Pete's Picocosm
Below are the 10 most recent journal entries recorded in the "solune" journal:[<< Previous 10 entries]
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16:57
[Link] | Those of you familiar with Diaspora*, the de-centralized, open-source social network no doubt now know PayPal had cut the donation link. While a cut to Wikileaks could be seen as right or wrong, depending on how you feel about the data, Assange, national security, transparency, accountability or world stability, the cut to Diaspora*, without comment, seems odd.
Until you follow the money. I ended up doing just that, quite by accident, while writing an essay for my facebook friends on why I want to quit it. (The short: privacy, profit, too many changes making useability light.)
Right now Facebook is valued at around 50-80 BILLION DOLLARS. According various reports, the potential value of facebook, IF it goes public, will be anywhere between $100 and $200 BILLION. I say if because, while learning all of the above, I discovered facebook put off its IPO for a year, until ”sometime late in 2012”. FB has plenty of money, though, since the private investors which, until Goldman-Sachs came along, numbered less than 500 and was not subject to the same oversight rules that govern public companies.
What I found interesting during the "new FB interface sucks!" kerfuffle, last month, is the other important FB news item of the day: Facebook had formed a new PAC: [http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/27/us/politics/in-turn-to-politics-facebook-starts-a-pac.html] I'm not surprised it got over-looked, since the top trending topics on twitter when it was announced was FB's interface, and how much it sucked.
“But it's free, dammit!”
Which is funny because aside from the investors who know what, how much and why your personal data is being collected, another big investor in facebook, most likely, are governments. Not only the U.S., who's congress probably has more conflict-of-interest than you can shake a stick at, but other countries who's industries are tightly regulated by the state.
Now, here's where it gets interesting: One of the beautiful things, in the eyes of governments, is keeping tabs on people. This is especially so when governments are bought and sold by influential corporations, notably the pharmaceutical, software and entertainment industries, especially film and music (Hey! Who else has the expertise to polish shit so brightly it almost looks human?). Under the guise of protecting their interests—but not yours—they've signed ACTA pretty much in secret (https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/10/acta-signed-8-members-are-we-doomed-yet). That is to say, how much MSM coverage of this did you see?
What this does is give government an excuse to start wrangling social-sites. “To comply with ACTA, you know, we need your data. We signed an agreement, so we're kinda obliged to harass and tax you” Conveniently there's facebook, with facial recognition, auto-tagging, and a host of other data-describing goodies. You *know* they want to regulate it, and they better get a grasp of it now, before something else comes along. Maybe, let's make facebook "too big to fail." Oh, and comrade, because of Obama care, signing up is mandatory.
Hey, it's all conjecture; whether or not it's true, I don't know as I don't have any real data, only an educated guess. Throughout history, the battle has NEVER been about gold, oil, or land—it's about information. Specifically, how can information, true or not, be used to influence and control people? Religion used to be the source, what with exclusive interpretations by the high-priest, but the corporation has pretty much taken over.
Really, can you think of any better power trip than "Jeeves, tell Senator Pelosi if she pushes ACTA I'll have something nice for her." That's cronyism at its finest!
Here's what makes me REALLY think something fishy is going on: A couple days ago paypal froze Diaspora's account, without any apparent reason. [it has since been lifted: http://www.launch.is/blog/paypal-freezes-diaspora-account-disrupts-fundraising-efforts.html]
Read opening paragraph again, and you'll realize the importance of this: as a DECENTRALIZED, OPEN SOURCE social network, it's harder to manage and is "clonable." That is to say, if you mate a custom coded network with the reach of facebook, to the decentralized nature of distributed peer computing and stir in proxies and TOR technology,you have a medium the governments can't control, where speech flows and an association of one's own choosing is made. Further more, incorrect thinking can't be easily monitored, and the potential to reap financial gain—aka "power”—from every enforcement action is reduced.
Additionally, the early investors, the FB-500, get all kinds of information before the public. Because of its status as a private company, many of the goings-on behind facebook before the 500 mark was reached are private. How the data is being monetized, as far as the public is concerned, is vaguely "advertising." But, really, what kind of access DO the interested parties have? What is the business model that got 500 investors to throw BILLIONS OF DOLLARS at a company who's greatest achievement, as far as anyone can tell, is to permit people to share dancing cat videos and play farmville?
