Frightening that not so long ago one would have to call another and ask them if they could go online for a period of time. The answer was usually 'Sure, but can't stay on for long, expecting a call soon"
Now the call/email/text message would tell one how long a person would be offline, now abnormal.
To say that Congress can't do this or that is fruitless. They will do whatever they want unless someone stops them, and apparently no one is willing.
Constitutions are only as good as those who are suppose to protect them.
Both sides of politics apparently have disregard for the constitution if it does not suit them or their financial supporters.
The problem with the USA constitution is amendments are made by legislators in all states and only they have the power to vote on the issue. Not what one could call democratic.
In Australia to change the constitution requires a each state to hold a public vote and requires a majority vote in a majority of states. This hands the whole constitution in the hands of the people not the elected legislators, most of which have vested interests.
Back in 1972 the then Labor Government introduced a bill that would tax every wage earner 1.5% to fund a public health system.That is around $AU900 per year for the average annual income of $60k.
The system is called medicare and guarantees low cost health care.
How it works is the Government pays the bulk of a medical bill with the patient making up any difference between the set schedule fee and what ever a practitioner charges, this is called a gap.
For low income earners, including pensioners and those on welfare many clinics bulk bill Medicare. That means the patient pay nothing up front. if payment is required up front 100% is refunded.
Citizens can also take out extra private health insurance should they choose to be treated in a non public hospital or have a private room in a public hospital and a choice of their own treating doctor.
The downside of this system is the strain on public hospitals and most often a long waiting period for non emergency treatment. Selective surgery may have a 12 month or more waiting period.
Many privately owned rural hospitals also treat public patients if is no nearby public hospital
Overall the two tier system works reasonably well and provides a high quality health system for all.
The days of the bulk of money made out of music going to the record companies and to a very small percentage of artists is ending. The days of getting rich from record sales and big ticket concerts is also ending.
The era of more and more musicians making a 'decent' living out of their art is beginning.
Bring it on.
Solutions most problems are relatively simple, until lawyers enter the debate.
Here is my simple solution the the Micky Mouse argument.
Micky goes into the public domain with restrictions. Restrictions are that the character can only be used for it's original purpose and intention and may not be used for any other reason. That is Micky can only be used in family friendly cartoons and made available for free on the public domain.
Kills all arguments.
Solutions most problems are relatively simple, until lawyers enter the debate.
Here is my simple solution the the Micky Mouse argument.
Micky goes into the public domain with restrictions. Restrictions are that the character can only be used for it's original purpose and intention and may not be used for any other reason. That is Micky can only be used in family friendly cartoons and made available for free on the public domain.
Kills all arguments.
Solutions most problems are relatively simple, until lawyers enter the debate.
Here is my simple solution the the Micky Mouse argument.
Micky goes into the public domain with restrictions. Restrictions are that the character can only be used for it's original purpose and intention and may not be used for any other reason. That is Micky can only be used in family friendly cartoons and made available for free on the public domain.
Kills all arguments.
As long as those accused of patent infringement are kept separate the trolls will continue to operate. All entities who have either been sued or threatened need to unite and fight the whole system as a collective group. Pool resources, hire as many lawyers as the opponent and tackle the problem head on. United we stand, divided we fall
Ever read a Murdoch publication. every day his newspapers reek of plagiarism, or other words unauthorized republication of other's works.
Also Murdoch is heavily involve in TV which is under as big a threat as newspapers.
His empire is backing a political party that wants to stifle the laying of optical fibre hence keep high speed internet out of the reach of the people. High speed internet is TV's biggest threat.
Murdoch and his editors etc are interested in one thing only, keeping the status quo. Murdoch and his management will do what ever is deemed necessary to protect the empire.
In the pre-record days when sheet music was the main source piano players were hired by stores to play a sample of the sheet music.
Radio began by broadcasting live music and later recorded music.
Record stores provided listening booths so potential listeners could sample the music before they bought. There was no obligation to buy the record played.
Up till now the main method of discovering music was by listening. Radio remained the dominate listening method for decades
TV came along and all of a sudden we could watch the artist sing his/her songs and shows such as Bandstand started having an influence of record sales. This developed extensively when the music video hit the TV screens and slowly became the teens main source of music discovery.
YouTube is just an extension of the TV video and for the new generation viewing was the normal mode for discovering music.
Traditional radio demographics started to change with talk radio increasingly dominating the surveys world wide. This has been exasperated by the thousands of Internet radio stations that generally cater for one or two genres and of course YouTube or similar.
The survey is badly flawed and most of the high numbers for teens buying music is inflated. No one bothered to ask the record stores. They will tell you the majority of there customers are over 30, or the pre YouTube generation. They will tell you that re-issued music is outselling new music.
The teen buyers are more likely to be female and are more likely to be interested in Music Videos. Male teens tend to spend their entertainment money on computer games.
The move of music discovery for teens has shifted from listening to viewing.
So the whole game has changed yet the entire music industry is totally blind to the changes.
The entire subject would make for an interesting book.
No wonder that there is little respect for the law and it's upholders.
Other questions are did the FBI agents have visas, if so what type and who arranged the granting of them? If they didn't have any how did they get pass Customs?
