Alvaro Freitas

I feel a little uneasy praising the customer service department of a multi-million dollar company for doing exactly what they’re supposed to — help people. But as anyone who’s ever spent three hours trying to get in touch with Time Warner knows, it’s rare to be treated like a human when you have a problem that needs solving.

The exchange below occurred between a Redditor and Netflix when the former was having problems with Instant.

Ugh, next thing you know, Netflix will start producing quality TV shows of their…STOP BEING GOOD.

(Via Reddit)

Sand Prints is a series of ephemeral art created by environmental artist Ahmad Nadalian. Each site-specific piece is a small sculpture naturally blended into a beach or desert landscape. The sculptures become a part of the surrounding land and provide viewers with the opportunity to explore, touch, and even disrupt the final images.

In all of his work, the artist redefines ancient rituals and symbols in contemporary ways. This project is inspired by an ancient printing technique that used carved cylinders to create repeating patterns. Nadalian's modern-day carvings include living creatures like fish, snakes, and crabs, as well as floral patterns that he rolls along the surface of the sand to produce the long rows of repetitive illustrations.

The beauty of each piece is that the loose earth can hold the designs for only so long before the wind disrupts the arrangement or the tide washes it away. Through this fleeting process, Nadalian believes he is making an offering to the Earth, hoping to heal the spirit of our neglected environment. He says, "Art offers a blessing and hope for harmony with the past, with the earth, and the heavens."

Ahmad Nadalian's website
via [I Heart My Art]

Quando se está dentro de uma cultura relativamente homogênea como o Japão, não raramente coisas do seu entorno cotidiano pode parecer estranho para alguém de outro país.

E eu não me refiro apenas aos marcos históricos e roupas tradicionais,  estou falando sobre os itens encontrados na vida cotidiana, como banheiros, embalagens de produtos e telefones celulares.

 

A cultura do Japão moldou o design destes vários lugares e produtos de uma forma que a maioria dos japoneses jamais poderiam perceber que são diferentes dos seus homólogos estrangeiros.

Esperando mostrar um pouco dessas diferenças um tanto quanto surpreendente, o My Navi News realizou recentemente uma pesquisa perguntando a 20 estrangeiros que vivem no Japão, que coisas que eles consideravam ser de um “design totalmente diferente” quando se compara o Japão com seu país de origem, e as respostas foram bem comuns e esperadas;

 

Banheiro

Realmente o banheiro e principalmente os sanitários são algo que são bem diferentes, logo que cheguei no Japão fui morar em um apartamento em que o banheiro era junto, mas logo depois mudei para um em que a parte do banheiro e a de tomar banho são separadas e nunca havia imaginado que isso fosse comum aqui no Japão, já que no Brasil não é assim.

Os sanitários com assento aquecido e cheio de botões também era algo jamais imaginado, fora a “motoquinha”, que é aquela louça no chão, no começo eu resistia muito em usa-la, mas ela ajuda bastante na hora, já que a posição para utiliza-la faz com que o intestino se exercite com mais facilidade.

A parte do banheiro também, praticamente todos os banheiros tem ofuro, e do lado de fora dica o chuveiro e tradicionalmente usa-se um banquinho em que ficam sentados para se lavarem, claro que pode ficar em pé também, fora que os banheiros são extremamente pequenos, e alguns são de plástico, no começo eu vivia batendo os cotovelos na parede.

 

 Celulares

Quando cheguei aqui no Japão ainda não existiam os smartphones, e eram populares os telefones de flip, aqueles que abrem, enquanto no Brasil eu estava acostumado com aqueles aparelhos pequenos.

Mesmo agora na era dos Smartphones, os japoneses conseguem se diferenciar nessa globalização dos smartphones. Com seus cases diferentes e no caso das gurias, muitas personalizam com coisas brilhantes e do jeito que quiserem.

 

Moda

Nem preciso dizer muito disso né? A moda aqui é legal que não tem moda, você pode andar de qualquer jeito na rua que ninguém fica reparando e cagando regra igual no Brasil.

As pessoas aqui andam com roupas coloridas, xadrez, floridas, enfim, com estampas que são pouco costumeiras no mundo ocidental.

Não vou entrar no mundo das Lolitas, é um estilo que normalmente fazem os ocidentais lembrarem do Japão, mas que não se encontra a toda hora por ai, ao contrário desse estilo com cores e uma mistura bem diferente que é característicos dos japoneses.

