Science is Not War

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Alex Tabarrok comments about a recent NY Times article by William J Broad that states we are losing our lead in sciences. Tabarrok makes some excellent points, including this quote from Thomas Jefferson:

He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. That ideas should freely spread from one to another over the globe, for the moral and mutual instruction of man, and improvement of his condition, seems to have been peculiarly and benevolently designed by nature, when she made them, like fire, expansible over all space, without lessening their density in any point, and like the air in which we breathe, move, and have our physical being, incapable of confinement or exclusive appropriation.

Surfers not put off by sharks

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Matt Sedensky writes about surfers & sharks (I remember discussing this issue with abalone divers when I lived in California….).

KAHANA, Hawaii ? Sam George can’t believe the audacity of surfers who seem to return to the water as soon as the blood of a shark attack dissipates ? even though he’s one of them.
“Once the blood cleared and the paramedics got off the beach, I’m as silly as the rest,” said George, San Clemente-based editor of Surfer magazine.

Osama

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Osama is well worth watching:

This stunning film, the first to be made in a post-Taliban Afghanistan and inspired by a newspaper account read by director Siddiq Barmak, recounts the efforts of a family of women to survive under an oppressive regime. To eke out a meager living, they dress up their 12-year-old girl, Osama, as a boy so she can work

Hippy Gourmet: peace, love and recipes

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Bija Gutoff writes about the technology behind San Francisco’s Hippy Gourmet:

This is not your typical celebrity-kitchen show. In fact, it?s not typical TV at all. ?The Hippy Gourmet? eschews the frantic pace of most TV programs and doesn?t measure its success by ratings alone. ?We don?t do three-second edits like MTV,? Ehrlich says. ??The Hippy Gourmet? creates a new tone for TV, one that?s about relaxing and seeing what good can be done in the world.? Beside preparing meals, the show promotes such causes as sustainable agriculture, social welfare and environmental activism.
It?s a philosophy that has earned ?The Hippy Gourmet? millions of fans on the West Coast. Now in its third season, the 30-minute show broadcasts via 24 public access cable stations from the Bay Area to Lake Tahoe. And, through talks underway with PBS and The Food Network, Ehrlich expects to soon boost his audience nationwide. He credits the show?s high visibility to the production standards enabled by his Apple tools. ?We could not have created this show without the Mac and Final Cut Pro,? states Ehrlich.

Best Law Money Can Buy

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From Dave Farber’s IP List:

Lets the DOJ bring civil suits on behalf of copyright owners. (Link goes to
text of bill):
I especially enjoy the thought of the DOJ having a division that “(employs
and leverages) the expertise of technical experts in computer forensics;
(and) (F) collects and preserves) electronic data in a forensically sound
manner for use in court proceedings”. I wonder how far 2 million dollars
will get them in one year.
S. 2237 (Pirate Act)

MIT Student Grills Valenti on Fair Use

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Keith Winstein writes about his chat with MPAA’s Jack Valenti:

Valenti is an incredibly polished advocate for the movie studios. He has numerous legislative and regulatory successes to his name, and his stated commitment to honest debate (he spoke passionately several times about his commitment to the ?ideal of civic discourse? and his disgust at Washington, D.C.?s lack of it) is admirable.
But we don?t have a real debate on copyright issues. We have rival camps that rarely understand each other. Virtually everybody I know and encounter on the Internet thinks Valenti?s signal accomplishments are bad. He can claim credit for the anticircumvention provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which make it illegal to build your own DVD player and well-nigh impossible to watch DVDs legally under the GNU/Linux operating system, as well as the Federal Communication Commission?s Broadcast Flag, which will make it illegal or virtually impossible to build your own digital television receiver or, again, watch HDTV under Linux.

Paying to Keep Green Space

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Peter Maller writes about P. Richard Schumann’s efforts to purchase farmer’s development rights while they continue farming:

Schumann is preparing an advisory referendum for the November ballot asking residents in the Town of Hartford if they are willing to pay higher property taxes to fund such purchases of development rights.
The goal is for the land to remain undeveloped.
“I think we have very strong support,” said Schumann, founder and president of the community’s newly organized Town Preservation Committee. “Keeping the style of life we have, preserving farmland and green space, is very near and dear to people’s hearts.”