Thanks Paras.

And I'd say yes, owning a soul trumps ownership of the firstborn. I'd sell my firstborn for a lot less than I'd part with my soul. A Hershey bar would probably do it.

Medical Education Understatement of the Day:

Thanks to all for their constructive feedback (aka criticism). I wasn’t feeling the love during the exam, that’s for sure.

-- Oncology Block Coordinator

While I'm answering questions,

Does owning a person's soul trump getting someone's firstborn?

A proxy is basically a pass-through server. Instead of connecting directly to a given website, you connect to the proxy, and it connects to the website for you. The website you're connecting to sees the proxy's IP address and not your own.

Since websites determine geographical location from IP addresses, if your proxy is based in the States, the site you connect to thinks you're in the States.

As usual, wikipedia is more thorough with the info. They also link to some lists of public proxy servers that you can use. They also link to a site with setup instructions.

Still, it's a lot to do (especially for non-tech-savvy users) just to listen to music that you might not know, but suits your tastes. (But, then, isn't that the whole problem with the modern music/copyrights/licensing environment? Too much work to do simple tasks?)

What's a proxy site?

Does owning a person's soul trump getting someone's firstborn?

I got on through a proxy site.

Speaking of music industry bullshit:

Dear Pandora Visitor,

We are deeply, deeply sorry to say that due to licensing constraints, we can no longer allow access to Pandora for most listeners located outside of the U.S. We will continue to work diligently to realize the vision of a truly global Pandora, but for the time being we are required to restrict its use. We are very sad to have to do this, but there is no other alternative.

Beck, as long as the hostage remains in proximity to the hostage taker, you cannot cure the Stockholm Syndrome; the hostage-takers power over the hostage will remain. There are, I think, but two options.

1. Separate the two, placing the hostage-taker in the care of someone who could put him to better use (say, employ him as a minion of some kind) -- I believe you already have such a deal in place with someone I know.


2. Take the entire hostage/hostage-taker unit hostage, thereby overwhelming one instance of Stockholm Syndrome with another. I believe this is known in the world of unlawful confinement as "The Swedish One-Up". (Not to be confused with "The Italian One-Up" associated with green mushrooms that you may be more familiar with.)

1962: Jukeboxes are killing music:

This year, those who are supporting the change in the law have reason to be optimistic. Representative Emanuel Celler of New York has introduced a bill "to stop the legalized piracy of copyrighted music by the jukebox syndicate," and a vote will be taken at the current session of Congress. As for the Senate, its Judiciary Committee has already recommended a similar bill in a previous session. Supported both by the Sandburg group and by the public's growing awareness of underworld domination of the jukebox business, the current bill has an excellent chance of passing. If it does, the usually unsung songwriter will finally be able to give less thought to the nation's laws and more to its musical needs. Who knows? With added financial security, he may even write better songs.