Sarah Lewis: The phenomenon of the near win.

Posted by RZ on May 6, 2014

Franz Kafka was so critical of his work that he wanted all his notes, diaries and sketches burned upon his death.

“Mastery is not just the same as excellence though. It’s not the same as success which I see as an event, a moment in time and a label that the world confers upon you. Mastery is not a commitment to a goal but to a constant pursuit…”

 http://sarahelizabethlewis.com/

Sarah Lewis’s book “The Rise” was published earlier this year.

“It is one of the enduring enigmas of the human experience: many of our most iconic, creative endeavors—from NobelPrize-winning discoveries to entrepreneurial inventions and works in the arts—are not achievements, but conversions, corrections after failed attempts.

The gift of failure is a riddle. Like the number zero, it will always be both the void and the start of infinite possibility. The Rise—part investigation into a psychological mystery, part an argument about creativity and art, and part a soulful celebration of the determination and courage of the human spirit—makes the case that many of our greatest achievements come from understanding the importance of this mystery. “

Judge Rules on Matrix Copyright

Posted by RZ on Apr 30, 2014

– Morpheus –

A judge has ruled that the Matrix film trilogy did not plagiarize the work of  Thomas Althouse.

Althouse claimed he had submitted a screenplay “The Immortals” to Warner Bros in 1993, and the Matrix Trilogy produced by the studio had infringed his copyright by incorporating ideas from his screenplay into the Matrix films.

He listed 118 alleged similarities in the Matrix to his own work.

Judge R Gary Klausner stated that the areas referred to were “too general for copyright protection.. or are commonly used, unoriginal ideas.”

The Matrix, written and directed by the Wachowskis is a science fiction action film set in a dystopian future with a storyline in which computer hacker “Neo” (Keanu Reeves)  discovers the world experienced by most humans is a dream world of simulated reality – “the Matrix”, created by sentient machines in order to subdue the human race, while machines harness electrical energy and body heat from them as an energy source.

 Other humans who have been freed from the illusionary world are involved in a rebellion against machines  – a rebellion into which Neo finds himself drawn.

Althouse claimed that his screenplay, set in the year 2235, in which CIA agent attempts to stop  a cryogenically reanimated Adolf Hitler from destroying non-immortals, was the inspiration for the Matrix films.

Judge Klausner ruled:
 “the only similarity in plot [was] that both stories portray a protagonist attempting to prevent a dominant group from oppressing and annihilating a subservient group”.

“The basic premises of The Matrix Trilogy and The Immortals are so different that it would be unreasonable to find their plots substantially similar,”

“Examining the protectable details in the two works, no jury could reasonably conclude that The Immortals has substantially similar expressions of ideas to The Matrix Trilogy.”

Other projects by the Wachowskis (formerly the Wachowski Brothers) since the success of “The Matrix”,  have included writing and directing its two sequels -” The Matrix Reloaded” and “The Matrix Revolutions” (2003),  “V for Vendetta” (adapted from the Alan Moore comic), “Speed Racer” a live adaptation of the Japanese anime series and “Cloud Atlas” based on the David Mitchell novel and co-directed by Tom Tykwer.

 The next Wachowski film “Jupiter Ascending” and their television series “Sense8” are both due for release in 2014.

“The Web We Want”

Posted by RZ on Mar 13, 2014

Global mass surveillance conducted by the US and other governments is “setting fire to the future of the internet”, Edward Snowden told an audience of technology innovators via video link on Monday

“You guys are all the firefighters, and we need you to help us fix this.” It was one of Snowden’s first live appearances since he arrived in Russia seeking political asylum. The Google video connection he spoke through was running through multiple proxy servers to conceal his location.

Snowden criticised the post 9/11 policy of the US which focused on breaking  communication security rather than protecting information. He also criticised the NSA’S mass data collection as being ineffective and a waste of resources. The agency should instead be focusing on the type of people who present a threat. He used the example of the Boston Bomber saying the security services would be much more likely to catch people like him if they focused  their efforts In the right areas rather than indiscriminately  hacking  Google and Facebook.

