Wednesday 28 December 2011

new year's stuff...

not so much resolutions as intentions because you can't break an intention :)


  • help out on an eco-build, preferably a roundhouse with a reciprocating roof

  • spend some time living in the woods

  • take some more wildlife pictures

  • do some more spoon carving

  • maybe visit Occupy the London Stock Exchange and help out there for a while

  • spend less time on the computer

  • reflect...on how to give others more time to reflect

Sunday 6 November 2011

'abusive' Observer article about the Occupy movement blocked from Facebook...?

This article

"How to Occupy the moral and political high ground"

has been blocked by Facebook: this is what comes up when i try to share the link



it seems that someone is doing their best to stop people posting Occupy articles by labelling them as 'abusive'

Here's the article in full: if i've breached any copyright i apologise, but this kind of backdoor censorship must be countered
=========================
How to Occupy the moral and political high ground

The worldwide protest can be a critical force for change if it follows some simple rules


As UK citizens are being told once again to "trust" the gatekeepers of the global banking system and as US citizens are realising that, despite a first amendment that guarantees freedom of speech and assembly, they are facing potentially lethal rubber bullets in Oakland and police brutality ranging from Tulsa, Oklahoma, to the streets of Manhattan, what is becoming clear is that a game-changing global shift is taking place. The conflict is no longer between right and left, but between the "one per cent" – a corporatocracy that, without transparency or accountability, is claiming the lion's share of the planet's resources and capital, while disregarding democratic processes – and, well, the rest of us.'

This single global family, transcending national boundaries, just wants a peaceful life, a sustainable future, economic justice and basic democracy. On the other side, the global corporatocracy, also transcending national boundaries, has purchased governments and legislative processes, developed its own military, mercenary or quasi-military enforcers, engaged in systemic economic fraud and plundered treasuries and ecosystems.

What should global protest movements learn from what's happening around the world and what lessons should they draw from their own experiences? My study of successful protest movements leads me to suggest the following:

■ Democracy is disruptive. Around the world, peaceful protesters are being demonised for this, but there is no right in a democratic civil society to be free of disruption. Protesters ideally should read Gandhi and King and dedicate themselves to disciplined, long-term, non-violent disruption of business as usual – especially disruption of traffic. If they are peaceful, they can't be infiltrated by provocateurs as easily, while the unjust militarisation of the police response is more transparent. Also, the winning protest movements of the past were a matter of months or years, not days or hours; they involved sitting down or "occupying" areas for the long haul.

■ Protesters need to raise their own money and use it to hire their own lawyers. The corporatocracy is terrified that citizens will get their hands on the mechanism of the law.

■ Protesters should make their own media and not rely on mainstream media to cover them. They should learn to write opinion pieces and press releases, blog about and document their experiences and create web platforms where cases of police abuse (and the abusers) are logged and documented. Protesters should use their cameras and video cameras religiously. There are, unfortunately, many documented cases of violent provocateurs in demonstrations. This is why it is so important not to cover one's face in a protest: provocateurs need to be photographed and logged.

■ Protesters in democracies should create email lists locally, sync the email lists nationally and start registering voters. They need to email their representatives the list of Occupy-registered voters in each district and commit to getting out the vote in congressional or parliamentary elections for Occupy-supporting candidates – while working to defeat Occupy-bashing candidates.

In Oakland, California, the right has started a recall effort to force the mayor from office for being "soft on the protesters". Protest groups need to organise to oust politicians who are brutal to or suppressive of protesters. This tips the scale: in Albany, New York, for instance, police and the district attorney refused to crack down on protesters and chose to support their first amendment rights.

■ The movement has been shy of identifying leaders, but I believe this is a mistake. A leader does not have to be a top-down hierarchist: a leader can be a simple representative. Protesters should elect representatives – for a given term just like in any democracy – and train them to talk to the press and to negotiate with politicians. These should span the spectrum: young people and grandparents, truckers and teachers and businesspeople. It is hard to cover the protest effectively if there are no spokespeople.

