On June 20, an EU committee will vote on mandatory copyright filters
– the idea that everything that gets posted to an EU service should be
checked for copyright violations by a machine learning system that will
decide what gets published and what gets censored.
These filters don’t even exist yet; the closest we come is YouTube’s
Content ID, which Google created voluntarily, and which is notorious for
acts of arbitrary, incorrect censorship. Google spent $60,000,000
building Content ID, so that’s the table stakes for any new online
service.
That’s what makes the far right European parties’ support of this
proposal so weird. The big online platforms have increasingly been
deputized to police their users’ speech, and right-wing forums were the
first casualties of this drive, prompting the right to start its own
versions of Twitter, Reddit, etc. They were able to do this, in part,
because they didn’t have to pony up $60,000,000 for a copyright filter
(if you’re not politically aligned with the far right, you should still
be worried about this: when the FBI classes #BlackLivesMatter as Black Identity Extremists and the US government uses anti-terrorism tactics
against the Dakota Access Pipeline protesters, the ability of people
with unpopular ideas to start their own services if they are made
unwelcome on the big platforms has never been more urgent).
In a rare and extremely timely incidence of coincidental providence, one
of the largest partners in the far-right block in the EU, France’s
Front National, just had its YouTube channel “TVLibertés” deleted
because Content ID claimed it contained copyright infringement, a claim
disputed by FN leader Marine Le Pen, who called it “arbitrary,
political, and unilateral.“
The vote is in THREE DAYS, and if the FN MEPs reverse their positions (they are Marie-Christine Boutonnet @MCBoutonnetFN and Gilles Lebreton @Gilles_Lebreton)
then the filters will almost certainly die. If they vote for the
radical expansion of the system that just killed their own party’s
YouTube channel, it will probably pass, to their detriment and the
detriment of hundreds of millions of EU internet users.
From Washington, D.C., the rings would only fill a portion of the sky, but appear striking nonetheless. Here, we see them at sunrise.
From Guatemala, only 14 degrees above the equator, the rings would begin to stretch across the horizon. Their reflected light would make the moon much brighter.
From Earth’s equator, Saturn’s rings would be viewed edge-on, appearing as a thin, bright line bisecting the sky.
At the March and September equinoxes, the Sun would be positioned directly over the rings, casting a dramatic shadow at the equator.
At midnight at the Tropic of Capricorn, which sits at 23 degrees south latitude, the Earth casts a shadow over the middle of the rings, while the outer portions remain lit.
America’s health care is totally screwed up, Part Ten Gazillion: in many
cases, the medicines your doctor prescribes are cheaper than the co-pay
your health insurance charges, which means that if you just buy the
meds instead of charging them to insurance, you save money.
Which is terrible, but what’s worse is that many states have laws that
make it illegal for the pharmacist to volunteer this information unless
you ask (the insurance companies’ benefits mangers keep the profits from
this arrangement, and they’ve successfully lobbied for gag rules that
keep pharmacists from subverting it).
So remember: every time you bring an Rx to the pharmacy, ask whether you’d save money by paying cash.
Also remember: the US health insurance industry is not your friend and
should be put to death and replaced by a single-payer system that will
remove the profit motive from health care.
every time I see the words “Tolkien ripoff” in reference to fantasy I laugh, because while there’s a lot of Tolkien ripoff in worldbuilding it almost never crops up in plot or theme or characterization
like
where are my stories about the decay of the world from the glory of days gone by?
where’s the motif of limb loss?
where’s the longing for the return of something worth following?
where are the bloodthirsty oaths that tear sanity to shreds?
where are the evil spirits who try and destroy the gods with steampunk V-1 buzz bombs (looking at you, The Lost Road)?
where’s my continent-wide dialectical shift ending in massive arguments over the proper pronunciation of a name? where’s my family drama centered around sparkly rocks? where are my dragons the size of mountain ranges?
Tolkienesque Fantasy™: there’s a quest, the elves are bitchy, the dwarves drink a lot, farm boy hero.
Tolkien’s Actual Writing: absolute power corrupts absolutely, a little bit of power corrupts a little, to what extent are people responsible for their actions? does God/the gods really answer our prayers? and pacifistic undertones.
Also:
complex but ultimately unanswered questions on the nature of free will
reflections on the immorality of using evil means for a good end
a deep appreciation and affection, without condescension, for the ignorant and self-indulgent but generous and resilient hobbit society
antagonistic or morally weak characters portrayed as corrupt but profoundly pitiable and given mercy (Denethor, Gollum, Wormtongue, Isildur–also, at certain points, Boromir and Theoden)
a noblewoman who struggles with suicidal tendencies due to feeling misplaced in society, yet who is highly esteemed by her people and finds happiness by rejecting violence and accepting that her infatuation with another character was misplaced
no sexual violence (except that Wormtongue is implied to have lusted after Eowyn)
using a deus ex machina so skilfully and rarely that it enhances the story rather than injuring it
the fact that the hero has spiritual wounds that are explicitly stated will never heal, and he must abandon his best friend to go on to a different land
the Ring as emblematic of addiction in certain ways (I owe this observation to Tom Shippey)–one can even see that Bilbo never fully recovers, he still feels the allure of the Ring
a very much downplayed romance between a main character and a minor character that is really only explicitly mentioned in two or three passages outside of the Appendix, if I recall correctly
the Appendices which have detailed family trees and explanations of the Hobbit calender, among other delightful things
Look at this lad. Image: THX, Ltd.The Deep Note, the distinctive synthesized crescendo that is THX’s audio trademark, is one of the most iconic sounds in all of film. For the effects firm’s 35th anniversary, they’ve now shared the sheet music behind the sound.
thanks i hate it
how dare you i love it
I can hear this image and I’m crapping myself as is standard