 

Eu mesmo quando cheguei no Japão achava muito estranho as pessoas usando camisa xadrez, hoje tenho várias, a convivência e adaptação faz você parar um pouco de perceber essas diferenças em relação ao mundo ocidental, que só reparamos quando começamos a lembrar como éramos antes ou quando tentamos ver o mundo aqui com “outros olhos”, como se fosse alguém que mora fora, o fato de ser de fora ajuda a poder enxergar esses dois lados da moeda.

 

Utensílios domésticos

Devido ao espaço limitado, o Japão é se especializou em fazer todos os seus utensílios domésticos compactos e empilháveis. Para as pessoas que vieram de países em que espaço não é problema, o talento desses projetos pode parecer surpresa. Desde estantes que são facilmente montáveis e algumas projetadas para caberem naquele espaço inimaginável, ou os potes de armazenamento que se encaixam perfeitamente para que possam caber em armários pequenos, tudo planejado e feito já pensando no limitado espaço que temos aqui na ilha.

Os pratos durante as refeições também são algo bem diferente, a comida vem em recipiente reparados e todos em uma bandeja, principalmente se forem pratos japoneses, o café da manhã foi algo que no começo achei bem diferente, e hoje estou acostumado. Os japoneses não costumam comer pão e tomar café durante a manhã, eles comem arroz e tomam sua sopa de missô com mais alguma mistura, fazendo uma refeição quase que parecida com um almoço, quando fiquei hospedado em um hotel pela primeira vez por aqui achei estranho, apesar de saber do costume, no local tinha café da manhã no estilo ocidental também, mas hoje não raramente quando estou hospedado em algum hotel me pego fazendo meu café da manhã no típico estilo japonês, claro que com um toque ocidental a base de bacon e ovos junto com o arroz e missô.

 

Embalagens

A facilidade para abrir as embalagens aqui é algo sensacional, todas as embalagens tem alguma tirinha ou local para que a embalagem seja aberta com mais facilidade, coisa que é um pouco falha em alguns produtos brasileiros.

 

Existem diversas peculiaridades que são particularidades do Japão, então acho que posso até fazer um outro post citando mais coisas que são comuns aqui e não no ocidente.

E para você qual é coisa do cotidiano japonês que lhe pareceu estranho ou diferente ao chegar aqui e é algo normal na sociedade japonesa?

Então, somos apresentados aos protagonistas da história, que estão no telhado da escola, correndo em meio a um exército de zumbis e tentando sobreviver ao caos que se instaurou.

Claro, fugir para o telhado da escola (ou de qualquer prédio, diga-se de passagem) quando se está cercado por zumbis e correr o risco de ficar encurralado em um lugar onde a única saída é uma queda de cinquenta metros me parece extremamente burro, mas deixemos isso de lado por enquanto.



























A diretora e alguns professores vão até o portão e a moça ergue o dedo e pede rispidamente que o sujeito pare de causar confusão e se retire, ou ela será forçada a repetir a ordem em um tom um pouco mais ríspido até que ele a obedeça.

E minha nossa senhora, deve estar fazendo muito frio, porque a diretora está de casaco e ainda assim podemos ver seus mamilos entumescidos através da roupa.

O professor de educação física, todo pimpão e sarado, resolve bancar o macho alfa e dar uma surra no invasor, pois ele acredita que isso com certeza irá impressionar a diretora e lhe dará uma chance de borrifar seu molho especial na tortilla da chefe.








Após ver tamanha esbórnia, Ceduriko corre alucinadamente, com certeza para chamar ajuda, da polícia, do exército ou do Roberto Justus, quem estiver disponível.

Fox has a pretty solid hour and a half of comedy on Tuesdays, so let’s revel in some of the best GIFs from last night’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine, New Girl, and The Mindy Project. In chronological order…

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

New Girl’s next…

Only six more days until Pokémon X / Y comes out. Are you excited?

“Dogs are the fashion because we can fashion them to our will.”

