2002-05-28»
Tue May 28 13:15:00 2002»
We come in peace. Hell, we come in packets.
You can now pre-order Zone 1 DVD’s of Koyaanisqatsi and Powaqqatsi! Only $22.49. If you haven’t seen Koyaanisqatsi, it’s about as marvellous and moving as an 87 minute Philip Glass minimalist soundtrack set to beautiful time-lapse photography of the natural world can be. Previously you could only get hold of DVDs by paying a >$100 donation to the film’s non-profit owners, the Institute for Regional Education. On the other hand, I’d like to see their planned sequel, Naqoyqatsi (‘War Time’) – so maybe I should donate, at that.
Comments Off on Tue May 28 13:15:00 2002
2002-05-25»
Sun May 26 04:11:00 2002»
So, after months of faffing around peering at different Wiki implementations, I’ve finally made my Big Decision. I’m moving all of commonhouse‘s wikis over to MoinMoin. It looks like the Wiki for me: extensible, a nice bunch of prepared macros, vibrant developer community, written in Python – plus it just hit 1.0.
My big questions, though, couldn’t be answered by staring at READMEs. I needed to know where I could hack MoinMoin to run many instances of different wikis off the one copy; whether I could keep all the data in the slightly weird places commonhouse likes to keep data. And could I easily copy the existing wikis over from the existing wikis we already run? To answer those, I had to install the little fella.
I did all but the porting of old wikidom tonight, in about an hour. The most idiosyncratic stuff I did by changing about four lines of code in moins_config.py, and some slight mod_rewrite fu. The rest was a breeze. Fun even.
Moinmoin has an XML-RPC interface, and I’m going to try to use that to port the old C2.com style wikis over tomorrow night. Then I’m going to play around with its calendar and blogging macros. Oh yes.
Comments Off on Sun May 26 04:11:00 2002
evenly matched, this battle is.»
So we all went to Baycon SF convention as part of my early conditioning prior to visiting WorldCon in September. I suffered only minor culture shock (primarily over the Sailor Moon ladies and a women dressed in slightly less than a sheet).
Then we went to watch Brad Templeton, chair of the EFF, get called a “motherfucker” by Harlon Ellison in a debate about copyright issues. Admittedly, Harlon’s primary critique of Brad at that point was that he was “looking at [Harlon] funny”. But he didn’t have much good to say about the Net either.
I channelled the whole thing to the scofflaws on “an Internet” (as Harlon called it in passing) via the #infoanarchy IRC channel. For those who like garbled transliterations, here’s the log.
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**** BEGIN LOGGING AT Sat May 25 20:08:01 2002 <b>wmf</b> hey malaclyps <b>malaclyps</b> i'm sitting watching Cory Doctorow and Brad Templeton duke it out with Harlon Ellison at Baycon! <b>wmf</b> awesome * malaclyps plays "Horns of Shatner" trek fight music shankar has quit (Read error: 104 (Connection reset by peer)) <b>wmf</b> Ellison needs a load of clue dropped on him <b>malaclyps</b> i'll be your SMACKDOWN commentator for the next 30 fist-filled minutes! shankar (~shankar@12-221-104-141.client.insightBB.com) has joined #infoanarchy <b>kherr</b> Cool, Ellison is awesome. <b>kherr</b> He's outdated in his thinking of copyright, but. <b>dnm</b> malaclyps: Over what? <b>jkl</b> hey dnm :) <b>malaclyps</b> over DMCA and "Son of DMCA" --- weirdly, Harlon's dead against the DMCA ... <b>wmf</b> doesn't he use it against ISPs? <b>malaclyps</b> because he says that it stops him suing AOL for allowing his text to appear on their newsgroups <b>wmf</b> ah <b>AccordionGuy</b>Send in the ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC <b>malaclyps</b> Wait - Harlon's revealed his Sith Master - AIiiiieee <b>Loki</b> Zerotheos "I pulled over a thousand feet of cat5 cable scraps out of my school's dumpster recently. A crimper and a few <b>Loki</b> handfuls of rj-45 plugs later, my apartment is a neon-blue rat's nest of network love. I have a cable going from <b>Loki</b> my fridge to my coffee maker just because I can!" <b>malaclyps</b> and Cory plays the "Brewster Kahle" trump card <b>malaclyps</b> Harlon mutters that Brewster Kahle is "arrogant", pots and kettles walking out in protest <b>malaclyps</b> it's a packed crowd tonight: lots of slightly overloud laughing and mullets in the audience <b>kherr</b> Where are you watching this? quinnums (~quinn@216.218.247.69) has joined #infoanarchy <b>AccordionGuy</b>Is cory bouncing around like Yoda? <b>wmf</b> aw, what a cute nick <b>AccordionGuy</b>Is Cory delivering pimp-slaps from a distance using The Force? <b>kherr</b> Crap, forgot to summon pizza. <b>malaclyps</b> Cory is doing the looking broody, pre-bitchslap preparatory yoda phase <b>kherr</b> Harlan Ellison isn't someone to mess with. I saw him verbally flay someone at a lecture once, because the hapless fool made a crack about Ellison's height. <b>AccordionGuy</b>Evenly matched, this battle is. <b>malaclyps</b> Harlon taking out the EFF, is. -- he's asking the EFF to get down that pirate that he and Jerry Pournelle are trying to hunt down <b>kherr</b> What's Pournelle up to these days? Does he still pretend to be a technology pundit? --- tvoj_gone is now known as tvoj <b>malaclyps</b> www.jerrypournelle.com <b>malaclyps</b> Harlon says that the EFF is the "police" <b>wmf</b> no, the Police put out much better music <b>malaclyps</b> Cory points out that they're a "free speech" organisation <b>kherr</b> Augh, the Chaos Manor lives. <b>quinnums</b> i'm just logging in to find out what's going on in this conference <b>malaclyps</b> Harlon is accusing the *EFF* of "shooting off their mouths". Pot and kettle form legal copyright action against him. <b>quinnums</b> <antinews> wow this harlan guy is looney as a koot</antinews> <b>Loki</b> anyone got a url to this ellison thing? <b>malaclyps</b> brrr-proot fruit the crazyman said <b>malaclyps</b> Harlon sez: make citizen arrests of copyright pirates <b>quinnums</b> <a href="http://216.239.51.100/search?q=cache:57-zmkKwAyoC:harlanellison.com/KICK/kick_rls.rtf+citizen+513&hl=en">harlon stuff here</a> <b>Loki</b> ugh <b>Loki</b> that url is WAY ugly. <b>malaclyps</b> google cache * tvoj thinks he came back home just in time <b>kherr</b> Sigh. He's such a good writer, but he's so wrong about this. <b>quinnums</b> its the eff's fault that people violate copyright, cause they could stop it, cause they are smarter than him about electronics <b>wmf</b> lol! <b>tvoj</b> heh ellison mentions me in his statment: <b>tvoj</b> "...WHEN LITTLE INTERNET THIEVES, RODENTS WITHOUT ETHIC OR UNDERSTANDING, STEA..." <b>malaclyps</b> tvoj: oh, *you're* that russian pirate, huh <b>quinnums</b> brad blamed him for a child's death in africa, but harlan got out of it <b>tvoj</b> no, I am The Vole of Justice <b>quinnums</b> he said that no, he adopted umbawe and he's doing very well now <b>silentfury</b> I'd tell that guy he should be put in a mental institution <b>silentfury</b> putting people in jail over copyright vs violent crimes? <b>silentfury</b> "Mr. Ellison, do you think that rapists should get less time in jail than people who violate copyright?" <b>tvoj</b> that is a rather looney rant <b>quinnums</b> oh, it's so far before even that <b>tvoj</b> for one thing, he's screaming in ALL CAPS. he belongs on AOL. <b>silentfury</b> the trick is to show how much of a lunatic he really is <b>quinnums</b> i wanna know how much money harland thinks he's lost to copyright violation <b>quinnums</b> that not a trick <b>dnm</b> malaclyps: Where is this? What is this? <b>quinnums</b> it's not even worthwhile to do anymore <b>silentfury</b> "Mr. Ellison, do you believe that murderers should get less time in jail than copyright violators? <b>wmf</b> <b>malaclyps</b> i'm sitting watching Cory Doctorow and Brad Templeton duke it out <b>wmf</b> with Harlon Ellison at Baycon! <b>tvoj</b> what's happening now malaclyps? <b>dnm</b> I am not hip with the Baycon. WTF is it? <b>quinnums</b> everyone knows what an idiot/asshole ellison is <b>wmf</b> I'm guessing it's a sci-fi convention <b>dnm</b> He writes decent stories. <b>quinnums</b> yes, he does <b>malaclyps</b> kinda dull questions from the audience <b>tvoj</b> yeah it's a big annual scifi convention stevej has quit ("gotta run. bbl") <b>dnm</b> malaclyps: Who is left on the panel or whatever to answer questions? <b>silentfury</b> yea but you need to keep emphasizing how looney he is <b>malaclyps</b> someone made good answer to Harlon who says that techies should hunt down copyright infringers - pointed out that <b>quinnums</b> and has a hard time getting them published cause he's alienated half the publishing industry <b>silentfury</b> otherwise ppl forget. <b>malaclyps</b> they've been trying to hunt down spammers, unsuccessfully <b>dnm</b> quinnums: Funny, that. <b>kherr</b> Ellison is actually pretty cool. Remember that he was effectively banned by Spiro Agnew. <b>malaclyps</b> dnm: