Upon reflection I think this image may be the most useful one to be found online at the moment. It has so many applications.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
One Soul Thrust still claiming to have been pirated
One Soul Thrust, the unknown band whose manager Cameron Tilbury used advertisements to claim they'd achieved "Pirate Platinum status" has scrubbed their twitter feed of mention of the debacle. They still have a blog up yammering about their fictional downloads.
As anyone following the band or their manager knows, the above simply isn't true. No one downloaded One Soul Thrust. Their manager, through incompetence or deliberate deception, made the claim based upon dodgy advertisements and nothing more. He didn't even verify the files were available online. This can be said with confidence because if he HAD tried to download the files to verify the authenticity of the ads, he'd have learned the files did not exist.
Despite this, One Soul thrust feels compelled to opine on their fictional victimization by pirates who don't exist:
You know what else hurts people One Soul Thrust? Accusing innocent people of theft, which is exactly what you and your manger have done. I would venture to guess that accusing an innocent person of stealing from you does more harm than downloading an MP3 off a pirate web site.
On a final note, cashboxcanada.ca still has a link to the debunked claims of piracy on their web site's front page. It says a lot about cashboxcanada.ca's lack of integrity that they're still promoting an article that's been ripped to shreds and shown to be based upon bad data. Are they lazy and incompetent, or do they simply not care if piracy claims are true or not?
Regardless, I'll use the exact same standard of evidence employed to support their article to do some research of my own. By their own standard of evidence the following MUST be a real, heavily traded video:
"Cashboxcanada.ca shareholder meeting child sacrafice to Pan"
Shocking! Human sacrifices to a pagan deity! I wonder if the artists associated with this degenerate outfit know about this? Remember folks, the claim that Cashboxcanada.ca engages in human sacrifice at shareholder meetings is supported by just as much evidence as the claim that One Soul Thrust was the victim of piracy in the first few months of 2011.
We've recently found out that our debut cd "1ST" has gone beyond platinum status!! While this is cause for SERIOUS celebration,yes indeed, its extremely bittersweet since almost all of these "sales" weren't sales. It was illegal downloads
As anyone following the band or their manager knows, the above simply isn't true. No one downloaded One Soul Thrust. Their manager, through incompetence or deliberate deception, made the claim based upon dodgy advertisements and nothing more. He didn't even verify the files were available online. This can be said with confidence because if he HAD tried to download the files to verify the authenticity of the ads, he'd have learned the files did not exist.
Despite this, One Soul thrust feels compelled to opine on their fictional victimization by pirates who don't exist:
Downloading music illegally is wrong. It's theft; no different than stealing off the racks at HMV. It hurts ALOT of people.
You know what else hurts people One Soul Thrust? Accusing innocent people of theft, which is exactly what you and your manger have done. I would venture to guess that accusing an innocent person of stealing from you does more harm than downloading an MP3 off a pirate web site.
On a final note, cashboxcanada.ca still has a link to the debunked claims of piracy on their web site's front page. It says a lot about cashboxcanada.ca's lack of integrity that they're still promoting an article that's been ripped to shreds and shown to be based upon bad data. Are they lazy and incompetent, or do they simply not care if piracy claims are true or not?
Regardless, I'll use the exact same standard of evidence employed to support their article to do some research of my own. By their own standard of evidence the following MUST be a real, heavily traded video:
"Cashboxcanada.ca shareholder meeting child sacrafice to Pan"
Shocking! Human sacrifices to a pagan deity! I wonder if the artists associated with this degenerate outfit know about this? Remember folks, the claim that Cashboxcanada.ca engages in human sacrifice at shareholder meetings is supported by just as much evidence as the claim that One Soul Thrust was the victim of piracy in the first few months of 2011.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Brandon, MS P0wned by WBC, still think they won
According to blackfive.net's take on a quote from a Mississippi message board Brandon, Mississippi "defeated" the WBC. The problem with their rather naive take on the matter is that they played right into the hands of the WBC cult, giving them exactly what they want. Clearly some government affiliated idiots in Brandon thought spewing hate is the goal of the WBC. It's not. The WBC's goal is to sue, sue, sue. The police in Brandon Mississippi just made the WBC's job very, very easy.
The Phelps clan was running their usual act. Find the funeral of a dead soldier and do their best to piss off as many people as possible. It's claimed that most of the WBC income is the result of first amendment and civil rights lawsuits filed against the people, particularly the local governments, that try to silence them. Apparently knowing NOTHING about the WBC other than their tendency to protest the funerals of soldiers resulted in this response:
The Oxford Square
Brandon, Mississippi can probably expect a number of lawsuits to be filed by the WBC family, most of whom are lawyers. The article linked by the OP might end up part of the filing as proof of a conspiracy to suppress the first amendment rights of the Phelps cult.
Using government resources to violate the rights of jackasses is a piss-poor way to honor a soldier who died ostensibly defending those rights. It's a shame Rankin County didn't dedicate more resources to civics classes. After the WBC clan is done with them they probably won't be able to afford to keep the schools open.
How did the poster on blackfive.net describe the events that placed an entire town at the mercy of Fred Phelps?
I HATE it when the WBC wins. I HATE it when those WBC jackasses get exactly what they want handed to them on a silver platter. The town's only hope now is for the tale to either be a complete fabrication or for the WBC to decide there isn't enough money in the county to justify a lawsuit.
The Phelps clan was running their usual act. Find the funeral of a dead soldier and do their best to piss off as many people as possible. It's claimed that most of the WBC income is the result of first amendment and civil rights lawsuits filed against the people, particularly the local governments, that try to silence them. Apparently knowing NOTHING about the WBC other than their tendency to protest the funerals of soldiers resulted in this response:
The Oxford Square
They did show up, a few showed up a couple of days early.
A couple of days before, one of them ran his mouth at a Brandon gas station and got his ass waxed. Police were called and the beaten man could not give much of a description of who beat him. When they canvassed the station and spoke to the large crowd that had gathered around, no one seemed to remember anything about what had happened.
Rankin County handled this thing perfectly. There were many things that were put into place that most will never know about and at great expense to the county. Most of the morons never made it out of their hotel parking lot. It seems that certain Rankin county pickup trucks were parked directly behind any car that had Kansas plates in the hotel parking lot and the drivers mysteriously disappeared until after the funeral was over.
