Via @someofmybest (click)
Funniest home video? The repeating action of gifs like this speaks to me of futility — the futility of doing the same thing over and over.
– P
Farewell Aaron Swartz. RIP
Aaron Swartz pic by Sage Ross via Tumblr
I’m so sorry to read of Aaron Swartz’s suicide. Whether you know his name or not, Aaron Swartz made an impact — a ‘dent’. If you don’t, and you’re interested, do some research. 1
I offer my sincere condolences to those who knew Aaron and loved him, and those who mourn his death now.
Naturally, rightly, now there’ll be an examination of sorts of the US Dept of Justice prosecution against Aaron Swartz — a prosecution ostensibly brought about by his [allegedly] downloading thousands (millions?) of journal articles from JSTOR.
Read Lawrence Lessig on that here: Prosecutor as bully
Given the inept (among other things) US prosecution/attempted extradition of Kim Dotcom from our own shores, as a New Zealander I can’t help but look at the prosecution of Aaron Swartz with a jaundiced eye. (There’s a succinct summary here from the NZ Herald‘s David Fisher: Dotcom comes out fighting.)
– P
1 Perhaps start with this worthwhile obituary by Doc Searls: Losing Aaron Swartz with a good many links.
Update 1: Worth a read: The Truth about Aaron Swartz’s “Crime” by Alex Stamos
No Death Star under Obama
The White House has published a nice tongue-in-cheek response to a petition for the US Government to build a Death Star, specifically:
Secure resources and funding, and begin construction of a Death Star by 2016.
Here’s the response:
This Isn’t the Petition Response You’re Looking For
By Paul ShawcrossThe Administration shares your desire for job creation and a strong national defense, but a Death Star isn’t on the horizon. Here are a few reasons:
• The construction of the Death Star has been estimated to cost more than $850,000,000,000,000,000. We’re working hard to reduce the deficit, not expand it.
• The Administration does not support blowing up planets.
• Why would we spend countless taxpayer dollars on a Death Star with a fundamental flaw that can be exploited by a one-man starship?
…
Read on, it’s a hoot with references to the International Space Station, laser-wielding robots on Mars, and a President who knows his way around a light sabre. Riiiiight.
– P
Um, hello …
First swim back home in Auckland this morning and look what I saw near the tree where I stash my gear … a reasonably-sized stingray. (That’s my cap on the rock for scale.)
– P
Insane
Hostage Taking Not Like Regular Negotiating
By Jonathan Chait NYMag.com
Worth a read, not least for the refreshing line:
This is completely insane. The two parties disagree about the appropriate size and scope of the federal government. They don’t disagree about the debt ceiling.
Placing conscience above career
I’ve written before about my disappointment with the Obama administration’s persecution of whistleblowers … in direct contradiction to 2008 candidate Obama’s statements about the matter.
This article A whistleblower salutes Bradley Manning by Thomas Andrews Drake writing at Politico is a worthwhile read, suggesting as he does that Bradley Manning’s actions in exposing ‘the dark underbelly’ of U.S activities around the world demonstrate his allegiance to the US Constitution, rather than the ‘aiding the enemy’ charges he faces.
He also points out that Manning’s treatment in captivity is akin to torture.
Pfc. Bradley Manning, the 25-year-old soldier arrested in May 2010 for revealing documents via WikiLeaks, is a victim of this war on whistleblowers. I attended Bradley’s December pretrial hearing at Fort Meade, Md., in which the defense sought accountability for the unlawful pretrial punishment Bradley endured at the Quantico Marine brig in Virginia. For nine months, Bradley was held isolated in a 6-by-8 cell, and allowed only 20 minutes of sunlight and exercise per day, in violation of Navy instructions and also, as Judge Denise Lind this week determined, in violation of military law.
The U.N. Chief Rapporteur on Torture called these conditions “cruel, inhuman and degrading,” and any reasonable person would see them as torture. Brig staff knew that their actions were under intense scrutiny from three-star Gen. George Flynn and the Pentagon, leaving no doubt that the command structure exercised undue influence over Quantico’s “poor” decision making.
These are high stakes.
An informed citizenry is the bedrock of democracy. Absent transparency in government operations, the executive increasingly rules through secrecy and propaganda, shielding its conduct from the press and public accountability. By condemning and vilifying Bradley so extremely, the prosecuting authority Gen. Karl Horst, and others in the Pentagon and State Department have merely highlighted their misplaced priorities. The aggressive persecution and prosecution that Bradley has experienced are not the result of his connection to WikiLeaks; it is part of a larger pattern, and increasingly the norm for how our government reacts to whistleblowers and truth tellers. Dissent is the highest form of patriotism — and for that, I salute Bradley.
Read the article at Politico
– P
That’s what I’m Tolkien About
via the lovely Harriet T.
What a laugh!
– P
Is Android catching up? Maybe.
Interesting Gizmodo article* from a self-described ‘demanding power user’ of smartphones, describing a big jump in the latest version of Android … An iPhone Lover’s Confession: I Switched To the Nexus 4. Completely. (Leave aside the dumb ‘confession’ angle. They can’t help themselves.)
Ralf Rottmann is in love, he says in Gizmodo. (click)
Read his article and let’s talk.
I’ll wait.
Me? Still good with the iPhone, thanks. But I found it interesting to read Ralf’s reactions, especially his feeling iOS seems out-of-date in comparison:
… whenever I grab my iPhone for testing purposes, iOS feels pretty old, outdated and less user friendly.