panel is = harlon, brad templeton chair of eff, laura majerus who is a IP lawyer, cory <b>silentfury</b> I've spoken with Brad before <b>silentfury</b> very cool guy. <b>dnm</b> What I want to know is 1) Where's Ray Bradbury to call the Internet a pinball machine when we need him, and 2) "Where are the Snowdens of yesteryear"? <b>kherr</b> He's just really wrong about copyright. <b>malaclyps</b> and an academic moderator (who seems weirdly biased toward the harlon viewpoint) <b>dnm</b> malaclyps: Has Cory (or anyone else) talked about ebooks yet? <b>silentfury</b> just get harlon to say that rapists should get less time in jail than copyright violators <b>quinnums</b> he's also a genuinely mean person a lot of the time, and another notorious sci-fi misogenist <b>malaclyps</b> Lara already said that it's weird that there's no *anti*copyright people on stage <b>silentfury</b> now that would be icing on the cake. <b>malaclyps</b> dnm: not yet <b>dnm</b> Is anyone really anti-copyright? I'm not, I don't think. <b>malaclyps</b> quinnums is <b>quinnums</b> there aren't many of us anti-copyright people out there <b>dnm</b> malaclyps: Can you perhaps proxy ask a question for me? <b>malaclyps</b> dnm: sure devzero (~devzero@dsl-65-186-37-105.telocity.com) has joined #infoanarchy <b>wmf</b> Ian Clarke is anti-copyright <b>malaclyps</b> John Perry Barlow is anti-copyright. I ... waver <b>kherr</b> I am, I know of at least one other who is. <b>malaclyps</b> harlon is sitting quiet, looking like he's surrounded by idiot humans. again. <b>silentfury</b> malaclyps: ask ellison if rapists should be given less time in jail than copyright violators. <b>dnm</b> malaclyps: This is pretty general, but I'm curious to know what everyone thinks of eBooks as applies to copyright, but in the context of, if I write an eBook and claim copyright, where do I stand today. Or, for hillarious effect, alter the question to rile people up. <b>malaclyps</b> dnm: not sure i understand your question <b>quinnums</b> he has a dent in his forehead from where he holds his head in frustration all the time <b>dnm</b> malaclyps: I'm out of the loop on what would be the most incindiary eBook related question to ask. <b>dnm</b> malaclyps: Well, I'm curious to know what each of the panel thinks about eBooks, but I want to stir the shit. <b>dnm</b> malaclyps: And just asking "what about eBooks" is too general. <b>silentfury</b> also, ask ellison what he thinks of a microchip implanted in each human being that would kill them if they violated copyright. <b>silentfury</b> if he was for that, that would be hilarious. <b>dnm</b> malaclyps: I'll try to think of something more apropos. <b>malaclyps</b> silentfury: have you read Noir by K. W. Jeter? Now there's a guy who actually thinks people should be killed for copyright infringement <b>quinnums</b> i think even harlan might notice that kind of baiting <b>dnm</b> quinnums: What's your elevator pitch about anti-copyright? <b>silentfury</b> malaclyps: seriously? <b>silentfury</b> I didn't think anyone was that bad <b>quinnums</b> i don't have an elevator pitch, but i suppose i should <b>malaclyps</b> silentfury: seriously. * silentfury labels K.W. Jeter as a threat to the human race. <b>silentfury</b> hey Dubya! go get em! <b>malaclyps</b> i think the feeling may be mutual, unfortunately :( <b>malaclyps</b> good author though <b>malaclyps</b> god this moderator is annoying <b>quinnums</b> how about: in an age of ubitqutous access to info, copyright becomes a repressive regine to keep information out of the hands of the people who need it most, for instance minorities and the third world populations <b>dnm</b> malaclyps: Ooh. How long does each member of the panel who writes material covered under copyright and who earns money from such expect to make a living off of his or her copyright in say, ten years. <b>malaclyps</b> Harlon: an "audience of scofflaws" <b>malaclyps</b> Harlon to Brad: "do not pull funny faces, motherfucker, when I'm talking" <b>dnm</b> malaclyps: I'd retort with "we keep you in bread and circuses" <b>silentfury</b> he called him a motherfucker? <b>malaclyps</b> yup <b>silentfury</b> not smart. <b>quinnums</b> fuuuuuck [ <a href="http://www.rahul.net/aahz/eff.html">Aahz Manuch</a> saw this incident a little differently - dob, 2002-06-24 ] <b>silentfury</b> what i wouldn't do for force-grip sometimes. <b>dnm</b> malaclyps: If I had money, I'd pay you a vast sum to rush the stage and either pie or punch Ellison the fuck out