Why imposing limits on creativity always is a bad thing. ~part 3

Short but Sweet! ;-)

Because a picture/movie says more than a myriad of words can.

We will not go quietly into the night.

"We will not go quietly into the night."

Insert aptly quote here.

Geh deinen Weg! Wenn jemand mitgehen will, lass ihn…aber warte nicht auf ihn! Ändere nicht deine Richtung! Und wenn er nicht mitkommt dreh dich nicht um…

And another.

…the day the world declared in one voice: “We will not go quietly into the night!” We will not vanish without a fight! We’re going to live on! We’re going to survive! Today we celebrate our Independence Day! [Crowd Cheers]

How?

# http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?s=2f5e7d8e0361ca4b63121ceb28cc2674&p=11598272&postcount=15
## ^THANKS!!!
# Create the layers in the Gimp you want to work with.
# Or use any tool at your disposal to make frames...
# Then:
convert *.png -delay 10 -morph 50 %05d.jpg && ffmpeg -r 25 -qscale 2 -i %05d.jpg ../your.name.mp4 && \rm *.jpg
# Upload the result to Youtube or equiv. share service.

That’s all folks…

Kindest regards,

Alex

PS: Comments allowed (those (if any) will be {monitored,moderated} by yours truly) && these will have to relate to what I might call “state-related” to the subject at hand!

On a side note: While I do appreciate people who tell me they liked what I wrote about or how they have been following my blog for awhile. The best way IMO to show Your appreciation is by simply clicking ‘like‘ on my post(s) (and share them with… ), or just follow my blog instead. ;-)

There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.
— W. Somerset Maugham

Why imposing limits on creativity always is a bad thing. ~part 2

Oh, the irony! :-D

So this one day I go to my local supermarket and amongst things I buy me some cheese (I am Dutch remember! :lol: ). Back at home I swap the nicely packaged cheese into another container, a container which not only looks nicer but also fits the purpose of containing my cheese better. ;-)

I’ve never gotten any warning from the Stichting Brein about how my swapping one container for cheese for another is illegal. Since every DVD I own contains a similar warning, at the startup of, about how all rights are reserved and how copying is prohibited et all. The message is packaged in such a way, to make you feel bad about yourself!? So, regardless of the fact that I have bought me this DVD, it still is illegal for me to swap a hardware container (which a DVD basically is) for a software one and I should feel bad about it when I do. They would even dare to call it stealing. Oh, the nerve of those people! :lol: *looks at his cheese and wonders…*

A container whether ‘hardware based’ such as a CD, DVD, Blueray Disk et all, or a ‘software based’ one such as AVI, OGG, MKV, WMV, MP4 et all. Is that I bought the container and am the rightful owner of that container, the contents however I do not “own“. But that don’t mean I can’t store/contain/package it in such a way that it becomes easier to consume. ;-)

Obviously I do not ‘own’ the contents, otherwise I’d probably be its IP keeper. I.e. The Artist and not the company who presumably on my behalf polices it and makes/generates a lot of money of the content they didn’t create either? *Hmmm…* Now for certain I’m not An Artist and most certainly not The Artist, but if I were (either of the two) then I’d make certain not to do business with people who by their very profession are trained to make you feel bad.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codec
and Container-format.

Here is another comment I liked:

Big media complains about piracy, while at the same time the c|net division of CBS has a whole section devoted to file sharing software:


http://download.cnet.com/windows/p2p-file-sharing-software/
.

Why would they help create the problem they are complaining about? I think the reason is control. In the last century, TV, movies, newspapers, vinyl records, books, and magazines were basically one-way media. Whoever controlled them, controlled the news and entertainment you got. Computers and the Internet are two way media, everyone can both get and distribute stuff. So instead of a few sources, we have millions. Piracy is just a smokescreen to hide the attempt to get back control of the sources of information and media.

It won’t work, the combined intelligence of the whole world is much greater than that of the control freaks, but they can sure make life annoying until they finally are put away.

Posted by: Danielle | Friday, January 13, 2012 at 08:11 PM

This blog-post is intended to make You Think. ;-)

effector: n, Computer Sci. A device for producing a desired change.

That’s all folks…

Kindest regards,

Alex

PS: Comments allowed (those (if any) will be {monitored,moderated} by yours truly) && these will have to relate to what I might call “state-related” to the subject at hand!

On a side note: While I do appreciate people who tell me they liked what I wrote about or how they have been following my blog for awhile. The best way IMO to show Your appreciation is by simply clicking ‘like‘ on my post(s) (and share them with… ), or just follow my blog instead. ;-)

There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows
what they are.
— W. Somerset Maugham

Why imposing limits on creativity always is a bad thing.