Given my soft spot for dogs (and the occasional cat), I was intrigued by a passage from On Human Finery (public library) — that fascinating 1947 meditation on sartorial morality and conspicuous consumption by Quentin Bell, Virginia Woolf’s nephew and teenage collaborator — which contrasts the cultural roles of cats and dogs in human society. Bell, an acclaimed author and historian in his own right, and his aunt’s official biographer, presents an anthropological theory of why the dog has emerged as humanity’s pet of choice, “man’s best friend,” over all other domestic animals.

His assertion, served through the lens of the psychology of fashion, appears at first an offputting affront to animal consciousness, reducing our canine companions and their genius to mere objects. But Bell’s arguments actually reveal more about the complexity of being human, driven by an endless osmosis of generosity and solipsism, and speaks to our immutable impulse to will life’s chaos into order. He writes:

The comparison between the cat and the dog is highly instructive. The cat is the most polite of the domestic animals. Its life in the home is almost a kind of symbiosis. It is very clean in its habits; on the whole it pays its way and is frequently of more service than disservice to its owner.

The dog on the other hand has not shown the cat’s adaptation to the life of cities; he belongs to the kennel, but is seldom found there when used as an ornament.

Bell quotes the legendary economist and sociologist Thomas Veblen, who asserted that the dog makes up for his unclean habits by having “a service attitude towards his master, and a readiness to inflict damage and discomfort on all else.” In fact, Bell argues, this attitude of servility is the very reason for the dog’s long history as fashionable decoration:

The enormous esteem in which dogs are held and their almost universal employment as ornaments is no doubt in a large measure due to this servile attitude; also perhaps they are psychological substitutes for children (a large section of the pet-loving public … consists of women in the higher income groups).

Bell, however, argues there are three main reasons that render dogs “modish above all other creatures”:

1. Their connection with the futile pursuits of the chase
2. Their sequacity which makes them in effect a part of the costume
3. The extreme malleability of the species when subjected to selective breeding

Bell deems the third factor dogs’ greatest merit, indulging our urge to project ourselves onto the world and bend it to our will — an urge which lends itself to especial extremes when it comes to pets:

Dogs are the fashion because we can fashion them to our will. Dogs, much more than cats, can be made objects of conspicuous leisure; they can be rendered completely incapable of fending for themselves and made demonstrable objects of continual expense and care (whoever saw a cat wearing a little coat in the cold weather?) The highly-bred dog can have its whole frame twisted and distorted into shapes of the most astonishing kind. An uninstructed observer would suppose that the owners and vendors of these crippled and unhealthy animals must of necessity be exceedingly cruel. Such accusations would, however, be unjust; the torturers are genuinely devoted to their victims.

Bell concludes the chapter by circling back to the original lens through which he examines our attitudes towards pets — that of fashion’s morality, which he examined earlier in the book — and argues it is motive that exempts the extreme grooming of pets from the sort of moral condemnation with which we view animal testing and other experimental lab atrocities:

Fashion … has a morality of its own; and the cruelty involved in the deformation of unoffending animals, like that involved in blood sports, is redeemed by the economic futility of the motive; that involved in scientific experiments is felt to be odious because of its unpardonable utility.

Though long out-of-print, On Human Finery remains a treasure trove of timeless insight and is very much worth the used-book hunt or trip to the library. For a different cultural lens on the mesmerism of pets, pair this treat with The Big New Yorker Book of Dogs (one of the the best art books of 2012) and T. S. Eliot’s classic vintage verses about cats, illustrated by Edward Gorey.

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Eu já errei coisa pior. Tipo quando eu decidi ser desempregado pra sempre.

Collecting vintage equipment isn’t an uncommon hobby among photography and camera enthusiasts, but it is one that has apparently gotten one Ukrainian man in trouble with the law. A well-known collector and dealer named Alexandr Komarov (seen above) was recently arrested for possessing decades-old Soviet spy cameras, and now faces up to 7 years in prison for the offense.

Komarov was arrested earlier this month in the Eastern Ukraine city of Donetsk for possessing two F-21 cameras (also known as the Ajax-12) made by the Krasnogorsk Mechanical Factory. Although these cameras were created in the mid-1900s, the Criminal Code of Ukraine (specifically article 359) continues to classify them as illegal contraband and a means of espionage.

The law states that the transportation and trade of this equipment is punishable by up to 7 years in prison. Although most of the laws do not appear to apply to Komarov and his cameras, charges are still being brought against him.

