You know things are getting downright frothy when Vanity Fair rediscovers technology and starts giving way too much attention to technology titans by including them in its annual New Establishment list. The bible of frivolous has out done itself this time; it has also included a new micro-list, The Next Establishment. Perhaps it couldn’t fit in more tech types in the big list.
Vanity Fair (Re) Discovers Tech « GigaOM:
Saturday, 15 September 2007
Saturday, 8 September 2007
Daily Telegraph | Why the Gambling Act is such a Loser
Last Sunday, the Blair Government's Gambling Act 2005 came into operation and by Monday lunchtime I received my first email from an online casino site.
"Join today and we'll give you a 300 per cent bonus on your first deposit, worth up to 300 euros!" it said. "We have a huge range of games, including the biggest progressive jackpots online, giving you the chance to win millions of euros in a single spin!"
I didn't fancy my chances. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday I got more, and by Friday, I was shouting: BLOODY Gordon Brown! This is your fault!
Since I keep a very tidy email inbox, which is assiduously reinforced by my friend the IT geek, I was rather cross about being invaded by casino emails and rang him up. "Do they look like legit sites?"
No. Nobody has yet sent me an email from William Hill, Ladbrokes, Stan James or any other recognisably British name. Nor have I had one from PokerStars (which is not a British company, but is, I happen to know, run by Mohawk Indians from a reservation in Canada. Still - perfectly legit.) Anyway, he cleaned up the inbox.
Now, I don't blame Big Gordo for my inbox invasion. But I do blame him for his pompous spin about whether or not Gambling is Good for You. Since he was Chancellor of Exchequer for the past 10 years, he shared equal responsibility for the not-very-good Gambling Act with that yesterday's man who went to live in Jerusalem. And he now has sole responsibility for it.
When Tessa Jowell first dressed up as Blackjack Lil and lay across a roulette table to place her poker chips for the cameras, the Gambling Act was spun (by Blairites) as all about freedom. The Blair Government wanted to license super-casinos all over Britain and allow online gambling sites to be registered in the United Kingdom. (Unlike puritanical America, where gambling sites are illegal.)
The support for the Bill came from libertarian types who think gamblers are grown-ups: they should be free to choose how, when, where and how much they gamble.
The opposition was from kindly shepherds who think gamblers are the poor, halt and lame: they should be removed from temptation, lest they get addicted to losing their wherewithal - and won't someone think of the children?
The funny thing was that the Parliamentary Labour Party is somewhat short on libertarian toughies and long on kindly Methody preachers - and loads of them hated Blackjack Lil's Bill. Obviously including Gordon, who is becoming more holier-than-thou with every passing day.
The fact that he suddenly said he wasn't going to let Manchester have its super-casino didn't worry me: I've lived in Manchester. Its unique quality of life is not going to be improved any by having a super-casino, and, anyway, I was more of a Blackpool girl.
What does fret me is the muddled thinking over the e-casinos. The Department of Culture, Media and Sport (no longer run by the witless Jowell, who can't even cope with her own mortgage forms, let alone the billions wasted by the department) has spent a shedload of my money on a website explaining how it will regulate online casino and betting sites.
The website offers operators based in the European Economic Association the opportunity to apply for a British licence. This licence will prove to the punter that the site is legitimate, lawful and effectively regulated. It will make sure that he is over 18. It will tell him (should he find himself becoming worryingly addicted to online gambling) how he can obtain caring and non-judgmental help, via links to Gamcare, the online helpline.
It will also mean that the e-casino operators can run television advertisements for the first time actually showing grown-ups playing poker. (However, the actors must all be over 25 and the ads must not link gambling to sexual success.)
The point of the British licence is to encourage the world's casino websites to base themselves here, where they can be diligently regulated night and day by 50 compliance managers newly recruited for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. But of the thousands of online casino operators worldwide, only a handful - 14 the last time I looked - have applied for one.