 Snowden ended his statement by saying “Regardless of what happens to me, this is something we had a right to know. I took an oath to support and defend the constitution and I saw the constitution was violated on a massive scale.”

Happy 25th Birthday: World Wide Web

At the same time,  Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the world wide web was celebrating the 25th anniversary of the birth of the internet by encouraging the public to take action and protest against government surveillance on the web.

“The people of the world have to be constantly aware, constantly looking out for it – constantly making sure through action, protest, that it doesn’t happen.” he said.

 Berners-Lee is promoting “The Web We Want” campaign which is calling people around the world to stand up for their rights for a free, open and truly global internet – with the drafting of a Magna Carta or Bill of Rights for the internet 

In an interview with the BBC he said:

“It’s time for us to make a big communal decision,” Berners-Lee said. “In front of us are two roads – which way are we going to go?

“Are we going to continue on the road and just allow the governments to do more and more and more control – more and more surveillance?

“Or are we going to set up a bunch of values? Are we going to set up something like a Magna Carta for the world wide web and say, actually, now it’s so important, so much part of our lives, that it becomes on a level with human rights?”

He said  the internet should be a “neutral” medium that can be used without feeling “somebody’s looking over our shoulder”.

Sign up via The Web We Want website  to support a Bill of Rights for the World Wide Web

The Web We Want

“Freedom of speech and belief and freedom from want and fear”

Sixty-five years ago, this vision was laid out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Today, we can’t achieve it without an open, universal Web. The Web enables everyone on the planet to participate in a free flow of knowledge, ideas, collaboration and creativity. And it must be nurtured and protected.

But now the actions of some companies and some governments threaten our fundamental freedoms on the Web.

In the last few years, citizens around the world — from Finland to Brazil, from Mexico to the USA, from the Philippines to Russia — have rallied to stop bad laws and build a positive agenda for a Web that empowers all of us. With your help, we can help these movements grow and win victories in every country.

That’s why the Web We Want campaign is calling on people around the world to stand up for their right to a free, open and truly global Internet. The first step: Drafting an Internet Users Bill of Rights for every country, proposing it to governments and kickstarting the change we need.

The United Nations is requesting an investigation into online surveillance. 

Be part of the movement that helps keep the internet a tool for the development of human rights, rather than a the tool of fascist government. – Sign up to 

The Web We Want

International Womens Day 2014: Inspiring Change

Posted by RZ on Mar 8, 2014

 Every year the United Nations chooses a theme for International Womens Day
This year’s theme is “Inspiring Change” other themes have been:

There have been many changes since the first International Womens Day in 1908, but there is still a long way to go.
Looking at a list of some of the earlier themes chosen by the UN for International Womens Day and noticing how many times “Violence Against Women” occurs is a reminder of how serious that one single problem is. That is before one even starts to look at equal employment rights,  the right to vote, property rights, the right to education, birth control and reproductive rights and many other issues of gender equality and human rights for women.

 – 2013: A promise is a promise: Time for action to end violence against women
– 2012: Empower Rural Women – End Hunger and Poverty
– 2011: Equal access to education, training and science and technology
– 2010: Equal rights, equal opportunities: Progress for all
– 2009: Women and men united to end violence against women and girls
– 2008: Investing in Women and Girls
– 2007: Ending Impunity for Violence against Women and Girls
– 2006: Women in decision-making
– 2005: Gender Equality Beyond 2005: Building a More Secure Future
– 2004: Women and HIV/AIDS
– 2003: Gender Equality and the Millennium Development Goals
– 2002: Afghan Women Today: Realities and Opportunities
– 2001: Women and Peace: Women Managing Conflicts
– 2000: Women Uniting for Peace
– 1999: World Free of Violence against Women
– 1998: Women and Human Rights
– 1997: Women at the Peace Table
– 1996: Celebrating the Past, Planning for the Future
– 1975: United Nations recognizes International Women’s Day