Police were called but their wrecker service was running behind and it was going to be a few hours before they could tow the trucks so the Kansas plated cars could get out. A few made it to the funeral but were ushered away to be questioned about a crime they might have possibly been involved in. Turns out, after a few hours of questioning, that they were not involved and they were allowed to go on about their business.
Ranking deserves a hand in how they handled this situation.
Brandon, Mississippi can probably expect a number of lawsuits to be filed by the WBC family, most of whom are lawyers. The article linked by the OP might end up part of the filing as proof of a conspiracy to suppress the first amendment rights of the Phelps cult.
Using government resources to violate the rights of jackasses is a piss-poor way to honor a soldier who died ostensibly defending those rights. It's a shame Rankin County didn't dedicate more resources to civics classes. After the WBC clan is done with them they probably won't be able to afford to keep the schools open.
How did the poster on blackfive.net describe the events that placed an entire town at the mercy of Fred Phelps?
Sometimes, when all else has fails, you need the good old boys to get things done. Hats off to the patriots of Rankin, Mississippi!
I HATE it when the WBC wins. I HATE it when those WBC jackasses get exactly what they want handed to them on a silver platter. The town's only hope now is for the tale to either be a complete fabrication or for the WBC to decide there isn't enough money in the county to justify a lawsuit.
Monday, April 18, 2011
NZ to Throw People into an Internet Memoy Hole
New Zealand has passed a law that purports to allow copyright holders to more easily cut off the Internet connection of Intellectual Property pirates.
There's a dark side to the law however, aside from the fact that technical issues make the New Zealand law useless or at the very least guarantees a lot of innocent bystanders will be caught in the digital crossfire. The law effectively allows anyone with the time and money to file a few dodgy complaints to cut off the Internet connection for a household or business.
If the entirety of the law goes into effect due process is pretty much eliminated and anyone can be kicked off the Internet based upon a few complaints. One guy who knows how to use a proxy server could file a few complaints and get an entire household's Internet connection cut. Is there a NZ blogger who ticked you off? File some dubious file sharing complaints and you can get him and his entire family cut off in one fell swoop. Is a competitor cutting into your profits? File some complaints and they'll lose their Internet connection. Don't like the review someone wrote of your business? Cut off their Internet connection.
Once cut off, getting back on can be a dicey proposition. Employers wouldn't be happy with their Internet connection being jeopardized by a blogger employee, so continuing whatever political or business blogging that got your home connection severed during your lunch break may just get you fired. If you work from home your business and personal connection is dead. All it takes to cut off a family or business in New Zealand will be one person willing to lie about Internet Piracy. Folks like that aren't exactly difficult to find.
There's a dark side to the law however, aside from the fact that technical issues make the New Zealand law useless or at the very least guarantees a lot of innocent bystanders will be caught in the digital crossfire. The law effectively allows anyone with the time and money to file a few dodgy complaints to cut off the Internet connection for a household or business.
If the entirety of the law goes into effect due process is pretty much eliminated and anyone can be kicked off the Internet based upon a few complaints. One guy who knows how to use a proxy server could file a few complaints and get an entire household's Internet connection cut. Is there a NZ blogger who ticked you off? File some dubious file sharing complaints and you can get him and his entire family cut off in one fell swoop. Is a competitor cutting into your profits? File some complaints and they'll lose their Internet connection. Don't like the review someone wrote of your business? Cut off their Internet connection.
Once cut off, getting back on can be a dicey proposition. Employers wouldn't be happy with their Internet connection being jeopardized by a blogger employee, so continuing whatever political or business blogging that got your home connection severed during your lunch break may just get you fired. If you work from home your business and personal connection is dead. All it takes to cut off a family or business in New Zealand will be one person willing to lie about Internet Piracy. Folks like that aren't exactly difficult to find.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Cameron Tilbury and Salem Jones The Bareback Gift Giver
Whoa Nellie! What have we here:
Cameron Tilbury and Salem Jones The Bareback Gift Giver
THAT'S a weird title. According to LimeTorrent it's just as popular as One Soul Thrust's debut album. Can anyone translate that movie title for me?
Cameron Tilbury and Salem Jones The Bareback Gift Giver
THAT'S a weird title. According to LimeTorrent it's just as popular as One Soul Thrust's debut album. Can anyone translate that movie title for me?
Friday, April 8, 2011
Cameron Tilbury only needed a month to destroy One Soul Thrust
It turns out One Soul Thrust, the band that has been humiliated online by the incompetence and dishonesty of Cameron Tilbury only signed with him in February of 2011.
By the first week of April, 2011, you couldn't look up information on the band without getting results about One Soul Thrust's manager feeding them bad information. In a little over a month, he turned them into an Internet joke.
Around April 3 and 4, the band and the manager posted some statements in their defense, but by April 8, the relevant posts on Tilbury's site were gone. Apparently he thought better of continuing to claim 100,000 pirate downloads when there were really none. Instead of admitting his mistake, he's decided to delete his comments and hope everyone just forgets he screwed up and was an ass about it. Given the short attention span of the Internet that strategy might actually work. Unless of course people keep linking to articles about this incident using his name and the band's name. Unless he admits his mistake and eats some humble pie, the odds are good his incompetence will continue to be one of the top things people learn about when they look him up online.
20 February 2011
One Soul Thrust Unveils New Management
Rock band One Soul Thrust has just signed a management deal with Cameron Tilbury Publicity in the United Kingdom.
...
"We were introduced to Cameron through Nashville vocal coach Judy Rodman," says One Soul Thrust's lead singer/songwriter Salem Jones. "He started getting our music out to international radio and doing our publicity. but he was also talking to booking agents, promoters and other people. We soon realized that he was doing a lot of what we wanted in a manager. Since our focus is international and our producer is based in Europe, we wanted an international manager. It just seemed like a good fit. We simply love C."
One Soul Thrust is fronted by lead vocalist/songwriter Salem Jones. Add drummer Todd Pretty, guitarist Jag Mollerup, bassist Trent Morley, and you have the core members of what one US journalist called "one of Canada's best-kept secrets."
...
