Which came first, Copyright or Creativity?

So there was an article on Slashdot today that got me very excited.

There is a big discussion going on, as usual with these issues, with a full range of opinions on this.

In this discussion the question came up of which came first, creativity or copyright with the argument presented:

1. creativity
2. printing press
3. mass distribution
4. copyright
5. the Internet
6. the RIAA

pretty simplo IMO.

This was a comment by Tharos.

It was the "Pretty Simple" I could not ignore. This was my response, disagreeing that organizations like the RIAA are something only of the present that came about AFTER the Internet:

Interesting perspective on history. But if many people think this is the way that it happened, no wonder we are in the mess we are in today, IMHO.

Survival has always been about advantage. Even in interspecies interaction, the winner most always the one that knows something the other does not. Where food is, where predators are not, deceptions in numbers, camouflage, and other things. Ultimately, nature and human history have shown that knowledge is power. Further, in competition, it is about having more power, even if by simply ensuring less knowledge by potential adversaries.

It may not have been called copyright in the century leading up to the Statute of Anne, but the control over the flow of information, and special armies to protect such information from falling into the "wrong hands" has been around as long as there has been written language. In some places, there were even were secret spoken languages meant only for the elite that were forbidden to be learned by commoners by threat of death. Even Caesar used encryption algorithms to pass secret messages to troops (Still known today as the Caesar shift). Scribes were required to take oaths not to reveal the secrets shared with them, and master texts were bound by shackle to the most trusted members, not in ways necessarily to keep the book from harm, but to keep the text away from unauthorized eyes.

All this is copy protection because every time we see an image or read a text, or see a sound, our brains make a copy... albeit some better than others.

So in many ways, copyright, the protection and control over knowledge came first, and with the birth of creativity and free thinking immediately came with it along side was methods of copy protection.

Wit the invention of the printing press in 1439, copyright was thrown into chaos. The distribution of knowledge was able to fight copyright in new ways never before conceived. Governments quickly responded with copyright police that hunted down book publishers, rounding them up for public hangings and beheading for their crimes to serve as an example of how they would deal with pirates; stealing work from scribes and writers. It was a problem the elite argued would destroy knowledge, creativity, and progress as there would be no longer any motivation for thinkers to think, scientists to study, or writers to write.

Well, they were right in part. The scribes guild vanished over a period of time. Knowledge as it was known, held in secret by a powerful few, had been destroyed.

But... someone and for some reason people did keep writing books, and all the tales of the end of the world of creativity never quite came about. Some argue it was actually the other way around, that a revolution took place and a generation of thinkers were born, but whose to say what really happened, right?

But then came a new battle. The scribes were gone, and book publishing had taken over. People had been enlightened, and there was a new thirst for knowledge, this time in masses, and printed books had been legalized. This time, the control was in the hands of the book publishers. But as the elite scribes had known, power isn't just control, but exclusive power. Book publishers wanted exclusive rights to publish books. The printers guild aka Stationer's Company, were granted exclusive right to print the books, so long as royalties were paid to the Queen. Books were 'bought' by the queen, and she would give the texts to book publishers that would get exclusive printing rights indefinitely. No royalties were ever paid to writers, and writers were banned from self publishing or seeking an independent press. Queen Mary I of Great Britain was the first MPAA / RIAA of its kind. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

By 1709, Shakespeare had been dead nearly 100 years. The independent publishers fought even harder for a more free copyright law, as opposed to the indefinitely perpetual copyright law in place. Shakespeare is a part of our culture and can not be owned by anyone. Stories are a part of who we are, not to be owned by individuals. Knowledge should be spread by any means necessary, and we are here to meet that demand.

A settlement was reached in the British courts in 1709 with the Statute of Anne, looking to balance the rights of people who would write stories contributing to culture, science, and "useful arts", and the rights of the people whom were members of that culture, both as readers, thinkers, and writers that draw upon that culture. Copyright would hence forth be limited to a period of fourteen years for new works, with requirements that copies be placed in all the libraries of Britain, and free for Stationer's Company to reproduce.

The founding fathers of the United States Constitution recognized this important protection and balance between culture, progress, and control, and thus included in the powers granted to congress the power "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries"... Which with the powerful lobbyists of today have taken from "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries" to "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries", but that is skipping ahead...

Quickly, Fox, Kodak, and Disney take a whole bunch of stuff, without any regard to copyrighted books and movies to patented film types and projectors, moving to California to form Hollywood because it was far enough from Washington DC to avoid the law, not to mention inventors seeking patent royalties for their inventions. skipping ahead, Disney becomes super power, tries to expand copyright but fails until people are distracted by WWII. Threatened by radio, congress grants freedom to radio despite major opposition. Disney / MPAA greatly threatened by Cable Companies saying it is going to "destroy creativity" just like radio as these companies run their pirate cables, just as scribes had claimed in 1400's. Congress grants statutory royalties. VCR comes out. BIG freak out, blah blah blah, more copy right statutes. broadcast flag, blah blah blah, CD, DVD MAJOR FREAK OUT... again, as usual as the dominent power of information / culture distribution was threatened. Internet, same thing so on and so forth.

So what I see? Culture was created and controlled by and elite few and distribution was difficult. Over the past millennium, there is always the attempt for "Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past." ~George Orwell (or Rage against the Machine for those that don't read books), or as Lawrence Lessig puts it, "1. Creativity and innovation always builds on the past. 2. The past always tries to control the creativity that builds on it. 3. Free Societies enable the future by limiting the past. 4. Ours is less and less a free society."

So I see it as, there is and always will be creativity. It can not be stopped. People with power and money from their success will fight to keep that control, and that power can potentially be limited by government. People will always fight for progress by any means necessary. Our government today is powerless to encourage progress due the many controls of the creators of the past.

The difference, as Sigmund freud put it, we are lucky to live in an age where people only burn our books and not us.

For a more complete version, read Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig, or watch any of his videos / lectures on youtube or opencinema, and a great film, Steal This Film Part II on the history of copyright, or part one on government coruption by the media, produced by The Pirate Bay.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q25-S7jzgs "Larry Lessig: How Creativity is being strangled by the law"

Obligatory comment left by me on this video:

This is the most important issue of our day. Our government is controlled by the media because those that don't get the entertainment industries approval CAN NOT get elected for prohibition to exposure via vital media such as TV and radio. I don't want to call it a fix all, but the passiveness to this control by the media bleeds into many issues that have resulted in entertaining further bad policies by example of what we have had to endure from the media. Lessig, you NAILED IT! You are my hero.

I'd also like to mention that from this video, with regard to the revolution by our youth. Our youth rejects the law as a whole because of the major parts of it that are corrupt, even though parts of the law in principle have validity. These congressional monopolies were written into our constitution only in so far as to promote progress. There was a balance. Now that congress has become so one sided, youth rejects balance in revolt against the corrupt monopolies congress has been bullied to give out.

Jack Valenti called it his own terrorist war, him being on the side of the monopolies. Hmm... the only terrorist I see is the man determined to rewrite the constitution in his favor. They may not be on our soil, but today we have a great American patriot that is not looking for mediation or compromise but has set his mission to destroy this evil the only way he knows how. He has enlisted hundreds of millions in advertising to fuel a undefeatable black market for any piece of culture the demons of our time would try to lock away and strategically hand out like bread to starving children. He has given the world a Horn of Plenty, looting from the pirates that stole our culture and try to comodotize and control it. Our great American Patriot's are Gottfrid Svartholm, Fredrik Neij, and Peter Sunde. Long Live The Pirate Bay!

With this caveat:

When our society returns to progress and we live in a Free culture as promoted by Lessig, Patry, and other men I consider great American heroes (reserving patriot for those of Edward Abbey's definition. GREAT men, just different), there will be no place for the pirate bay. As it is a front line of defense against injustice, a free culture will not need (no offense) such a crude and unorganized site that is merely an index. Sites like Jamendo will dominate. The evidence I present to defend this is this: Look at the inclusions in the index. Look for public domain works. Look for creative Commons work. Try to find work people are trying to give away or share with the world. You won't find any. The great success of The Pirate Bay is fueled only as a counter to greed and corruption. This explains the hundreds of millions of dollars in "off-shore accounts" around the world. Freedom, and a love for cultural sharing where artists recognize the influence culture has had on them, and the opportunities for creativity it provides unilaterally, there is no place on the pirate bay. It is only a forum for patriots to band together against corruption. When the corruption is broken, the Pirate Bay will sail off into the sunset of our history, as it will have no place in the free world.

Let that be a reminder to would be cultural tyrants out there. This is a war YOU started, and the Pirate Bay will help end. The numbers say every Internet user is a soldier, and every dollar TPB makes should stand as a memorial to the intolerance of your ways.