right now. <b>dnm</b> malaclyps: What questions is the audience asking? <b>malaclyps</b> harlon: "I have never taken anything out of an internet" <b>silentfury</b> how can people take this guy seriously <b>malaclyps</b> harlon *really* winning over the audience now <b>dnm</b> quinnums: Hrm. I'd say that's only excessive copyright enforcement. I see copyright as legal credit where credit is due, and a defense against having people purloin one's work. <b>quinnums</b> ah <b>quinnums</b> i don't believe in the author's right to credit <b>quinnums</b> but like i siad <b>dnm</b> malaclyps: Really? What is he speaking to that the audience agrees with so much? <b>malaclyps</b> i wish i was taping this <b>quinnums</b> i don't have an elevator pitch <b>malaclyps</b> dnm: no, being sarcastic. he just accused them all of being scofflaws <b>dnm</b> quinnums: Agreed to a point, which is why I was somewhat ambivalent about putting myself firmly on either side of the fence. <b>dnm</b> malaclyps: And they liked that? I guess I'd have to be there to understand. <b>dnm</b> malaclyps: Oh wait. Duh. Never mind, I'm dumb. <b>malaclyps</b> dnm: no, i was just joking. at that point the audience was shouting at harlon * dnm nods <b>silentfury</b> this Ellison guy needs to be drawn and quartered. <b>dnm</b> quinnums: I think, more basically, that a culture of credit is pretty piss-poor. <b>dnm</b> quinnums: But I haven't done enough serious thinking and debate to shore up my position and outlook. * tvoj thinks we will all be happier if we just chip in for halan's medication and be done with t <b>tvoj</b> it <b>silentfury</b> the only rights i think an author should have is recognition for their work.. or moral rights. * dnm tries to think of a half-decent question <b>silentfury</b> hm <b>malaclyps</b> dnm: if i can, i'll ask the question about making money in ten years time <b>silentfury</b> do you think Ellison would know about Noir by Jeter? <b>malaclyps</b> not sure <b>dnm</b> malaclyps: Cool, thanks. <b>dnm</b> You NTK people go to all the cool shows. ;] <b>silentfury</b> "What do you think of KW. Jeter's views on violating copyright in "Noir" ? <b>silentfury</b> if he doesn't know and agree, boom <b>dnm</b> How old is Ellison now? I forget. I last saw him on what I think was the last Late Late Show with Tom Snyder years back. <b>malaclyps</b> dnm: he's about 68 <b>malaclyps</b> he was really young when he started <b>silentfury</b> hrm. so how's his heart? <b>dnm</b> I think that still makes him junior to Bradbury, who is like 80 now, IIRC. <b>silentfury</b> maybe we could induce a heart attack by getting him riled up. <b>Loki</b> Hard to get him riled up, I'd imagine. <b>dnm</b> How old is Delaney? I wish he was there. He'd probably have somethign more intelligent to say. <b>silentfury</b> "death by copyright" <b>malaclyps</b> harlon is claiming that he can hack down any user <b>dnm</b> ? <b>silentfury</b> hack down any user? or track <b>dnm</b> H4r10n 311i50n <b>malaclyps</b> hack into their computers and shut down pirates <b>quinnums</b> dnm: i'm thought about it a lot about it, but not enough to encapsulate it in a short speech <b>silentfury</b> heh <b>dnm</b> quinnums: Sounds like a conversation best had over good beer. <b>silentfury</b> doesn't he know it's a life sentence in jail for hacking ? :) <b>malaclyps</b> a question from a librarian (she said she was a librarian and got an *instant* round of applause) <b>silentfury</b> librarian's rock <b>malaclyps</b> silentfury: ISP guy in the audience promised to "take him down if he does that to my customers" <b>quinnums</b> it's just something i've got to write up and put on the net. with no name on it :) <b>malaclyps</b> librarian asks about doctrine of fair sale, and how that works in the digital world <b>wmf</b> that reminds me... I noticed that whywork has no name on it <b>silentfury</b> malaclyps: ask him if he's aware of the laws regarding hacking in the USA Patriot Act <b>dnm</b> silentfury: That gets off topic quickly. <b>quinnums</b> why work needs more love <b>quinnums</b> there isn't anyone behind it anymore <b>silentfury</b> not if he said he could hack any user <b>dnm</b> I'm still curious about what such an ensemble of _speculative thinkers_ who make money by the good graces of profitable copyright plan to do to continue to eat in a decade. <b>malaclyps</b> dnm: will ask now <b>dnm</b> malaclyps: You rock. <b>silentfury</b> you know what would be funny <b>dnm</b> I hope Ellison gets into a tiff. I'd