Creative Commons Logos at MOMA

Posted on 2015-03-27 by arjaybe
Museum of Modern Art - CC0

Museum of Modern Art – CC0

Creative Commons logos are on display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York city. They are in a show of marks that have become ubiquitous in out modern culture. We all recognize these symbols, some more easily than others. The recycling symbol on many of the products we buy. The “at” symbol in email addresses. The “on-off” symbol next to the power button on our computers and other devices. And now the (cc) symbol being attached to much of our cultural media. MOMA has put on an exhibit of these marks, and announced that the Creative Commons logos are to be part of their permanent collection.

Creative Commons has posted an article on Medium.com, complete with pictures and a video, with nice detail about the organization, and about the creation and evolution of the logos.
creative-commons-logo-2
Quote from article:

“The Creative Commons logos are special and powerful symbols that speak to the origin and roots of the organization that created them. Creative Commons was founded in 2001 by Larry Lessig, Hal Abelson, and Eric Eldred to address a problem created by antiquated copyright laws in the U.S. and around the world. In an era where it was becoming easier to share works via the Internet, copyright law seemed to be moving in the other direction by increasing term limits and restrictions on reuse. Amidst this tension, how could artists, researchers, and other creators share their works widely and freely online without infringing on each other’s copyright? At the time, there was no way for a creator to grant blanket permissions for reuse, other than to hire their own lawyer to write custom copyright terms.”

Larry Lessig on the double-c:

“the multiple meanings of (c) doubled was important. If you create a question, you create a reason for people to try to listen.”

Go have a look, and see why I chose CC-BY-SA for Green Comet.

rjb

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Half Life

Posted on 2015-03-15 by arjaybe
Cover copyright Najla Qamber Designs

Cover copyright Najla Qamber Designs

SL Huang

SL Huang

Review – Half Life – SL Huang CC-BY-NC-SA

Available at Unglue.it, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo

Author’s website

Cas Russel is back, and she’s up to her old tricks, in SL Huang’s novel, Half Life. She’s still a thief, “retrieving” items for people, regardless of who actually owns them. She’s still a math savant, using her remarkable talent almost as a superpower. And she’s still a young woman trying to learn how to be a good person, providing it doesn’t interfere with business. When the story begins, she’s gone sixty-three and two-thirds days without killing anyone. She thinks that’s pretty good.

Half Life is the second novel in a series by Ms Huang called Russel’s Attic. The first one, Zero Sum Game, I reviewed here not long ago. She’s already working on the next two. In Half Life her protagonist, Cas Russel, finds herself up to her neck in trouble. Again. The novel is packed with action as she tries to work her way out of it. It would be easier if she didn’t have to factor in caring about people and what happens to them. That didn’t use to be a problem, but she’s trying to be a better person, which keeps adding unaccustomed complexity to things.

Even worse is the fact that this problem involves a child, and Cas has a soft spot for children in trouble. This interferes with her normally reliably rational thinking, making things even more difficult. It doesn’t help that this beautiful five year old girl isn’t quite what she appears to be.

If you like action novels and/or characters who develop and evolve, then Half Life is worth your attention. The beauty of its Creative Commons license is that you can read it first and decide later if you want to pay for it.

Go ahead and download it. It won’t cost you anything and you might find you like it.

rjb

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Sun Dogs

Posted on 2015-03-08 by arjaybe
Gopherboy6856 - Public Domain

Gopherboy6956 – Public Domain

Cloud of the Day – Sun Dogs

Many of the optical effects in meteorology, such as halos around the Sun and Moon, are the result of the way light interacts with ice crystals. Rainbows are a different matter. They’re the result of light reflecting back to you from inside water droplets. But sun dogs, parahelia in the argot, are caused by the refraction of sunlight (or moonlight) in tiny ice crystals high in the atmosphere.

Jud McCranie - CC-BY-SA

Jud McCranie – CC-BY-SA

Amble - CC-BY-SA

Amble – CC-BY-SA

Because light refracts about 22 degrees passing through ice, the sun dogs appear about 22 degrees on either side of the Sun (or Moon.) Because red light refracts the least and blue the most, sun dogs are redder closer to the source and bluer farther away. The Wikipedia article contains some interesting discussion of the etymology of the term.

The best time to see sun dogs is when a weather system is approaching. The first clouds to appear are the highest, cirrus. The form cirrostratus gives the best show, its thin, even layer of ice crystals creating a perfect canvas for the light.

Denali National Park and Preserve - CC-BY

Denali National Park and Preserve – CC-BY

All of the images are linked to their larger originals.

rjb

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