The Wizard of Waukesha, Lester William Polfuss has left the stage. But not before he gave us the Les Paul , the first multi-track recording, the world’s first commercially-produced reel-to-reel audio tape recorder and a lot of good music.

Your guitar – or at least a cheaper version – gave me countless hours of pleasure and joy. I would like to thank you for that.

Rest in peace, Les Paul. You made this world a better place.

Okay, so this is about a book I have been recommended to read by Karen Swim. No, I have not read it, yet. But I will.

The only reason I recommend it to you is because so far every book Karen recommended was a win. Not in the sense that I took everything in the books into my heart without any objections, but because they were thought provoking books. So this recommendation is a recommendation based on trust (RBOT for those who love acronyms).
So far what I know about the book is that it made the Top 20 in all books this week – or was that the last? – and is close to making the New York Times bestseller list for the week. What? Yes, I know that The DaVinci Code got similar rankings, which somewhat questions the value of these lists, but lets pretend that was a one time mistake.

This is book about stories, the power of the stories, and all the usual self search hassle you can think of woven into a story.

Standing on a mountaintop in Switzerland, Jeff thought he had figured out the secret to living a great life. Eight years later he was a rising star in his company and looking forward to the birth of his first child. Then it all unraveled. Follow his extraordinary journey as he discovers what he missed on the mountain and how to recapture his success at work and in life.

It is getting more and more difficult to tell anything new or original about these things – it’s not the fault of the authors, or the current age, the ancestors had a couple thousand years of a headstart you see -, and I am curious how this book tackles the challenge. I am sure it does well, I trust Karen’s judgement.

Also, Noah Blumenthal promised to donate 100% of his royalties from the bestselling week to the Miami Children’s Hospital, which I find a really good idea, and if for nothing else, you should buy the book for this reason – you can do worse than pay an author who actually gives back to the world.

And one more thing: watch the video of the book on YouTube – of course it has a video. Almost everything has a video.

The Wee Free Men. The Nac Mac Feegle. The ones who have been expelled from Fairy Land – after breaking up the place for the thousandth time. They steal, they drink, they fight, and are mortally afraid of their names being written down – ’cause of the lawyers you know. They are around 6 inches tall, blue and covered with tattoos of all kind, fast and strong – well, when you are small and you steal cattle, you must be strong, right?

You could say they are not the most likeable fellows – not to their face and not too loud though. Did I mention they like to fight? And they are strong? Right.

So, what can you learn from them? A lot. Especially on how they see life and the world around them.

“We’d best move on. We lost some of the lads.”

The excitement drained away.

“You mean they’re dead?” Tiffany whispered. The sun was shining brightly again, the skylarks were back..and people were dead.

“Ach, no,” said Rob. “We’re the ones who’s deid. Did ye not know that?”

No, I am not saying that we should think we are dead. I certainly feel alive. But please bear with me.

“Well, if you think you’re dead, then what are they?” she went on, pointing to a couple of small bodies.

“Oh, they’ve gone back to the land o’the livin’, ” said Rob Anybody cheerfully. “It’s nae as good as this one, but they’ll bide fine and come back before too long. No sense in grieving.”.

…

“But you are alive!” she said.

“Ach, no, mistress,” said Rob, helping another pictsie to his feet. “We wuz alive. And we wuz good boys back in the land o’the livin’, and so when we died there we wuz borned into this place.”

…
“You mean. you think.that you sort of died somewhere else and then came here?’said Tiffany. “You mean this is like.heaven?”

“Aye! Just as advertised!” said Rob Anybody. “Lovely sunshine, good huntin’, nice pretty flowers and wee burdies goin’cheep.”

“Aye, and then there’s the fightin’,” said another Feegle. And then they all joined in.

“An’the stealin!”

“An’the drinkin’an’fightin’!”

“An’the kebabs!” said Daft Wullie.

“But there’s bad things here!” said Tiffany. “There’s monsters!”

“Aye,” said Rob, beaming happily. “Grand, isn’t it? Everythin’laid on, even things to fight!”