have for him to reply with something lame and off the cuff. <b>silentfury</b> doesn't Turkey have really really really strict computer laws <b>silentfury</b> like hacking is death <b>quinnums</b> they almost called security on him ealier... it was wild... <b>dnm</b> silentfury: I think Turkey has really really strict everything laws. <b>dnm</b> quinnums: You there as well? <b>silentfury</b> be funny if ellison "hacked" someone in turkey <b>silentfury</b> and they extradited him. <b>quinnums</b> yes <b>quinnums</b> next to mala <b>dnm</b> quinnums: Sweet. <b>dnm</b> quinnums: Sad to have missed meeting you folks at ETCON. Cory's talked about you and I was looking forward to it. * silentfury thinks the strategy should be to induce a heart attack by riling him up. <b>quinnums</b> harlan is useful <b>silentfury</b> now that would be poetic justice. <b>silentfury</b> useful? sounds like the idiot is useful at wasting space and resources <b>silentfury</b> nothing more. <b>tvoj</b> silentfury: would matter little, since a crotchety-old-coot vacuum would form and be filled instantly <b>dnm</b> You need a Devil's Advocate. <b>malaclyps</b> dnm: harlon says you've asked a stupid question <b>dnm</b> Preferrably a smart one too, like Ellison. <b>quinnums</b> harlan exists in a space that could be oppupied by someone far more dangerous <b>malaclyps</b> moderator has rewritten it <b>dnm</b> malaclyps: I would expect nothing less. <b>dnm</b> malaclyps: Oh? To what? <b>dnm</b> malaclyps: Moderator? <b>malaclyps</b> mderator says "What would life be like without copyright" <b>dnm</b> malaclyps: Lame! <b>dnm</b> malaclyps: That's not very bright. <b>dnm</b> malaclyps: And it's also not what I asked. *sigh* <b>tvoj</b> rather swift moderator there <b>dnm</b> malaclyps: Thanks for trying though, I do appreciate it. <b>silentfury</b> hm <b>malaclyps</b> harlon: pan and columbian univ did study of freelance writers - reavealed that 6000 authors create all of the published content <b>dnm</b> malaclyps: This reminds me of those question and answer sessions where the questions are all palateable and the answers all rhetoric. <b>quinnums</b> no, 90% <b>quinnums</b> he said 90% <b>malaclyps</b> ok <b>silentfury</b> how about "If you claim you can track down and hack any pirate, how come you haven't located Osama Bin Laden?" <b>malaclyps</b> harlon says, in summary, authors do not make much money <b>quinnums</b> and he said they earn 2600 a year, but i think he accidently left off a 0 <b>silentfury</b> duh, that's the publishers who rape them <b>quinnums</b> and every thinks they make a fortune <b>Loki</b> Harlan Ellison prolly has a decent fortune, and stephen king. <b>Loki</b> Most authors don't. <b>malaclyps</b> i don't understand why this helps his argument <b>silentfury</b> malaclyps: do you think that would be a good q regarding bin laden? <b>dnm</b> malaclyps: How do you go about asking questions? Is there some mediated interface people are typing them into for the moderator? <b>malaclyps</b> no, i raised my hand and asked <b>tvoj</b> i guess he doesn't express much confidence that other means of distributing creative works could result i a living wage <b>malaclyps</b> they liked it that the internet had a question to ask <b>silentfury</b> i would expect one of two responses <b>silentfury</b> "Who is osama bin laden" <b>dnm</b> malaclyps: Ah. And only Ellison had a non-response? <b>dnm</b> malaclyps: Indeed. The Internet has many questions. <b>malaclyps</b> dnm: harlon's kinda hijacked the answer <b>silentfury</b> malaclyps: how about "If you claim you can track down and hack any pirate, how come you haven't located Osama Bin Laden?" * dnm wonders if feedharlonellison.com is taken <b>quinnums</b> heheheheheh gooooood dnm <b>malaclyps</b> feedharlonellison to cyber pirates <b>silentfury</b> wipo would fuck u over tho <b>tvoj</b> heh <b>silentfury</b> :( <b>silentfury</b> malaclyps: is my question a little too out-there? :) <b>malaclyps</b> silentfury: i think i've blown my wad in the question asking capacity <b>dnm</b> malaclyps: The Internet would like to know what it has done to Harlon Ellison to invoke such unmititgated wrath beyond provide such services as amazon.com with which he continues to rake in the bucks. <b>silentfury</b> quinn? <b>malaclyps</b> dnm: he says he's not pissed off at the Internet <b>dnm</b> silentfury: I'd hate to ask an Osama bin Question at a scifi con. <b>silentfury</b> this is a sci-fi con? <b>malaclyps</b> harlon - "my outrage would