Inspirational Quotations for Women

“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.” 
– Maya Angelou

“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” 
– Anais Nin

“I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish that He didn’t trust me so much.” 
– Mother Teresa

“It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union…. Men, their rights and nothing more; women, their rights and nothing less.” 
– Susan B. Anthony

“A woman is the full circle. Within her is the power to create, nurture and transform.” 
– Diane Mariechild

“Most people who meet my wife quickly conclude that she is remarkable. They are right about this. She is smart, funny and thoroughly charming. Often, after hearing her speak at some function or working with her on a project, people will approach me and say something to the effect of, you know, I think the world of you, Barack, but your wife, wow!” 
– Barack Obama, “The Audacity of Hope”

“People think at the end of the day that a man is the only answer (to fulfillment). Actually a job is better for me.” 
– Princess Diana

“It takes a great deal of courage to stand up to your enemies, but even more to stand up to your friends.” 
– J. K. Rowling

“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” 
– Maya Angelou

“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” 
– Alice Walker

“Women have served all these centuries as looking glasses possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting the figure of a man at twice its natural size.”
– Virginia Woolf

“Somewhere out in this audience may even be someone who will one day follow in my footsteps, and preside over the White House as the President’s spouse. I wish him well!”
– Barbara Bush

“The fastest way to change society is to mobilize the women of the world.”
– Charles Malik

“A world without men would consists of a bunch of fat, happy women with no crime.” 
– Jennifer Love Hewitt

Rocket Raccoon: Are Marvel Comics the Bad Guys?

Posted by RZ on Feb 23, 2014

This week’s release of the first trailer for Marvel’s latest superhero franchise “Guardians of the Galaxy” appeared online and many predict the star of the series may prove to be Rocket Raccoon, voiced by Bradley Cooper.

Rocket Raccoon was originally created by one of Marvel’s best loved contributors, Bill Mantlo, in 1976. The character was inspired by the Beatle’s song “Rocky Raccoon”.  Rocket was one of the  animals on Planet Halfworld, an abandoned colony for the mentally ill in which animal companions for the patients had been genetically engineered to develop human IQs and the ability to walk on their hind legs.

Mantlo was a prolific writer while working at Marvel, in addition to creating his own cult favourites including Micronauts, ROM the Spaceknight and Rocket Raccoon, he contributed to the Spider Man, Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk series. 

Marvel’s most recent movie: Thor; The Dark World has made over $200 million in the US, and the studio could earn up to half a billion more when the Guardians is released in August this year but as Marvel owns the title, Rocket Raccoon’s original creator will not benefit from the anticipated success.

The injustice of a situation where the original creator receives no royalties or benefit when their creation becomes exceptionally successful is highlighted in this case as Mr Mantlo has been seriously disabled since a hit and run accident in 1992. His emergency treatment cost more than $1m, and as it dragged on, his health insurance provider became increasingly reluctant to provide the necessary cover. Finally, Mr Mantlo’s family was forced to sell his assets, including his precious collection of comics and memorabilia.

His family has struggled to pay his medical bills and he now lives in unsatisfactory long-term care at an assisted-living facility in New York. 

The owners of Marvel Entertainment certainly are no superheroes, having apparently not shown the slightest bit of support for an ex employee who made such considerable creative contribution to their company. Considering the fact that Disney bought out Marvel in 1999 for $4.24 billion one would imagine that at least a nominal donation would have been affordable at some stage. Apparently the Good Samaritan ethos of their superheroes has no place in their own business. Money has far more value to them than human life. Which makes them much more like the bad guys in the stories, than the good guys. (Micky might be hanging round with the wrong crowd as well)

Fans are using the latest promotional release to bring Mantlo’s predicament back into the spotlight.

