The Great Martin Luther King Copyright Conundrum

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18 January 2012
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In Entertainment, History, Rights, Technology
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Believe it or not, to legally watch that famous Martin Luther King I Have a Dreamspeech — arguably one of the most hallowed moments in American history — costs $10 thanks to the twisted state of United States copyright law. In related news, happy Martin Luther King Day!

The news of how MLK’s most famous moment costs money to watch is not a new one. But given the dramatic rise of the issue of digital rights, thanks largely in part to the dramatic controversy surrounding the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), the story seems unusually prescient this year. Alex Pasternack, the editor of Vice‘s tech site, Motherboard, blogged about the issue on a few months back:

If you weren’t alive to witness Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech on the Washington Mall 48 years ago this week, you might try to switch on the old YouTube and dial it up. But you won’t find it there or anywhere else; rights to its usage remain with King and his family…

At the family’s Web site, videotapes and audiotapes of the speech can be purchased for $10 a piece. The family controls the copyright of the speech for 70 years after King’s death, in 2038

— via redwolf.newsvine.com

Nursing’s modern day miracle workers doing it tough

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11 January 2012
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In Health, History, Rights
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Welcome to the world of the Brown Nurses, an intriguing benevolent organisation unknown to most except those who require its services.

For almost 100 years, this unsung group of volunteers, sisters and registered nurses have gone about doing the work inspired by someone whom many Catholics consider to be a Sydney saint-in-waiting.

Based in Glebe, Coogee, Minto and Newcastle, they provide health, welfare and advocacy services to severely marginalised individuals and families.

Many of their clients are suffering the debilitating effects of mental illness, physical disability, chronic addictions or a combination of all three. Being on the Brown Nurses’ books is their last chance to live independently — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Housewalk + Ultimate Plus Weekend / Frank Lloyd Wright

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10 January 2012
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In Design, History
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Tickets are now on sale for the 38th annual Wright Plus — an internationally renowned architectural housewalk featuring rare tours of eight private residences designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and his contemporaries, along with three landmark Wright buildings. Participants will enjoy in-depth research of the homes’ history and architecture, including discussions of the original occupants’ lifestyles. Hosted by The Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust, the tour will attract visitors worldwide for an intimate look into the famous architectural styles lining the streets of Oak Park, Illinois on Saturday, 2 June — via ArchDaily

Look into the eyes of a rare ancient African sculpture

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9 January 2012
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In Art, History
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If they exist at all, most unglazed clay objects from ancient times are now rubble, mere fragments of their former glory.

This terracotta head, at around 2000 years old, is a rare exception. Excavated from a village in Nigeria, this is one of the best-preserved examples of its kind ever discovered. It is a product of the Nok culture that flourished from about 1000 BC to AD 500, when it mysteriously died out, and provides examples of the earliest figurative art in sub-Saharan Africa.

Archaeologists Peter Breunig and Nicole Rupp of the Goethe-University Frankfurt in Germany uncovered the head during the 2010 field season. It was found in Kushe, a small village about 150 kilometres north of the capital Abuja. Amazingly, this specimen was very close to the surface — only 60 centimetres down — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Navajo code talker dies in Arizona

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5 January 2012
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In History
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A prominent veteran of the Navajo code talkers who confounded enemy combatants in World War II by using the Navajo language as a battlefield cipher in the South Pacific has died, a veteran’s association said.

Keith Little, 87, served in the US Marine Corps 4th Marine Division in the Pacific and was president of the Navajo Code Talkers Association.

He died on Tuesday evening at a medical centre in Fort Defiance, Arizona — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Missing Episodes Recovered!

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12 December 2011
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In Entertainment, History
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Two classic episodes of Doctor Who — thought to be missing forever — have been returned to the BBC archive.

Episode 3 of the William Hartnell adventure Galaxy 4 and Episode 2 of Patrick Troughton’s The Underwater Menace were purchased by film collector Terry Burnett at a village fete near Southampton in the early 80s. He had been unaware that the canisters contained material missing from the BBC.

Thanks to the kind loan by Mr Burnett, the classic footage has been shown today at the British Film Institute’s annual Missing Believed Wiped event at the National Film Theatre in London. Host at the event was Doctor Who writer and actor Mark Gatiss who said: Christmas has come early for Doctor Who fans everywhere. It’s always wonderful when a missing episode turns up but it’s been years since the last one so to have two is just brilliant. Add to that a proper bit of action from the legendary Chumblies (and the horrifying Rills!) plus the utterly mesmeric Patrick Troughton on great form. Well, what more could we all ask for? — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Domesday Book put on touchscreen at Bletchley Park

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9 December 2011
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In History, Technology
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The first Domesday book was published on vellum in the 11th century. 900 years later when the BBC wanted to mark the anniversary of Britain’s oldest surviving dataset, they gathered a whole new clutch of information about Britain in photos, videos and text, and because it was 1986 saved it all on laser discs.