Cameron Tilbury is a native of Ancaster, Ontario, Canada and a former Canadian radio announcer/writer (820 CHAM, KX96, Q107, CHFI). He has worked at advertising agencies in Nottingham, Peterborough, Maidstone and London in the UK. Cameron Tilbury Publicity was founded in 2010 in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire--about 85 miles north of London--and is currently handling international radio promo and publicity for some of North America's best up-and-coming talent.
For information: info@onesoulthrust.com, cameron@camerontilburypublicity.com
By the first week of April, 2011, you couldn't look up information on the band without getting results about One Soul Thrust's manager feeding them bad information. In a little over a month, he turned them into an Internet joke.
Around April 3 and 4, the band and the manager posted some statements in their defense, but by April 8, the relevant posts on Tilbury's site were gone. Apparently he thought better of continuing to claim 100,000 pirate downloads when there were really none. Instead of admitting his mistake, he's decided to delete his comments and hope everyone just forgets he screwed up and was an ass about it. Given the short attention span of the Internet that strategy might actually work. Unless of course people keep linking to articles about this incident using his name and the band's name. Unless he admits his mistake and eats some humble pie, the odds are good his incompetence will continue to be one of the top things people learn about when they look him up online.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
George Takei auditions for the role of Spiderman
There's the old D&D joke that Sean Connery reached "Epic" level in the 1990's and "stopped leveling." This is usually supported by photos showing how little he has aged in the last few decades.
Clearly, George Takei got the "Epic Level" rule book so he could keep leveling, even after achieving Epic Status.
In programming terms:
GeorgeTakei = Epic +1;
Every few months:
GeorgeTakei ++;
All joking aside, letting him retool the show into a comedic vehicle could work nicely. It might even, dare I say, save a failing production!
Clearly, George Takei got the "Epic Level" rule book so he could keep leveling, even after achieving Epic Status.
In programming terms:
GeorgeTakei = Epic +1;
Every few months:
GeorgeTakei ++;
All joking aside, letting him retool the show into a comedic vehicle could work nicely. It might even, dare I say, save a failing production!
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Salem Jones probably flunked all his math classes
It takes a special kind of stupid to not be able to tell the difference between 0 and 100,000.
Switched.com has the best headline for this fiasco: Obscure Canadian Band Mistakes Spam for 100K Illegal Downloads
Imageshack has an example of the spam that fooled Salem Jones.
'While I question the exact precision of these numbers--pirates are dishonest by nature--it appears they reflect a strong enough version of reality to bring a serious issue to light.' - One Soul Thrust's lead vocalist Salem Jones, on the fact that his band is claiming their album has been pirated 1000,00 times when it's not even available on any piracy sites.
Switched.com has the best headline for this fiasco: Obscure Canadian Band Mistakes Spam for 100K Illegal Downloads
Imageshack has an example of the spam that fooled Salem Jones.
Cameron Tilbury, a lying SOB?
Until a few weeks ago, Cameron Tilbury'S main claim to fame was being a lackluster music manager and a somewhat psychotic looking Gordon Ramsay look-a-like. Now he's becoming known as a "special needs" individual who can't tell an advertisement from actual search results.
In my recent post Cameron Tilbury vs One Soul Thrust, I outlined how Cameron Tilbury used advertisements that auto-populated with your search results to claim that the debut album of the band One Soul Thrust had been downloaded about 100,000 times. If you actually try to download any of those files you learn something interesting. They don't exist. There are no copies of One Soul Thrust's album available on any illicit file sharing sites.
Cameron Tilbury's piracy claims are not true.
I wondered if he was deliberately lying or just an incompetent moron, incapable of telling the difference between and advertisement and actual search results. Was he also desperately trying to collect on his million pound Yahoo Lottery prize while feverishly corresponding with Nigerian prices desperate to get their money out of the country, giving him an eight figure cut in the process?
Tilbury's recent response to this mess has convinced me he is deliberately lying. I won't do the scumbag Cameron Tilbury the service of linking to his site. Instead I'll link to The Mad Hatter's response to Cameron Tilbury's dishonesty. I highly recommend reading it. The Mad Hatter's article, like my earlier one, uses absurd search criteria to demonstrate the idiocy and nonsensical nature of Cameron Tilbury's claims.
This is Cameron's money quote:
At no point does he admit that his piracy claims are fraudulent. He just weasels out and says the numbers my be off a bit. His excuse isn't completely off base. There's a substantial difference between ZERO downloads, which is what One Soul Thrust has experienced and the 1000,000 downloads Cameron Tilbury claims. That would fall under the criteria of "their numbers are pretty shady too." By refusing to admit that there are no actual incidents of One Soul Thrust being pirated he is engaging in what can be termed "deception by omission." Specifically he's leaving out the critical point that his claims are complete balderdash.
I would advise anyone thinking of doing business with Cameron Tilbury to seriously reconsider associating with him. If his handling of this debacle is any indication, then stretching the truth or even flat out lying are part of his business toolkit. It may seem like a good thing to have a dishonest bastard on your side, but lying bastards have a tendency to turn on you. Do you REALLY want to be in a contract dispute with someone as apparently dishonest as Cameron Tilbury?
If you have an existing relationship with Cameron Tilbury, get out as fast as you can, unless you like knowing that you can never trust a word that comes out of his mouth.
Where will Tilbury go from here? I suspect he'll try to cast this debate as a general piracy issue, distancing himself from his debunked claims. Instead of addressing the falsified nature of his 100,000 downloads number, he'll steer the conversation away from his specific incompetence and dishonesty towards a general attack on piracy. Anyone who calls him out on continuing to lie about the One Soul Touch piracy numbers will be lumped in with anyone who advocates piracy.
In my recent post Cameron Tilbury vs One Soul Thrust, I outlined how Cameron Tilbury used advertisements that auto-populated with your search results to claim that the debut album of the band One Soul Thrust had been downloaded about 100,000 times. If you actually try to download any of those files you learn something interesting. They don't exist. There are no copies of One Soul Thrust's album available on any illicit file sharing sites.
Cameron Tilbury's piracy claims are not true.
I wondered if he was deliberately lying or just an incompetent moron, incapable of telling the difference between and advertisement and actual search results. Was he also desperately trying to collect on his million pound Yahoo Lottery prize while feverishly corresponding with Nigerian prices desperate to get their money out of the country, giving him an eight figure cut in the process?
