Imagine a World without Free Knowledge

Posted on 18 Jan 2012 by Avinash Meetoo (Email)

Imagine a world without free knowledge! This is what is going to happen if the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) are passed by the US Congress and Senate.

Wikipedia has been blacked out for the next 24 hours to raise awareness on this important issue.

Some people believe that they can dictate what other people know. I believe this is wrong. People should be free to decide how to get, adapt and create knowledge.

Knowledge needs to be free!

Update: Google (in the US only…), Reddit, Wired, Mozilla and WordPress are blacked out too. Glory to them.

Posted in Education, News, Politics, Technology, Web | 8 Comments

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Posted on 17 Jan 2012 by Avinash Meetoo (Email)

Yeah. I know. Nothing beats the original. But this prequel (done 43 years after) is not bad at all. We watched Rise of the Planet of the Apes two days ago and we’ve been talking about the movie since.

The original was about earth being controlled by apes. This prequel explains how apes became more intelligent than humans and why (most) humans died. The apes look terrific. And credible (most of the time).

Character development could have been better: some of the actors and actresses did not contribute a lot to the storytelling and could have been edited out…

All in all, I give the movie a solid 7/10.

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Midnight in Paris

Posted on 12 Jan 2012 by Avinash Meetoo (Email)

Christina, the kids and I watched Midnight in Paris today and I like it a lot. Woody Allen is a great writer and a story teller. And, of course, his humour is contagious…

Update: I forgot to rate the movie. I give it 8/10.

Posted in Movies | 1 Comment