have testified that Thomas Sr. reached for a gun in his console when Miller pulled his gun,
but have consistently maintained that Thomas did not fire the gun. The County Review Board
ruled that Miller was justified in killing Thomas in self-defense. During testimony,
Miller stated that he demanded that the Thomas family leave the area several times. Thomas
Sr., he testified, then reached for a gun in his console, which misfired, causing Miller to pull
his gun and shoot. Marshall contends the crime scene and investigation of the case were flawed
from the beginning. Deputy Mel Miller was allowed to have contact with the crime scene. Miller
checked Thomas Sr.'s pulse, wrongly concluding that Thomas was already dead, precluding, in Marshall's
words, aid people from providing medical assistance. Another deputy testified that after the shooting,
he reached into Thomas's vehicle for the gun without blood. Miller was allowed to confer with other deputies,
rather than be placed in isolation. Again, rather than Marshall.
In the Rodney King situation, we had a video tape where the evidence conclusively showed that the police violated Mr. King's constitutional civil rights,
and yet a jury in Simi Valley concluded that the police had done nothing wrong.
Well, in those types of situations, that's why we have a federal government.
For Free Speech Radio News, this is Monica Baskin reporting.
The people united will never be defeated!
Thank you for listening to Free Speech Radio News. I'm Carlos Favara, sitting in for Deepak Hernandez.
Yeah, how's this for a compromise? Instead of cutting off the news when it runs late, we'll just play the shows both at the same time.
Maybe left speaker, right speaker. That way, until they get a watch down there, we can enjoy all the radio that B.A.I. brings you.
Too much radio to fit into a 24-hour period.
Oh, how is everybody this week?
Oh, just fine.
Jim, you've got an article there?
Oh, I've got an article that just reminds me of all my troubles.
All your troubles. Well, that would be many. So which troubles are we talking about here?
Oh, oh, oh, well, we're talking MetroCard funnies once again.
Uh-huh. What's new with the MetroCard? I didn't get to take the train today because I had to park outside because of traffic conditions.
It's great being in a traffic jam that doesn't exist.
You know, it's kind of Orwellian, but you listen to the radio, and they give all the traffic reports, and the one you're in just...
There are ones around you, but not the one you're in. It's like you're imagining it.
It gives you an inferiority complex on top of the frustration.
You looked out the window. There was a traffic jam.
I was in it. I was in it for an hour and a half.
But it was not reported. They reported all around you.
They reported the traffic jams in the other direction on the same road, and they were moving fine.
They said westbound on the... Actually, I said eastbound on the LIE. It was really bad.
And I was going westbound and not moving.
This is going to be absolutely no consolation, but there is a reasonable explanation.
You were technically not in the traffic jam. You were in the rubbernecking jam.
No, it was a moron who had, I don't know, jackknifed his SUV or something like that.
On your side?
On my side. I don't want to talk about traffic the whole hour.
Well, I don't want to talk about MetroCards either, but it is sort of news.
Okay. Tell us what that is.
It's not much. It's just the current Time Out New York, our favorite New York magazine.
Well, one of our favorite New York magazines.
Our technology column, Angela Gunn, who is reporting on our latest H2K2 conference and other things,
goes back and gives a little few tidbits about MetroCard.
There's nothing much new technically.
She just reports on the legendary Hackers on Planet Earth conference and my talk there,
and some little legalistic things about MetroCards and the fact that you can bend them.
And it's more serious than just jumping over the turnstiles.
If you bend a card and fool the machine into thinking there's a fare there,
it's considered forgery.
Just like, as she puts it, adding a codicil to Grandpa's will to give you the estate.
Just like that, huh?
Or doing something that Martha Stewart's stockbroker or Enron's people or WorldCom's people did.
You know, forging the figures.
Like I said, no good news for me or anyone else in this boat.
Oh, you haven't been forgerizing MetroCards?
I never did, but that's what I'm accused of.
So what new comes out of this article?
Nothing much. She just compliments the original Hope conference, and that's it.
There was a front page article today. I don't know if people saw this. I'm still rather shocked by it.
In what publication?
What is this? The McCarthy hearings? I'm going to get to that.
I'm talking about a front page article. That's shocking.
I would like to get into this, and all the information will be revealed.
You're the second person to accuse me of being a McCarthyite in not very much time.
You know, you should look at that. You should ask yourself why that might be.
The recording industry of America filed a $7.1 billion lawsuit
against the nation's radio stations on Monday.
Accusing them of freely distributing copyrighted music.
It's criminal, according to RIAA President Hilary Rosen.
Anyone at any time can simply turn on a radio and hear a copyrighted song.
Making matters worse, these radio stations often play the best, catchiest song off the album
over and over until people get sick of it.
Where is the incentive for people to go out and buy the album?
According to Rosen, the radio stations acquire copies of RIAA artists' CDs
and then broadcast them using a special transmitter,
making it possible for anyone with a compatible radio wave receiver to listen to the songs.
