Outer Space Copyrights

Signing Away Rights to the Whole Galaxy

As entertainment companies try to get money from amateurs, their lawyers are trying to make sure they don't miss a single bit of future revenue stream that could exist. And that often means including language about holding onto rights "throughout the universe" and the like. With the rapid proliferation of new outlets, lawyers just want to make sure they don't lose out if there's any revenue to be made beaming America's Got Talent to undiscovered planets. While it might be most common in entertainment, this kind of language is hardly exclusive to the arts field. Some say the whole thing is overkill, but one law professor says it could very well be "a stroke of brilliant foresight." After all, someday people might otherwise kick themselves and wonder, "What were they thinking? Why didn't they get the Mars rights?"

Read original story in The Wall Street Journal | Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009

Huge Confederate Flag Flies over I-75

If any of you have driven to tampa or north on I-75 lately, chances are some of you may have seen this GIANT Confederate flag flying overhead. It touts the title of the World's "Largest Confederate Flag." It is at the sight of a Confederate Veteren's Memorial. There is a lot of controversy over this flag. The families of the Confederate Veteran's say that the flag honors their fallen ancestors. Opposing groups and Civil Rights activists cry out against the flag, saying that it is insensitive and a sign of racism and white power. Below are two links to articles on the topic.
What do you think?

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0804/p03s02-ussc.html

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=4978568&page=1

Bye Bye Meat

This morning I saw a video on CNN trying to convince people to "go Vegetarian & Save The Planet." Their argument is that cows and other "meat" animals produce large amounts of greenhouse gasses, and eliminating them from our diet is the only way to slow global warming. What do you guys think of the video's argument???

Here is a link:
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/tech/2009/10/27/martel.climate.change.meat.itn

Aww... how cute! Wait... what?

Prussian Blue

Someone made a comment referring to Prussian Blue in class today so I thought I would post and elaborate on them, because they are a great topic for what we are discussing right now.
Prussian Blue is a white nationalist pop teen duo formed in early 2003 by Lynx Vaughan Gaede and Lamb Lennon Gaede, fraternal twin girls born on June 30, 1992 in Bakersfield, California.
In short, they are outwardly two adorable blonde haired blue eyed twin girls BUT they sing about aryan pride and associated matters.
This definitely seems like it falls in the "dangerous" category... especially since they started when they were very young (because of course they were singing everything on their own... mom and dad didn't feed these thoughts to them at all...)

Here is one of their early music videos entitled "Victory Day", what do you think about it?

World Changing 2: Hug Shirt

Here's a strange thing I came across in World Changing. It's called a Hug Shirt. It's a shirt with many tiny micro sensors that generate the sensation of being hugged. the embedded sensors pick up body temperature and heartbeat from a loved one over the phone. then the sensors create pressure that mimic the sensation of being hugged.

For me, this might be fun as a novelty item. These days, so many interactions seem to be replaced by electronics, and I feel, some things should be preserved for face to face interactions.

"Maus: A Survivor's Tale" Holocaust Graphic Novel

For anyone not already familiar with Art Spiegelman's graphic novel "Maus: A Survivor's Tale," check it out! It's a biographical approach of the author telling his father's story, who was a Polish Jew that lived through the Holocaust. This novel has won a bunch of awards and should be on every-one's to-read list if they haven't checked it out already. It makes for an easier read of a tough subject.

Here is a link to a pdf version of part one that I found while searching the internet. If you want to read the rest of it, I think that the school library may have a copy of it, or it can be purchased in the bookstore.
http://fliiby.com/file/24067/it3z0zjuvd.html

Were My Jams Used To Torture?

Dozens of musicians, including members of Pearl Jam and R.E.M., have joined a Freedom of Information request that is seeking to declassify all records about what music was played during interrogations. They also protested the use of music as torture. Musicians are speaking out as part of a new campaign to pressure the White House to close Guantanamo. The White House insists music isn't used as part of interrogation techniques, but human rights activists hope that using high-profile musicians to spread the message will shed light on the practice and prevent it from being used in the future. The use of loud music on prisoners violates the U.N. Convention Against Torture, and it was a tool that was often applied on terrorism suspects. According to an NYU music professor who has interviewed several former detainees, the music that was most often played was heavy metal, rap, and country.

