[PLUG-TALK] Renting silent movies

David Pool pooldavid at msn.com
Tue Sep 17 16:31:01 UTC 2002


----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Heinlein" <heinlein at attbi.com>

> Good call. I live down in Gladstone, but the Clackamas County library
> system (now) has roughly the same web interface for online account
> management as Multnomah Co:
>
>   http://ipac.lincc.lib.or.us:81/ipac20/ipac.jsp?profile=pub
>
> I realized the other day that my oldest daughter (2nd grade) has never
> seen a silent movie. Since she and my wife are both down with a cold
> today, I thought a Chaplin or Keaton movie might be a nice treat for
> this evening. (I've got a hunch my 2-year-old will find it equally as
> hilarious.)
>
> --Paul Heinlein <heinlein at attbi.com>

I love the library. Last week I went through my "wishlist" on Amazon and
then I searched the library and found them all. So even though I couldn't
find Lawrence Lessig's book "The Future of Ideas" in stock at Powell's main
bookstore, I was able to have it delivered to my local branch for free. A
great example of an intellectual commons.

Great book too, I just finished it this morning. Lessig lays out a nice
analysis of how the old monopolies always try to defeat innovation. Along
the way he examines copyright, patents, broadband spectrum, cable/dsl...
within a historical context. A central theme being an attempt to shift the
debate from government control vs. market control to a debate between
control itself and a free commons.

Lessig's pretty bright and he makes a great argument, but it can be a
depressing read as he points out how many ways the US ignores the intent of
the Framers of the Constitution and supports monopolies like Microsoft,
Hollywood and the telecommunications industry. Oddly, he finishes by
championing Sen. Orrin Hatch as a defender of innovation.

David Pool





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