04
Jan 12Rebranding Minnesota’s lakes.
One a day, up to 10k. Some of them, like Camp four lake’s, are very clever:
Via Ryan North’s tumblr.
03
Jan 12Linkwad.
New year, old awfulness. Let’s get it.
- All together now, “Waaaaaaah!”
- I think this is a bit of false equivalence, as Iowa doesn’t currently have the kind of repressive voter ID law that he’s complaining about (That said, voter ID laws are transparently bullshit).
- If alternative energy weren’t a culture war touchstone, faced with this kind of information about oil (and gas), people would agree that we need other energy sources. But it is, so we don’t.
- More awful stories from North Korean defectors.
19
Dec 11Piracy on the high HTTPs.
Matt Yglesias has a good point about the misguided economic logic1 underpinning strong copyright laws like SOPA and Protect IP:
Returns to being a superstar content creator are much much higher in 2011 than they were in 1981. That’s because the potential audience is much bigger. It’s bigger because the world’s population is larger, it’s bigger because many poor countries have gotten significantly less poor, and it’s bigger because the fall of Communism has expanded the practical market reach of big entertainment conglomerates. At the same time, the cost of producing digital media content has fallen thanks to improved computers and information technology. Now step back and ask yourself why we have copyright in the first place. Well, it’s because policymakers think that absent government-created monopolies there won’t be adequate financial incentives to go out and create new content. That’s not a crazy thing to believe. But the implication is that if globalization and technology drive the returns to content ownership up, we need less IP protection. Instead, we’ve consistently gotten more.
And as everyone from Valve2 to Louis CK3 has shown, people are still buying things!
- Acknowledging that the greater economic good is not actually important to intellectual property advocates. ↩
- Seriously, read this. If you’re too lazy, here’s the nut: “Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem…. Our goal is to create greater service value than pirates, and this has been successful enough for us that piracy is basically a non-issue for our company. ” ↩
- Another thing you should read. ↩
14
Dec 11Stop SOPA.
Takes thirty seconds. Do it:
14
Dec 11Linkwad.
- Being a lefty might be hazardous to your health, might also mean you had a “vanishing twin.” Both via Caroline.
- The FBI is either investigating Carrier IQ, or using it to spy on you.
- Google’s working on Siri-fying their voice commands, and just bought the makers of local-food/drink-recommendation app Alfred.
- Caucus season gives The Atlantic an excuse to run a meditation on 20 years of life in Iowa. TWSS aside, is going through the back door really unusual?
- In case you missed them, Louis CK’s IAMA and Fresh Air interview. Also, if you haven’t seen his new special, you absolutely should. It’s only $5. Update: CK on the economics of the production, as well as other interesting bits.