be the same as if i was talking to someone living under a tyrant, saying they can't change anything, and making money out of the current situation" <b>silentfury</b> wtf is ellison doing there <b>dnm</b> malaclyps: Oh? Is this like child abuse then? He's not really hurting me, he loves me? <b>malaclyps</b> harlon: "you don't understand that there are *people* involved" <b>dnm</b> I understand he doesn't understand there are people involved, and you are but one. <b>malaclyps</b> silentfury: harlon ellison is "Special Guest" here <b>malaclyps</b> wooh it's getting hot in here <b>malaclyps</b> harlon promises this will be the last thing he will say <b>dnm</b> s/you are/he is/ <b>silentfury</b> dnm: my point by asking that type of question would be to show how much of an idiot he already is. :) <b>dnm</b> silentfury: Yeah, but you need to at least wage war on the same relevant turf. Comments like him hacking users are just meant as misdirection anyway. <b>malaclyps</b> harlon summary: most of the people who come to this con don't give a shit about science fiction <b>malaclyps</b> harlon: sf has become the feeding ground for many small fandoms, videogamers, wargamers <b>silentfury</b> people also come to sf cons to dream about a world of which he isn't a part of. <b>dnm</b> malaclyps: harlon doubletalk descrambled: "most of the people who came to this con don't give a shit about my science fiction, the only science fiction worth anything" <b>dnm</b> My opinion of Harlon Ellison has dropped like 92304572934574392349e39 percentage points in the last half hour. <b>silentfury</b> be funny if someone called the county mental health centre on this guy <b>tvoj</b> that's it for harlan? <b>tvoj</b> er harlon. <b>malaclyps</b> quinn asked what about people who can't afford stuff that's under copyright <b>dnm</b> malaclyps/quinnums: What was the reaction/fallout from Ellison calling Templeton a motherfucker anyway? <b>malaclyps</b> moderator has rewritten the question again <b>dnm</b> And will someone fucking gag this Stalinist moderating bitch?! <b>malaclyps</b> dnm: everyone worked really hard to calm them down <b>malaclyps</b> dnm: i'm probably being a bit hard on him <b>silentfury</b> really? <b>malaclyps</b> dnm: he's got a scary job * silentfury would like to see Brad kick his ass. <b>dnm</b> malaclyps: True. <b>silentfury</b> how can you re-write the question if your asking out loud <b>silentfury</b> ... <b>dnm</b> malaclyps: Did anyone talk about the Creative Commons effort? <b>dnm</b> silentfury: Moderator can re-phrase. <b>malaclyps</b> dnm: cory mentioned the creative commons earlier <b>silentfury</b> but ellison hears the question doesn't he <b>dnm</b> silentfury: I don't know. The moderator may get a question from the audience and then ask it into the mic edited. <b>dnm</b> silentfury: i.e., questioner does not speak directly into mic. * dnm shrugs <b>silentfury</b> that's a pretty in-efficient way of doing things.. at the copyright conference I was at they just took down our table number and let us ask the questions from the mic we had at the table. <b>dnm</b> silentfury: It's inefficient if you want to ask questions. It's efficient if you want to control ruckus and lame questions deisgned to troll. <b>silentfury</b> true. <b>dnm</b> quinnums's question is important, I wish someone had actually asked it verbatim and gotten an intelligent answer. <b>dnm</b> I suppose Ellison, being the age he is, is all about Capitalism Now <b>malaclyps</b> basically the last five minutes has been quinn trying to ask her question again, and have it elided over <b>dnm</b> But that's perhaps a bit hasty of me. <b>tvoj</b> dnm: which question? AaronSw (~Snak@63.149.73.20) has joined #infoanarchy <b>dnm</b> tvoj: What about people who can't afford works under coypright <b>AaronSw</b> did somebody say copyright panel? <b>malaclyps</b> hehe <b>tvoj</b> dnm: oh yeah <b>malaclyps</b> question to audience: how many have infringed copyright (lots), how many felt bad about it (not many), how many did when they were ignorant and now won't do it again (a few) <b>wmf</b> hey AaronSw, you're in the right channel <b>malaclyps</b> harlon is still after citizen 513 <b>dnm</b> malaclyps: That pre-supposes a working knowledge of all of copyright law everywhere. The logic is faulty. Ellison has surely jay-walked in his lifetime without feeling guilty about it. <b>silentfury</b> how many people think harlon ellison is a total lunatic who doesn't deserve to be human * silentfury sees