Rise and Fall of a Spam Crusader
A tiny Garberville Internet company won nearly $2.6 million in a junk-mail lawsuit before it all came crashing down
Cover Story
Rise and Fall of a Spam Crusader
On May 3 of this year, in Northern California’s U.S. District Court, a tiny Garberville company called ASIS Internet was awarded nearly $2.6 million in an anti-spam lawsuit. At the time, ASIS — an acronym for Access Solutions Information Services — had fewer than 1,000 customers, most of whom still accessed the Web through dial-up…
Choose Love Art Show Looking For Submissions
In Jen Savage’s Art Beat column, this week, she mentioned the upcoming Choose Love art show, to be held during the November Arts Arcata, at Redwood Raks. Six Rivers Planned Parenthood’s Advocates for Choice committee is looking for both submissions of love-themed art (for show only, or to donate to SRPP), as well as performers for…
NCJ at the CMJ
Hi, I’m Melissa Culbertson. You may know me from my days as a “Left of the Dial” DJ on KHSU, or have at least heard my voice overnight on 94.1 KSLG. I love music and everything to do with it, so I have chosen to spend my life finding new music and sharing it with…
Campaign Finance Rundown
Recent campaign finance disclosures from a number of candidates running for office in Humboldt County show that the county races are heating up fast, with many candidates breaking the $100,000 barrier, and in Eureka candidates who voluntarily capped their contributions at $500 ended up being the ones bringing in the most cash. There is much…
Airport Blues on JPR
An invite from the ACV Airport Blues Facebook Group: Jefferson Exchange Radio Interview With Dax Williamson and Bill Davidson Thursday, October 7 · 8-9 a.m. http://ijpr.org/onlineaudio2.asp?SectionID=1012&programId=11 Eureka Airport Issues: Runway construction and equipment upgrades, coupled with the ubiquitous Humboldt County fog, hamstrung flight operations in the past months at the Arcata/Eureka Airport. When disgruntled passengers,…
Eureka Police Officers Association Endorses Jager, Glass, Kuhnel
The tryouts were held a week ago: Eureka’s candidates for mayor and city council were invited to present their bona fides to the EPOA, followed by some Q and A. Today, the group’s president, Patrick Bishop, announced the endorsements: The Eureka Police Officer’s Association values the commitment these candidates have given to keep public safety…
Welcome, Market Square
There was a pretty impressive turnout at the dedication of Eureka’s new C Street Market Square earlier this morning, and why not? The square, located down at the bay, was the first-phase roll-out of the City’s biggest and most impressive new public space since the construction of the Boardwalk, which it borders. By this time…
Tea Party Math Dispute
Spotted earlier today at the ribbon-cutting for Eureka’s C Street Plaza, Rep. Mike Thompson presiding. EPD Chief Garr Nielsen says, “Whaaaaaat?”
Highly Dubious and Probably Borderline Illegal Electioneering Bullshit of the Day
(First in a series of 12,954.) So when it comes time to publish its “Rotary Wheel” newsletter in the Times-Standard advertising pages, the Mad River Rotary Club apparently spotlights the good deeds of one of its members. I say “apparently,” because somehow the thing has escaped my eye before today. Well, completely coincidentally, yesterday the honor fell…
A Break For Our Rural Heroes
Back in June 2008, Willow Creek VFD firefighter Tom Smithey phoned us up to vent some fiery frustration: The feds had made it so difficult for rural firefighters to get licensed to drive a fire truck that they feared one day their crew — waiting on a driver — might arrive too late to control…
Interactive
Musicians have always worked at developing a relationship with their audience, but with the music business in disarray, particularly the recording side, bands depend more than even on growing their fanbase. That’s a given in the jamband world, where the Dead and Phish paved the way by building their brands and creating a dedicated community…
High School 2.0
It’s a sunny Thursday morning, a few minutes before 9 a.m., and inside a bland, fluorescent-lit office in a drab Cutten strip mall, Jordan Plocher, 37, and John Stott, 27, sit in molded plastic chairs at separate Formica tables, staring at the screens of their laptop computers. They’re each wearing headphones — the kind with…
Q-ing for Cash
The Arcata Tigers’ junior varsity football team was halfway toward its eventual 50-0 whomping of the South Fork Cubs last Friday evening, and the rickety old wood bleachers on the home side of McKinleyville High School’s football field were packed with chattering Arcata fans. (Arcata High doesn’t have a football field with lights and a…