Terry Pratchett – The Wee Free Men

Are the wee free men right? Or are they totally wrong? Who knows – we can’t state anything with absolute certainty about the Discworld -, but one thing is clear. The way they look at the world is refreshing.

There are nice things, just as advertised, it’s a kind of heaven after all, and there are bad things, worthy challenges for a real men. After all, if there were no monsters, no challenges to overcome, no fights to win, it is kind of boring. And if it is boring, it can’t be the heaven, right?

I am not saying that we should look upon every problem as a new, exciting challenge – thinking of war, famine, poverty, and such. But when you meet something more mundane, don’t roll over and play dead, whimpering softly.
After all, without having challenges, you won’t appreciate the moments when the wee burdies go cheep.

The ORG “Sound of Copyright” Conference that took place in the European Parliament last week is over, and there are concerns still, as news-mail I received today shows .

Consumer groups, musicians, academics and industry stakeholders, together with a cross party panel of MEPs, hit out at the “fairy tale” of copyright term extension at the ORG “Sound Copyright” conference in the European Parliament last week.

One by one speakers rubbished the proposal to extend copyright term as outgoing ORG Executive Director Becky Hogge pointed out that “All the evidence shows that the term extension directive will do very little and almost nothing to help the poor performer and everything to line the pockets of the world’s record labels.”

You can see the opening speeches by Becky (1) and by Pekka Gronow (2), sound archivist and professor of ethnomusicology at the University of Helsinki. Professor Gronow’s account of the conference is also available on his blog (3). We’ll update you with more video and speeches very soon.

(1) Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yzcm43pABBE and Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4_t9m6tRyI
(2) Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6T3D-HYnIAc and Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFtuGn2S74I
(3) http://blogit.yle.fi/node/2625

Next week the Legal Affairs (JURI) committee will likely vote to push the proposal to a full plenary vote in Parliament in March against fierce opposition (4) from the representatives of 42 consumer rights organisations (BEUC), 29 privacy and civil rights organisations (EDRI), over 650,000 library and information professionals worldwide (IFLA), ?ORG (UK), Consumer Focus (UK) and the EFF (US). ?With this in mind we urge you to contact your MEP (5) either in Brussels or at their home constituency and let them know why term extension should be rejected.

(4) http://www.openrightsgroup.org/2009/01/21/consumers-citizens-and-information-professionals-around-the-world-unite-to-condemn-copyright-extension/
(5) http://www.openrightsgroup.org/2008/10/07/make-sure-meps-hear-your-views-on-copyright-term-extension-get-in-touch-today/

MEPs are coming under increasing pressure from industry lobbyists now claiming parity with countries with longer copyright terms as a justification for term extension, despite the European Commission ?denying that ‘comparative advantage’with longer terms was a basis for the extension (6 – See P. 11, 12.). Show your MEP our cartoon “How copyright extension in sound recordings actually works” (7) and get them to sign our petition (8) and reject copyright extension!

(6) http://www.openrightsgroup.org/uploads/commission.pdf
(7) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kijON_XODUk
(8) http://www.soundcopyright.eu/petition

IP watch covered our event (9), and Cory Doctorow writing in the Guardian (10) echoed the chorus of concern and disapproval already voiced in international press from the International Herald Tribune (11) to the Financial Times (12).

(9) http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/index.php?p=1403
(10) http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jan/26/cory-doctorow-copyright-law
(11) http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/24/opinion/edbaldwin.php
(12) http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ba280756-ca07-11dd-93e5-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1

Our cartoon “How copyright extension in sound recordings actually works” has also been translated into French (13), Italian (14) and Spanish (15), with versions appearing on Facebook and Blip TV. Now reaching a total of 30,000 views it hit the top 10 most popular political videos in the week that Obama was elected! Tell your MEPs to reject term extension now! (16)

(13) http://www.framablog.org/index.php/post/2009/01/25/allongement-droits-artistes-musique-majors-europe
(14) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LprDgb8LFaY&feature=channel_page
(15) http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=gQkbwCugQdc&feature=related
(16) http://www.openrightsgroup.org/2008/10/07/make-sure-meps-hear-your-views-on-copyright-term-extension-get-in-touch-today/

If you can, try to contact your MEP and voice your concern – if you have – and urge him to represent your, the voters interest, not that of the Record Label Lobby.

