Interesting Links for 18-11-2012

[andrewducker]

• Who are the tools at the BBC that got rid of most the episodes of Top of the Pops from the 60s
  (tags: uk tv music )
• A 400m race sounds easy - until you hear it's up a ski jump
  (tags: viaJennieRigg race video )
• They Cracked This 250 Year-Old Code, And Found a Secret Society Inside
  (tags: code secrets )
• Republicans suggest shockingly sensible ideas

Comments

[autopope]

The Republican copyright reform proposal got yanked within 24 hours. Unauthorized brainstorming by an intern, apparently. See also: corporate choke-chain.

[andrewducker]

I find the "unauthorized intern" story unlikely - there's a nice quote on BoingBoing:
"The idea that this was published "without adequate review" is silly. Stuff doesn't just randomly appear on the RSC website. Anything being posted there has gone through the same full review process. What happened, instead, was that the entertainment industry's lobbyists went crazy, and some in the GOP folded."

[major_clanger]

And frankly I'm glad it did, from the number of comments I saw along the likes of 'Wow, if the Republicans adopt this I'd vote for them'.

This is one of my big concerns with the copyright reform debate. It is an important issue, but it is not the only important issue, not compared with health care, the wider economy, treatment of women and minorities or foreign policy. That there are readers of BoingBoing and TechDirt who would cheerfully ignore the Republicans' line on women, the poor, or the Middle East for the prospect of reforms that while sensible are hugely unlikely to pass* is very depressing.

(*e.g. unilateral substantial cuts to copyright term would probably require the USA to withdraw from WIPO and various international IP agreements. That might not be a bad idea if it's what it takes - the current system drives an upward ratchet on protection - but it is not exactly likely.)

[andrewducker]

I wouldn't vote for them on that alone - but I would hope that a popular move by them would inspire debate and cause the Democrats to move in that direction.

And then we could start renegotiating some of these agreements.

[gonzo21]

How fascinating. I wonder if htey will ever translate the Voynich Manuscript.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voynich_manuscript

Though I suspect if it were possible, somebody would have done it by n ow.

[bart_calendar]

You know, I sort of wonder if Ulrich hadn't gone mental on Napster back in the day but instead at that moment in the history of piracy had made an effort to work with Napster instead if today we'd be in a completely different place in terms of piracy.