■ Protests should be scenes not of clashes but instead should model the kind of civil society this emerging human family wants to live in. In Zuccotti Park, in Manhattan, for instance, there is a kitchen, food is donated for free, kids are invited to sleep over and there are teach-ins organised. Musicians should bring instruments, the vibe should be joyful and positive. If there is mess, protesters should clean it up themselves. The idea is to build a new city within the corrupt city and show that this is a reflection of the majority of society, not a marginal destructive element.

■ Finally, we should understand that it is not a "list of demands" that is so profound about any of these protest movements; it is the very infrastructure of a common humanity that is being created. For decades, the global family has been told to keep its head down and leave leadership to the elites; in wealthy countries, to zone out in front of TV or at the mall; in the rest of the world, to submit to poverty and drudgery. What is transformative about the protest movement is that people are emerging and encountering one another face to face and remembering the habits of freedom: face to face, they build new institutions, new relationships and new organisations.

And, I hope, pass laws sooner rather than later to demilitarise the police; ban Tasers and rubber bullets; criminalise police and politician violence against free speech activities; demand prosecutions for financial fraud; compel the corporate books that unaccountably swallow billions in tax revenue to be audited; investigate torturers; bring home soldiers from corporate wars of choice – and rebuild society, this time from the grassroots up, accountably, lawfully and democratically.

=========================

Thursday 22 September 2011

Farcebook's latest changes: some thoughts

Facebook's recent evolution mirrors the evolution of lots of other software, including websites: here's what happens
- someone gets a great idea that makes something easier and/or generic, which was otherwise difficult and/or specific
- it becomes a success because it does exactly what it says on the tin and the users build a consistent mental model of how it works. the people who developed the idea do a good job because they're the ones who use it, so they know what works
- the marketeers see an opportunity: but because they have a mindset that sees money and markets, they add features and increase complexity to the point where the mental model is becomes inconsistent and opaque to the end user, mainly because it's not the end user's needs that are being met, but the needs of ambitious people in the business
- people start complaining and looking for alternatives
- then someone gets a great idea that does just what it says on the tin and provides a consistent, non-annoying experience. the first company then collapses

they're also going against one of the most basic rules of the web: it's a road, not a train on rails. the user is in the driving seat and they can choose to follow any path they like. Facebook is in some ways attempting to put the user on rails, with more limited and pre-defined options, rather than simply a set of signposts they can follow if they wish. that's a big failure and many, many other sites have suffered, because the basic rule of the web is one of active user choice. i reckon that in a boxing match, Marshall McLuhan would trounce Zuckerberg every time :)

i don't care whether facebook survives or not: but it does surprise me that they haven't learned from the mistakes people have made in the past. however, i can tell from Google's evolution that they have learned this lesson: that's exactly how they took a massive market share from Altavista in the late 90s.

btw: does anyone remember Altavista? it was once the search engine everyone used :)

Tuesday 13 September 2011

The Hunter - a story

"I think there's one just down the road, dear." I'm sure she used that sardonic tone to irritate me. It's a matter of seconds if you want to get a good score and she knows how seriously i take it. If she could get her eyes off that handheld, with its incessant stream of inane gossip...ah fuck it. Thats' where she got the tip, no doubt. I rushed out onto the balcony.

There he was: two blocks down, in the Harper building, looking out from the open platform on the 23rd floor. I could see him without binoculars or the scope on the P22. Jumping platforms aren't strictly legal, by the way, but the landlords always found a way around that by putting a few bins there and making up something about them needing to be open because of the smell. This was going to be a tough shot: the sun reflects off those windows at this time of day. I'm a serious player so I don't use that auto-filtering crap and a self-aimer like a lightweight. It's a matter of honour and nobody in the main Ladder (yours truly is now in 79th place and rising) would be caught using one. Good points to be had here.

