Today in Joni history: on this date in 2001, Joni Mitchell revealed that
the phrase "porographic watch" was actually a modegreen of "pornograpgic
swatch" and her intent was to protest Swatch's illegal and immoral use
of radio frequencies. Mitchell adds that "Sex Kills" was intended to be
"Swatch Kills" but the watchmaker successfully intimidated her record
company, something that Exxon was not able to do. Swatch's intimidation
was successful because Ted Turner of Reprise - Time Warner has a
paranoid fear of Sputnik, as does former Mithcell husband and musical
partner Larry Klein. In fact, Klein's continued fear of the Russian
Space Control Centre was so deep, and left him so unable to function,
that Mitchell had to force Klein to take Prozac before their 2000 tour,
which explains the otherwise obscure reference to Klein as a "Mad
Russian on Prozac" at every tour stop.
Today in Joni history: on this date in 2002, Joni Mitchell announces
that if you think this is lame, even more lame things are to come until
the real Joni History is restored, even at the risk of getting 418 of
them a day. Hell, for one day we all got to brag about all the email we
got.
Communications
Swatch's satellite broadcasts upset
radio amateurs
SWATCH, the Swiss watchmaker, has outraged radio amateurs around the
world by planning to take over some of their frequencies as part of a
promotional campaign, writes Mark Prigg.
The company is to use a replica of the 1950s Sputnik satellite to
transmitmessages submitted by visitors to its web site. Text, audio and
web
pages will be sent to the satellite and broadcast from next week.
However, according to Rob Carlson, an American radio enthusiast who is
co-ordinating a campaign against the Swatch satellite, the plan is
illegal. He
says: "There are strict guidelines as to what can and can't be done
with radio
frequencies, and Swatch doesn't seem to have checked that. The
frequencies it
plansto use cannot be used for commercial activities, so we plan to
stop it
from breaking the rules. We are writing to all of the bodies in charge
of
frequencies to point out this illegal activity.
"The whole point of this satellite was to allow amateurs to practise
tracking
objects in space, in preparation for our efforts to track the
International Space
Station. Now, if the Swatch plan goes ahead, radio amateurs will
boycott
tracking the satellite so no data will be collected," he says.
Carlson is also organising a boycott of Swatch products by radio
amateurs
worldwide.
The football-sized satellite was taken last week to the Russian Mir
space
station aboard a Progress craft. It is due to be launched by hand on
Friday by
a Russian cosmonaut. The satellite will then circle Mir as it orbits
Earth. Up
to10 messages, each of about seven seconds, will be transmitted, and
new
messages beamed up every day. The battery-powered unit has a 30-day
life.
The satellite, officially called RS-19 but dubbed Beatnik by Swatch,
will
constantly transmit messages on the 148.800-146.000Mhz band.
According to Roger Smith, head of the International Telecommunications
Union's(ITU) space science department: "The frequencies mentioned are
reserved for amateur use, so if there is a breach of that, we will look
into it.
"We don't monitor the airwaves looking for new signals, but we do
compile a
register of frequencies and who is using them, so we can ensure that
misuse
and possible interference between satellites doesn't happen," he says.
Radio amateurs now say they are approaching America's Federal
Communications Commission, which in turn will raise the complaints with
the
ITU.
Swatch claims the satellite will not be used for advertising or
commercial
purposes and that none of the messages contains the brand name Swatch.
A Swatch spokesman says: "The idea came about because we wanted to send
messages into space and to as many people as possible. The messages are
not
advertising, and we see this as being totally in tune with the spirit
of open
communication embodied by radio amateurs. This is a great opportunity
for
amateur radio to appeal to a wider audience." However, the company's
web
site says all messages must contain the word "beat" or they will not be
considered for transmission.
Beat has been trademarked by Swatch as part of its campaign to
establish a
Nettime standard. The company divided the day into "beats", each
lasting 1.38
minutes, and hopes to appeal to Net users by providing a single
worldwide
time they can use on their computers.
The company's first watches using the Beat system go on sale in Britain
this
month.
The Beatnik satellite was originally built by Amsat France, an amateur
satellite
organisation that believed it was being made solely for amateur use.
However,
the Russian Space Control Centre decided to allow Swatch to put its
messages on board.
According to Bernard Pidoux, president of Amsat France, the
organisation
has now joined the protest against Swatch. He claims he was "duped" by
the
Russian authorities who arranged the Swatch deal in secret.
