January 2012
10 posts
MPAA Directly & Publicly Threatens Politicians Who... →
wilwheaton:
Reinforcing the fact that Chris Dodd really does not get what’s happening, and showing just how disgustingly corrupt the MPAA relationship is with politicians, Chris Dodd went on Fox News to explicitly threaten politicians who accept MPAA campaign donations that they’d better pass Hollywood’s favorite legislation… or else:
“Those who count on quote ‘Hollywood’ for support need to...
“When I see a [videogame] fanboy, I see someone eager to relive the joy of their...”
– Kyle Orland, The Making (and Unmaking) of a Nintendo Fanboy
“Economic growth and rising productivity are needed for broadly shared...”
– The New York Times editorial.
While the editorial is right to point out that the Republican presidential candidates disagree with the quoted policies. It’s baffling to me that the Times thinks President Obama does.
“I don’t think you have to be perfect, you just have to be compelling in the work...”
– Louis CK
What the Public Commons Is Missing →
It is in the interest of culture to have a large and dynamic public domain. The greatest classics of Disney were all based on stories in the public domain, and Walt Disney showed how public domain ideas and characters could be leveraged by others to bring enjoyment and money. But ironically, after Walt died, the Disney corporation became the major backer of the extended copyright laws, in order...
“Remember that there are only three kinds of things anyone need ever do. (1)...”
– C. S. Lewis, in a letter to Sarah, his godchild, on 3 April 1949 via Stan Carey (via bobulate)
“If your product isn’t “a rising tide” that “lifts all...”
– Paul Miller, “Ecosystem: the winner takes it all”
I hate to quote the last paragraph in it’s entirety, but this one is just too good of a sentiment.
The rules of a creator's life.
creativesomething:
Sounds like truth.
December 2011
27 posts
“You need to figure out what it is you want to do with your life and then figure...”
– Mike Monteiro aka @Mike_FTW From ‘Let’s Make Mistakes’ #31 on 5by5 (via @jimmynotjim)
“I know better now than ever that wealth deranges. It disconnects you from the...”
– John Hodgman (via azspot)
America, listen to this man. He has a millionaire mustache.
MoveYourDomainDay - Dec 29, 2011 →
bigweek:
Namecheap:
On December 29th, we’re offering transfers below cost ($6.99* per transfer) using the coupon code SOPASucks. Additionally, for every domain transfer initiated on the 29th, Namecheap will donate $1 to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, to help them continue the legal fight against SOPA, PROTECT-IP, and other overbroad and ill-considered legislation.
Intellectuals and Politics →
kohenari:
Over at The Stone recently, Gary Gutting had the following suggestion for the 2012 Presidential contest:
The best evidence of how capable candidates are of fruitfully interacting with intellectuals would be to see them doing just this. Concretely, I make the follow suggestion for the coming presidential election: Gather small but diverse panels of eminent, politically uncommitted...
Does Airport Security Really Make Us Safer? →
As you stand in endless lines this holiday season, here’s a comforting thought: all those security measures accomplish nothing, at enormous cost. That’s the conclusion of Charles C. Mann, who put the T.S.A. to the test with the help of one of America’s top security experts.
“Here’s an area for both some disruption and some lobbying. Let’s build tools...”
– Clay Johnson (via azspot)
“Let us teach ourselves and others that politics should be an expression of a...”
– Vaclav Havel (via azspot)
Beautiful.
On bias. →
brianericford:
Give me biased and right over fair and clueless any day of the week.
An Open Letter From Internet Engineers to the U.S.... →
The US government has regularly claimed that it supports a free and open Internet, both domestically and abroad. We cannot have a free and open Internet unless its naming and routing systems sit above the political concerns and objectives of any one government or industry. To date, the leading role the US has played in this infrastructure has been fairly uncontroversial because America is seen...
“The obligation to provide unemployment benefits, that is to say, the duty to...”