These radio stations are extremely popular, Rosen said.
They flagrantly string our songs together in uninterrupted music blocks
of up to 70 minutes in length, broadcasting nearly one CD's worth of product without a break.
And they actually have the gall to allow businesses to advertise between songs.
It's bad enough that they're giving away our music for free,
but they're actually making a profit off this scheme.
RIAA attorney Russell Frackman said the lawsuit is intended to protect the artists.
If this radio trend continues, it will severely damage a musician's ability
to earn a living off his music, Frackman said.
Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich stopped in the other day wondering
why his last royalty check was so small, and I didn't know what to say.
How do you tell a man who's devoted his whole life to his music
that someone is able to just give it away for free?
That pirates are taking away his right to support himself with his craft?
For the record companies and the RIAA, one of the most disturbing aspects
of the radio station broadcast is that anyone with a receiver
and an analog tape recorder can record the music and play it back at will.
I've heard reports that children as young as 8 tape radio broadcasts
for their own personal use, Rosen said.
They listen to a channel that has a limited rotation of only the most popular songs,
commonly called top 40 stations, then hit the record button
when they hear the opening strains of the song they want.
And how much are they paying for these songs?
A big fat zip.
Continued Rosen, according to our research,
there is one of these top 40 stations in every major city in the country.
There's probably one right here in New York.
This has to be stopped because the music industry's entire economic infrastructure
collapses before it collapses.
Especially distressing to the RIAA radio stations all request hours
when listeners call in to ask radio announcers,
or as they're called, disc jockeys, to play a certain song.
What's the point of putting out a new Ja Rule or Sum 41 album
if people can just call up and hear any song off the album that they want?
In some instances, these stations actually have the nerve
to let the caller dedicate his act of thievery to a friend or lover.
Could you imagine a bank letting someone rob its vaults
and then allowing the thief to thank his girlfriend Trisha
and the whole gang down at Bumpy's?
Defenders of radio-based music distribution insist
that the relatively poor sound quality of radio broadcast
is to blame for the record company's charges.
Radio doesn't have the same sound quality as a CD, said Paul Cubby Bryant,
music director of New York radio station Z-100,
one of the nation's largest distributors of free music,
and a defendant in the suit.
Real music lovers will still buy CDs.
If anything, we're exposing people to music they might not otherwise hear.
These record companies should be thanking us, not suing us.
Outraged by the RIAA's suit, many radio listeners are threatening to boycott the record companies.
I just care about his profits, said Amy LeGrand,
an average Jacksonville, Florida radio user,
who surreptitiously records up to 10 songs a day off the radio.
Top 40 radio is taking the power out of the hands
of the Ahmet Erdogans of the world
and bringing it back to people of Clear Channel and Infinity Broadcasting.
It's about time someone finally stood up to these record company fascists.
Shocking story.
Comes from a publication called The Onion,
I got maybe 40 emails today about this,
saying I had to read this, and I did.
It's quite good.
I wonder how many people actually believe it.
Well, I recognized it as parody as soon as we got to Bumpys,
because Bumpys is just so passe.
Is it? I don't even know what Bumpys is.
They talked to the music director at New York station Z-100,
and if you listen to the guy's quote there,
he's responding exactly the way you would expect him to respond.
He should be thanking us, not suing us.
I think he's the one guy who bought this, hook, line, and sinker,
and believes that they're actually doing this.
I think that one is, because I think that might be a real person,
but maybe somebody at Z-100 can fill us in on that.
It's a serious thing, and The Onion always gets it.
As far as the absurdity of what the RIAA
and the MPAA are saying,
as far as people quote-unquote stealing their material,
it's nonsense, and this is the point of absurdity
that it's likely to reach.
You should contact them and ask them their opinions on this in a serious manner.
Why did they write this?
They have actual opinions. People at The Onion opinions? I don't think so.
They must, because they issued this.
If they told me their opinion, I'd assume they were kidding.
That's the thing. I could never take it seriously.
There was a news story in The Onion, I believe last week,
the week before, about Al-Qaeda telemarketers.
This news story was picked up as fact
by some sheriff's department
and started to warn consumers about the dangers of telemarketers
because you may be giving your money to Al-Qaeda.
Al-Qaeda?
Whatever. Al-Qaeda.
You know what? I think there's many of them.
Are they all the same organization?
I don't know. That's the thing. They confuse us.
Then, of course, there's Cornell University's front, Al-Qaeda.
Anyway, we're listening to the theme
from BBC World,
which we talk about quite a bit on this show.
Somebody wrote in
asking what happened to the BBC World stream.
Just to give you a bit of background,
BBC World is a 24-hour news station
that is run by BBC.
You can't get it in the United States.
You can get little snippets of it occasionally
when your local station decides to run half an hour of BBC News.
But if you're in Canada or any other country in the world,
you can get this on a 24-hour basis.
Those of you like me who have Canadian dishes
are able to just have it on in the background
and watch the commercials.