And on a related note, notice the praises for the television stations that now share their content on the web? The business model of the future may not be complete, but you can easily see where it is going. I know there is a day where one studios artwork will disappear from the pirate bay, and all that money they had been getting will go to the studios, and that will be the first studio to start its own bit torrent tracker, or whatever they have to call it. Hopefully that will take place before the last movie achieves rot away on their not so permanent nitrate film.

The Pirate Bay will soar so long as it is profitable. Ye of so little faith that can't find a better business model, and must turn to the government to "fix" it for you, like fixing any other game.

Ooh, and to anyone that read the other news on slashdot, it appears our old friend Ted Stevens will be observing a series of cubes. Ha ha ha!

Please comment if you made it through my whole rant. It is appreciated.

Jamendo

This site is great! Lots of CC work where artists get free promotion, and people can comment, review, and download music. I have been listening to this album most of the afternoon. I love it!

Prop 8 is SOOO GAY!

I have not been pro 8 at any point, but I feel so strongly about it, I feel had begun to feel ignorant, not understanding how ANYONE with any sense of good inside of them could support this measure to change our constitution.

Oh, and to double check, does it seriously need a 50%+ vote to pass? or is it 66% like the US Constitution?

http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/138/2/210

A good article on how the APA resolved the matter. I interpret the last line as to mean that heterosexuals hold certain values about their heterosexuality that conflict with homosexuality.

The funniest thing I see about this is that the church seems to find homosexuality WAY more normal than I do, or much anyone else I know.

What I hear from no on 8 people is that gay is normal for some people, that is just the way they are, and I am different.

The Yes on 8 people say that everyone really wants to be gay and that if people learn about being gay or that being gay is ok, everyone will become gay, and nobody will take care of their families or children or society because being gay is just too wonderful, but the human species will die out!

And even if there was some chance of that being true, is the idea of continuing the species, or heterosexual intercourse, or the opposite gender so detestable to you you need a law to make sure everyone else has to suffer as much as you sacrifice on a regular basis?

Can I just stop for a moment and say... WTF!?!?!?!??

Of course there is always the possibility that this is just the most politically correct way of saying they REALLY like sex,and know what a pain they can be in relationships such that if men can get their pleasure from other men, they will never get laid again.

The more I think about it, the yes on 8 people must have the biggest homo fantasy EVER about the world and the way people work. In a way... it is kinda hot.

It is like as if being hetro is some kind of struggle to make the world a better place, to which I just go HUH?!?

I have been with men and women. I appreciate them each in their own way, but discovered I am VERY straight. It even hurts some times because I believed it was all programming and that everyone in a natural environment was bisexual... and I felt SOOO enlightened... but alas it took me no time at all to realize I was hopelessly straight. I think the biggest part is smell. Guys are gross, and the scent of a woman drives me CrAzY!

I guess being heterosexual is just natural for me.

So again I ask, where the hell are these people coming from, if not of a place of deeply repressed homosexuality?

How about for a poster: "Sorry boys, it isn't as gay as you think. No on Prop 8!"

The Pirate Bay

If you desire to steal expensive software and not pay anything for it, Gnu/Linux was recently assessed at being a $25 billion piece of work.

The purpose of information is for it to be shared. Disney fights this hard because they understand it; Disney is the master of theft, and they will crush anyone that tries to invade their territory.

The Pirate Bay is only a glimmer of how great a Free Culture could be. They get strength from greed and oppression. Only in the world we live in today with the members of th MPAA and RIAA buying the government and forcing their monopoly onto the world could a site like the pirate bay thrive. As it is mentioned in the video, they have no content of their own, and yet from this pure black market of culture, they make hundreds of millions of dollars.

Though as other commenter's mentioned, The Pirate Bay is a very comprehensive, and powerful site with some of the highest traffic in the world. That can't be cheap.

However, the statement that The Pirate Bay has none of its own content is not quite true. They made two movies: Steal This Film and Steal This Film: Part II.

The first movie is about the raid on The Pirate Bay. The second movie is about the history of the exchange of ideas, and what powerful people have done to try to stop it.

For a more specific historical look at British common law regarding copyright, and copyright law in the United States, I HIGHLY recommend Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig, a man who is my personal hero. If you simply are not the book reading type, he has some great videos crying out "oh why, oh why, can we not follow the constitution!" (ok, a little poetic licence). This is one of my favorites.

Something I hope to write about soon is about the corruption of our United States Congress, and how the entertainment industry poisnns their way into getting special legal protections for their should be dying business model.

The key: If you as a politician don't support the entertainment industry, you don't get to use our medium; no TV, no Radio, no News coverage of your events; unless you count getting to buy infomercials along side teeth whitening gel and VegiBlender 2000. And all this puts you where next to your opponent?

All that before smear campaigns and lobbyists.

Only a seriously sick corrupted fuck could ever support the PRO-IP Act, which totally explains why there were only 5 coegressmen that voted against it, like Ron Paul.

As we watch our country erode away, how can people really try to put all this on the president. One man. Diamond got sued into oblivion for their mp3 players, but when Apple bent over to the RIAA, who now gets all the credit for making mp3 players famous. And consumers are thrilled. Makes me sick.

Sherrie Lockwood

Have you noticed anything? She seems to be about the only person posting all the yes on 8 videos. Further, she is censoring all the comments so that there are only comments from people that are yes on 8. I have seen a full range of comments, and most op the prop 8 videos have many thousands of comments. Hers? only a few hundred, yet she has some of the most watched videos. viewings in the tens of thousands.

It appears she has me blocked me from sending her any kind of messages or commenting on any of her videos. I think that is very telling.

I checked out her web site. WOW, she is very active. HUGE website about herself, church, children, and scout troop. As if her hundreds of videos were not enough.

The really weird thing is with all the stuff she is saying about traditional family, she is a single mother of three boys.

I have nothing wrong with that, and she really appears to be a great mom, and her kids seem really cool, looking through her site... but how is that in any way "traditional", in so far as she seems to keep making the argument?

I think she is the best example of a person with an alternative lifestyle that is a wonderfully supportive parent that has raised some great children. Who is to say you can't call what she has a family? Anyone to pity those kids for coming from a "broken home" really needs a reality check.

Ironic, I think.

I'll skip the history lesson on this one.

DON'T READ THIS POST!!!

The fact is that censorship always defeats its own purpose, for it creates, in the end, the kind of society that is incapable of exercising real discretion. ~Henry Commager

Censorship reflects society's lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime. ~Potter Stewart

A free press can be good or bad, but, most certainly, without freedom a press will never be anything but bad. ~Albert Camus

Nature knows no indecencies; man invents them. ~Mark Twain, 1935

I posted the above to a video on youtube "Vote YES On prop 8-Six Consequences" by user sherrielockwood. She has heavily censored the comments on her page to ensure that only people that share her opinion can leave comments on her page. How sad.

Well, with people able to post their opinion almost anywhere they like, maybe it is nice she keep a little sanctuary for her dying little cause :)

Is there any chance that all these people saying that they need to fight this cause because God wants them to... when it fails, will that mean that they will understand that they were wrong?

*sigh* Don't worry, I know it is too much to hope for.

That makes me think though. I don't have anything against Sarah Palin. She is a cute little underdog. Despite disagreeing with certain opinions of hers (not all), I do have a concern for her mental well being. I am not implying that she is crazy...yet, because I think it is great when people can draw strength from where ever they can get it, Superman, Jesus, Captain Picard, whoever. It is wonderful.

The place I am concerned is what will happen when she looses. She and her supporters have proclaimed that she is "filled with the Holy Spirit", and while I might really like to fill her with my Holy Spirit, is there a chance she may just loose it when the votes are finally counted, and so few were for her and her man? I don't mean violent crazy, or locked up crazy, but if she really thinks she is the instrument of her god, what will it say about God when her god is ineffective at getting her to president of the senate?

Ha Ha HA!!! ok, maybe I just can't talk about this seriously... Never mind.

I am sure she will come up with some kind of excuse for everything in the end. Hell, she isn't going to stop being a politician. :)

California Proposition 4 Rant

Got an email from a friend asking my opinion on California Proposition 4, Parental notification before abortion law being proposed. This was my rant:

UPDATE: Jonanda42 has given be permission to post her question that got me going on prop 4. Here it is.

Prop 4 is a little more complex for me. Although I am pro choice, having had daughters myself, I have difficulty with the idea that an underage girl could seek an abortion without parental or guardian consent. I do agree, however, that she may be in an environment that might not be condusive to that kind of news and she may be at risk for abuse. But I hope that those cases are few and far between.

