Beer Saves

Hallelujah.

Amen.

Garret the Ferret

Wow. My daughter brought this home from school. Turns out that Weekly Reader is now frightening children into learning about copyright law by telling them that a potential action on their part may put their friends' parents out of work and destroy their future career. Way to go weasel. I kept waiting for something about commie pinkos to pop up.

Meet Garret the ferret, Copyright Crusader. This little comic/morality play is brought to you by Weekly Reader. As I always say, rather than teach children about the real issues, scare the crap out of them. Lord knows that the entire issue of pirating, P2P, Copyright and what not can be boiled down to children who copy cause economic strife. Good thing copyright dispute is so easy to explain to these little criminals in training that a simple comic book can explain the complexities of the debate raging over copyright laws. And there are pins! If you're not wearing a badge you must be a criminal bent on destroying the movie, music and software industries.

I found it so enthralling that I copied it.

Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4

By the way, this whole comic was sponsored by a software industry association. Not a not-for-profit, not a group dedicated to copyright reform, but the software industry itself. Protecting themselves from their future customers.

I wonder if I produced a comic about Creative Commons and the future of copyright law if I'd get it into Weekly Reader.

Maybe next week she'll get a comic about how our copyright law is antiquated and not sufficient to cover the digital era? That corporations can bend the law to fit their needs (i.e. Disney vs. Public Domain).

Pedagologically speaking, this is a horrible learning tool. "How did Shawn learn about copyright laws?" Um . . . the Ferret told him?

My favorite part is on page three when Garret is explaining the loss of money and jobs caused by copying. Is that blood lust in his eyes?

But remember kids, always trust a weasel.

I'm thinking of starting my own comic. Murray the Marmoset, Copyright Reformer. Protector of the innocent and voice of Public Domain and Fair Use.

UPDATE: David reminds me that BSA likes to copy too!

Buy Me a Present

Sure, they are pricey, but you love me, right? I mean, this is history we're talking about. I rented the first disc of the Apollo 11 series, which covers assembly, training, liftoff and travel to the moon. It's going to take me weeks just to watch that one. And they go into amazing detail. I watched six angles of the take off yesterday. Six angles! And they were all fiery. My wife was teasing me when I started, but after she saw the footage of staging she was hooked.

I need them all. From the X15 project to STS-109. To me they're like travel videos. Someday I'll walk on the moon. Even if it means eight pots of coffee, illegal substances and a vivid imagination.

P.S. If it wasn't clear, I like spacey things. I'm a geek. Duh. But I draw the line at Babylon Five. Snore.

Rampaging Monster

According to this site, I so could have kicked F. Scott Fitzgerald's ass. Patrick McGoohan, on the other hand, is a toss up. He has me on height, but I think I could take him if I punched him in the groin.

Pay Attention Pengelly

New Burton Puppety Goodness, my friend.

Complain not. Because it has a dead bride. Oh yes. Corpsey goodness.

Meaningless

I've created a new Radio SFT playlist to highlight Stephin Merritt for someone who is unfamiliar with Stephin, the Magnetic Fields, Future Bible Heroes, Gothic Archies, the Sixths, etc. ad infinitum.

Oh that's right. You know who you are. You know I can't handle the pressure. Plus, this will give a broad overview of Stephin's work. Though I lied. There isn't any Future Bible Heroes in there.

Enjoy it anyway.

So There's This . . .

For today. For obvious reasons.

Or, because I'm a musical uniter, not a divider, for the rest of you, there's this.

Good night Mrs. Calabash. Wherever you are.