Free Media!

I mean that in both the sense that Media is Free and that we must Free Media!

Today, a quick post about free media:

First, a band called Tone has released it's album under a Creative Commons license. They receive royalties from radio play, and they get paid for concert performances. BUT THEIR ALBUM IS AVAILABLE FOR FREE. This is a breakthrough in the filesharing world, the new media world in which the record companies have been destabilized and people think that by making music available for free download, no one gets to make any money. This proves it doesn't have to be that way. You can download their album, which is the first ever CC-Licensed electronica album, here.

Second, the European Green Party has released an advertisement in support of free file sharing, something it would like to make a reality, and as a direct response to the horrible MPAA commercials called "You Wouldn't Steal a Car." Video embedded below, and link to their site here.

Traceurs against landmines

Traceurs are cool people. They free-walk and free-fly their ways around cities without touching the ground, or at least doing it minimally. It's badass to see.

This website is meant to bring about awareness of countries where unexploded landmines are a threat to daily life. It's a pretty cool website, and an opportunity to quickly and easily help with the problem.

Morning things

I have to go get ready for things, but I wanted to do a quick post.

1) Snappy retort to JK Rowling who is suing someone over his writing of a Harry Potter reference book, entitled, "Harry Potter Lexicon." It includes perhaps the funniest line I've read in a while: "JK... Can I call you JK?" Ok, maybe it's not that funny, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

http://machinist.salon.com/blog/2007/11/13/harry_potter/

2) This is SO AWESOME. A group called "One Laptop Per Child" has manufactured small, cheap laptops (with free - meaning open - coding) to be distributed en masse to the children of the third world. Only until November 26th, you can buy one for yourself to see how neat they are (and how cheap) - under the condition that you buy one for a child who needs it.

http://www.laptopgiving.org/en/index.php

Volunteer Opportunities

In My Opinion, it can be important to do volunteer work... it forces one to find real value in work rather than economic value, and it can expose someone to a certain element that one might not otherwise be exposed to. Lastly, it is a good opportunity for those who are unsure about the future to be doing something new with their time and feel productive while figuring out their plans.

That said, I'd like to present two very different volunteer opportunities.

The first is an opportunity that I took advantage of here in New York City. 826NYC is a non-profit with locations in San Francisco, LA, Chicago, and NYC that strives to keep kids succeeding in school, particularly to encourage theirhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif writing skills. It fosters growth as a creative writer, and allows one to forge relationships with children who really appreciate the help and companionship.

The second is an opportunity I've only just discovered. Cross-Cultural Solutions is a way to see the world and positively affect people's lives for as short as a week or as long as almost two months. I may consider it for the future.

Eat a Dollar, save a Country

Here's a very interesting, fun, and exciting prospect on how to save the American economy/dollar by consciously removing dollars from circulation (BY EATING THEM!):

http://www.monochrom.at/english/2007/11/submissions-needed-dollar-revaluation.htm

Police, Civil Liberties

It's been a long time since I posted about anything truly meaningful. A recent e-mail from two close friends inspired a very long response, and so the complete interaction is here:

alas, this is far from "news."

http://imocopter.blogspot.com/2007/03/god-fucking-dammit-i-hate-police.html
http://www.boingboing.net/2006/11/16/ucla-cops-taser-stud.html
http://www.boingboing.net/2007/10/26/taser-death-at-vanco.html

it's not a happy time we live in. these are only a few on the long list, and i thought i had more at my fingertips. for a long time now i've been concerned about the way police interact with citizens, and the problems with the way in which citizens interact BACK.

first off, it is important for you to understand your rights. for instance, a police officer cannot legally arrest you for being in a public place and exercising your right to free speech. some college campuses (not to mention places in which the President of the United States of America speaks or appears) have adopted the concept of the "free speech zone," and people who have protested it have run into various levels of resistance ( http://www.boingboing.net/2007/03/08/usc-fines-free-cultu.html). while this is a hairy area because college campuses are SORT OF private property, never forget that it is your right to speak your mind on public turf. if you witness a police officer overstepping his or her bounds and breaking the law by harassing or physically battering a citizen (while battery is defined in the dictionary as " an unlawful attack upon another person by beating or wounding, or by touching in an offensive manner," it has been legally referred to also as the simple physical contact with another human being who does not want you to touch him or her), it is important for you to document this activity. cellphone cameras are a wonderful and rampantly-available tool for this, as youtube has proven ( http://youtube.com/watch?v=AyvrqcxNIFs). and remember: police are REQUIRED to give their badge number upon request by a citizen. if they're there and they're doing something they shouldn't, get their badge number. you are a WITNESS TO A CRIME.

