Having been listening to the radio on the way to work this morning, I was sitting here in the coffee shop thinking about the dire week in financial news. I was also thinking about the uncompromising politics down in the States lately. It got me thinking about cultural differences, too. And that reminded me that both the US and Canada have fairly popular reality television shows about people with money problems. In the Canadian take, a show called Til Debt Do Us Part meets up with a family who is facing severe economic woes. Over the course of the show the host, a motherly financial expert, works the family through a series of experiences and challenges meant to both entertain and provide some insight and [...]
I know the feeling isn’t universal, but I’ve had this conversation so often the past ten days that I thought I should write: I know why you don’t feel quite right about the Olympic games this time round. I feel the same way. Perhaps it’s that dark and nagging confusion you’re hiding from polite conversation over why anyone would get so angry that they would want to protest the sporting event in the streets of Vancouver. Maybe you feel a little guilt about sympathizing with the apparent crushing defeat of a mere silver finish in a laundry list of events we were assured were “guaranteed” gold wins. Or maybe you took a little longer than you should have to realize that it just isn’t quite [...]
There was a spoof car advertisement floating around the web recently. I don’t know if you saw it. It looked like a typical car spread from a glossy magazine, a stylish coupe pouring over a winding scenic road. The text implied that the car was called “The Bailout. Coming this January” and the sub-text read: “You wouldn’t buy our shitty cars. So we’ll be taking your money anyways.” Apparently General Motors is on the brink of bankruptcy. And when I say “brink” I really mean that sometime today they will be officially filing for bankruptcy, marking what will likely be the long, slow death of the monumental corporation. After all, even if it survives the near-death experience will have changed it in ways that can [...]
Steve says: Did you actually read my submission to the copyright board? It is fairly lengthy. Brad says: Why yes, Steve, I did? As a matter of fact I agree with a lot of what you said. Hense: I posted a link to your rantings on my webpage. Seriously though, the idea of copyright has become laughable at best. The laws – of which I have no real education on, but will comment regardless – were – I am assuming of course – intended to protect the rights of the masses from the power of the corporations – which by the way are backed by large finanical and legal resources. Imagine if some publisher decided that they wanted to take these words and put them [...]