What do you think about prop 4?

---
I certainly hear the cry of parents that care and worry about the choices their children will make. I would hope that every mother daughter relationship has the strength to discuss such an emotionally difficult choice.

I am pro choice, but not in the choice of whether or not to have an abortion, but the choice of how and when to start a family. Sex is fun and it feels good. Some people use this in good ways, and some take advantage of it in really terrible ways.

Many things have been tried through out our history to control breeding and population both in the name of religion and science. Eugenics is just bad social policy, because it is people thinking they are better than nature and can therefore make better choices than an individual. People talk about it like as though as if it was only the Nazi's that ran those types of policies, but they were not. Similar "programs" of different types were going on all around the world, particularly in the US since the 1920's. It doesn't work. The last of a national eugenics program did not end until 1958.

So what does this have to do with abortion and parental consent? People still sympathize with eugenics for its merits, even when we know its horrific dangers as a social policy.

Pro-choice is about that individual freedom. We do not force people to breed any more than we would tell Sarah Palin that she is too old to have a child because of the risk of Down's Syndrome (1 in 8 children of women over 40 have DS). We do not judge people for those kinds of choices, nor do we push people with the law. It is a way that we accept that life has a way of running its own course.

The place we do push people with the law is with child abuse. If a child is obviously abused, or admits to abuse, there are mandatory reporting laws. These I agree with, even if I would criticize CPSs effectiveness, as I have called them myself on more than a few occasions.. Some would likely say that a pregnant minor is proof of abuse... but that is not what this law is trying to address.

The world is a big scary place, and we all try to look out for each other. There is no bigger choice in a persons life than when to start a family. Biologically, and if there is a God what he decided, the time when that natural right comes for a woman to make that choice is the day she becomes fertile. That is just biological law.

Prop 4 tries to manipulate that in a very careful way. We can not know every persons family, but this law is only intended to help one very specific group of people, while neglecting another.

Most kids I think are wrong about how they think their parents would react to an unexpected pregnancy unless it had been previously discussed in great detail. But there are some kids that do know. Some kids are really smart and may know that their parents would disown them, or see them as a murderer if they got an abortion. Maybe the kid lives on the street and has worked very hard to stay away from abusive parents. I can not know what every minors position might be, or the circumstances of their pregnancy. For many that get abortions, as difficult as it is, there is a chance there are even bigger more complicated issues. And there are a lot of kids in bad/other situations. They do need help. This law is not going to provide any kind of help those kids need.

This law adds bureaucracy to an already difficult situation in order to assist strongly religious parents in preventing their children from having abortions. That is the only objective of prop 4. Even voting no, I desperately with there was a proposition to help more of these kids in a way I could be voting yes on. This is NOT it.

Parents need to talk to their kids and help them make good life choices. This starts from the time you as a parent decide to have children. Talk about love, sex, and family values. Give them condoms. Help them get birth control. Remind them that their body is sacred and to share it when it is going to be respected. If they are having strong feelings, encourage them to masturbate in privacy, use a vibrator... just don't go with them to pick it out. You have all the time to care and connect with your child and hope that you have given them all the best.

You pray that with all this work that your child will want to share the details of love and sadness with you. You hope that when they meet someone they love that they may marry, have kids, and make the same happiness that you were so privileged to have, and they will tell you every detail along the way so you can be happy for them...

... and that is what I hope every parent wants

...but there is always that barrier that keeps you from really knowing. That part is individuality. Their uniqueness that makes them who they are that you love is the same thing that means you really can't ever know exactly what is going on in their head, no matter how much you may want to.

So there I think outlines all the fears of the best parents. Prop 4 comes from that love in a way. But it is too much. You have had a lot of time with that kid until that day they become fertile which is so far from what we consider adulthood today.

And hopefully all that means that they would talk to you.

But if for whatever reason they as individuals decide this is something they can't talk to you about, this time, then we need to understand and accept that choice, no matter how difficult that may be. And at that point when they have made their choice, hopefully informed as you raised them to think, is not the time for a doctor to be compelled by the government to insist on opening the lines of communication between parent and daughter.

Maybe there are girls out there that had to grow up a little too fast, need to take things one step at a time, and decide that this isn't the time in their life to start a family. We can't take that power away from them.

End of rant

So that pretty much covers all the various things that go through my head with regard to parental notification laws.

Prop 4 is bad social policy, even if it can sound in the best interest of our children, unfortunately this isn't it. The reality is that it is just an anti-abortion last line of defense that I can not support.
---

I'll post the original question that inspired this rant, when I get consent :) posted!

To Jonanda42:

Jonanda42, thanks for the request for comment, but reading your page got me into a rant. my comment ended up being way too long to post, so here is what I wrote in full. A reply comment would be appreciated. My other rant on California prop. 8 is included in the article as well.

Take care
---

Thanks for the request for comment. I'll share what I think the most important point is:
I wrote a full opinion on one aspect of the issue (not my usual satire) on my blog. The short of it, many states had constitutional bans on interracial marriage as recently as 2000. Not enforceable since 1963 with Loving v. Virginia, the year before the civil rights at of 1964 that gave extended equal protect of the law regardless of race, GENDER, religion, and national origin. So, are people really arguing that equal protection regardless or gender was a mistake, or needs to be dissected more carefully? With our grossly incompetent congress at this point in time, the reference you want to give them is the bible?!? The bible is a cute piece of fiction with some interesting stories that reveal a lot about life 1600 years ago, and further back for the old testament. People are actually arguing the relevance of the bible to guide our politics, but disregard the constitution as dated because the founders could not have known what todays world would be like? BULLSHIT! I think our founders understood a hell of a lot more about tyranny than the vast majority of the country. Back to prop 8 for a sec, this is the PERFECT example of how democracy is a doomed failure. You want to read an ancient text that was actually based on fact? Read The Histories, a fantastic piece about what the Ancient Greeks learned about why democracy sucks; key point: despite whatever works, it eventually comes down to the majority being able to do whatever they want to the minority. 51% of people can vote to change the constitution while 49% oppose? That is FUCKED UP, and the fact that this is even on the ballot pisses me off. Blacks only make up 15% of the American population... so what? that means the other 85% can RAPE them for anything their hearts desire? Sadly, equality didn't come through change in the hearts of Americans. It took some rouge supreme court justices that looked at the heart of the constitution to understand the great theory of America and FORCED it upon an unwilling majority declaring "WAKE THE FUCK UP, THIS IS AMERICA!!!". So go on and impose your little democratic gestapo because some law might make you come out of the fucking closet, or tell your children they have the right to make informed decisions about love. The one great thing about even the remote chance this might pass is that it will justify an appeal to the United States Supreme Court where it will be found unconstitutional, and it will force EVERY STATE to recognize gay marriage. And not only will your your precious little children be taught about love between two people, but right next to Loving v. Virginia their history books will cits that nasty time in history before fags v. California.

All you can hope for is deadly cancer that will turn you into dirt (sorry, heaven is a lie) so you won't have to see a place where fags can marry. Sorry suckers, it is going to happen, and your gay son is going to help.

You just can't outlaw stupid...

This could probably be a whole series, but this is just in relationship to a recent visit to the local superior court house to help a friend do some research on his case. It made me think about the procedure of things, and the up and coming prop 5 on the ballot. See link if you are not familiar.

Just to note, I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice. Though that should probably be at the bottom of my page, I am just saying it now in case I don't ever get amount to putting it on my page... as with many things :)

(UPDATE: There now is a little disclaimer next to the copyright notice, woot)

That being said, I am getting a stronger and stronger impression that a public defender is about as helpful as having Brutus and Judah as military advisors; they are not traitors to the cause... necessary... yet... but they swear to have your best interests at heart. So anachronisms aside, I think the system as it is designed is GREAT! If you look at the law and the job the judge and public defender have to do, it is amazing. The standard, if you look at the rules, are VERY high for protecting the interests of an accused... the problem? Same problem you have in any game where everyone knows the rules of the game except you. You CAN NOT win in that situation, and as the title suggests, you can't outlaw stupid. So what happens, and whose fault is it, especially when they, or anyone for that matter, already has evidence against you?

Unfortunately, there are a LOT of people that never take the time to learn the law, mostly because it is considered boring or uninteresting... but complain when the systems does not work the way (they thought) it was supposed to. Know why it fails? Because between a seasoned judge, district attorney, and oddly enough your own lawyer, you are still the weakest link.

Ok, getting back on track, what does this have to do with prop 5? In the blindingly fast process of arraignment I observed, there were two ways that cases went. Plead guilty and receive the minimum mandatory sentence graciously offered by the judge and set date for sentencing, OR plead not guilty to which you were asked a series of 'simple' questions that waive as many of your constitutional rights as possible. Ironically, I bet that was what they thought "not guilty" avoided.

