Berin Szoka

I'm President of TechFreedom, a tech policy think tank based on pragmatic optimism about technology and skepticism about government. I blog at the Technology Liberation Front and am on the Board of the Space Frontier Foundation. I organize the Shaw-Howard Neighborhood Association in Washington DC and volunteer for Shaw's Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC2C). In my spare time, I'm into tech geekery, tech policy, libertarinanism, skepticism, history, baroque music and art, books, urbanism, Washington, my native New Mexico, and puns. Follow me on Twitter or Facebook. var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-26644836-1']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();

[myverticalgarden]

[unwrapping]

6 Tips for Writing Longform on Tumblr: "If blogs are journals," proposed a Tumblr FAQ from 2007, "tumblelogs are scrapbooks." Yes, images and text scraps dominate the Dashboard, but longform writing has a place on Tumblr. Longform.org qualifies longform as writing that exceeds 2,000 words. That’s definitely long on Tumblr. The key is to respect your Tumblr followers by not overwhelming the Dashboard.

Use the read more break. For lengthy text posts, write a title and intro that captivates. Then add a read more break after that intro. Tumblr will show that brief teaser on the Dashboard, linking readers to the longform version on your blog.

Consider visuals. Try leading with an image. Make a photo post and use the caption for your longform text. Then insert a read more break in the caption. Or stick with a text post and read more break — but add an image.

Pick the right blog theme. The read more break sends readers to your blog for the whole story. So choose a readable theme that caters to longform. Tumblr offers a "write long things" collection, and I list some text-friendly theme favorites.

Break it up, then link it up. Chunk your work into separate posts using parts, sections or chapters. Then link the parts. Also, assign tags to chapter posts and use a “tagged/keyword/chrono” link (like this) to chronologically order posts.

Formatting matters. Writing fiction? Insert a paragraph break each time a new character speaks. To mark a scene break, use *** (set off with paragraph breaks). Writing non-fiction? Apply bold subheads to outline your key themes and use lists to make several points.

Save as a draft. Writing well means rewriting. Save your post as a draft and revisit it to revise. You can also share a saved draft with someone for feedback.

[deanmoriarty]

You won’t find a new country, won’t find another shore. This city will always pursue you. You will walk the same streets, grow old in the same neighborhoods, will turn gray in these same houses. You will always end up in this city. #cavafy

[at-kkoolook]

to certain people there comes a day when they must say the great Yes or the great No…

Constantine P. Cavafy (via at-kkoolook)

[burnhamed]

bo takes the time to turn a new meme into a political statement

[priceofliberty]

YAWN again. I know what "statist" means. It's just used so much by libertarian wackos that it has lost all meaning. the amount of care I have for being called a statist is zero.

^^You

[slothisticated-blog]

Scans that prove Leonardo da Vinci was right all along: New show reveals ‘startling accuracy’ of anatomical sketches which lay undiscovered for hundreds of years

The startling accuracy of Leonardo da Vinci’s anatomical drawings will be highlighted by a new exhibition that compares the artist’s work with modern medical scans.

Long praised as one of the finest artists of the Renaissance era and a visionary inventor, da Vinci’s work as an anatomist was also well ahead of its time.

The forthcoming show will pitch his studies of the human body against today’s high tech medical imaging technologies to show just how groundbreaking his investigations of the human body were.

Thirty sheets of the artist’s work kept by the Royal Collection Trust are set for display at the Edinburgh International Festival in August to show just how far-sighted da Vinci’s work was.

Da Vinci first began researching the human body to help him keep his paintings as ‘true to nature’ as possible, but the project soon took on a life of its own and he had ambitions to write an illustrated treatise on anatomy.

Read More

[theatlantic]

A Brief Argument Against War in Syria

In Washington, D.C., most politicians have a terrible track record anticipating how wars will unfold. Iraq, Afghanistan, the Persian Gulf War, Vietnam: as often as not, America’s wars of choice proceed in ways that no one in charge imagined, and the best intentions of hawks do nothing to make up for the lives and treasure squandered on missions that were never likely to succeed. But no hawk ever says at the time that he or she has no idea what will happen if they get their way. President Obama has no clue how an American act of war against Syria would unfold, because it is unknowable. Intervention poses tremendous risks, as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey explained. "We must anticipate and be prepared for the unintended consequences of our action," he told Congress. "Should the regime’s institutions collapse in the absence of a viable opposition, we could inadvertently empower extremists or unleash the very chemical weapons we seek to control." In other words, we don’t know what will happen. But it could be awful. U.S. efforts to stop atrocities could even make the situation worse.

Read more. [Image: Reuters]

[berinszoka]

Why is humility so hard?