Oh, the irony! :-D

S.O.P.A. is simply just an(other) attempt at lobotomizing The Internet’s Brain, in disguise! Those in support of, should (be made to) wash their mouths out with S.O.A.P.

But You guys in Europe don’t use S.O.A.P.?

Yes we do! The type of S.O.A.P. we use is called: S.O.A.P. by T. D.U.R.D.E.N.

A few interesting reads:

A lovely comment I wish to share with you here:

Our technology has now exceeded our traditionalist assumptions. We all know that we are transitioning toward a future where the Internet itself and everything accessible through it will be made available and abundant for everyone from anywhere on this planet so why fight it!?

BTW: The Author of this blog doesn’t condone the illegal sharing of IP protected works, neither does he condone the opposite namely the imposing of limits on that same sharing principal. I mean come one guys and gals. If the artist(s) has gone out of their way to make something special which you can enjoy over and over again. It may even appear to be popular. Then show some support! I, by no means, am referring to peepz who simply create crappy works and demand to get paid for their crap. I, as it shows, strongly distinguish between the two! ;-)

Artists need an audience to showcase their works, we, the audience, need those same Artists to keep life entertaining and amusing. This is why we should stop this ridiculous war on ‘piracy’ and kill it while it still is in its infancy. <– Kind of like the reverse of why we should stop the sopa bill in its infancy. :lol:

“The more rules one imposes on that, which one wishes to suppress, the more it will grow.”

Here is a little something I wrote awhile ago regarding the subject:

While I’ve heard about the concept of ‘pay per view’ pass by at a few occasions here. As such I’m not going into too much detail(s) as to why I believe PPV to be a very bad idea. What I am going to suggest is ‘PPD’ for short and ‘Pay per download’ when expanded. Why? Allow me to explain.

I almost always buy my dvds and other paraphernalia exclusively @ the fame music store.
http://www.fame.nl/
Unfortunately they announced, awhile ago, that they will cease _all_ of their activities at the end of January 2012. :-( <– Which by itself is very sad but also very off-topic. So let me continue. They always have had a huge rack containing a fair amount of ’5 Eur per DVD’ set on display, in the front of the store. The contents of that display always changes. ;-) More in general: The prices of DVDs (older and new) range somewhere in between 5 to 20 Eur and more when it comes to complete T.V. series etc.

What if, as of now, <Insert any online media provider here> would charge say 5 to 10 Eur per download (twice for HD content but within reason.) of any new material coming out. One could think of using PayPal to set up shop. As I see it, I’d go to <Insert any online media provider here> as usual. I’d register as a regular member (for cookies and such to work). Then I’d be able to browse through a provided by that media provider’s inventory, perhaps even see some nice previews!? Then I’d notice a buy this media button. Pressing such a button, in this example, would take me to sign in to PayPal page. I pay my dues and afterwards I get a dynamically created download link which remains valid for say a few hours in my mailbox.

That would be kind of like the same buying music tracks that are available through itunes/spotify/et all, no!?

In short: You create Your content, I decide what to buy or what not to buy. If I buy You get paid anyhow and everybody is a winner after. <– Do note that my target is The Independent Artist, who knows how to work the social side of the Internet. ;-)

The link I provide here is for illustration purposes only!

http://www.ehow.com/how_5014025_build-payperdownload-website.html

I hope you all understand that such a set-up would supersede the current basic authentication method (or beyond) where any new member sort of has carte blanche. Though for historic purposes I’d suggest to keep old content available as it is now.

^It is needless to say perhaps. But one should ensure a secure environment where such transactions can be made. Items uploaded to the public web should be provided at a lower quality <– This has worked for DI.fm for quite some time now.

That’s all folks…

Kindest regards,

Alex

PS: Comments allowed (those (if any) will be {monitored,moderated} by yours truly) _AND_ these will have to relate to what I might call “state-related”!

On a side note: While I do appreciate people who tell me they liked what I wrote about or how they have been following my blog for awhile. The best way IMO to show Your appreciation is by simply clicking ‘like‘ on my post(s) (and _share_), or just follow my blog instead. ;-)

There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.
— W. Somerset Maugham

We’re winning aka PSA part 3.

Help EFF Kill the Internet Blacklist Bill
And another message I received today that brings me joy, somewhat. ;-)

(To go with part 1 and part 2 of course.)

