Gale Boetticher’s Karaoke Video And Noteook From Breaking Bad

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Gale Boetticher’s karaoke video and noteook from Breaking Bad

Backlink: http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/Wzg0wz-xb70/gale-boettichers-karaoke-video-and-noteook-from-breaking-bad.html

Ben Goldacre: bad science kills

Here's Ben "Bad Science" Goldacre presenting on how non-evidence-based medicine (that is, woo), can actually, no fooling, kill you and thousands of your friends.

Ben's book, oddly enough titled Bad Science, is great as well, and I highly recommend it. There's a chapter he had to take out due to litigation by a guy named Mathias Rath, who says vitamins can cure AIDS. Yes, you read that correctly. Ben posted that chapter on his website, and it may be one of the most important things ever written in the area of critical thinking. Lack of proper treatment for AIDS kills hundreds of thousands of people in Africa alone. Hundreds of thousands.

When people like Ben win, lives are saved. The more people who know about him, the better. He's a true hero of skepticism.

Some bad science can make you laugh, and some kills

 

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Ben Goldacre: bad science kills

Backlink: http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/P1eYo7Dq5Zc/ben-goldacre-bad-sci.html

New Zealand leak: US-style copyright rules are a bad deal

Michael Geist writes in with new leaks relating to the New Zealand government's deep skepticism about US pressure to change its copyright law. The US wants New Zealand to add protection for "technical protection measures" (also called TPMs, DRM, or digital locks). This would follow the US law that makes it illegal to jailbreak an iPad, rip a DVD, or move your Kindle or Sony ebooks to competing devices (interestingly, the US copyright office just suspended the restriction on jailbreaking iPhones for three years, having concluded that the US law that's being pushed in NZ does more harm than good).

New Zealand is one of several countries currently negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, a regional trade deal that the U.S. would like to see include a major chapter on intellectual property. A new leak of the New Zealand government's position on the IP chapter is revealing on several levels, most notably for its criticism of the WIPO Internet treaties and the attempts to limit existing flexibilities on digital locks.

There are several points worth emphasizing. First, NZ is clearly opposed to attempts to establish international norms on digital locks (ie. anti-circumvention legislation), arguing that countries should retain existing flexibilities on TPMs. Second, the NZ government recognizes the shortcomings of relying on digital lock rules, suggesting that the WIPO approach may actually undermine new business models. Third, it expresses doubt about the ability for digital lock rules to promote innovation. These are all positions that have been raised repeatedly within the Canadian context and serve to provide further evidence that support for the treaties is not nearly as widespread as its supporters claim.

NZ Govt Copyright Leak: Doubts Value of WIPO Internet Treaties, Supports Flexible Digital Lock Rules (Thanks, Michael!)

 

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New Zealand leak: US-style copyright rules are a bad deal

Backlink: http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/uDBwjz61q6I/new-zealand-leak-us-.html

Somerville wins bad sex award

Rowan Somerville took this year's "Bad Sex" in literature award, for the following passage in his novel, The Shape of Her. Often awarded to moistly verbose descriptions of the mechanics, this time the judges favored the Irish author's brief but utterly disabling similes.

Somerville wins bad sex award

Backlink: http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/0W1AAJLA8YM/somerville-wins-bad.html