What does it mean? Basically, they intend to double the term of copyright for sound recordings, extending it to 90 years – that’s about 3 generations.

That would mean that a song written in 1960 will not go into the public domain until 2040 – and you can’t make and copy your home video legally if in the background you can hear this music, for example.
Or, as is the case, you can’t get some of these legally until 2040, as about 75% of the music ever produced is not available commercially.

The Term Extension Directive has been condemned by Europe’s leading intellectual property research centres, studies proved it counterproductive and basically a bad idea.

Nonetheless, the European Parliament is going forward to vote on it – and if they have to choose between the no-name customer’s right or the recording company profits I think we can see the winner here.

Now, let me share with you an e-mail I’ve received from the Open Rights Group.

Dear Sound Copyright petitioner,
The European Parliament is set to vote on whether to double the term of copyright in sound recordings. Sound Copyright invites you to register your concern at an event on the proposed Term Extension Directive, on Tuesday 27 January 2009 in the European Parliament in Brussels:
http://soundcopyright.eventbrite.com/
This flawed Directive has been unanimously condemned by Europe’s leading intellectual property research centres. The European Parliament must address the mounting concerns of consumer groups and copyright users if they want a modern, workable intellectual property policy.? Please, if you can, come to Brussels and register your concern. If you can’t make it, please invite your MEP to attend on your behalf.

Looking forward to seeing you in Brussels,
Becky Hogge
Executive Director, Open Rights Group

===Sound Copyright News===
How you can help the campaign:

1. Come to an event on 27 January in the European Parliament in Brussels to hear academics, musicians and activists discuss the Directive with a roundtable of MEPs
   http://soundcopyright.eventbrite.com/
2. Invite your MEP to attend the 27 January event on your behalf (you can get their contact details here: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members.do)
3. Invite your MEP to sign the Sound Copyright petition
   http://www.soundcopyright.eu/petition
4. Ask your MEP to watch the Open Rights Group’s cartoon “How copyright term extension in Sound Recordings actually works”
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kijON_XODUk

===

Spread the word: How copyright term extension in sound recordings actually works
The Open Rights Group and animators Eclectech, whose work has included pieces for Friends of the Earth and No2ID in the UK, have produced a short animation explaining “How copyright term extension in Sound Recordings actually works”. Check it out at the link below and show your friends and your MEPs why term extension is a really bad idea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kijON_XODUk

===
Andrew Gowers hits out at “out of tune” term extension.
The former editor of the Financial Times, Andrew Gowers, hit out at the UK Government’s? suggestion that they should consider a copyright extension as “out of tune with reality”.? Gowers original evidence-based review for the UK Government concluded against extending copyright.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ba280756-ca07-11dd-93e5-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1

UPDATE: Unfortunately it seems that the set is set to private.

The only thing I did not really understand and like when Coupland started to write himself into the book. Himself as Douglas Coupland the writer, that scenes I found a bit unneccessary. But all the same, go ahead and read it. It is funny.

The other book, the one I just put down is Seth Godin‘s Unleashing the Ideavirus. A really good book, although I wonder if he would write it differently, if there are parts which he no longer agrees – I think probably, after all it was written 6 or so years ago. Also, I have to check out the website, maybe he writes the changes there. And checking out the other one, the Big Red Fez site, just out of curiosity.

And now, I am moving on to Fred Newell‘s Why CRM doesn’t work, which seems promising – well, our product has a CRM functionality along with rating and billing, so I think it won’t hurt reading the book.

I would like to know what books did the people at the company read about their job. I think it would be a good idea to put up a list of recommended readings on different subjects that are related to our job and products.

