Thursday, October 1, 2009

Musings: Dealing With Reality

Clouds shaped like oversized squeeze toys skedaddled west and a growing, lopsided moon continued to dance with Jupiter, though not so closely as the evening before, when Koko and I went walking last night. The air was balmy, cooled to perfection by a wind brisk enough to ruffle clothes and rattle palm fronds, and Makalii was rising above a landscape illuminated by Hina’s bright silver-yellow light.

Needless to say, we lingered.

By morning, the moon and Jupiter had set, and Venus was glowing in the east above broad streaks of orange and charcoal. A hen, reunited with her cheeping puffball chicks following a raucous rousting by dogs, was scratching up a meal, keeping an eye on her flock.

Many parents seem to be wondering who is going to be keeping an eye on their kids when schools are closed for furlough Fridays. Advertiser columnist Jerry Burris was on target yesterday when he noted that the public and private effort to fill the gap “amounts to a backdoor form of privatizing or decentralizing our educational system” and then said:

Essentially, what you end up with is subtle cost-shifting. The "savings" achieved by the state will by and large be taken up by others, either for altruistic reasons or for political gain. There really will be no true savings for the overall, whatever you wish to call it, gross national income of the state.

Aside from this subtle cost-shifting, there's the issue of economic inequities. Kids from families with money likely will be able to buy some sort of quality experience on those days. Other kids will get whatever.

The whole situation underscores the way schools have become, to a large extent, an institutionalized babysitting service so parents can be freed up to work.

The tough work of cleaning up after an earthquake and tsunami has begun in Samoa, where at least 150 people were killed. I talked to civil defense administrator Mark Marshall, who said we did get a 13-inch tsunami, which resulted in some unusual sea surges at Nawiliwili Harbor. The tide would drop two-to-three feet, then come up two feet higher than the high tide, completely flooding the small boat ramp. And that’s something they hadn’t seen before. A surfer friend reported that he did a lot of paddling trying to get back in place after the big suck outs caused by surges on the southside.

Mark said the water in Samoa receded so far they couldn’t even see the ocean, then five waves hit in half an hour, with one 20-foot wave going a half-mile inland. And tsunami waves can push in for 20 minutes, not the 12 seconds we’re accustomed to with normal surf. So just stop for a minute and imagine what kind of damage that would cause all along our own coastline. Mark said many people hold the false belief that a tsunami coming from the south will affect just the southside, when in reality the wave would likely wrap around the entire island, with the most severe damage often occurring where the two wraps converge.

How long do you suppose our luck will hold until a monster wave hits Kauai? And then we’ll be dealing with the reality that has been driven home repeatedly to all of us caught in the gridlock caused by recent road construction: we’ve got just one way across the Wailua Bridge and just one way to get in and out of the North Shore. Add to that just one main entry port for our goods, and you start to get a sense of how vulnerable we are to a tsunami, and how complacent we’ve gotten about that threat.

Shifting gears, I don’t want to belabor the incident with Koohan Paik, other than to say I have a great deal of respect for Isaac Harp, who left a comment on that post. I appreciate his gallant effort to take the fall for Koohan; however, her contention that my story and others were just being used as fill to get a sense of how the site might look is false. The stories were used intentionally to create a product that was going to be presented to potential backers, which is disingenuous in and of itself. I was especially annoyed because I had previously told Koohan I did not want to write anything for New Pacific Voice until I had a sense of the site’s tone and look.

The issue is not about whether Koohan and I are politically aligned, how much she’s done for the community or me being flattered that people want to reprint my stories. It’s about respecting me and respecting copyright law, no matter how “20th Century” some folks might think that is. I’m very generous about letting people use my work, although it’s always appreciated when a link and attribution are included. But when I’ve written a story and sold it to a publisher, it’s an entirely different situation. They then own certain rights, and to reuse it without permission is not only wrong, it devalues something that the publisher and I own.

I don’t know why people think they’re entitled to take something just because it was created through the intellectual process. Do they feel similarly entitled to something created through manual labor?