Tilbury's recent response to this mess has convinced me he is deliberately lying. I won't do the scumbag Cameron Tilbury the service of linking to his site. Instead I'll link to The Mad Hatter's response to Cameron Tilbury's dishonesty. I highly recommend reading it. The Mad Hatter's article, like my earlier one, uses absurd search criteria to demonstrate the idiocy and nonsensical nature of Cameron Tilbury's claims.
This is Cameron's money quote:
Sure enough, it would appear that not only are the downloads on pirate sites illegal, but their numbers are pretty shady too.
At no point does he admit that his piracy claims are fraudulent. He just weasels out and says the numbers my be off a bit. His excuse isn't completely off base. There's a substantial difference between ZERO downloads, which is what One Soul Thrust has experienced and the 1000,000 downloads Cameron Tilbury claims. That would fall under the criteria of "their numbers are pretty shady too." By refusing to admit that there are no actual incidents of One Soul Thrust being pirated he is engaging in what can be termed "deception by omission." Specifically he's leaving out the critical point that his claims are complete balderdash.
I would advise anyone thinking of doing business with Cameron Tilbury to seriously reconsider associating with him. If his handling of this debacle is any indication, then stretching the truth or even flat out lying are part of his business toolkit. It may seem like a good thing to have a dishonest bastard on your side, but lying bastards have a tendency to turn on you. Do you REALLY want to be in a contract dispute with someone as apparently dishonest as Cameron Tilbury?
If you have an existing relationship with Cameron Tilbury, get out as fast as you can, unless you like knowing that you can never trust a word that comes out of his mouth.
Where will Tilbury go from here? I suspect he'll try to cast this debate as a general piracy issue, distancing himself from his debunked claims. Instead of addressing the falsified nature of his 100,000 downloads number, he'll steer the conversation away from his specific incompetence and dishonesty towards a general attack on piracy. Anyone who calls him out on continuing to lie about the One Soul Touch piracy numbers will be lumped in with anyone who advocates piracy.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Cameron Tilbury vs One Soul Thrust
Cameron Tilbury is the manager for a band named "One Soul Thrust", and I feel sorry for the band.
In April of 2011, Tilbury broke the news that One Soul Thrust's debut album had been downloaded illegally over 100,000 times. A small band was being decimated by piracy. They'd gone Pirate-Platinum despite being an obscure band whose one youtube video had less than 80 views. I have videos of my toddler online that have more views than that.
The claim that a band with no real Internet presence could have racked up 100,000 illegal downloads was a red flag to a number of people. After some due diligence it turned out that the claims of One Soul Thrust having 100,000 illegal downloads were complete and bull. Cameron Tilbury, the man claiming there have been 100,000 illegal downloads has released his "evidence", which consists of a screen shot of an advertisement. TorrentFreak details the story in their article CRIA Watches Massive Music Piracy Crisis Devastate Unknown Band. Specifically, the ad is for LimeTorrents, a site that uses your search terms to make up fictional torrents with massive download rates in order to get you to click on the link.
The article One Soul Thrust – Who Is Lying To Them reveals that the album isn't even on Gnutella.
Tilbury however hasn't admitted his mistake,. Far from it. He's defending his position on the Balanced Copyright For Canada Facebook wall.
He's even being a jackass about it. For example, Trent Morley pointed out that Tilbury was responding to requests for supporting evidence with name calling Tilbury wrote:
If that's the case then it should be fairly simple for Tilbury to provide the same evidence to bloggers. Based on the Google results for the band's name bloggers are the primary people writing about this anyway. Deliberately excluding the people who are providing the most information on the issue only guarantees their version will dominate the conversation.
The fact-checking articles I've linked above make it pretty clear that no such torrent actually exists. The question becomes not one of if the piracy is occurring, it's not, but one of motive. Is Cameron Tilbury malevolent and trying to use this to get press attention or is he merely incompetent? He's clearly failed the band in his efforts to promote them. Is this an attempt to excuse his failure to get the band more paying gigs? Is he actually foolish enough to think no one would research his claims? Is he deliberately trying to make a fool of himself online to promote the band?
Tilbury's response on his web site is vacuous to say the least. He never admits that the download figures were based on bad information. He seems downright offended that anyone is even asking him for evidence. In the end his post devolves into an anti-piracy rant, never mentioning the white elephant in the room: The Piracy he's claiming happened to One Soul Thrust did not happen.
It's pretty clear One Soul Thrust needs a new manager. He's technologically incompetent and his management of this debacle is proving a complete inability to understand the relevance of the Internet in marketing the band. There are a lot of graceful ways he could have handled this and benefited his client but they all entail admitting he was wrong. A bigger man could do that. Cameron Tilbury however, does not appear to be a big enough man to admit a mistake.
Now, just for fun, here are some other torrent search results that claim far more downloads than are feasible. Keep in mind, none of these files actually exist, but the images below constitute the same level of evidence that Tilbury provided to TorrentFreak to support his claims of piracy. His screen shots showed download counts similar to the ones in the screen shots below. He appears to have gotten his 100,000 number by totaling the results. This means if the information Cameron Tilbury has released about One Soul Thrust is proof of massive piracy, then Cameron Tilbury is a piracy-platinum blue movie star.
Cameron Tilbury Dealing with constipation audio book
Cameron Tilbury Gay Sex Tape
Cameron Tilbury on the Nixon Tapes
Cameron Tilbury Murder Conviction read in court
To the best of my knowledge, Cameron Tilbury has never starred in a gay sex movie, written a book about constipation or been convicted of murder, but his own standard of evidence, screen shots from dodgy torrent search sites, would suggest otherwise.
I doubt he ever shagged Chris Crocker either: Cameron Tilbury caught in bed with Chris Crocker
In April of 2011, Tilbury broke the news that One Soul Thrust's debut album had been downloaded illegally over 100,000 times. A small band was being decimated by piracy. They'd gone Pirate-Platinum despite being an obscure band whose one youtube video had less than 80 views. I have videos of my toddler online that have more views than that.
