Preaching to choir, dude. I'm totally on the same page with you as to retroactive copyrights. My point here is that touting the outcome of a city election as a major blow for copyright reform is just plain lame.
I pretty much agree with you, though you better look for that grass-fed beef price to go up as there's more demand for it.
And you better get ready for non-red meat to become more expensive too. Poultry can't go out and graze the way cattle can, so you have to feed them grains that are seeing the same cost issues as corn.
Like I said, not a bad thing. We'd be better off eating less of all kinds of meat. But don't expect people to quietly accept that.
Corn-fed beef is cheaper, so if you eat a burger every day, you can't complain about it.
Then again, all this meat consumption (over a pound per U.S. resident per day; about 25% of it beef) is really a bad thing. Screws up your health, screws up the environment, depletes a non-renewable resource (oil) in the form of fertilizers and diesel fuel needed to grow all that corn.
The oil issue was pumping up corn prices even before the drought. Oil prices can only go up, so we're going to have to get used to eating less meat, no matter how "anti-agriculture" it might seem.
I'm not talking about pledge rewards. Those only matter if you're dumb enough to think that Kickstarter is a store. I'm talking about limits on total funds raised.
Ok, I admit that a lot of people think Kosher food is "better". But a similar thing for Halaal is not why this restaurant got trendy. I've seen Yelpers go all crazy over tiny ethnic eateries where the food was mediocre or even toxically bad. I think it starts when somebody spots some English-challenged immigrant behind the counter that pushes their cuteness button. And indeed, the guy running the Halaal place was extremely likable..
I guess I mostly agree with you. Still, that guy who asked for $20K and got a million is a potential problem. First, there's the potential for fraud. That can happen even if the guy himself is completely honest — you know the con artists all have him targeted right now.
Then there's what I call the toxic cash problem, a term I heard when I was contracting at SGI in 1999. Some people there blamed their troubles on the way star-struck venture capitalists threw money at the company early on, so that the company never had to develop fiscal discipline. It seems to me that a one-guy company that suddenly has a million bucks in the bank is going to face the same problem. Only worse, since he probably has zero management expertise.
If I were in charge at Kickstarter, I'd take some measure to prevent that kind of craziness. If you want $20K, you should have some notion of how you're going to spend the money. Nothing rigorous, just something like "For my meth lab, I need $10K to buy a used RV, $5K for equipment, and $5K for chemicals." And if you're willing to accept more than your minimum, you need to make it clear what you'll do with the extra money.
And most of all, this craziness of asking for few K and getting a million bucks has to stop. There's just too much opportunity for things to go pear-shaped. The project should have a maximum that's no more than 2 or 3 times the minimum, and with definite plans for the extra money. When fundraising hits the maximum, it stops.
Your story is implausible. People who work in cafeterias generally know that they don't know anything about technology. I'm sure they know exactly how to fix the budget deficit, though.
The guy might still own the copyright. IANAL, so I'm not going to state that with certainty. I do know that anybody who wants to protect their content is well-advised to include standard copyright boilerplate — which he neglected to do.
Not quite that bad. He can't suppress the ripoff video, but he might be able to get it taken down. The fact that he's done little to establish copyright (no notices in the video) might make that more difficult.
IANAL, so take this with the usual sodium supplement.
I notice that your video contains no copyright notice of any kind, As I understand it, this doesn't actually give away your ownership, but it does make it a lot of difference enforcementwise.You might want to do a little reading so you can better protect your work in the future.
It's also worth remembering that Youtube is very much about repurposing other people's content.. You can fight this with legal boilerplate and takedown notices, but really you're going against the spirit of the place.
When somebody asks you for legal advice on Slashdot, you're supposed to give it. In case you hadn't noticed, simply having an account on Slashdot qualifies you as a legal expert, especially on IP issues. No legal training? No problem!
He's a member of a party that exists solely because people are pissed off about antiquated copyright laws (as am I). Maybe the dude has more going than his interest in this one issue, but the fact that he's affiliated with a single-issue party doesn't encourage me to think so.
So, if the city stops repairing potholes, that's actually an improvement?
The lame thing about libertarians and other government haters is that they take for granted all the things government actually does that needs doing. The city infrastructure seems to be OK, so what's the big deal about actually maintaining it?
Sure, government is corrupt. Most big institutions are corrupt. Not sure of a good way to fix it, but electing a single-issue bozo who no actual interest in running his city is not high on my list.
Let me dig into my memory bank. Oh yeah, the green party is about ecology and sustainability, right? These are things that municipal officials deal with every day. I live in a city that isn't actually run by the Green Party, but might as well be, given all the effort the city puts into mass transit, bike-friendly streets, mandatory composting and recycling, and other green initiatives.
