Cognitive surplus?
by Pete on April 30, 2008
I finally got around to watching Clay Shirky’s “cognitive surplus” talk at the Web 2.0 conference. If you haven’t seen it or read the text, it’s worth watching: Yeah, I’m not so sure. While I’d like to believe that Shirky’s (…)
What John Cole said
by Pete on April 29, 2008
From a post entitled “Obama Kicks Wright In the Junk” at Balloon Juice: Maybe it is because I am totally and unrepentantly in the tank for Obama, but I just can’t get worked up over what his pastor said. Maybe (…)
Cloverfield
by Pete on April 28, 2008
I finally got around to watching Cloverfield a week or two ago. Based on most of the reviews I read when the movie came out, I was expecting to hate it. Annoying, throw-away characters, nausea-inducing camerwork, gimmicky premise—the general consensus (…)
The Clinton campaign’s argument
by Pete on April 23, 2008
So, the spin coming out of the Clinton camp would seem to be something along the lines of “Barack Obama, might do well in small caucus states, but he can’t win in big, important states. Ergo, Clinton should be the (…)
Why old men who don’t use computers shouldn’t control tech policy
by Pete on April 17, 2008
From News.com, yesterday: WASHINGTON–A prominent Senate Democrat on Wednesday said federal and local police should use custom software to monitor peer-to-peer networks for illegal activity, and he wants to spend $1 billion in tax dollars to help make that happen. (…)
“The threat of live burial was rejected”
by Pete on April 14, 2008
Sit back and consider, for a moment, the fact that we are actually reading stuff like this in the papers: The Post reported that the attendees at one or more of these sessions included then-presidential counsel Alberto R. Gonzales, then-Attorney (…)
What’s a little domestic spying between friends?
by Pete on April 12, 2008
The Washington Post reports the good news this morning: The Bush administration said yesterday that it plans to start using the nation’s most advanced spy technology for domestic purposes soon, rebuffing challenges by House Democrats over the idea’s legal authority. (…)
No matter how many times you try to compare it to the Cold War, it still isn’t the same.
by Pete on April 11, 2008
Yesterday, President Bush once again took to his speechifying podium to mount the same tired defenses of his Iraq adventure/debacle. Near the end of the speech, the President pointed out that “our defense budget accounts for just over 4 percent (…)
American Gods and free books
by Pete on April 6, 2008
I purchased Neil Gaiman’s American Gods last week. I’m currently about 150 pages in, and am finding it to be pretty good so far. So what, you’re asking. Well, the reason I now own the book (which is about seven (…)
The coolest thing ever! EVER!!
by Pete on April 4, 2008
What, I ask you, could be more awesome than the fact that new episodes of Battlestar Galactica start up again tonight? Answer: Scott Ian (yes, that Scott Ian) has his own blog on the official BSG website at SciFi.com.