The F-21 is a well-known Soviet half-frame camera that’s designed specifically for concealed (spy) purposes. It was produced from 1951 through the mid-1990s, and can shoot an entire roll of film after being wound up a single time.

An anonymous source familiar with this case tells us that what’s “mind-boggling” is the fact that the F-21 is “technically identical” to the Zenit MF-1, an $800 camera that can be freely purchased around the world from Lomography.

“All Ukrainian collectors are the criminals if they possess” cameras such as the F-21, writes Komarov in a note posted to his website. “This law does not differentiate the modern and the out-of-date media,” and cameras produced half a century ago are still “considered as a spying media [sic].”

Komarov is scheduled for a court hearing on Tuesday of next week, and sympathetic camera collectors across the Web are currently trying to draw attention to Komarov’s case and get the story out to the world.

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Image credits: Photographs of the F-21 courtesy of USSRPhoto

This person hasn’t arrived yet. Nope. No one is staying with me.

Há um lago na Tanzânia, na África, com um segredo mortal: ele transforma qualquer animal que o toca em pedra. O raro fenômeno é causado pela composição química do lago, e as criaturas petrificadas que ele cria parecem ter saído de um filme de terror.

Isso acontece devido ao pH do lago, que fica entre 9 e 10,5 – uma alcalinidade extrema que preserva os bichos por toda a eternidade.

Elas foram fotografadas por Nick Brandt para seu novo livro, Across the Ravaged Land (Por toda a terra devastada). Ele diz:

Eu inesperadamente encontrei as criaturas – todo tipo de pássaros e morcegos – ao longo da costa do Lago Natron, no norte da Tanzânia. Ninguém sabe ao certo exatamente como eles morrem, mas parece que o lago reflete bastante a luz e isso os confunde. Assim como pássaros colidem com janelas de vidro, eles caem dentro do lago.

A água possui um teor extremamente alto de base e sal, tão alto que consumiria a tinta das minhas caixas de filme Kodak em poucos segundos. A base e o sal fazem as criaturas se calcificarem, perfeitamente preservadas, à medida que secam.

Eu tirei essas criaturas de onde as encontrei no litoral e, em seguida, coloquei-as em posições “vivas”, trazendo-as de volta para a “vida”, por assim dizer. Reanimados, vivos outra vez na morte.

Abaixo, temos mais imagens fantasmagóricas. Você encontrará todas no livro de Brandt, disponível aqui. Ou você poderia visitar o lago por si próprio, mas por favor: fique longe da água. [New Scientist]

Todas as imagens por Nick Brandt © 2013. Cortesia da Hasted Kraeutler Gallery, NY.

Se você estiver tendo problemas para ler esse post, tente desligar e ligar de novo.

Esse post é pra você, pequeno gafanhoto, que ainda não deu uma chance pra The IT Crowd, essa pérola da terra da Rainha Beth. A série vai te oferecer: boas piadas, um elenco incrível e diversão rápida e fácil. E depois de 4 temporadas e um hiato de 3 anos (!!!!!!!), a equipe de TI voltará para um capítulo especial e final que será exibido hoje.

Tá. Você ainda não está convencido, eu sei. Então acompanhe os 5 exemplos abaixo:

5. A vez que o Roy usou o banheiro de deficientes

Ir no banheiro de deficientes porque você não consegue fazer xixi na frente dos outros, puxar sem querer a cordinha de emergência, se jogar no chão e inventar que roubaram sua cadeira de rodas, comover todo mundo e ir embora de ambulância pra casa: QUEM NUNCA?

4. A vez que o Moss participou de uma perigosa partida de Street Countdown

Countdown é tipo um Soletrando. Street Countdown é mais ou menos Soletrando, só que é jogado na rua. É um jogo muito emocionante e perigoso, não recomendado para crianças e cardíacos.

 3. A vez que a Jen segurou a internet na mão

Sendo a chefe do departamento de TI, Jen não entende nada do assunto. Então seus subordinados a trollam emprestando a “internet” para ser mostrada em seu discurso de funcionária do mês. Spoiler: todo mundo acredita que uma caixa preta com uma luzinha vermelha é a internet.

2. A vez que mudaram o número da Emergência

 0118 999 881 999 119 7253 é muito mais fácil de decorar que 999, é só decorar a musiquinha do vídeo.