Kickstarter actually started out as a way to fund arts projects. Like somebody wanting to create a sculpture, do a fancy mural, put on a play, even make a low-budget movie. These are all things that will probably never make back their costs and have traditionally depended on the generosity of donors. These have traditionally been people with deep pockets — businesses looking to generate goodwill, rich people who've gone philanthropist — but with the whole online crowd-whatever phenomenon, there's no reason ordinary people can't do this too.
Like you, I'm bothered by the fact that Kickstarter is now dominated by startups who use it to get seed capital. There's something just plain messed up about a for-profit business that might well make its founders rich starting out by passing the hat. Still, I'm forced to admit that some intriguing projects (Pebble, Ouya, and even the much-maligned Orbit) might never have gone anywhere without the generosity of "backers". I guess there's nothing really wrong with it, as long as people understand that the money they're offering is a gift, not a purchase or investment.
But to answer your question: this is one of those weird online enthusiasms, like that Korean guy with the weird dance moves. My favorite example is this Halaal restaurant I used to live near which for no obvious reason has hundreds of 5-star reviews on Yelp. Now this is a decent restaurant, the food is OK, and the staff is very hospitable to everybody who comes in. But they seem very confused by all the non-Muslims trooping through the door. Why pay extra to eat Halaal if your religious beliefs don't require it?
Yelp is full of stuff like this, and let's not forget the bus monitor whose bullying incident earned her almost $700K. Very silly, but not that big a deal, except maybe for the potential fraud.
Just having armed watercraft doesn't make you a Navy. You need a separate military command structure. The Swiss have that for their Air Force and Army, but not for their patrol boats, which are a small unit within the Army.
One can only hope these pirates don't get too uppity!
What's the big significance here? If you get all your friends to vote in a local election that most people ignore, then yeah, you can get elected. Doesn't establish your political clout.
The citizens of Eichberg now have a mayor whose agenda has nothing to do roads, sewers, public safety, or any of the other unsexy issues that municipal officials deal with. He does care about copyright reform — an issue in which a mayor has no say at all.
Now the local Pirate Party people will pat each other on the back for this "win" and go back to ignoring local politics. Hey, real impressive.
Slashdot Mirror
Even us die-hard Obamatrons are tired of them!
Preaching to choir, dude. I'm totally on the same page with you as to retroactive copyrights. My point here is that touting the outcome of a city election as a major blow for copyright reform is just plain lame.
You're thinking of the "it's a crisis!" version. This is the "shoot the messenger!" version.
I pretty much agree with you, though you better look for that grass-fed beef price to go up as there's more demand for it.
And you better get ready for non-red meat to become more expensive too. Poultry can't go out and graze the way cattle can, so you have to feed them grains that are seeing the same cost issues as corn.
Like I said, not a bad thing. We'd be better off eating less of all kinds of meat. But don't expect people to quietly accept that.
The growth of the user base is flattening, not flatlining. It's RIM itself that is flatlining.
Corn-fed beef is cheaper, so if you eat a burger every day, you can't complain about it.
Then again, all this meat consumption (over a pound per U.S. resident per day; about 25% of it beef) is really a bad thing. Screws up your health, screws up the environment, depletes a non-renewable resource (oil) in the form of fertilizers and diesel fuel needed to grow all that corn.
The oil issue was pumping up corn prices even before the drought. Oil prices can only go up, so we're going to have to get used to eating less meat, no matter how "anti-agriculture" it might seem.
Hey, I don't live in a third world country either. My mayor spends a lot of time talking roads and sewers.
If the public bureaucrats have everything in hand (ha!), why even bother holding an election?
I'm not talking about pledge rewards. Those only matter if you're dumb enough to think that Kickstarter is a store. I'm talking about limits on total funds raised.
Agreed. Try reading my post a little more carefully.
Ok, I admit that a lot of people think Kosher food is "better". But a similar thing for Halaal is not why this restaurant got trendy. I've seen Yelpers go all crazy over tiny ethnic eateries where the food was mediocre or even toxically bad. I think it starts when somebody spots some English-challenged immigrant behind the counter that pushes their cuteness button. And indeed, the guy running the Halaal place was extremely likable..
I guess I mostly agree with you. Still, that guy who asked for $20K and got a million is a potential problem. First, there's the potential for fraud. That can happen even if the guy himself is completely honest — you know the con artists all have him targeted right now.
Then there's what I call the toxic cash problem, a term I heard when I was contracting at SGI in 1999. Some people there blamed their troubles on the way star-struck venture capitalists threw money at the company early on, so that the company never had to develop fiscal discipline. It seems to me that a one-guy company that suddenly has a million bucks in the bank is going to face the same problem. Only worse, since he probably has zero management expertise.
If I were in charge at Kickstarter, I'd take some measure to prevent that kind of craziness. If you want $20K, you should have some notion of how you're going to spend the money. Nothing rigorous, just something like "For my meth lab, I need $10K to buy a used RV, $5K for equipment, and $5K for chemicals." And if you're willing to accept more than your minimum, you need to make it clear what you'll do with the extra money.
