TECHNOLOGY: Google Books and The Internet Archive

Friday, August 28, 2009

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/08/22/nsfw-say-what-you-like-about-the-google-books-kool-aid-but-it-tastes-much-better-than-microsofts-sour-grapes/#comment-2942625

Say what you like about the Google Books Kool-Aid, but it tastes much better than Microsoft’s sour grapes
by Paul Carr on August 22, 2009

*** begin quote ***

But one aspect of the settlement wasn’t so uncontroversial, and that was the issue of so-called ‘orphan works’ – books which are still in copyright but where the identity of the copyright owner is, for one reason or another, unclear. As part of the settlement, the book industry agreed that, with certain restrictions, Google could scan orphan works without being held liable for breach of copyright claims if the rights owner subsequently came forward. In return Google agreed to create an independent (and open to all) rights registry letting authors of orphaned stake their copyright claim.
At first glance, the deal over orphaned works seems as reasonable as the rest of the settlement – these are books for which no-one is being paid and which otherwise would be hidden away in libraries and second hand bookstores. But still Google’s competitors are crying foul.
The Internet Archive is particularly annoyed, arguing that they too are scanning millions of books for the public good, but without any blanket copyright protection for orphaned works. And so, through a group they call Open Content Alliance, they hope to pressure the Department of Justice to extend the terms of the settlement to everyone, not just Google.
For the other companies joining the Alliance – including Microsoft, Yahoo and Amazon – there are more obvious and nakedly commercial reasons to oppose the settlement. But that doesn’t make their objections less valid. Back in April, Erick Schonfeld wrote a passionate – and compelling – argument for the immunity to apply to everyone so that Google wouldn’t have a monopoly position where they could effectively charge whatever they like for downloading digital copies of orphaned works.
*** end quote ***

It would seem we need a law change. If you even believe in “imaginary property”. (It seems absurd to call what the congress critters pass “a law”. Now the Law of Gravity; that’s a LAW!)

When a book goes OOP (Out Of Print), or is otherwise “hidden” from the public, it should enter the public domain. Wasn’t the purpose of copyright law to encourage sharing of “intellectual (imaginary) property”? When that sharing ceases, shouldn’t the protection?

Seems only fair to me.

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MONEY: In Gold We Trust

Thursday, August 27, 2009

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig10/fink1.1.1.html

IN gOD WE TRUST
  by Gabriel Fink

*** begin quote ***

The merits of placing references to deity on currency is another debate. What should not be debatable to any of the three Abrahamic religions, is placing the name of God on something that is worthless, has no value, represents debt, usury, and facilitates war. The only type of currency that the phrase “In God We Trust” could be placed upon without taking the Holy name of the Lord in vain, is gold or silver coinage. After all, God indeed himself created these materials of intrinsic value, a feat the anointed Fed chairman can only feign doing in spite of his lofty seat in the marble temple in DC.

*** end quote ***

Without a question, the American motto should be:

In GOLD, we trust!

Clearly anything less is fraud.

And, let’s just go with ounces. No need for the word “dollars” anywhere.

It’s even OK with me if we want to be international friendly!

KILOGRAMS of gold!

See ounces have flavors; even grams do to.

We need a crystal clear measure.

A stone. (The old New England measure for potatoes!)

Heck we can call it a nano-STONE.

Let’s just be honest in our vocabulary. And our money!

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POLITICS: LBJ as a paragon?

Thursday, August 27, 2009

http://channel-surfing.blogspot.com/2009/08/lbj-lead-way.html

Saturday, August 22, 2009

LBJ lead the way

*** begin quote ***

Lyndon Johnson had his faults — arrogance, for instance — and he misread Vietnam. But he committed himself to the war on poverty and civil rights and got a slew of legislation passed that seemed unlikely before he began his push.

*** end quote ***

LBJ?

Seriously?

You’re not kidding?