Somebody asked what happened to the streaming
because you used to be able to watch it online.
As far as I know,
if you go to bbcworld.com,
there's something in the upper right-hand corner
allowing you to watch it.
But you have to have this new player by Real Media
called Real One,
and you have to pay a fee.
They also are trying to charge for this.
I'm not sure if the actual streaming from BBC World
would be a fee for it.
Maybe somebody out there can try that and let us know.
We'll be happy to report the results.
Why does BBC World play into the show?
There was a piece on BBC World over the past week
about computer hackers.
There's a bunch of computer hackers
located over there in Germany.
They've taken over a building in Paris.
Not in the bad sense.
Why is that bad?
It's not nice to throw people out of their building.
It depends on the people.
My point is they didn't go running in there
like paratroopers taking over the thing.
This one is better than the one in Berlin last year.
That was a lightbulb on every single window
that was either on or off.
Now they have the ability to have 7 or 8 different shades.
You have some pretty good animation effects.
The whole city of Paris can see this.
That's really cool.
You wonder why things like that can't happen here.
We are going to be speaking with
a phone system to work here.
The really cool thing was that on this report
they kept referring to them as hackers.
There was nothing disparaging about the way
they were talking about it.
The hackers did this.
They made something look really cool.
They used their imagination.
They put it all together.
You wouldn't see a building like this in this country.
Maybe we can change that.
But you certainly wouldn't see a story
about hackers stealing credit cards
or doing something really bad
that the media keeps drumming into us
that that's what hacking is all about.
People who are online right now
who would like to see the building live
go to our website.
Let's see if we can make a call
over to Paris.
See if our phone system is capable of this.
Note that we're going to be asked
to enter our accounting codes.
I guess that's it.
A French ring.
It is one in the morning over there.
Hello?
Hi, is this Tim?
Yes, this is Tim.
Hi, Tim, it's Emmanuel.
You're live over WBAI.
Greetings to everybody.
We just told the folks about the project
you guys are working on.
It's Blinkin' Lights.de
which is the name of our current project.
Blinkin' Lights is the name of the original installation
and the second installment is called Arcade.
If you go to the page
with the stream links
it's BlinkinLights.de
Tell us something about this project.
How long did it take you to set this up?
I think you already said something
about the installation last year.
After this ran
somebody in Paris called us
and asked if we would be interested
in doing a second installation here in Paris.
They offered us the Bibliothèque Nationale de France
the French state library
and that was an offer we couldn't resist.
We worked a couple of months now on this installation
and switched it on last week.
What is involved?
Is the building in use first of all or is it vacant?
It's in use but the building is perfect
for what we need because
there's a straight space between the window
and where everything begins.
Every floor has one meter between the window
and there's a sun shield before everything else starts
so we have the space where we can install our lamps
and we've put plastic-wide translucent sheets
on the windows
so we can create the pixel effect without disturbing anybody.
So there are people actually in the rooms
where the lights are going on and off?
Usually they're not working at night
but they could be in the room with no problem.
Does this go at all during the daytime or is it only at night?
No, it's only at night. You wouldn't see anything during daytime.
Otherwise we should have used
bright lights
that would kill everybody.
You've got it hooked up in a way so people can actually participate
on their mobile phones. How does that work?
That's right. We have
an ISDN telephone line set up here in the building
and our computer is connected to that so people could just call a certain number.
Actually there are four numbers
and with a number you are selecting a certain game.
So we have four games that are offered to be played on the building.
One of them is of course Tetris, the other is Pong
and there's Pac-Man as well and the Breakout game.
So then you can just interactively play
with your mobile phone just by hitting the buttons,
controlling your paddle, everything.
How come there's not a Pong game up there all the time?
Well, when nobody's playing
we just play back a certain playlist
and...
So if somebody were to be playing that all the time, would it be Pong the whole night?
There's a timeout of course.
I remember seeing the Pong over in Berlin.
That's when you only had the light bulbs on and off and you had ASCII graphics and things like that.
So what other things have people been able to put on
now that you have this improved display?
Well, the new installation allows for grayscaling
so we are actually dimming the light.
This is the new thing.
So people can use these
eight grayscales and they actually do.
So we get many things sent in that
are making use of this and it looks pretty cool.
It's got converted videos and
interestingly made animations
that just make use of grayscale
in a very intelligent way.
How do people submit their contributions to this?
Well, they can just...
Well, first we have a program called ArcadePaint
which is basically a director application so it runs on Windows and the Mac
so you can interactively just paint.
Then you can send them in
using email.
And this goes directly to us
and we have a look at the movies and if it's nice
we just put it into the playlist.
Wow, and how many...
Most of the source code is actually GPL
and we've put it up on the web
and you can compile certain tools to convert GIF
to our XML based animation file format.
Now, how many different
submissions have you received?
I think so far we've got around
250 animations in our archive
probably well like 80% of them
are actually used.
This is just playing in a huge loop
interrupted by, of course, the games being played.
