via Robert Basic – Ebay is solving everyone’s problems.
Basic Thinking Blog» Das neue Megabusiness: Per eBay Blogleser ersteigern
The Transaction Cost Theory of Protectionism.
Harvard’s Tarun Khanna explains with reference to the Mittal Steel bid for Arcelor why protectionism can make economic sense – just ask Ronald Coase.
From the IHT -At home, it’s not just profits that matter.
MUMBAI, India Guy Dollé, the embattled chief of the European steelmaker Arcelor, may have been wrong to resist Lakshmi Mittal’s takeover attempt. But his opposition to the bid contained a kernel of truth: National ownership really does matter.y
The weirdness that rules our days.
A death row inmate’s execution is stayed because the use of a lethal injection during his execution (sic!) might constitute a cased of cruel punishment, which is banned under the US constitution. Using the drugs, not the execution itself, don’t get this wrong.
But it doesn’t stop here – two doctors are called to make sure the inmate is not “cruelly punished” during his execution, but they decide they cannot go through with their attempt to ensure the humane execution of the execution, because if the inmate appeared to sense anything – again, while being executed – they would have to step in to help him in order not to break the hippocratic oath (or something to that effect).
Here’s the thing: if subset a (lethal injection to execute a person) of the set b (the execution as a whole) is sufficient to make the process cruel and then rule it out by law, how come there are still 640 people on the death row in California?
2 U.S. doctors balk at killer’s execution – Americas – International Herald Tribune
Why Americans should not be allowed to travel…
from tauquil.com: travel agents speak out: why americans should never be allowed to travel. One reason –
A man called, furious about a Florida package we did. I asked what was wrong with the vacation in Orlando. He said he was expecting an ocean-view room. I tried to explain that is not possible, since Orlando is in the middle of the state. He replied, “Don’t lie to me. I looked on the map and Florida is a very thin state.”
I’ve been saying *THAT* since 1999…
I’ve been saying this for years – the most likely explanation for the ongoing copyright war is the socialised concept of (intellectual) property in most politicians’ minds – it will take another generation and, liekely, as Volker Grassmuck argues below, a copyright induced knowledge-lock-up disaster until people will realise what has been done.
The occasional quote in German, you’ll just have to trust me that it confirms my statement above… – via heise.de –
Volker Grassmuck, Forscher an der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin und Mitgründer der Initiative Privatkopie.net, beklagte auf der Konferenz einen “Mental Lock-in” bei den Politikern. Diese würden sich allein an dem Mantra festklammern, dass der immer stärkere Schutz geistiger Eigentumsrechte die Innovation fördere. Als Beispiel nannte er etwa die erste Evaluation zur umstrittenen EU-Datenbankrichtlinie. Darin sei klipp und klar nachgewiesen worden, dass das neue Schutzrecht den Informationsmarkt behindere, und nicht beflügele. Trotzdem habe die Kommission Gründe gefunden, um den eingeschrittenen Irrweg nicht zu verlassen. Ähnlich verhalte es sich beim Festklammern an der “chimärische Technologie” des digitalen Rechtekontrollmanagements (DRM). Grassmuck geht davon aus, dass es erst eine “massive Wissens- und Informationskatastrophe braucht, um die geistige Blockade aufzubrechen”.
Bored on this Sunday evening?
In dire need of a project to make time pass mroe quickly? Why not try this manual: Boing Boing: DIY self-RFID-chipping HOWTO, Wed. Jan 4 at Dorkbot in NYC
Mikey Sklar installed a $2 RFID tag in his left hand. Why the hell did he do it? How can you cram an RFID under your own skin for fun and profit? How ever does one choose the right tag to subcutaneously implant, and what other crazy hacking hijinks are others exploring with RFIDS?
Enjoy!
New Pricing model for food!
Via netzpolitik.org comes another data point proving the extent to which the right concepts in the wrong hands can create disastrous results: copyrights running wild – should there be a copyright on cooking recipes? I’m sure the next step will be the inclusion of some kind of DRM into a BigMac tying the food license to a specific licensee who had to identify himself using biometric identifiers. Enforced by RFID chips, sharing food would no longer be possible without purchasing an additional license. Imagine the possibilities…
The best things in life are… on Ebay.
And you thought the best things are free… Via Spreeblick comes this postmodern social commentary – oldstyle friendship, for currently 61,97 Euros – included are 6 handwritten letters, three postcards, 1 birthday gift, one christmas gift, and one surprise (but not a visit).
Still, the disclaimer firmly states that some thingsa re still only available for free: this friendship is exclusively by mail, it does not include an offer of sex, dirty talk, or romance of any kind, no phone conversations, and no visits.
Interestingly, the friendship is available in two forms – real or surreal. In the first version, the “friend” would be writing about his or her “real life” in the the “surreal version” he or she would be assuming a character of choice, say an old friend from shool.
I’m not sure if the person offering this has not understood the term surreal, or understood better than Dali himself…
Political communication, Germany 2006.
Looking at this SPD advertisement for the upcoming regional election, I’m thinking the American administration may have finally found their master in reductionist political communication…
Speaking of political communication, in the coming weeks, I will present you, my gentle readers, with a couple of outstanding examples thereof…
Clicking the image will take you to my flickr account.
Lawful until we change our mind
This piece of information may serve as a reminder that, even after years of painful bashing and declining profits, the music industry is apparently simply not able to understand the implications of digitization of content. It may also serve as a reminder to politicians and lobbyists, that “understanding the need for continued compensation for art in an era of a run-wild copying machine aka the internet” will likely be construed as support for further limitiations of the utility of products sold.
While the current proposal for the next amendment to the copyright law (UrhG) is widely considered to contain unreasonable burdens on consumers to make sure their copies are from a “legitimate source”, the RIAA is now claiming that – no kidding – ripping your *own* CDs is not fair use. “Fair use” is probably one of the most obscure legal constructions in American law, but its basic meaning is that you should be able to use a product you bought in the way it was intended, after all, not all contingencies of intellectual property rights usage can be predicted before signing the deal.
So, now, the RIAA says that owning a CD doesn’t necessarily give necessarily give you (if you’re in America) the right to put it on a mobile player. We’ll have to make sure the German committee dealing wit the proposed amendments hears this. Then finally they may have a chance to understand that even rights owners can attempt to steal…
(via Heise news (in German) and EFF)