The one that really got me was the "Do you want to give your lawyer more than 45 days to review your case?" You think this would be a very simple, straight forward question, right? Of course it is! The 6th amendment gives you the right to a speedy trial. With misdemeanor charges in California, that means they have 45 days to prove their case, or dismiss. However, some people need more time than that to fight the evidence against them, otherwise there would be a violation of due process, taking what was meant to be a protection and turn it against you.

So my question is this: Why is the accused being asked at an arraignment without an attorney how long it will take a lawyer to put their case together, especially when you have the right to waive at ANY time, but you can never un-waive? Isn't this a better issue to discuss with the lawyer, and allow the lawyer to advise the client on?

(UPDATE: Evidently you can waive and unwaive at any time, more or less, but it resets the clock for the D.A.; 45 days starts over)

But of course that issue was handled in Miranda v. Arizona. Not only do you already have so many rights to protect you, but police have to explain them to you before 'many things can happen'. You have a right to an attorney (further, you have a right to a competent attorney, US v. Pope) and all that other good stuff. Do people just not get that those rights still apply when you are in court, not JUST with police?

There are too many clichés about "common sense" to pick one, but it appears to me that it is a big issue of law. For example, if you are unsure of what entering a plea necessarily does, why are you answering the question? But at the same time, why should a judge be explaining those "special circumstances" to you? I only read about this recently. When you enter a plea, as offered by the judge, you acknowledge validity of the proceedings. Sure, you got all these rights and stuff, and you and the court are going to argue many things. If you enter a plea, you are not necessarily waiving a right, but it can be used against you later. Or more simply, arraignment is a stage in the proceedings. Once you enter a plea, you are assisting in moving things forward. Well, what if there was something that you could have challenged in that stage? Well, as we have seen in many movies, is that you can only say "guilty, not guilty, or no contest". But what if you just say nothing? Can you get in trouble for not saying anything at all? What if you don't understand what is going on, but you know you have the 5th amendment to protect you in some way?

Maybe it is insignificant, as I really haven't researched it thoroughly, but if you do not enter a plea, the judge is forced to enter you into a plea of not guilty, with the interesting side effect of never having a record of your acknowledgement of the validity of the proceedings. It is called a "mute" plea, and goes on record as such. My impression that pleading can be used against you later; "Well, if any of your rights had been violated before this point, why didn't you say something. Sorry, too late". Anyway, take that for what it is worth, I look forward to looking into it further.

Ok, so as briefly mentioned earlier, accused have the right to a competent attorney. Did a little homework on what that really means. I discovered, for lack of a better word, really quite hard core. US v. Pope is very interesting. I am sure to anyone that hasn't read it will finish saying, "Wow, I never knew the standards for lawyers are so tough!". They should understand the evidence being used against you, what is legal, and defend their client to the best of the ability like any other lawyer. Some lawyers may have special arguments or tricks up their sleeves, and that doesn't count. Neither do obscure interpretations of the law, but they should be up to date on relevant cases, particularly for the local county and state.

So what inspired this post was outrage, nearly getting up and yelling at the judge Better judgment told me that could have resulted in nothing but bad, by comparison to sitting there quietly. I painfully could not justify taking the risk, despite feeling that any lawyer worth his weight in water would have done things differently. Nobody there for misdemeanor weed possession had representation. I think there were about a dozen people there for such charges.

And here is one of those places where entering a plea would be bad. These people were being charged with a crime the people of California are trying to change, with prop 5. Among other things, it would reduce minor possession to an infraction and a $100 fine, and no civil assessment, meaning it would be just like a traffic ticket where you just have to pay the fine, and you are done.

These people moved forward with misdemeanor proceedings, to which all I could think was WHY?!? Don't plead guilty to something that might not be illegal in two weeks?!? The law is retroactive in this case. Pleading innocent wouldn't make sense either because you are still moving forward with something that might not even be illegal in two weeks.

Why not simply request a continuance? Two week continuance? First request? I'd bet you could ask for a two week continuance for ANYTHING! Like, "Umm... I don't know if I want a public defender, I need to ask my mom" would be a good enough reason, let alone the fact that the law may dramatically change very soon.

As I said before, any lawyer worth their weight in water would have made that argument, and any lawyer that didn't should be charged with malpractice.

UPDATE: I wrote this with a lot of frustration and obviously didn't look over it when I wrote it. I will go back and fix some of these really broken sentences in the near future. Sorry to inconvenience anyone that was interested in what I was trying to say. FIXED!

No on Prop 8!

This was a letter I sent in response to a very angry reply I received regarding some satirical comments I left on a "yes on prop 8" advert on youtube. Sorry I do not have the original comment as I can not find a way to track my youtube comments. oh well.

Oh, to note though, the various pieces of satire basically had a theme of me cheating on my wife and my gay lover wanting to marry me, which was why I needed prop 8 to pass, and how prop 8 is an important step towards establishing traditional marriage as being between a white man and a white woman (As was the law in many states up until as late as 2000, seriously, though technically unenforcible since 1963 with Loving v. Virginia)

Anyway, here was my response:

hmm... I seem to have written too much today, or too many people are posting to quickly that I don't know which message you were replying to.

Anyway, I quickly tire of the same repeat arguments from both sides. I prefer to express myself through satire; making an argument for the opposition that exposes them for their wrong. Anyway, if perchance your question of "what does this have to do with race?" was actual curiosity I would love to share my perspective assuming you are even still reading this.

For a long time African Americans could not marry. This was more in the time of slavery and such, but it did take some time after until African Americans could have 'legal' marriages. More quickly than states giving African Americans the right to marry each other were states quickly scrambling to impose laws that separated marriages of blacks, Chinese, and Latino marriages from traditional white marriages. For the most part they could marry each other, but only whites could marry whites.

With a lot of argument over "rights" and such, like women wanting to vote, in 1924, the state of Virginia passed a constitutional amendment, passed by the majority of the people, making it a felony for interracial couples to marry.

The Title: Racial Integrity Act of 1924, and was strongly pushed as a measure to help preserve "traditional marriage".

This was the law when Mr. and Mrs. Loving left Virginia in 1958 to get married in a neighboring state where it was legal. Upon their return to Virginia, they were promptly arrested, their marriage annulled as unlawful, and they were sentenced to prison.

They appealed.

Their fight would not be won until 1963 (5 years later) in the Supreme Court where the acceding opinion would declare that these laws were an abomination to the heart of equal protection and due process of law. One year later, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed baring discrimination on the basis of RACE, color, religion, GENDER, or national origin.

Even after that, racial discrimination laws would stay in place, though unenforced until as late in many states as 2000, just 8 years ago.

This is how this issue is EXACTLY the same. And maybe Californians want to go back to 1924, protecting marriage for its traditional meaning, and being gay was a disease just like being black (remember disease = genetic / hereditary disorder), or maybe the judges in Loving v. Virginia were right, that "equality for all" is something we should embrace and to all that opposed have learned a lesson that the government is meant to help and support all Americans, not the majority of them. Paraphrasing Obama (though I know he supports prop 8) "This isn't Straight America, this isn't Gay America, this is the United States of America!"

With some of these racist marriage laws having been repealed in far less than half your lifetime, what would you, your family, or friends say if told African Americans need to have Civil Unions because traditional marriage is for white people... but DON'T WORRY, Civil Unions give you all the same rights as white people... except you can't call it that, that's all. Think of the children. We wouldn't want them getting confused!

I hope such an idea strikes rage in your heart at such a notion.

May this give complete clarity on my position, and if you actually read this far, thank you for listening.

Slashdot.org

So, I guess I really don't blog like I had planned by any stretch of the imagination, but I do write a lot. Some on Digg, but mostly on Slashdot.org whicn is one of the few places where for myself, I can have open discussions with people and get very useful feedback that has a big influence on what I occupy my free time with. So anyway, here is a link to a well organized list of topics I have had discussions with people about on Slashdot, just in case anyone for any reason comes by this site :)

Also, new addition, I have added a site license. In a way, no big deal. I am nobody, especially with respect to this site, but for whatever it is worth, just wanted to show my love and respect for Creative Commons.

Flatland

My comment on slashdot to the above linked article on DRM free music, and comments by slashdot readers:

Why are people negotiating with the recording industry? The music industry will always be strong as long as people value culture. How that industry exists will always change the way it looks. For a brief period of time, a recording industry was born: A group of non talents that could leech money from talented people by creating distribution methods prohibitively expensive to the average band. As these magicians took all the band, they made you famous by eventually putting you and your art on tv that made them even more money. As it had been mentioned above, the recording industry is taking away the last pieces of profit on music by birthing their own talent and using technology to give the appearance of talent. Now that they have "taped into the source", they don't even need real talent to sell out for them to make big money because they already owned the music before it was created. Further, the junk they spout out can easily become "famous" because they write the news on "What's Hot!".

