Linked List: August 2013
Tuesday, 27 August 2013
- Practical Typography ✶
- Why Shouldn’t You Work at the NSA? ✶
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Matt Damon as Will Hunting in Good Will Hunting:
Why shouldn’t I work for the NSA? That’s a tough one. But I’ll take a shot. Say I’m working at the NSA, and somebody puts a code on my desk, somethin’ no one else can break. Maybe I take a shot at it and maybe I break it. And I’m real happy with myself, cus’ I did my job well. But maybe that code was the location of some rebel army in North Africa or the Middle East and once they have that location, they bomb the village where the rebels are hiding… Fifteen hundred people that I never met, never had no problem with get killed. Now the politicians are sayin’, “Oh, Send in the marines to secure the area” cus’ they don’t give a shit. It won’t be their kid over there, gettin’ shot. Just like it wasn’t them when their number got called, cus’ they were off pullin’ a tour in the National Guard. It’ll be some kid from Southie over there takin’ shrapnel in the ass. He comes back to find that the plant he used to work at got exported to the country he just got back from. And the guy who put the shrapnel in his ass got his old job, cus’ he’ll work for fifteen cents a day and no bathroom breaks. Meanwhile he realizes the only reason he was over there in the first place was so that we could install a government that would sell us oil at a good price. And of course the oil companies used the little skirmish over there to scare up domestic oil prices. A cute little ancillary benefit for them but it ain’t helping my buddy at two-fifty a gallon. They’re takin’ their sweet time bringin’ the oil back, of course, maybe even took the liberty of hiring an alcoholic skipper who likes to drink martinis and fuckin’ play slalom with the icebergs, it ain’t too long ’til he hits one, spills the oil and kills all the sea life in the North Atlantic. So now my buddy’s out of work. He can’t afford to drive, so he’s walking to the fuckin’ job interviews, which sucks because the shrapnel in his ass is givin’ him chronic hemorrhoids. And meanwhile he’s starvin’ cus’ every time he tries to get a bite to eat the only blue plate special they’re servin’ is North Atlantic scrod with Quaker State. So what did I think? I’m holdin’ out for somethin’ better. I figure fuck it, while I’m at it why not just shoot my buddy, take his job, give it to his sworn enemy, hike up gas prices, bomb a village, club a baby seal, hit the hash pipe and join the National Guard? I could be elected President.
Monday, 26 August 2013
- The Wireless Commons Manifesto ✶
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The Internet’s value increases exponentially with the number of people who are able to participate. In today’s world, communication can take place without the use of antiquated telecommunications networks. The organizations that control these networks are limping anachronisms that are constrained by the expense and physical necessity of using wires to build their networks. Because of this, they cannot serve the great mass of people who stand to benefit from a wireless commons. Their interests diverge from ours, and their control over the network strangles our ability to communicate.
- Mesh Networks ✶
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There’s one in Rome, too: http://ninux.org/
Thursday, 15 August 2013
- Mailpile Taking Email Back ✶
- Lets Jailbreak the Internet ✶
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POSSE: short for “Publish (on your) Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere.
- 451 Unavailable Code ✶
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Help to shine light on Internet censorship.
Tuesday, 13 August 2013
- Q & A Edward Snowden Speaks to Peter Maass ✶
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Peter Maass: Why did you seek out Laura and Glenn, rather than journalists from major American news outlets (N.Y.T., W.P., W.S.J. etc.)? In particular, why Laura, a documentary filmmaker?
Edward Snowden: After 9/11, many of the most important news outlets in America abdicated their role as a check to power — the journalistic responsibility to challenge the excesses of government — for fear of being seen as unpatriotic and punished in the market during a period of heightened nationalism. From a business perspective, this was the obvious strategy, but what benefited the institutions ended up costing the public dearly. The major outlets are still only beginning to recover from this cold period.
Friday, 9 August 2013
- On Owning Your Own Data ✶
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See also: Schnail Mail - Free email for life.
PS. Given the previous entry, I realize this is ironic. I am working on moving off of Gmail.
Thursday, 8 August 2013
- Epicyclic Gearing ✶
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Beautiful animation by Mike Bostock. See also: World Tour.
Wednesday, 7 August 2013
- Common Pitfalls With Django and South ✶
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Looking forward to this.