The man who expanded the welfare warfare state. The man who was so bad that even his own party walked away from him about reelection. The man who could mke Chicago politics look honest.

Sorry, but if Obama is looking for inspiration, I wouldn’t urge him to look there. At least Carter was honest. Incompetent, but honest.

We need a true “peace” president. Let’s start closing bases and bringing the boys and girls home. Use the savings to pay down the debt.

We need an entrepreneurial president. Eliminate the capital gains tax; free up capital. Eliminate the corporate income tax; corporations will rush to HQ here in the USA. Besides, corporations don’t pay taxes; people do. Eliminate price supports and payments NOT to grow stuff. Let’s feed the world!

We need a “simple” president. Simplify everything. We need people to focus on “producing”; not “loophole finding”. Tort reform. End the psuedo drug war. Shut down the FDA. Shut down the TSA. Shut down the Department of Education.

We have a lot of work to do.

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POLITICS: The last of the imperial Kennedys?

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/08/23/kennedy_should_resign/

Kennedy should resign
By Jeff Jacoby
Globe Columnist / August 23, 2009
The Boston Globe

*** begin quote ***

RUNNING for reelection in 1982, Senator Ted Kennedy aired a series of sentimental television ads in which longtime supporters spoke of him as an empathetic human being who was no stranger to suffering and sorrow. One of those supporters was 83-year-old Frank Manning, founder of the Massachusetts Association of Older Americans. “He’s not a plaster saint, he’s not without his faults,’’ Manning said in the ad. “But we wouldn’t want a plaster saint.’’

*** end quote ***

They say speak no ill of the dead.

Sorry, but even now we can call them as we see them.

Kennedy’s conduct was an insult to anyone with a shred of human decency. Mary Jo was whitewashed. Any one else would have spent time in jail. What else has been covered over to keep him in office? Disgraceful. More disgraceful to the “liberal leftist” press who failed their sacred trust.

Further, he was a CINO. The classic example of a Catholic In Name Only. He gave public scandal by voting for abortion and everyone gives him a free pass.

It’s not my job to judge. Above my pay grade. But he’s one I don’t understand. Silver spoon and all. He had it all and squandered it.

Eye of the needle.

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MONEY: Might be a good answer to the wrong problem!

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Nothing against discount brokerages, but may I suggest that it might be the “right answer to the wrong problem”. I was always enamored of the metaphor of “leaning your ladder against the wrong wall”. Recently, after many years of meandering and sometimes successful trading (i.e., went all in on a stock that tripled), I’ve decided that, like medicine, sometimes one can be too smart for one’s own good. I hired what I’ll describe as “an institutional portfolio manager”. (Yeah, have to a 500k$ portfolio to get into that game!) But, I’ve concluded that the “casino” (aka Wall Street) is no place for the DIY crowd like I once was. The electronic trading, the specialists, the “financial consultants”, mutual fund’s crass graft, and all the other machinations have taken the “game” to a new level. The globalization of finance has convinced me that the dollar is on a fast road to perdition. Even gold coins now carry a hefty 12% markup over spot. SO there is no “good” investment for the little guys. Even at cheap transaction fee!

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POLITICS: The D’s and the R’s are the WWF of politics!

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

http://www.lewrockwell.com/celente/celente12.1.html

That Sinking Feeling
by Achal Mehra
August 19, 2009

Quoting Gerald Celente

*** begin quote ***

Do you think either political party could have made a difference?

No, it is like watching the World Wrestling Federation. They pretend to be arch-enemies on the stage. After the cameras go off, they do their deals together. There is very little difference between the two parties.

*** end quote ***

Chortle! I love the metaphor. The D’s and the R’s are the WWF of politics!

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TECHNOLOGY: Cloud computing held hostage to politics

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/08/21/flickr-v-free-speech-where-is-the-courage/

Flickr v. Free Speech. Where Is The Courage?
by Michael Arrington on August 21, 2009

*** begin quote ***

Flickr really stepped in it this time. And they’ve sparked a free speech and copyright fascism debate that is unlikely to cool down any time soon.