The recording industry tried and has nearly killed the music industry, an industry that used to be about free speech, expression, enjoying life, and sharing sorrow. The internet is the first chance at getting that integrity back. The internet can and needs to kill the recording industry to allow the music industry to come back. Music industry will be strong when artists can be completely independent and are no longer tempted to buy into the pyramid scheme that has for so long been damaging to our culture. The days of packaging information into virtual units and selling them for money is ending.

ALL music should be free for distribution across the internet and it would be in bands best interest to make it happen. Popularity would rise from real talent, and not what the recording industry tells us is hot. The only fair restrictions should be to protect consumers as trade mark law intended. The only "DRM" that should exist would be one that allows a consumer to authenticate music, the same way RSA is used to authenticate transmissions. Watermark digital content to artists are certain to be recognized for their own work, and not renamed by some DJ or cover band. The demand for live concerts would swarm, just as it has in Brazil where "piracy" has birthed a previously non-existent music industry that is only getting stronger. Music will return to the way it was meant to be with live concerts, and t-shirts. CD's would be sold as a luxury item for $3-5 where all the money goes to the musicians, and you have shown your appreciation for the band. Piracy of these albums and their cover art would make no sense when the music is already freely available.

Free Culture will kill the economy and destroy profits for: No talent hacks, shady middlemen, distribution cartels, lip syncers, talent scouts, concert promoters, music 'stores', or any other person that has made a living exploiting musicians. Oh how will our economy ever survive? Is our economy so dependent on crooks that if we took them out it would collapse? How sick would that be if it were the truth? and if true, I think it is time for that change to take place. Oh god, it would be like... talented artists would be making money from their art... and fans would rejoice in music!

And while it is still only hope, I look forward to seeing the RIAA dying the horrible flaming irritable bowel syndrome death they deserve on March 25 when EMI will do what it should have done years ago.

Don't give up on freedom just because someone tells you to.

A post I made on another blog that I wanted to share from http://sigfrid.wordpress.com/2008/01/07/decriminalize-file-sharing/

1. Adelie Says:
   January 11, 2008 at 7:29 pm

   The Recording industry will never accept the fact that the recording industry is DEAD! RIAA has NO purpose to the creative artist. The model has always been pay RIAA to produce and advertise an album. RIAA gets all profits from CD sales. In return artist gets famous and people buy concert tickets. RIAA owns large amphitheaters, RIAA gets a big part of concert ticket ticket sales, and the rest is split up between the artists. Bands get all proceeds from t-shirt sales.

   The internet has made this model obsolete. Artists can build recording studios from free recycled products, and make CD masters on a computer with excellent quality with FOSS (audacity, etc), and mass produce them for less than $2000. Give away the CD online, and post videos on YouTube for promotion. No more need for big concerts for small bands to be heard or noticed or sell tickets. For fans that want to show their appreciation they can buy CD’s at concerts or online that include album art and such. At $5 for a CD, bands would make an unprecedented killing on profits versus the 5 cents they get for every sale over 2 million, if in the past they have sold over 5 million of any 2 CD’s.

   Copyright law, for the purpose of actually protecting artists, was necessary because IN THE PAST, it was hard for individuals to distribute their own work. big media solves the problem of the market barrier expense. The market barrier today is FAKE and created by big media through copyright law that HURTS artists.

   If the free exchange of ideas was instant, and copyright law, as it is in the US was gone, artists would be put on a level playing field where talent produces profit controlled by fans, not big media. No more of the .0001% famous artists and the 99.9999% that only get to do it because it is what they love.

   According to ‘the law’ (government, not society) and big media, If you have ever sung Happy Birthday, and didn’t pay a royalty, YOU ARE A THIEF! If you listen to CD’s on your computer YOU ARE A THEIF! If you have ever played music in a CD player in such a way that it is audible to another person, YOU ARE A THIEF! If you have paid license to (most often Microsoft) software and even TRY to fix it, YOU ARE A THIEF! If you buy software and individually use it on more than 1 computer, YOU ARE A THIEF!

   If it must persist that we will use that as our definition of stealing, then YES, LEGALIZE STEALING!!! Don’t be manipulated by BS nomenclature and jargon.

   The only necessary thing that is necessary to protect creative works and artists is trademark law; other people may not produce a creative work and intentionally misrepresent it off as somebody else’s, commercially or otherwise. That should be the purpose of a watermark, authentication, not tracking down which credit card was used to purchase the copy of a work that was distributed and redistributed in a way that was unintended by the authorized distributor.

   The market HAS changed, and dying tyrants will never put down their sword. With their last breathe and their last gold they will try to tell us what to do because it is in THEIR best interest.

   But we are free at last when we choose to accept it in our hearts and minds.

2. Adelie Says:
   January 11, 2008 at 7:34 pm

   A must see! “Steal this Movie, Part I & II”. Get it from he Pirate Bay. (Don’t worry, they want you to copy it) GREAT film on the history of ‘Pirates’ through out history that believed in the free exchange of ideas, and the people that tried to hunt them down beginning with Guttenberg. Yes, Guttenberg was a pirate (as were considered all “publishers” in that time. ) He was hunted by governments and their equivelant of “Big Media”, but never gave up on what he believed in.

3. Adelie Says:
   January 11, 2008 at 10:14 pm

   Oh, another note to add after doing a little research, copyright infringement in no form is theft. See Dowling v. United States 473 U.S. 207 (1985). Infringement is infringement, not stealing or theft, affirmed by United States Supreme Count. Another great one to throw in peoples faces, like Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act 15 U.S.C. § 2301 any time a retailer tells you “sorry, your warranty doesn’t cover that”. Anyway, not to distort the issue, there is still the NET act (No Electronic Theft) which provides criminal penalties in cases of non-commercial infringement which has only been in effect since 1997.

Reliberation

So evidently my forgetfulness has gotten me kicked from my own website. nakedpenguins.net has been bought up by a nameless search engine. Gee, must have been from the massive volumes of traffic it generated over the years. News to me.

On the other hand, this nifty .org hadn't been taken, and if I don't get my .net back, I should be pretty happy here. While talking to customer service at GoDaddy.com, I discovered that GoDaddy has all kinds of new free services that come with a GoDaddy account that are just what I wanted, from domain name masking to email forwarding and other nifty stuff I never noticed. To anybody that may have EVER visited this site before, I did pay for masking as a gift to myself, as the address http://therearenomorenamesleft.blogspot.com is really long.

So for anybody or nobodies information, it was really simple and free to 1. mask this domain and all sub domains that link to published google documents (listed in a moment below), 2. have all email forwarded to gmail sent to this domain that can automatically be filtered, tagged and archieved in gmail (gmail rules!) 3. forward sub domains to all kinds of cool places.

What the hell am I ever going to do with a possible 100 sub domains??? Probably forward them to places I like to visit frequently where the names are not so obvious. Who knows, but here are a list of sub domains already setup for nakedpenguins.org!

bbq.nakedpenguins.org - One of the first stories I published through Google Documents to see how it would work for doing simple web pages as documents can contain html code. I am still waiting for Google to tell me "That isn't what it was meant to be used for", but unlikely considering I don't get much of anybodies attention with this site.

chef.nakedpenguins.org - Points to my other blog where I had hoped to keep track of experimental recipes and other cooking tips / tricks I have learned.

food.nakedpenguins.org points to the same page as above. Just wanted to do what many other sites do with directing people that might misguess a sub domain name... despite the fact that in this case, it is nobody.

notsudoku.nakedpenguins.org - IO was obsessed with NIM games for awhile. Check out "game theory" in Google. There are lots of games designed around a similar principle, but one in particular, CANS, really gets down to the basics. This page basically outlined every possible situation you could encounter in the game, and what to do to keep the "odds" in ones favor. This was meant to be helpful to anyone that wanted to really understand what was going on in the game.

parody.nakedpenguins.org - The dreaded illegal hexidecimal carefully hidden into jpeg images. Not very impressive, but I was just having fun trying to transition my modest amount of photoshop knowledge to The Gimp. I am pretty happy with the results considering they were done on a very old machine and in total were done in less than 30 minutes.

search.nakedpenguins.org - probably the most, if not only, practical use of a sub domain. This points to my page where I keep all my references to stuff on my blog. As mentioned in a blog upon its creation, Too often I find difficult to believe information and find myself sharing it with people that in return ask "What's your source, crazy?" to which I can now reply, "Let me show you!" It has actually been useful when I kept it up to date, and now people don't have to go through my main page to get there.

ubuntu.nakedpenguins.org - Unused at the moment, but as of the day of the release of Windows "The next generation of disasters" Vista, I have completely Redmond free on my computer, and even most of the machines at my work (that I have any control over :) and loving it. I began with Ubuntu 6.10, but have since upgraded with a clean install of Ubuntu Studio 7.04. I have tried many the "competitive" distro as both host and guest machines, and very happy that I picked Ubuntu, but more about that another time, and another blog. :)

That's it for now. Off to the gym, since I have discovered that not all of your fitness needs can be achieved through typing and swearing.

