A new mineral water created by a ‘water sommelier’ claims to be the first expressly made to match fine wine and dining.
via Beverly Hills 90H20, the first ‘crafted’ water launched – Decanter.
Beverly Hills 90H20, the first ‘crafted’ water launched
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What exactly is “piracy” in the digital age?
Spoo is not alone in observing that effective lobbying and public relations by powerful interest groups like the RIAA, MPAA, and AAP are moving public understanding of the purpose of copyright away from “the progress of Science and useful Arts” to the protection of the inherent property entitlements of creators, content providers, and rights holders. Alarmist arguments about the imminent collapse of the content industries are as old as the player piano (which music publishers insisted spelled their doom) and the videocassette player (ditto for the MPAA).
via What exactly is “piracy” in the digital age? – The Los Angeles Review of Books.
It is an irony commonly noted that the fiercest and highest-profile American crusader for expanded copyright protection — the Walt Disney Company — is also the most successful and influential exploiter of the public domain in human history, and certainly one would expect a corporation, a machine for making money, to be immune to irony.
Posted in Book Reviews
Tagged irony, public domain
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Inside a Hollywood heist
One measure of the true cost of these programs is whether states recoup their subsidies through increased tax revenue. A comprehensive review of the recent literature produced by states in 2009 (when these programs were at their peak) finds consistent, negative results. Connecticut got .07 for each dollar it gave away in tax credits. Louisiana looked at it twice and found it got either $.13 for $.18 for each dollar spent on tax credits. Massachusetts got $.16 on the dollar. Michigan got $.11 for each dollar. New Mexico got $.14, and Pennsylvania got $.24 for each dollar. Arizona received the highest return, getting $.28 for each dollar it spent on tax credits.
via Inside a Hollywood heist — Plain Text — Medium.
The problem with these programs goes far beyond the pain felt by those communities forced to pay for the promises made to lure Hollywood productions. They breed a culture of corruption and greed that moves beyond the type of honest graft that the MPAA is willing to claim, and drifts into a dark world of fraud and illegality that demonstrates how destructive subsidies that distort competition can become.
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Tagged economics, mpaa, tax code
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