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Gadget of The Week [11.15.06]
How can your life be truly full and rich when you don't have a personal digital projector? (I ask myself this kind of stuff all the time.) Two different companies—LumenLabs and Benq—are offering $500 projectors for the first time that might make our collective personal projector dream a reality. The LumenLab (http://www.lumenlab.com) PM Projector is the first full product from a company that focuses on do-it-yourself projector kits (PM stands for "pre-made"). It's $499 shipped, supports component and S-video input as well as VGA, has a built-in TV tuner, and it uses extremely inexpensive bulbs, unlike many professional projectors. It includes built-in speakers, a remote and picture rotation for mounting to the ceiling, if you're so inclined. The Benq model (http://www.benq.com) only offers 800x600 resolution for PC connections, but it's brighter and pre-configured for HD TV output. (It's also $100 pricier.) Hook it up to your theoretical Apple iTV device and you're in the home project theater business for just a few Cs. (Both are due for release in November, just in time for someone else to feel obliged to buy it for you. Yahtzee!)
DIYs For The Up And Coming
<b>DIY: How (and Why) To Copyright Your Music</b>
Although laws have changed, and now you are not absolutely required to register your work with the U.S. Copyright Office, it is still a very good idea to do so. Your work can become a source of income and recognition for you, but not if someone else takes credit for it. When it comes to music, there are two kinds of copyright: PA and SR. PA stands for Performing Arts and refers to the lyrics, music and arrangement. SR stands for Sound Recording and refers to the actual recording made. If you release a CD, for example, you'll want to register both kinds of copyright. If you are just writing songs (or other musical compositions) and have not recorded them, just use the PA form. And if you are working with a producer or record label, by all means try to keep ownership of the PA rights to your songs. Often a label will try to negotiate these away from you. This means they will receive the royalties if your song is used by another artist or in a commercial.
The Case For Innocence
It was Ron Williamson's obituary in the Dec. 9, 2004, issue of The New York Times that caught attorney and author John Grisham's eye.
[Rev] Veggie Car on a Road Trip
Hey! NPR's "All Things Considered" just did a short spot on SVO (driving your diesel car on straight vegetable oil). A lot of people on the best biodiesel and SVO listserv (http://www.biodiesel.infopop.cc) were pissed at the NPR story because they made it seem like the only people who used SVO drove junkers that couldn't reach a speed over 45 miles per hour, that they use SVO kits sold by Greasel or NeoTeric, and ... well ... that veggie-oil enthusiasts are weird. The fact of the matter is, quite a number of SVOer folk run relatively new cars on grease, at high speeds, and all of that with a system they built themselves.
Dems Bolster Power in Legislature
Photos by Adam Lynch
The Mississippi Legislature moved into Nov. 7 looking on the surface much as it did prior to the elections, party-wise. But education proponents say the new Legislature will likely be more friendly to issues such as full funding of the Mississippi Adequate Education Program and an increased tobacco tax, and the new House line-up may mean trouble ahead for Republican districts.
Farish Street Blues: Rebuilding A ‘Music Town," by Scott Barretta
I wouldn't have a gal on Farish Street, I wouldn't speak to one that lived on Mill
— Doodleville Blues, by John Henry "Bubba" Brown & Cary Lee Simmons
[Williamson] 100 Years of Waste
You flip a switch, and the light goes on. It's like magic. It is easy to forget how much impact electricity has, how it allows us to work at night, stay warm, send e-mail around the world and compute our debts. But generating electrical power has other effects. It is still one of the largest sources of air pollution, although—primarily due to emission controls—the levels of most air pollutants are dropping, according to the EPA.
Yes, They Can
Last Friday, several interns sat in front of their computers, refreshing their e-mail inboxes. They also had their cell phones at the ready, impatiently waiting for the big text message to come from Barack Obama announcing his running mate.
Biden Buzzes, Bites and Brays
Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Delaware, will headline the April 22 Democratic Elected Officials Appreciation Dinner at the Jackson Trade Mart Building on the Mississippi Fairgrounds.
Searching for Dems at the Fair
As Democratic governor hopeful Johnny DuPree took the stump at the Neshoba County Fair, he looked at a majority-white crowd waving signs supporting Phil Bryant and Gov. Haley Barbour.
Property Issues Stall Critical Water Line
Jackson Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. said the city could have avoided two massive city-wide water failures this year had owners of a historic fishing club not stalled construction of a 54-inch water line between the city's two water-supply plants.
Part-Time Justice
<b>Poor State Prisoners Shorted on Legal Help</b>
A recent town meeting in Jackson highlighting prisoner abuse in the state's penal system offered a peek at another legal issue plaguing many Mississippians who find themselves on the wrong end of criminal prosecution.
My Boudoir
With all the talk of man caves these days, it can be easy to forget that it was women who had to fight for the right to have a "Room of One's Own," as Virginia Woolf declared it.
Pinetop Perkins
Mississippi native Pinetop Perkins, whose boogie-woogie blues piano playing backed up generations of blues legends before he took a turn in the solo spotlight, died Monday at his home in Austin, Texas. He was 97.
Legislative Round-up—Week 6: Wasting Away
The Senate had another busy week, passing full funding of the Mississippi Adequate Education Program Tuesday. With Gov. Haley Barbour finally onboard with fully funding MAEP—in an election year—the Senate got with the program and approved SB 238.
Face-Off: The Battle for ‘Tort Reform'
When Sen. Gloria Williamson walked up to the podium on the first day of the 2004 Extraordinary Session called by Gov. Haley Barbour, she had one goal. The senator from Neshoba County, a Democrat, wanted to convince the Senate—an assembly of mostly well-to-do Republican men lined up behind Barbour's mission to end "lawsuit abuse"—to do the right thing. She wanted to appeal to the human side of the chamber, to convince them to continue allowing Mississippians who had suffered horrendous disfigurement as a result of a defective product, negligence or an act of malpractice to collect "pain and suffering" damages.
Red Cross Wants You to Be Prepared
When an emergency strikes, will you and your family be prepared for it? September is national Preparedness Month, and the Central Mississippi Chapter of the American Red Cross wants to remind everyone about the importance of being ready when an crisis strikes, whether the emergency is a heart attack or a hurricane. Knowing what to do can save lives.
Dive Into The Blu
Walking into One Blu Wall Gallery in the Fondren Corner building is a little like diving into the ocean. The cool blue wall at the entrance envelops the visitor completely.
Lookin' Good
St. Dominic's Cancer Center's Look Good–Feel Better program uses certified cosmetologists who volunteer their time to teach female cancer patients beauty techniques to improve their self-image and appearance.