Unfortunately the laser discs of the BBC’s Domesday project have kept less well than William the Conqueror’s dried calfskins. Few machines can read the discs any more, so BBC have just refreshed how they store the cache of maps, pictures, stories, videos and comments taken from over a million people. They’ve set up a giant 52″ touch screen in the computer museum at Bletchley Park and loaded all “Domesday Reloaded” information on it in an app.

Unveiled today, the Domesday Touchtable will let four users at a time browse through the 50GB of info including 25,000 photographs. There are two Domesday Touchtables in the country – the second is in the BBC’s Manchester MediaCity campus — via redwolf.newsvine.com

British Library sprinkles digital dust on dusty newsprint

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30 November 2011
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In History, Technology
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The British Library and its commercial partner brightsolid opened up a pay-per-view online archive of newspapers today, after a crack team scanned 4 million searchable pages that mainly date from out-of-copyright papers published in the 19th century.

It was confirmed in May 2010 that the British Library and brightsolid — which is a division of FriendsReunited and Beano owner DC Thomson – would eventually digitise 40 million pages of old newspapers.

The library holds 52,000 national and international titles covering 300 years. Up until now, around 30,000 researchers a year have to go to Colindale in north London to scan through microfilm or hard copies — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Stonehenge finds hint at rituals far more ancient than the stones

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29 November 2011
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In History, Science
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Scientists using the latest in modern boffinry to peel back the layers of time report that they have made important new discoveries at Stonehenge, hinting that the site was already a very ancient centre of ritual when the stones were erected more than 5,000 years ago.

In particular, archaeologists are excited by the discovery of two pits on the ancient Cursus pathway near Stonehenge. When viewed from the mysterious Heel Stone — which stands alone just outside the entrance to the henge proper — these pits are aligned with the positions of sunrise and sunset at the midsummer solstice, arguing that they played a role in celestially-based rituals. It’s thought that the pits may have held large standing stones, wooden poles or totems, or perhaps been used for ceremonial fires — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Tintin auction fetches $2.4m

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28 November 2011
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In Entertainment, History
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A Paris auction of items related to Herge’s comic book reporter Tintin, whose adventures have been adapted for the big screen by Steven Spielberg, fetched more than 1.8 million euros ($2.4 million) on Saturday.

Auctioneers Arcturial said the sale, including costs, brought in far more than the one million euros they had expected.

The 856 lots up for grabs were equally divided between recent objects and older material, including some very rare items. In all, 85 per cent of the items sold in a packed hall — via redwolf.newsvine.com

North Korean prison camp survivor speaks out

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24 November 2011
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In History, Politics, Rights
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A North Korean prison camp survivor has given a rare testimony exposing public executions and starvation at the detention centre where she was held for 28 years.

Kim Hye Sook was aged 13 when she was sent to join her parents at the Gwalliso No 18 political prisoners camp where detainees were treated worse than dogs while carrying out enforced labour and being abused by guards.

Ms Kim, who was released in 2001 and now lives in South Korea, sobbed as she told a conference in Geneva how she was forced to watch public shootings and went without food to feed her brothers and sisters, who remain in detention — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Fix the economy, destroy the polity: Australia since 1983

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12 November 2011
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In History, Politics
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Many significant economic changes were effected in Australia after the election of the Hawke-Keating government in 1983. Both Labor and the Coalition thereafter supported a wide ranging program of economic reform. In this short paper I will argue that, without deliberate intent, this shared project has marched in step with a profound corruption of political life. Moreover, unchecked this is a development that threatens to destroy Australia’s hitherto robust democracy.

Since 1983, political conflict has increasingly come to focus on the short term. Opportunism and manufactured difference now dominate the argument between the rival parties. Public trust in politics and public disaffection from politics has grown. Without systemic change, this undermining of effective political and policy capacity can embed destructive cynicism and untrusting disengagement. It will cauterise citizen affiliation to the formal political system and our collective ability to respond to pressing longer term issues — via redwolf.newsvine.com

The only living master of a dying martial art

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31 October 2011
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In History, Weird
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A former factory worker from the British Midlands may be the last living master of the centuries-old Sikh battlefield art of shastar vidya. The father of four is now engaged in a full-time search for a successor.