The claim that a band with no real Internet presence could have racked up 100,000 illegal downloads was a red flag to a number of people. After some due diligence it turned out that the claims of One Soul Thrust having 100,000 illegal downloads were complete and bull. Cameron Tilbury, the man claiming there have been 100,000 illegal downloads has released his "evidence", which consists of a screen shot of an advertisement. TorrentFreak details the story in their article CRIA Watches Massive Music Piracy Crisis Devastate Unknown Band. Specifically, the ad is for LimeTorrents, a site that uses your search terms to make up fictional torrents with massive download rates in order to get you to click on the link.
The article One Soul Thrust – Who Is Lying To Them reveals that the album isn't even on Gnutella.
Tilbury however hasn't admitted his mistake,. Far from it. He's defending his position on the Balanced Copyright For Canada Facebook wall.
He's even being a jackass about it. For example, Trent Morley pointed out that Tilbury was responding to requests for supporting evidence with name calling Tilbury wrote:
Cameron Tilbury: So are you Trent. I've substantiated our claims to real journalists, not silly little bloggers who hide behind cute names. Nice loyalty on your part, I have to say. Class.
All anyone has had to do is contact me directly. The only ones who ha...ve done that are legit journalists and CRIS. I will not condutct this the way you kids want to play. Grow up."
If that's the case then it should be fairly simple for Tilbury to provide the same evidence to bloggers. Based on the Google results for the band's name bloggers are the primary people writing about this anyway. Deliberately excluding the people who are providing the most information on the issue only guarantees their version will dominate the conversation.
The fact-checking articles I've linked above make it pretty clear that no such torrent actually exists. The question becomes not one of if the piracy is occurring, it's not, but one of motive. Is Cameron Tilbury malevolent and trying to use this to get press attention or is he merely incompetent? He's clearly failed the band in his efforts to promote them. Is this an attempt to excuse his failure to get the band more paying gigs? Is he actually foolish enough to think no one would research his claims? Is he deliberately trying to make a fool of himself online to promote the band?
Tilbury's response on his web site is vacuous to say the least. He never admits that the download figures were based on bad information. He seems downright offended that anyone is even asking him for evidence. In the end his post devolves into an anti-piracy rant, never mentioning the white elephant in the room: The Piracy he's claiming happened to One Soul Thrust did not happen.
It's pretty clear One Soul Thrust needs a new manager. He's technologically incompetent and his management of this debacle is proving a complete inability to understand the relevance of the Internet in marketing the band. There are a lot of graceful ways he could have handled this and benefited his client but they all entail admitting he was wrong. A bigger man could do that. Cameron Tilbury however, does not appear to be a big enough man to admit a mistake.
Now, just for fun, here are some other torrent search results that claim far more downloads than are feasible. Keep in mind, none of these files actually exist, but the images below constitute the same level of evidence that Tilbury provided to TorrentFreak to support his claims of piracy. His screen shots showed download counts similar to the ones in the screen shots below. He appears to have gotten his 100,000 number by totaling the results. This means if the information Cameron Tilbury has released about One Soul Thrust is proof of massive piracy, then Cameron Tilbury is a piracy-platinum blue movie star.
Cameron Tilbury Dealing with constipation audio book
Cameron Tilbury Gay Sex Tape
Cameron Tilbury on the Nixon Tapes
Cameron Tilbury Murder Conviction read in court
To the best of my knowledge, Cameron Tilbury has never starred in a gay sex movie, written a book about constipation or been convicted of murder, but his own standard of evidence, screen shots from dodgy torrent search sites, would suggest otherwise.
I doubt he ever shagged Chris Crocker either: Cameron Tilbury caught in bed with Chris Crocker
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Treehugger is the place to go for BS science news
Based upon the drivel in their article "Could a Link Exist Between Super Moons and Erupting Volcanoes?" it's probably a safe bet that treehugger.com's science editor was dropped on their head a few times as a child.
The article features Donna O'Meara writing about Stephen James O'Meara. Gee, wonder why they have the same last name... The article is a fawning love letter to Stephen O'Meara that makes passing mention of him having a theory, but never provides any real indication that he has evidence to back it up. The "evidence" consists entirely of "Hey, this guy who photographs VOLCANOES thinks the Moon might make them erupt sometimes! He says he has some data too! He's really smart so you should believe him! Galileo! Einstein!"
The piece is peppered with pleading attempts to cast O'Meara as a luminary. Galileo is brought up as a comparison. There's also this bit of artistic license:
That's a breathless way of saying he went up really high and used new technology to see a comet, but his breathless biographer claims he "defied every written word about the limits of the human vision" by simply using new technology in the way its designers intended. You could say the same thing of the first astronomer who ever used the Hubble telescope. This of course assumes the claim is even true.
It's not until after a few paragraphs of irrelevant biography that you get to the actual claims hinted at in the article's title:
That's pretty much it. The article goes on to describe a few mechanics of tidal forces and further speculate on how the moon might impact volcanoes but never provides any evidence. Einstein is mentioned. A vague claim is made that the data exists, but no hint at what that evidence could be or when it is being published is ever offered.
It's clear the article writer doesn't really understand even the vague hints she makes as to what's being claimed. At one point the article points out that "In the historic records a few people have noted lunar phases when viewing volcanic eruptions". The problem with that is the actual PHASE of the moon isn't all that important to the theory. O'Meara's theory, such as it is, cares about the tides. The phase is merely the result of the Earth's shadow being cast upon the moon, not the gravitational pull the Moon is putting on that portion of the Earth at that given moment.
O'Meara's apparent incompetence as a researcher is highlighted, although unintentionally. Many volcanic eruptions are very well documented. If O'Meara is serious about proving his theory, why hasn't he gone over old eruption data and calculated the position of the moon in relation to those eruptions? The data to prove, or disprove, his theory is already recorded, all he has to do is process it. Why hasn't he? If he doesn't have enough confidence in his own theory to spend a few weekends doing rudimentary research to back it up, why should anyone believe him when he espouses it?
One of the final whimpers in the article comes in the form of a tired old chestnut popular among cranks, quacks and con artists.
People with no evidence often lament the pesky need scientists have for evidence. The bar can be high, especially when unseating an established idea, but it's this resistance to accept every new notion that floats to the top of a man's mind that keeps science grounded in fact and not fantasy. Anytime someone uses the boogieman of an entrenched scientific community as a way of defending their lack of evidence it's a red flag that can't be ignored. In the real world established theories are overturned on a regular basis. It's how science progresses and how scientists make a name for themselves. You don't get grants to re-prove something that's already established.
