Sense At last?

US Copyright Term Will be Restored Back to 28 Years

Under the US copyright law, the term for your right over your work is indefinite as long as you are alive. Meanwhile, an online petition is going to change that.
The petition in question is already available on White House’s official site, and aims to gather 25.000 signatures in order to restore the term of copyright back to 28 years. Thus far, the petition managed to gather over 2.000 signatures in just 24 hours.

The petition says that an initial copyright duration was initially established as 28 years, but then was repeatedly extended to up to 120 years. This was done to favor such corporations as Disney and Sony along with authors’ descendants at the expense of the public. However, such durations ignore the Constitution’s requirement saying that copyrights should be for limited times and encourage progress in science and arts. In reality, they are doing the opposite thing, inhibiting scientific progress by restricting the free flow of data and preventing global digital libraries. In other words, the durations are withholding data that future generations need to freely exchange and build upon. At the same time, the original copyright duration would provide ample incentive for the entities and authors to create, so the creators of the petition asked the President to urge Congress to pass a bill which would restore copyrights to 28 years.

Lawrence Lessing, an American academic and political activist, has written a book on this issue, providing a comprehensive analysis on how creativity relies on the past. He explains that the creations of the past should be used as “bricks” for future projects. By the way, many supported his point of view: indeed, past’s influence in the artistic sector is undeniable.

Nevertheless, the American copyright legislation isn’t at all encouraging creativity, but instead considers everything as being original. Industry experts agree that it is time copyright laws actually reflected the modern era. The only entities to have such long copyright terms (in the United States, for instance, it is life + 70 years) are large multi-national corporations. However, it clearly doesn’t benefit society, choking off whatever little creativity is left in the world. Everyone who shares this point of view is free to sign the petition online.

PayPal!!!!!!!!!

PayPal Enforce Stricter Regulations for File-Sharers

Following the separation from WikiLeaks two years ago, PayPal payment system is currently setting harsh conditions for different file-sharing services.
Recent media reports informed that PayPal has recently changed its Terms of Service, making it harder for file-sharing services to survive. One of the most popular payment services, owned by eBay, is currently demanding that the merchants must prohibit consumers from uploading files containing unauthorized content and promise that people involved in such file transfers will be permanently banned from their service. Moreover, PayPal also requires that merchants must provide the payment portal with free access to their service so its Acceptable Use Policy department could monitor the material.

Thus, a number of cyberlockers already became concerned with the changes, while others, such as the Palo Alto-based MediaFire, claimed that there is little impact of PayPal changes in its Terms of Service. For instance, Putlocker, a British file-sharing website, complained that it was a complete invasion of privacy on PayPal’s part, because it was none of their business what files the consumers want to keep in their accounts. The service says that it has a solid abuse handling policy already, and it does not feel a third party company has any business snooping on its users.

Nevertheless, despite the fact that PayPal might be considered as one of the largest Internet paying services, there are many alternatives in the web, including MoneyBookers and BitCoin. So, if the cyberlockers don’t like the new terms of cooperation with PayPal, they always have a place to move.

Boobies……Great!!!!

Microsoft finds 'big boobs' in source code, removes it

Microsoft has removed a chunk of code labelled "big boobs" from a piece of its software.

The hexadecimal string '0xB16B00B5' was found hidden in a code that runs every time a Microsoft programme starts a virtual version of Linux.

The BBC reports that it came to light on a mailing list for Linux developers, where hacker Paolo Bonzini said of the string: "Somone (sic) was trying to be funny, I guess."

Microsoft was made aware of the discovery and quickly issued an apologetic statement, saying: "We thank the community for reporting this issue and apologise for the offensive string."

The software giant then issued a patch that corrected the string.

Not all software developers were satisfied with the apology, however, with Dr Matthew Garret arguing that "puerile sniggering at breasts contributes to the continuing impression that software development is a boys' club where girls aren't welcome".

Garrett also suggested that the patch may not be the definitive fix-all that Microsoft thinks it is, noting on his blog: "It's especially irritating in this case because Azure [Microsoft's cloud service] may depend on this constant, so changing it will break things."

Ooops……Missed!!

Man shoots himself trying to kill a mouse
A Goulais River, Ont., man accidentally shot himself in the forehead trying to kill a mouse.
The man was using the butt of a rifle to kill the rodent when the weapon went off Wednesday at a camp on Anjigami Lake, about 40 kilometres southeast of Wawa, provincial police said.
A bullet grazed his forehead, said Const. Amanda Huff.
The man didn't know the weapon was loaded.
"He was very lucky," said Huff.
The man was treated in hospital and released.
Dale Whitmell, 40, was charged with careless use of a firearm and will appear in court Sept. 17.

…Not Even With Marmalade!!

Prince Charles, Princess Diana wedding day toast sells for £230

A leftover piece of toast from Prince Charles's breakfast the morning of his wedding to Princess Diana has sold at auction for £230.

Seller Rosemarie Smith had kept the slice of bread in a cup on her shelf for 31 years, Metro reports.
"At the time my daughter was a maid at the palace and one of her duties was to collect Prince Charles's breakfast tray from outside his room," Smith said.