Read original story in The Washington Post | Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009

World Changing-Space Elevator

There was a small section in World Changing about a space elevator. This would be built in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and would travel up to space to transport supplies, satellites, and people. It would take around $50 billion for a country to build it, but would reduce costs of going into space from $22,000 to $400, each time. It seems wild to think that in the near future, the cost of going into space would cost less than traveling to Europe. Do you think an easier access to space it a helpful thing? or can it bring harm?

Watching the watchmen

We're all aware of the "Big Brother" factor in our lives. Surveillance cameras are found in many spaces we visit through our day, i.e. banks, stores, schools, hospitals; and in some cities, even streets and parks.
According to an article on WorldChanging, "In 2004, NYC police arrested nearly 2,000 people during demonstrations around the Republican National Convention." Footage from the city's many cameras were used to prosecute those arrested. But the police weren't the only ones armed with video cameras. Footage filmed by those on the street, unaffiliated with authorities, were used to successfully defend unfair charges. "It turned out that prosecutors selectively edited the official video record to prove their cases, and police officers repeatedly misrepresented the protest events at trial. 91% of the charges were dropped or with not guilty verdicts."
Today, video cameras are affordable for many, and the power of recorded actions can be used in favor of fair treatment of people. Even cell phones are capable of recording good-quality footage that can help us fight oppressive law enforcement. In what other ways can affordable video help our society? (other than cats playing pianos on YouTube.)

Animal Abuse

When we were going over animal abuse and I said the ALF is not a terrorist group. That I felt they were doing what is right and everyone got somewhat pissed. Well look at this video and you will see why the ALF is needed.

Inside animal abuse


Do you think I am wrong in Saying the ALF is good?

Interracial Couple Denied Marriage License

This link will take you to a Slate article about a Louisiana judge who refused a couple a marriage license because they were of different races.

Human physical limits

This link is to an article in the October, 2009 National Geographic that describes how much the human body can take (temperature, altitude, etc.).

People question whether animals can love or not, well watch this and ask yourself one more time.

Would you ever concider this?

A few of us in the class have a standing joke with me since I seem to be one of the few people that would totally be in favor of living forever. They think I'm crazy. I've found that there are several companies out there that deal in Cryonics. The process of Cryogenically freezing someone. There are also several insurance policies that support this. Would anyone consider this sort of thing if you had a life threatening disease or an accident that would otherwise lead to death?

Here's a website:

http://www.alcor.org/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/alcor/public/InfoRequest.cgi

I'd say why not? If i had a chance for surviving a disease or accident that would at this point in my life kill me, why not take it? You have nothing to lose. The upside is HUGE. Any chance at living at all is better than NO chance.

Algae In Your Smokestack

The scientist Isaac Berzin is one of many pioneering the idea of biofuel in a new way. Based off of methods he developed for NASA in the 90s, he uses algae to capture emissions from smokestacks and convert it into bio-fuel. On a sunny day they can capture up to 80% of emissions and re-appropriate it in the form of bio-fuel. The CO2 is released upon burning the bio-fuel, but still by doubling the uses for the fuel you effective cut emissions in half (multiplied by the % absorbed originally by the algae so optimistically you'd reduce emissions by 40%.) Perhaps with further refinement the algae could have peak absorbency around 90% and could be used on all CO2 emitting technologies. So every emission would have a filter on it but instead of just being collected and discarded it would be reused infinitely. By keeping the carbon on the ground so to speak, we could mitigate human emission both in the short term and long term, perhaps returning carbon levels to something that the planet could handle.

