I know there is a lot of talk about the financial crisis, and it is really bad. I know. It scares the poop out of me when I think about it too much. However, I still cannot wait until 2009!

My two favourite Sci-fi franchises will be taking my attention and money. Seriously, this is going to be the best year for entertainment in my world.

First Battlestar Galactica will be airing it's final installment, bring the series to a close. The best damn TV drama, I've seen since Hill Street Blues.

Battlestar Galactica 2009

www.scifi.com

Next, Star Trek is going to be reborn, and if this trailer is even half of the movie, it could easily be the best Trek since Wrath of Khan. Only JJ Abrams could pull off a sci-fi trailer starting with a car chase!

Apple - Trailers - Star Trek - Trailer 2 - Large

www.apple.com

I haven't made a post in months it seems, but when I saw this image, I had to post it for posterity and to remind myself why I chose NOT to live in Australia when given a chance.
Box Jellyfish can kill small children.
Great White Sharks make snacks of surfers.
Koala's are viscous.
Centipedes kill.
Hell Big Red Kangaroos are the animal equivalent to suicide bombers.

And....
they have spiders like this!

Giant spider eating a bird caught on camera - Telegraph

www.telegraph.co.uk

Michael Geist has posted the three winning DYI videos explaining the problems of Bill C-61. C-61 in 61 Seconds. Interestingly, the first video of the series is no longer available. No explanation is given, but my gut tells me it is some sort of copyright violation take down notice. If so, I can not fathom what would cause that take down, as I would assume considering the subject matter that there would be clear fair use support for any content in the video.

Anyway here is the best one in my opinion, as it does show the removal of rights for consumers. But as I have been discussing with Raul the videos are not really illustrating the pain consumers will have and disadvantage that Canadian companies will be under should Bill C-61 pass. I think that it may require a concerted effort of presentations and grassroots interest.

If Michael Geist is the Al Gore for Digital Media Copyright in Canada. I think we need to get him on a road trip.
"Inconvenient Media"?

So an election has been called in Canada. A lot of deja vu for me with this. Twenty years ago, the Canadian and American elections were happening at the same time as well. The free trade agreement was the big issue, and I was leaving the ranks of the Liberal Party to vote for the Progressive Conservatives. Now, I'm a member of the Conservative Party who cannot vote for them in this election due to their support of Bill C-61.

It's actually a pretty crappy feeling. I for the most part have been very pleased with the Conservative Party's government in the last 3 years. I even think Stephen Harper, whom I do not agree with on social issues, has done a great job of instilling a culture of compromise within the Conservative Party ranks. No easy task, I can assure you. He is an effective leader. However, the party's introduction of this legislation is entirely counter to why I joined the party.

I've had some interesting comments made to and about me regarding my decision. Mostly people, some whom I like greatly, are feeling betrayed by me. I regret they feel that way, but I am not a party hack (I am in no way implying that they are). I will not vote for any party simply because I'm a member. I firmly believe that for democracy to work you must Vote Your Interest. Too often I get the feeling that people in North America vote based on fear of the "other guy", which is why negative attack ads work, or from poorly thought out jingoistic ideology. These tendencies motivate citizens to actually vote against their best interests. It's crazy.

An over simplification for clarity:
A forty year-old worker making $50k a year in Texas without healthcare in the USA should be voting for the party offering affordable healthcare plain and simple. Getting healthcare is in his or her self-interest.

A thirty year old entrepreneur should be voting for less taxes and more investment incentives.

An avant-garde artist should be voting for more art grants and endowments.

An out of work uneducated laborer should be voting for more social support and training programs.

Only by voting our interests can democracy truly represent the people. (A big reason the first past the post system needs to be addressed.) Not everyone will get their needs addressed or represented on any given election, but only once we clearly vote for our self-interest will political parties start to address the varied concerns of people by adopting the policies needed to gain their support in the next election. This is different from lobbying special interests post-election, which in my opinion is entirely counter to democratic principles.

If everyone keeps voting for meaningless slogans or out of fear, political parties have no reason or need to address our concerns. If we do not vote our self interest, parties will keep pumping out the same old jingoistic slogans and attack ads and I'm not sure that's the point of democracy.

Ethical reuse of content. People are doing it on the Web, at home, and at work. My wife burns copies of DVDs for the kids, so that they don't ruin the originals. I repost quotes and pictures from other blogs and websites for comment and discussion on this site. My family records TV shows and movies with our PVR. Though in Canada, I am concerned that some of these historical rights will soon disappear.

Don't get me wrong, content creators have a legitimate concern. They need answers to this most important question:
How can I make money (a living) from my content when it is so easy to copy and reuse?

I believe they can make a living in Today's world. I believe that new business models are being developed to embrace the realities of Today's digital media market place. I do not believe we should be creating legislation to maintain old business models and I'm not alone. To that end, a group of interested Web professionals have started an open group to discuss, inform, and promote the work being done on this issue. It's called, PlayTheWeb.org.

[PlayTheWeb.org] is interested in promoting the idea of “Web Play” through the ethical reuse of content on the Web. We want to report, comment, and promote Technologies, Techniques, Applications, and Business models that move this idea forward.
By ethical we mean reusing content while maintaining respect to the original rights of the copyright holder(s). ”Respect” is intentionally an ambiguous word left to interpretation of those engaged in the creative process.

There is a great deal of excellent work being done on proactive licensing for content available for reuse. There are people focused on tools, protocols, and formats to ensure content can be moved among systems, software, and networks. Play the Web is strictly focused on technologies and business models to support content reuse. If this is also of interest to you, please have your say and get involved.

One of the first things PlayTheWeb.org is trying to support is the development of a new open content attribution format in order to help content creators and application developers publish where and from whom reused content is being sourced.