recordsquest

I find the Yahoo! Groups web interface to be totally visually horrendous and difficult to use. I forget my password every single time. I can't stand the advertising. After I try to recover my password, I forget the answer to the "secret question" that I need to answer in order to get my password back. I have also become convinced that I am an android, robot or other artificial life form because I can never read a CAPTCHA -- it takes an average of three tries for me to get it right.

These and many other reasons are why I won't use the Yahoo! Groups web interface. That being said, there is a lot of good stuff in Yahoo! Groups that I need access to. So, I have devised this tutorial for other people who are in a similar situation; wanting to use Yahoo! Groups, but not wanting to use the web interface. I was surprised to find that this is not covered in other places very clearly (like the Yahoo! help pages).

What it basically comes down to is using this text: -subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Lets say you want to join the Oakland Greens Yahoo! Group. In a new window or tab, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/oaklandgreens

• Copy the text after /group/. In this case it will be http://groups.yahoo.com/group/oaklandgreens
• Send an email to whatever-that-text-is plus "-subscribe@yahoogroups.com" ( example: oaklandgreens-subscribe@yahoogroups.com )

You will receive a confirmation email that says, "Please confirm your request to join oaklandgreens". Ignore the directions in the email! They tell you to go back to the web interface, then you are back at square one with the Yahoo! Groups UI. Click "reply" from your email and (without changing the subject or body) click send. If you want to immediately send a greetings or first post to the group, send an email to the group name plus "@yahoogroups.com" (example: oaklandgreens@yahoogroups.com)

Thats it!

Also, there is a nice feature once you have joined a group. Click the link at the footer of each Yahoo! Group email that reads, "Switch format to Traditional" and it will allow you to read the group messages without any advertising. You can switch delivery to daily digest via email as well.

In a typical piece of optimism, Wired writes about a new technology revolutionizing a dying industry. Though the death of the newspaper is a favorite pet story, what is really at issue is the death of journalism.

Without diving too much into the product review -- that is Wired's job -- what I can say is that newspapers in particular should hold no special place in a democracy. The Press, journalism, reporting and the rights and privileges that go along with that suite of things is what is important, not any particular business model to support them. Though having money to support good journalism is nice, it isn't a right that newspapers should hold market dominance over the dissemination of news.

There are plenty of new project popping up in place of the "dying newspaper" that keep me from losing any sleep about the future of journalism. Let's keep our eye on projects like ProPublica, Spot.Us and the Center for Investigative Reporting before we get too upset about Knight Ridder or any other newspaper conglomerate losing market share.

This cease and desist letter was sent to the publisher of a consumer protection website, infomercial blog. The response was handled by Public Citizen. It is a clever defense to an absurd legal argument; but you should read it for yourself.

Favorite quote from Public Citizen, "By this letter, we are inviting you to test the validity of your theory that the writer of a cease and desist letter can avoid public scrutiny by threatening to file a copyright law suit if his letter is disclosed publicly on the Internet."

Previously reported on TechDirt and Slashdot.

This report was released by Virginia Tech (with accompanying mp3 testimonies) and details measures that could have been taken to prevent the shootings. Originally released by the school, there are also three other reports not mentioned in most media coverage.

This document, originally obtained by the ACLU by a FOIA request, details methods that the Office of Presidential Advance, which coordinates all logistics for presidential visits, uses to disrupt demonstrators.

Favorite quotations:

On organizing a brute squad, "These rally squads can include, but are not limited to, college/young republican organizations, local athletic teams, and fraternity/sororities."

On suppression of dissent, "If it is determined that the media will not see or hear them and that they pose no potential disruption to the event, they can be ignored."

This records volume is a collection of materials related to investigative journalism. Enclosed are detailed instructions on how to track corporations, find information on public officials, use the Freedom of Information Act and many others.

Any beginning or intermediate investigative journalist will find these materials useful. There are numerous case studies, laws for particular states in the US and specific information relative to individual industries.

DOWNLOAD TORRENT