I have no issue with the vague details mentioned about the alleged theory. The notion that the Moon's gravitational pull could have some kind of vague influence on volcanic eruptions is, on the surface, plausible enough to warrant a closer look. My issue is with O'Meara pimping the theory using "science by press conference" with no data or research to back up his assertions. Supporting his claims with research would be more useful. Based on the claims made about his career in the article, O'Meara should know scientists need more than a smug smile and a few self-aggrandizing mentions of Einstein before they accept a theory.
The article features Donna O'Meara writing about Stephen James O'Meara. Gee, wonder why they have the same last name... The article is a fawning love letter to Stephen O'Meara that makes passing mention of him having a theory, but never provides any real indication that he has evidence to back it up. The "evidence" consists entirely of "Hey, this guy who photographs VOLCANOES thinks the Moon might make them erupt sometimes! He says he has some data too! He's really smart so you should believe him! Galileo! Einstein!"
The piece is peppered with pleading attempts to cast O'Meara as a luminary. Galileo is brought up as a comparison. There's also this bit of artistic license:
In 1985, Steve defied every written word about the limits of the human vision and became the first person on Earth first to visually recover Halley's comet on its 76-year return, using a 24-inch telescope and bottled oxygen at Mauna Kea, Hawaii.
That's a breathless way of saying he went up really high and used new technology to see a comet, but his breathless biographer claims he "defied every written word about the limits of the human vision" by simply using new technology in the way its designers intended. You could say the same thing of the first astronomer who ever used the Hubble telescope. This of course assumes the claim is even true.
It's not until after a few paragraphs of irrelevant biography that you get to the actual claims hinted at in the article's title:
On a five day observing trip to Arenal Volcano in La Fortuna, Costa Rica O'Meara's disciplined astronomy background led him to recognize a pattern in the volcanic eruptions that correlated with lunar tides and the Moon and Sun's gravitational pull. The 'Light Bulb' was lit!"
In the historic records a few people have noted lunar phases when viewing volcanic eruptions, but no one has ever investigated a serious link between the Moon and volcanoes and put it to a conclusive scientific test.
That's pretty much it. The article goes on to describe a few mechanics of tidal forces and further speculate on how the moon might impact volcanoes but never provides any evidence. Einstein is mentioned. A vague claim is made that the data exists, but no hint at what that evidence could be or when it is being published is ever offered.
It's clear the article writer doesn't really understand even the vague hints she makes as to what's being claimed. At one point the article points out that "In the historic records a few people have noted lunar phases when viewing volcanic eruptions". The problem with that is the actual PHASE of the moon isn't all that important to the theory. O'Meara's theory, such as it is, cares about the tides. The phase is merely the result of the Earth's shadow being cast upon the moon, not the gravitational pull the Moon is putting on that portion of the Earth at that given moment.
O'Meara's apparent incompetence as a researcher is highlighted, although unintentionally. Many volcanic eruptions are very well documented. If O'Meara is serious about proving his theory, why hasn't he gone over old eruption data and calculated the position of the moon in relation to those eruptions? The data to prove, or disprove, his theory is already recorded, all he has to do is process it. Why hasn't he? If he doesn't have enough confidence in his own theory to spend a few weekends doing rudimentary research to back it up, why should anyone believe him when he espouses it?
One of the final whimpers in the article comes in the form of a tired old chestnut popular among cranks, quacks and con artists.
new scientific ideas have been difficult, if not impossible, to prove to the prevailing scientific community.
People with no evidence often lament the pesky need scientists have for evidence. The bar can be high, especially when unseating an established idea, but it's this resistance to accept every new notion that floats to the top of a man's mind that keeps science grounded in fact and not fantasy. Anytime someone uses the boogieman of an entrenched scientific community as a way of defending their lack of evidence it's a red flag that can't be ignored. In the real world established theories are overturned on a regular basis. It's how science progresses and how scientists make a name for themselves. You don't get grants to re-prove something that's already established.
I have no issue with the vague details mentioned about the alleged theory. The notion that the Moon's gravitational pull could have some kind of vague influence on volcanic eruptions is, on the surface, plausible enough to warrant a closer look. My issue is with O'Meara pimping the theory using "science by press conference" with no data or research to back up his assertions. Supporting his claims with research would be more useful. Based on the claims made about his career in the article, O'Meara should know scientists need more than a smug smile and a few self-aggrandizing mentions of Einstein before they accept a theory.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
No, it's not because people think he's gay
Unmarried Pastor, Seeking a Job, Sees Bias
I don't think this guy's problems are because of fears that he might be gay. The fact that he's unmarried means any attempts he makes at tasks like marriage counseling will be purely theoretical. I've spoken to a few Catholics who insist that it's a GOOD thing Priests providing marriage counseling aren't "tainted" by experience, but damn it, if I want advice I want it from someone who has some relevant experience, not a theoretician who never put the theory into practice himself.
A big part of Christian theology is the human aspect of Christ. His coming to Earth and becoming one of us is part of the redemption. He KNOWS what it's like to face death and pain, to be temped as a man. Having walked in the shoes of the person you're speaking to is a major advantage in any kind of counseling, be it spiritual or secular.
As far as fears of him flirting with parishioners, that too is likely not a real issue. Single pastors are targets in a church. Plenty of marriage minded women set their sights on single minsters. This is to be expected. True, pushing 40 and being unmarried is going to trigger some "so what's WRONG with him that no one has married him?" speculation, but the lack of relevant experience is probably a bigger issue.
Mr. Almlie, 37, has been shocked, he says, at what he calls unfair discrimination, based mainly on irrational fears: that a single pastor cannot counsel a mostly married flock, that he might sow turmoil by flirting with a church member, or that he might be gay. If the job search is hard for single men, it is doubly so for single women who train for the ministry, in part because many evangelical denominations explicitly require a man to lead
I don't think this guy's problems are because of fears that he might be gay. The fact that he's unmarried means any attempts he makes at tasks like marriage counseling will be purely theoretical. I've spoken to a few Catholics who insist that it's a GOOD thing Priests providing marriage counseling aren't "tainted" by experience, but damn it, if I want advice I want it from someone who has some relevant experience, not a theoretician who never put the theory into practice himself.