Take care all!

What does Google pay itself?

>These were my thoughts after reading the above article off of SlashDot.org, the greatest news source in the world.

What does Google pay itself? It sounds like Google may have to pay quite a bit. AdWords, as you mention, is both popular and successful. Also, the requirement of a high CTR to even be eligible to compete for popular words is good service to customers and keeps the market stable, away from new entrants that might play the lottery tipping the scales for a short period of time. But Google makes its money selling advertisements, and leverages their popularity through "desktop presence". What Google does by putting their own product above all is basically take the words off the market as "not for sale".

Business don't last long if they are stupid about their investments. What you are saying is that the RoI on a Google owned word is zilch. People won't (at least those that do a little homework) bid on words owned by Google, but at the same time, if you want your business to grow, you need to be on AdWords.

But how long does the glory last? Advertising isn't about convincing your customers to buy your product, it is more about making your customers aware that you exist, and hopefully establishing some name recognition. People click through to get more information, and congrats, you have some potential new customers because people now know you exist... but where does it go from there? You need to have something people want. Big business generally provide the product most people want, often making minority markets to expensive to pickup. This is why small business in the free and open economy will always exist, if not succeed.

So how do you compete against Google? You don't, per say. Rather, don't compete for the first spot that could cost you an infinite amount of money, compete for the second position that the minority market will go to after they discover these fancy new Google tools... just aren't for them.

This way, when Google is spending all their money on the #1 spot (in lost revenue), you will always be that inferior nuisance with the better RoI on advertising that they just can't get rid of.

It is like the small beverage company. You will never be bigger than Coke or Pepsi, but that was (probably) never your intention. They are likely to always be #1, but you can make it very expensive for them to stay there.

Essentially, people may click the first ad first, and more clicks means more revenue... but at a diminishing return. As you mentioned, Google hardly has a better or more popular product. Look of the only and growing major threat to Microsoft's profit viability: OpenSource; Superior products released under Gnu GPL.

But having a higher advertising efficiency than Google, Pepsi, or Amazon is unlikely a comfort any time your net revenue goes down.

Rants and Raves on Craigslist. WTF?!?

Ok, so I found this post on craigslist, and couldn't help but reply. It is amazing what people make up. (And am I being hypocritical, yes. Is it fun? yes) Enjoy:


I love how people love to make up research on the spot to support cracked out theories, or here is MY uneducated unsupported argument AGAINST your uneducated unsupported argument.

---

You want facts? Here are ten.
Reply to: pers-241200145@craigslist.org
Date: 2006-11-28, 12:32PM PST


HERE ARE 10 PHYSICAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CARNIVORES (MEAT EATERS) AND HERBIVORES (PLANT EATERS).

IS THE HUMAN BODY DESIGNED TO EAT ANIMAL PRODUCTS?

1.A carnivore's teeth are long, sharp and pointed. These are tools that are useful for the task of piercing into flesh. Omnivore's (meat and plant eaters) teeth are similar to that of carnivores. Man's, as well as other herbivore's teeth are not pointed, but flat edged. These are useful tools for biting, crushing and grinding.

--Uh... I don't know about you, but the teeth in the front of my mouth, like the incisors and CANINES are sharp. if Yours are flat, maybe you should consider seeing a dentists rather than an herbalist.

2.A carnivore's jaws move up and down with minimal sideways motion. The jaw motion of an omnivore is similar. These are tools that are useful for the tasks of shearing, ripping and tearing flesh and swallowing it whole. Omnivores swallow their food whole and/or with simple crushing. Man's, as well as other herbivore's jaws cannot shear, but have good side to side and back to front motion. These are tools that are useful for extensive chewing, crushing and grinding of grains and other high fiber foods. Animal flesh cannot be crushed, ground and chewed without some degenerating process such as cooking or frying.

--More proof maybe your hippy friends could benefit from a trip to the dentist. I have no problem ripping, grinding, or sheering flesh from a bone. Gotta love those baby back ribs! Also, I have no problem eating or digesting raw meat. The reason to cook meat is to kill bacteria that can begin to grow when it becomes stale. Do you know how long it takes for food to get to the grocery store or how many people handle it before it gets to your kitchen? Cooking, like refrigeration, is an extra precautionary step when food is going to be kept for a long time. Refrigerators and cooking are unnatural, sure, not eating meat. Are you really going to tell me you don't cook those beans, potatoes, corn, or other such things? That tofu junk doesn't last long without refrigeration the last I look. Additionally, the digestive system of the human body is adaptive, and mostly processed by bacteria. Much of the bacteria comes from the foods we eat, and the more we eat them, the stronger and more prevelant they are in the body to continue eating them. Any kind if food type the body goes without for a long period of time will be difficult for the body to handle. Give a liter of prune juice to a carnivore and you will get a similar result as giving bacon to a vegan.

3.A carnivore or omnivore's saliva does not contain digestive enzymes. Man's, as well as other herbivore's saliva is alkaline, containing carbohydrate digestive enzymes.

--Umm... I think you just proved that carnivores shouldn't eat plants. Hurray for the versatility and evolution of man kind.

4.A carnivore's stomach secretes powerful digestive enzymes with about 10 times the amount of hydrochloric acid than a human or herbivore. The pH is less than or equal to "1" with food in the stomach, for a carnivore or omnivore. For humans or other herbivores, the pH ranges from 4 to 5 with food in the stomach. Hence, man must prepare his meats with laborious cooking or frying methods. E. Coli bacteria, salmonella, campylobacter, trichina worms [parasites] or other pathogens would not survive in the stomach of a lion.

--This must be why lions outlive and outnumber humans... uhh... nevermind. E. Coli bacteria, salmonella, campylobacter, trichina worms should be avoided. There are certain precautions that can be taken to kill such things if they are in your food. Not to mention you can get E. Coli bacteria from plant matter gone bad. They are not very common. Have you actually looked at how many people are actually affected by these diseased every year? Raw meat is usually not bad for you, but why take the risk? Btw, I'd really like to see your data showing that lions don't suffer from diarrhea.


5.A carnivore's or omnivore's small intestine is three to six times the length of its trunk. This is a tool designed for rapid elimination of food that rots quickly. Man's, as well as other herbivore's small intestines are 10 to 12 times the length of their body, and winds itself back and forth in random directions. This is a tool designed for keeping food in it for long enough periods of time so that all the valuable nutrients and minerals can be extracted from it before it enters the large intestine.

--Hurray for versatility of man. Not only are we at the top of the food chain cause we are smart, but because we are meant to eat everything we can fit in our mouth.

6.A carnivore's or omnivore's large intestine is relatively short and simple, like a pipe. This passage is also relatively smooth and runs fairly straight so that fatty wastes high in cholesterol can easily slide out before they start to putrefy. Man's, as well as other herbivore's large intestines, or colons, are puckered and pouched, an apparatus that runs in three directions (ascending, traversing and descending), designed to hold wastes that originally were foods high in water content. This is so that the fluids can be extracted from these wastes, now that all the useful nutrients and minerals have been extracted and the long journey through the small intestine is over. Substances high in fat and cholesterol that have been putrefying for hours during their long stay in the small intestine tend to get stuck in the pockets that line the large intestine.

--Water absorbtion = true, stuff getting stuck = false, except maybe your neighbors pet gerbil, but that's only cause you started at the wrong end of the system, weirdo. Plastic toys or crayons sometimes get stuck, but not meat, or even bubble gun (despite what your mother says). Colon washes were a popular hippy thing in the 70's, but proved to have NO medical benefit.

7.Animal flesh, composed of the most highly complex type of protein that exists, requires vast amounts of uric acid to process. Uric acid is released into the system in amounts necessary to break proteins down into amino acids. Uric acid is a toxic substance responsible for the aging process and must be flushed out and dealt with. That is one of the jobs of the liver. In relative terms, a carnivore's liver is a tool designed with the capacity to eliminate ten times as much uric acid as the liver of man or other plant eater.