Dear Alexander,

Thanks in no small part to all of you who took action and lent your voices, we won a temporary reprieve in the fight against SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act. Our message — that SOPA would create blacklists for online censorship, harm cybersecurity efforts, set bad international precedent, and lead to a fractured Internet — couldn’t be ignored. The markup has been suspended until late January, when SOPA and its companion bill in the Senate, PIPA (Protect IP Act), will be back.

The markup suspension is an important victory, but the blacklist bills are not dead yet. More than ever, we need your help to preserve Internet freedom.

Donate Today:
https://supporters.eff.org/join/2011

EFF has worked hard to ensure that this dangerous legislation didn’t slip through under the public radar. From our initial coverage of Hollywood’s blacklist legislation, to our action alert urging individuals to contact Congress, to our participation in a Week of Action Against Censorship, to our up-to-the-minute live tweeting of last week’s SOPA markup @EFFlive, EFF has been on the frontlines of this fight, and, with your support, we’re ready to continue with newed vigor when Congress returns in the new year.

Please help EFF protect your freedom to create, innovate, and connect by becoming an annual member at
https://supporters.eff.org/join/2011
or by giving a year-end gift at
https://supporters.eff.org/donate/2011.
And your gift can be automatically doubled by a matching grant from the Brin Wojcicki Foundation when you donate and check the “EFF on Mission” box.

Give EFF the power to fight back against bad legislation by making a contribution today:
https://supporters.eff.org/join/2011

EFF appreciates your support and respects your privacy:

https://www.eff.org/policy

We’re winning aka PSA part 2.

Now here is a message I just received that cheers me up greatly! ;-)

(To go with part 1 of course.)

Dear Amazing Avaazers,

Avaaz is on fire, at 10.5 million people and rising fast. But we’re also deepening our activism — and with the combination of depth and huge numbers, we’re winning, over and over again. Scroll down to see some great examples from the last several weeks.

We’re not just effectively delivering petitions, we’re running safe houses and smuggling routes to protect democratic movements, challenging corporations by bringing lawsuits or calling all their shareholders, donating millions to equip human rights defenders with the latest technology, and powerfully delivering the voices of our community direct and in person to presidents, billionaires, ambassadors and cabinet ministers.

It’s working — scroll down to see how. In recent weeks alone, we’ve helped win victories on everything from banning cluster bombs and sanctioning Syria to saving the Internet and the UN climate treaty:

ON THE FRONT-LINE OF THE ARAB SPRING

Avaaz has been at the heart of the struggles for democracy in the Arab world. Funded by $1.5 million in small member donations, we’ve broken the media blackouts that dictators tried to impose — training a huge number of citizen journalists and equipping them with top flight technology to get information out. Top editors at BBC and CNN have told us that in cases like Syria, Avaaz has been the source of as much as 30% of all their news coverage!

When no other organization could, our network smuggled in over $1 million USD of vital emergency relief to communities under brutal siege in Syria. We also smuggled activists and their families, at risk of torture or death, out of the country. Our secret safe houses shelter dozens of top activists from regime thugs, giving them a protected base from which to operate. Assad’s murderous regime is not happy about it — Syrian state TV called our campaigner “the most dangerous man in the world” to the regime.

We’ve also matched front-line support to democratic movements with fierce global lobbying of our governments to squeeze brutal regimes — millions of Avaazers successfully campaigned for powerful European oil sanctions and Arab League sanctions on Syria.

PEOPLE POWER VS THE MURDOCH MAFIA

It was the biggest deal of Murdoch’s career, growing his extremist global media empire by 50% through acquiring a huge UK-based company — BSkyB. Everyone said we couldn’t stop it, but Avaaz members thought differently, sending 668,784 messages and 30,000 phone calls to members of the UK Parliament, and running stunt after stunt as well as 2 opinion polls that showed massive public opposition.

Avaaz was also the only organization to promise to legally challenge the government in court if they approved the Murdoch deal. The Minister responsible for the deal was so rattled that he repeatedly postponed approval for months, publicly blaming Avaaz. The delay gave us space to build awareness of a huge corruption scandal in the Murdoch empire until finally, the deal was dead.

We haven’t stopped there — we need to roll back the Murdoch threat and fundamentally reform our corrupt media. Avaazers recently used our new tool to call all the shareholders in Murdoch’s biggest companies, NewsCorp and BskyB, creating the largest shareholder rebellions in the companies’ histories!

