tired fools

Two things. First Anatomy for Beginners.

Last night I watched Gunther von Hagens cut open a guys chest, pull out his lungs, cut open his heart, all on TV. Having seen his plasticised exhibits in London, and missing out on his live dissection last year, it was great to find Channel 4 in the UK screening three dissections over consecutive days. This is what public broadcasting is about. The BBC should be embarrassed that it didn’t get there first.

Secondly, talking of the BBC, I’ve been watching a lecture given by Cory Doctorow (Boingboing, EFF) on copyright and DRM (digital rights management). It really is worth a watch for anyone who is remotely interested in IP issues, new media, or just life in the modern world, full stop. I say, talking of the BBC, because he mentions the vast archive of radio and television programmes that the BBC holds. This is a public broadcaster holding an archive of, already paid for by the public, material. We should be lobbying for its release to the web. The BBC site is one of the finest on the web, but has been under attack recently and expenditure on it is being scaled back. Apparently the Beeb are keen to release the archive but need external pressure and lobbying of the governors to see it through.