12 Apr 2005
Copyright Reform to Free Orphans?

How refreshing: the government is actally taking a (baby) step in the right direction!

The authors of many great films, photos and music are long dead, but their works can't be seen or heard for fear of copyright violations. Now at last, the Copyright Office is researching how to return 'orphan works' to the public domain. By Katie Dean.

(link) [Wired News]

00:00 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

Talking Jesus dolls planned

I couldn't make this shit up ... and note the blue eyes on Junior. I'm surprised he's not blond. Maybe Hasbro should start selling 'GI Legionnaire', complete with the Spear of Destiny.

A talking Jesus doll is due in stores in May, along with versions of Moses and the Virgin Mary, according to a published report Tuesday.

(link) [CNN]

00:00 /Humor | 1 comment | permanent link

Beer giant threatens boycott over 'medicinal' grain

Damn! I can't stomach Bud, but I may have to buy one anyway! It's rare to find a corporate giant looking beyond the next quarterly statement, but the brewer of Budweiser is obviously staring extinction in the face. Imagine the lawsuits if this stuff got loose and into America's favorite brew and constipated every NASCAR fan who swilled a cold one!

But what absolutely amazes me if this tidbit:

Despite the concerns, the Missouri Farm Bureau has continued to support Ventria, which recently announced it was moving from Sacramento, California to Northwest Missouri State University. There it will become the anchor tenant of a new center for plant-made pharmaceuticals.

This despite a petition signed by nearly every rice grower in the state - all members of Missouri Farm Bureau. I gotta wonder how much cash and political favor is being passed around in some back room.

Anheuser-Busch Cos., the nation's No. 1 buyer of rice as well as its largest brewer, says it won't buy rice from Missouri if genetically-modified medicinal crops are allowed to be grown in the state.

(link) [CNN]

00:00 /Agriculture | 0 comments | permanent link