In an interesting change of direction, a federal appeals court declared that the Nuremberg Files (a hateful anti-abortion site that i’m not willing to link to) is not covered by free speech, as it amounts to illegal threats. I’m intrigued by how limits on free speech are determined and what they mean long term, so i still can’t decide if this is a good thing or a bad thing. Certainly, i don’t want that site out there; but i also don’t want my speech limited. What are healthy boundaries?
The NYTimes printed an interesting article about sociology, written in response to David Riesman’s death.
[cypherpunk login for nytimes: c1ph3rpunk/c1ph3rpunk]
My research is on technology, privacy, identity, individual perception of self/community, etc. And while i know that i want to continue my education into my Ph.D., i have no idea what field i should be studying in, or with whom. Computer Science? Sociology? Media Studies? Communications? Anthropology? Information Sciences? Frankly, i find the whole separation of disciplines aspect of academia disheartening, confusing and utterly aggrevating. Of course, this gets magnified by what is considered valuable to fund (science of course, particularly military-related research). I find this quite problematic, as though there only valid ways of thinking are scientific. Not everything can be understood by measurement, and much of what can’t be measured is still quite valuable. Maybe at a core, everything can be measured, but we aren’t at that core and there are useful ways of understanding the world outside of that which can be measured.
The idea of a society that only values one train of thought is quite disturbing. The most intriguing ideas have always come from a combination of thoughts, a well-rounded perspective for thinking.
Thanks to Raffi, i’m now aware of a fun play going on in New York, where there are two different plays being run simultaneously with the same cast. The audience stays put and gets to see only half of the play.
[cypherpunk login for nytimes: c1ph3rpunk/c1ph3rpunk]
This makes me smile to no end. Aside from my love of Neil Simon‘s Rumors, i can’t help but be reminded of the crazy improv murder mysteries that i used to do back in PA with Troy & Erik and gang. There was a troupe of us; i was the young one. Troy would develop a plot line and the rough sketch of a play. We would get hired to perform at a particular venue (say a church), so we’d go to the church for a day, figure out which parts of the plot should happen in which rooms and layout the general timing of the play. When the audience arrived, they were told that they could either stay in one room or follow characters around the building (or a combination). As a result, no one ever saw more than 25% of the play. In the end, the audience would try to figure out whodunnit. They were fun hypertextual plays, with crazy twists and all too much fun. Of course, somehow, Troy always wrote my character as a seductress…
I’m sitting at work, coding away, when my partner-in-crime notices that subscriptions to his daily readings are going through the roof (gotta love scripts that mail you things, push media style). So, this means a plod through log files. Sure enough, CNN is doing a story on Star Wars websites and his Find Your Star Wars Twin survey is linked directly from there (mmm… personality tests).
Ooooh.. Raffi just posted a bitty note on using the packets that go across the ‘net to do interesting visualization/audiozation, creating the awareness for the general population. It reminds me of the silly things that i want to do… Take Social Network Fragments and start mapping out the entire population’s social network (since email headers are read by gov’t) and make people aware of what they know… I love the idea of packet-sniffing to create awareness/empowerment.
I just went to a fun talk by Bob Sabiston (Media Lab alum who is a software designer for A Waking Life) – what great fun to see how the movie was made, to see the ease in which the animators can create that look & feel. I have to admit i’m such a sucker for seeing how animation techniques work; oh, how i crave to go to SIGGRAPH this year…
In my mail this morning, i also got a fun rendering from Karrie, using a basic edge detection technique. I think that i look better sketchy:
I have to admit, i’m psyched that Vanilla Coke is coming out… I’m a sucker for MNC soda – all that sugar and carbonation… now that they are adding Vanilla, i don’t have to restrict my Vanilla Cokes to homemade or TGIFriday’s versions… (Yes, i’m quite a sucker for modern culture, complete with its stripmalls.)
On a related note and since we are in sequel movie mode, i’m quite psyched to see the next Matrix preview. I remember when the first one came out… I was in Amsterdam and when i came back, one of my friends (who has horrible taste) told me that i must see The Matrix, so i ignored him. Well, for once, he was 100% right and when i finally got around to seeing the movie, i was utterly stunned, because i was expecting so little. Unfortunately, this time around, i’m expecting a bit more.
Although i grew up embedded in advertising culture, i am sooo not thrilled with the various advertising tactics these days – on school buses, in the movies, everywhere…. I am a big fan of Pop-up Stopper but the silly advertisers are developing so many new mechanisms for forcing me to think about their product. Aside from being irritating, it’s offensive – constant interupts and crap. I really liked what George Ellenburg posted to politech (more inside)
Ok.. i need a stable emotion and mood. I am tired of living on the ultimate rollercoaster. It’s not doing me any good, or the people around me. I feel like an unchartered, unpredictable tornado, full of surprises, constantly shifting direction, grappling everything around me. Highs & lows, passive aggressive interactions, murderous desires, not healthy. I feel like i’m driving myself insane.
Luckily, tonite, there was temporary relief in the form of limited Jar-Jar for opening night – Yoda kicking ass (and hobbling off), atrociously acted love scenes, pretty CG (although terrible lighting and poorly done blue screening)… the works. And damnit, i want a purple light saber, like Monsieur Jackson had, although i’d prefer a few bible quotes… “And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my light saber upon thee.”
Wow – Brad Rutter, one of my high school classmates just won $1,000,000 on the special 4000th tournament of Jeopardy. What an odd flash from the past…