I shouldered the P22 and took a closer look. Male, underweight (I'd say a BMI of about 32) and ready to go, by the looks of things. He'd got the usual twitches and tics and he must have hit hard times because there's no shortage of Averin and it was only about 30 creds for a week's supply, unless you'd been mixing it with Zero-Cola. They say the high's good, but what goes up, must come down, and when your intake rises tenfold every two weeks, I reckon it would bankrupt most ordinary people within a year. So you stop...and when you do, most people end up jumping. There are other ways, of course, but at least this way, you go out quickly and your loved ones get some creds. We always have a whip-round and while it's not compulsory to contribute, nobody who wants to be taken seriously on the Ladder would dream of not helping out. It helps the sport, after all.

The polariser on the scope kicked in and cut out the reflections. Here he goes...to the edge: I took up first pressure. I'll take him when he's level: i reckon about 20 feet of lead. Too high and he's too easy a target, too low and someone else will get him. Some people buy their way to a good score by renting apartments on the lower levels, which means plenty of time, but there's no artistry in that. Anyone with the money can get a south-side low-level in the Valleys - Christ knows there are enough empty offices, after the computers took over the trading floor. Money and the right connections can get you a weapon with all sorts of fancy automatic shit but there's no art in that. Manual is where's it's at: anything more than an aimer and you won't get any kind of rank, but it's mostly about self-respect. That's why it's important to get a flat shot rather than a high or low one: it's about the angles. While the jumper's high up, they're a small target, for sure, but they're not crossing your field of vision very fast and you've got plenty of time. Likewise with the low ones, except for the time - and anyway, someone further up will get them first, if they're any good. A flat shot gets you a better score (and more respect) than anything else: they're moving fast past you and even the best aimbot would be no use because you can't keep up. That's where the real skill lies. You've got to shoot on instinct.

Of course you could always use a smart round - well, we all do, but not that kind. The kind of smart flechette the military uses that can go round six corners, through a concrete wall, and into a target's neck without even spraying blood on their pillow would do the job, for sure. Anyone could do that. The only approved round is a Hawking round and that's that. Anything else and we'd be either half-arsed or shut down right away. All it does is disintegrate within a metre of anything that isn't made of flesh and moving fast. They say it was that wheelchair guy who figured out the principle - I'm damned if I know how they work - but we couldn't do this if they didn't do that. There'd be no windows in the Manhattan Valley blocks and the sport would not exist. We're on the edge of illegal as it is but nobody has ever been successfully prosecuted for shooting someone who'd just jumped to their death. Even so, if it weren't for a bit of pressure from the landlords, who live quite nicely on the rents they can get downtown for defunct office buildings, we'd be fucked and there'd be no ladder. I'd have to go back to hunting deer a couple of times a year, and to be honest, i never liked the exercise and the cold.

He was moving to the edge: it couldn't be long now. I could see the usual blank stare they get when the Averin wears off but God only knows what's going on in his head. The arms and shoulders were twitching and I could see him sway back and forth as I held first pressure. There's no laser on this sight but it's 220 yards to that platform. I knew the settings by heart for all seven I could see from my balcony. Zoom out with a frame-in-frame. I don't know if my heart can take this kind of excitement much longer...

Small frame: there he goes! He was a falling silhouette against the mirror glass and there were a couple of cracks followed by self-destructed puffs of dust as a couple of noobs had a go and missed. It was too early for my main rival Bucky: this guy was mine, for sure. I let one go - only one - as he passed the eleventh and i saw him spin with the impact. The spin continued for a few milliseconds and then he was free game for the rest: they'd waited too long, as usual. Fucking losers...anyway, before he hit the ground, there wasn't much left. They wouldn't get the score. I was already uploading the vid to the Ladder and this one was mine. Bucky wasn't there, but this was a classic, so even if I don't advance, I'll get the kudos. The angle of the sun made for a really good sequence and it'll confirmed as a matter of course. One of those dumb fucks on the forum will start bleating about saying prayers for his immortal soul, but we have to tolerate the fuckers because they help keep our guns legal. I just wish they'd shut up.