Now, is there a maximum length of the animations?
Not really.
Usually they are not longer than a minute
most of them even less.
There was one that was three minutes in length
which was basically a converted video
although it looked pretty nice.
We are not setting it up because it's just too boring.
Usually, with our experience, if you look at this
usually the animations are much shorter
and with also some nice effects
so we can just switch over from one animation
by the other by adding a flame effect
and things like this.
How far away can you see this?
Oh, pretty far away. I've seen photos from today
making photos from, I don't know, 5-6 kilometers
so if you are on a high building
you can see it pretty far.
And for our listeners in Paris
who aren't listening to this in delay
can you see that from the main city
or do you have to be in a particular part of the town?
Well, it's on the Bibliothèque Nationale de France
so you have to stand just in front of it.
Well, it's not really in the very heart of the city
but it's not in the suburbs as well
Absolutely, it's a well-known building
and it's standing in a place where everybody really can see it.
So, now, from when you got the phone call
from the people in Paris saying, come do this
to when you actually were able to turn it on
how much effort and how much time had to be spent?
I think we were here for the first time in July
when we first had a look at the building
when inspecting everything
since we've been here.
I think real work really started in August
and there was a heated up phase the last two months.
So, we were thinking about many aspects
of all this since Blinkenlicht
because when you do your first installation
you know all the bugs and the problems it brings with it
so we knew when there will be the next thing
we're going to do this a bit different
and this a bit different
and I think we managed to do everything a bit better
so everything is a bit more version 2 than before
especially the driving technology
first we made it completely on our own
and this time we designed our own computer
that's controlling the lamps
so we have sort of a Blinkenlicht computer running
which is actually doing the dimming of the lamps
effectively all the software is running on Linux
all the control software is running on Linux.
How many people actually were involved in the whole project?
The project was around 15 people
like 6, 7 doing programming
3, 4 doing mostly hardware setup work
many helpers as well
and some of them are more focusing on animation
so it's a mix of different talents
and there's no advertising, right?
There's no real advertising
there is a mentioning of the sponsor
For those people in the States
that would like to try something like this
or maybe you guys could come over here
and somehow do that here
what would it take?
Why can't this happen in the States?
There must be a reason why we haven't done something like this
I don't know why nobody in the States has done it
for us it's a bit problematic to come to the US
because we fear to be arrested immediately
that's the main problem
so we are focusing more on Europe right now
Are there any possibilities for future cities?
Maybe, many people are writing us emails
and talking about this and that
but in the end it takes a lot to set something like this up
because you need a building that is somehow accessible
that looks nice
that is more or less metrics based
and usually big rural buildings are not that appropriate
because there are too many parties living in it
so you can't just move in every office every day
it's already a problem here with the administration
all the bureaucracy involved in this state-run building
but there are more than one party
it really gets complicated
but if it's an empty building that's probably under construction
or just being built anew
like the month before everything is being prepared for rent
then it's possible
You know what building would be perfect?
Yeah, but first we have to kick all the guys out
Come on guys, let's do it
let's just go over there and say
we're just going to play with your lights a little bit
Yeah, we're making really use of this building now
That's my new project
is to try and get something like that going in New York
because I think it would be really cool
What's on the display right now, can you tell us?
Yeah, you must have a look at the playlist now
Yeah, it's basically 2600 running up and down
and you are listening to Off The Hook
and your nice big brother is also on display
exactly at this moment
so you can see it in 30 seconds on the screen
That's unbelievable
Yeah, and if somebody would like to take up
on the software we've done
the software is on the net and everybody can contribute
So people can contribute during the show now
and can they maybe have their displays displayed tonight?
Well, they're sending in animations
we're probably able to put it into the playlist
there's some work around like receiving the email
but generally, yes
but I'm more talking about the source code project itself
I mean, we're having it under GPL
and we want to make it the OS for blinking buildings
Now you have to download the software
in order to be able to submit something, right?
And that's all on that same site as well
Yeah, so who's technically inclined enough
can directly program something that's creating the animation
and so our animation file format is XML-based
so this is pretty easy to do
and if people are more used to using mouses
we have the point-and-click interface as well
Cool. Jim, you had a question?
I was wondering if we could get a photo of the building
with our mention on it
or a capture from the live streaming video
You will get your big brother as soon as possible
We're already working on this
Thank you very much
And other photos are already on the website
Now Tim, you're based in Germany originally, right?
Yes
Are they involved in any other projects?
I know the congress is coming up later this year
Is anything else happening?
Yes, like every year the Karls Kommunikation Kongress
Which means it's always on a different day
It's always on a different weekday
but always at the same date
Well, isn't it sometimes on a weekend as well?
Yes, sometimes, but always between Christmas and New Year's Eve
so it's basically the same
And same place, right?
The former Communist Party headquarters in East Berlin or whatever
Yes, in East Berlin
I heard there's talk of a camp next year
I've heard of it
We're thinking about this
Nothing is decided yet
but we know that next year is the slot
Let's hope that works out
Check out our website
and I think you will know
Which is ccc.de
Tim, do you want to stick around and take some phone calls?