Why? Because Brown decided to tax all British-based betting and casino sites at 15 per cent of gross profits. Not surprisingly, they have chosen to be based in much lower-taxed places, eg Malta, which taxes at a very acceptable 2.5 per cent.
Ladbrokes has not signed up for a British licence, nor has William Hill, which used to be based in Curacao, but now has moved to Malta. Oh - and since Malta is in the European Economic Association, it will be allowed to advertise on television.
So now we have the most caringly protective online betting regulatory system in the world, hurrah. But none of the big boys will sign up to it. Boo. (The Isle of Man is laughing its head off.)
Of course, the companies that do sign up will be taxed at 15 per cent gross. But there aren't enough of them even to pay the salaries of the 50 new compliance managers recruited for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.
Funnily enough, anyone who looks up the department's website to get help for his addiction to online gambling will find that the United Kingdom's only (free) residential treatment centre for addicted gamblers is called Gordon House. Piquant, eh?
Why the Gambling Act is such a loser - Telegraph
"Join today and we'll give you a 300 per cent bonus on your first deposit, worth up to 300 euros!" it said. "We have a huge range of games, including the biggest progressive jackpots online, giving you the chance to win millions of euros in a single spin!"
I didn't fancy my chances. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday I got more, and by Friday, I was shouting: BLOODY Gordon Brown! This is your fault!
Since I keep a very tidy email inbox, which is assiduously reinforced by my friend the IT geek, I was rather cross about being invaded by casino emails and rang him up. "Do they look like legit sites?"
No. Nobody has yet sent me an email from William Hill, Ladbrokes, Stan James or any other recognisably British name. Nor have I had one from PokerStars (which is not a British company, but is, I happen to know, run by Mohawk Indians from a reservation in Canada. Still - perfectly legit.) Anyway, he cleaned up the inbox.
Now, I don't blame Big Gordo for my inbox invasion. But I do blame him for his pompous spin about whether or not Gambling is Good for You. Since he was Chancellor of Exchequer for the past 10 years, he shared equal responsibility for the not-very-good Gambling Act with that yesterday's man who went to live in Jerusalem. And he now has sole responsibility for it.
When Tessa Jowell first dressed up as Blackjack Lil and lay across a roulette table to place her poker chips for the cameras, the Gambling Act was spun (by Blairites) as all about freedom. The Blair Government wanted to license super-casinos all over Britain and allow online gambling sites to be registered in the United Kingdom. (Unlike puritanical America, where gambling sites are illegal.)
The support for the Bill came from libertarian types who think gamblers are grown-ups: they should be free to choose how, when, where and how much they gamble.
The opposition was from kindly shepherds who think gamblers are the poor, halt and lame: they should be removed from temptation, lest they get addicted to losing their wherewithal - and won't someone think of the children?
The funny thing was that the Parliamentary Labour Party is somewhat short on libertarian toughies and long on kindly Methody preachers - and loads of them hated Blackjack Lil's Bill. Obviously including Gordon, who is becoming more holier-than-thou with every passing day.
The fact that he suddenly said he wasn't going to let Manchester have its super-casino didn't worry me: I've lived in Manchester. Its unique quality of life is not going to be improved any by having a super-casino, and, anyway, I was more of a Blackpool girl.
What does fret me is the muddled thinking over the e-casinos. The Department of Culture, Media and Sport (no longer run by the witless Jowell, who can't even cope with her own mortgage forms, let alone the billions wasted by the department) has spent a shedload of my money on a website explaining how it will regulate online casino and betting sites.
The website offers operators based in the European Economic Association the opportunity to apply for a British licence. This licence will prove to the punter that the site is legitimate, lawful and effectively regulated. It will make sure that he is over 18. It will tell him (should he find himself becoming worryingly addicted to online gambling) how he can obtain caring and non-judgmental help, via links to Gamcare, the online helpline.
It will also mean that the e-casino operators can run television advertisements for the first time actually showing grown-ups playing poker. (However, the actors must all be over 25 and the ads must not link gambling to sexual success.)