She was still sitting reading that celebrity crap while she chatted on Twype. At least she had the good sense to let me know one was ready but then again the widget i'd put on her handheld would snitch if she'd known and hadn't said.

Oh well...back to work. I switched the machines off auto and there'd been no alerts, probably because Indonesia was still fast asleep. Working from home is one of the perks of being a drone pilot.

==========
Creative Commons Licence
The Hunter is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.

Sunday 19 June 2011

why i don't like this ad

i recently had an altercation on a social networking website - you can guess which one - about this advertisement:



some people assumed that i was offended by it, but in fact i was more disturbed than offended: disturbed by the way otherwise intelligent people could be manipulated, as that's what advertising is - often very clever manipulation

it seems to appeal to women in the same way Nuts magazine and the like appeal to some men: and it seems to me that women who fall for the appeal of the man in it are basically the same type who whoop and slaver in the front row of a Chippendales performance. what surprises me is that the woman i fell out with would be one of the first to condemn mags like Nuts and Loaded but is somehow unaware of how she's fallen for the same 'sex sells' trick, just with her as the target audience. she'd posted it on her wall and when i challenged her about the sexist attitude within it - sexism in women towards men - she defended it on the grounds that it was a parody of sorts. that's one reason why it's so clever and effective: it packages a poison pill of attitudes to sexuality and body image in a pretty sugar coating

and then there's the use of images, which are cleverly juxtaposed with the text in order to sweeten the pill. it's a fact that images are much more effective than speech or text when it comes to getting a message across: a picture tells a thousand words, as the saying goes, and those words can be deceiptful and manipulative in just as high a degree as a cleverly constructed text. the difference in this case is that while text and speech can be reflected upon and dissected easily by most, a video image is delivered within a timeline which enables some clever manipulation via juxtaposition and less obvious signals. in this case, a body ideal is sneaked in beneath the critical faculties by the use of some very clever video effects which, on their own, would be very appealing, if it not for the fact that the point of this whole thing is to sell Old Spice (which i happen to like very much, by the way...and always have, ever since i used to nick a splash of my dad's when i was young).

the attitude within it, designed to get under the radar of otherwise sensible people's critical faculties, is pretty much overtly stated in the first part: be dissatisfied with yourself and/or your husband. the irony of the narrative and imagery mask this by making it look as if it's not projecting a certain kind of image. it's very clever. the marketing and advertising companies don't employ psychologists at high rates of pay for nothing!

am i the only person around here who can see the problem? we've got generations of women who know and understand how damaging the projection of similar female images can be to especially girls and young women. am i the only one who can see that the marketing of cosmetics and suchlike to men is taking a similar path? as the Story of Stuff creator Annie Leonard puts it so well: "Advertising basically says 'You Suck'" and how better to create that deep dissatisfaction with one's own body image than to bombard people with sexually appealing images of something unattainable? i'm 52 and grew up in a world where marketing wasn't anywhere as clever as it is today. these days, many people actually find ads entertaining (and it's no surprise, as there's often more money spent on the 30 second ad than on an hour's TV). maybe one day, they'll get people to enjoy the taste of arsenic on their cornflakes?

eating disorders are on the increase amongst men and boys. anyone who has had eating disorders at close hand knows what suffering and pain they cause and my heart goes out to anyone who suffers from one, either themselves or in their loved ones. i'm not saying that this kind of imagery is the sole or even the prime cause of such problems, but it's part of the picture and the problem too. dissatisfaction with one's own body is probably the most common factor in eating disorders

the woman who posted this on her wall wouldn't approve of something which used similar female imagery, even if it's wrapped in something which is supposedly humorous. she seems to have fallen for it anyway. i find that as depressing as when i hear of young women getting into porn and lapdancing believing that it' an expression of their own empowerment. commodification of sex, which surely is one of the greatest and most beautiful expressions of love and tenderness (and which can also be a great healer) disturbs me deeply: and that, to me, is what this is about too. i find this unhealthy on so many levels

i know that this is only a simple and hurried look at something which is more complex: hopefully we can continue the discussion and i can become wiser along the way

btw: i'm far from being prude, as anyone who knows me well will tell you. i feel that sex is most at home within a sphere of intimacy...