As for anarchy, which also came up in the comments section, it's not, as so many people believe, an "anything goes" social system. It’s about people living with the highest personal integrity so they're not impinging on the rights of others and rules and laws aren’t needed to govern their behavior. I agree that it's an ideal form for society, and we’ve all got a ways to go to get there.

On a totally unrelated subject, I’ve been struck, in doing a spate of interviews lately, by how frequently people evoke God, or some higher spirit. And invariably, it’s in regard to an expression of gratitude, which caused me to muse, are people who don’t believe in the god concept less grateful than those who do?

46 comments:

Ed Coll said...

Joan Said; "
I don’t know why people think they’re entitled to take something just because it was created through the intellectual process. Do they feel similarly entitled to something created through manual labor?"

Which brings up the question of physical property vs Intellectual property.

If you make yourself a pair of shoes and I walk a mile in them I'm a mile away and I have your shoes. That's theft (unless you gave them to me) because physical property can only be used by one person at a time.

If however I have an idea for a witty saying like "Bored again Christians" and I verbalize it or post it on a blog and others start re-verbalizing or re-posting it without my permission (nor attribution what have I lost? Unlike my physical shoes I still have full use of my idea and can verbalize and post "bored again christian" "until the cows come home" as some long forgotten ripped off farmer might rightly claim.

What has been "stolen" of course is the ability to "capitalize" on my idea. The notorious intellectual property pirate Walt Disney ripped off the Brothers Grimm built an empire and made a fortune.

For a flash presentation on this whole issue see this URL: http://randomfoo.net/oscon/2002/lessig/free.html

Anonymous said...

Well, one thing's for sure. You can't go around bitching about private property, and then complain when someone steals your "intellectual property."

Anonymous said...

"product that was going to be presented to potential backers"

-- as in financial backers? to sustain operations, or for a net profit? would change the color of it for sure. i had thought it was just a "the sky is falling" island breath style site


"I was especially annoyed because I had previously told Koohan I did not want to write anything for New Pacific Voice until I had a sense of the site’s tone and look."

-- understandable for sure


"how frequently people evoke God"

-- the kauai / hawaii population has a very high percentage of hard core religious literalists


"Well, one thing's for sure. You can't go around bitching about private property, and then complain when someone steals your "intellectual property."

-- har! nice one


young_white_male

Dawson said...

"I don’t know why people think they’re entitled to take something just because it was created through the intellectual process."

With apologies to the 5th Dimension...

When my head is deeply in my ass
And all I want is all I see
What's mine is all that matters
For love of lovely Me

This is the dawning of the Age of Entitlement
Age of Entitlement
Entitlement!

Harmony and understanding?
Shove it where the sun ain't shining!
I want mine and I want yours too
Gimme it or I'll start whining
Entitlement!
Entitlement!

Dawson said...

"What has been "stolen" of course is the ability to "capitalize" on my idea. The notorious intellectual property pirate Walt Disney ripped off the Brothers Grimm built an empire and made a fortune."

The Grimm Brothers transcribed ancient oral traditions. Walt Disney took the Grimms' public domain stories and other folk traditions as basis for films that were his studio's own intellectual property (compare the Grimms' Snow White to Disney's).

Joan created an IP from scratch, sold the rights to it to a publisher who published it under copyright -- and someone else took it for their own use without permission.

Anonymous said...

You can't go around bitching about private property, and then complain when someone steals your "intellectual property."

Why not? Humans create intellectual property. They did not create the Earth. How can they claim they own it?

Ed Coll said...

Dawson said: "The Grimm Brothers transcribed ancient oral traditions. Walt Disney took the Grimms' public domain stories and other folk traditions as basis for films that were his studio's own intellectual property (compare the Grimms' Snow White to Disney's)."

I have compared and Disney's Snow White is a derivative work ( Like "The Wind Done Gone" is of "Gone with the Wind"). The Grimm brothers did not "transcribe" oral tradition but derived their version form a composite telling of tales (again a derivative work). The way I see it all ideas come from somewhere (other minds - culture) so all work is "derivative work" that some "capitalize" on and others suck wind.

Dawson said...

