EFF: Lawyer Trademarks "Cyberlaw" Threatens Legal Action

"I wish I could say I was surprised by this one, but such overreaching invocations of IP rights are all too common -- even where, as in this case, there are no actual "rights" to speak of. But an IP lawyer should know that courts...."

Yes the trend continues, some businesses want to own language and prevent others from speaking by misusing trademark law -- from freecycle to cyberlaw. See also: http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-bz.cyberlaw21feb21,0,1813223.story

read more | digg story

Obama: America must talk with enemies; Clinton won't budge

As the Democratic CNN/Univision debate kicked off Thursday night, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) faced off over Cuba, with Obama reiterating his position that America "has to talk with its enemies," with Clinton holding to an earlier position that no president should meet with Cuba's new leader unless conditions are met.

I believe that everyone should be willing to talk and keep talking. It is the only way to understand each other's position so that war, bloodshed, and terrorism can be averted.

read more | digg story

Wikileaks shutdown causes opposite effect

In an ironic twist, the "shutdown" of Wikileaks.org by Judge Jeffrey S. White and the company Julius Baer Bank to reduce distribution of certain documents has probably caused more publicity, focus, and re-publication of the alleged infringing documents than if the site had been left alone. Oooops!

For more details please read:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/19/us/19cnd-wiki.html
and
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080219/ap_on_hi_te/wikileaks_shutdown_2

Tour of California Prologue Was a Hit!

The prologue in Palo Alto, CA for the Tour of California bicycle race was very popular with large crowds, bell ringers, and even valet bicycle parking. Bicycling is obviously very popular in California. See the longer story from the "read more" link.

I was there in person too. I helped park bikes at the SVBC bike parking facility in down town Palo Alto and then watched the race itself and got a cowbell to clang for the racers. It was an amazing time.

read more | digg story

Consumer Reports

The magazine and web site provide the best independent expert advice for consumers in North America -- from money to health care to cars to consumer products. Their articles are not always perfect but they are far, far better than advice from just about any source (especially better than random anecdotes from friends). And when they make a mistake, they admit it and publish a correction.

read more | digg story

Sheldon Brown R.I.P (1944-2008)

Sheldon Brown, a legend in the bicycling community, passed away on February 3, 2008. He was a friend and will be greatly missed.

read more #1 | read more #2 | read more #3 | digg story

The Universe Is Conspiring to Help Us

Kevin Kelly is a guy who really understands the nature of giving. He says "I've only slowly come to realize that good givers are those who learn to receive with grace as well. They radiate a sense of being indebted and a state of being thankful." Please read his essay for more.

read more | digg story

Understanding How Good People Turn Evil

Philip Zimbardo discusses his new book "The Lucifer Effect" on NPR's "It's Your World". In this talk and book, Mr Zimbardo shows us "It's the system, stupid!" Many systems corrupt the otherwise good people within them -- from Genocide to Abu Ghraib.

This is a must listen (and read) for today's world citizens. Philip Zimbardo has really hit the nail on the head. This explains much of the behavior within The Freecycle Network and other systems that have taken good people and some how caused them to do wrong. It also is a reminder that we must all do more systems thinking. The notion that an individual (a scapegoat) is at fault is often wrong. It is too easy to blame an individual rather than look at the circumstances in which the person or people are operating.

read more #1 | read more #2 | digg story

Barack Obama's response to Bush's final State of the Union

Barack Obama's response to Bush's final State of the Union was well spoken. Not only is Barack Obama intelligent, rational and eloquent, I think he is going to be the next President of the United States. Barack has the magic as illustrated by the ObamaGirl videos and the http://www.youtube.com/WeCan08 video. Check them out. Barack Obama is a new man for a new age. He is on a roll.

Cheers,
Tim

read more | digg story

Clinton and Obama Positive Role Model in Debate

"In their Jan 31, 2008 presidential debate, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama debated the issues rather than deriding each other. They answered questions on health care, Iraq and even the possibility of an Obama-Clinton or Clinton-Obama ticket in the general election."

Now this is how all debates should be. Focus on the issues instead of berating the other candidate. It makes me feel much more positive about the future of our society when rivals can also be friends. It also makes me very inclined to donate to BOTH of their campaigns. I am very in favor of an Obama-Clinton or Clinton-Obama ticket. At this point I don't really care which one it is as I think either would be an amazing matchup that would accomplish wonders and turn world opinion about the US around.

President Bush has trashed the US's reputation as viewed by the rest of the world by being a hypocrite, bully, liar, and general bad example.

It's time for the US to turn this around. New positive leadership is a prerequisite for this.

read more | digg story

Afghan Student Sentenced to Death After Downloading Report

A 23-year-old student journalist in Afghanistan has been sentenced to death for downloading and distributing a report that is critical of the oppressive treatment of women in some Islamic societies.

My perspective: This is a tragedy and an outrage. It shines a poor light on Islam and on Afghanistan and on the US to allow such a thing. If a religion or government cannot tolerate the exercise of free speech, then it is too oppressive and deserves the ridicule it receives. It is most unfortunate that George Bush and his kind support this behavior by condoning this type of behavior and being intolerant of civil liberties.

read more | digg story