Spudtater's Journal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-7EzqojmSg

Can't really add anything to that.

I'd almost forgotten about Singapore Airlines adverts...

Advert from 1980

Shameless. I remember seeing adverts like that on Hong Kong TV throughout the 90's. Even as a teenager I was well aware of the dubiousness. But surely they'd never get away with that nowadays?

Advert from 2007

Errr... that answers that question.

Peter Serafinowicz is nuts, in the best possible way. Just saw an episode of the Peter Serafinowicz show. On Catch-up TV. Is goooood.

Perhaps I should not show galaxy_girl00 this, though.   8^)

Just saw Crucify Me on't telly. Interesting. I was half expecting it to be a bit of a publicity-seeking stunt, but something about the guy's demeanor convinced me that he was intensely serious about the whole thing. I cannot for the life of me ever imagine wanting to nail myself to a cross, but I do totally understand the idea that sometimes, there are things that you have to undertake as part of your own personal spiritual journey.

As far as him finding his faith again, I can say in all honesty that I'm happy for him. He initially lost his faith in a negative way, and though he said that it was losing his faith that brought about his depression, I have to say that from what I saw I would think it was the other way about.

Because, no, I don't want people to be unhappy. This is one of the big negative stereotypes about atheists; that they're unhappy people who want other people to share in their misery too. And it's one of the biggest challenges for any individual atheist to turn an initially very negative set of concepts (there is no God to love and comfort you, death is permanent, life is unfair) into a healthy and positive attitude to life (including concepts of freedom, dignity, and potential).

How should I bring this ramble to a conclusion? On a personal level, a person's faith or lack of it is really not that important. It's more important that they have hope, and mental health, and face the future with a positive attitude. Everybody's got their own spiritual journey to make, and I can appreciate Dominik's... even if I have my suspicions that he may be madder than a sack of ferrets.

The BBC is planning four new services:

• Seven-day TV catch-up over the internet
• Seven-day TV catch-up over cable
• Live TV over the internet
• Non-digital rights management (DRM) audio downloads over the internet

...all of which will be available to people who have paid their TV licence. This is A Sign Of Progress and A Good Thing.

However, there is one snag. The BBC wants to use Digital Rights Management (DRM) to severely limit the usage of the shows that it is offering. Basically, shows downloaded from the BBC website will only work for 30 days after downloading. This is A Bad Thing.

Currently, if you like a show a lot, you can stick a tape in the VCR and record it. The BBC seems to be suggesting that that won't be allowed in The Internet Age. You can keep a show for a month, after which you have to shell out for a DVD copy of it. (And anybody who's tried buying DVDs of less popular shows will realise how ridiculously high the price is set at for them.) And never mind that we've already paid for their bloody TV licence.

Compounding this is the plans to use Microsoft's version of DRM. Which means that if you use a Macintosh or, God forbid, Linux, then you're not going to get any TV over the internet at all. Luckily, the BBC Trust have jumped on this and want the DRM to be platform-independent.

Far better, of course, to have no DRM at all. When content is restricted, people seek ways to avoid those restrictions. They buy pirated DVDs (and help fund terrorism crime) or they use file-sharing software. DRM just means that the only people who suffer are the overly honest.

When the music industry treated me like a human being, I reacted by spending my money on CDs. Sure, I would download a bunch of mp3s illegally, but if I liked them, I'd go out and buy the CD; the quality was better, and it would give me a warm fuzzy feeling inside. Then the music industry started flooding the peer-to-peer networks with broken copies and viruses. I was no longer a customer; I was an enemy, to be strongarmed into buying their product. So I found easier, more reliable, and better quality ways of downloading mp3s, and I stopped buying CDs from the people who so obviously hated me. In fact I haven't bought a CD in about three years.

That was a slight aside. Anyway, the BBC Trust has a public consultation of the proposed plans online. Whether you agree with my strongly anti-DRM stance or not, please fill it out. It's important that they hear from actual BBC customers, and not just from companies trying to sell more overpriced DVDs.