And most of all, this craziness of asking for few K and getting a million bucks has to stop. There's just too much opportunity for things to go pear-shaped. The project should have a maximum that's no more than 2 or 3 times the minimum, and with definite plans for the extra money. When fundraising hits the maximum, it stops.
If you live in a place where there are lot of Muslims, I suppose that might be the case. Not the case in San Jose.
The mere fact of publishing it establishes copyright
Not denying that. But dude, IANAL, YANAL, and any lawyer will tell you it's easier to defend your your copyright when you do the boilerplate.
Your story is implausible. People who work in cafeterias generally know that they don't know anything about technology. I'm sure they know exactly how to fix the budget deficit, though.
A usage license is not a copyright. All the SYL does is Youtube and its users the right to access the video. There's nothing in it that establishes copyright.
The guy might still own the copyright. IANAL, so I'm not going to state that with certainty. I do know that anybody who wants to protect their content is well-advised to include standard copyright boilerplate — which he neglected to do.
Not quite that bad. He can't suppress the ripoff video, but he might be able to get it taken down. The fact that he's done little to establish copyright (no notices in the video) might make that more difficult.
IANAL, so take this with the usual sodium supplement.
I notice that your video contains no copyright notice of any kind, As I understand it, this doesn't actually give away your ownership, but it does make it a lot of difference enforcementwise.You might want to do a little reading so you can better protect your work in the future.
It's also worth remembering that Youtube is very much about repurposing other people's content.. You can fight this with legal boilerplate and takedown notices, but really you're going against the spirit of the place.
When somebody asks you for legal advice on Slashdot, you're supposed to give it. In case you hadn't noticed, simply having an account on Slashdot qualifies you as a legal expert, especially on IP issues. No legal training? No problem!
He's a member of a party that exists solely because people are pissed off about antiquated copyright laws (as am I). Maybe the dude has more going than his interest in this one issue, but the fact that he's affiliated with a single-issue party doesn't encourage me to think so.
So, if the city stops repairing potholes, that's actually an improvement?
The lame thing about libertarians and other government haters is that they take for granted all the things government actually does that needs doing. The city infrastructure seems to be OK, so what's the big deal about actually maintaining it?
Sure, government is corrupt. Most big institutions are corrupt. Not sure of a good way to fix it, but electing a single-issue bozo who no actual interest in running his city is not high on my list.
Let me dig into my memory bank. Oh yeah, the green party is about ecology and sustainability, right? These are things that municipal officials deal with every day. I live in a city that isn't actually run by the Green Party, but might as well be, given all the effort the city puts into mass transit, bike-friendly streets, mandatory composting and recycling, and other green initiatives.
Transparency is good. But that's a standard plank on everybody's platform these days.
Kickstarter actually started out as a way to fund arts projects. Like somebody wanting to create a sculpture, do a fancy mural, put on a play, even make a low-budget movie. These are all things that will probably never make back their costs and have traditionally depended on the generosity of donors. These have traditionally been people with deep pockets — businesses looking to generate goodwill, rich people who've gone philanthropist — but with the whole online crowd-whatever phenomenon, there's no reason ordinary people can't do this too.
Like you, I'm bothered by the fact that Kickstarter is now dominated by startups who use it to get seed capital. There's something just plain messed up about a for-profit business that might well make its founders rich starting out by passing the hat. Still, I'm forced to admit that some intriguing projects (Pebble, Ouya, and even the much-maligned Orbit) might never have gone anywhere without the generosity of "backers". I guess there's nothing really wrong with it, as long as people understand that the money they're offering is a gift, not a purchase or investment.
But to answer your question: this is one of those weird online enthusiasms, like that Korean guy with the weird dance moves. My favorite example is this Halaal restaurant I used to live near which for no obvious reason has hundreds of 5-star reviews on Yelp. Now this is a decent restaurant, the food is OK, and the staff is very hospitable to everybody who comes in. But they seem very confused by all the non-Muslims trooping through the door. Why pay extra to eat Halaal if your religious beliefs don't require it?
Yelp is full of stuff like this, and let's not forget the bus monitor whose bullying incident earned her almost $700K. Very silly, but not that big a deal, except maybe for the potential fraud.
Just having armed watercraft doesn't make you a Navy. You need a separate military command structure. The Swiss have that for their Air Force and Army, but not for their patrol boats, which are a small unit within the Army.
One can only hope these pirates don't get too uppity!
What's the big significance here? If you get all your friends to vote in a local election that most people ignore, then yeah, you can get elected. Doesn't establish your political clout.
The citizens of Eichberg now have a mayor whose agenda has nothing to do roads, sewers, public safety, or any of the other unsexy issues that municipal officials deal with. He does care about copyright reform — an issue in which a mayor has no say at all.
Now the local Pirate Party people will pat each other on the back for this "win" and go back to ignoring local politics. Hey, real impressive.