When you look at it this way, FB has every motive to limit its competition. Now, toss in shadow profiles and you have a database extremely valuable to governments AND the FB-500. Well worth the billions FB is valued at.
The question is, did the FB-500 lean on pay-pal, or did Uncle Sam at their behest?
Maybe your imagination is better than mine. What do you think? For all I know, I'm on the way to becoming that kook everyone smiles at and says "Dude, chill! Play some Mafia Wars!"
(If you like this entry, or hate facebook, check out my dislike button!)
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23:29
[Link] |
erg...argh!
A rather useless night. I have a couple good designs, but don't know if they're too inflammatory. I was playing around with them, totally blowing off my facebook essay and and photo-rights project.
I've been thinking a lot about the photo-rights thing, and its context in modern society. Were I not so tired from staying up too late two nights in a row to work out this project, I'd write at length about it.
Suffice it to say, having ultimately decided to not to go through with a negative campaign, the ideas can be blended together in an efficient and positive way. This is where it sucks to have a bill-paying job that takes up the creative time.
It's weird sitting here, really wanting to write more, but being too tired to do it. I'm lousy like this. Time for bed.
Current Mood:  sleepy
Tags: changes, what's up
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23:30
[Link] |
status update
Well, that last post was sitting in my drafts, and I thought "really? That's ready for post!"
I tend to spend too much time trying to finesse the thoughts I want to get out. I feel everything has to be a magnum opus, and my writing suffers. Sometimes I just need to spit it out, damn the metaphors.
I got done the last round of knowmad.net updates. I've way simplified the introductory writing and settled on an excellent format that will allow minimal work for updating, yet full control of the message. It's certainly not pretty. In fact, cosmetically, it really needs a boost. That being said, it maintains my over-all goal of simplicity, minimum pictures/graphics, minimum bandwidth use.
The bandwidth issue is important, as I've visited too many websites that use wide data and esoteric formats. Thank god the days of a website asking you to install a new proprietary format player are mostly behind us! That's not to say things like Adobe Flash are the bee's knees, but at least there's some sort of universal way to use interactive content.
My site has none of that, mostly because I can't code it, but also I want to keep it slim. The advent of web capable smart phones increases potential audience a lot, so having it ready to go for a lunch-time browsing is important.
Serendipitously, I've discovered that splitting the original layouts into a 2 column format makes it quite nice on the iPhone, although I'm really hating the nav-bar situation. It's ugly and very dated. Staring at it, the Graffiti look just doesn't cut it anymore, and doesn't accurately depict my assessment of the current situation.
The columns, on the other hand, view very nicely with a double tap. I think to pull it together , all I need to do is come up with better header buttons and artwork. It's hard to think of something else when I think back to the time invested in the original design.
As another bonus, CafePress has changed the way it'll let you set up a store since the last time I looked into it. It was no trouble at all to integrate it into my website. It's pretty much Frankenstien's creature, as far as integration goes, but it gets me rolling with a system that's easy to operate:
Basic and modular website design that allows me to easily add and subtract content, modify individual columns. Page width matches (again, by accident) that of CafePress, so transitions across platforms aren't traumatic. Back-end support for the blog and other services are easily swappable with another service. I'm not sure, but I think I can package and save previous posts.
I've a couple products up now, and look forward to two more designs in the pipe line. I've got it pictured in my head, but some of the artwork is going to be tricky, if only because I'm such a terrible artist when it comes to my hand. I can see where I can make a lot more money with the pictures I've taken, especially if I market to Deviant Art and Zazzle. Zazzle looks very promising as it looks like I might be able to more easily design the backgrounds, headers and web jewelery.
What are industry rates for a contract artist to produce work on a schedule? That's what I need to know! I'd need to be able to call someone up and and say "I need an elephant screwing a pig!" and have it in a couple days.
Have a look at the site, let me know what you think. I hope to have more stuff later in the week.!
Tags: #libertarian, #tcot, design, market, politics, update, websites
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22:14
[Link] | I haven't written publicly on this blog in a very long time, although there a a couple entries for friends. There's been a lot I've been up to, though you wouldn't be able to tell from this blog.