The point of the British licence is to encourage the world's casino websites to base themselves here, where they can be diligently regulated night and day by 50 compliance managers newly recruited for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. But of the thousands of online casino operators worldwide, only a handful - 14 the last time I looked - have applied for one.
Why? Because Brown decided to tax all British-based betting and casino sites at 15 per cent of gross profits. Not surprisingly, they have chosen to be based in much lower-taxed places, eg Malta, which taxes at a very acceptable 2.5 per cent.
Ladbrokes has not signed up for a British licence, nor has William Hill, which used to be based in Curacao, but now has moved to Malta. Oh - and since Malta is in the European Economic Association, it will be allowed to advertise on television.
So now we have the most caringly protective online betting regulatory system in the world, hurrah. But none of the big boys will sign up to it. Boo. (The Isle of Man is laughing its head off.)
Of course, the companies that do sign up will be taxed at 15 per cent gross. But there aren't enough of them even to pay the salaries of the 50 new compliance managers recruited for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.
Funnily enough, anyone who looks up the department's website to get help for his addiction to online gambling will find that the United Kingdom's only (free) residential treatment centre for addicted gamblers is called Gordon House. Piquant, eh?
Why the Gambling Act is such a loser - Telegraph
Wired | Best of Burning Man: Fire Dancers, Steampunk Tree House and More ...
Giant steampunk installations, fire dancers and an assortment of crazy characters make Burning Man a one-of-a-kind event each year. These images offer a glimpse of the artistic activities that unfolded at the gathering Aug. 27 to Sept. 3 - "Best of Burning Man: Flames, Art Cars and Discos."
Kinetic Steam Works' Case traction engine Hortense (above) glows on the playa. The art vehicle was named in honor of the artist and mother of Cal Tinkham, the steam enthusiast and railroad engineer who originally restored the engine.
Best of Burning Man: Fire Dancers, 'Steampunk Tree House' and More
Kinetic Steam Works' Case traction engine Hortense (above) glows on the playa. The art vehicle was named in honor of the artist and mother of Cal Tinkham, the steam enthusiast and railroad engineer who originally restored the engine.
Best of Burning Man: Fire Dancers, 'Steampunk Tree House' and More
Saturday, 1 September 2007
The Daily Telegraph | Arts | Shanghai: Art Deco capital - for now
Say Art Deco and everyone knows what you mean: sharp geometry, cool curves, an effortless marriage of style and function. Where to find it, though, is a different matter.
Shanghai sprawl: Greg Girard's Shanghai Falling #1, Neighbourhood Demolition:
Shanghai sprawl: Greg Girard's Shanghai Falling #1, Neighbourhood Demolition:
Dotted around London and New York are palaces of 1920s and 1930s modernism - such as Senate House in Bloomsbury and the Chrysler building on Lexington Avenue - their straight lines and sweeping curves dominating their historic sites or looking almost quaint amid the higher, newer skyscrapers now surrounding them.
But London and New York are not Art Deco cities. The 1930s, the movement's peak decade, were not great years for the West, and while apartment blocks from the period still punctuate the suburbs, they suffered from the Second World War and post-industrial decay. Too often, they look shabby and forgotten beside the sturdier homes of previous eras and the bright convenience of the present.
Continued ...
Shanghai: Art Deco capital - for now - Telegraph:
BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Founder of US punk club CBGB dies
Hilly Kristal, founder of the New York punk club CBGB which is credited with discovering Patti Smith and The Ramones, has died at the age of 75.
His daughter, Lisa, said he died from complications arising from lung cancer.
Kristal founded the club in 1973. The venue lost its lease last year after a dispute over rising rents.
In a statement, Marky Ramone of The Ramones, said Kristal was an "integral part" of the punk scene, and was always "supportive" of the genre.
"In an era when disco was the mainstream, Hilly took a chance and gambled. The gamble paid off for both him and for us. We are all grateful to him and will miss him," he added.
Born in 1932, Kristal became a concert violinist at the age of nine. He went on to manage New York jazz club, the Village Vanguard, before opening CBGB in a derelict bar in East Village in 1973.
