Google on Copyright

A few days ago OSNews pointed to a story in New Zealand’s PCMag about Google’s reaction to a new copyright law they are proposing over there. The response is so good i just felt like re-posting it here:

While inadequate copyright protection can reduce incentives to create, excessive copyright protection can stifle creativity, choke innovation, impoverish culture and block free and fair competition.

This brilliant snippet of lawyerism shows how the whole copyright issue is completely broken — it makes no sense at all, but we just can’t see this basic fact because we are so used to business as usual.

about Festival de Curitiba

Festival de Curitiba is a theatre convention that happens over here, there are lots of plays for 10 days straight and i just jumped on, i just did a theatre marathon. In short:

• What i liked the most: “O Banho”, “Arapucaia”, “Escaparate”
• The ratio of good plays to bad plays: surprisingly high, as in few sucked
• Total number of plays i went to: 23!!

why i was hoping for Obama, or trying to see the big picture of our current state of affairs

They had (or are having, those things are hard to pinpoint except for the actual molotovs) over back in Greece “um princípio de quiprocó, um pequeno quebra-quebra entre eles” beginning with the death of a student. If you haven’t checked out BigPicture’s page on that one, you should.

a protester wearing a Nike jacket throwing a stone during the Greek Riots of Dec2009 (REUTERS/Yiorgos Karahalis)

Now that is the world where this new POTUS is coming up, this one guy who has the hubris of saying himself the harbinger of hope, the herald of change. And you gotta give him at least that: he is smart. Usually, i will prefer the dumbest candidate available for the US, seen that i do think this country has a hand that is too heavy, but not this time. I have heard (read) him called something like a wolf in a lamb’s clothing, and i kind of think he is more like a wolf period, i do not think he stands for “good” politics, nor do i think he will refrain from politics as usual, but i was really hoping he would step up to the so-called most powerful job on earth.

And the reason is just one: i think things are getting hairy.

The Issues

If there is anyone interested in astrology out there: this year begins with Pluto entering Capricorn. The interpretation would be something like “this is a time for restructuring of the world, of the systems and institutions that sustain our world, a time for rethinking and changing power and authority.”

Whatever the value of such transit, we are living a moment in which it seem to me adequate to ask:

“What are The Issues™ that matter here and now?”