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July 24 2010
Insufficient data [Charles Stross]
SF writer Charles Stross tackles the question of how many people it takes to maintain our technological civilization [he guesses at least 100 million] and the political implications thereof. One consequence is that autonomous space colonies aren't feasible because they'd need huge numbers of people to keep their technology going.Insufficient data [Charles Stross]
SF writer Charles Stross tackles the question of how many people it takes to maintain our technological civilization [he guesses at least 100 million] and the political implications thereof. One consequence is that autonomous space colonies aren't feasible because they'd need huge numbers of people to keep their technology going.January 15 2010
Software Makers See a Market in Censorship - NYTimes.com
"More than a million people in China, including human rights activists and expatriates, are using special software to circumvent the nation’s complex online censorship system, known as the “Great Firewall.” This has created a booming market for software companies..." The Internet sees censorship as a business opportunity and markets around it.November 12 2009
Designing society for posterity [Charles Stross]
Really thought-provoking essay by SF writer Charles Stross on the social and political challenge of keeping a society going in a closed system: "You, and a quarter of a million other folks, have embarked on a 1000-year voyage aboard a hollowed-out asteroid. What sort of governance and society do you think would be most comfortable, not to mention likely to survive the trip without civil war, famine, and reigns of terror?"
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June 27 2009
Debunking Canadian health care myths - The Denver Post
“As a Canadian living in the United States for the past 17 years, I am frequently asked by Americans and Canadians alike to declare one health care system as the better one...” A good clear description of why Canada's system is superior.June 23 2009
How To Communicate Securely in Repressive Environments
“I’m preparing to give a presentation at The Fletcher Summer Institute for the Advanced Study of Nonviolent Conflict (FSI 2009). The focus of my presentation will be on digital security, i.e., how to communicate safely and securely in repressive, non-permissive environments.”February 02 2009
Life at Wal-Mart - Boing Boing
Wired magazine writer Charles Platt takes a job at Wal*Mart to see if it's as bad as people say: “I read Nickel and Dimed, in which Atlantic contributor Barbara Ehrenreich denounces the exploitation of minimum-wage workers in America. Somehow her book didn’t ring true to me, and I wondered to what extent a preconceived agenda might have biased her reporting. Hence my application for a job at the nearest Wal-Mart. [...] “The job was as dull as I expected, but I was stunned to discover how benign the workplace turned out to be...”January 26 2009
Why Obama should play boardgames
“What would it look like if we had a president who played boardgames? There are many good lessons a president could learn from playing boardgames. ... “A strong economy is necessary but not sufficient to win the game: Most of my favorite games have an initial build-up phase while players maneuver to construct ways in which to increase their income. As the game progresses, money becomes less and less important and players spend their cash freely to earn victory points to win the game. In these games (such as Puerto Rico, Dominion, Saint Petersburg, and Race for the Galaxy) the most important decision players face is when they should switch their focus away from earning resources and instead put their efforts into gaining points. The US economy is an important thing and the president needs to be trying to find ways to improve it, but it shouldn’t be the end-all or be-all of his concerns. ...”January 04 2009
Police set to step up hacking of home PCs [Times Online]
“THE Home Office has quietly adopted a new plan to allow police across Britain routinely to hack into people’s personal computers without a warrant. ... “The hacking is known as “remote searching”. It allows police or MI5 officers who may be hundreds of miles away to examine covertly the hard drive of someone’s PC at his home, office or hotel room. ... “Police might also send an e-mail to a suspect’s computer. The message would include an attachment that contained a virus or “malware”. If the attachment was opened, the remote search facility would be covertly activated. Alternatively, police could park outside a suspect’s home and hack into his or her hard drive using the wireless network.”October 22 2008
Official Google Blog: Greater access to voting information
“At Google, we pride ourselves on helping people find things on the Internet. And every four years in America, Google Trends shows that people are searching to find voting information, like how to register and where to vote. It's hard to believe that in 2008, information so important to U.S. citizens and the democratic process isn't well organized on the web. To solve this problem, we've released our US Voter Info site, an effort to simplify and centralize voting locations and registration information.”September 28 2008
Living through Interesting Times [Charles Stross]
Superb, thought-provoking new essay on near-future politics/economics from an SF perspective, by one of the best current SF writers. And read the comments, too — they're all good, including Stross's responses. "We are living in interesting times; in fact, they're so interesting that it is not currently possible to write near-future SF ... it can take three years for a writer's idea to find its way onto the bookshelves. Pity the authors responsible for the rash of cold war novels that came out in 1990-91". "Put yourself in the shoes of an SF author trying to construct an accurate (or at least believable) scenario for the USA in 2019. Imagine you are constructing your future-USA in 2006, then again in 2007, and finally now, with talk of $700Bn bailouts and nationalization of banks in the background. Each of those projections is going to come out looking different."September 16 2008
GOP delegate's hotel tryst goes bad when he wakes up with $120,000 missing - TwinCities.com
Warmongering Republican asshole ("bomb the hell out of Iran") picks up woman at hotel, gets drugged and robbed. He loses $30,000 watch, $20,000 ring and more. Maybe there is a god after all?August 12 2008
Schneier on Security: Memo to the President
Advice to the next president on what to put in a computer security plan.
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