Thursday 6 January 2011

random ramblings...

if this is rambling, i need some new boots

======

Fret Level 5

i'm burning all my credit cards to stay awake
the broadband has gone mouldy
a whole pack of sanity towels is blocking the road
but there's drugs to lock us up
and prisons to keep us sane
hooray

i've bought lots of nothing at a very good price
people who value nothing will buy it
i'll borrow some more from the bank
of the last river on earth
where i'll phish your identity
take that

next week there will be timebombs
and incendiary pauses
and all the words you can ever eat
so let's imprison some tourerists
in a maze of twisted logic
last orders please

i'm waiting for last year's great sensation
to arrive on the back of a cataclysm
i apologise for not being afraid
tesco value and the x-factor should fix it
and a raised fret level too
bye bye

Monday 3 January 2011

and some more...

...poetry. it just keeps coming out. don't ask me how, i don't know

============

shellfishness

and there i was, openhearted but wound-up and bewildered
when it came, that...that scalding emotional lavaflow
vomited from some dark, blinding place bleached black
it's there but you give it no name
your something-something
you shocked me
i'm a bit of a first-timer
every single time

i don't know what to do
there's hurt in all directions
and something in me closed up hard and brittle
and i don't know what to do

we're so shellfish
we drift at the mercy of the sea
until we find a rock to cling to
a place to let life flow through us
to stop wanting and start having
whatever life the tide brings
we keep ourselves in a hard shell
until its safe to open up

that sounds all wrong
i really should say

i'm so shellfish
i drifted at the mercy of the sea
and now i've found a rock to cling to
a place to let life flow through me
to stop wanting and start having
whatever life the tide brings
i kept myself in a hard shell
until it was safe to open up

i'm such a coward
with these things
but i'm trying

we need clean water to thrive
if it's gritty we get all clogged up
and stop growing
it takes a lot of effort to clean all that crap out
and you feel really dirty inside
but there is a bright side
it does produce the odd pearl
and my shell's shut tight

and i still don't know what to do
and i'm sorry i'm so busy
i'm in a good place
and it feels really sad but
i'm not where you are
and i don't really know where i'm going
and our paths might not cross
but i have to go there
and if i didn't, i wouldn't be me any more
and you don't want that
so i have to go
and i'm so sorry
my love

Saturday 1 January 2011

this just in...

...from somewhere. i wrote it in about half an hour and i have no idea where it came from

===========

Sharing The Fire

the fire and love
bring us together and keep us warm
let's come closer and see the firelight
in each other's eyes and dazzle our hearts
that would be great

but it's not always like that
the spark of love needs dry, well-chosen tinder
must be sheltered from the wind, the rain and the cold earth
kindling must lie waiting and the heart must glow bright
as the breath feeds it

don't light your fire on a rocky spot
the rocks will crack angrily and hot splinters burn
cold wet spots bore it to death with a bottomless chill
a kindly place where the soul and nature rests is best

feed your fire with good timber
too green, and it gives no heat
too weathered and the flames die fast
learn to recognise the good stuff
don't worry about the hard work
cutting and gathering
listening and giving
in time, you will grow stronger
and it will warm you just as well

others will come to share your beautiful fire
let them tend it too
there are many ways to tend it
and you'll never know them all
share it well
you get warmer, not colder, when it's shared with a friend
a stranger knows it as the greatest gift of all
and will bring you blessings

there may be times when fuel is hard to find
or your fire dies from lack of attention
don't worry
you'll know better what to expect
don't rush
dark embers can burn and reawake
if the hearth is still warm
and they like to do it
when you're looking the other way
life is for living, don't dwell
do what you love

fire and love are very alike
they need the same things and live well together
but they're not the same, oh no
fire is a good servant, but a bad master
with love, it's the other way around