Cage Against the Machine - '4.33' (Mr. Scruff Remix)

When I was asked to remix the re-recording of John Cage's '4.33', it was suggested that the remix be 4.33 of ambient noise from of my life at a given time. That, however, seemed to be more of a cover version that a remix. I received the request on Friday 26th November, whilst soundchecking for my DJ set at Leamington Assembly. I had already set up 2 ambient mics for recording the crowd noise at my gig, so I secretly recorded a short period of time just before the gig started, the 'calm before the storm' if you will, when the crew were running around, doing final checks & tidying up. That was my cover version. Then I sequenced & manipulated the bits of conversation, air conditioner hum, clonks, bangs, mumbles & other background noise to make this remix. Thanks to the featured 'musicians' from my tour crew & the venue!

For more info on the 'Cage Against The Machine' Xmas no.1 campaign, check the Facebook page.. http://www.facebook.com/cageagainstthemachine?v=wall#!/cageagainstthemachine?v=info

(Thanx ANCB!)

NaomiAKlein Defending #wikileaks is not the same as defending rape and anyone who can't see the difference is a complete moron. 4 minutes ago via web

Johann Hari on WikiLeaks

This case must not obscure what WikiLeaks has told us

♪♫ Daft Punk - Derezzed

How the rape claims against Julian Assange sparked an information war

Julian Assange in Stockholm in August 2010, before he was accused of rape. Photograph: Scanpix Sweden/Reuters

Since Julian Assange was first accused of sex crimes against two Swedish women in August, his defenders have asserted his innocence and dismissed the allegations as malicious, or trumped up, or part of a politically driven conspiracy.

To his powerful critics, however, the rape charges have become elided with what they consider his other crimes, including accusations of espionage, for which a number of US political figures have already called for his execution.

But if the WikiLeaks controversy has seemed ferocious in its intensity to date, the fact that Assange is tonight in custody as an accused rapist means that the political, technological and moral culture wars that have been skirmishing for months around the website have reached a new pitch of vitriol, in which conspiracy theories, slander and misogyny have become every bit as central to the debate as high-minded principles of justice or freedom of information.

Certainly there are some, not only in the Australian's legal team, who argue that a rape accusation based on the details of the allegations in the public domain – some of them placed there by the women themselves – would be highly unlikely to come to court in this country. Others counter, however, that even those who support Assange or the principle of free speech must let the law decide on serious criminal accusations.

Two women who say they are victims of serious sex crimes find themselves key players in a very ugly reputational slanging match. Named in court only as Miss A and Miss W, their identities have nonetheless been circulating widely online since very soon after the attacks. And with Assange's arrest, parts of the internet have declared open season on the two women, vowing to enlist an army of tech-savvy research assistants skilled in squirrelling out information that others might wish to keep hidden — described with ill-disguised glee today by one blogger as "the First World Infowar"...

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Esther Addley @'The Guardian'

Anon_Operation http://www.mastercard.com/ is DOWN! #ddos #wikileaks Operation:Payback (is a bitch!) #PAYBACK

Briton dies in Australian immigration centre

A 29-year-old Briton died in an Australian immigration centre Wednesday, officials said, with refugee advocates claiming it was a suicide -- the third within as many months.

Immigration officials said the man, detained for a visa breach, was found not breathing in his high-security accommodation block in the western Sydney Villawood centre at 3:20 am and attempts to resuscitate him failed.

"Investigations into the circumstances of this incident are ongoing," an immigration spokesman told AFP.

Refugee activists said they had been told by fellow inmates that the man had taken his own life.

"This is the third death in three months at Villawood. The immigration department cannot explain this away," said Ian Rintoul from the Refugee Action Coalition.

"Something must be done to break the vicious downward spiral that has developed at Villawood."

The immigration official refused to speculate on whether the death was a suicide, saying it was now a police and coroner's investigation and "it would be inappropriate to discuss the matter further."

"The department expresses its sympathy to the family of the deceased man and will fully cooperate with the coroner," he said, adding that counselling would be provided to detainees and staff.

Two other men have died in Villawood since September, with a Fijian national jumping from a roof to his death and an Iraqi reportedly hanging himself in a bathroom.

Tensions are running high in Australia's crowded immigration centres, with rooftop demonstrations, breakouts, hunger strikes and one group even sewing their lips together in protest after the Iraqi's death last month.

Rintoul said the latest death illustrated the problems with Australia's mandatory detention policy for boatpeople and other illegal immigrants.

After experiencing an influx of such arrivals in 2010, mostly from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, detention centres have been stretched to capacity for months.

"The government's addiction to such an authoritarian and punitive detention regime is literally costing people's lives," Rintoul said.

"How many more lives will it take before the government puts a stop to it?"

@'AFP'