“Bill C-32, now making its way through Parliament, has a clause that will allow the free use of copyrighted material for “educational” purposes. Instead of, say, buying new textbooks, schools could simply hand out photocopies – or digital copies – of parts of existing ones. Think of the savings. If schools are no longer paying for textbooks, how can publishers keep publishing them?”
Tag: 11.05.10
Will This Week’s Election Lead To More Politically Conservative Movies?
“Conservative thinkers have been itching to figure out a way to loosen liberals’ death grip on Hollywood — or at the very least, make a persuasive case that the box-office success of movies such as “The Blind Side” prove that the public has a more conservative mindset than the show-biz liberal elite.”
Researchers: Applying Mild Electrical Current Improves Math Skills
“Scientists from the University of Oxford have shown that they can improve a person’s math abilities for up to six months. The research could help treat the nearly 20 percent of the population with moderate to severe dyscalculia (math disability), and could probably aid students in other subjects as well.”
Norway Tops UN List Of Best Quality-Of-Life
“Oil-rich Norway — with its 81.0 years of life expectancy, average annual income of $58,810 and 12.6 years of schooling — has now topped the Human Development Index (HDI) for all but two years since 2001.”
France Outlaws Discount Pricing for eBooks
“Last Tuesday the French Senate voted for a law imposing a fixed price on eBooks for sale within French territory – that is, just as with print books in France, everyone has to sell a given ebook for the same price. No discounting.”
Detroit Symphony Musicians to Picket Concert
“Detroit Symphony Orchestra musicians, who have been on strike since Oct. 4, have announced that they will picket Friday night’s concert at Orchestra Hall by jazz singer Dee Dee Bridgewater. The concert, part of the DSO’s Paradise Jazz Series, will be the first performance the players have picketed since going on strike.”
21st-Century Puritan Justice: Public Shaming Online
“Welcome to the new world of shaming, in which the ancient fear of public humiliation and ostracism (once a homely, low-tech business of the stocks and pillories) has become a high-tech tool to motivate and incentivize.”
Porgy and Bess to Be Refashioned as Musical
Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, composer Diedre Murray and director Diane Paulus are cutting and adapting Gershwin’s opera to fit a Broadway-style format; the result will open next September at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, MA.
Revisiting 19th-Century Toy Theaters
“Long before film and television, not to mention video games, legions of children stirred their imaginations and broadened their knowledge with toy theaters made of paper. … In their heyday, such playthings were standard features of middle- and upper-class nurseries and parlors.”
Why Bertrand Tavernier Puts Fine Food in All His Films
“The tremendous importance of food in France [is the reason] … I come from a civilization where a lot of very important things were said during lunch or dinner,” says the director, who grew up during postwar rationing.