Astronomer and space exploration advocate Neil deGrasse Tyson spoke on March 7, 2012 before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.
See also fancy video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fl07UfRkPas
Post-Rock gigs: A handy piece of advice
So last night at Explosions in the Sky I noticed there were quite a few people who used the quiet spaces in between the more raucous parts of songs to have a conversation.
Don’t do that.
These bands don’t sit in a recording studio going:
“yeah I really love this epic sound but it’s been going full on for about five minutes now, when we play this live people are going to be frustrated when they can’t talk to eachother…”“That’s a good point, well let’s add a quiet part here for about two minutes and then everyone can catch up on the gossip and not feel left out”
That’s not what the quiet bit is for. I like the quiet bits.
This goes for many types of music.
STOP ACTA
Dear Tumblr,
How much do you trust your Internet Service Provider? What if they were monitoring your every move, turning over your personal information, or reporting your activity to the authorities? This isn’t some hypothetical, nightmare scenario. It’s the reality we are all facing with a new international accord that is poised to fundamentally destroy the openness of the internet, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).
Disguised as a trade agreement and negotiated in secret, ACTA poses a threat to free speech online by forcing websites and ISPs to watch and track what we do online in the name of copyright protection. While protecting copyright is a legitimate goal, ACTA takes a fire hose to a match in protecting intellectual property, while blatantly disregarding our rights in the process.
Already, eight countries have signed the agreement and others are lining up. ACTA is making its way to the European Parliament for a final consent vote. Without EU approval, other countries will be forced back to the negotiating table. Sign the petition here to demand Parliament to vote “No” on ACTA:
https://www.accessnow.org/page/s/just-say-no-to-acta
So what makes ACTA so alarming? It demands companies to spy on us, criminalizes people for trivial offences (like downloading songs), and is so vaguely worded that it could allow governments to implement dangerous copyright-enforcement regimes, such as the French “three-strike” law, which cuts off a user’s Internet access.
ACTA, which is not aligned with international legal standards, has long been opposed by leading experts, civil society, and lawmaking bodies in many countries like Brazil and Mexico. Yet, portions of ACTA continue to be copy and pasted into other trade agreements and national laws, putting user rights dangerously at risk. Now, with our collective voice, we can sway the European Parliament to shoot ACTA down!
https://www.accessnow.org/page/s/just-say-no-to-acta
Users of sites like YouTube, Wikipedia, and Facebook are at risk of being monitored aggressively and be placed in danger since mere allegations of copyright infringement could lead to users being cut off from the Internet. We must stand strong and reject agreements, which undermine democracy and the rule of law, and trample on our fundamental rights! Say “No” to ACTA by signing here:
https://www.accessnow.org/page/s/just-say-no-to-acta
With determination,
The Access Team
P.S. Access, in conjunction European Digital Rights, and the Trans-Atlantic Consumer Dialogue, has put together an overview outlining the human rights, trade, innovation, democracy, and legal implications of ACTA. Read it here: https://www.accessnow.org/acta-overview
Sources:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/10/01/uk-japan-trade-counterfeiting-idUKTRE79018620111001
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/10/united-states-signs-acta/
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101014/01402311422/more-countries-react-to-acta-brazil-says-acta-is-illegitimate.shtml
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/241061/legal_expert_says_anticounterfeit_deal_should_be_scrapped.html
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2115125/acta-violates-fundamental-human-rights
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/business/Canada+signs+anti+piracy+agreement/5492236/story.html?cid=megadrop_story
(via memewhore)
Skeleton doing skull laundry made me LOL.
Vote here. Since this screenshot, ~4,000 more for oppose and ~53,000 more for support.
(Source: razzledazzy, via ilovecharts)
I was at the movies yesterday and before the movie started they had this long ad where they were trying to say like — you know those ads where it’s like, “Don’t download things illegally, et cetera,” —- and the way they did it was they were like, “You wouldn’t steal a purse, would you? You wouldn’t think of stealing a car.” And I was thinking about it, I was watching it and I was like, “You know what? I would steal a car if it was as easy as touching the car and then thirty seconds later I owned the car. And, like, I would steal a car if by stealing the car, the person who owned the car, they got to keep the car. And um, I would also steal a car if no one I had ever met had ever bought a car before in their whole lives.
—Mindy Kaling (via flordemort, megalong) (via swansoning) (via nom-chompsky) (via stfuconservatives) (via ruthpower) (via pricklylegs) (via memewhore)
NIGHTNIGHT by DEDDY