Most of my work has been design: new material for my web pages, artwork and photography. I've also been working on a Cafepress store, since they've changed how you set them up. It's a lot easier to get multiple stores going, so now I can have an outlet for my political shit and goofy stuff.
The knowmad.net website will be face-lifted after I get done this post. Not dramatic, as I don't want to be spending an inordinate amount of time with all that design and new layout work. I probably should make the pages more iPhone friendly, but I really really want to get back to photography. I haven't enjoyed that in a couple months now.
After I get the political stuff rolling, either I go to work on some funny t shirts, or work on my tile site. That site hasn't been utilized in the almost 10 (more?) years I've held on to it, and now that I've a bunch of pictures I like, I think I should.
My mindset to web design has changed a LOT. I'm more for the simple, straight forward approach. I don't want to go too deep into pages, sub-sections, etc, so it will take a little thought. With the web-editor program, though, I can do a lot of "sketching" to see what I like.
Eventually, it'll all come back to this blog, which is simpler to maintain than start a new one.
It all comes down to "compartmentalization:" It's a crock.
All evidence, however anecdotal, suggests people can't fully "compartmentalize" the way the liberal mind-set insists. Your private, political and public lives will always influence each other. Hidden truths will always affect how you interact and treat others, because if they don't jibe with each other you'll always hold back.
Accept it.
Another thing I've noticed is the more someone rails against a certain injustice the higher the probability they act privately counter to that soaring rhetoric. How many press reports of the prudish senator with a secret sex club do you need to see that? And, let's not get into all the buried stories of Democratic ethics and financial shenanigans.
There will be a lot to write about once I find that groove again. Naturally I look forward to it as much as I dread it - if, by "dread" you mean having time sucked away from other fun things to sit in front of a computer on a nice day.
Tags: development, knowmad, philosphy, politics, update, website
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19:51
[Link] |
ecowasits?
Found in the international herald tribune:
And commodities, priced in dollars, tend to rise in price as the dollar weakens, making commodities a haven for investors fearful of future inflation.
Uhm....isn't this the sort of thing that lead to the great depression? I mean, as I read it, commodities brokers and investors are betting on a DECLINING dollar, i.e. rising inflation.
Current Mood:  confused
Tags: economics, finance, investment
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22:42
[Link] |
Sco, Novel, Unix and Linux
So, let me get this straight:
A judge has ruled the Unix copyrights belong to Novell.
Novell. Who signed a deal with Microsoft.
My big question is what will Novell do now?
Current Mood: curious
Tags: linux, microsoft, novell
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21:05
[Link] |
Astrology
—2012 happens in 5 years...
A friend of mine, matt, is way into the mayan calander. He keeps tellin' me in 2012 there will be an end to the Mayan cycle. In essence, the end of the world.
The interpretation often taken from that is "rebirth," though (I'm sure) you'll find those that think it really does mean the end of the world. The way things are goin' now, I'd say either one is possible.
If you do believe the mayan predictions, then you might want to check this out.
This, coincidentally, would be the end of the next president's first term. Imagine any one of the current contenders, and how they would inspire Americans to greatness, not regulation and restriction.
There's only one that's been doing that for me, and I'll leave you to figure who it is.
Tags: election, oil, speculation
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22:30
[Link] |
Apple of my eye
—Just when you've lost hope...
...Comes this one-two puch:
1.) Steve Jobs on Music
2.) EMI and Apple announce DRM free music
(cue crowd cheers)
It's been a long time coming. I wouldn't have a problem with buying music online, but for the DRM problem. Now I get to buy online what I'd normally buy hardcopy. The extra cents per track will pay off in all the time I save ripping CDs.
I think I'll subscribe to iTunes in May.
—Pete
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22:08
[Link] |
is a Parking ticket worth your home?
Isn't this a little ridiculous now?
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23:09
[Link] |
Gov'mint lookin' out for ya!
—Heads up, New York: You're unfit to make your own decisions
UPI is carrying this story of a likely ban on tras-fats in New York—essentially telling people what they can and can not eat.
Please note: Obesity and heart disease is linked to inactivity also. How long before exercise is mandated?
—Pete
Tags: food, government, overlording
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