Artisinal

Examples of Dilution: Tarnishment can be a little hard to find, or to really explain the danger. Behold Lanham educators, your example:

Britney Spears’ New Product Stealing from mondonation and Charities (via: Young Go Getter)

Killer of Sheep, a 1977 student film by Charles Burnett,… (kottke.org):

Killer of Sheep, a 1977 student film by Charles Burnett, is on the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry and was selected as one of the 100 essential films of all time by the National Society of Film Critics but has never been shown in theaters because of music rights clearance issues. This year, the film is finally being released in theaters (it’s showing at IFC Center in NYC through April 12) and will be available on DVD in the fall. Watch the trailer and read a bit more about it in the NY Times.

A-hem.

The Consumer Council of Norway files a complaint regarding iTunes’ terms of service – forbrukerportalen.no:

Since the Kansas school board went ahead and re-defined science, the National Academy of Sciences has declared that they will take their ball and go home. In this case, the ball is the copyright on the material incorporated extensively into the new science standards.

I have no love for artist’s rights, or controlling uses, or any of the other litany of reasons that people give out for why derivative uses need to be permissive. In fact, I’ve come up with a rather lengthy modest proposal for defeating them all permanently. This, however, I just have to support. Even if it may be (wow, optimism) pretty much unnecessary.

Nobel Intent: A year in the life of an active volcano:
A series of images from the Mt. St. Helens volcano, which is undergoing massive change turns into a point about the function of governmental science, and how best to promote science and the useful arts while getting the intellectual property back to the financial backers (taxpayers) as quickly as possible. Have I mentioned Ars is fantastic?
Especially since I finally have a link to give when I mention Ooblick and people look at me funny. Growing up at a science museum gives one certain unfounded assumptions about shared experiences and childhood playthings.

MPAA looks to bolster its dominance by plugging the analog hole : Page 1:

If you’ve been waiting for the Broadcast Flag to meet, fall in love, and reproduce with Genghis Khan, then wait no more. This bill does what the Broadcast Flag does for over-the-air (OTA) TV, but it extends it to every new device in the country for every kind of video, and adds even more control granularity for the content industry.

Does anyone else think that if humanity survives another couple millennia this stuff is what will supplant Oedipus Rex for teaching schoolchildren about hubris?

One-Fifth of Human Genes Have Been Patented, Study Reveals:
A new study shows that 20 percent of human genes have been patented in the United States, primarily by private firms and universities.

Magnus-Opus:

Warning: All of the melodies contained within the Magnus-Opus series
are protected by copyright. You may inadvertently be in breach of
international copyright law by using a telecommunications device
(telephone, mobile telephone, modem and other internet devices)
to transmit and perform one of the Magnus-Opus melody series.

Don’t worry too much, they’re happy to sell you a license.

Check out the correspondence page to see how the work requirements in Australia are different from ours. (Author must be a “Qualified person”?)

It’s been a while since we did a Super-link entry. I don’t think the reason is any mystery.

• That little endlessly fun web-thingy can be manipulated here.
• I’ve had these in the post queue for so long I’m not sure anyone in the world has not seen them, but if you have not, you should. These are some movie trailer remixes floating around that are just great. The Shining by Nora Ephron, West Side Zombie Story, and Titanic, which I think was actually just a leaked trailer from the studio given how fractured the plot theming was on that movie.
• Behold Chaos: the worst reviewed movie of the year
• “Captain Rob” made a replica viking ship out of popsicle sticks. And she’s yar. (Bungie geeks take note of the name) The boat plans to come by Savannah, GA and other US destinations in Spring 2007
• The CIA’s Free online Wine class.
• House of Cosbys is a cautionary cartoon about human cloning, watching Michael Keaton movies, and Intellectual property law. Cosby, by the way recently won the fight for web rights to Fat Albert.
• Web Searching takes it personal: Google’s slant, Yahoo’s slant.
• Upcoming.org looks like it would be really great for people far more social than I am. Plus, I would like to put an end to that badly designed evites site.
• German sushi rolling machine.

Haaave a good weekend Rudy.

Telegraph | News | Unicef bombs the Smurfs in fund-raising campaign for ex-child soldiers:

The people of Belgium have been left reeling by the first adult-only episode of the Smurfs, in which the blue-skinned cartoon characters’ village is annihilated by warplanes. The short but chilling film is the work of Unicef, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and is to be broadcast on national television next week as a campaign advertisement.

Derivative works not only are more efficient in terms of creation costs, they are more efficient in delivering messages.

The advertising agency behind the campaign, Publicis, decided the best way to convey the impact of war on children was to tap into the earliest, happiest memories of Belgian television viewers. They chose the Smurfs, who first appeared in a Belgian comic in 1958.

DVDs have ruined a lot of shows we loved as kids as we see that they actually are pretty bad shows. My roommate John ruined Silverhawks for me forever. But the reason I was so disappointed is that I had these memories of what it was from my formative years.
Despite the fact that the Smurfs are a Hipster favorite for conspiracy theories about satanism, Communism, Biological categorization, and reproductive health in a society containing one woman and one girl they do still have an idillic aura for many people.