"I have compared and Disney's Snow White is a derivative work ( Like "The Wind Done Gone" is of "Gone with the Wind"). The Grimm brothers did not "transcribe" oral tradition but derived their version form a composite telling of tales (again a derivative work). The way I see it all ideas come from somewhere (other minds - culture) so all work is "derivative work" that some "capitalize" on and others suck wind."

That's irrelevant to Joan's situation, and (meaning no disrespect here), spoken like someone who does not make their living by creating and selling intellectual properties. ;)

Ed Coll said...

Dawson said, "... spoken like someone who does not make their living by creating and selling intellectual properties. ;)"

You are incorrect. I have and do make my living creating, selling (and giving away intellectual property) both as a journalist, filmmaker/video and educator. Not everybody is blinded by self-interest (or lack thereof) to reality. You are right it is not directly relevant to Joan's situation, but was rather a follow-up on my original comment on her broader comment "I don’t know why people think they’re entitled to take something just because it was created through the intellectual process."

Anonymous said...

Well, I just finished downloading 5 more movies using bittorrent technology.

My feeling: anything on the web is fair game for my personal non-commercial use...it's just lying around there anyway.

I have 3 terrabytes of movies and music which plays beautifully on my stereo and big tv. Saved thousands.

Anonymous said...

"My feeling: anything on the web is fair game for my personal non-commercial use...it's just lying around there anyway."

A shoplifter's mentality.

Anonymous said...

I "take" it, but it's still there. Nothing is "missing" but my contribution to the capitalism profit.

Have you ever borrowed a cassette/VCR tape/DVD from a friend to watch instead of buying your own? Ever copied some music or movies...something that has been going on since the invention of the cassette recorder and VCR?
Ever gone over to someone's house to watch a movie they bought rather than buying it yourself?

Don't throw stones.

Someone bought the DVD that the movie was ripped from and uploaded to the internet. We're just "borrowing" it.

Just like you, in some form or another.

Dawson said...

"A shoplifter's mentality."

Bingo. "If it ain't guarded, locked or nailed down, it's Mine. Copyright laws are for wimps -- I got a million justifications why what I do is A-okay, all of 'em self-serving."

Hidden in the word "entitlement" is what it's all about: ME.

- - -

@Ed Coll: apologies. I could've sworn.... :D

Anonymous said...

"Don't throw stones."

Who is throwing stones? Sounds like you are by assuming I am critical of a "shoplifter mentality" or you. That my friend is coming out of your own head. How would security guards find meaningfully employment without the shoplifter? What would the fed and state internet police do without trying to jail citizens like yourself who are just borrowing stuff and sharing among friends!

Anonymous said...

"We're just "borrowing" it."

Why stop at movies on the internet? Why not borrow your neighbor's lawnmower or somebody's car? Oh, wait, they might object because you didn't ask first. Borrowing implies asking permission from the owner. W/o permission, it's just plain stealing.

Dawson, catchy tune, dude

Anonymous said...

"Have you ever borrowed a cassette/VCR tape/DVD from a friend to watch instead of buying your own? Ever copied some music or movies...something that has been going on since the invention of the cassette recorder and VCR?"

He/she makes a good case. Everyone reading this post a response stating that they never did any of this ever.

I'll bet that no one could HONESTLY say that.

This is just the 21st century version.

It is as unstoppable as the old "copy the vinyl record to cassette tape" thing of the '70's. I did that then...I'm doing that now in its current form.

File uploaders ("seeders" in bittorrent terms) have a somewhat higher chance of being detected, but not downloaders. At any rate smart ones like myself use IP Anonymizers going through virtual private networks employing encryption on top of that.

The world sees me as coming from somewhere in Europe now, but cannot possibly decrypt my filesharing traffic.

I'm not saying i'm "legal". I'm just saying "try to find me".

Anonymous said...

If I could borrow his lawnmower and, yet, it was still there for him to use, sure I'd borrow it.

Anonymous said...

"At any rate smart ones like myself use IP Anonymizers going through virtual private networks employing encryption on top of that.

The world sees me as coming from somewhere in Europe now, but cannot possibly decrypt my filesharing traffic."

