October 2008 archive

The Obama Show

I saw the pilot episode of The Obama Show earlier tonight. I hope it gets picked up as a series. I think the main character is smart and appealing, and it seems like there would be plenty of material for a good eight seasons worth of shows.

How about it, viewers? Do you want to see more quality programming like this? Make sure your voice is heard!

trying out twitter

I’m at http://twitter.com/scarpent. You must follow my twitterings with rapt devotion. (Note that this post is exactly 140 characters long.)

Kevin Kelly: Evidence of a Global SuperOrganism

Haven’t read the whole article yet, but good stuff so far:

I am not the first, nor the only one, to believe a superorganism is emerging from the cloak of wires, radio waves, and electronic nodes wrapping the surface of our planet. No one can dispute the scale or reality of this vast connectivity. What’s uncertain is, what is it? Is this global web of computers, servers and trunk lines a mere mechanical circuit, a very large tool, or does it reach a threshold where something, well, different happens?

So far the proposition that a global superorganism is forming along the internet power lines has been treated as a lyrical metaphor at best, and as a mystical illusion at worst. I’ve decided to treat the idea of a global superorganism seriously, and to see if I could muster a falsifiable claim

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Free Culture ‘Take Backsies’ on Flickr

Ice House ruins in Tyler, Texasphoto by Terry Shuck (crowt59)Creative Commons Attribution 2.0

I can’t remember when or how I first found Terry Shuck’s work on Flickr, but I immediately became a fan of his photography. It appears that he uses HDR techniques quite a bit, although I can’t tell what all magic he summons with different lens and filters and whatnot.

I liked that he often shared his images under Creative Commons licenses, including the liberal Attribution license which allows for commercial reuse. It was for this reason as much as anything that I subscribed to his photostream. It’s good to find kindred free culture spirits. But then he increasingly released new photos …

Richard Stallman at U of M Tonight (Tuesday, Oct 21)

Happened to run across this last night:

mndaily.com: Comp. sci. activist to talk computing freedom at U

Which led me to dig up this press release with details. Willey Hall on the West Bank of the University of Minnesota at 6:30pm.

I’m not sure if I’ll make it. I’d love to hear Richard speak in person, even if it’s “just” his standard speech. It’s a lot more convenient for me to drive down to the U than fly to Boston.

I never got around to writing more about my trip to the FSF Associate Members meeting earlier in the year. Speaking of seeing the Great Man in person, the member meeting started with no RMS in sight. He wasn’t scheduled to appear until a panel later in the day, but I expected to see him …