Language! It's a virus!

孟婆 var sc_project=6694969; var sc_invisible=1; var sc_security="5a1075c6";

[precipitevolissimevolfermo]

[brucesterling]

*How entirely terrible to be quietly circling some minor-league, well-behaved star, innocently doing a little astronomy, and then realizing that something like this was about to happen.

[groundhg]

Ecuador’s new Penal Code is being debated this week in the National Assembly. The bill is enormous, but because the debate period it is so short (a few days), and voting is this week, I’d like to highlight a very specific set of articles which I find hugely problematic.

At a time when the...

[ladymeng-blog]

The Dark Side of Google

In The Dark Side of Google Italian writers' collective Ippolita provides a thorough, fresh analysis of what is behind the universe of Google and the metadata industry. In recent years Google has established itself as a major point of Internet access. We have progressively adapted to its sober, reassuring interface and its advertisements (discretely off to the side, yet always present). We have adopted its services and the habit of using it to the degree that 'googling' has become a form of behavior: 'If you don't know what it is, Google it!' Google shows mastery in taking advantage of our need for simplicity. We sit in front of a colossus, an incredibly pervasive system of managing knowledge, comprising aggressive marketing and shrewd management of its own image, and the propagation of highly configurable interfaces that are still implacably recognizable. What is more, Google co-opts methods for developing Free Software, the use of futuristic systems for gathering and storing data.

First published in Italian, 2007.

English edition revised and updated, August 2013.

here

[ladymeng-blog]

[fotojournalismus]

Flowers planted in used tear gas canisters are seen on land Palestinians reclaimed two years ago following an Israeli court order to re-route its controversial barrier, in the West Bank village of Bilin near Ramallah on October 1, 2013. Mohammad Khatib, a Bilin resident, has been collecting the canisters left over from clashes between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians protesters during weekly protests in the West Bank.

[Credit : Mohamad Torokman/Reuters]

[semioticapocalypse]

[ladymeng-blog]

[gorevsenicagiriyor]

[eaudewerther]

Apocalypse Now

[polish-vintage]

This is the photo made by Chris Niedenthal and it’s picture of an Armoured Personnel Carrier standing in front of Warsaw’s “Moscow” cinema screening “Apocalypse Now” during martial law in Poland (1981-1983). 

[screenshotsofdespair]

[fckyeahnetart]

Asymmetric Love Number 2, Single Produced Sculpture (Steel, CCTV cameras and DSL internet cables), 2012 Addie Wagenknecht

http://we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/2013/09/interview-with-addie-wagenknec.php#.UkXCh4hS7pE

[touchn2btouched]

[screenshotsofdespair]

via werenowhere

[ladymeng-blog]

The Lumiere Brothers - "Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat" - First silent documentary film - (1896)

The film is associated with an urban legend well known in the world of cinema. The story goes that when the film was first shown, the audience was so overwhelmed by the moving image of a life-sized train coming directly at them that people screamed and ran to the back of the room. Hellmuth Karasek in the German magazine Der Spiegel wrote that the film "had a particularly lasting impact; yes, it caused fear, terror, even panic."

[ladymeng-blog]

Erich Fromm interview 1958 (!)

(a collection for the Human Age Museum)

[ladymeng-blog]

Freedom means having control over your own life.

"It is now 30 years since I launched the campaign for freedom in computing, that is, for software to be free or “libre” (we use that word to emphasize that we’re talking about freedom, not price). Some proprietary programs, such as Photoshop, are very expensive; others, such as Flash Player, are available gratis — either way, they subject their users to someone else’s power."

...

"Why does this control matter? Because freedom means having control over your own life.

If you use a program to carry out activities in your life, your freedom depends on your having control over the program. You deserve to have control over the programs you use, and all the more so when you use them for something important in your life."

Why Free Software Is More Important Now Than Ever Before

by RMS

http://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/09/why-free-software-is-more-important-now-than-ever-before/