User friendly is an important dimension. So, that’s news. I also like the sound of the colour-changing LED. I use the flash LED on my iPhone, and distinctive ring/text tones for specific people, and iOS provides for distinctive vibration sequences to communicate. But I liked the kinda Blackberry-like LED on my Palm Tungsten.
A commenter makes the point that if Ralf is so keen on customisation, he should ‘jail break’ his iPhone, which a lively community of geeks and enthusiasts has done since early days in iOS, benefitting from a wealth of open source and other tweaks I’ve never really wanted to experiment with.
I’m not a jaded pro-user like Ralf, so my priorities are different. No problem, no argument.
I think Google/Android has run up against the fragmentation of their ‘open’ OS for phones … I read the percentage of Android phones running even a relatively recent version of the software compares poorly to Apple’s iOS which has a smooth system for updates baked in, and a higher rate of uptake. Hence the ‘prime’ (Apple-like?) Nexus brand and this advice from Ralf:
What Samsung does with its TouchWiz modifications and many of the other tiny changes – and other non Nexus vendors, too – totally ruins the experience for me. If you’re coming from iOS I highly recommend choosing one of the Nexus devices with guaranteed updates and a clean Android environment the way Google envisioned it.
– P
* Ha! Sounds funny saying it.
‘Love’s the only engine of survival’
I had the pleasure of a long drive alone today — which gave me a chance to listen to some of my Leonard Cohen collection. Loved it.
This live version of The Future is not as sharp as the CD version, but still good. And lyrics to breathe in deeply. (Below the fold)
I’ve seen the nations rise and fall
Heard their stories, heard them all
But love’s the only engine of survival
– P
Lyrics: Continue reading →
Save this for when you need directions from Tokoroa to #Hobbiton
Maybe the staff got tired of giving directions …?
– P
All the best for the coming year
Best wishes.
– P
Pic: For those who prefer blue flowers. (Mudie St, Hutt Valley.)
A few more thoughts about honest debate
graphic based on an image at evolver.fm (click)
Occasionally I cop a wee bit of chastisement for being ‘reasonable’ — being open to hearing other people’s expression of their opinion without responding with immediate and trenchant denigration; acting as less of a ‘culture warrior’ than some of those who seem to try to frame any debate as a hillbilly feud, responding with knee-jerk ‘sledging’ or abuse.
“Could they be right?” Or “Have they got a point?” Or, at my best: “Ah, good. We see that differently. I wonder why that is?” These are my thoughts when confronted with alternative narratives or views of reality. (Best title of a book about how the news media works: Bending Reality.)
Taking such an approach doesn’t, by necessity, condemn one as “wishy washy” or a fence sitter, in my view, despite that cavil being easily deployed. I have come to detest reflexive hatreds and expressions of enmity, as I have expressed before in relation to political propagandists.
The lazy non-thought that sees much debate du jour easily and carelessly recognized (viz. ‘I’ve heard that line before’) and therefore easily discarded, or filtered and filed into traditional vectors: left vs right, bosses vs unions, tax vs spend, Luddites vs Progress … or any of the myriad other dimensions along which we routinely divide is seductive. But it’s usually unilluminating, akin to patrolling our psychological borders and castle battlements. (See JFK’s wry reference to ‘the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought’.)
Sure, there are times when a debate does naturally fall along a dimension like that — e.g. Charter schools, state asset sales, cuts to public broadcasting, or private prisons — but it’s nonsense (and wasteful) to affect to consign those with whom one disagrees (even those with whom one agrees about other things) to a no-good-thing-can-come-from-there scrap heap.
So, why bother with debate?
I’m used to rebutting arguments (third speaker in the school debating team) believe me, and can sometimes quite enjoy a debate or hot discussion. But, you may ask, why bother to argue, or to reason together with those whom we already know we disagree? Why reinvent the wheel? Why? Let me briefly give you my view, if you have time.
Writing
“Writers, really, are machines that convert caffeine into words.”
Eric Weiner quoted in The Washington Post
Via @evgenymorozov
Tariana Turia has made a mark
There’s a worthwhile profile of Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia in the Dominion Post today. Ms Turia announced her intention to retire before the 2014 election recently. I’ve always respected this thoughtful, courageous woman … who is much more than a politician.
I remember interviewing her during last year’s general election when her former colleague, off-shoot Mana Party leader Hone Harawira called on the Maori Party to “come clean” and declare their intention to coalesce with National after the election.
“First of all, we’re not dirty,” Mrs Turia said, deftly refusing to buy Mr Harawira’s spin, nor to let him define the bounds of the debate. The Maori Party would, she said, as before, wait for the election result and consult their support base about the path forward.
Mrs Turia has framed her own support for anti-tobacco legislation in terms of saving her people’s lives. And good on her. Maori are so over-represented in smoking statistics, death from tobacco statistics, something HAS to be done — despite the aggressive, squealing threats of the Big Tobacco death merchants and their gums for hire determined to spin their amoral “but-it’s-a-legal-product” line until their (and their customers’) last gasp.
I wish her well.
– P
Take it easy this Christmas.
Best wishes.
– P
Pic: One of the old Pohutukawa trees at my place. Its red signature appeared, suddenly, over the last few days. (I feel so lucky to live where I do.)
