FYL'z Brainz

If you don't know what SOPA is you clearly must be dead. The good news is that, at least for now, SOPA is dead. Now we can reflect on the idea of this legislation itself. Or, more accurately, how it is a big example of how the US Congress seems to have forgotten that they work for the people—the real live ones, not the imitation ones called corporations.

I did a bit of looking around in the world press about SOPA. It certainly made the news.

Last night I watched Thrive with Ana and with my niece. We were, of course, watching the version in Spanish which probably leveled out our comprehension ability. That is, I know the story and the technical stuff better than they but had to work harder to understand the language.

If you have seen the currently existing three Zeitgeist movies then you know most of the story. I say most because there is some interesting information in the beginning that seems to connect ancient cultures which surprised me.

A friend just sent me info about a new program with Bill Moyers. That's the good news and the information can be found at http://www.aptonline.org/catalog.nsf/vLinkTitle/MOYERS+COMPANY complete with a 30-second video blurb about it.

I always appreciated the work of Bill Moyers. Why? Not because I always agreed with his position but because he always made me think. As proof of concept the following quote appears in the 30-second blurb. "The opposite of poverty is not wealth. The opposite of poverty is justice."

While I don't know who said it, it did make me think.

To get you on track, take five minutes and watch this video. It is IBM's Next 5 in 5: 2011. A set of predicted technological advances for the next five years.

It is very optimistic and, at least for geeks, sounds pretty good. But, there is another side to it.

A friend sent me a link about Ron Paul's progressive appeal. It's a good read whether you think Ron Paul is a good guy or a bad guy. Even the comments are good.

I confess that the article has me thinking. There are lots of Ron Paul positions I disagree with. Serious ones. But, on the other hand, they are his positions now, in the past and in the future.

Project Censored (http://projectcensored.org) has a long history of telling us what is not news. That is, seemly important items that never get seriously addressed by the mainstream press.

Up front, let me say that I think information should be free. I even believe that if it was this would be a better world.. The fact that information is not free tends to support the divisions between rich and poor.

That said, how can we discriminate between peer-to-peer sharing that is legal vs. illegal? It just seems all too complicated. Even the rules within one country are complicated so what about on a global level?

My understanding is that in the US, using your VCR to time-shift a TV program is legal.

This article is about all the things the tumeric plant can do for you/us. The same publication recently had an article about what Marijuana could do (which I wrote about).

In the case of Marijuana we have the excuse that it is an illegal drug. No matter how bogus, that is the excuse there. In the case of tumeric there is no such excuse. The issue seems to be the usual—the FDA, clearly a subsidiary Big Pharma, has not and will not give it its blessing. Why?

I moved out of the US 9 years, 11 months and 4 days ago. It was right after than 9/11 thing. You know, the one where any attempt at a serious investigation into what happened gets derailed by the government. One major thing that has happened is that I have diversified my news sources. It doesn't take too long for you to realize that big corporate media in the US (and I will include PBS and NPR in this) are there to follow the party line. That is, to show you that your position is represented even though it may not be the most popular.

Well, give me a break.

Are we sold chemicals and patent medicines for conditions that can be be treated with marijuana? Is Marijuana safer? Well, probably.

Marijuana has already made inroads where there are no effective patent medicines such as AIDS wasting and nausea from chemotherapy. If it is effective in those cases, it seems that is more evidence that we are being sold a bill of goods in other cases.