I know it's 1 o'clock in the morning over there
Do you want to stick around for a few more minutes?
Yes, sure
We're talking to Tim from the KRS Computer Club
Are you the head of this project?
I would call it the project coordinator
We are all heads here
That's good
You've been coordinating the display
on this building in Paris
that shows all kinds of animation and displays
and games of Pong and Tetris and all kinds of other fun things like that
What kind of response have you gotten from the people of Paris?
Well, I get on too much in the 18th floor
so I haven't really talked to that many people
but response is coming in
We get tons of emails
I'm excited about it
Actually, we're preparing for the last night
which is this weekend on Saturday
There will be a party going on
We are preparing our last hack here
We are going to couple the music
and setting up a huge frequency display on the screen
so we are having a live visualization of the music
and probably even the VJ mixing live on the screen as well
And you have the building until this weekend?
This weekend, yeah
So it will be the last night on Saturday to Sunday
Alright, so people who want to submit their animations had better hurry
Again, the site is blinkenlights.de
b-l-i-n-k-e-n-l-i-g-h-t-s
blinkenlights.de
slash arcade
slash arcade to see all the other options
Okay, if anyone wants to call in
212-209-2900 is our phone number
Country Code 1
We had quite a lot of mail from people who had suggestions and ideas
as to why we're being expected to dial an extra 1
even when we have to dial the area code
Maybe we'll get to that a little bit
Let's see if we can take some phone calls first
Good evening, you're on the air
I just want to know what you're describing
because I think you have an easy access to being able to do it
Is this something like the now Joan Paik installations
where you have a bunch of screens, windows instead of screens
and there's a separate screen showing an animation, like a cell?
Is that the idea, like the facade of the building?
Well, the whole building is the display
The whole building is what?
Is the display
That's a good example
Just imagine the front of that building just having a display of animation
That's what it is
Yeah, I'm reminded of something in one of the biennial exhibits
of Joan Paik, but it was on a building
Our very own building owner
Silverstein Properties
He is the person that
his company is known for doing quirky things
One floor of a building will be a raceway of lights
You know that one on Water Street where there's a
looks like a calendar, but it's the elevator floors going up and down
Are you familiar with the one I'm talking about?
Well, I'm just familiar with the name as far as rent complaints and things like that
No, you'd have to see his whole other side
It's quite interesting, it's a non-profit building
He has about 10 or 12 buildings
and everyone who has an unusual
artistic contribution done
somehow very
conservatively expressed in the facade or within the building
but you can see when you're going over the Brooklyn Bridge
for example, one of them is the whole floor
midway up the building, something like that, the 40th floor
is where the HVAC plant is of the building
and there's all different lights like racing around
and sort of looks like a Rube Goldberg type effect
Well, that's one floor
We can get another 39 floors involved in that
It's really the whole building is affected by it
but this guy has
I'll work with you on it
Rem Koolhaas, the Dutch architect, is doing something
similar
so let me stay in touch with you on it
because our very own landlord might very well be the guy
Let me just express my skepticism right at the outset
We'll see
212-209-2900
and good evening, you're on the air
OK, let's make this fast, Rebel
Your design, your idea with the building
with the design reminds me of
I know you don't have advertisements
but I know that there are advertisements on floors
and bus terminals that are not like lights
it's just like, you know, lights
and then there's audio advertising
You're talking about the advertising that comes out of windows and hits the sidewalk
Is that what you're talking about?
No, no, it's not that
but then there's advertisements when you walk into places like a bus station or train station
There's advertisements on the floor, there's like a little billboard on the floor that you walk on
Yeah, that's why they invented spray paint
And then there's advertising for audio ads in the supermarket
like they'll, you know, they'll be like an audio ad
Are you just trying to depress us tonight? Say something positive
You know, and then there's these squeaks, Jason, that say
lose weight and win a vacation
There's also word of mouth ads where somebody incessantly repeats the same thing
day after day, week after week
Good evening, you're on the air
Speak up, please, go ahead
I came at the end of the conversation and you gave out a web address
Could you give that address again?
Slash arcade
Thank you very much
Why not?
Good evening, you're on the air
Hello
Hi, this is amazing
I'm watching it live, you can't see it now?
Well, no, I'm in the studio, so I can't see anything
Before it was a man's face, before it was a woman dancing, a bird flying
Incredible
What kind of lights are these? Are they fluorescent lights or special lights?
Just ordinary floodlights
Like 150 watts, and we use two of them for each window
Okay, so it's like two pixels per window
It's two, well, one window is one pixel
but we use two lamps for one window
because it's a very high, very tall window
It's like 360 meters high, 180 in width
Okay, so it's one pixel per window
Pardon?
So that would be one pixel per window
Yeah, we turn one window into one pixel
because we just take up on what's already there
So we have 520 pixels, 20 lines and 26 columns
So you just tap into the building's automation system already
You don't add anything to it
Pardon?