External law enforcement officers can only enter a country by invitation. Who invited them.
Was there trade threats made if NZ did not cooperate with USA?
No wonder the USA has move to being the most admired to the most despised country in the world.
The legacy music dinosaurs and their handler, the RIAA couldn't care less about content, they have proven that by the 80% junk content they release.. They want to keep control of distribution. That is where their power base exists. They know that when they lose control over distribution they are as good as finished. Control of distribution gives them control over content and artists.
Shutting down any distribution method that does not play their game is, as far as they are concerned, targets.
History shows us that these tactics are not new. Just study who was behind the payola scandal of the 1950's
This is the area that all musicians and writers need to understand.
To free themselves from the chains that bide and stifle their creativity they must support alternative distribution methods or sink with the corporate ship.
Music sales are up, CD sales are down and that will continue until CDs become no more than objects for dangling mobiles.
My great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, grandfather was an alien and brought to Earth all known musical notes. Being the only living descendent I therefore claim all copyrights to all music and you can't disprove it.
Let's face it. This Olympics is a flop. it is obvious that the TV networks world wide know that they have little chance of attracting the number of viewers previous Olympics had.
The OIC can be blamed. Allowing NON Olympic events to enter the games, I'm talking about team sports such as basketball, soccer, tennis and such, bore people. We see enough of it during other times.
The Olympics is suppose to be for individual achievements not team sports.
Dump them all and get back to basics and then, maybe, the Olympics will survive. Follow the current trend and in 20 years it will be a non event, maybe sooner
Lets look at the difference between innovation and invention because it appears that many look at either as the same. They are not.
Invention is the creation of something that had never existed. Innovation is the improvement of that invention.
Inventions should be protected. Innovation should not be because it is not an original idea.
No song, poem or written word can be an invention. That invention occurred when some caveman etched the first form of written communication on a cave wall and hummed the first song.
Ever since then that scrawling and humming has evolved. Every piece of written word and music is nothing more that a reorganization of what has already been invented.
That makes all writers innovators, not inventors. The only part of an innovated piece of work is the element that would be considered original and did not exits before.
No matter how good a writer or composer is every combination has probably been used before. Every song is just a rearrangement of those passages. So is any song truly original.
Here's a scary thought. Under the existing copyright laws I could buy a Cray computer, write an algorithm that will produce a trillion combinations of music notes, claim copyright on all of them, and rake in royalties from every song to be written in the future.
On the post: Being Online Has Become So Common That Some People No Longer Identify It As Being Online
A more common term
Now the call/email/text message would tell one how long a person would be offline, now abnormal.
On the post: Copyright: The New Mercantilism
They will do whatever it takes
Constitutions are only as good as those who are suppose to protect them.
Both sides of politics apparently have disregard for the constitution if it does not suit them or their financial supporters.
The problem with the USA constitution is amendments are made by legislators in all states and only they have the power to vote on the issue. Not what one could call democratic.
In Australia to change the constitution requires a each state to hold a public vote and requires a majority vote in a majority of states. This hands the whole constitution in the hands of the people not the elected legislators, most of which have vested interests.
On the post: Amanda Palmer Unleashes The Voice Of The People About Health Insurance Via Twitter
Australia the best balance
The system is called medicare and guarantees low cost health care.
How it works is the Government pays the bulk of a medical bill with the patient making up any difference between the set schedule fee and what ever a practitioner charges, this is called a gap.
For low income earners, including pensioners and those on welfare many clinics bulk bill Medicare. That means the patient pay nothing up front. if payment is required up front 100% is refunded.
Citizens can also take out extra private health insurance should they choose to be treated in a non public hospital or have a private room in a public hospital and a choice of their own treating doctor.
The downside of this system is the strain on public hospitals and most often a long waiting period for non emergency treatment. Selective surgery may have a 12 month or more waiting period.
Many privately owned rural hospitals also treat public patients if is no nearby public hospital
Overall the two tier system works reasonably well and provides a high quality health system for all.
On the post: Study: Viewing Cat Videos At Work Can Make You More Productive
handy animal
ready for this,
CAT-aloguing
On the post: Next Time Someone Suggests Piracy Will Kill Music, Remind Them That Music Survived The Last Ice Age
Enough to go around
The era of more and more musicians making a 'decent' living out of their art is beginning.
Bring it on.
On the post: Come Celebrate 15 Years Of Techdirt (And 50,000 Posts)!
All things equal
On the post: Do Bad Things Happen When Works Enter The Public Domain? The Data Says... No
Simple Solutions
Here is my simple solution the the Micky Mouse argument.
Micky goes into the public domain with restrictions. Restrictions are that the character can only be used for it's original purpose and intention and may not be used for any other reason. That is Micky can only be used in family friendly cartoons and made available for free on the public domain.
Kills all arguments.
On the post: Do Bad Things Happen When Works Enter The Public Domain? The Data Says... No
Complicated by lawyers
Here is my simple solution the the Micky Mouse argument.
Micky goes into the public domain with restrictions. Restrictions are that the character can only be used for it's original purpose and intention and may not be used for any other reason. That is Micky can only be used in family friendly cartoons and made available for free on the public domain.