"I was with her in the corridor and saw that Prince Charles had left some toast on the tray.

"I had been thinking about a keepsake from the wedding and saw the toast and thought to myself, 'Why not?'."

Two people engaged in a bidding war over the phone for the foodstuff, with a British buyer winning out.

"There was a round of applause when the gavel dropped then it was like, 'Oh crumbs... it's sold!'," said a spokeswoman for the auction house.

A Man And His “Bong”??

Man Accused of Assaulting Girlfriend Over Broken Bong

Girlfriend became “enraged” after she broke his bong, police say

A Florida man was arrested after allegedly assaulting his girlfriend for breaking his bong.
Police said Brandon Chviek, 20, was arguing with his girlfriend and became “enraged” after she broke his bong, The Gainesville Sun reported. Chviek allegedly pulled out a gun, hit he until she fell to the ground and choked her, Gainesville Police Department spokesman Officer Ben Tobias told the paper.
The girlfriend managed to escape the apartment and showed up at the local Sheriff’s office with some bruises and scratches on her body, according to police.
Chviek, who police said had scratch marks on his face and neck, at first denied fighting with his girlfriend, according to police. Police said a search of his apartment turned up bullets and drug paraphernalia, but no gun.
Chviek was charged with domestic battery and strangulation, aggravated assault and possession of drug paraphernalia, the Gainesville Sun reported.

Pigeon Pie……Yummie!!

Turn culled pigeons into pigeon pie, says councillor

Hundreds of pigeons set to be culled in a town could be used to make pies, a veteran Tory town councillor has claimed.

Cllr F John Smith, 80, said the dead birds could provide a good source of food.
He spoke out as Royston Town Council in Hertfordshire voted to ask business partnership Royston First to kill the pests and crack down on people feeding them.
Cllr Smith, who quit as a district councillor in 2010 after 50 years, said: "When you use the word 'cull' it has a very negative effect on people but there is an advantage to this method.
"I'm being perfectly serious that pigeon pie is not eaten as often as it used to be - in other words shot pigeons give us a food source.
Up to 600 pigeons roost in Royston and councillors have branded the massive mess left by the birds a serious menace for residents.
Town mayor Cllr Lindsay Davidson said pedestrians find pavements "risky" because "they are covered in muck".
Officials have previously considered avian contraceptives and drafting in killer hawks.
Fire gel that would fool birds into thinking roosting spots were ablaze was also looked at.
Leader of the council, Bob Smith, said: "The problem with fire gel is that it would only repel them from wherever we put the gel and we can't smother the entire town in gel.
"I'm sure a cull is the best option to get the flock down to a manageable size"

Play The Game?

Father holds Microsoft accountable for son's £1,150 Xbox Live bill

A father discovered that his son had accumulated £1,150 ($1,800) in charges on Xbox Live and is now holding Microsoft to blame.

The Daily Mail reports that the 12-year-old boy thought he was using in-game currency earned from killing enemies in a Call of Duty title and scoring goals in a FIFA football game.
Instead, the purchases were made using his father's credit card, which was stored on the system when the family paid for an Xbox Live subscription so that the boy could play games online with his friends from school.

The father, Sam Ghera, only discovered the charges on his credit card when he went to the bank and found that his account had been overdrawn.

"When I went through my statement I saw that they were charges for Xbox Live," he said.

"I didn't even know that it was storing my information, and even if that thought had entered my head I would have thought there would be something in place so it wasn't so easy to spend money."

No password is required to make purchases over Xbox Live using credit card information stored on the system.

It should be noted though that the system does offer parental controls which can block child and teen accounts from making purchases over Xbox Live.

Making a purchase on Xbox Live always brings up a pop-up window asking the user to confirm that they are making a purchase with their credit card. However, this is often confusing to users since they are technically buying Microsoft points, a virtual currency that can then be used to obtain downloadable content, rather than the items themselves.

It is unclear exactly what was purchased with the Microsoft points charged to the account. The Daily Mail reports that it was spent on additional weapons for Call of Duty and player enhancements in FIFA, however those are not items offered to purchase over Xbox Live.
There are several multiplayer map packs for the various Call of Duty titles and downloadable expansions available for the FIFA football games, however all downloadable in-game content combined across all titles in those franchises totals less than £300.

It is advised that parents take advantage of the parental control settings included on video game consoles.

Puff, Puff Puffins!!

It’s something for puffin at seaside town

YOUNG puffins have invaded a seaside town, with one bird found waddling along a corridor at a hotel and another turning up at a car showroom.
The fledgling puffins or “pufflings” are normally resident this time of year on islands in the Firth of Forth such as the iconic Bass Rock, but experts say the birds are being attracted by the bright lights of nearby North Berwick.
The coastal East Lothian resort is the base of the Scottish Seabird Centre, where staff have been advising residents on how to deal with the visitors. Recently, a puffling, since named “Buddy” by the team at the centre, was found wandering the Macdonald Marine Hotel & Spa.