ON THE SHORES OF A MUDDY RIVER


You get your hair cut. You don't belong in Nashville.

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I often hear people talking about Facebook as though they were some sort of monopoly or public trust. Well, they aren't. They owe us nothing. They can do whatever they want, within the bounds of the laws. Furthermore, their long-term success is by no means guaranteed - have we all forgotten MySpace? Oh, right, we have. Regardless of the hype, the fact remains that Sergei Brin or Bill Gates or Warren Buffett could personally acquire a majority stake in Facebook without even straining their bank account. And Facebook's revenue remains more or less a rounding error for more established tech companies.

[Gizmodo — “Top Ten Reasons You Should Quit Facebook”]

4 May - pm

The complete Calvin & Hobbes, online, searchable by dialogue

3 May - pm

I think the most important thing we can do is to treat Americans as citizent and not consumers. … You cannot fight a war in a democratic way without undermining the success of the war, and if you don’t fight it in a democratic way you undermine democracy itself.
— Bill Moyers

1 May - pm

BP oil spill ruins their livelihoods, Gulf fishermen sign up as cheap labor for BP oil cleanup

claytoncubitt:

“Either the seafood industry or the oil industry — that’s the only jobs down here, so I guess I’m trying to move from seafood to oil today,” said Bernel Prout, 55, a fisherman and Venice native.” (via defendneworleans)

See also: BP CEO earns $3k/hour last year, workers are being offered $10/hour to clean up BP spill

Also also: I guess BP’s “Beyond Petroleum” rebranding should now be changed to “Begreased Pelicans.”

And: #rebrandBP

1 May - am

The cyberwar rhetoric is dangerous. Its practitioners are artists of exaggeration, who seem to think spinning tall tales is the only way to make bureaucracies move in the right direction. But yelling “Cyberwar” in a crowded internet is not without consequence. Not only does it promote unnecessary fear, it feeds the forces of parochial nationalism and militarism — undermining a communications system that has arguably done more to connect the world’s citizens than the last 50 years of diplomacy.

Interesting when you put it side by side with the NPR interview. Dare I say it’s Clarke who comes across as the out-of-touch fearmonger?

See also: Cyberwar Hype Intended to Destroy the Open Internet

(Also, people, ‘cyber’? What is this, 1991? The very use of the prefix makes you sound irrelevant.)

23 Apr - am
Nashville under water Kieth Gallagher [Nashville Flood 2010 — Presidentraygun’s Flickr photostream]

Nashville under water Kieth Gallagher
[Nashville Flood 2010 — Presidentraygun’s Flickr photostream]

3 May - pm

In these crazy mixed-up times, it’s important to remember why copright exists in the first place.

knowyourmeme:

How To Challenge a Wrongful YouTube Takedown Through Fair Use

We’ve been tracking the Hitler Downfall meme and have become very concerned about the recent slate of YouTube takedowns by Constantin Films.

In talking to many of the creators of the Downfall meme videos, we discovered that many of them were unaware of their rights and protections under Fair Use.

To this end, we’ve created a short video that explains why we think that these videos are transformative works, why they should be protected under the Fair Use doctrine and what creators can do to challenge these unfair takedowns.

For additional information on Fair Use and your rights as content creator online, check out the following resources:

Big thanks to Pat Aufderheide of the Center for Social Media and Elizabeth Stark of the Open Video Alliance for their valuable assistance on this.

30 Apr - pm

 
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