From BoingBoing: Michael Geist sez, “In recent days there has been massive new interest in Canadian copyright reform as thousands of people write to their MPs to express concern about the prospect of adding SOPA-style rules to Bill C-11. The interest has resulted in some confusion – some claiming that the Canadian bill will be [...]
From TorrentFreak: At a behind-closed-doors meeting facilitated by the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport, copyright holders have handed out a list of demands to Google, Bing and Yahoo. To curb the growing piracy problem, Hollywood and the major music labels want the search engines to de-list popular filesharing sites such as The Pirate [...]
Representatives of 21 of the EU’s member states, including the UK, have signed off on the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) – the European version of the US SOPA and PIPA rolled into one and cranked up to 11. Only Cyprus, Germany, Estonia, Slovakia, and the Netherlands have held off on signing the treaty, which [...]
From Boingboing: Michael Geist sez, Recent revelations that the content industries are demanding that Canada implement SOPA-style provisions into its copyright law have raised concerns the law could be used to target legitimate sites. Industry lawyers say there is no reason for worry, yet an analysis of the proposed law set against the claims made [...]
From BoingBoing:
Michael Geist sez, “In recent days there has been massive new interest in Canadian copyright reform as thousands of people write to their MPs to express concern about the prospect of adding SOPA-style rules to Bill C-11. The interest has resulted in some confusion – some claiming that the Canadian bill will be passed within 14 days (not true) and others stating that proposed SOPA-style changes are nothing more than technical changes to the bill (also not true). Given the importance of Canadians speaking out accurately on Bill C-11, ACTA, and the TPP, I’ve posted ten key questions and answers to sort through the claims. They point to the fact there is serious concerns with the bill as currently drafted and that it could get much worse if content lobbyists get their way.”
Ten Key Questions and Answers About Bill C-11, SOPA, ACTA, and the TPP
From Wired:
Ireland is soon to have a law similar to Sopa passed that would give music and movie companies the power to force Irish ISPs to block access to sites suspected of having copyright infringing material on them.
Irish citizens won’t have a chance to lobby their democratic representatives because there won’t be a vote on the law — snappily named “S.I. No. of 2011 European Communities (Copyright and Related Rights) Regulations 2011″ – in the Irish Parliament. Instead the law is being enacted by ministerial order because it is being prepared in the form of a Statutory Instrument.
The law could mean that judges can order Irish ISPs — such as Eircom and UPC — as well as mobile networks to block access to social networking sites where an individual user has shared infringing material.
The legislation was prepared in response to a court decision that ruled that although the rights of EMI were being breached by internet providers letting its copyrighted works be shared for free, the law didn’t have any way of addressing the situation — something that European law requires. It was hoped that the legislation might appease rights holders, but that hasn’t stopped therecord label from filing a lawsuit against the Irish government for failing to clamp down on music piracy.
From Lifehacker:
If you like to cook with scallions (aka green onions or green shallots) did you know you can keep the white root ends from purchased scallions in a glass of water and they will regrow almost indefinitely?
Household weblog Homemade Serenity shares how scallion ends can regrow in in a glass of water. Just put the root ends in a glass of water and put that glass in a sunny window. After a few days you should be able to begin harvesting the green ends of the scallions. Make sure you change the water every so often and cut what you need with scissors before cooking.
Putting Food By – Beef, Onions, and Vanilla | Homemade Serenity via Punk Domestics
From Lifehacker:
We’ve discussed how to season cast-iron cookware before, but for those folks really serious about maintaining their cookware, or who have money to spend on them, more than a few people suggest using flax seed oil to get the ultimate in non-stick, rust-protective seasoning and gorgeous shine.
The trouble with flax seed oil is that it can be pretty expensive, and difficult to come by, especially if you don’t have a health or gourmet food store in your vicinity. If you do, however, Instructables user noahw claims it’s the best way to season your cookware, and he has the shine to prove it. After doing some research into the topic, we turned up a number of people who agree, including an article in February 2011′s issue of Cooks Illustrated and this Sheryl Canter piece that inspired it. To use this method, you’ll need a few ounces of flax seed oil, a 500 degree oven, and a few hours to rub down the cookware with the oil, bake it in the oven. The process of seasoning is the same as using any other oil: Give your cookware a light coating on all sides with the oil, bake it in a hot oven for a half-hour, remove the cookware, re-coat it with oil, return it to the oven, and repeat the process several times (noahw suggests 4-7 times.) The use of flax seed oil reportedly offers additional protection and shine.
From Lifehacker:
iOS: (Jailbroken) If you have a jailbroken iOS device, you might have noticed that iBooks either crashes when you try to launch it or struggles to properly display books you purchased from Apple. A new version of the jailbreak tool Redsn0w solves the problem.
In order to get iBooks working properly, you have to reinstall the jailbreak on your device with the new version of Redsn0w (Windows download, OS X download). Plug your device into your computer and run the application again. This time, uncheck the “install Cydia” box and let Redsn0w install. Once Redsn0w updates your device, you should have full access to a working version of iBooks again.
Untethered Holidays | Dev-Team Blog via Redmond Pie