another point i'd like to make is this... we live in a place where a significant amount of legislation (the most infamous being the Patriot Act) has been passed in the past seven years that give the government and police more control than they deserve to have. a compounded problem of this has been the convincing of the public that it is STANDARD for some of their rights to be withheld. for instance, people are convinced it is STANDARD to not be able to take photos of public places such as train depots and airports. on top of this, people are being told, for instance, in the new york city subways that they are required to submit to any random bag checks. this is not true. and if a police officer asks you to show the contents of your bag to him or her, you have the right (nay, the PRIVILEGE) to deny his or her request and leave the train. did you know that you are not even required to show a store clerk your receipt and your bag contents when you leave a store, such as best buy? when you open your bag to show them, you are CONSENTING. this is because you have paid for the contents of that bag and the bag itself, and therefore they are your personal property.

while in the case of "best buy," maybe it is pointless to exercise this right because all they are really trying to prevent is theft, it is CRUCIAL that you exercise your rights with police officers. if and when the time comes that more of your civil liberties are taken away, it is police officers to whom you will have to answer. so it is crucial that you (WE) not simply allow our liberties to be revoked by simple consent, if it is not legally required. and when you hear that George Bush Jr. (or any government official) is attempting to revoke some of your civil liberties, it is absolutely PERTINENT that you do everything in your power to stop this. good websites for you to consult on this matter, if your personal freedoms are something that interest you, are:

aclu.org
moveon.org
boingboing.net
imocopter.blogspot.com (ok, personal plug. this one's really a waste of your time in comparison)

i wish i could be of more help (or annoyance, if you've made it this far and are livid), but i want to leave you with this:

the final, crucial step to exercising your rights is calmness, self-assuredness, and decency. it is a distinct showing when any person tries to tell you what you cannot do, and, in knowing that they are wrong, you are calm and non-violent. Ghandi understood the value of this, and his followers were on some occasions physically abused in horrific ways. but they never fought back. Civil Disobedience ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_disobedience) is an unbearably powerful tool. you must be more than civil; you must be compassionate for your other human beings, whether they are suffering or doing what they believe to be their jobs.

and remember; there is no shame in being arrested because you are exercising your rights and your freedoms. it is a privilege, and it would earn not only my respect, but the respect of countless others.

Sincerely,

Sam Friedman
- Hide quoted text -




On 10/31/07, Michael Belcher < michael.r.belcher@gmail.com > wrote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bVa6jn4rpE

Culmination

For a long time now, I have sought to keep myself informed of the betrayals of the government, the ways in which our government seeks to control us, manipulate us, and dictate an immoral and unconstitutional agenda both at home and abroad. I've done my best to rant and rave, as well as point out some kind of substantial evidence to you to support these beliefs.

The time when these things will all be proven is far in our future, most likely at a time just before or during an era that mimics our own. And proof is a worthless pursuit anyway, because truth is its necessity. Truth, as we all know, is dependent on one's perspective. And there will never be a full consensus on anything so long as we live.

That being said, I beg and plead for you to watch the following documentary. It is available online. It is free to you, thanks to Google, thanks to the internet, thanks to people like you. This movie is the culmination of all of the things I've said to you regarding our government. I have had it with the United States, with politics, with those in power. Only through evolution can we save ourselves.

WATCH ZEITGEIST. And tell every single person you know to do the same.

RIAA/IC Update

The meeting last night was quite different from what I'd expected.

I went in there expecting carnage, expecting to tear someone apart, but the three people who led the meeting were informative, helpful, kind, and more knowledgeable than I expected them to be.