You're using the building's own automation system for the lights
Absolutely not, we didn't use anything of the building
The only infrastructure we used was the internal spare
glass fiber network cables and Cat5 network cables
to set up our own internal network
which is completely separate from anything that's running in here
and we have installed the lamps
we have attached control cables to these lamps
All the control cables in each floor run together to a single control computer
and these control computers are all interconnected
so it's all this simple network, simple even network
and there's a single computer here on the 18th floor
that's permanently sending out frames, the pictures, the animations
and each control computer just picks up the line
that is his job to display
I'd like to say it's amazing
You'll find a pretty accurate description on our website
Okay, I will look at that
Yeah, and for the Linux guys
there's a very cool article on linuxdevices.com
on the project, very technical, very correct, very cool
with pictures
And for our North American listeners who don't know metric
just a quick conversion
the windows are roughly 12 feet tall by 6 feet wide
Thank you
20
It's pretty high
Yes, I am
18, so it's the third line from the top
Yes, but the sunshade is still in between
so you can't see me
If you'd like, I can wave
I can even be a shadow for you
I doubt the telephone cable is long enough to stay online
Speak up
Emmanuel, hey
I just wanted to call and say that this blinking light thing is really cool
And I just want to say I just got Freedom Down Time in the mail
Oh, cool
I thought it was really awesome
Really great movie
Me and my mom watched it, she thought it was awesome
She doesn't know anything about hacking
We all liked it
I just wanted to say, man, you guys are awesome
I can tell you this, man
I watched it with my mom, she thought it was awesome
She didn't know who Kevin Mitnick was
I try to make it up for some of the New York 2600 meetings
I kind of lack a car now
Keep up the good work, Emmanuel
All right, guys, later
We're going to be live in our studio in two weeks
I'm glad this person reminded me to say that for our special fundraiser
We're going to be fundraising next week, too
But in two weeks, Kevin will be here and he'll have copies of his book
Yes, that's right, his new book, which will be out by then
Tim, what kind of media coverage have you gotten for the Paris Blinking Lights Project?
Well, it's just taking up right now
There was a very, very good TV report on BBC World just recently
Yes, which nobody in this country probably saw
Yeah, but that's why we have internet
And you can actually grab a copy from our press site on Blinking Lights
So BlinkingLights.de will reveal this movie to you
Pretty nice
Anything else?
Well, things are in the works
There will be documentation on RT, which is the French-German culture channel
Here in Europe, you probably don't know it
But it's probably the best TV station there is
And I know many camera teams are running around here
So they're going to air it this week
I hate to ask, but any American media people?
So far, I think only IDG Communications was here having an interview
And that's all
And Off the Hook
And Off the Hook, of course
But we're not video
OK, cool
Yes, how would one get involved with 2600?
Oh, that's right
Tell us what you want to do
I'm not exactly sure
I wanted to see what was available
The 2600, as far as I know, the little that I know
They're doing a lot of wonderful things
Where is the meeting?
I'm in Brooklyn
Cool
Great, thank you so much
This is Astrocom Chelsea, how you doing?
You know, Walter Annenberg died yesterday
Really?
He owned Triangle Publications
I think he was 94, 95 years old
He gave a billion dollars in phony art to the Metropolitan Museum of Art
He bought an auction house for inflated prices there
And then he started the Annenberg School of Communication
University of Pennsylvania, University of California there
And he was quite a character there
His father, Moe Annenberg, served a year and a half
In the Louisville Penitentiary for stealing eight or nine million dollars
His father and him founded Philadelphia Inquirer
Which wins a lot of Pulitzer Prizes there
And his father there, Max Annenberg, according to the book
Al Capone there
And there was a Chicago Tribune circulation there
And there were Capone and Settler strikes out there
I think it would make a great movie
Annenberg's life story of his father and him
A great movie and charge $9.50 for popcorn, candy and soda
You know what I'm saying?
Al Capone was a great character
Sitting down at the Chicago Tribune
At Annenberg, you know
And thanks for the history lesson as well
212-209-2900, good evening, you're on the air
Hey, how are you doing, Emmanuel?
Hey, great show
So, I've got a question for you here
That stream that these guys are running is really fast
In fact, I've dropped WBAI a couple of times tonight
But kept their stream. Why are they running over there?
Tim, what are you guys running? What kind of connection do you have?
The stream?
Yeah, the video stream. I'm sitting here streaming it off the hook
And I keep dropping off the hook
But your stream is solid
Well, we're not streaming directly from the building
It's just a streaming company that's doing it with their lines
Don't really know what their connection is
But there are many options available
You have a 100-kilobit and a 300-kilobit stream
Are you able to tell how many people are connecting to you?
Can you tell how many people are connecting and watching the video?