Here's a link to some background on his work - http://www.greenprophet.com/2008/06/20/8154/isaac-berzin-algae-biofue/

Bettering Our World (WorldChanging)

One of the articles that I found really interesting, is "Biodiversity:How Much Nature is Enough?" It talks about how no matter what, extinction of certain species will happen. Which makes sense, because even when humans weren't as influential to the environment as we are now, animals were still dying out, because that's just the way of nature. But just because it will happen, doesn't mean we can't make an effort to make that list smaller. This reading talks about different methods of doing that, the main one being hotspots, which is knowing that some animals will die, but we should focus on the areas with the biggest biological diversity, and scarcest conservation. What I found most interesting about the reading was the whole concept that a cloned songbird wouldn't even be able to sing, because they learn it from the songbirds around it, and there wouldn't be one to teach him. But then it makes you wonder what made the first song bird decide to sing?

The other reading that I found to be very interesting was the "Mapping" section. When I think of new mapping, I would think to myself, "What more is there to map on this planet? Haven't we been everywhere?" But the mapping that they begin talking about is much more than just land, and sea, and it can be such a crucial part of discovering solutions for problems, now and in the future, and even uncovering some mysteries of the past. An example of this is the mapping of the Chixculub Crater on the Yucatan, to find scientific proof that an asteroid hit and did so many damage to earth many years ago. Also, other than looking at the big picture, they also talk about mapping the small little things in life, and it how it can also make a huge impact on our environment. They talk about mapping the small habits of animals, the trails they take, the temperature of the air at that time, and all sort of other details. Using the modern technology that we have, we can map that stuff out, to show us scientific information that can help us deal with preservation of wild life, and so much more. Although we have mapped so much, there is still so much more for us to find out and discovery.

Kid-powered water pumps

Worldchanging Water Pumps page 192

sustainability is a big word thrown everywhere now in todays political and socio- thought is it sustainability for business, sustainable relationships, environment sustainability?

"Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own need."

International collaboration is essential if the world is to pave a more sustainable future through the means of governmental, academic, investor and institutional channels to facilitate this co-operation.

Click below to view a very insightful and cool video

TED Conference

Alex Steffen sees a sustainable future

Culture Jamming

Culture jamming is a tactic in which an activist attempts to disrupt or subvert mainstream cultural institutions or corporate advertising.

Not as intense as Animal Liberation Front (ALF), Negativland an experimental music and sound collage band that does mash ups to create messages about companies and products.

Here are links to two mash-ups they've done.

Dispepsi

Christianity is stupid

They have tons of other "songs" they've done, I haven't heard them all, check 'em out.

Pop-apart Cell Phones

On Page 119, I found an interesting little excerpt on recycling cell phones. Never really thinking about where cellphones go after they die in the virtual world, I read that usually they are just shredded because they cost too much to pay someone to take apart; however, Nokia has come up with a phone design that pops apart in two seconds verses 2 minutes. To do this, a laser is just needed to heat up the phone to a certain degree which pops it apart. Really though, is all of this trouble really worth some old cellphone parts? Or could maybe this whole technology change the way we recycle other technological parts?

Blow Up the Moon!

You read that correctly, to some degree. NASA is planning on impacting the moon with two spacecrafts designed to push up dirt and debris. If successful, the mission will allow NASA to tell whether or not the moon has evidence of water on it. Cool, huh?

The resulting impacts may even be seen by the naked eye! If you have a telescope, all the better. The footage will also be shown live on NASA TV.



But of course, with science, comes the strangest forms of controversy. This article explains the mission in good detail. Near the top of the article, you'll see 'Read' and 'Video' tabs. If you click on the Video tab, two videos will come up. The one called 'Bomb The Moon Follies' tells us all about how various YouTubers see this mission as incredibly dangerous, say it'll mess up the tides, cause mass meteorological damage to earth, and more.

In my opinion, this mission is so cool. (I'll be up early tomorrow watching the broadcast.) What do you think?

Extinction and Culture

The extinction crisis is one of the largest hurdles facing humanity and our ecosystem. Yet, it is seldom mentioned outside scientific circles and classrooms. According to the article "The Culture of Extinction: Tattoos for Dodoes," on Worldchanging, the reasons for this are largely cultural, because extinction is a depressing topic, and most of us prefer to pretend it's not there.
The article poses this question: "How do we change our cultural outlook? We need something that shifts extinction from an abstract issue to a human concern, something that moves the discussion onto the streets and into people's homes, in the same way that red and pink ribbons have helped to destigmatize HIV and breast cancer."

