The Pirate Bay Says Goodbye to (Most) Torrents on February 29

The Pirate Bay has confirmed that all torrent files being shared by more than 10 people will be deleted on February 29. The decision is causing a small panic among the site’s users, but in reality little will change as all files will remain available through magnet links. The Pirate Bay crew told TorrentFreak that this is merely a “step forward in technology” and confirmed that the site is here to stay.
For half a decade The Pirate Bay has been the leading BitTorrent site, but soon its users will no longer be able to download .torrent files.
The first step in this direction will be taken on February 29, the Pirate Bay announced today.
Instead of deleting all torrent files at once, the Pirate Bay crew will start with all files that have more than 10 peers. This is to guarantee that people will still be able to download less popular files, which tend to start slower through magnets.
While there are fears that this is the end of The Pirate Bay, nothing could be further from the truth. For users of the site the upcoming switch is expected to go smoothly.
People will be able to download all files as usual, but instead of using a .torrent file downloads will be initiated through a magnet link. The actual content of the .torrent file will then be downloaded from other people instead of the Pirate Bay’s servers.
Although it might take a little longer for less popular downloads to get started, all files will remain available. Also, users will still be able to upload .torrent files, which will be converted into magnet links by The Pirate Bay.
The Pirate Bay team told TorrentFreak that the transition to a magnet site is “a step forward in technology,” and one that will make the site more resistant to being shut down.
Without torrents it takes less bandwidth to host a Pirate Bay proxy site which are used to circumvent ISP blockades in countries like Italy, Ireland, The Netherlands and Belgium. In addition, the Pirate Bay will become much more portable and thus easier to move around.
How easy it is to carry a copy of a torrent-less Pirate Bay became apparent last week, when a user reduced the entire site to 90 megabytes – small enough to fit on a tiny thumb drive. The Pirate Bay team likes the idea of a “portable” backup of the site and told TorrentFreak that they are considering releasing an official version in the future.
It’s quite remarkable to see how The Pirate Bay has transformed in recent years. The site is no longer hosting a tracker, and soon .torrent files will be entirely replaced by magnet links. Despite these changes the iconic file-sharing site is picking up new users every week.
The Pirate Bay crew told TorrentFreak that users can be assured that they have no intention of going anywhere in the near future. With or without torrents, the site is here to stay.
Ernesto @'TorrentFreak'

♪♫ Drew Smith - Smoke And Mirrors

Drew very kindly sent me a copy of his album and the great back story to the video above:

To celebrate the release of my album I decided to 'outsource' my video to India. I found a virtual assistant from a quick google search and then sent them my song, “Smoke and Mirrors”. By chance, the director ended up being a dance choreographer! After a couple of emails back and forth (plus a few early morning wake-up calls) I found this video in my inbox. It has kind of blown up over that weekend, going to #27 on the youtube charts, and spent half a day on front page of reddit. 160000 plays in three days! Crazy!
Previously my ex-E.S.L. student Sohee Jeon, had become an established animator in South Korea and made a video for The Secret Languages first single “Love Teeth”. The overwhelming positive response to that beautiful work convinced me to again look for a non-traditional video accompaniment. I hope you enjoy the music and feel free to share.
cheers,
Drew

Get the album here:

(Thanx Drew!)

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Black Captain/Coconuts (Black Cab Session)

At last count, one hundred. Not at the same time of course, and you have to ask the cab driver before you can let them in. Confused? Don’t be. Five ingenious London men—Jono Stevens, Gen Stevens, Chris Pattinson, Jonny Madderson and Will Evans from Hidden Fruit Promotions and Just So Films—were sitting down one day and trying to figure out a way to get their favorite musicians to play for them. They came up with the ‘Black Cab Sessions’. This is how you do it.
First, approach a musician. Every indie great has been in the back of a black cab for a session; Brian Wilson, Fleet Foxes, Laura Marling, Weezer, The Flaming Lips, Martha Wainwright and Death Cab For Cutie number among them. Second, approach a cabbie. Every performance is shot entirely in the back of the cab (providing the driver says yes) and is shot in a single take. The final step is to post the videos to the internet for quality viral musical infamy.
This is probably the most exciting set of musical performances since Queen teamed up with David Bowie. This latest clip from the ‘Black Cab Sessions’ is the hundredth in the series and features Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy performing Black Captain in all his crusty glory, accompanied by the darling Angel Olsen. The pink furry hat and the handlebar mustache are proof of how no one will ever be cooler than BPB.
Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy is performing around Australia during March this year and across the UK in April and May. Check the dates here.
Via

Snoop Dog

(Thanx Toby!)