everyones hand up <b>dnm</b> silentfury: You're ad hominem-ing <b>malaclyps</b> harlon offers five grand for citizen 513 leading to his arrest and condition <b>dnm</b> "I am Citizen 513" a la Sparticus. <b>Loki</b> I am TK-421! <b>silentfury</b> I am Darth Vader * dnm makes t-shirts on CafePress reading "I am Citizen 513" --- No ping reply for 91 seconds, disconnecting. --- Disconnected (). ING AT Sat May 25 21:19:43 2002 <b>quinnums</b> is anyone blogging the 5k reward? must happen... quickly... :) <b>quinnums</b> can't get to my damn server... argh! <-- malaclyps has quit (Read error: 104 (Connection reset by peer)) <b>ntkboy</b> oh, btw, harlon says you're all "very funny" for the Spartacus joke and that he'll talk to you after puberty <b>Loki</b> Puberty scares me. I don't plan on doing it. Ever. <b>dnm</b> http://www.cafepress.com/citizen513 <-- dri has quit () <b>Loki</b> So, it's Ellison's joke about "any random citizen" ? <b>silentfury</b> anyway it's been fun <b>silentfury</b> i'm hittin the sack <b>dnm</b> It's time like this I wish I had Photoshop. <b>dnm</b> Microsoft Photo Editor wont let me insert text. <b>dnm</b> But I do have Paint. <b>malaclyps</b> phew! <b>malaclyps</b> okay, fights over... <b>malaclyps</b> he's just exchanged cards with the ISP guy <b>dnm</b> Why are all my generic close dialog warnings in German now? I blame Qpad. <b>malaclyps</b> he says he's going to sue those motherfuckers as soon as his "hellhounds" see anything infringing on their site <b>malaclyps</b> i don't know, i think the most interesting bit about this was the audience <b>dnm</b> I really don't like it when my PowerBook randomly decides not to power on. <b>malaclyps</b> who were admitted infringers, but pro-authors - harlon got applause and booed <b>malaclyps</b> in equal measures, i think <b>dnm</b> Hrm. <b>dnm</b> Ejecting the battery allows me to turn it on. Strange. <b>Loki</b> odd <b>dnm</b> This is the second time it's done this. burtonator (~burton@adsl-67-112-30-210.dsl.snfc21.pacbell.net) has joined #infoanarchy <b>dnm</b> The battery is only holding an hours worth of charge too, but this was in sleep mode and on mains. <b>dnm</b> And when I go to turn it on, it's _off_, but the battery is fully charged and it's still on mains. jkl (~k@ool-18bb3e4f.dyn.optonline.net) has left #INFOANARCHY <b>dnm</b> Only ejecting the battery and then pressing power on gives me any joy. <b>dnm</b> malaclyps: Weird. What's the mood like now? <b>Loki</b> What a lonely life. * dnm heads straight back to #bbokwarez <b>dnm</b> err, s/bbokwarez/bookwarez/ <b>dnm</b> I don't like this repetitve churning disk noise on boot up. <b>malaclyps</b> dnm: just talked to the moderator ... he was saying that harlon is a smart guy, but just doesn't understand the tech <b>malaclyps</b> well, du --- du/duh :Unknown command <b>malaclyps</b> is someone going to blog the $5 for citizen 513? <b>dnm</b> malaclyps: Apparently. <b>malaclyps</b> i think jerrypournelle has already publicised the case <b>dnm</b> malaclyps: I would, but no one reads my blog for that kind of thing. <b>malaclyps</b> i was going to do a story about citizen 513 in NTK about a year ago, but we couldn't see the news angle - they've been going after that guy for years <b>dnm</b> I'm still trying to make an image of text so I can make Citizen 513 shirts <b>malaclyps</b> hehe --- tvoj is now known as tvoj_ <b>malaclyps</b> okay, i'm going to go hang out with the klingons and the girls dressed in anime schoolgirl costumes <b>dnm</b> I wonder if I can do this in Quark. drue (~burris@gigagig.org) has joined #infoanarchy tvoj (~levine@shell2.BAYAREA.NET) has joined #infoanarchy <b>dnm</b> Later malaclyps, thanks again! <b>malaclyps</b> s'fun! <b>tvoj</b> later malaclyps <b>Loki</b> I wish I could find girls dressed in anime schoolgirl costumes *without* the klingons. |
Comments Off on evenly matched, this battle is.
2002-05-22»
Thu May 23 05:43:00 2002»
So I’ve been tinkering and thinking about what to do with Oblomovka. My main problem with blogging, as I’ve mentioned before, is that I don’t particularly enjoy writing. My whole modus operandi is to spend hours boiling down what I think into as few a words as I think it deserves, then spitting them out as far away from me as I can. This can be a very painful process. Trust me – you’d be shocked by how long it takes me to write the 1,000 or so words that make up my weekly living. Me and the written language have a very co-dependent relationship, as they say out here.
