Note to Managers: The Internet Will Tattle on You

In between bouts of medicine-taking and sleeping, I noticed something interesting on Twitter. According to Weird Al Yankovic (@alyankovic), a parody song that he had already recorded was rejected by Lady Gaga.

Now, I've been a Weird Al fan since I was little and my brother and I would blast his cassettes to drive my mother crazy. I'm also a musician and work in music libraries, so I make a point to try to learn how different musicians run their businesses. So, I know that in order for one of his parodies to get to the recording stage and THEN be rejected, something went wrong. Al has a policy that before he writes any parodies, he contacts the original artist and gets permission on the concept. This policy is unnecessary by US law, but most musicians appreciate the gesture. Also, most musicians approve the parody in question.

According to his blog, Weird Al has been jumping through all sorts of hoops to get his latest parody, "Perform This Way," approved. Its an obvious playful jab at Lady Gaga's "Born This Way." Al even decided BEFORE he even sent a concept along that he would have all the proceeds of this song go to the Human Rights Campaign. This was based on his respect for the message behind "Born This Way" and Gaga's known stance on promoting LGBTQ rights.

He was still told "no." So, since he had already recorded the song, he released it for free via YouTube today and then would set up a download later. On the YouTube video, he clearly states that he didn't get permission to release the song commercially, but enjoy it for free and consider donating to the HRC.



So, the internets, now aware of the situation, flooded Lady Gaga's Twitter and other pages with their thoughts on the matter. They had a hard time believing that this woman had lost her sense of humor. To be fair, Al didn't post the information to cause this reaction, he's just trying to avoid another "Coolio" incident that would haunt him in interviews for years to come. Humorously enough, Lady Gaga soon contacted Weird Al and said not only did she not know he was writing a song, but she approved of it. Apparently, her manager never told her about the song, he just made the decision himself. Oops.

Al's latest blog post covers the details. So, the song will be on Al's upcoming album and he will be able to produce a music video based on it. I, personally, I'm waiting in delighted dread for the video.

Sick

Ugh, I'm late on this week's blogging because I've been sleeping most of the day. Allergies morphed into an upper respiratory infection that is just beginning to fade.

I'm not usually the type to panic every time I get sick, but I am cautious. I have an autoimmune disorder and that can mean that a simple infection can go haywire quickly. It wasn't humorous then, but now I do find it amusing that medical technology (see, tying it to class) has come so far and yet could not diagnose a strep infection. Apparently, strep tests are positive when there are your body's strep antibodies present - meaning, your body is actually fighting the illness. Mine decided that it didn't feel like it last time, so no strep test ever popped up positive and I never had a fever. A doctor finally treated it because my throat "looked like strep." That and I was about ready to go to the hospital if we waited another few days.

Can Google get on this? Somehow, I think they could come up with a better test.

Gettin' Down to the Wire

This semester is almost done and my final projects are wrapping up. In one class, I have a group project involving a 15-20 page paper, prototype and poster session. I've been working on the poster since almost everything else is about done. Interestingly enough, I wasn't aware that you could make a large poster in PowerPoint by adjusting the page settings. We have a group member that can print it if its in that format, so I've had to re-familiarize myself with that software.

Other than that, I have the web CV project in the tech class and I'm done. Next semester involves in-depth cataloging and human information interactions, so it will be a nice change from this semester.

Georgian Woman Cuts 90% of Internet Off in Country

No, seriously. A 75-year-old woman was digging around in the ground for copper to sell. During that activity, she cut through a fiber-optic cable that disabled the internet for 90% of Georgians, including those in Azerbaijan. It took 5 hours to restore service...I'm sure a bunch of that time was trying to figure out where the hell the problem was.

And you thought all you had to worry about were kill switches, Anonymous and severe weather. You never once thought that someone's grandmother could be one of the most dangerous threats to your online addictions.

(via Sophos Naked Security)

Fake Events Are a Boon for Scammers

People have not seemed to learn that if a Facebook event looks suspicious, they shouldn't accept it. As the Sophos security blog, Naked Security, just covered, millions of people fall for the "Free iPad" and "You'll Never Text Again After This Video" scams. This sort of thing amazes me. Its not like these sort of scams are new and yet, there are so many that haven't learned how to identify them. I just figure the offer-you-free-stuff-in-exchange-for-personal-information characteristic would tip everyone off.

Its bad enough that Facebook's own privacy policies are so terrible, but users will still willingly give away their information for the promise of free stuff. And then they wonder why they have extra charges on their cell phones or more spam in their inbox or a hacked account.

Just be smart, people. If the invite promises free stuff in exchange for your information, say no. If the invite looks like it was created by a suspicious or unverifiable person or group, say no. If the application wants way too much access to your account, say no. Save us all some trouble because, once your account gets hacked, you'll spread the love and bogus invitations to the rest of us.

Diaspora - The Open Source Facebook?

After reading a tweet mentioning this service by Wil Wheaton, I had to check it out. The premise behind Diaspora is to create a social network in which the user's personal information is completely under their own control. The promise clear privacy settings, sharing rules and a complete lack of usurping your ownership of your own stuff. It's also open source, so you can see the code (or contribute to it).

I would really love to see this take off. I still have a Facebook account, but its only because I can't realistically get rid of it right now. I use it for so much charity publicity and networking that it would probably be detrimental to switch until there is a viable competitor. I have made a point to scrutinize my settings every month or so and make sure my rights are locked down. Its annoying.

You can submit your email to be on the Diaspora mailing list and potentially the beta testing, but nothing is ready to use just yet. I've already added my name.