They provided students with resources across the board... from free music alternatives to links to EFF and Creative Commons... also, it turns out that they did NOT divulge ANY personal information to the RIAA. What had happened was that Apogee, their ISP, received a series of pre-litigation letters. These letters were NOT DMCA COMPLIANT and, therefore, based on Apogee policy, were sent back undelivered. However, the college received copies of all paperwork regarding it as a part of its deal with Apogee. So, when the college received the pre-litigation letters, they held a long debate that culminated in them deciding it was their moral obligation to pass these letters on to the identified students (bearing in mind that all this time, all the RIAA has ever known is those students' IP addresses), as a means of making them aware that they were being legally targeted.

It is both the college's and Apogee's policies to divulge no personal information unless issued a proper, legal subpoena, which they have not as of yet been issued at all with regard to this matter.

In My Opinion, the college did a pretty good job handling things overall. The one thing I think they failed at was EDUCATION. They said that a few years ago the RIAA came to all colleges to discuss what could be done about the mass copyright infringement. They came to the agreement that colleges would set their judicial policies about it, and they would provide education. However, that never really happened.

So last night I, and others, strongly suggested a new wave of education where they not only inform students of copyright law and how to deal with this current RIAA matter, but also discuss the future of copyright law and perhaps how to change it.

Find out the Truth

I just watched An Inconvenient Truth, and, while I was feeling that sense of compulsion, that ABILITY TO ACCOMPLISH that one often feels after watching a powerful movie, I wanted to blog about it while I still felt in touch with it.

I was excited today by posting the first part of my conversation with Aki, because it marked a change. For a while, now, with the exception of one or two early posts, my posting to this blog has been mostly linking to other sites with information that I either found engaging, entertaining, angering, or something. But I was rarely expressing opinions of my own outside of expressing my reaction to some of these sites... I have fallen away from posting out of a sheer desire to express a personal opinion!! For this, I am sorry.

When Bush was re-elected, I had intended to not go to classes, and sit out in one of the quads with a sign that said something.... something minimalistic, expressing my disbelief, my outrage, something. And I was going to sit next to that sign in silence. I was not going to speak, I was not going to eat, I was not going to move. I was going to sit there all day. I was DRIVEN TO ACTION by an event that moved me significantly.

I didn't do any of that, though. And I regret it.

Seeing An Inconvenient Truth moved me in much the same way... I have the intense desire to accomplish something, to make changes IMMEDIATELY to my lifestyle that will not only change my impact on the environment, but that will impact people AROUND ME in the hopes that THEY TOO will be driven to action... desire to change themselves and those around them. It is infectious, sometimes, when lots of people get together and they start making changes to themselves, to each other, and sometimes something exciting or beautiful comes out of that.

We get mired a lot in a sense of mundaneness, and our force of habit. We cease to see the things around us that are good and that came from lots of people, or even just a few people, banding together to make a change. As Americans, we have both the right and the privilege of being able to express ourselves to each other in public or private, no matter what those views are. And I am often skeptical of how long that right and privilege will be around, given contemporary political trends... but we have it, for the time being. And we need to use it.

I pledge to try to express my opinions more often to you, and I also pledge to try to show you the way more often, the way toward accomplishing things. I'm going to put links in the side panel to websites that help you take simple, immediate action.

I pledge to stand out in the Ithaca Commons once a month and stand on a box to tell the world what I have done for it, and to show people just how easy it was so that they might realize that they can do it, too.

In My Opinion, there is nothing greater than the force of an individual, both mind and body. I have the power to make a difference. We all have the power to make a difference, in a way that is not at all contrived. While we are all insignificant in the scale of the universe, the globe, even the city we live in, it is when we impact those around us in a strong enough way that we can set about a chain reaction. Just as the automobile was invented and changed the way countless people around the world travel, so too can I, or a group of people, bring about attention and awareness that changes how the entire world population treats the environment.

I pledge to change myself and others.

But I want to ask for a pledge from you, too. I want you to link people to my website when you think that I have something good to say that they ought to hear. I want you to send them to my website and the websites in the side-panel. The internet is a phenomenal tool that helps in the easy spread of positive infection, in awareness, and in action. With just a few clicks of a mouse, you can change someone's life, and change the world.

The change doesn't start with me, it starts with US.

www.climatecrisis.net