Ars wrote a recent article called Rep “Hollywood” Berman calls for new IP law—using dodgy data. It’s an interesting read. I’ve pulled out a few of my favorite quotes for your enjoyment.
From Robert Pittman, cofounder of MTV:
“Stealing music is not killing music,” said Pittman. “When I talk to people in the music business, most of them will admit that the problem is they’re selling songs and not albums. I mean, you do the math… I realized that as an industry we’d kind of been smoking crack.”
And my personal favorite:
[...] director Steven Soderbergh, who is currently the vice president of the Directors Guild of America, wants us to become more like France. “Litigation is slow and the Internet is fast, so it doesn’t make sense to ask the government to be our police,” he said. “What we would like is to be deputized to solve our own problems, to be granted the kind of pull-down and inspection abilities being proposed in France so we can act swiftly and fairly on our own behalf.”
04.08.09 | # | Start the conversation
“Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them and you have their shoes.” -Jack Handey
03.24.09 | # | Start the conversation
Wise words on creating a good iphone app. I think it applies well beyond it’s intended scope.
Figure out the absolute least you need to do to implement the idea, do just that, and then polish the hell out of the experience.
John Gruber’s one central, overriding guideline for iPhone UI design (via 37 Signals)
11.06.08 | # | Start the conversation
“Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy.”
Albert Einstein
11.06.08 | # | Start the conversation
Just handed in my National Multiple Choice Exam. Psssst — the answer to question #1 is Obama
Tom Fite
11.04.08 | # | Start the conversation
Dear Red States:
We’ve decided we’re leaving. We intend to form our own country, and we’re taking the other Blue States with us. In case you aren’t aware, that includes California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and the entire Northeast. We believe this split will be beneficial to the nation, and especially to the people of the new country of New California.
To sum up briefly: You get Texas, Oklahoma and all the slave states. We get stem cell research and the best beaches. We get the Statue of Liberty. You get Dollywood. We get Intel and Microsoft. You get WorldCom. We get Harvard. You get Ole’ Miss. We get 85 percent of America’s venture capital and entrepreneurs. You get Alabama. We get two-thirds of the tax revenue; you get to make the red states pay their fair share.
Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22 percent lower than the Christian Coalition’s, we get a bunch of happy families. Please be aware that Nuevo California will be pro-choice and anti-war, and we’re going to want all our citizens back from Iraq at once. If you need people to fight, ask your evangelicals.
With the Blue States in hand, we will have firm control of 80% of the country’s fresh water, more than 90% of the pineapple and lettuce, 92% of the nation’s fresh fruit, 95% of America’s quality wines (you can serve French wines at state dinners) 90% of all cheese, 90% of high-tech industry, most of the U.S. low-sulfur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools plus Stanford , Cal Tech and MIT. With the Red States, on the other hand, you will have to cope with 88% of all obese Americans (and their projected health care costs), 92% of all U.S. mosquitoes, nearly 100% of the tornadoes, 90% of the hurricanes, 99% of all Southern Baptists, virtually 100% of all televangelists, Rush Limbaugh and Bob Jones University. We get Hollywood and Yosemite, thank you.
Additionally, 38% of those in the Red states believe Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale, 62% believe life is sacred unless we’re discussing the death penalty or gun laws, 44% say that evolution is only a theory, 53% that Saddam was involved in 9/11 and 61% of you believe you are people with higher morals then we lefties.
Sincerely,
The Blue States
(via Adam Hanson)
11.02.08 | # | Start the conversation
My handwriting is a new level of illegible. 128-bit encryption has nothing on my chicken-scratch.
-Kelly Abbot (via LifeHacker)
10.26.08 | # | Start the conversation