I won't argue that you are not smarter than the popos, but still not "all that smart" by believing they "cannot possibly decrypt filesharing traffic" Kevin Mitnik and the German based Chaos Computer Club thought that as well but they got caught. Don't forget they have top notch people like Mel Rapozo that specialize in this stuff. I believe Kevin Mitnik's last words before capture was "Try and find me"! Hubris is an ugly attribute.

BTW off the cuff traffic analysis indicates you are not using multiple anonmizers here to post so you may already be leaking your IP.

Anonymous said...

I only fire up the invisibility shield when I use bittorrent.

As to the rest, who knows if I'm only spewing empty brags...one who does nothing but says everything.

Who knows...

Anonymous said...

I see that no one yet has denied any past or current form of music/video copying.

Maybe we all live/have lived in glass houses after all.

Anonymous said...

"As to the rest, who knows if I'm only spewing empty brags...one who does nothing but says everything.

Who knows..."

Not very smart to draw attention to yourself because ...

It seems that a previously anonymous blogger brought himself unwanted attention by daring to criticize Pastor Mac Brunson of the First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, FL. This prompted an investigation by a police detective who just so happened to be a member of the pastor's security detail. Outraged yet?

This raises at least a few questions for me:

* Since when is criticizing someone grounds for a police investigation?
* Does this mean that member of Jacksonville's police department (state) was also providing some sort of regular security service to a local pastor (church)?
* Assuming that such an investigation was somehow deemed necessary (and lawful), what right did Detective Robert Hinson have to disclose the blogger's identity to the church?

According to The Florida Times-Union, Det. Hinson obtained a subpoena forcing Google to provide the blogger's identity. The complaint alleged that the blog in question, fbcjaxwatchdog.blogspot.com, had "possible criminal overtones." Despite finding that the blogger had broken no laws, his identity was revealed to the church. They responded by banning him and his wife from the church.

from http://www.atheistrev.com/2009/04/jacksonville-first-baptist-has-police.html

Anonymous said...

I'm ready to return that copy of my neighbor's lawnmower I borrowed, but he said to just delete it when I'm done using it.

He wants to borrow a copy of my trailer to haul some garbage. He can delete it when done, or lend it to someone else. Doesn't matter since I still have the original.

Wow...could you imagine a world where "material duplicators" really existed???

Anonymous said...

"I see that no one yet has denied any past or current form of music/video copying."

I will not reply. That would be Hochmut and I live Demut.

Anonymous said...

"As for anarchy.... I agree that it's an ideal form for society, and we’ve all got a ways to go to get there."

Mahalo Joan. I may not get there with you but am always willing to help out as best I can.

Anonymous said...

Are Native Hawaiians still getting royalties from inventing surfing?

Anonymous said...

Ed Coll said -- The way I see it all ideas come from somewhere (other minds - culture) so all work is "derivative work" that some "capitalize" on and others suck wind.

There's a big difference between an "idea" and something that is created from an idea like a song, book, etc.

Joan Conrow said...

Anonymous who just got deleted -- don't use my blog for that kind of stuff.

Ed Coll said...

"There's a big difference between an "idea" and something that is created from an idea like a song, book, etc."

And your point is?

If I verbalize "Bored again Christian" that constitutes a verbal performance of my idea. If you repeat my performance by repeating my verbalization without my permission, compensation (if demanded) or attribution either for free or for profit does that make you a thief?

Anonymous said...

"I see that no one yet has denied any past or current form of music/video copying."

I will not reply. That would be Hochmut and I live Demut.

==========

So, continue humbly getting a bootleg copy of your entertainment of choice as you've done occasionally in the past.

Nobody holds it against you since there's a huge probability that they've done the same.

Anonymous said...

"So, continue humbly getting a bootleg copy of your entertainment of choice as you've done occasionally in the past."

They said they could not answer so you defame them by claiming they do what you do without proof! What a class act :-(

Anonymous said...

A "could not answer" answer to a "can you deny copying" question strongly infers that he does/has copied.

That's why I posed the question as I did. Any response, even no response, other than a definitive "I do not/never have copied" is construed as an implication that one has/does copy.

Anyway, anyone claiming never having done it would immediately be branded a liar by me anyway...

Like they say about cold water scuba diving in wetsuits...there are only 2 types of divers: those who pee in their wetsuits and those who lie about never doing it.