Park Place
Editor: What’s notable about the area within walking distance of the Downtowner Motel’s location is a complete lack of open space. Not one open grassy bit of neighborhood park. This is not the case in most other residential/commercial mix neighborhoods. A neighborhood park in the motel’s site would be right next to a bunch of…
A Difficult Conclusion
Editor: My husband and I tried to figure out this article over breakfast today, and, after giving it plenty of time and rereading the article, we had more questions than answers (“Crumbling Foundation,” Sept. 23). How does the CSU Chancellor’s office have the right to extract $3,000,000 from the Sponsored Programs Foundation, a “quasi-independent body”?…
Freedom: A Novel
If you’re looking for another rave review of this novel, look just about anywhere else, starting with the New York Times Book Review, or Time magazine with Franzen on the cover as “Great American Novelist.” The hype by now is feeding on itself, but I began reading an advance copy of this novel months ago,…
Yet More
Editor: Like many regular readers, I wasn’t going to comment about the fish hook-hanging woman article (“Hooked,” Sept. 9). Hank Sims is a big boy and knew he would take the heat. But the “Publisher” response from Judy Hodgson last week was certainly a head scratcher (Sept. 23). Judy, Judy, Judy. You fill your newspaper…
Dirty Baby
Epic. It may be the best word to describe musician, interpreter and composer Nels Cline. Even though Cline, in his 50s, has finally received a wider recognition after joining Wilco, the guitarist has hardly rested on his laurels. If anything, he has multiplied them. His output and dedication to his true roots — contemporary, experimental…
Summer Tableau
Hay bales dot a shaved field cast in…
Arts Alive!
First Saturday Night Arts Alive! Is proudly presented by USBank, with Eureka Main Street and the Humboldt Arts Council Opening receptions for artists, exhibits, and/or performances. Phone 707-442-9054, for more information. WildRivers 101 Film Festival outdoor screens on the sides of buildings throughout Downtown and Old Town. Walking Dreams will play at the Arkley Center…
The Rosetta Stone
A four foot-by-two foot-by-one foot chunk of dark-grey granite is the most visited object in London’s venerable British Museum. The Rosetta Stone, which has been on display there almost continuously since 1802, was discovered by a French soldier in the wall of a 300-year-old fort in Rashid (Rosetta) in northwest Egypt. For centuries, Arabic and…
Showdown
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Oct. 1-Oct. 15, 2010
Oct. 1. If any summer fruit remains on the vine, it must be plucked, washed and dropped immediately into a clean jar, into which the contents of a bottle of below-average vodka should be upended. Taste it that evening and daily thereafter, but do not let it sit for more than a week; time will…
Canning Summer
Ahh, the sweet indolent unguence of summer fruits. It is not, per se, summer-like around Mad River Road (I am freezing, the cows are blowing steamy clouds and it’s technically fall), but up in Orleans, around Willow Creek and down in Shively the sun shines on unhindered by shivery fog, and crates of drippy fly-tempting…
Taking The General to the Hinterlands
Any student of silent movies knows The General. Buster Keaton’s highly refined slackstick tale of a runaway Civil War train is a classic of early cinema deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” by the Library of Congress. Back in the ’20s, moviegoers may have seen it with piano accompaniment or, if they lived in a…
Humboldt Youth in Revolt
For those that attended high school locally, you’ve undoubtedly heard some form of the above sentiment. You remember the conversation. It usually came around 1 a.m., halfway through a case of Natty Ice. Simpler times. Whether the statement is valid or not depends on your standard of what makes something worth doing. It’s true, Humboldt…
The Prodigal Filmmaker
The WildRivers 101 Film Festival 2010 kicks off this weekend with screenings of indie and documentary films in various venues along the Hwy 101 corridor through Oct. 11 and filmmakers in attendance from here and abroad. Centerpiece for the fest is the indie feature Redland from first-time director Asiel Norton, a rising star who grew…
Stone, Cold
Previews THE SOCIAL NETWORK. Since almost everybody’s on Facebook now, a movie about the guy who got it going seemed inevitable. Director David Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club, Panic Room) knows how to create tension; Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men, The West Wing, Charlie Wilson’s War) seems more in tune with liberal politics. Usually likeable…