1. A vez que foram contra a pirataria

Se você entrou na internet entre 2006 e 2013, com certeza já viu esse vídeo contra a pirataria. Pois fique sabendo que ela se originou na série.

Obs: se nada disso te convenceu, eu apenas lamento por você olha só esse site que fizeram pra reunir todas as camisetas bacanas que o Roy já usou.

[Créditos das imagens: Reprodução/E4]

Which affords you a lifetime supply of ‘being an awesome person’. Were there any critical ones we left off? Let us know on Facebook.

Have you always wanted to know how a Xurian Scout Fighter compares to a Valor-class Type-2 Valkyrie Attack Fighter? Wonder no more. DeviantARTist Dirk Loechel has created what is likely the most accurate and complete size comparison chart of almost every science fiction starship, from famous Star Trek and Stars Wars battle cruisers to ships from games like Halo to vessels from obscure sci-fi books. This new chart is an updated version of one Loechel made earlier. It looks like Loechel is taking suggestions for doing another update if you find he’s missed some.

Click on the image above to have access to the large original version on DeviantART, and enjoy the diversion.

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© nancy for Universe Today, 2013. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: Sci-Fi

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Tough Guise: Violence, Media & The Crisis in Masculinity

with Ed. M, Ph.D Jackson Katz

Same for mass shootings which are almost entirely done by white males.

If it was done by, literally, ANYONE ELSE of any other race or gender, I can’t even IMAGINE the shit that would be said by people.

I read somewhere, someone had this theory that the reason shootings are mainly committed by white males is because when women or poc feel alienated, depressed, etc, we are trained to keep it to ourselves, whereas white men are raised with a sense of entitlement that allows them to make their own problems everyone’s problem.

I wonder if it is true for shooting or for road rage or both or neither.

the bolded!

This is a really good documentary.

BEST DOCUMENTARY I’VE EVER SEEN, actually.

Only about a month till BAHFest returns! If you are in Boston or the Boston area, please check it out!

Just over 20 years ago, Nirvana's final album, In Utero was released, recorded by Steve Albini, outspoken engineer extraordinaire. In 1992, shortly before they formally agreed on his involvement, Albini wrote to the band and laid bare his philosophy in a pitch letter that is fascinating from start to end and worth every minute of your time.

(Submitted by Jerry Maggio; Image above: Steve Albini (left) with Nirvana in 1993, via.)

Kurt, Dave and Chris:

First let me apologize for taking a couple of days to put this outline together. When I spoke to Kurt I was in the middle of making a Fugazi album, but I thought I would have a day or so between records to sort everything out. My schedule changed unexpectedly, and this is the first moment I've had to go through it all. Apology apology.

I think the very best thing you could do at this point is exactly what you are talking about doing: bang a record out in a couple of days, with high quality but minimal "production" and no interference from the front office bulletheads. If that is indeed what you want to do, I would love to be involved.

If, instead, you might find yourselves in the position of being temporarily indulged by the record company, only to have them yank the chain at some point (hassling you to rework songs/sequences/production, calling-in hired guns to "sweeten" your record, turning the whole thing over to some remix jockey, whatever...) then you're in for a bummer and I want no part of it.

I'm only interested in working on records that legitimately reflect the band's own perception of their music and existance. If you will commit yourselves to that as a tenet of the recording methodology, then I will bust my ass for you. I'll work circles around you. I'll rap your head with a ratchet...

I have worked on hundreds of records (some great, some good, some horrible, a lot in the courtyard), and I have seen a direct correlation between the quality of the end result and the mood of the band throughout the process. If the record takes a long time, and everyone gets bummed and scrutinizes every step, then the recordings bear little resemblance to the live band, and the end result is seldom flattering. Making punk records is definitely a case where more "work" does not imply a better end result. Clearly you have learned this yourselves and appreciate the logic.

About my methodology and philosophy:

#1: Most contemporary engineers and producers see a record as a "project," and the band as only one element of the project. Further, they consider the recordings to be a controlled layering of specific sounds, each of which is under complete control from the moment the note is conceived through the final six. If the band gets pushed around in the process of making a record, so be it; as long as the "project" meets with the approval of the fellow in control.

My approach is exactly the opposite.