--So were efficient too? Sweet!

8.A predator has a gait, large paws and claws, which enable him to hunt, chase and trap his prey. These are tools meant to kill. Man's gait, as well as other herbivore's is designed only for mobility. Examine your hand, fingers and fingernails. Is this an apparatus properly designed for catching, trapping, killing and ripping apart cattle, hogs, chicken and fish? How does this work for picking fruit from trees or harvesting vegetables? The foods your hands were meant to gather are typically, high in water content, high also in fiber to sweep the wastes out of those intestines, and collectively contain every vitamin and mineral necessary to sustain human life.

--Think we discovered the problem. If you can't use your brain and your hands at the same time... you are probably better off picking fruit. Humans are designed for travel and using tools. Humans are the fastest animal in 25 miles allowing them to track herds, not chasing trees. Our hands are great for holding rocks to smash in the brains of the animal we want to eat, or hold the sharp stick to stab them with. Many animals are easy to tear apart and prepare without the use of tools... though some people choose to be more civilized... my self not being one of them.

9.A carnivore's frame of mind is totally geared for hunting and killing. Man's frame of mind is compassionate, friendly and reveres life. When the lion spots another furry animal, something might instinctively click in his head that tells him to hurry up and get dinner. When man spots a furry animal, rather than show his children how to take its life and eat it, a more likely instinct is to pull over, get the camera out and take a picture. Put a young baby chick and an apple in a crib with a six-month-old baby. What will he instinctively attempt to eat and play with?

--I thought humans were omnivores... but whatever. And I think people who work on ranches do teach their families how to tear apart animals. It isn't a vicious thing, it is a work thing. Do you pick the apple because you are thinking about killing the future children of that tree, or because you are hungry? Lion's are also sweet and loving creatures that are very protective of its family. Hippos are much more violent and like to kill things for fun that it doesn't even eat. Why? Because it is a vegetarian! Also, I think a six month old baby is going to drool on both the apple and the chick. Its hands, mouth and motor skills are perfectly capable of killing a chick, and probably would. I don't think a baby, with no teeth mind you, is going to do much harm to an apple.

10. Man is not a natural hunter. Every predator, in order to go hunting, MUST be hungry. Man cannot go hunting if he IS hungry! He must have a meal first. Hunger must precede a predator to go hunting. Hunger must follow man's desire to go hunting, it cannot precede it.

--Gosh, you make it so easy, it is hard to even decide where to start. Hmm... no creature will hunt if it is starving to death. There are also many problems various animals have if they haven't eaten in a long time, more so for carnivores, but that is because as you have stated repeatedly, vegetarians are lazy and make little effort to acquire food. Animals eat when there is food. Many animals will kill themselves over eating in the presence of too much food. Also, every time the some group of people gets stranded without food and turns to cannibalism, last I checked, it was AFTER they got hungry.

--If you have ever studied biology, which you obviously haven't, you'd know that plants take natural resources and turn them into life through photosynthesis and reproduction. Animals on the other hand destroy life by breaking down lifeforms back into their natural resources while sucking away the life energy to move and go kill something else, plant or animal. Would this world be better off without humans? certainly! But as long as we are going to continue to live we should do our part and try to destroy as many of those other nature killing creatures such as cows, pigs, chickens, rabbits, dogs, cats, baby seals, etc as possible to sustain our own life rather than raping and pillaging the natural producers of life force on this planet, the vegetation. Remember, green plants produce oxygen for us, and when you eat them, or rip their bodies from the earth, they can do that any more, you sick twisted individual.

You are just comfortable eating plants because you can sympathize with things that aren't like you. The same argument is used every day to support racism and genocide all over the world. "Ooh, we love things with central nervous systems" or "Ooh, they don't even have centrioles and practice meiosis. Let's kill it and eat it!". Sounds like fascism to me.

More proof that vegetarians, and especially vegans, are Nazis!

LSD Experiment

Very strange / interesting report on an artists 9 self portrait over several hours while on acid. Nothing more to say about it than an interesting insight.

Enjoy

CANs

Ok, so I guess they are never going to add my name to the Mastre Players list for CANs. Oh well. So instead of waiitng forever on that, I have decided to publish a spoiler. While I do not understand how all the numbers relate to each other, or an emperical equation that gives you the next move to make, but I am sure there is one. I am certain I have just not hunted well enough to uncover web pages giving the source code to the game / strategy. If anyone does know, let me know. :)

Btw, as with any spoiler, give the game a shot first, and get an idea for the challenge. I am certain with a little practice anybody can repeatedly get to lvl 6 without needing to take any notes or make calculations for a solution, but if you get tired at plugging away going back and forth between 5 and 6, give this a shot.

Anyway, here it is. CANs Spoiler!

Most Stolen Grocery Item in Italy!*

*Among Dairy and Produce products in grocery stores

On Live 105.3 they had their usual morning "dumbass contest". This morning they were asking listeners to call in and answer, "What is the most stolen retail item in Italy?". With a number of people calling in trying to guess, I thought I'd be clever and look it up as quick as I could. I quickly found crime statistics on retail items, statistics recorded by the FBI that listed items by units stolen in petty theft crimes (discluding crime organizations / "rings", or items by total value stolen). I laughed looking at the list thinking about reasons why headache medications was at the top of the list. But this was for the United States, so I figured while there is most likely a strong correlation between the United States and Italy, there had to be a reason for the contest; there must have been something special.

I did not find the answer until somebody managed to guess the "correct answer" on the radio. Parmesan Cheese. I found this interesting... but peculiar. Italy is famous for cheese, but considering that on the FBI list for the United States, in the top 50 items there wasn't any food, I became skeptical and started looking for the data source for the radio / news. I found two reports, the better of which is the link above. In skimming through the report, I couldn't help notice where the report came from:

"Lumps of the hard, granular cheese, which Italians love to sprinkle on their pasta, are stolen from the shelves of Italy's stores more often than any other item, according to a survey by the Italian Farmers' Union, Coldiretti." (1)

Umm... Farmers Union? This seems similar to the Nutrition chart published in schools around the country by the American Dairy Council telling everybody they weren't drinking enough milk. Heaven forbid such a report be, or at least nutrition recommendations be made for something other than milk, or by a group such as, maybe, the American Medical Association?

So like the FBI notes in their statistics, unorganized retail petty theft for specific years, I noted at the top what I think the domain of their survey was: #1 stolen produce or dairy product in grocery stores, which of course would have to be the most coveted and expensive of those items, the Parmesan Cheese.

Was there really a Dark Age? How many historical documents are counterfeit?

Interesting proposition. This was not an opinion I really ever knew existed... or one I am going to dwell on too much. Just struck me as so weird that I had to share.

Think Saw III was scary? Wait till you see this.

I think this is about the scariest think I have seen in a long time. Follow the above link if you have a strong stomach. You have been warned...

Education Reform

Been looking for sites addressing issues regarding education reform. Thing from different types of schools, school size, how teachers are taught, homework (as mention recently), and found there is a lot of scattered opinions addressing single issues or advocating specific programs. What I want to find is a site with a collection of issues and either links or data that support each side. Not always easy. I finally found one sight that manages to sort them out to make broad research a bit easier. Check the above link.

If anybody knows of any sites like described, and better than the one mentioned, would love to hear about it.

Less dramatic then the election

I look forward to seeing the rest of the California election results, but till then wanted to mention something on a lighter note. SIM CITY 4! Great game, but one I struggled with to get very far. I loved the original as well as the second. Never played 3000, but the flashy box of 4 I couldn't resist. I bought the game not too long after it came out, but soon got frustrated... and was much more attracted to World of Warcraft.

But as WoW has become a dull grind, and finally seeing most all of the end game encounters... not too interested in sitting dedicating the necessary time my guild, or any other high performing guild. Anyway, part of the motivation for getting back into Sim City 4.

So I started looking for some direction to improve my game play. I found a lot of bad advice on all kinds of hint web sites with little blurbs. I then came by this guide by Sim City Freak. Amazing. only reading the first half of it, I was able to build a large city with fantastic income very quickly. So for anyone that wanted to enjoy the game but never got very far, I highly recommend this guide.

What next? map out a local city! That could be fun, and see how much tweaking it requires to run well.

Anyway, happy gaming!

Wikipedia and Wikibooks

Wikipedia! Great idea and an experimentation on the theoretical limits of Open Source technology and collaboration.

Open source gives would be scam artist (including large corporations) some accountability in terms of the quality of their products by actually allowing their users to see the guts. Much security software has come under criticism for their design when "hackers" reverse engineer the products to discover the entire system is built on obscurity of obvious methods for network penetration, without really reducing threat.

