Sue sent me a batch of pictures taken by astronaut Sunita Williams. You can find more here and information about her mission here . Things look a lot more peaceful from a distance.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Nightfall on N. America
Privacy
"Each new heinous act will prompt government appeals for greater surveillance powers......in the ensuing dread and panic, a frightened public will grant those new powers." David Brin, The Transparent Society © 1998
"I worry about this participatory panoptikon more than I do private detectives or government spooks...What's happening is that everybody is now a tiny piece of one colossal Big Brother." Bruce Sterling quoted by Suzanne Stefanac
Almost everyone I know is tired of one-sided privacy. An example would be dealing with local government. (S.F.) After presenting various identification strings to prove your bona fides, you're refused a name in return. (policy) Climbing the inevitable ladder becomes more difficult without an initial rung. Your official records seem to be available to any government employee, of any ilk, but getting a copy for yourself, oy³! Yes, there are firewalls in place, guidelines du jour, and sunshine laws-o-rama, but without a lawyer at hand, access is only for the infinitely patient.
On a larger scale, cyberspace itself is privacy's death of a thousand cuts. I'm sure Obama's new computer security initiative will include autonomous editing bots, but I doubt they'll be available off the shelf at Office Depot. The best I can currently offer is: 1) Think first, then call, than think some more, then post. I do pay a monthly fee to keep this Verizon e-leash on my belt. 2) Push for some two-way transparency in government. If their so darn busy protecting my interests, give me a name and address so I can thank them. After all, they know where I live.
Personal Notes
Personal notes:
- My trip to N.Y., to see my niece before her wedding, is finally starting to fall into place. I admit it may not be green, but one of my favorite things to do is drive the back roads of upstate N.Y. in the early summer.
- I was in the library's magazine room yesterday (Saturday 3:00) and some whiz-bang decided to set the shelf of current newspapers on fire. The fire had a good start before another patron saw it, and with some help, she pulled the burning papers off the shelf and stomped them out. As far as I know, the perp got away. There is no need to wonder why my default setting is cynical.
- My friend, Geri Green, was slammed in print by Debra Saunders ( why I oughtta) A bragging rights bumper sticker is in order.
- A young lady down the hall has decided to sing a snippet of a song over and over. It's been three days now. The piece contains the tail end of a verse and the first part of the bridge. Unfortunately the second note of the bridge is a tad above her natural range. It's attempt number three million four hundred and thirty two thousand five hundred twenty six and she still hasn't managed to hit that darn note. Score: Enthusiasm 9+, Pitch 0.
- An e-mail from Carol Dauley this morning: As of May 22nd I am Carol Quin Dauley, now I just have to deal with DMV. It's not been fun with them. I couldn't be happier. Carol.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Media Sales Kit
I note the resurgence of a sales tool that's been around forever. Sometimes labeled epideictic rhetoric, sometimes disconnected logic, it's a favorite of political pitchmen of all stripes. I'll use the debate about teaching methods as an example.
The first premise is that all individuals learn differently. This is almost self evident. I have no trouble with manipulating strings of numbers, but spelling words correctly , no. ( thank-you spellchecker, thank-you dictionaries) The second premise is that ( insert group here) has to be taught in such and such a way due to shared characteristics. The disconnect is the movement of the specific to the general without logical cause. Moving from handwaving to more specific examples:
Since Retired Catholic Archbishop Rembert G Weakland has been accused of a cover-up, all the ecclesial hierarchy are engaged in a cover-up.
Since Rush Limbaugh is a goombah, anyone calling themselves a conservative must be a *%$#**......and so on. Moving from a single example to a disconnected general conclusion is the kind of lead-'em-by-the-nose thinking that PR. people love. Muttering about a counter example just proofing the rule ain't worth jolly-Jack. Lazy thinking is lazy thinking, and just because it's easy or common doesn't give it any added value.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Scribd
This is a first try. The code for embeding documents is a bit cranky. ( no, operator error isn't a possibility, I checked it myself ) A toggle in the right hand side of the frame will give you a full page view. http://scribd.com/Music Theory - Advanced
Gwaker
Recently, a lot of bandwidth has been burned because the vampire show, BloodCopy, purchased a look-alike link button at the bottom of Gawker ( or my preference, io9) Suddenly co-managed sites are deeply concerned about their credibility and promise to get right to the bottom of this controversy. The publicity is damaging! The public is tweeting their outrage!! In the interest of milking this puppy dry, I decided what the heck. OMG...The snarkors have become the snarkees and now they're all pooffity about it... Gr8 There, I'm glad that I got that useless piece of jangle out of my system.
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