The venue, whose full title CBGB OMFUG stood for 'country, bluegrass, blues and other music for uplifting gourmandisers', was originally launched to showcase country music.
Instead the club became a breeding ground for punk rock.
Johnny Rzeznik of the Goo Goo Dolls, who first played CBGB in the late 1980s, said: "So many bands would have never have made records unless they came to CBGB."
The club's final shows, in October last year, featured Patti Smith and Blondie's Debbie Harry.
Lenny Kaye, a longtime member of the Patti Smith Group said: "He created a club that started on a small, out-of-the-way skid row, and saw it go around the world."
"Everywhere you travel around the world, you saw somebody wearing a CBGB T-shirt," he said.
"He wanted the club to survive him," his daughter Lisa Kristal Burgman said. "He is survived by the fans and bands that played there."
A private memorial service is planned, with a public memorial service expected sometime in the future.
BBC NEWS Entertainment Founder of US punk club CBGB dies
Saturday, 11 August 2007
Thursday, 2 August 2007
NME | Arctic Monkeys frontman to record surprise album this month
Alex Turner teams up with old friend for new project
Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner and The Rascals' Miles Kane are set to record an album together later this month.
The pair became friends when Kane's first band The Little Flames supported Arctic Monkeys on their early tour.Kane contributed guitar to Arctic Monkeys' second album 'Favourite Worst Nightmare' and has joined the Sheffield band live frequently this summer to play '505' with them, including at the weekend's Old Trafford gigs (July 28-29).
Now the pair are set to head to France to record an album together in mid-August."We're there for two weeks and we're going to try to get the majority of it done," Kane told NME.COM. "James Ford is producing it and is going to play drums, he's a really boss drummer.
Me and Al will do all the bass and guitar and vocals, and try to the get the bulk of it done in two weeks. We're going to record it quite live to tape I think. Then whenever we've got weekends off at the same time we'd like to get some strings on it and probably do all that back home.
That's the plan anyway."The singer added that the pair were still trying to work out what their project will be called. "We were thinking Turner & Kane but everyone says it doesn't sound too serious," he explained. Kane is currently recording The Rascals debut EP in London - due out in October - with Blur and Elbow producer Ben Hiller.
He expects the pair's album to come out in the first half of 2008, after The Rascals have released their debut album."We want to have a bit of everything on there," said Kane of his own band's forthcoming album. "Some of the tunes do the same job, if you know what I mean, so we'll only have a couple of them on. So when we do it we will have everything."
Arctic Monkeys frontman to record surprise album this month News NME.COM
Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner and The Rascals' Miles Kane are set to record an album together later this month.
The pair became friends when Kane's first band The Little Flames supported Arctic Monkeys on their early tour.Kane contributed guitar to Arctic Monkeys' second album 'Favourite Worst Nightmare' and has joined the Sheffield band live frequently this summer to play '505' with them, including at the weekend's Old Trafford gigs (July 28-29).
Now the pair are set to head to France to record an album together in mid-August."We're there for two weeks and we're going to try to get the majority of it done," Kane told NME.COM. "James Ford is producing it and is going to play drums, he's a really boss drummer.
Me and Al will do all the bass and guitar and vocals, and try to the get the bulk of it done in two weeks. We're going to record it quite live to tape I think. Then whenever we've got weekends off at the same time we'd like to get some strings on it and probably do all that back home.
That's the plan anyway."The singer added that the pair were still trying to work out what their project will be called. "We were thinking Turner & Kane but everyone says it doesn't sound too serious," he explained. Kane is currently recording The Rascals debut EP in London - due out in October - with Blur and Elbow producer Ben Hiller.
He expects the pair's album to come out in the first half of 2008, after The Rascals have released their debut album."We want to have a bit of everything on there," said Kane of his own band's forthcoming album. "Some of the tunes do the same job, if you know what I mean, so we'll only have a couple of them on. So when we do it we will have everything."
Arctic Monkeys frontman to record surprise album this month News NME.COM
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