Charlotte of Oz on Tumbler asks people to contribute at least the cost of their cinema ticket towards his health care and comic book writer Greg Pack gives details of how to donate directly

http://www.heroinitiative.org/

Nelson Mandela: The Giant Who Brought Light

Posted by RZ on Dec 10, 2013

‘He was truly one of the greatest human beings to walk this Earth.’  Archbishop Tutu

 Journalist Jon Snow recalls meeting the “tall, grey, beaming, energised” Mandela in 1990 and being moved to tears.

 “Somehow prison had purged him of pride. He was fascinated by everyone he met,” writes Snow. He kept asking me questions. At one point in that first interview I had to say to him: “Mr Mandela, it is I who have to ask you the questions, not the other way around.”

 27 years in prison meant Mandela had “missed the birth of the media age, he had never adopted a politician’s way of not answering questions,” Snow adds “In truth he never ever struck me as a politician, but as an exceptional human being.”

His Day is Done – A Tribute Poem for Nelson Mandela by Dr Maya Angelou

Students and teachers planted 5000 mangrove trees in the Philippines, 7 Dec 2013, in memory for Nelson Mandela.

His day is done.
Is done.
The news came on the wings of a wind, reluctant to carry its burden.
Nelson Mandela’s day is done.
The news, expected and still unwelcome, reached us in the United States, and suddenly our world became somber.
Our skies were leadened.

His day is done.
We see you, South African people standing speechless at the slamming of that final door through which no traveler returns.
Our spirits reach out to you Bantu, Zulu, Xhosa, Boer.
We think of you and your son of Africa, your father, your one more wonder of the world.

We send our souls to you as you reflect upon your David armed with a mere stone, facing down the mighty Goliath.

Your man of strength, Gideon, emerging triumphant.

Although born into the brutal embrace of Apartheid, scarred by the savage atmosphere of racism, unjustly imprisoned in the bloody maws of South African dungeons.

Would the man survive? Could the man survive?

His answer strengthened men and women around the world.

In the Alamo, in San Antonio, Texas, on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, in Chicago’s Loop, in New Orleans Mardi Gras, in New York City’s Times Square, we watched as the hope of Africa sprang through the prison’s doors.

His stupendous heart intact, his gargantuan will hale and hearty.

He had not been crippled by brutes, nor was his passion for the rights of human beings diminished by twenty-seven years of imprisonment.

Even here in America, we felt the cool, refreshing breeze of freedom.

When Nelson Mandela took the seat of Presidency in his country where formerly he was not even allowed to vote we were enlarged by tears of pride, as we saw Nelson Mandela’s former prison guards invited, courteously, by him to watch from the front rows his inauguration.

We saw him accept the world’s award in Norway with the grace and gratitude of the Solon in Ancient Roman Courts, and the confidence of African Chiefs from ancient royal stools.

No sun outlasts its sunset, but it will rise again and bring the dawn.

Yes, Mandela’s day is done, yet we, his inheritors, will open the gates wider for reconciliation, and we will respond generously to the cries of Blacks and Whites, Asians, Hispanics, the poor who live piteously on the floor of our planet.

He has offered us understanding.
We will not withhold forgiveness even from those who do not ask.
Nelson Mandela’s day is done, we confess it in tearful voices, yet we lift our own to say thank you.

Thank you our Gideon, thank you our David, our great courageous man.

We will not forget you, we will not dishonor you, we will remember and be glad that you lived among us, that you taught us, and that you loved us all.

The Day of the Doctor: Dr Who 50th Anniversary

Posted by RZ on Nov 23, 2013

 Exactly 50 years after Dr Who was first broadcast on BBC One, at 5.15 pm on 23 November 1963, the special 50th Anniversary episode went out – this time to a few more viewers than in 1963.

 The BBC broadcast the episode simultaneously to 75 countries as well as organising screenings of it at cinemas and big screens around the world.

 In its 50th year the series is watched by an estimated 80 million viewers in 206 countries and has been honoured by the Guiness World Records as both the longest running and the most successful science-fiction series in the world