Anyway, the idea of spooling out even more verbage here isn’t exactly the crazy temptation and fun hobby that it needs to be. Also, with regards to “by writing every day, you’ll become a better writer” saw; ptchui. Even if it’s true, I want to be a better person, not a better writer.
So my current task is to work out how to make this site do that: make me better.
When I started writing this entry, I thought it would be by giving me an outlet for code, not words. Now, I’m not so sure. Damn you, words!
Comments Off on Thu May 23 05:43:00 2002
2002-04-25»
natural death, natural lives»
I believe in writing about technology as natural history; to observe and document changes in the world we live in, to better describe the forces that shape those changes. I suppose I see technology as inhuman – just as the natural world is inhuman, and oblivious to us all. But I also see technology as definitively human: a reflection of our emotions and our needs, and our attempts to be more humane than the chaotic world we have been dropped into.
I don’t understand why, as writers, we are so often forced to describe technology in the language of the market, as consumers, as cataloguers of a pile of unconnected, unemotional things. It’s as though the only descriptions we can read of the countryside were written by estate agents, eager to sell us a farm.
I haven’t always liked what Robert X. Cringely has written, but in his craziness, he’s often attempted to escape from those restrictions. His column this week does so, but at a terrible terrible cost.
I suppose what I’m trying to say is that perhaps some people will view a tech column about his son’s death as a trivialisation of life, whereas I see life and death is what this <waves hands> is all about.
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2002-04-23»
Tue Apr 23 22:53:00 2002»
A traditional list of the seventy-two sects of Islam. I love lists like this; especially ones that fracture ideas presented so monolithically.
Comments Off on Tue Apr 23 22:53:00 2002
2002-04-22»
Mon Apr 22 14:32:00 2002»
It’s been a good week. I had a blast at Computers, Freedom and Privacy. I attended last year, when it was held in the middle of a snowdrift in Boston, and I was a little too isolated, a little too awestruck to enjoy it.
This year I bumped into plenty of interesting folk for the second time, when they were happy to sit a while and talk instead of politely deferring until they knew who the hell I was.
There was also a greater sense of the game being afoot. In private e-mails from CFP ‘2001 I wrote that there was
a lot of talking-from-the-platform about various nasty supra-national organisations, without much grassroots input.
This year, with all the very fresh copyright law wrangling and the higher public profile of individuals like Patrick Ball and Jon Johansen, it felt like more practical, personal, public work was going on.
The EFF in particular, seems to be transforming into more of grassroots advocacy organisation. I’m not sure whether it’s a deliberate policy move, a shift of emphasis due to an influx of new blood or just the outside world waking up to what they’ve been doing all along, but it’s highly welcome. They have some real corkers lined up.
Comments Off on Mon Apr 22 14:32:00 2002
2002-04-14»
Sun Apr 14 19:55:00 2002»
Ah, patents:
Lastly, it should be noted that because pulling alternately on one chain and then the other resembles in some measure the movements one would use to swing from vines in a dense jungle forest, the swinging method of the present invention may be referred to by the present inventor and his sister as “Tarzan” swinging. The user may even choose to produce a Tarzan-type yell while swinging in the manner described, which more accurately replicates swinging on vines in a dense jungle forest. Actual jungle forestry is not required.
I’m tempting to patent my dish-washing algorithm.
(via yusufg)
Comments Off on Sun Apr 14 19:55:00 2002
2002-04-09»
Wed Apr 10 02:58:00 2002»
Old, well-known, but still poignant for me. Partly because we found a copy in a box in the garage as we all set out to move to the next house. Partly because – I think – the Kurtz referred to is the father of BASIC, and I still have fond memories of editing BASIC magazine until I went mad.
And partly because: well, old. Old.
The Love Song of J. Random Hacker
…
No! I am not Bill Gates, nor would I want to be; I’d rather parse the fish than own the knife; (Imagine! Having moby bux but chained to ninety million lusers, what a life…) Am a flamer, goateed, pallid, overweight, Willing to pull two shifts, then (hell) a third, To save a session from a deadlocked state; At times, (to put it mildly) unrestrained– Almost, at times, a nerd.
I grow old…I grow old… dBase II and Wordstar are no longer sold.
…
Comments Off on Wed Apr 10 02:58:00 2002
2002-03-27»
Wed Mar 27 21:34:00 2002»
Lego + Wireless = The Mindstorms Cantenna. via Kass
(And I posted that at 21:34-0800, dammit. Nobody out-first posts me!)
Comments Off on Wed Mar 27 21:34:00 2002
