Julian Assange: My Work Will Not Be Cowed.
Julian Assange Speaks from his balcony in London, on December 20th, 2012.
Field Notes
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How Democrats have become blind believers like Republicans before them.
Glenn Greenwald wrote an article today about a recent statement that came out of the White House and made it to the New York Times this past Sunday. The Times article discussed how Obama’s team had hurried before the election to put into law some restraints on killing by robots, (by drone).
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President Obama’s Graceful and Fair Efforts on Thanksgiving.
It’s Thanksgiving so my thanks today are for Mr Obama, who over the past few days took graceful and fair actions when helping to forge an agreement to forestall the increasingly perilous fighting between Israel and Palestine.
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Implications for the Financial Markets: Using Brain Data from the iBrain.
An article on a new product, that uses a single channel EEG, to capture data when you think. It describes an input device that may have concerning impications in many sectors. One of the most worrisome is how such devices are already on the radar of large instituional trading firms like Goldman Sachs.
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A Game Changing Interface: Microsoft’s Windows 8 Operating System
Microsoft’s engineers and designers have now created one of the most engaging operating systems ever produced. But can they create a myth around it to make everyone feel like it is the first time they experienced the warmth of a bon fire with friends? Can they make everyone feel it’s beauty?
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Poverty as a Destabilizing Strategy.
Thought today: We talk of poverty being limiting, and constraining one’s ability to capitalize on one’s human potential, but we never discuss the intentional bestowing of poverty by those in a dominant class or position on those who the group feels is destabilizing to their continued control.
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In the late 1600’s, Leibniz understood the concept of Virtual.
“True substances were explained as metaphysical points which, Leibniz asserted, are both real and exact; mathematical points being exact but not real and physical ones being real but not exact.”
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The Dark Hole Where Bradley Manning Survives.
Michael Ratner, the President of the Center for Constitutional Rights, and one of the lawyers for Julian Assange believes Manning is being mistreated in prison, and that his case is being stalled, intentionally, in hopes that Manning will turn against Julian Assange, and in a sense, deliver him to the US Authorities.
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Julian Assange: Why We need the Architecture of Wikileaks.
Julian Assange speaking at a 2009 ARS Electronica conference, before he became a household name. This short excerpt simply reveals what is good and valuable about Wikileaks. It makes it unfathomable that anyone in a position to protect others, would want to silence this effort.
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Carrying Water
A wonderful and simple design for carrying water, called the Q-Drum. There are other versions, but this is one of the best, designed by architect Hans Hendrikse.
“Hendrikse’s Q-drum is a doughnut-shaped container that can carry up to 70 litres of water and can be pulled without strain by one adult or two children.” -
Film: Delhi 6
A film about the complexities within human communities and how fragile they can be. It is set in Delhi India. A young American with Indian roots returns to Delhi to accompany his grandmother on her final journey home. It interweaves media, religion, political power, family, fate, and the power of the dreaded black monkey…with stunning images and a beautiful soundtrack.
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Jeff Buckley: Interview About Working
I was not aware of Jeff Buckley’s work until today. I found him unexpectedly, somehow, as described in an earlier post I wrote today. Tonight I found this interview with him. It is brief, and well worth the time. He describes in simple terms, his way of approaching creative work. It is so clear, it… Continue Reading
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Remember, Don’t Forget.
“There is more in any human being to celebrate than to denigrate.”
—Albert Camus, from his novel The Plague -
Laws Expressive Value in Combating Gender Cyber Harassment
This is a wonderful article for the Michigan Law Review on gender and cyber harassment. It discusses how the impact and goal of the use of Cyber harassment on women, is primarily economic; that is to remove them from their careers or keep them from succeeding in their chosen fields. It also states that enforcement of cyberstalking is similar to enforcement of domestic violence 50 years ago; it is poorrly understood by law enforcement.
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Dogville
Dogville is a play on film. It is a philosophical story about the human desire to destroy someone whose only crime was to offer help and sacrifice. But the receivers of her gifts were not reflected well by her gifts, and so she became a pariah, the object of their hatred, and someone to be destoyed. In the end, everyone was lost, because she too, became a victim of her own weakness. Very complex ideas and thoughts on being human.