Cloned Birds and Singing

Science could soon be capable of cloning extinct animals, using preserved genetic material. But even if we do accomplish such an incredible feat, true species restoration would not be possible with songbirds. Songbirds learn their songs from other birds of the same species, and without an established population of the same kin, the songs will never be as they were when the bird went extinct. What other ways could other extinct species be lost forever?

Pollination: The Planet's Oldest Partnership

The reading says over 100 million years ago insects and plants were part of an important cycle. The bees, beetles and butterflies give life to flowers and help reproduce and in return they give pollen for insects to use as food and such. The reading gave an example of this for humans. Imagine us going around everyday of our lives with a q-tip and swabbing for pollen on millions of flowers. We would fail miserably. Due to pollution and climate change insects are dying off thus creating plants to die off as well. If we ended up killing off an entire species of insects that pollinate, we will kill a plant species as well because of stopping reproduction. This leds to less oxygen being produced, food, medicines, etc.

This reminds me of the movie "The Happening" where all the plants defend themselves from humans and give off a deadly gas that kills them. When the plants are encountered with multiple people at once if when they are defensive and give off the toxic chemical. What if plants were to really evolve and create a defensive system against us for killing them with pollutants? Almost every living thing tries to survive by doing anything it can. Either consuming something to defending itself.

New fashion trend in Japan?

These photos allegedly depict a new fashion trend in Japan.  The panties are actually printed on the outside of the clothing (they're not really see through).  However Snopes.com claims that this is all a hoax and that there is no such fashion trend.  Suppose this did catch on--do you think it would be good for society?  Would it demean women? (or men, if they made them for men too?)

Berlusconi's Lawyers use Animal Farm Defense

From Slate (10/7/09): During the first day of a hearing before a 15-judge panel that will decide whether to uphold a law—passed by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi—exempting the four most senior political office holders in Italy from criminal prosecution, Berlusconi's lawyers raised more than a few eyebrows by stating that their client shouldn't be treated like a regular citizen.

"He is no longer first among equals, but ought to be considered first above equals," one of his lawyers said. Another one added, "The law is equal for everyone, but not always in its application."

Opposition politicians were quick to criticize the arguments, stating the similarities to the famous motto in George Orwell's Animal Farm: "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others." If the judges rule that the law is unconstitutional, the 73-year-old Berlusconi will have to fight several cases in court, including charges of corruption and tax fraud.

Earthship Homes

While reading World Changing I came across a home in Brazil is an "eco home". To be in a home that is entirely green. No water, electricity, or gas bills. Can you imagine? Not only that, but if we created homes that cost very little to make and upkeep there would be no worries of forests being cut down. Or water ways being destroyed. Or oil, natural, or coal being used. Hey this would cut down on carbon emissions.

Here I am putting a link to several sites talking about what they call Earthships. Look for yourself.

http://www.huckmagazine.com/blog/garbage-warrior/

http://www.dreamgreenhomes.com/plans/earthship.htm

http://www.sangres.com/newmexico/taos/earthship.htm

http://www.earthship.net/

http://earthfirst.com/tag/sustainability/

The Rape Tunnel

The Rape Tunnel is a work of art in which the viewer will wander through the tunnel, and meet the rape-intent artist on the other end.

Don't fret, though - this entire article is fabricated.

Once you realize it's a fake, however, the satire in this article becomes obvious. After reading it, you have to ask yourself; What are the boundaries of art? Since our class exists in an art college, I'd love to hear your ideas about what constitutes as art, and what constitutes as going too far.

Virus Batteries being used for the future!

In the world changing book on page 113 there is an article called "Viruses Making Batteries". Here is a link talking more about the topic. It's so bizzare to see a virus being used as energy. Once you have a virus you can never get rid of it. It can only be treated. So lets say some crazy accident happens and the battery leaked like they normally do when you have them in for a while. Would that virus substance be hazardous to you or no? Seems like it would if you were to consume it. Also a virus needs a host, so what host would it be inside the batteries?

