Scott had a chance to talk with George Gilder about the future of the movies: “The cineplex becomes the home domestiplex.” The whole interview is available for download… [Technorati tags: ScottKirsner GeorgeGilder]

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Heather Green has risen to defend my honor because a story on podcasting in the NY Times yesterday attributes the quote “In the future, everyone will be famous for fifteen people” as a “podcasting maxim” rather than to me. Thank you, Heather.

But, my honor doesn’t need or deserve defending in this case. Here’s the comment I left in response to Heather’s post, which was title “Quote foul!”:

I’d jump in and grab the glory except for two points:

First, although I came up with the line independently, if you google it you’ll find a bunch of other people who came up with it independently before I did. Life’s like that.

Second, even if I knew that I was the first person ever to say those words, so what? Sure, it’s good to attribute quotations when possible, but it’s even better to let ideas be assimilated into the cultural body, and that doesn’t happen if people have to keep saying “As so-and-so said.” I’m proud to have something that I (and others) wrote enter the culture as a “maxim.” Cool!

Just to be clear: Had I known that someone else had said that line, I would have attributed it to him/her in the book. That would have been appropriate in that context. It’s different if a reporter thinks that it’s a phrase that’s been floating around for a while and attributes to a general purpose person.

So, thank you for the defense, and I’m sorry to have inadvertently led you to defend my honor when there is no honor to defend. At least in this case.

In short, if I were the referee, I’d say: “No foul. Fair play!”

One of the commenters tracks the phrase to a 1997 usenet post. There are a couple of other references as well.

Which just proves one of my other maxims: Nothing has ever been said just once. (By the way, there are no google hits on that phrase.)

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Newsweek’s Web site runs an interview with Rebecca MacKinnon about the complicity of US tech companies in China’s amazingly detailed suppression of the openness of the Net.

Rebecca also blogs about Newsweek’s sloppy characterization of her. As she notes, it’s not a big deal, except that the MSM keep telling us that they’re better than bloggers because they have fact checkers, they’re professionals, they get their facts right, etc. [Technorati tags: RebeccaMackinnon Newsweek China]

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Nat Torkington posted a short movie last week that combines bad language and adorable kids.

Yeah, it’s scandalous. A little. But I take it as teaching your kids that the power of these words is in the intention and use. In my family, if we’re talking about a curse word, I try to use the word without hesitation or embarrassment to make the same point: Kids can tell the difference between the “fuck” that’s the sound the possessor of a stubbed a toe makes and the “fuck” in a dinner-time conversation about words that haven’t evolved since they were invented. [Technorati tags: NatTorkington]

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Michael Geist writes about a couple of cases that demonstrate “the potential damage that can result from overbroad application of copyright laws.”

One of those cases affected the 14 people to whom a grocery store in British Columbia inadvertently sold copies of the new Harry Potter a few days before the book’s release date. The book owners obtained a court order preventing the owners from reading the book or talking about it.

It’s hard for my not-a-lawyer mind to understand how copyright can be used to justify a ban on talking about something, but I’m sure it all will be explained to me when I’m dead. And in hell. [Technorati tags: copyright MichaelGeist]

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The World Bank’s Information for Development program has a call for bids:

The consulting firm (hereby referred to as ‘consultants’) is expected to have expertise in development of management strategies, deployment of technology, and process services (including management consulting, design and project management) of municipal broadband networks, in developed and/or developing countries. Additionally, consultants with a proven record in the following areas will be considered: in-depth knowledge on public policy issues related to state/local/municipal governance; reputation and expertise in the above field amounting to 5 to 10 years of experience; high research capacity and ability to develop the Study and Toolkit.

You’d have 19 weeks to complete the task, at the end of which you’ll receive US$90,000 and one of Bono’s black t-shirts. (If you win, I of course get a 10% finders fee.) For more information, visit this pdf. [Technorati tags: wifi muniwif]

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As far as I can tell, our daughter Leah is right: There are no laws against jaywalking where we live.

I tried searching Massachusetts LawLib and couldn’t find any references to laws regulating pedestrians crossing streets, so I used the site’s “Ask a librarian” service, and within 12 hours got a terrific response that said,

Mass. General Laws chapter 90 section 18A, http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/90-18a.htm, gives cities and towns the right to regulation pedestrians. Some have chosen to do so.

She then cites Pittsfield and Fitchburg city ordinances. How about Boston and Brookline?

Brookline has bylaws prohibiting the riding of horses on sidewalks, and pages of laws specifying where newsracks can be placed, but I couldn’t find any that prevent pedestrians from pogo-sticking across the street in the middle of a block. Likewise, I couldn’t find any laws that use the word “pedestrian” in Boston’s city code except for a couple that regulate cars, not pedestrians. (Here’s a list of bylaws for Massachusetts cities.)

Now, IANAL (it stands for “I am not a lawyer,” not “I anal”). In fact, I don’t even know where you’d look for jaywalking laws. Maybe they’re legal guidelines, regulations, Papal bulls or ukases. Nevertheless, it looks to me that where we live there’s nothing to stop you from stepping out into the middle of Comm Ave during rush hour as a 70 ton trailer is headed towards you.

In fact, that’s pretty much how we nominate presidential candidates in this state. [Technorati tags: law jaywalking massachusetts boston brookline]

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The Boston Globe has an article today by Eric Ferkenhoff about the Encyclopedia Britannica‘s response to Wikipedia and other online resources. It seems to be primarily a PR effort: After a lapse of 10 years, it’s re-appointing a 15-person advisory board that will meet twice a year to “fine-tune” editorial content. Or, as board member Wendy Doniger (a professor at U of Chicago’s Divinity School) puts it in a phrase she probably regrets already: “We’re deciding what people are going to think.”

The board is more diverse than before, actually including three women (wow!) and members from all the inhabited continents except Australia*:

”The world has changed,” Doniger said. ”There has to be far more attention to the Third World, to women, to alternative political groups, to alternative literature, and things and ideas that weren’t covered by the old Britannica, which was a white male thing.”

All to the good.

By the way, the article cites Jimmy Wales as saying Wikipedia is going to add a new product that will take care of the problem that, because the site is live, you can’t rely on its quality. The article oddly doesn’t say what that Wikipedia is going to do about it. I assume Jimbo is referring to the the plan to have a “release 1.0” version of articles to serve as a standard reference, so at least you won’t have to worry that when you link to an article on bosons, someone will go there during the ten minutes when it’s been edited into an ad for Swedish penis pumps. [Technorati tags: wikipedia britannica knowledge]

*Sure, Australia may be a little slow, but it’s got a great personality.