A big part of Christian theology is the human aspect of Christ. His coming to Earth and becoming one of us is part of the redemption. He KNOWS what it's like to face death and pain, to be temped as a man. Having walked in the shoes of the person you're speaking to is a major advantage in any kind of counseling, be it spiritual or secular.
As far as fears of him flirting with parishioners, that too is likely not a real issue. Single pastors are targets in a church. Plenty of marriage minded women set their sights on single minsters. This is to be expected. True, pushing 40 and being unmarried is going to trigger some "so what's WRONG with him that no one has married him?" speculation, but the lack of relevant experience is probably a bigger issue.
Monday, March 21, 2011
"Equal" Does Not Mean What You Think it Means
It's important to remember that Huck isn't talking about "Equal" by the definition of things like "All men are created equal" but in terms of making Fundamentalist interpretations of Biblical text equal in standing to secular law. It's not about equality between citizens, but about dissolving Separation of Church and State.
Exploiting the Japanese Nuclear Emergency
You add +10 to your saving throw against nuclear bombs!
There's tasteless, there's vile and then there's rank exploitation of fear and the vulnerable.
Bungling cops raid wrong home... for 41st time
The police should be wary of whoever rents this house next. There are plenty of militia groups in the US and UK who would LOVE an opportunity to set a trap for the police. All they'd have to do is rent it under a false or stolen identity.
On the flip side they might get lucky and the place will be rented by a hot nymphomaniac with a fetish for men in uniform, but I suspect psychotic militia freakjobs outnumber such women by a significant margin.
On the flip side they might get lucky and the place will be rented by a hot nymphomaniac with a fetish for men in uniform, but I suspect psychotic militia freakjobs outnumber such women by a significant margin.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Idaho Republicans pass bill to enslave their descendants
The Idaho bill, which excludes issues like class size and workloads from negotiations for the state's 12,000 unionized teachers, was given final approval by the Republican-led House and is expected to be signed by Republican Governor Butch Otter.
I've read some hand-wringing about the current anti-Union movements being the end of the USA and the rise of a feudal plutocracy, but this is not the end of the USA by any stretch of the imagination. What's happening is conservative states are being reworked into pools for uneducated labor. The Idaho bill specifically removes issues like class size and teacher workload from union negotiations, pretty much guaranteeing teachers will be overworked, underpaid and be teaching more kids than is reasonable for providing a decent education. 20 years from now these states will find industries requiring educated workers will be leaving the state, while industries requiring uneducated workers will find cheap labor.
Part of the result is that American Citizens with no viable skills will be taking under the table jobs that currently go to illegal immigrants.
This isn't the death of America, just the death of education in Idaho and any other states that follow this absurd lead. Unless this movement spreads to the federal level, then what we'll see is an increase in the education and income gap between red states and blue states. Red states, lacking educated workers, will have higher poverty, drug use, unwed pregnancy and crime rates than blue states.
Here comes the genius. Prison workers often get a pittance for their labor. They're basically slave labor pools. Patriot missiles are assembled in part by US prison labor. As the crime rates in red states increase in proportion to the impending rise in poverty and unemployment, there will be a swelling in the prison population. The end result will be a massive slave labor pool right here in the USA. At that point the intellectual aspects of commerce and industry will have moved to the blue states, but the manufacturing and product assembly will be happening in the red states. We'll be able to take much of the manufacturing work currently being done in China and bring it back to the USA to be done by our own slave labor pool.
In short, this isn't the death of America, just the enslavement of the red states for the benefit of the blue states. I find it sadly ironic that many racist white Americans are voting for bills that will enslave their children and grandchildren, and they're doing so largely because the black man in the white House scares them.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Bacon in the News!
The article More to bacon than breakfast takes a few standard recipes and adds bacon. The Spinach and Bacon Quiche sounds a lot like a recipe my wife has prepared in the past. I can attest from personal experience that adding bacon to quiche is a tasty addition. I would further suggest that replacing the spinach with shredded broccoli works wonders.
While I use bacon drippings to make soap, ‘Simmer on you beans' talks about cooking corn bread on bacon drippings, a tasty way to add some flavor and spice to the corn bread. While this works best for savory applications as opposed to sweet ones, the use of bacon in things like chocolate suggests considerable flexibility of even bacon cooked corn bread.
Rising grain prices however may cause a spike in the cost of bacon, as the Irish are determined to encourage pig farming, even as New Zealand farmers are winning awards with free-range pigs.
While I use bacon drippings to make soap, ‘Simmer on you beans' talks about cooking corn bread on bacon drippings, a tasty way to add some flavor and spice to the corn bread. While this works best for savory applications as opposed to sweet ones, the use of bacon in things like chocolate suggests considerable flexibility of even bacon cooked corn bread.
Rising grain prices however may cause a spike in the cost of bacon, as the Irish are determined to encourage pig farming, even as New Zealand farmers are winning awards with free-range pigs.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Looking over an MMS study
I've been having some debates with folks about MMS on youtube. I was sent a link to the results for a "study" conducted on using MMS to treat cancer. I read the results, and sent the following reply to the person who had sent it to me:
http://www.alternative-cancer-care.com/MMS_Cancer_Study.html
"I know its not rigorous"
The sample size was only 24 people. This is tiny, too small to be considered anything other than a "pilot study." In real medical research sample sizes this small are never used for anything other than determining if a larger study is justified.
According to the section "Drawbacks of MMS Cancer Patient Study" there was no verification of ANYTHING the subjects reported. It was all self-reported.
There was no placebo and no control. Placebo and control groups are tough in cancer treatment, but generally the control consists of people taking a different medication or following an alternate treatment plan.
There was no consistency in the cancers being treated or the conventional treatment methods involved. If they wanted results worth publishing they should have stuck to people with similar cancers and similar treatment regiments. It looks like easily treated cancers were mixed in with difficult to impossible to treat cancers.