The basis of shastar vidya, the science of weapons is a five-step movement: advance on the opponent, hit his flank, deflect incoming blows, take a commanding position and strike.

It was developed by Sikhs in the 17th Century as the young religion came under attack from hostile Muslim and Hindu neighbours, and has been known to a dwindling band since the British forced Sikhs to give up arms in the 19th Century.

Nidar Singh, a 44-year-old former food packer from Wolverhampton, is now thought to be the only remaining master. He has many students, but shastar vidya takes years to learn and a commitment in time and energy that doesn’t suit modern lifestyles — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Uncharted submarine wreck found off PNG

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27 October 2011
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In History
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The Australian Navy is investigating a wreck found off Papua New Guinea which could be a World War II submarine.

The uncharted wreck was discovered in Simpson Harbour by a New Zealand navy survey ship and Australian minehunter HMAS Gascoyne.

The area was known for submarine operations during World War II — via redwolf.newsvine.com

RAF makes Great Escape, the sequel

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27 October 2011
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In History
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A group of Scots RAF officers have recreated one of history’s most famous breakouts which was immortalised by film star Steve McQueen in The Great Escape.

Flight Lieutenant Mikey Robertson, who grew up in Stirlingshire, was one of six officers selected to travel to Stalag Luft III PoW camp and re-enact the escape of allied prisoners during the Second World War.

The team used records and artefacts for reference and were guided by original prisoners of war in the new escape attempt in the ruins of the German camp — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Strange tales from the Royal Society

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26 October 2011
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In History, Science, Technology
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The world’s oldest scientific academy, the Royal Society, has made its historical journal, which includes over 8000 scientific papers, permanently free to access online.

The plague, the Great Fire of London and even the imprisonment of its editor — just a few of the early setbacks that hit the Royal Society’s early editions of the Philosophical Transactions. But against the odds the publication, which first appeared in 1665, survived. Its archives offer a fascinating window on the history of scientific progress over the last few centuries.

Nestling amongst illustrious papers by Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin are some undiscovered gems from the dawn of the scientific revolution, including gruesome tales of students being struck by lightning and experimental blood transfusions — via redwolf.newsvine.com

How 18th-Century Copiale Cipher Was Cracked

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26 October 2011
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In History, Science
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Now a team of Swedish and American linguists has applied statistics-based translation techniques to crack one of the most stubborn of codes: the Copiale Cipher, a hand-lettered 105-page manuscript that appears to date from the late 18th century. They described their workat a meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics in Portland, Ore.

Discovered in an academic archive in the former East Germany, the elaborately bound volume of gold and green brocade paper holds 75,000 characters, a perplexing mix of mysterious symbols and Roman letters. The name comes from one of only two non-coded inscriptions in the document.

Kevin Knight, a computer scientist at the Information Sciences Institute at the University of Southern California, collaborated with Beata Megyesi and Christiane Schaefer of Uppsala University in Sweden to decipher the first 16 pages. They turn out to be a detailed description of a ritual from a secret society that apparently had a fascination with eye surgery and ophthalmology.

It began as a weekend project this year, Dr Knight said in an interview, adding: I don’t have much experience in cryptography. My background is primarily in computational linguistics and machine translation — via redwolf.newsvine.com

The Mojave Desert’s Airplane Graveyard / Ransom Riggs

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24 October 2011
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In History
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I thought it was a mirage the first time I saw it. I was driving through the wastes of the Mojave Desert, two hours from anywhere, when off in the shimmering distance appeared the silhouettes of a hundred parked jetliners. I pulled off and tried to get closer to them, but a mean-looking perimeter fence keeps onlookers far away. All I could do was stand and stare, wondering what the hell this massive armada of airplanes was doing here, silently baking in the 110 degree heat. For years afterward I’d ask people what they knew about it, and I kept hearing the same thing: the place has been on lockdown since 9/11, and they won’t let civilians anywhere near the boneyard. But last week my luck changed — I met a very nice fellow who works there, and with a minimum of cajoling on my part he agreed to take me beyond the high-security fence and show me around. Of course, I brought my camera. — via mental_floss

Obituary: George Daniels

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24 October 2011
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In Design, History
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Master watchmaker and horologist Dr George Daniels died on October 21st at his home in England. He was 85 years old.

George Daniels, who crafted 37 superb haute horology watches entirely by himself, was the inventor of the co-axial escapement, which was eventually purchased by Omega.

His impact on horology is of huge significance and he mentored another of the greatest watchmakers of the modern era, English watchmaker Roger Smith — via redwolf.newsvine.com

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