Lessons From The Past

I would love to write a heartfelt column about how humankind strives to serve one another in a quest for the greater good; however, I�d have to answer to a couple thousand years of history, where that wasn�t quite the case.”

(An old quote from Joel)

On Piracy

The other day, I called out someone on the Techie Forum who was advocating piracy like you wouldn’t believe. I asked:

Why is it that you’re such a rampant supporter of software piracy?

If you don’t like Microsoft, fine, don’t use their stuff - there are lots of alternatives. But how can you reasonably justify your actions, which take money out of programmer’s pockets? Don’t software engineers have the right to make a living too?

An excerpt from his reply, which attempted to justify his actions:

product piracy is actually good for companies. most of the people who pirate are people who wouldn’t buy the product anyways.

. . .
XP isn’t good enough to pay for yet. I find that the problems with XP are worth more to me then the purchase price. If microsoft ever makes a product that adds more value to my computer, then its headaches and purchase price, then i will buy it. But since they aren’t getting the money, using it won’t hurt, and actually will help them slightly.

Childish at best. My response:

This is where I disagree. If you weren’t using a pirated version of Windows XP, what would you be using? Linux? If so, why not just use linux? Win 98? If so, why didn’t you just stick with Windows 98?

I’ll answer for you here: You didn’t use an alternative because you saw value in the new software. (This could be increased stability, more features, convenience, etc.). So, when you pirated that software, you recieved the value included in that software.

If you really wouldn’t buy the software, you should have to live without that value.

I’ll agree 100% with you that data costs nothing, and that distribution costs, yadda yadda, cost almost nothing. However, the development of software has real costs (money, time, effort). Programmers shoulder the costs of writing that code. And they have the right to ask for compensation for their time and effort.

Now, does MS overcharge for windows? Most definitely. But as owners of that proprietary code, that’s their right. You also have the right to find an alternative. But you didn’t - instead you stole it. It’s theft, plain and simple.

If you’re really all about free software, join the free software movement, and use code that people offer up for free. But remember - Just because they’re benevolent doesn’t mean everyone has to be.

Email Forwards

Chris: i never get any forwarded emails anymore
Joel: pity
Joel: neither do i.
Chris: probably because I always respond intelligently and rip their arguments apart
Chris: and send it back to everyone on the list
Joel: lol
Joel: make lots of friends that way
Chris: real friends don’t send friends bullshit forwards

The Face Of War

This picture is of an Iraqi girl whose parents and brother were mistakenly killed by American soldiers at a checkpoint.

The bullets ripped through their vehicle, shattering windows, bones, and this girl’s life.

“It was dark. Perhaps her father did not see the uniforms, and only saw the guns. Perhaps she and her brothers and sisters were playing too loudly in the back seat, and why couldn’t they be quiet (don’t make me come back there, I told you before) and he couldn’t hear the shouting outside the car, and then it was loud. . .And now it is quiet.”

Are we really bringing the hope and freedom that our leaders promoted? All I see is terror and pain.

I can’t get this picure out of my head. The anguish, the despair. . . there just aren’t words.

Imagine for a moment that this was your family. That this type of incident was happening almost daily. That you personally knew widows, orphans, and amputees whose lives were crushed in a hail of US gunfire. That 101,000 of your fellow citizens had died as a result of this war over the past year and a half. (That’s over 33 world trade centers).

Now can you understand why many of them grieve and rage and take up arms against us? It’s not because they “hate freedom”. It’s because war has real consequences.

This war isn’t about a CNN bulletin or a three-line obit for an American soldier. It’s about the United States soldiers that have lost their lives to this occupation. It’s about people like this girl. It’s about their families.

It’s about the look on her face that will haunt my dreams for days.

“Nobody knows what winning a war looks like, because it has never happened.”

Nothing Is Inarguable

Liz, from the comments:

There is no middle ground here- there’s not a “half life” it�s murder or a medical procedure.

So what I�m saying I suppose, is that logically- the pro-birth movement works out for people that hold a certain set of inarguable beliefs

You’ve hit the crux of the matter when you use the phrase “set of inarguable beliefs”. Claiming that *anything* is above reason flies in the face of every scientific advancement and rational thinker ever to exist.

Someone should tell these people that their own stupidity and complacency do not define the limits of human understanding.

I Like It

I, along with many others, have long seen the humor and hypocrisy in the application of the term “pro-life”. The problem with this term is that it implies basic respect for all living things, a quality that the people who wear this badge often don’t display. After all, they’re pro-death penalty, anti-environmental regulation, proponents of war… you get the idea.

So, what to do about this apparent contradiction? Coin a new term to describe these people. A Benedictine nun on Bill Moyers’ PBS show recently used the term “pro-birth” in reference to these one-issue zealots.

It’s accurate, succinct, and I like it.

Just to Clarify

1) The founding fathers of the United States were not conservatives. They were progressive radicals.

2) Education is by nature progressive. As we educate ourselves, and make new discoveries, we discover that our old views were wrong. That is why we don’t conserve those views. Instead, we progress on to the next, more accurate idea.

