Quotulatiousness

July 31, 2009

In Europe, as few as 11 words may be copyright-protected

Filed under: Europe, Law — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 16:59

An interesting, and potentially disturbing court decision in Europe implies that copying as few as 11 words from a news article may qualify as copyright infringement:

In other words, the program might catch the good bits that make a newspaper article worthy of copyright protection. But the ECJ said it’s up to national courts to decide if any particular article is “original in the sense that they are their author’s own intellectual creation” and thus protected by copyright.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press has been pushing the boundaries of fair use to go after websites that lift as few as 33 words. It would appear the AP now has some precedent to attack so long as it can convince national courts its stories qualify for protection.

On the basis of the blockquote above, The Register will be coming after me, as I’ve copied a lot more than 11 (or even 33) words from their article.

If this filters down to national courts — and AP will do everything they can to ensure that it does — expect a sudden gagging feeling across the blogosphere . . .

Cue up the ominous music . . .

Filed under: Asia, Science — Tags: — Nicholas @ 12:58

. . . ’cause it’s the return of Krakatoa:

Krakatoa_July2009(Detail of image from the article)

With an explosive force 13,000 times the power of the atomic bomb that annihilated Hiroshima, the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa killed more than 36,000 people and radically altered global weather and temperatures for years afterwards.

The eruption was so violent and catastrophic that no active volcano in modern times has come close to rivalling it, not even the spectacular eruption of Mount St Helens in the U.S. in 1980. Now, almost a century-and-a-half on, are we about to experience the horrors of Krakatoa once again?

‘Volcanic prediction is getting better,’ says Professor Jon Davidson, chair of Earth Science at Durham University and a volcanologist who has studied Krakatoa first-hand. ‘But we are never going to be able to fully predict big and unusual eruptions, precisely because they are unusual.’

Yet there is little doubt that if Krakatoa were to erupt again with such force and fury, the impact would be far more devastating than that which was experienced in the 19th century.

H/T to Nick Packwood.

QotD: It’s the institutions, not the people

Filed under: Liberty, Quotations, USA — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 12:16

But after you put down the peace pipe, a legitimate and important difference remains. It’s structural, and cultural, and (over the past four decades of relentless Drug Warring and Constitution-eroding), judicial as well. There is a strain in law enforcement, backed by various vague statutes, thousands of politicians, and everyone who tends to side with authority against an obnoxious popoff, in which it’s considered perfectly acceptable form to arrest, detain, or otherwise punish a non-threatening person for being an asshole. This includes the perceived assholery of yelling about one’s real (and sometimes imagined) trampled rights. If a person is considered undesirable by a police officer, for whatever reason, it’s far too easy to ruin his day, even if no law has remotely been broken. And as Balko has led the world in documenting, the literal militarization of domestic police forces, combined with awful Drug War-related enforcement, has caused grave injustice and the death of innocents.

The past two weeks has been a conversation about race, I guess (I tend to tune out such things pretty quickly, being a privileged white male and all). It’s always appropriate to point out, as in the Drug War in general, that disfavored minority groups (whether defined by skin color, class, lifestyle choice, politics, or whatever) will take a disproportionate brunt of abused power. But thankfully in modern America, when we peel back the general stereotype to the specific individual, most people (least I don’t think) aren’t racists and aren’t assholes. It may take two weeks to make that realization, or two decades, but after that you’re left with the underlying structural problem, one that might be even harder to dislodge. The pendulum of law enforcement in this country, as relates to the individual citizen, has for far too long swung in the same Constitution/individual-disrespecting direction.

Matt Welch, “‘When he’s not arresting you, Sergeant Crowley is a really likable guy'”, Hit and Run, 2009-07-31

Yesterday’s wine tour

Filed under: Cancon, Wine — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 07:52

I took the day off yesterday, but not just for a wine tour (that was the bonus on the day). It was only a brief tour — three wineries — but I tried to make the most of the time available.

First stop was at one of my all-time favourite wineries, Kacaba Vineyards. They’re best known for their red wines, but I usually find their Chardonnay to be well worth trying. This visit was no exception, as they were having a sale on their unoaked Chardonnay ($100 per case, which is insanely cheap for a very pleasant summer quaffer).

After lunch at the About Thyme Bistro (one of the best new restaurants in Ontario), we headed over to Flat Rock Cellars, where Sam discovered an unexpected taste for both Reisling and heavily oaked Chardonnay (Sam didn’t think of herself as a wine drinker, but this tour may have started to change her mind). My mother really enjoyed the “Red Twisted” blend, which is primarily Pinot Noir.

The last stop on our brief visit to the area was Strewn, where the 2007 vintage hasn’t yet been released (to my disappointment), but the 2006’s are still going strong. I picked up a few bottles of the Terroir Merlot (which is drinking nicely now) and the Terroir Cabernet Sauvignon (which really needs a few more years to mellow out the tannins).

Then it was time to hit the road, in hopes of avoiding the worst of the traffic. Hopes partially fulfilled . . . the QEW was very heavy from St. Catharines to Burlington, but the 407/ETR was fast moving (as hoped).

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