Falklands . Whose rock is it anyway?

The Falklands are back in the news again. More than 25 years have gone since Margaret Thatcher saved her government with a gungho war in the South Atlantic.

Now, once again Argentina are pursuing their claim to sovereignty. Nationalism is being stoked again to lay claim to a few small islands that for twenty years or so were part of the young Argentina.

That they want them back, and that Britain wants to keep them is no surprise.  With the islands come undersea oil, and a claim to a slice of Antarctica.

Who did what 180 years ago seems a bit irrelevant... particularly as I hold that primitive view of land that it's really the people that belong to the land rather than the opposite.  The islanders are for better or worse the people that should decide.   ... And two nations greed for resources really shouldn't be a factor in making a choice. Should it?

Sharing is caring, Ideas are divine

I guess you may have seen that kopimism (Copy me ism) is now a recognised religion here in Sweden. 

The basic tenet seems to be that to share knowledge is sacred, and no surprise then that the church's 3000+ members see file sharing as a good thing. Now you may think that sharing knowledge is a strange thing to revere, but is it?  Is it more strange than believing in an all-seeing non-corporeal immortal that sits on a cloud casting thunderbolts?

If you want to think of something intangible and invisible that can live for ever and have huge influence over our lives what have you got?

An idea.

While you can debate the existence of god the idea of god clearly exists and has clearly had huge influence on mankind over innumerable centuries. Immortal. All powerful.

Ideas

On the bus

The new year finds me with a new phone and I've finally got the knack of working multiple windows on it so now just maybe I have what I need to blog on the go. Like now... on the bus

Good times?

"How can a world be good in which Money is the moving power, and Self-interest the guiding star? The wonder is not that it is so bad, but that there should be any good left in it."

H. Rider Haggard, 1887

The bard and copyright

The New York Times have a well twittered piece on the value of copyright - that has a central tenet the role that closed theatres had in Shakespears time in stimulating creativity.

The argument is curious as a basis for supporting copyright...  there was no copyright back then ... and the monopoly held by the Stationer's company is probably not a shining example of a system designed to stimulate creativity.  On the other hand you could point out that it was performance not writing that was the source of revenue and draw useful parallels to the situation today where live performance is proving increasingly important for artists as a source of revenue - including of course in the cinema where showings remain strong.

And as for their closing remarks on the fate of Shakespears Globe - pulled down by authorities in the 17th century to stem the flow of unsettling ideas reaching it's audiences?  Doesn't that sound more like a warning about defending an uncensored internet than a call to constrain it in the name of monopoly?

Gaiman on copyright piracy

I saw this clip on BoingBoing and couldn't resist copying it here.... Neil Gaiman explains why letting people take his work has been good for business.

Joining the Twitterati

Since #Cablegate hit the news I've been dipping into Twitter to catch the latest news.  At the same time I've been wondering about my blogging.  It seems harder these days to find the time to sit down and write - but at the same time there is lots of good stuff going on that I want to share.....

So now I can.  As from yesterday you can find me on Twitter ... @DiggersAll.