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random quotes ... to amuse, inspire, enrage:
With all their faults, trade-unions have done more for humanity than any other organization of men that ever existed. They have done more for decency, for honesty, for education, for the betterment of the race, for the developing of character in man, than any other association of men.
WebIndia has a report about a fight between a tattoo artist and a tattoo recipient. (I found it odd that it was listed in the sports page until I thought, hmm, maybe Beckham is some sort of athlete; then I remembered the soccer flick “Bend It Like Beckham” and suddenly the title made sense, and [...]
In yesterday’s NYT article on time travel: Saving Grandpa But what about killing your grandfather? In a well-ordered universe, that would be a paradox and shouldn’t be able to happen, everybody agrees. That was the challenge that Dr. Joe Polchinski, now at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics in Santa Barbara, Calif., issued to Dr. [...]
Slate just ran an article on cover albums (“Copycats – The cover album makes a comeback” by Franklin Bruno, 2005/6/23), which is interesting timing considering that the Register of Copyrights has proposed to eliminate the compulsory cover license. [Lessig covers (ahem) the issue and responds to commentary from Importance of Being Ernest and Joe Gratz].
well — grokster is out. from the beginning: We hold that one who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright, as shown by clear expression or other affirmative steps taken to foster infringement, is liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third parties. and from the end: There [...]
This week’s Boston Phoenix includes an interview with Billy Corgan, of the Smashing Pumpkins, and an excerpt from a 3-year-old Billy Corgan essay on Jimi Hendrix: [Jimi] was never boring on the guitar, yet he stole from everyone. But like many of the greats, he made others’ songs his own. No better justification of an [...]
Novosti reports that the Russian State Institute of Intellectual Property has opened up a museum of fake goods, to “train qualified intellectual property specialists” in recognizing fake goods and “fight[ing]” the fake goods. Fake goods? Fake goods that fight? Vodka that really isn’t vodka, movies that really aren’t movies — but the fake vodka and [...]
nice quote from film restorer Eric Stedman, of Newtown, PA, capturing the problem of orphan works: [Copyright has been extended longer than the life of the nitrate film itself…” from ‘Beatrice Fairfax’ by Jim Catalano, 2005/3/17, in The Ithaca Journal; cited in CoCo, 3/17
A few months ago (how did I miss this?) CoCo (Constitutional Code in the Realm of Culture) posted about an FCC paper that basically kills the scarcity doctrine, thereby significantly undercutting the rationale for FCC regulation of broadcast airwaves. CoCo correctly points out that this has both a big potential plus and a big potential [...]
two great tastes that taste great together: (critiquing) intelligent design, and derivative works. Ernie Miller rewrote Pastor Niemöller’s classic work for the modern era of attacks on science: First they came after biology and I did not speak out because I was not a biologist Then they came after geology and I did not speak [...]
WorldNet Daily is
Fafblog! cautions us to go slow until we’re sure — hmm, just like the bush administration, which was recently caught manipulating and distorting scientific reports yet again: The usual leftist quarters are fired up again, calling for America to join a veritable science jihad, worshiping at the altar of fact when we’ve yet to hear [...]
The same-sex marriage debates in Canada have taken a new turn: registering the domain name of the MPs and referring them to various websites opposing their position. Seems to be mostly the anti-SSM folks using these tactics. [Toronto Globe & Mail 6/20] I appreciate a well-designed spoof & sux site as well as the next [...]
I’ve heard stories like this before, but this AP article [boston.com 6/16] has more discussion about the problems caused by private third-party policing of copyrights.
I have now descended into the blinking flashing pseudonymous off-coast world of DVD copying programs.Short story: 2 Computer problems: 1 SuperDrive failure & 1 power problem AppleCare “Me? I don’t need to pay for a disk backup; there’s no reason for Apple to wipe my HD because the problem is with the power management unit [...]
Mickey Kaus @ Slate says who cares how rich someone is? If we care about “(attainable) social equality rather than (unattainable) income equality” then we should look at different fixes than adjusting tax rates. (That’s “if”, because apparently moral imperatives about social equality are so yesterday.) Kaus is ranting about one of the NYT pieces [...]
from Ann Hulbert, 2005/6/1, Slate, “Mozart and Us: What the ur-prodigy has to teach his successors”: However scholars end up resolving the question of authorship, it highlights a side of Wolfgang his father preferred to gloss over and popular legend tends to ignore: The boy genius, for all his originality, was also an impressionable imitator. [...]