"I don't think the report is true, but these crises work for those who want to make fights between people." Kulam Dastagir, 28, a bird seller in Afghanistan
Dezeen » Blog Archive » Photographer’s Studio over a boat house on Stoney Lake by gh3
Topic: Miscellaneous
7:42 am EDT, Mar 13, 2012
Slideshow: this glass pavilion on the edge of a lake in Ontario, Canada, houses a studio, apartment and boathouse for a photographer and was designed by Toronto Studio gh3.
BBH Creates ‘Homeless Hotspots’ for SXSWi - AgencySpy
Topic: Miscellaneous
7:31 am EDT, Mar 12, 2012
Throughout the festival, BBH strategically placing homeless individuals around downtown Austin with cards that explain the Homeless Hotspots program. Should individuals find themselves in a WiFi dead zone, they can contact the person that gave them the card, and the person will find and provide them with a hotspot for the suggested donation for $2 per 15 minutes of service, with all proceeds going to support the Front Steps Shelter.
I can't decide how I feel about this. It seems like something William Gibson would throw into one of his novels in order to make world seem strange. More... Even More...
These folks obviously signed on to the project, and the cool thing is that their stories are front and center on the website. Hello! That's a great way to raise awareness for and debunk myths about their cause as well as the cause of many other homeless folks around the country. I'd rather see the money going to the homeless than temp goons hired to promote the hell out of so-called disruption. If you consider the alternative, it's a great idea.
People Aren't Smart Enough for Democracy to Flourish, Scientists Say - Yahoo! News
Topic: Miscellaneous
12:15 pm EST, Mar 6, 2012
The democratic process relies on the assumption that citizens (the majority of them, at least) can recognize the best political candidate, or best policy idea, when they see it. But a growing body of research has revealed an unfortunate aspect of the human psyche that would seem to disprove this notion, and imply instead that democratic elections produce mediocre leadership and policies.
Sometimes the problem is with your mathematical model.
Verisign seizes .com domain registered via foreign Registrar on behalf of US Authorities. » blog2.easydns.org - Happenings and observations
Topic: Miscellaneous
5:11 pm EST, Feb 29, 2012
But at the end of the day what has happened is that US law (in fact, Maryland state law) as been imposed on a .com domain operating outside the USA, which is the subtext we were very worried about when we commented on SOPA. Even though SOPA is currently in limbo, the reality that US law can now be asserted over all domains registered under .com, .net, org, .biz and maybe .info (Afilias is headquartered in Ireland by operates out of the US).
This is no longer a doom-and-gloom theory by some guy in a tin foil hat. It just happened.
The ramifications of this are no less than chilling and every single organization branded or operating under .com, .net, .org, .biz etc needs to ask themselves about their vulnerability to the whims of US federal and state lawmakers (not exactly known their cluefulness nor even-handedness, especially with regard to matters of the internet).
This was really cool last night - Mars is also relatively close to the earth - a very red jewel almost opposite the Venus/Jupiter conversion in the early evening.
MPAA's Chris Dodd Extends SOPA Olive Branch to Silicon Valley | Reuters
Topic: Miscellaneous
11:45 am EST, Feb 25, 2012
Some members of the media are spinning Chris Dodd's comments at the Atlanta Press Club regarding piracy as an "olive branch" extended to the tech industry. This headlining is clearly manipulative. Dodd joins the chorus of copyright interests who are accusing SOPA opponents of malfeasance:
Now, a few tried to disrupt this important debate with misinformation. They claimed that we sought to “kill the Internet” – as if the Internet were not crucial to our own business model. They claimed that we sought to “censor free speech” – as if artists the world over had not been on the vanguard of free speech for generations.
Despite their claims, these few critics are simply not interested in solving the problem of intellectual property theft – a position that may be explained by the fact that many of them profit from piracy themselves, through online advertising and search engine placement.
If you call that an olive branch you are either crazy or you are lying. Which one is Reuters?
The purpose of Dodd's speaking event is to encourage members of the press in Georgia to call their Congress persons and tell them to pass SOPA like legislation:
So if you believe that freedom of speech does not imply, and the ability to innovate does not require, a license to steal...if you believe that the men and women who work hard to make films and TV shows deserve to be fairly compensated for their labor...if you believe that these jobs are worth protecting...if you believe, as I do, that the content industry and the technology industry have more to gain from working together than from fighting each other – then I invite you to join this coalition and help us move towards a solution to this problem.
Get in touch with your representatives. Let them know that Georgia has a lot to gain from a thriving film and TV industry – and much to lose if we allow international thieves to steal our content and our jobs.
In other words, the Copyright Power is quietly lining up its chess pieces again so that it can go back to Congress and shove more censorship legislation down our throats.
Encouraging members of the press to call Congress is a particularly interesting strategy because the press is a special class of animal that is more equal than others - they are "opinion makers."