No, I haven't had a look on the statistics, but I guess it's a few
I'd say it's more than a few now
Yeah, they're running a matrix code right now
They're doing like a matrix code. It's pretty cool
Well, actually, I'm delayed from you guys probably
So, yeah, I don't know
From the off-the-hook playlist to the general playlist
I see 3D cubes rotating and other funny things happening
One other question for you
Can people submit direct XML files
Rather than giving the animations to convert and stuff?
Oh, absolutely
And we really prefer our own Blinklight markup language
Because it retains all the meta information about the author and everything else
So BML is preferred
And GIF is just the option
It's the easy way out
Alright, thanks for calling
Tim, does this run until sunrise all night long?
Yeah
And you have people submitting things from all around the world
Yeah, it's pretty cool
Like emails from Taiwan
Oh, I just saw this on TV
There's one guy in Australia who's already given us tons of cool animations
And the best ones are from him
So this is a really global thing going on
Cool
Alright, let's take some more phone calls
And good evening, you're on the air
Yeah, hi
This may be a silly question, but is this technology protected somehow?
Or are buildings all over the world soon going to have commercial messages on them?
Well, this isn't a commercial message
I don't know, but I see that happening really soon
You mean you're afraid of buildings using this just to promote products and things like that?
Oh yeah, don't you see that happening really soon?
I guess around here, yeah, that is quite possible that that would happen
It would be subverted in that way
Well, Tim, let me ask you
Have you met any kind of resistance from people that are afraid it will turn into some kind of advertising billboard?
No, we had a discussion with the bibliothèque, sure
So they were pretty angry that this could happen
But, well, it doesn't, because it's straight that this is an artist project
And, well, we are mentioning the sponsor on the building
But that's all
So it's very reduced
And, of course, many people are turning to us
Well, we are the marketing event agency LaLaLa from TraLaLa
And we want to do it for this and that and Coca-Cola and what else
And, well, you know
It's not really fun to do this for a commercial thing
But do you think that's a danger that that could happen in the future?
Danger? I mean, in the end
If all the companies in the world start running their advertisement on buildings
Which is an easy thing to do, of course
Because you still need the building
And you need the public to agree with this
Because if they get disturbed
You prevent companies from doing that
I mean, that's the same discussion with huge billboards and everything
So there's no real difference
Right now we're at the start
But, well, you know, I know this has to happen
And we just did it
I mean, we haven't been the first one
The first project of this kind was, as far as I know
At the MIT, the VU Meter
Also the first Tetris, also in Boston
Then there was a similar project in Brussels
Called Manix, which already used colors
But was amazingly expensive
And the TU Technical University in Delft in Holland
Did also a Tetris
Were they as big as this, though?
Well, right now we are getting the records back here
This is definitely the biggest installation so far
The biggest Tetris, the most active installation, and so on
Are people actually able to play a good game of Tetris on this thing?
Pardon?
They're actually able to play a decent game?
Yeah, they do, they're calling all night
Wow
All right, let's take another phone call
212-209-2900
Good evening, you're on the air
Hello?
Yes, go ahead
Hi, I'm online?
You're on the air, yes
Oh, hi, I'm calling from Paris
Yes, thank you, and I'll go in and I'll check it out tomorrow
Tell me...
You're in Paris?
I am now, yes
I'm a regular listener to BAI
Thanks to ADSL
And yeah, I'm also looking at the stream
Probably getting it a little quicker than you
And it's beautiful
What's holding back adding color?
Ooh, the color question
Well, for color, you need at least three separate lights
For a window to mix it
And you have two lamps?
We haven't done the test yet
But we expect a problem with blue
Because if you're using ordinary light bulb technology
You have a lack of blue in this
So you probably need even four lamps
And, well, first of all, we were not that interested in color at all
Because we started with blinking lights
With pure monochrome low resolution
And we knew that the next step could only be doing grayscaling
Yeah, it's just the evolutionary step in this project
So, if there will be the next installation
We are, of course, thinking about this
We could do color with fluorescent tubes
But this is pretty expensive
And I assume Paris supported this endeavor
And is that how you get your funding?
Yes, it is part of the Nuit Blanche festival that's going on this weekend
Yes, the White Night
Which is organized by the Mairie de Paris, the mayor of Paris
And that's why they asked us
So we are more or less part of this single night
Although our installation is running for 11 nights
So our last night is the night of the Nuit Blanche
And you probably have already seen all the posters hanging around
So we are just one of the projects
And on Saturday night, much more will happen around Paris
Sir, you're in Paris now, but you can't see the actual building
No, actually, I'm on the edge
No, I'm not
But I'll see tomorrow night
I'd like to know if I can submit
Must it be an animation?
Or can I convert a JPEG into an animation?