Despite claiming a measly 2 positive results out of a sample of 24, if you read the actual analysis of the "positive" results only 1 person actually recovered. The other "positive" result was that the person wasn't dead yet. We have no medical data on the "positive" respondent's claims about the nature of their cancer or the actual recovery. What's more, the one positive result stated "The original surgeon thought this was a 10-12 year tumor growth before diagnosis." That sounds more like a benign (non-cancerous tumor) than cancer. The study MADE A POINT of stating that the remission had not been confirmed, only that the patient "Believed" the tumor to be gone. With only one success, and a dicey one at that, we can't rule out spontaneous remission or the patient merely being in denial or mistaken about their cancer, if they even HAD cancer to begin with.
The claimed number of cures is identical to the claimed number of deaths. Given the mixed bag of cancers involved this is not surprising,
No effort is made to compare the results to the survival rates for people with similar cancers undergoing similar conventional treatments. This means the "results" are offered in a vacuum. There's no baseline for comparison. It's like saying "Michael is 1.4 Smoots tall" without providing any frame of reference for how big a "Smoot" is.
Even IF the results could be extrapolated for the entire population, saving 1 life out of 24 for a mixed bag of random cancers isn't exactly newsworthy. For comparison take a look at this chart of cancer survival rates by cancer type:
http://rex.nci.nih.gov/NCI_Pub_Interface/raterisk/rates28.html
The chart is not as detailed as I would like. Detection stage is averaged, so early detection cases with higher survival rates are averaged in with late stage cancers. The aggressiveness of treatment is also averaged. Earlier detection is considered one of the reasons breast cancer and prostate cancer survival rates are going up.
The only actual recovery listed in the MMS study was a breast cancer case. Breast cancer had an 80.4 survival rate from 1983 to 1990. This puts conventional medicine at a significant advantage over MMS. Many of the cancers on that list have survival rated in the 80% to 90% range, most are at least over 50%.
This means, if you use the results from the MMS study and compare it to the actual five year survival rates for cancer patients in the real world, it's one of the WORST cancer treatments out there!
I recommend checking out this Mayo Clinic article on what cancer survival rates MEAN for a person's prognosis:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cancer/CA00049
http://www.alternative-cancer-care.com/MMS_Cancer_Study.html
"I know its not rigorous"
The sample size was only 24 people. This is tiny, too small to be considered anything other than a "pilot study." In real medical research sample sizes this small are never used for anything other than determining if a larger study is justified.
According to the section "Drawbacks of MMS Cancer Patient Study" there was no verification of ANYTHING the subjects reported. It was all self-reported.
There was no placebo and no control. Placebo and control groups are tough in cancer treatment, but generally the control consists of people taking a different medication or following an alternate treatment plan.
There was no consistency in the cancers being treated or the conventional treatment methods involved. If they wanted results worth publishing they should have stuck to people with similar cancers and similar treatment regiments. It looks like easily treated cancers were mixed in with difficult to impossible to treat cancers.
Despite claiming a measly 2 positive results out of a sample of 24, if you read the actual analysis of the "positive" results only 1 person actually recovered. The other "positive" result was that the person wasn't dead yet. We have no medical data on the "positive" respondent's claims about the nature of their cancer or the actual recovery. What's more, the one positive result stated "The original surgeon thought this was a 10-12 year tumor growth before diagnosis." That sounds more like a benign (non-cancerous tumor) than cancer. The study MADE A POINT of stating that the remission had not been confirmed, only that the patient "Believed" the tumor to be gone. With only one success, and a dicey one at that, we can't rule out spontaneous remission or the patient merely being in denial or mistaken about their cancer, if they even HAD cancer to begin with.
The claimed number of cures is identical to the claimed number of deaths. Given the mixed bag of cancers involved this is not surprising,
No effort is made to compare the results to the survival rates for people with similar cancers undergoing similar conventional treatments. This means the "results" are offered in a vacuum. There's no baseline for comparison. It's like saying "Michael is 1.4 Smoots tall" without providing any frame of reference for how big a "Smoot" is.
Even IF the results could be extrapolated for the entire population, saving 1 life out of 24 for a mixed bag of random cancers isn't exactly newsworthy. For comparison take a look at this chart of cancer survival rates by cancer type:
http://rex.nci.nih.gov/NCI_Pub_Interface/raterisk/rates28.html
The chart is not as detailed as I would like. Detection stage is averaged, so early detection cases with higher survival rates are averaged in with late stage cancers. The aggressiveness of treatment is also averaged. Earlier detection is considered one of the reasons breast cancer and prostate cancer survival rates are going up.
The only actual recovery listed in the MMS study was a breast cancer case. Breast cancer had an 80.4 survival rate from 1983 to 1990. This puts conventional medicine at a significant advantage over MMS. Many of the cancers on that list have survival rated in the 80% to 90% range, most are at least over 50%.
This means, if you use the results from the MMS study and compare it to the actual five year survival rates for cancer patients in the real world, it's one of the WORST cancer treatments out there!
I recommend checking out this Mayo Clinic article on what cancer survival rates MEAN for a person's prognosis:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cancer/CA00049
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Benihana's food must REALLY suck
It's not often that the news of bad food in a Kuwaiti restaurant reaches the states, but when a restaurant manager sues over a bad review the news is going to get around. Mike Servo, manager of the Benihana restaurant in Kuwait, wants $18,000 in damages because Mark Makhoul didn't think much of their grilled chicken.
I've never eaten in the restaurant in question, but if the manager feels the need to sue someone for writing a lackluster review then it raises certain questions about the quality of the food. Specifically it leads me to conclude that the food must be pretty terrible if the manager needs to use a lawsuit to try and defend it.
Mark Makhoul's bad review is just one person's opinion. A manager suing over that opinion suggests to me that Mike Servo has NO confidence in the quality of the restaurant and prefers to shout down critics rather than address the underlying issues. If I'm ever in Kuwait, I'll be sure to avoid the Benihana chain.
I've never eaten in the restaurant in question, but if the manager feels the need to sue someone for writing a lackluster review then it raises certain questions about the quality of the food. Specifically it leads me to conclude that the food must be pretty terrible if the manager needs to use a lawsuit to try and defend it.
Mark Makhoul's bad review is just one person's opinion. A manager suing over that opinion suggests to me that Mike Servo has NO confidence in the quality of the restaurant and prefers to shout down critics rather than address the underlying issues. If I'm ever in Kuwait, I'll be sure to avoid the Benihana chain.
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