I just bought this pretty book from Margaret Mason, and read it in one sit – ok, one lay, I could not sleep and had to read something. I bought it just to see what marvelous ideas can be inside the book, but I have to say I was disappointed. The book is expensive if you look at the content, which is 100 blog posts at most. I know, I know, people have to pay the bills, but come on now.

First of all, the start of the book, the Dedication part put me in a rather sarcastic mood

For my husband, Bryan Mason, who is far superior to all other husbands, and indeed better than most people of all sorts.

Best husband I could ever hope for, ok. The best man in my life, ok. Far superior to all other husbands and better than most people of all sorts? Jeez, the holy family has arrived. Get real people. Tone it down a notch, love and adoration is one thing, placing someone on the pedestal and putting down everyone else as inferior is an other.

But ok, it is a book about blogging, she had to start with something that catches attention, and this certainly does. Now, the book must be good. Unfortunately, the style stays the same. Mighty Girl is a far superior blogger to everyone, and she tells you what to put on the web.

Ok, I am biased. After the Dedication part, her style gave me that impression. That’s why I included the above part in the review, so you can see the full context. Do a favour to yourself and skip the dedication page. Dive in straight away. Maybe I will read it later and will see her not as a condescending sage, but right now, I had that impression. Probably only the freshly gathered prejudice.

She does not care about what you had for lunch – except in idea 31, titled Dig in where she in interested in your dream lunch or any lunch you had and was memorable – but she cares about the content of your bag. And your love life. And your most embarrasing memories that make you curl up and cry. And your photos. Your whole life.

If I had to sum up her 100 ideas it would be something like this

Tell us everything about you, your friends, your family, with photos, videos, podcasts, scanned in letters and old emails. Hide nothing.

Someone on amazon.com gave a review that was quite to the point

It’s all about things she’d like to see in the blogs she reads and while I don’t spend hours each day reading blogs, I know I’d quickly get bored of a blog that had such ideas as posting your high school yearbook pics or the contents of your purse.

The book is great if you want to show the world all the things you usually keep to your friends or family or only for yourself. If you are not one who wants to give out every possible information about you – with photo of course, so your co-workers can recognize you and have a good time -, or who likes to be the subject of juicy gossips then unfortunately you just lost you money, this book won’t help you.

If you can get the table of contents of the book, then you have the whole book. Some of the ideas are good, but then, if you get to the point where you actually consider of buying a book like this, you probably don’t need it.

Save your $19.99 , or give it to a charity.

Folks,

I would have liked to keep this one quiet for a little while, but because of upcoming conventions and of course the need to keep my publishers informed, it seems to me unfair to withhold the news. I have been diagnosed with a very rare form of early onset Alzheimer’s, which lay behind this year’s phantom “stroke”.

source: www.pjsmprint.com

I hope everything will turn out better, although Alzheimer’s is not a thing that disappears like the flu.
On the bright side he is optimistic, and that’s always good.

Frankly, I would prefer it if people kept things cheerful, because I think there’s time for at least a few more books yet :o)

The best wishes for him.

What I really, really loved was the part under Examples: Stories framed around worldviews the worldview titled, and exactly I loved the title:

“I don’t believe marketers”*

Ok, I like the book, mainly because Seth Godin is marketer enough that I find some stuff he writes a bit disturbing – for the same reasons he describe under the bit called I’m angry -, but not marketer enough to make my skin crawl like it usually does. You know, from those snake-oil selling, “Our product is what your life misses” kind of marketers, who – you just know – tries to separate you from every last penny you have.

So, his words disturb me time to time for a little while, mainly because the same words are used sometimes by the other kind of marketer. Thankfully he goes on and deliberates on the meaning of his words. It occurred to me that maybe that’s when he takes me to the woods, but I hope not.

As a side note: the rain is pouring in Vienna, and I have an hour ’till my flight departs. Of course, there is not much to do, except buying stuff which I don’t need or buying food and coffee which I need for about 5 times the price you would pay elsewhere.

I think the main reason you can’t take your own mineral water to the plane is that you have to buy it for these ridiculous prices.

* And I read the fine print.