3) University professors, who are the most educated and brilliant people on this planet, are overwhelmingly liberal. This is not indicative of some vast conspiracy. The fact that our best and brightest are liberals does, however, tell you something about the mental capacities of those who cling to conservative viewpoints.

“Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid, it is true that most stupid people are conservative.”
– John Stuart Mill

Screw Santa

If I ever have children, I don’t think that I’ll let them believe in Santa Claus. I mean, let’s recognize the tradition for what it really is:

In order to encourage behavior modification, parents tell their children the following story: A omniscient being will keep track of their every action, and judge it against an arbitrary set of standards to determine whether each child has been “good” or “bad”. Then, this fictional fatherly figure will either reward them with fabulous gifts, or punish them by witholding everything good.

(Wait a minute, was I talking about Christmas or religion here…)

Seriously, though - Is this Santa myth more than just a way for parents to keep their kids under control and avoid being the bad guy? (”Well, I’m not going to punish you - but Santa will!”) Wouldn’t it be much better to explain the holiday as a time when people gather to enjoy each other’s company and to exchange small tokens of their love and respect? Why isn’t that enough?

Online Communities and Scaling

As communities grow larger, and become Slashdot-size, the amount of traffic begins actually begins to stifle the community. Good ideas are lost in the flurry, and the best stuff goes often unnoticed. The problem of just how to solve this problem is still being worked out on thousands of sites with slightly different methods.

Clay Shirky makes a living writing about these kinds of issues, and his piece “A Group Is It’s Own Worst Enemy” is the best I’ve read on the subject. Borrowing liberally from his thoughts, I put together a piece about the Dailykos website, which is facing exactly this problem.

If you’re interested in such things, check it out.

Brilliant

A while back, a fellow by the name of DJ Danger Mouse performed a little experiment. He acquired a vocals-only track of Jay-Z’s recent release, the Black Album. He then sampled from the Beatles’ White Album to create backing beats, and the Grey Album was born. And it was surprisingly good. It contains some of the best mash-ups I’ve heard. (My personal favorite is still the Beastie Boys “So Watcha Want” over ODB’s “Got Your Money”.)

Dj Danger Mouse released it for free on the internet, because it was a derivative work, and he wasn’t looking to make money off the track. To him, it was a pure expression of artistic creativity. Unfortunately, word spread a little too fast, and his work recieved a death blow: a copyright infringement notice, ordering him to take own the music immediately. Unfortunately for the goons over at the RIAA, it was too late. The music had made its way onto P2P networks, and a huge number of websites participated in a ‘Grey Tuesday‘ where they hosted the music. These advocates, and I, believe that his non-commercial use of sampled music to create derivative works was fair use.

This would normally be the part where I launch into a critique of the copyright system in the US, and espouse the awesome possibilities of a system like Creative Commons. Others have already covered this case pretty well, though. Do a search for “Danger Mouse Grey Album”, and you’ll get about 8 million relevant articles.

So, why am I bringing up this old news, you ask? Well, it’s because someone just created a video mash-up of the Beatles and Jay-Z, which is almost as brilliant as the album itself. Check it out, be impressed, and remember that this kind of creative endeavour is an endangered species if copyright law continues down the wrong path.

UPDATE: Waxy has mirrors and a torrent link. Enjoy!

Our Message

For starters, America just announced to the entire planet that we’re OK with Abu Ghraib, we’re OK with Guantanamo, and we’re OK with illegal wars. This was an important announcement.

hat tip to Bob Harris Thanks to Patrick over at Yelladog for these words of wisdom

Incompetence, incoherence, inarticulateness, pettiness and random savagery apparently do not deter the majority of Americans. The thing that really, REALLY matters to Americans? Homos. And foreigners. Both must be stopped at any cost.

via
TBogg

GOTV on Campus

This map is pretty sweet. It shows percentages of registered voters, percentage of voters that went for Bush and Gore in 2000, income levels, and more for every voting precinct in Missouri.

If you zoom in on the Truman campus, you’ll notice that it has 80-100% inactive or unregistered voters. I find it pretty damn hard to believe that all of them used absentee ballots to vote at home. So this tells us that there are easily 2000 students on the Truman campus that need urging to get out and vote.

And since young people, even on a conservative campus, typically split largely democratic, we can make a huge difference.

Silenced

This picture ran on the front page of the Portland Tribune today with the following caption:

An unidentified supporter of President Bush tries to silence protester Kendra Lloyd-Knox (right) outside Southridge High School in Beaverton.

This is one of those pictures that’s truly worth one thousand words. It allegorically describes so much of what the Bush administration has practiced over the last few years. The stifling of dissent, the use of unnecessary force, and most of all, intolerance.

After all, if there’s one thing in this world I can’t stand, it’s intolerance.

MO Amendment 2

passed last night overwhelmingly (70% yes). Between the bigoted voters and the wacko-conservative Republicans in the State Legislature, this state is going down the tubes. I am so getting out of state for grad school…

“Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one’s own beliefs. Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others.”
– John F. Kennedy

“The highest result of education is tolerance.”
– Helen Keller

Patriotism

This brief passage was written by Charlotte Aldebron in 2002, when she was a 6th grader in Presque Island, Maine.