– Pope John Paul II (via azspot)
From the close of the article: “Don’t call yourself pro-life if you abandon vulnerable people as soon as they are born.” Amen to that.
daniel sinker: I'm starting to think Lego is evil →
sinker:
Legos are still held up as a gateway to engineering and science, and despite my misgivings about the current state of their kits, I still believe they are (I bought my son a Mindstorms kit with my book advance). But if they’ve become toys marketed to a single gender, then we’re just reproducing the already awful gender imbalance in STEM education and employment.
When I was a kid, we...
“My grandfather taught me that. One afternoon when I was seven I complained to...”
– John Taylor Gatto (via azspot)
I could have used this lesson early on. Still trying to learn it now.
The Internet Blacklist vs. The Constitution →
First, both bills would still result in the censoring of non-infringing speech. That is because they allow for the blocking of entire websites – even though the site may contain a great deal of perfectly legal speech. The Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed, “broad prophylactic rules in the area of free expression are suspect … Precision of regulation must be the touchstone in an area so...
PHENOMENAUT AEROSPACE: Could Netflix Bring Firefly... →
bernardin:
There were lots of reasons why Firefly never got a second shot at life (not counting the 2005 feature, Serenity), not the least of which is that ship-based science fiction shows are expensive. The rights can be a bit of a tangle: Fox owns the rights so if anyone wanted to make more episodes, they’d need to buy the opportunity — and networks who might be right for Firefly, like...
Seth's Blog: Assorted tips, hope they help
I really like this list of “tips” from Seth Godin. Of them all, this stuck out the most to me:
Borrow money to buy things that go up in value, but never to get something that decays over time.
“For years there has been a concerted effort by telephone and cable company...”
– Doc Searls (via azspot)
A Nation's Education Left Behind →
In a book published last year, I said that I was wrong. I was wrong on every count. Testing should be used for diagnostic purposes, to help students and teachers, but it has turned into a blunt instrument that is used to reward and punish teachers and schools. Charters should serve the neediest, but, with some notable exceptions, they have become aggressive and entrepreneurial. Instead of...
“It was never the object of [patent] laws to grant a monopoly for every trifling...”
– Supreme Court Justice Joseph Bradley, 1883 (via Jens Alfke)
Dave Ramsey's Deism and the Economics of Jubilee →
What Ramsey calls “wealth redistribution” the Bible calls “Jubilee.” That same chapter goes on to prescribe an economic “Sabbath” to take place every 50 years. The most prominent feature of this Jubilee year is the requirement that all property be returned to its original owners. Thus, twice a century God would “level the playing field” between the rich (who had accumulated property) and the...
"The National Defense Authorization Act is the... →
E.D. Kain;
If Obama does one thing for the remainder of his presidency let it be a veto of the National Defense Authorization Act – a law recently passed by the Senate currently which would place domestic terror investigations and interrogations into the hands of the military and which would open the door for trial-free, indefinite detention of anyone, including American citizens, so long as the...
Why School Choice Fails →
azspot:
Competition produces winners and losers; I get that. Indeed, the rhetoric of school choice can be seductive to angst-filled middle-class parents like myself. We crunch the data and believe that, with enough elbow grease, we can make the system work for us. Naturally, I’ve only considered high-performing schools for my children, some of them public, some charter, some parochial, all...
November 2011
12 posts
“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us...”
– Ira Glass (via azspot)
“In reality, Americans are disgusted with only one party: the one they don’t...”
– John Sides (via kohenari)
“Overall, I think it’s a good time to have a girl in the 21st century because...”
– Louis C.K.: The Next Steve Jobs Will Be A Chick | Fast Company (via Briana Mowrey)
Kill Switch →
yewknee:
Great article on the Protect IP Act and why you should continue to make sure it does not get supported.
The bill is transparently the work of an entertainment industry which, failing to raise itself to the standards of demand, wants to drag the law down to its level with more avenues for litigation and greater weapons at its disposal. That we are even entertaining the idea of...
October 2011
24 posts
