More from Free Culture:

So long as legislation can be bought (albeit indirectly), there will be all the incentive in the world to buy further extensions of copyright. In the lobbying that led to the passage of the Sonny Bono Copy-right Term Extension Act, this "theory" about incentives was proved real. Ten of the thirteen original sponsors of the act in the House received the maximum contribution from Disney's political action committee; in the Senate, eight of the twelve sponsors received contributions. The RIAA and the MPAA are estimated to have spent over $1.5 million lobbying in the 1998 election cycle. They paid out more than $200,000 in campaign contributions. Disney is estimated to have contributed more than $800,000 to reelection campaigns in the 1998 cycle (226).

This is a big problem, and not just with the copyright issue. We shouldn't really blame the companies, what they're doing is legal. But it's a bad system. If legislators have to think about the interests of their favorite lobbyists, then how can we expect laws that make sense for everyone else?

Well, I just finished reading the book on my PDA. I ordered a print copy because Sara wants to read it, too. In the end Lessig finally gives some concrete ideas on where to go from here. I'll post some of those soon, but next up I'll take a look at his thoughts on music file swapping.

So I left at 10:30 last friday. I had everything loaded up in my truck before my final, and left. My first stop was Chilocothe Missouri. I had to pee really bad there. Also after I filled up with gas, I got some ice cream at the Dairy Queen there. It was a large dipped cone, butterscotch. It was really good.

Then I hit the road again. I stopped at a rest area on I-29 and there I saw a midget. It was great.

Then I came to the first spot where I had traffic. Lincoln Nebraska. It was interesting. Not really and my post is really boring you all right now, so now I will just talk about cone gnomes.

I think that every state out there besides Utah believes in cone gnomes. I am sure you have all been driving down the street and then you see the signs for road construction. Then you drive past and there is absolutely no one working on the roads at all, but there are cones down the middle of the highway. This is where the cone gnomes live. They live under these specially designed cones that they place on highways, and when nobody is driving past at night, the gnomes come out and fix the highways. I am sure that Missouri, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Idaho believe in these creatures. Why else would they have miles of construction, and no one, at least no one you can see, working on the roads. Cone gnomes are what they use to fix the roads. Yes... Cone gnomes.

Also on a side note, I guess when I was at home saturday night I was shaking really bad. I didn't notice, but everyone else in my family did. I think it was the 5 Amps I drank that day.

Anyways that was my trip. I started my internship today. i think it will be a good summer.

My sister, knowing that I am a great fan of Kurt Vonnegut, sent me this essay. Vonnegut offers a refreshing perspective on current events, full of his trademark wit and wisdom. While he has said some things I have disagreed with in the past, I actually found myself internally yelling "Amen" to most of his points. Here's a particularly great gem:

"That chief and his cohorts have as little to do with Democracy as the Europeans had to do with Christianity. We the people have absolutely no say in whatever they choose to do next. In case you haven’t noticed, they’ve already cleaned out the treasury, passing it out to pals in the war and national security rackets, leaving your generation and the next one with a perfectly enormous debt that you’ll be asked to repay."

The article is full of such bits of wisdom. I particularly like his dismissal of the slightly-conservative/slightly-liberal political spectrum of America. I encourage everyone to read it.

Gunbound: Tonight at 9:30 Central time.

The punishment goes on forever!

Play GUESS THE MOVIE

Super Size Me was awesome!

The premise: a documentarian does an experiment - eating 3 meals a day at McDonald's for 30 days. He must supersize when asked, and he must try everything on the menu at least once. He makes continuous visits to doctors to document the changes to his body. He gains tons of weight, endangers his liver, loses his sex drive, suffers from depression, and more.

He also focuses a lot on McDonald's while looking into today's fast food industry, and the hot lunch meals at public schools. Let me tell you, if I watched this movie once a week, I'd probably be a better eater.

This movie was great. There were a lot of laughs and a lot of information. The artwork between each segment included some rather scary portrayals of Ronald McDonald. I really liked how the movie wasn't aimed at blaming fast food restaurants for people's obesity. It did ponder where the line is drawn between the corporation's responsibility to offer better foods and nutrition info and the consumer's responsibility to make wise choices. In the end, the conclusion is good: YOU need to decide who should die first - you, or fast food franchises.

Very entertaining. I'm glad I went.