I consider the band the most important thing, as the creative entity that spawned both the band's personality and style and as the social entity that exists 24 hours out of each day. I do not consider it my place to tell you what to do or how to play. I'm quite willing to let my opinions be heard (if I think the band is making beautiful progress or a heaving mistake, I consider it part of my job to tell them) but if the band decides to pursue something, I'll see that it gets done.

I like to leave room for accidents or chaos. Making a seamless record, where every note and syllable is in place and every bass drum is identical, is no trick. Any idiot with the patience and the budget to allow such foolishness can do it. I prefer to work on records that aspire to greater things, like originality, personality and enthusiasm. If every element of the music and dynamics of a band is controlled by click tracks, computers, automated mixes, gates, samplers and sequencers, then the record may not be incompetent, but it certainly won't be exceptional. It will also bear very little relationship to the live band, which is what all this hooey is supposed to be about.

#2: I do not consider recording and mixing to be unrelated tasks which can be performed by specialists with no continuous involvement. 99 percent of the sound of a record should be established while the basic take is recorded. Your experiences are specific to your records; but in my experience, remixing has never solved any problems that actually existed, only imaginary ones. I do not like remixing other engineer's recordings, and I do not like recording things for somebody else to remix. I have never been satisfied with either version of that methodology. Remixing is for talentless pussies who don't know how to tune a drum or point a microphone.

#3: I do not have a fixed gospel of stock sounds and recording techniques that I apply blindly to every band in every situation. You are a different band from any other band and deserve at least the respect of having your own tastes and concerns addressed. For example, I love the sound of a boomy drum kit (say a Gretach or Camco) wide open in a big room, especially with a Bonhammy double-headed bass drum and a really painful snare drum. I also love the puke-inducing low end that comes off an old Fender Bassman or Ampeg guitar amp and the totally blown sound of an SVT with broken-in tubes. I also know that those sounds are inappropriate for some songs, and trying to force them is a waste of time. Predicating the recordings on my tastes is as stupid as designing a car around the upholstery. You guys need to decide and then articulate to me what you want to sound like so we don't come at the record from different directions.

#4: Where we record the record is not as important as how it is recorded. If you have a studio you'd like to use, no hag. Otherwise, I can make suggestions. I have a nice 24-track studio in my house (Fugazi were just there, you can ask them how they rate it), and I'm familiar with most of the studios in the Midwest, the East coast and a dozen or so in the UK.

I would be a little concerned about having you at my house for the duration of the whole recording and mixing process if only because you're celebrities, and I wouldn't want word getting out in the neighborhood and you guys having to put up with a lot of fan-style bullshit; it would be a fine place to mix the record though, and you can't beat the vitties.

If you want to leave the details of studio selection, lodgings, etc. up to me, I'm quite happy to sort all that stuff out. If you guys want to sort it out, just lay down the law.

My first choice for an outside recording studio would be a place called Pachyderm in Cannon Falls, Minnesota. It's a great facility with outstanding acoustics and a totally comfy architect's wet dream mansion where the band lives during the recordings. This makes everything more efficient. Since everybody is there, things get done and decisions get made a lot faster than if people are out and about in a city someplace. There's also all the posh shit like a sauna and swimming pool and fireplaces and trout stream and 50 acres and like that. I've made a bunch of records there and I've always enjoyed the place. It's also quite inexpensive, considering how great a facility it is.

The only bummer about Pachyderm is that the owners and manager are not technicians, and they don't have a tech on call. I've worked there enough that I can fix just about anything that can go wrong, short of a serious electronic collapse, but I've got a guy that I work with a lot (Bob Weston) who's real good with electronics (circuit design, trouble shooting and building shit on the spot), so if we choose to do it there, he'll probably come along in my payroll, since he'd be cheap insurance if a power supply blows up or a serious failure occurs in the dead of winter 50 miles from the closest tech. He's a recording engineer also, so he can be doing some of the more mundane stuff (cataloging tapes, packing stuff up, fetching supplies) while we're chopping away at the record proper.

Some day I'm going to talk the Jesus Lizard into going up there and we'll have us a real time. Oh yeah, and it's the same Neve console the AC/DC album Back in Black was recorded and mixed on, so you know its just got to have the rock.

#5: Dough. I explained this to Kurt but I thought I'd better reiterate it here. I do not want and will not take a royalty on any record I record. No points. Period. I think paying a royalty to a producer or engineer is ethically indefensible. The band write the songs. The band play the music. It's the band's fans who buy the records. The band is responsible for whether it's a great record or a horrible record. Royalties belong to the band.