Big Brother is Watching

Real-Time Cars in Google Earth courtesy Georgia Institute of Technology

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/tech/2009/10/01/nr.augmented.earth.cnn

Here is a link to a cnn news video about a new computer technology called "Augmented Earth." Basically it is a glorified version of Google Earth that lets people watch what is happening all over the world in real time. I don't think that it is avaliable to the public yet. What are your opinions on this topic? How Do you think the government would use it? Do you think maybe it would increase on terrorism or kidnappings? Does anyone think that this could possibly be beneficial? The technology seems to show everything from traffic and stadiums, to private property, residential homes, and parks that children are playing at.

If you want to find out more information, here is another link to a written article:
http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-09/augmented-google-earth-gets-real-time-people-cars-clouds

Video posting of local fight causes alarm

This link is to a story yesterday in the Sarasota Herald Tribune about a gang of teenagers who lured another teen behind a Lakewood Ranch YMCA and then beat him while videotaping it for Youtube.  The video is by the gang of some of their other escapades.  As the article reports, such videos are a fad that is spreading across the country.  Why do you think this happening?

Pool Balls in the Sky With Vengeance

Here is a link to a very interesting news story about a woman who defended her house from the roof by chucking pool balls at burglars. It's kind of a crazy idea. Maybe it would have been better to call the police first. The pool balls were seemingly very effective though. What would have happened if the home owner had injured one of the intruders? Would she be held legally responsible in court? What do you guys think of the matter?



Video:
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2009/10/02/ktxa.billiards.bomber.kxta?iref=videosearch

Written Article: http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/1648889.html

Family Guy V.S. Einstein's Dreams

Newest episode of Family was awesome, great way to start the new season. The whole episode has Stewie and Brian traveling to parallel universes. But while watching it I couldn't help but think of our reading from Einstein's Dreams, the idea of living in different worlds.
Check it out it was really great.

Click here to view the episode on hulu

WORLDCHANGING:

"The Culture of Extinction: Tattoos for Dodoes"

On page 493 of the Worldchanging book I found an interesting suggestion concerning a method to spread awareness on animal extinction. The suggestion made was that people "adopt" an extinct species, the price of "membership" being a tattoo of that species on a visible part of the body. The thought process behind this was to create a tangible voice for these animals that are no longer around. By tattooing this animal on your body and "adopting" to be its voice, you then become a vessel to spread the legacy of this animal as well as to make people aware of the seriousness of animal extinction.
Although this suggestion was intended to make something taboo more personable, I really think this is just silly. To me, tattoos are something that should be personal and really sacred to the person who has them.
Do you think this is a good way to spread awareness on the topic of extinction? Furthermore, do you think tattoos have lost their sacred quality? Is it just something to do and be "cool" now?

New "Smart Choices" foods list dangerous?

This link is to a story in Tuesday's Sarasota Herald Tribune about a new list that came out from a federal commission.  It lists foods that are supposed to be "smart choices" for safe and nutritious eating.  But it turns out that a lot of junky foods are on the list (e.g., Froot Loops and Magical Cheese Stuffed Crust Cheeze Pizzas) and there's suspicion that the big food companies got to the committee that made up the list.  Recent films (King Corn, Food Inc., Super Size Me) have warned about how bad most of the food we are served and sold is and have exposed the influence of a handful of large food companies.  Is this another example of their power?

Find Something New? Kill It & Place in a Jar!

http://www.wtsp.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=113721


Here is a link to an interesting news article I stumbled across a few days ago. It's about some sort of mystery animal found by some kids in Panama. Long story short, they ended up killing the unfamiliar creature.

What if this was the last one of its type? What if there will never be another creature like this on earth... ever! It seems like when people do not understand something wholely they react adversely. The same thing happens when scientists find a new species. Instead of studying it in the natural habitat, they capture, kill, and jar the specimen for later study.
What do you guys think of this article?