Month: April 2008 Page 1 of 3

U of Ottawa professor Michael Geist takes on (and rebuts) some of the most prevalent myths about copyright in Canada in this video presentation of one of his speeches.

The five myths he rebuts are:

The Importance of Copyright – copyright is important, but investment decisions, creativity and new business models are products of much more than just an IP framework as venture capital, tax structures, talent, competitive communications, and government support are all part of the decision making process.
Consultations and Reforms – while some argue that Canada has engaged in lengthy consultations with little action, I argue that the opposite is trueCanada in the World – lobby groups and the U.S. have been vocal in criticizing Canadian copyright law, yet a closer look reveals that Canadian law stands up impressively by world (and U.S.) standardsCopyright in the World – the U.S. would have you believe that all countries must mirror the DMCA, however, the truth is that there is great flexibility in how any country can move forward with digital copyright reformCopyright Consensus – most seem to believe that copyright is too divisive to achieve consensus, but I argue that there is already a broad consensus on an approach that rejects the DMCA and emphasizes balance

Geist deserves a lot of credit for making the issue of copyright worth thinking about in Canada. We are in danger of being sucked into the vortex of US legislation (like the DMCA) unless we speak up.

This issue is worth following and paying attention to what Geist has to say is a good way to do that.
(Via Boing Boing.)

Via Boing Boing comes this delightful video…

John Cleese visits Laughing Club in India: “

Actor John Cleese went to India to visit a doctor who has started a laughing club. The people meet each morning and do silly things to make each other laugh. Laughter has many health benefits, says the doctor. I believe it.Previously on Boing Boing:
• Laughter yoga
• Laughing yogi video (Via Boing Boing.)

Update to my post below about Victoria sailor Glenn Wakefield. Looks like the damage to his boat was more severe than first thought…this was posted to the blog this afternoon by his wife, MaryLou:

Day 218 Sunday April 27, 2008 47.38S 49.41 W (05:00 PDT)
I spoke with Glenn at 05:00 on board the Argentina naval vessel Puerto Deseado. The vessel was dispatched to assist Glenn through a request from the Patagonian net of ham radio operators and a number of other sailing and fishing vessels in the area. Glenn has been seen by the physician on board and has been treated for injuries and is feeling well. He described in more detail the extent of the damage to Kim Chow including severely damaged self steering, inoperable engine and discharged batteries. In addition, Kim Chow was starting to take on water through the damaged hatches and companionway. After carefully considering the options Glenn felt he could not safely round Cape Horn and has made a very personal and difficult decision, and the only logical one under the circumstances, which is to end his circumnavigation. His decision was greatly influenced by the love for his family back home and he reassured us he is doing well. Glenn will be transferred to a Coast Guard vessel and taken to a port in Argentina and from there to Buenos Aires and home. The fate of Kim Chow is uncertain at this point. The Navy are considering the options. Words alone can’t express his deep appreciation for the bravery and kindness of the captain and crew who stood by for 48 hours until weather and sea conditions would permit his safe transfer to their vessel. Glenn sends his heartfelt thanks to all those who played a part in seeing him safely through this difficult time. We will post further updates when available.

It’s a less than satisfactory ending to Glenn’s adventure, but you’ve got to be thankful that he’s still in good shape. I’m looking forward to his return to Victoria. He deserves a tremendous homecoming.

Technorati Tags:
Glenn Wakefield, Kim Chow

Seth Godin has an update on that old staple that the customer is always right.

In his blog, he writes about an experience he had as a customer after he complained about some bad service. And that leads to a thoughtful piece on how customers should be treated.

This is good advice for anyone who deals with clients or customers in their daily life (and who doesn’t, in some way?)

Link

It’s Earth Day, so this seems like a good time to point you towards an interesting site that my brother-in-law, Darryl, sent along to me.

It’s called The story of stuff with Annie Leonard. It’s a 20 minute video, hosted by Annie, who takes us through the history of stuff — extraction, production, distribution, consumption, disposal and ends up at “Another Way.”

I don’t know much more about it, but it looks interesting. And since this is Earth Day, maybe it’s worth spending 20 minutes to find out a bit more about how all our modern stuff gets made and distributed.

Enjoy.

As someone who is involved in the PR business, which often means working hard to get favourable coverage in the media for a client, this story from the NY Times strikes a nerve.

In a lengthy piece, published Sunday, reporter David Barstow details the complicated and close relationship between the Pentagon and the so-called “military analysts” that have become so familiar to TV viewers on American networks.

To the public, these men are members of a familiar fraternity, presented tens of thousands of times on television and radio as “military analysts” whose long service has equipped them to give authoritative and unfettered judgments about the most pressing issues of the post-Sept. 11 world.

Hidden behind that appearance of objectivity, though, is a Pentagon information apparatus that has used those analysts in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance, an examination by The New York Times has found.

The effort, which began with the buildup to the Iraq war and continues to this day, has sought to exploit ideological and military allegiances, and also a powerful financial dynamic: Most of the analysts have ties to military contractors vested in the very war policies they are asked to assess on air.

On one hand, I’m tempted to say “Holy crap! These guys (the Pentagon) are really good at what they do!”

But I’m not really serious (although they are obviously good.)

Instead, I’m dismayed at just how much the media is being played by influential interests. In this case, it’s the US administration, making sure that the facts don’t get in the way of telling the people what’s happening with the war on terror. But similar examples (here and here, for instance) exist in other areas as well.

Kudos to the NY Times for writing about this and giving it the space they have. And note as well the other web-friendly features they’ve included to add to the story.

They have a multimdedia feature that offers clips from TV shows (many of which are included in the print story.) There’s also a detailed document archive where you can see excerpts from the documents the Times received during their research.

As with more and more news features these days, we get the print version, enhanced with extras that take advantage of web features. It makes for a rich experience.

Still, we have to admit that its not like we don’t know this sort of thing happens. I hope the TV networks who were so lenient in checking the credibility of their military analysts are going to clean up their act a bit in the future – but I’m not holding my breath.

The responsibility for figuring out what’s really going on remains with us – the consumer of the news. After all, there are always at least two sides to every story.

I posted a while ago about Julie Szabo’s figure skating blog, which featured the eight nastiest figure skating falls. Looks like the blogosphere mojo is working. Darren reports:

Just a quick note to say thanks to everybody who linked to Julie’s figure skating blog. She’s now in the number one spot for the Google search ‘figure skating blog’. There’s obviously not a lot of stiff competition, because Brian, Richard and I all have results in the top ten (though that may just be Google favouring newer pages).

(Via DarrenBarefoot.com.)