Anonymous said...

"Anyway, anyone claiming never having done it would immediately be branded a liar by me anyway..."

So the purpose of your question was to "brand" someone a liar? You sound dogmatic, judgmental, and violence prone towards people unwilling to violate the law. I think Obama's got a job for you as an interrogator at Gitmo.

Anonymous said...

I've never trusted anyone without a little larceny in them.

Anonymous said...

I hope Obama will pay me more than Bush did.

Anonymous said...

No, I'm judgmental towards people reacting negatively towards my behavior when at the same time they do/have done it themselves in some form or fashion.

Hypocrites deserve judgment.

And, relative to this issue, there are damn few, if any, who could claim to never have indulged in copying something somewhere sometime...and may still possess and enjoy the output. I would guess no one on these blogs qualifies as a non-hypocritical judge.

I don't care of you do or don't copy. I'm not against you either way since it has no impact on me.

Now, we could turn attention to the hypothetical of the unmarked bag of money found in some lonely public area. Should one keep it or turn it in for possible return to a possible rightful owner?

Did it look like drug money? An elderly person's life savings on its way to a bank or something?

Does it contain a bootleg copy of Batman?

What to do....

You know what I'd do...

Dawson said...

"I'm not saying i'm "legal". I'm just saying "try to find me"."

If you're smart, you won't be found. If you're smug, you'll brag that you can't be found. How deeply you cut yourself will depend on how much the latter tempts you to ignore the former.

Meanwhile, take such pride as you can in scurrying with the other rats who infest the wainscoting of society. You faceless, nameless ones whose purpose is to gnaw on the work of others, and whose legacy is to leave your hard droppings in public view.

Anonymous said...

Dawson said; "Meanwhile, take such pride as you can in scurrying with the other rats who infest the wainscoting of society. You faceless, nameless ones whose purpose is to gnaw on the work of others, and whose legacy is to leave your hard droppings in public view."

Very nice cutting prose. Great imagery that hits the mark like a mud brick in a wet sock.

Anonymous said...

Judging from the numbers of seeders and leachers on various major bittorrent sites, there are millions transacting hundreds of thousands of files world-wide.

"Social tsunami" comes to mind...

Anonymous said...

Quick let's hire more police!

Anonymous said...

mmmmm...gnawing on "Surrogates" now...tasty...

Anonymous said...

When someone like, Koohan Paik for instance, who doesnʻt have integrity or honor is told she doesnʻt have permission, this is what happens.

Paik is a plagiarist (calling her a journalist makes me want to cry) and a bad one at that. People like her are all over the place. Got to watch your back cause you never know what theyʻll do or say to cheat their way to recognition.

Not an original bone in her body.
Sheʻs got all the Ed Colls fooled.

Callingit.

Anonymous said...

rank politics explains the reason there's always a rush to defend the unethical actions of such unethical characters as Paik. If she'll fib to rob from her brothers and sisters in arms, what lie won't she tell to further her side in the public debates she engages in? Better to keep those little transgressions private than advertise to the world that her word is untrustworthy and thereby ruin her credibility and her usefulness as a polemicist.

Ed Coll said...

"Sheʻs got all the Ed Colls fooled."

EXCUSE ME! I don't believe I ever mentioned Koohan Paik. What are you talking about?

Anonymous said...

rank politics explains the reason there's always a rush to defend the unethical actions of such unethical characters as Paik. If she'll fib to rob from her brothers and sisters in arms, what lie won't she tell to further her side in the public debates she engages in? Better to keep those little transgressions private than advertise to the world that her word is untrustworthy and thereby ruin her credibility and her usefulness as a polemicist.

Of course this assumes that Joan is correct when she says Paik's "contention that my story and others were just being used as fill to get a sense of how the site might look is false. The stories were used intentionally to create a product that was going to be presented to potential backers" is correct. It seems fair to rely on Joan's account though since she is both a professional journalist and "close to the action" in this story.

Anonymous said...

Undoubtedly. Rely on Joanʻs version.

Because she has credibility.

Simple.

Anonymous said...

Credibility....yes.

Lack of bias.....eeehhhhhh....