I would like to be paid like a plumber: I do the job and you pay me what it's worth. The record company will expect me to ask for a point or a point and a half. If we assume three million sales, that works out to 400,000 dollars or so. There's no fucking way I would ever take that much money. I wouldn't be able to sleep.

I have to be comfortable with the amount of money you pay me, but it's your money, and I insist that you be comfortable with it as well. Kurt suggested paying me a chunk which I would consider full payment, and then if you really thought I deserved more, paying me another chunk after you'd had a chance to live with the album for a while. That would be fine, but probably more organizational trouble than it's worth.

Whatever. I trust you guys to be fair to me and I know you must be familiar with what a regular industry goon would want. I will let you make the final decision about what I'm going to be paid. How much you choose to pay me will not affect my enthusiasm for the record.

Some people in my position would expect an increase in business after being associated with your band. I, however, already have more work than I can handle, and frankly, the kind of people such superficialities will attract are not people I want to work with. Please don't consider that an issue.

That's it.

Please call me to go over any of this if it's unclear.

(Signed)

If a record takes more than a week to make, somebody's fucking up. Oi!

É um fato que a indústria do copyright odeia qualquer tipo de acesso a material controlado por direitos autorais, mas a verdade é que todos os meios tentados por MPAA, RIAA e seus parceiros de modo a coibir a prática do compartilhamento vem falhando miseravelmente. Ao invés de mesmo que Gabe Newell e o Comedy Central fizeram, combater a pirataria com serviços de qualidade, se concentram em punir os usuários, o que dá a luz a processos no mínimo ridículos.

Agora resolveram mudar a estratégia: as empresas acima citadas em conjunto com os principais provedores de conteúdo dos Estados Unidos estão desenvolvendo um currículo escolar que vai do elementar à sexta série, ensinando às crianças que compartilhar é mais feio que colar na prova.

O material escolar foi preparado pela Associação de Bibliotecas Escolares da Califórnia e a Internet Keep Safe Coalition em conjunto com a CCI, ou Center For Copyright Infringement, que tem entre seus membros executivos da MPAA, RIAA, Verizon, Comcast e AT&T.

Escolas públicas da Califórnia estão sendo usadas na fase piloto do currículo. A matéria visa educar as crianças que elas podem ser produtoras de conteúdo e lucrar com isso, mas o ensino foca que não há maneiras razoáveis de compartilhamento: o programa não faz uma menção sequer ao Fair Use, um conceito da legislação norte-americana que permite o uso de material com copyright em determinadas situações sem que o dono dos direitos precise ser pago; em outras palavras, a matéria ensina que qualquer tipo de compartilhamento é “roubo”.

É por essas e outras que o projeto está sendo visto como algo nocivo. O advogado especializado em propriedade intelectual Mitch Stoltz diz que ”esta propaganda corporativa dissimulada é imprecisa e inadequada. (…) Ela sugere falsamente que as ideias possuem donos e que criar a partir das ideias dos outros é um ato que requer permissão”. Stoltz diz que o principal impacto nas crianças pode ser de desestimulá-las a criarem, e ao invés disso pensarem no impacto que compartilhar uma mídia – qualquer que seja – vai causar nas empresas donas dos direitos autorais, as mesmas que criaram esse currículo.

A visão imparcial do material educativo poderia matar futuros artistas ou startups muito antes do planejamento. Stoltz usa o exemplo de Justin Bieber – que começou cantando músicas dos outros no YouTube. “Se ele tivesse recebidos aulas com esse conteúdo talvez jamais tivesse compartilhado seus vídeos, pois teria aprendido que isso é roubo e poderia colocá-lo na cadeia”.

O diretor executivo do CCI Jill Lesser espera que o plano piloto seja aprovado e daí implantado nas escolas públicas dos Estados Unidos, e acrescenta que o melhor ataque contra a pirataria é a educação:

“O currículo foi desenvolvido de modo a ajudar as crianças a compreenderem que podem ser tanto criadores como consumidores de conteúdo artístico, e que os conceitos de proteção dos direitos autorais são importantes em ambos os casos”.

