Pirated Before Release

Of course, the reason for such a long hiatus is that even by the standards of rock dinosaurs, the Stones are getting on a bit!

Anyway the world was awaiting their latest album ‘A Bigger Bang’ and according to UK tabloid The Star, the first low-quality files of new Rolling Stones music were found illegally posted on September 12 and the whole lot was available. The music was being streamed from the Stones’ Web site and was probably lifted that way.

A spokeswoman for the Stones’ record company EMI told The Times, London: “The first low-quality files of new album were found illegally posted the same day we began making the new album available for consumers to listen to via radio and streaming.” The entire 16-track album is available for a ‘listen’ on the site.

The Stones are not the first to fall prey to Internet piracy. U2, Oasis and Eminem, have been stung by illegal downloads before an album released.

That’s rock ‘n roll, baby!

As a sign of defiance, thousands of Londoners were posting to the site but as is wont with the Internet, some idiots had to step in! The site’s creator Alfie Dennan revealed that not all of the 17,000 images were suitable for publication.

He said: “We had loads of rude pictures sent in that were just too ‘saucy’ for the site. “One had five naked girls on a beach with ‘we are not afraid’ written across them in sunscreen cream. We also had lots of naked men sending in their pics for some reason!”

Speaking ahead of the exhibition displaying the e-mails, Dennan added: “I really hope the visiting public will realise that the whole world came out in support of London after 7/7.” Came out and how!

Eat That And You’re Fired!
‘Eating at work’ just got a whole new meaning. Sample this (sic): A computer engineer was sacked for eating pizza left over from a company meeting. That’s an expensive snack! And the engineer in turn entered his sacking in a competition for the most outrageous firing and won!

The competition, run by Simply Hired, said that Jim Garrison’s was chosen as the most bizarre sacking from more than 1,000 entries. Garrison will win a free Caribbean cruise with passengers famously fired by the billionaire Donald Trump on his popular television show, “The Apprentice”.

Garrison ate two of the six pieces of pepperoni pizza left over from a company meeting, although he was not part of the department that held the meeting. He thought that since the company had bought it and it would be wasted if it wasn’t eaten, he might as well have it.

However, several employees from the right department had planned to take the pizza home and well, told on Garrison to the management.

It took the company a month to fire Garrison-the pizza was given as the reason. Simply Hired refused to release the name of the employer but said it was a large mortgage company based in the US.

You Didn’t!
Thieves are supposed to be cunning-the kind of people who plot and plan everything to the last detail. Well, not this one.

Authorities in the US have recently identified a cell phone thief who was recognised via the pictures he snapped with a stolen Sanyo 5500. The phone has Sprint service and that means photos are automatically stored online when e-mailed.

Apparently, the real owner of the phone saw some dozens of photos and movies of the thief posing in a compromising manner after logging onto the Web site. Police have not clamped down on the thief yet but were tickled with his antics.

According to Wired News, the phone’s owner sent the following message to the man in question. “Like to steal cell phones and use them to take pics of yourself and make videos…. HA! [G]uess what pal … [I] have every pic you took and the videos. I will be plastering the town with pics of your face.” What a loser!