It should be either GIF or our own animation format
But you'll find it on the web
It's pretty good
Convert a JPEG, I'm sure that'll work
JPEG is just a single image
It would be nice if you would at least convert it to GIF yourself
And you have to care about some aspect ratio
We do not have square pixels
But the aspect ratio is 2 to 1
So if you take care about this
And you send it to me and you mention Off The Hook
I will make sure your animation gets on screen as fast as possible
I'd love to see it
Well, thanks for calling
Thank you
Take care
Make it nice
That's great, we got a call from Paris
It's almost 2 in the morning there
And there's people listening to us in Paris
That's really cool
Question from the studio
I just want to say that you could use filters
Instead of separate lamps for different colors
Yeah, that's something worth thinking about
But we were so busy with the grayscaling stuff here
And we ran into a lot of problems here with the electricity
It's really amazing to see when you're doing this
Because there are tons of other things
Sipping from the electrical power
So we had problems with flashing lights
And if you look at the image
You can see that we do not get all the pixels right
Especially in the 5th to 7th floor
We have a real weird problem
We don't really know how to figure out
And we probably won't until the end of the installation
Some troublemakers on those floors
We already learned a lot
Okay, let's take another phone call
Actually, the floor where the president has his bureau
Maybe that's the reason
How about that
Good evening, you're on the air
Oops, that's an American dial tone, huh?
I haven't heard one of those in a while
Let's try this one over here
Good evening, you're on the air
Two of them
Okay
One more try
Good evening, you're on the air
Emmanuel
Yes, go ahead
Hi, I just called in before about Freedom Downtime
Yeah
I was wondering if
I just tuned in in the middle of the show
I was wondering if you guys talked about
Kevin Mitnick's laptop on eBay
Well, that happened a while ago, didn't it?
It's still on there
Oh, it is still on there
Yeah
Why don't you tell us?
It's up to like $9,100
Really?
Yeah, I was like the first person to bid on it
And now it's up to like $9,100
And I can't afford that
I was wondering if you guys knew about that
When does it expire?
Four days, I think
Four days
Well, I guess if people want Kevin Mitnick's laptop
They're running out of time
Yeah, apparently they put a new version of Windows 95 on the 486
Go figure, I guess they wiped all the stuff out
Well, I'll take a look at it when I get online
It's an interesting thing to keep track of, I guess
Yeah, yeah
Alright
Well, I just wanted to let you guys know
If you guys didn't know already
Alright, thanks for letting us know
Later
Take care
Good evening, you're on the air
Yes, good evening
What's up?
Listening to you guys
I just stepped back into the house
Listening to you guys talking about
Something happening on a building in Paris
Yes
And there's a website associated
That's right
With the URL
The URL is blinkenlights.de
As in Deutschland
Slash arcade
Slash live
And if you just want to learn more about the program
And the project
And all that kind of thing
Just leave off the slash live
And you'll learn about that
Okay
blinkenlights.de
Slash arcade
Slash live
That's right
Thank you
Alright
And that's, I think, the last time
I'm going to give out the URL
I've done it so many times
Good evening, you're on the air
Pick up
Hi, this is Michael Sieber calling on behalf of
White House Credit Foundation
And not
You can go to hell
Good evening, you're on the air
Did you know that you have been approved
How did that happen on two lines?
Two lines at once
Someone's messing with us
Good evening, you're on the air
Hi, I was wondering if there was any plans for
Freedom Downtime 2
Can you turn down your radio, please?
Freedom Downtime 2?
Well, Kevin would have to be put back in jail
For that to happen
And I don't think that anybody wants that
Well, there's always going to be a story to tell
Whether we're the ones telling the story
Or somebody else
I guarantee someone's going to tell the story
As long as there's, you know, camcorders
And people who have the desire to tell something
So, I guess, you know
It won't be called that, most likely
But we'll have all kinds of different projects
To work on
And we're always open to ideas
I see
Well, thank you
Okay, thanks again
And let's take one last phone call
And then we've got to say goodnight
Let's go over here
And you're on the air
Speak up
Hi, I don't know if you know this
But JPEG Adaptive is owned by
IBM, AT&T, and Mitsubishi
Okay
And I'll bet
GIF is owned by something similar to that
And I'm just getting about six months
Before this becomes
The new advertising media of the world
Any comments on that, Tim?
I'm not sure I did get that
I think he was predicting something ominous, Jim
Well, I have a comment
In my earliest life
Way back when
When I invented writing
I mean, I was approached by a salesman
Who wanted to use this to advertise
But I figured that the good outweighed the bad
Thanks, Jim
Tim, any final words?
I couldn't have said it better
Okay, well, I want to thank you for being part of this
And best of luck in the project
And keep doing things like this
It's a real inspiration
Anything you want to tell the folks
As final words?
Well, join into the project
As long as it runs
And we are very happy for every feedback we get
And maybe the programmers out there
Are interested in the code as well
And we'd like to get in contact with you
Okay, and people
Please come to the Chaos Congress in December
More information on the website ccc.de
And hopefully there'll be a camp next summer
And we'll see you again next week
And in two weeks
We'll have Kevin Midnick in the studio
Manuel Goldstein for Off The Hook
Have a good night
Okay, bye
Hold it, hold it, listen
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I want my Soca
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