Slashdot Mirror
The Economist Weighs In For Shorter Copyright Terms
lxmota writes "The Economist says that long copyright terms are hindering creativity, and that shortening them is the way to go: 'Largely thanks to the entertainment industry's lawyers and lobbyists, copyright's scope and duration have vastly increased. In America, copyright holders get 95 years' protection as a result of an extension granted in 1998, derided by critics as the "Mickey Mouse Protection Act." They are now calling for even greater protection, and there have been efforts to introduce similar terms in Europe. Such arguments should be resisted: it is time to tip the balance back.'"
A more extreme form of ritual is related in Sudhir Kakar's "Shamans, Mystics & Doctors" (1991). This is sadhana (practice) directed towards a demoness named Karna. The sadhna is carried out over three days before the new moon. It requires ten days of preparation, and a further ten days of ritual after the sadhana is completed. For ten days the practitioner abstains from all the sacred acts prescribed for a Brahmin. He did not clean his teeth, change his clothes, and used the same dirty plate for each meal. In the three days of the sadhana itself, the practitioner satisfies his thirst by drinking his own urine, and satisfies his hunger by eating his own feces. On the first night of the sadhana, the practitioner locks the doors of his house. He lights eleven large oil lamps in his room. He wears a string of fifty-four bones which he has dug up from the cremation ground at night, and holds a similar string in his hands. Facing south, he begins to recite (japa) a mantra 115 times. He urinates and defacates without breaking the repetition, and rubs the shit and piss over his body. Finally, the practitioner relates how he is visited by "an attractive woman, twenty-five to thirty years old, completely naked...". She sits next to him, fondles his penis, smears both their bodies with his feces, and disappears when he has finished the recitation of the mantra. On the third day, she "incited" him to have intercourse with her. Upon commencing his final period of japa, she appears again, sits down on his lap, and defecates & urinates all over him, again, smearing him body with her urine and feces. She then tells the practitioner "Whenever I want intercourse I'll come to you and you will have to satisfy my desire. Whenever you ask a question I'll whisper the answer in your ear." Kakar's correspondent writes that, as a result of this sadhana, he can no longer perform the sacred tasks and rituals of a Brahmin, but that his astrology business has boomed, due to the powers of the demoness in giving him knowledge of his clients' past and future and in drawing more clients towards him.
Thanks for the insight! There is a lot of helpful information within those links. Best Attorney
When (ha) we come to power we'll cut the duration of copyright to 10 years.
'Ha' indeed. Moron.
By the way, could you please stop spamming your nasty little party on Slashdot? Kthx.