Ms Mona-S

Dolly Parton performs her song "I will always love you" as Miss Mona Stangley in the movie The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas with Burt Reynolds from 1982.

My Funny Valentine

Milan (1964)
Miles Davis - trumpet
Wayne Shorter - tenor sax
Herbie Hancock - piano
Ron Carter - bass
Tony Williams - drums

...unless of course you have a chocolate penis that ejaculates money!

Be my...

(Thanx Bill!)

HA?

(Click to enlarge)

Via

The Mindscape Of Alan Moore

(Thanx Dave!)

Rick Santorum Says Women Should Buy Their Own Birth Control Because It Only Costs A Few Dollars

Former Senator and current Republican golden boy Rick Santorum has a huge problem with women. He thinks they’re a distraction on the battlefield, he thinks they can’t make their own decisions about their bodies, thinks they should be told who to have sex with (no gays) and when (only when married), and thinks women are just baby carriers who should serve the demands of men. Santorum may well be the most anti-women candidate in the field...

Cat Liberation Front

(Thanx GKB!)

Depressed Cat @depressed_cat

I feel like something the cat dragged in.

Path addresses privacy controversy, but social apps remain a risk to users

The bigger question Path raises

Kashgari’s deportation a black day

The deportation of Hamza Kashgari, a 23-year-old Saudi Arabian jounalist, clearly showed that the government has scant regard for human rights, rule of law and justice.
DAP international bureau secretary Liew Chin Tong said it was often cynically observed that foreign policy was merely an extension of domestic politics.
“In the case of Malaysia, it is unfortunately true.
“It was a black day for Malaysia’s international image,” the Bukit Bendera MP said in his e-statement here today.
Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s government detained and deported the young Saudi at Kuala Lumpur International Airport following an Interpol request.
Kashgari was en route to New Zealand to seek asylum.
The journalist had fled his country after his twitter comments about Prophet Muhammad triggered calls for his execution.
The Arabian columnist was detained by Malaysian authorities despite fears voiced by human rights groups that he could face execution in his home country.
He was deported despite his lawyers obtaining a Malaysian court order to prevent it.
Liew noted that Malaysia was now also the butt of international jokes as a result of the BBC’s global apology over the FBC Media scandal.
The Malaysian government paid public relation company FBC Media to make a series of eight documentaries for the BBC about Malaysia, while failing to declare it was paid 17 million pound by the Malaysian government for “global strategic communications”.
Investigations into the scandal uncovered 15 breaches of editorial guidelines of which eight were related to FBC’s programmes on Malaysia.
But, Liew said the millions that the Najib administration spent on public relations companies were meaningless if the government cannot uphold basic human rights principles in the case of Kashgari and uphold integrity in the BBC-FBC case.
“Malaysia is not a backwater banana republic.
“We used to pride ourselves as an important and supposedly principled player in the international arena.
“The deportation was a black day for Malaysia in the eyes of the world,” Liew added.

Arrested in Riyadh

Meanwhile Saudi newspaper Arab News says Kashgari has been detained on arrival in Riyadh after being deported from Malaysia.
Kashgari caused an outcry among devout Saudis earlier this month, when he used his Twitter account to post thoughts about the Prophet Muhammad they deemed insulting to Islam.
The comments by the 23-year-old columnist for Jeddah-based newspaper al-Bilad triggered tens of thousands of Twitter responses, many from enraged Saudis calling for his death.
Kashgari quickly apologized and deleted his Twitter account, but fled the country last Tuesday as the outrage grew.
A day later, a committee of senior Saudi clerics appointed by the king declared Kashgari to be an apostate – a crime punishable by death – and called for him to be put on trial.
Christoph Wilcke, a senior researcher with New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch, told Voice of America that Kashgari is “very unlikely” to get a fair trial in which the offending remarks can be explained.
Wilcke said the senior Saudi clerics who called for Kashgari to face trial also have predetermined its outcome by declaring him an apostate. He said one cleric even called for the blogger to be executed.
But, Wilcke said there is a chance that Kashgari could appeal to Saudi King Abdullah for leniency and avoid execution. He noted the case of Hadi al Mutif, a member of the minority Ismaili sect whom the government pardoned last week after arresting him for apostasy in 1993 and later sentencing him to death.
Athi Shankar @'Free Malaysia Today'