Kills all arguments.
On the post: Do Bad Things Happen When Works Enter The Public Domain? The Data Says... No
Complicated by lawyers
Here is my simple solution the the Micky Mouse argument.
Micky goes into the public domain with restrictions. Restrictions are that the character can only be used for it's original purpose and intention and may not be used for any other reason. That is Micky can only be used in family friendly cartoons and made available for free on the public domain.
Kills all arguments.
On the post: Patent Trolls Causing Serious Problems For Startups
Break the patent law
On the post: Australian Media Exec Uses Dickens & Shakespeare -- Who Both Thrived Without Copyright -- To Explain Why We Need More Copyright
Murdoch the greatest copyright thief
Also Murdoch is heavily involve in TV which is under as big a threat as newspapers.
His empire is backing a political party that wants to stifle the laying of optical fibre hence keep high speed internet out of the reach of the people. High speed internet is TV's biggest threat.
Murdoch and his editors etc are interested in one thing only, keeping the status quo. Murdoch and his management will do what ever is deemed necessary to protect the empire.
On the post: Where Do Teens Discover New Music? YouTube.
Ever changing
Radio began by broadcasting live music and later recorded music.
Record stores provided listening booths so potential listeners could sample the music before they bought. There was no obligation to buy the record played.
Up till now the main method of discovering music was by listening. Radio remained the dominate listening method for decades
TV came along and all of a sudden we could watch the artist sing his/her songs and shows such as Bandstand started having an influence of record sales. This developed extensively when the music video hit the TV screens and slowly became the teens main source of music discovery.
YouTube is just an extension of the TV video and for the new generation viewing was the normal mode for discovering music.
Traditional radio demographics started to change with talk radio increasingly dominating the surveys world wide. This has been exasperated by the thousands of Internet radio stations that generally cater for one or two genres and of course YouTube or similar.
The survey is badly flawed and most of the high numbers for teens buying music is inflated. No one bothered to ask the record stores. They will tell you the majority of there customers are over 30, or the pre YouTube generation. They will tell you that re-issued music is outselling new music.
The teen buyers are more likely to be female and are more likely to be interested in Music Videos. Male teens tend to spend their entertainment money on computer games.
The move of music discovery for teens has shifted from listening to viewing.
So the whole game has changed yet the entire music industry is totally blind to the changes.
The entire subject would make for an interesting book.
On the post: Video Of Dotcom Raid Revealed, As NZ Police Admit It Was 'Over The Top'
Meanwhile
Other questions are did the FBI agents have visas, if so what type and who arranged the granting of them? If they didn't have any how did they get pass Customs?
External law enforcement officers can only enter a country by invitation. Who invited them.
Was there trade threats made if NZ did not cooperate with USA?
No wonder the USA has move to being the most admired to the most despised country in the world.
On the post: DailyDirt: Mars Missions
Job done for us
On the post: Another Music Service Shuts Down, Blames Ridiculous Licensing Fees
It's nothing to do with content
Shutting down any distribution method that does not play their game is, as far as they are concerned, targets.
History shows us that these tactics are not new. Just study who was behind the payola scandal of the 1950's
This is the area that all musicians and writers need to understand.
To free themselves from the chains that bide and stifle their creativity they must support alternative distribution methods or sink with the corporate ship.
Music sales are up, CD sales are down and that will continue until CDs become no more than objects for dangling mobiles.
On the post: Australian Advertising Watch Group Says Companies Are Responsible For Comments On Their Facebook Pages
Beer for comment
On the post: Excerpt From Rob Reid's Year Zero; Plus A Chance To Win The Book
I own all copyright
On the post: Google's App Crackdown Results In Indie Developer Smackdown
Para What
On the post: Biggest Critic Of NBC's Awful Olympic Coverage Has Twitter Account Suspended For Tweeting NBC Exec's Email
Flop
The OIC can be blamed. Allowing NON Olympic events to enter the games, I'm talking about team sports such as basketball, soccer, tennis and such, bore people. We see enough of it during other times.
The Olympics is suppose to be for individual achievements not team sports.
Dump them all and get back to basics and then, maybe, the Olympics will survive. Follow the current trend and in 20 years it will be a non event, maybe sooner
On the post: Innovation, Copying And Civil Disobedience
Innovation
Invention is the creation of something that had never existed. Innovation is the improvement of that invention.
Inventions should be protected. Innovation should not be because it is not an original idea.
No song, poem or written word can be an invention. That invention occurred when some caveman etched the first form of written communication on a cave wall and hummed the first song.
Ever since then that scrawling and humming has evolved. Every piece of written word and music is nothing more that a reorganization of what has already been invented.
That makes all writers innovators, not inventors. The only part of an innovated piece of work is the element that would be considered original and did not exits before.
No matter how good a writer or composer is every combination has probably been used before. Every song is just a rearrangement of those passages. So is any song truly original.
Here's a scary thought. Under the existing copyright laws I could buy a Cray computer, write an algorithm that will produce a trillion combinations of music notes, claim copyright on all of them, and rake in royalties from every song to be written in the future.
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