[theatlantic]

Bo Xilai’s Raunchy, Entertaining Trial Was Still Fundamentally Unjust

The trial of disgraced official Bo Xilai, the most anticipated political event in China in at least a decade, wrapped up Monday after five surprising and entertaining days — or four and a half more days than anyone had expected. No verdict has emerged — that’s supposed to come sometime in the next couple of weeks — but without a doubt Bo Xilai will be found guilty of corruption, abuse of power, and accepting bribes and sentenced to a lengthy term in prison. The verdict will mark the conclusion of one of China’s most intriguing political careers: Once thought to be a shoo-in for a spot on the Communist Party’s highest governing council, the 64-year old Bo may now spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Was Bo’s trial successful? As an act of theater, it was certainly riveting: testimony released during the case (by the Jinan Municipal Court, which published transcripts of the proceedings on its Sina Weibo microblog) revealed enough sex, violence, and intrigue to satisfy a Hollywood scriptwriter.

Read more. [Image: Reuters/Jinan Intermediate People’s Court]

[techfreedom]

National Security Agency officers on several occasions have channeled their agency’s enormous eavesdropping power to spy on love interests, U.S. officials said. The practice isn’t frequent — one official estimated a handful of cases in the last decade — but it’s common enough to garner its own spycraft label: LOVEINT.

Reports the Wall Street Journal. Maybe it’s time to update the Fourth Amendment:

the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches, seizures and pre-date research queries, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized or hotties to be stalked.

(via techfreedom)

[globalvoices]

Mugabe and his family decided to go on vacation to celebrate the win. Grace, his wife, John his son and Sarah his daughter wanted to go to the Bahamas but Mugabe wanted to go to Dubai. So they decided to vote and the result was as follows: Bahamas: 3 Dubai: 68

At 89 Years Old, Zimbabwe President Mugabe Sworn in for Five More Years

(via globalvoices)

[techfreedom]

27,000

State & local prosecutors able to shut down any website if Section 230 were amended to make online platforms liable for user-generated content under state criminal laws, as recently proposed by 49 state Attorneys General.

[berinszoka]

There are 7 billion people on the planet. It seems unlikely that all of them would be inherently and necessarily more fulfilled, more mature and better-off if they all made the exact same choice – whether that's to run a business or start an organic garden or practice yoga or do any other particular thing. So, why do we assume that having kids is the universal choice of the unselfish and the personally transformed?

The choice to be child-free is admirable, not selfish - Jill Filipovic in The Guardian

[alphatechfreedom]

European Union antitrust officials announced late last month that they are considering fining Microsoft for failing to fulfill its antitrust obligations to the EU. The fine could be as high as 10 percent of Microsoft’s annual revenue, or about $7 billion. That isn’t a paper threat. The EU has levied huge fines against Microsoft before. Governments should wield that kind of immense power against private parties only when they are certain a real wrong is being corrected. Unfortunately, everything about the EU’s antitrust history with Microsoft should make us question whether that is the case here. Microsoft’s battle with the EU also offers a broader cautionary tale: Companies can create real risks for themselves and shareholders when they make product-design commitments to settle government actions. We have seen this happen in recent settlements between the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and Google Inc., Facebook Inc. and MySpace Inc. In each case, the companies face an extra layer of regulation for the next 20 years for products that could change daily. Google may soon face new antitrust actions in the U.S. and the EU for its search engine design and patent licensing practices.

University of Chicago Law Professor Rady Picker, New EU Threat to Microsoft Offers a Cautionary Tale.  TechFreedom’s recent amicus brief in the case of Wyndham v. FTC warned that the FTC’s settlements of online consumer protection cases “are devoid of doctrinal analysis and offer little more than an infinite regress of unadjudicated assertions. (via alphatechfreedom)

[shortformblog]

five adult males have been named in a newly unsealed indictment for what we now know to be the largest cyber fraud case in the history of the U.S. legal system.

160M million credit card numbers were stolen and sold by the five men, who allegedly received help from a convicted felon...

[shortformblog]

Mark Zuckerberg made more money today than you'll see in a lifetime (unless you're Sean Parker)

$3.8B the amount of money Mark Zuckerberg made today after Facebook surged 30 percent on the stock market today, the result of a very robust second quarter. The company reported $1.81 billion in revenue and $333 million in net profit, largely as a result of a surge in mobile revenue, which was once seen as the company’s blind spot. The stock is currently at a level not seen since the company held its IPO in May 2012. source 

[alphatechfreedom]

CDA Section 230 & Immunity for Online Intermediaries

Summary

Under current law, when an Internet user distributes unlawful content on a third-party website, that website is generally immune from liability for the user’s wrongdoing. Some state Attorneys General (‘AGs") have recently suggested changing the law in order to impose state criminal liability on intermediaries.

Read More