Her teacher, who evidently believes in Bush-style patriotism, told the twelve-year old that she was unpatriotic. Personally, I think the kid has a point.

WHAT THE AMERICAN FLAG STANDS FOR

“The American flag stands for the fact that cloth can be very important. It is against the law to let the flag touch the ground or to leave the flag flying while the weather is bad. The flag is to be treated with respect. You can tell just how important this cloth is because when you compare it to people, it gets much better treatment. Nobody cares if a homeless person touches the ground. A homeless person can lie on the ground all night long without anyone picking him up, folding him neatly and sheltering him from the rain.

School children have to pledge loyalty to this piece of cloth every morning. No one has to pledge justice and equality and human decency. No one has to promist that people will get a fair wage, or enough food to eat, or affordable medicine, or clean water, or air free of harmful chemicals. But we all have to promise to love a rectangle of red, white, and blue cloth. Betsy Ross would be quite surprised to see how successful her creation has become. But Thomas Jefferson would be disappointed to see how little of the flag’s real meaning remains.”

Vote Against Hate

On August 3rd, Missourians will vote on an amendment to the state Constitution that would permanently deny marriage equality to same-sex couples.

To me, this issue isn’t really about whether you like the idea of same-sex partners or marriage - it’s a bigger issue. This amendment is unprecedented because NEVER before has our Constitution been amended specifically to take away anyone’s rights.

Discrimination and hate are not things I want written into our state constitution.

If America stands for anything, it stands for equal rights and opportunities for everyone. Throughout our history, we’ve struggled to guarantee that equality: ending slavery; securing voting rights for women; and passing the Civil Rights Act just 40 years ago. This is just the latest attempt to create a sub-class of people and deny them basic rights.

So get out and vote. Contact me if you’d like more information on how to fight this hate-filled amendment.

Rubbish

�It�s ridiculous claiming that video games influence children. For instance, if Pac-man affected kids born in the 80s, we should by how have a bunch of teenagers who run around in darkened rooms and eat pills while listening to monotonous electronic music.�

From PC World New Zealand’s look back at the last 15 years of computing.

Ignorance

In response to a question asking for people’s “outrage of the year”, Dailykos poster PC had this to say:

To me the outrage of every year is the American public’s lack of interest in knowing the issues and what our government is and isn’t doing here and abroad.
As a democracy all of us are responsible for the anti-democratic and immoral activities of our government. Shame on us all.

I couldn’t agree more. When will people quit watching reruns of Friends and living in their bubble of banality? If you do one thing this election season, be informed. I don’t care which side of the political spectrum you’re on, but if you don’t know what’s going on, how can you possibly cast an informed vote?

Jim Chapman weighed in on uninformed voters before the recent Canadian election

If you don’t understand the issues, please stay home on Monday. An uninformed vote is just as dangerous as a blindly partisan one, and neither is much use to governments trying to gauge which issues the public thinks are important.

When voters lose the motivation to effect change in their government, democracies degenerate into corruption and tyrannies emerge.

So take a few minutes, read up on the issues that matter to you, discuss them with your friends, and then vote in November. About 400 votes gave Bush Florida, and thus the election, last year. This year is likely to be just as close.

The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.
— John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
— Martin Luther King Jr.

Fuel Efficiency

I have a friend that is looking at new cars, and she’s seriously considering a large SUV. In an effort to dissuade her, I whipped this message up tonight and sent it to her. I think it’s rather enlightening.

Distance from Kirksville to Chicago ~800 miles round trip

A GMC Envoy is estimated to get 20 mpg highway (and that’s probably generous).
On an average trip to and from chicago, you’ll use 40 gallons of gas.
At 1.85/gallon (estimated), that’s 74 dollars to get there and back.

In a car that gets 30 mpg highway (which is pretty standard these days), you’ll use 26.6 gallons of gas and spend 49.3 dollars. That’s a 25 dollar difference each trip.

If you go home, say 10 times a year, you’ve just saved 250 dollars. That’s not even including driving around town, where gas mileage is even worse, and you’ll spend even more. The owner of the more efficient car probably saves well over 750 bucks a year. (That’s a lot of beer).

Extrapolating further, if you drove a Toyota Prius hybrid, which gets 60mpg city and 51 highway, you would spend 29 dollars per trip. That would save you 45 bucks per trip to Chicago, and *easily* over 1,500 dollars *per year* on gas. If the car lasts 10 years, you’ve just pocketed 15,000 dollars.

One last note: If everyone drove cars that got 7 mpg more than they do now, the US could be completely independent of Middle Eastern oil, gas prices would plummet, global warming would slow dramtically, and and the earth would be a much happier place.

I rest my case.

From the dKos Comments

I saw the film on Friday with my 12 year old step son. He loved Bowling for Columbine and was excited to see F911. As we left the theater, he was incensed.

“Bush should have to see this. He should be forrced to watch this movie in a room full of a hundred people and he should have to answer every question they have.”

Who says our youth are a lost cause?