Glen Warren, vice-presidente da Associação de Bibliotecas da Califórnia sabe que o material contém erros crassos, muitos deles influenciados pela indústria do copyright por ser a maior interessada em defender seus interesses (o caso do Fair Use) e que estão tentando corrigir isso. Gigi Sohn, membro do CCI disse em entrevista que caso o projeto seja algo menos do que justo, ele não sairá da fase piloto.

Já a Electronic Frontier Foundation não acredita nessa postura, e diz que pelo histórico da indústria do copyright o currículo será inclinado a defender a posição da indústria e não deixará espaço para discussão:

“Baseado no que vimos até agora, esse currículo fará pouco ou quase nada para ajudar as crianças a entenderem o equilíbrio das leis de copyright. Ao invés disso irá ensinar que que o conteúdo criativo é uma ‘coisa’ que sempre pertence à alguém, e você deve sempre checar antes de usá-la.”

Ainda que seja preocupante ensinar desde cedo que download é algo errado, por outro lado dizer à crianças o que não pode é o mesmo que fazer o contrário, portanto…

Fonte: TF e Wired.

The post Indústria do copyright está introduzindo currículo anti-pirataria em escolas primárias da Califórnia appeared first on Meio Bit.

Quando eu comecei o  Bufas eu não curtia tanto trocadilhos. Aí eu envelheci, entendi o que é humor de verdade, e agora se que trocadilho é o ponto máximo que o humor pode chegar.

The DVRpocalypse is nearly upon us. This Sunday, September 29th, we have the following programming to look forward to: Breaking Bad, Boardwalk Empire, The Simpsons, Bob’s Burgers, American Dad!, The Good Wife, Homeland, Hello Ladies, Eastbound & Down, and Sunday Night Football, not to mention the lesser but still watchable Family Guy, Revenge, The Amazing Race, and The Mentalist (at least for your oldest uncle). There’s also ANOTHER new show with a fantastic pilot that shouldn’t get lost in the sexxxy shuffle: Showtime’s Masters of Sex.

Star Lizzy Caplan has taken it upon herself to keep the show in the public’s eye, first with a charming interview with Conan and now a chat with GQ, where she discusses sex, sex, and more sex. It’s as if she wants both men and women to always be thinking about sex. Psh. Good luck with THAT.

For more, check out GQ.

(Photos via GQ)

Semana passada fiz um post mostrando a educação de um veado ao saudar um gringo, hoje não é um vídeo, mas sim imagens flagrando mais uma vez a educação deste animal, que agora espera o sinal abrir e atravessa na faixa.

 

Observem que mesmo sendo assediado por um turista o bichano não infringe a lei.

 

O sinal abre e o veadinho atravessa normalmente, mais educado que muito mamífero dito racional por ai.

 

unhistorical:

September 21, 1937: The Hobbit is published.

Meet Abigail Harrison. This teenager’s enthusiasm about space so impressed Luca Parmitano — who just happens to be a European Space Agency astronaut on the space station right now — that the two have a social media collaboration going.

Abby collects questions from readers of her blog (AstronautAbby.com) and sends them up to the station for Parmitano to read and respond to.

Parmitano’s first mission in space, which he calls Volare (“Fly”), has been a busy one. He’s driven a rover, practiced grappling techniques for the Cygnus spacecraft — which was delayed in its docking to Tuesday (now Saturday) — and experienced two spacewalks (one went to plan, and the other was cut short due to a spacesuit leak).

Meanwhile, Abby had a space-y summer of her own. She fundraised thousands of dollars to see Parmitano’s launch in May. Then she went to Space Camp and toured several NASA and international agency centers. We caught up with Abby to find out how things are going — and if this brings her any closer to her dream of going to space herself. Below is a slightly edited e-mail conversation about her adventures.

(...)
Read the rest of This Teenager Hosts Earth-To-Space Q&As With An Orbiting Astronaut (995 words)

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© Elizabeth Howell for Universe Today, 2013. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: abigail harrison, expedition 36, expedition 37, luca parmitano, volare

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Chorumito | #00001

At the portal, one Fish Speaker guard whispered to another: “Is God troubled?”

And her companion replied: “The sins of this universe would trouble anyone.”

Leto heard them and wept silently.

kushitekalkulus:

COLLECTION OF YORUBA ORISHAS

Diamonds are not rare or valuable and the reason demand is high is because of a marketing campaign by DeBeers to sell more engagement rings.

source