then you'll have to get into the Display Properties option of Windows (right-click on the mouse when the pointer is on the background Windows screen), select the Screensaver tab, and then select the screensaver named "3DEarth" from the drop-down list.

After that, the "3DEarth" screensaver automatically cuts in instead of the crappy black thing you used to see, I recommend this download http://www.blitzcoder.com/cgi-bin/showc … ments=no]> full details of the 1.8MB download are here <

OK - has anybody else downloaded anything recently? Would you recommend it to other members on here? 

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/images.cfm?subCategoryID=10]

On Christmas Eve, http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArt … 910716]the Huygens probe — a disk about 9-feet across — detached itself from the much larger Cassini craft and began a free fall to Titan, which is Saturn's largest moon and one of the most mysterious objects in the solar system. If all goes as planned, it will touch down Jan. 14.

The next step on the mission is for Cassini to correct her trajectory. "At the moment, Cassini is following us, to crash onto Titan," Sollazzo said. But on December 29, Cassini will fire her engines to deflect her orbit so that she will miss Titan while Huygens descends. Then, on December 31 and January 1, Cassini will target Iapetus, Saturn's wayward yin-yang moon, passing within 117,000 kilometers (72,700 miles) of the surface. Apart from that encounter, "Cassini will go into a quiet mode to get ready to support the probe link," Sollazzo said.

Come January 14, the action will be in Darmstadt, Germany, at ESA's European Space Operations Centre (ESOC). The Planetary Society will be there to wait and watch with the mission team to see what Huygens reveals http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercuryn … 049.htm]of the surface of Titan, and will share the new facts, images, and sounds with the world as they arrive.

http://www.newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1511] THIS IS TITAN but just what is down there? down on the moon's surface?

a) oceans and oceans of lifeless liquid and frozen material
b) oceans and oceans of mystery, we could spend 10 years down there and still be wondering
c) if there was anything there, we would know by now
d) heeeey!! another civilisation!! give it time - 14 JAN will reveal all 

http://surreycounty.co.uk/christmas.jpg]

A Merry Christmas to all you fine new mars people!! BTW if you hear a rustling down the chimney late at night and some reindeers neighing outside - I do hope you left a couple of mince pies out !!! I get really peckish half way down a chimney!!   

Josh, this is an interesting subject, thanks for the reply

"quarterly back ups" ?

so you are saying that the maximum damage possible, after a crash to these forums, would be the loss of 3 months of topics? have I got that right?

when fireservice.co.uk crashed, they eventually got the back up from their host, BUT IT WASN'T COMPATIBLE with the new server they contracted to  what a conundrum

Rxke, hiya but did you try the postcode?? it works on Earth - it can work on Mars surely? 

Johnny Depp was SUPERB in the NINTH GATE and he SHOULD have been in Mars Underground - no doubt about it

I couldn't load the trailer either  :angry: oh dear, looks like I'll have to wait for it to come on BBC1 - talking of BBC1 .... don't forget ..... Nov 9th ....... <span style='font-size:15pt;line-height:100%'>2100</span> 

has anybody heard about the new UK flood mapping facility?

You just enter your postcode to find whether you are a flood risk, click http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/su … 1&lang=_e] > HERE <  to check YOUR flood risk  ??? e.g. try mine KT1 1QE

according to this "facility" :angry:  I am currently 10' under water   

but seriously, THIS could be used to map the water under the surface of MARS !!  :band:

Dook shame on you, trust you to take the opportunity to laugh at us pet lovers

fine I hope you are proud of yourself

now how about an apology?? AND MEAN IT !!!!