And in Australia, where Murdoch controls 70% of the print media — we helped defeat Murdoch’s attempt to snatch a $223 million TV contract from the public broadcaster and pushed the government to create a far-reaching inquiry into Murdoch and media reform.

A GLOBAL OUTCRY TO SAVE THE AMAZON

Half a million of us joined more than 1,000 indigenous protesters in demanding that Bolivian President Evo Morales halt construction on a highway that would slice through the heart of the Amazon.

Avaaz staff delivered our petition to top Bolivian cabinet ministers in a long and stormy meeting. Our widespread solidarity strengthened the legitimacy of the indigenous protesters whom Morales tried to marginalize, and threatened his desired reputation as an environmentalist.

The pressure worked! After our campaign, Morales canceled construction, repealed the decision granting permission for the project, and pledged to protect the impacted TIPNIS national park and indigenous territory — the crown jewel of the Bolivian Amazon — forever! We’ll hold him to that promise.

VICTORY ON CLUSTER BOMBS!

Three years ago, Avaaz mobilized to help push through a global ban on cluster bombs, saving thousands of children. This year, the US quietly lobbied nations to sign a new law that would have allowed their use again! Our 600,000-strong petition helped push 50 states to oppose the US’s underhanded plan.

Many delegates used our petition to strengthen their arguments in negotiations. Our powerful banner, placed right outside the conference room — together with 1000 fliers that the Avaaz team plastered throughout the conference center — sent an unmistakable reminder to the negotiators about the opposition they faced back home. The US initiative failed — together we helped save the lives of thousands of innocent civilians.

CLIMATE CHANGE: KEEPING HOPE ALIVE

At critical climate talks in Durban, more than 800,000 of us helped salvage the UN climate treaty from a cabal of polluters determined to kill it. Our team on the ground in South Africa delivered our message day in, day out through hard-hitting actions like this ad in the Financial Times — released on the final day of tense negotiations. Despite massive pressure by oil-backed planet killers like the US and Canada a deal was struck to save the vital Kyoto Protocol and give us a fighting chance by keeping climate negotiations alive.

EU Climate Chief Connie Hedegaard said: “Thanks to the over 800,000 people from around the world — your voices made a vital impact at the end of the talks.”

SAVE THE INTERNET – GREAT PROGRESS!

In days, over 1 million of us worldwide signed a petition opposing a scandalous bill that would give the US government the right to shut down any website — targeting sites like WikiLeaks, YouTube, even Avaaz!

President Obama’s team responded, and Avaaz organized a 1 hour meeting with top White House officials to deliver the petition.

We’ve now been told privately that Obama is likely to oppose the bill as it stands. When we started, insiders all told us the bill could not be stopped, now they’re all telling us the bill may soon be dead in its current form — that’s people power!

TAKING ON CORRUPTION IN INDIA

Avaaz’s anti-corruption campaign in India was the most viral campaign in Internet history! In just 36 hours, over 700,000 Indians joined the petition to support a strong law targeting corruption among public officials called “Jan Lokpal”. We staged marches across the country, erected hard-hitting billboards across the capital, and launched an independent public opinion poll showing that the majority of Indian voters wanted an ambitious Lokpal.

We helped win that round — a bill is coming before Parliament now! The Times of India hailed Avaaz as “a key player in the Jan Lokpal initiative.”

ITALY – A WIN FOR FREEDOM OF SPEECH

During his last months in power, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi tried to gag democracy by enabling the government to shut down Internet websites on a whim. Our community fought back and won!

Italian Avaazers sent 200,000 emails and flooded Facebook and Twitter. We mobilized hard-hitting public demonstrations covered by top media and shelved the law for good! Now Italian democracy is free from Berlusconi
– and we are still going strong.

These are just a few of the victories we’ve won together in the last
several weeks. Since launching almost 5 years ago, Avaaz has run over
1000 campaigns! And as our community has grown and deepened our
commitment, we’re winning on more and more of them. If we stay on this
track, and keep hoping and believing in change and in each other,
anything is possible.

With hope,

Ricken, Dalia, Luis, Allison, Ari, Maria Paz, Wen-Hua and the entire
Avaaz team

Public Service Announcement.

“It’s not the car’s fault it is the Driver’s fault.”


http://tinyurl.com/techdirtsopa


http://reddit.com/r/sopa


http://www.americancensorship.org


http://tinyurl.com/universalcensors


http://tinyurl.com/writetocongress


http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_internet


http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/12/sopa-vote-delayed/


https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/12/free-speechs-weak-links-under-internet-blacklist-bills

Honestly! This does scare me! Does it intimidate me!? _NO_