Open source products such as OpenOffice have been the works of brilliant people working together for free to produce something the same smart people need that they are tired of paying for. If you are anti-Microsoft, or even a little computer savoy, grab some flexibility with OpenOffice, a full office package available for more OS environments than I even knew existed.

So anyway, that is one great example... so what happened to wikipedia?

I love wikipedia for... what it could be. It often has very obscure information, particularly cultural references... but what about wiki for reference. Too much what I hear from teachers is it just isn't reliable when the information needs to be reliable.

Wiki definitely has places where it is... lacking. But unfortunately there are many places where the information is absolutely wrong, even on very elaborate and beautiful pages with lots of reference. My first encounter with this was in looking up some info on astronomy. LOTS of information and all kinds of numbers describing planets, moons, and all kinds of technical specs on size, movement, rotation, and temperature or what not. But as I was looking thought the data, some of it seemed odd. I had some problems locating other data to support or deny what was being presented, so made some quick calculations and discovered that in many places numbers and units were horribly disarranged.

So now I stick for wikipedia for vocabulary, pop culture, and inspiration. If I want to look something up, I will often start with wiki, then follow some of the links to references, or find names and investigate them elsewhere.

So the problem today, wikibooks.org. The link above is to a textbook entitled "High School Physics". The first thing I noticed was that with a page introducing potential and kinetic energy that for every instance of there/their/they're, there was only "their", and never used appropriately. I started editing the article immediately after seeing the first mistake and continued to read the article from "edit this page". It went from bad examples that poorly demonstrated concepts to equations that were absolutely wrong "showing" how easy physics is. These weren't just "Ideal" "Newtonian" physics equations that don't account for high speed particular situations... the stuff was just wrong if not taken HORRIBLY out of context.

Anyway, my thought was that this page, if not this book, needs to be deleted. I would fear any student that reads it and goes "I get it now". Unlikely, but I wonder what compelled someone to write such an article in the first place. Oh well.

So... Is open source better it is automatically discrimination by limiting it to the complex language of geeks, as well as being so fragmented that Darwinism causes bad packages and updates and features to be lost over time, while a place like wiki is more susceptible to being messed with by anybody. Open Source projects are managed and seek a particular objective. Users have direct control over quality control by being the designers... but wiki has nothing of the sort. Bad articles happen when people start by posting a small amount of bad data. Are people discouraged from deleting or replacing pages that suck, or might it be encouraging to replace such pages with something better.

I would be curious what others think.

Homework Myth first impressions and a new site!

So I got the book on the way home last night. Was a little disappointed at the price for the size of the book, but whatever. I also ended up ordering "The Case Against Homework" for when it comes into stock.

It is an interesting read so far. I haven't gotten so far to really comment on the contents too much so far, but taking it with a grain of salt I do think it is valid for teachers to challenge themselves and their schools policies over how much homework is necessary and whether or not assignments are meeting their intended objectives.

The author seems to be addressing his opinion from the perspective of what would happen if we completely did away with homework, but his own is a bit more conservative. There are certain subjects where students should have homework, but with greater latitude as to how they learn what they need to learn.

Main thing I have thought so far from having read reviews to getting the book for myself is teachers and students need more support from administration to find latitude in the way that students can be successful for themselves.

In other news, something I had wanted to do was keep this blog to a max of a post a day, and no more than three to four per week to allow time for each subject to be investigated, however, I have been encouraged to begin publishing my experiments in cooking as I have needed a place to keep track of recipes and general kitchen experiments. There is more info on the accompanying page, particularly in its first accompanying story on the weekend barbecue. So follow along with Chef's Special with the link @ Other Pages next to the search engine. Enjoy!

The Homework Myth

"Why our kids are getting too much of a bad thing."

I am going to run out and get this book.

When I was in high school, I never did more homework then I thought was necessary or fun. while this helped me learn a lot, it didn't get me the best grades in the class when homework was heavily weighted. In college, there was no homework, per say, just assignments, and discussion.

Practice isn't a bad thing, just mandatory practice, hence the term "busy work" many students become fond of.

Will students make up their own "homework" if they do not feel like they have fully grasped a subject?

Until I have read this book and compare it to my own experiences, food for thought comparing some of the discussion from "Socialism: Illegitimate, not just inefficient" and what I can imagine is contained within "The Homework Myth", let me pose this question for anyone reading:

Food for Thought:
There has been a scientific break-through! Doctors can now determine from shortly after birth what your ideal career path is. Relatively ideal income, optimal job satisfaction, lowest stress, all because this chosen career is perfect for you. Thankfully, it was also shown there is an even distribution of labor to proliferate a thriving economy, and cultural diversity is a natural system. Ignoring potential for corruption or manipulation, and no legal enforcement or coercion to follow the advise, what do you do with the given information? Is there any reason to make challenge so long as evidence continues to prove the theory flawless. What if it was only 99% accurate?

In other news, I may soon be adding a recipes page after a fantastic barbecue success this weekend. Link to be added soon.

New Feature!

So I have added a wonderful feature to this site that will probably encourage me to use it more. Check out Articles for Duscussion at the top of the links list for articles and sites that I have admired or feel are worth discussing. In other words, this is a refewrence page in part to my "blah blah blah".

For example, have an upcoming debate on the morality of various socialist programs. I know I am not well verses, but for the people who will be involved in the debate, this site will include the specific references I hope to use, as oposed to the usual "I heard somewhere from some guy I think that...".

That can get annoying real quick. So in an effort to avoid such situations... TAH DA!!!

Great Business Article

Top Ten Geek Business Myths - This was a fantastic article for those that have thought about starting a business. To summarize: Dedication, hard work, research, and planning are more important than anything else.

One part in particular that I will think about: Sometimes ideas are origional for a reason. :) It has already been overly explored and found not to be feasible, or it has been tried and just failed. It is more sensible to take an old idea that is done poorly and do it right, just be sure that the reason it is done wrong is for reasons in your favor

Controversay

It is always difficult when something interesting is remembered, but you forgot to bring your portable library of references isn't at your fingertips. In this particular case I had brought up some controversay over land grants that conflicted with land and civil rights granted to "Ex-Mexican" Americans after the Mexican-American War in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Unfortunately at this particular venture with some rebutle from my counterparty, my argument didn't come across as much more than "some beaners got screwed out of some land somewhere".

My thought was that while the in the time the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was not made in good faith because 1) the government the treaty was made with was nolonger in the jursidiction, and 2) the people the treaty "intended" to protect were hardly aware of the treaty at all. With the assurance that all "Ex-Mexicans" were all full citizens of the United States. Despite how nice the treaty may have sounded, outside of the context of the treaty being pushed onto the Mexican government that had just lost a war, it was rhetoric and a stepping stone for worse than usual imperialism.

Ultimately, how does an ex-Mexican support their claim of land rights over "Americans" hell bend on Manifest Destiny with fancy deeds and grants given without knowledge of existing deeds. These conflicts created in good faith through selective misinformation were easy to resolve in an American legal system. The American with his fancy paperwork for evidence freshly printed by the American government mets a burdeon of proof, while the ex-Mexican only has his word that his family had been there for generations, especially when the newly found ex-American / ex-Mexican is probably unaware of Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

Anyway, the position from which I had attempted to argue from was particularly easy to find through a search on the internet. While this particular article lacks references, ir is one of the best articles I could find that resembled what I wish I had im front of me the other day:
http://www.americanpatrol.com/RECONQUISTA/RECONQHISPMAG2090197.html

Anyway, runnin off to do other things. I look forward to using this blog in the future to support arguments where I walk into situations where I seem to have forgotten my encyclopedia.

Bless anyone that actually found this article and read it to this point. Feel free to leave comments. I'd love to hear what people think... like I said, ifanyone else is reading this :)

Useful Links

Cybernations Government Game
Perfect Competition Business Game
Informatist Business Game
Nation States Government Simulator Game
Superpower Government Simulator Game

So... havn't posted in almost a year....

Well, had some more links I wanted to add to my web page for convienience...

For anybody other than myself that might actually look at this page, here is an update on some stuff since my last post, and some things few people knew then...

Got married, moved, friend got marriewd then divorced, best friend moved in then moved out, had a fantastic wedding, and discovored Celebrity Foods is one of the worst scams ever... by worst meaning I am very jealous and someday hope to be that evil... if that is the direction I wanted to go. I think I just have a problem with lying to people to sell a product. Damn involuntary morality! How am I ever going to be a good businessman. In other news, I got my Associates Degree in Business! The rest are details... or just not things I want to put up for anybody to see on the web... even if nobody.

Considering the length this is getting, think I will start a new post with those links I wanted to post.

Happy surfing!