*** and ***

People are angry over the takedown. There are lots of pictures mocking President Bush on a Time Magazine cover on Flickr that haven’t been removed. And of the Heath Ledger Joker character.

*** end quote ***

The “big government socialists” — regardless of party — hide their prejudices in law. We can’t trust “big business”; any more than we can trust “big gooferment”. They are in a symbiotic relationship. Both are big parasites on the poor serf just trying to make a life. Business serves us; companies I’m not so sure of. When they get big or when their liability is limited, that’s when the trouble begins.

Expecting free speech isn’t in their vocabulary.

Cloud computing gives “them” power over content.

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RANT: 45k for a year?

Monday, August 24, 2009

*** begin quote ***

Trust the government
Human Events
by Newt Gingrich

“How much is one additional year of your life worth? Or one more year of life for your father or your wife? For your child? In Great Britain, the government has settled on a number: $45,000. That’s how much a government commission with the Orwellian acronym NICE has decided British government-run health care will pay for one additional year of life for a British subject. Think it could never happen here? Then you need to pay closer attention to what Washington is planning for your health care.” (08/12/09)

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=33100

*** end quote ***

Probably all that I have?

How dare the gooferment intrude! Whose decision is it anyway?

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POLITICAL: Bring on the filibuster!

Monday, August 24, 2009

http://tinyurl.com/koyfng

*** begin quote ***

Senate Democratic leadership will pass health care reform “by any legislative means necessary”

ABC News

“Amidst questions of whether or not any Senate Republicans will support a health care reform bill, Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., today said that the ‘White House and the Senate Democratic leadership still prefer a bipartisan bill.’ The Reid spokesman said that ‘neither the White House nor the leadership have made a decision to pursue reconciliation,’ the somewhat controversial legislative process by which a bill is introduced in such a manner so that it requires merely 50 votes instead of 60 to proceed to a vote, thus removing the threat of filibuster.” (08/19/09)

*** end quote ***

No, if I was the R’s, then I’d force them to bring Teddie and KKK-er Byrd in a force the end of a filibuster. Make it clear that “over dead bodies” does anything pass.

Time to stand up and be counted.

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GOVEROTRAGEOUS: Remember Barbara Wagner; that could be our fate!

Sunday, August 23, 2009

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=107403

DOCTOR’S ORDERS
Obamacare will be 1 big ‘death panel’
Just as in U.K., government system will lead to early demise of seniors
Posted: August 20, 2009
By Richard Poe

*** begin quote ***

Barbara Wagner of Springfield, Ore., was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2005. Chemotherapy and radiation put her cancer into remission. But the cancer returned in May 2008.

Wagner’s doctor prescribed Tarceva, a pill which slows cancer growth. There was a good chance it might extend her life by a few weeks or even months.

At age 64, Wagner had two sons, three daughters, 15 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. Every moment she could spend with her loved ones was precious.

But Oregon’s health commissars nixed the plan. Her Tarceva treatment would cost $4,000 per month. Wagner was going to die anyway, so why waste the money?

Wagner received a letter stating that the Oregon Health Plan would not approve any treatment for her “that is meant to prolong life, or change the course of the disease …” However, if Wagner opted for physician-assisted suicide, Oregon would be happy to pick up the tab, said the letter.

Physician-assisted suicide is legal in Oregon and costs only about $50.

“It was horrible,” Wagner told reporters. “To say to someone, we’ll pay for you to die, but not pay for you to live, it’s cruel. Who do they think they are?”

Wagner finally got her Tarceva when the manufacturer Genentech offered to supply it free of charge. She died in October 2008.

A humble, retired schoolbus driver, Wagner touched more people in death than she had in life. Local and national press picked up her story, alerting many Americans to the danger of medical rationing.

*** end quote ***

There has to be a special place in hell for those who have defrauded the public into thinking this is “medical care”.

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