Isaac Smith

The blog is in cold storage for the time being. But I’m starting a TL, so you should...

Wed, 16 Nov 2016 11:02:19 -0500

The blog is in cold storage for the time being. But I’m starting a TL, so you should subscribe.

Habits of Mind in an Age of Distraction | Comment Magazine

Wed, 16 Nov 2016 11:02:02 -0500

Habits of Mind in an Age of Distraction | Comment Magazine:

But what if we tried to tell people that by disconnecting, however temporarily, they might be able to hear God?

children of Twitter

Tue, 01 Nov 2016 09:11:21 -0400

children of Twitter:

Alan Jacobs:

This, I think, should be the task of those who want to use social media wisely and well: not to try to reason with people — the code architecture of all social media, and especially Twitter, with its encouragement of instantaneous response and crude measures of approval or disapproval, militates against rational reflection — but to promote ordinate affection, and especially the love of the good wherever it may be found, even in people you have been taught to think of as your political opponents.

I agree with this now; the hard part will be agreeing with this even when it becomes inconvenient.

Since other people are sharing their appreciation of Star Trek today, I should throw in mine,...

Thu, 08 Sep 2016 16:53:45 -0400

Since other people are sharing their appreciation of Star Trek today, I should throw in mine, too.

One of the things that strikes me about Star Trek these days is how much, as a shared culture and ideal, it has transcended the shortcomings of its creators. And I don’t mean just in the trivial sense of fans expanding on a franchise with their own creations, as happens routinely; but that, in spite of the clunky dialog and the hammy acting and the handwavey plots and so on and so forth, Star Trek means so much to so many in articulating what humanity should be striving for–today and into the future. It’s been held up as a feminist ideal, even though so many female characters were pigeonholed as either caring mothers or sex objects. It’s been an important locus for imagining queer sexuality, despite not having an openly gay character until this year. It’s been a trailblazer for racial equality, even as its portrayal of non-human races often relied on ugly stereotypes (TNG-era Ferengi, I’m looking in your direction). It may be the most popular vehicle ever for envisioning a peaceful, socialist future, but most of its stories are about a hierarchical quasi-military organization. And that’s to say nothing about the many constraints that Gene Roddenberry placed on the storytelling that later writers and producers struggled against mightily. The great thing about Star Trek is that it’s not about one person’s vision–indeed, it would be a far inferior product if it were. Maybe because of its clunkiness, it invites us–all of us–to imagine what a brighter future might look like.

"On the issue of consumer boycotts, the general rule should be that if affected workers are calling..."

Thu, 19 May 2016 10:12:01 -0400

“On the issue of consumer boycotts, the general rule should be that if affected workers are calling for it, then it’s something we should support (the UFW grape boycott) and if it’s consumers calling for it without consulting the workers, we should probably find out what the workers think about it first (people saying we shouldn’t buy clothes from Bangladesh when the workers there say that doesn’t help them).”

- Good advice from Erik Loomis.

yearsoflivingdangerously: CHECK OUT this unraveling spiral...

Thu, 12 May 2016 14:28:13 -0400

yearsoflivingdangerously:

CHECK OUT this unraveling spiral –> the most compelling global warming visualization ever made

“The pace of change is immediately obvious, especially over the past few decades.” - Climate Scientist, Ed Hawkins (via GIPHY)

"If there’s anything anachronistic about At Last!, it’s how plainly vulnerable James..."

Mon, 25 Apr 2016 13:19:14 -0400

“If there’s anything anachronistic about At Last!, it’s how plainly vulnerable James sounds while performing these songs. Insomuch as it’s possible to distill any one theme from the last couple decades of pop music, it’s the presentation of—and insistence upon—self-empowerment as an infallible path toward joy. Those sorts of affirmations can induce a wild ecstasy in the moment—I AM THE BEST! NO ONE CAN TOUCH ME! SUCK A DICK, JERKS!—but eventually, one has to worry about whether those same notions are not, in fact, a deeply odious and toxic force in the world. It can’t be great for whole generations to come of age hollering self-aggrandizing anthems that never quite acknowledge the most gratifying and dangerous thing a human being can actually do: courageously make room for another person in her heart.”

- Etta James: At Last! by Amanda Petrusich

"There’s often a strong need on the part of progressive people to believe that all ailments are..."

Thu, 10 Mar 2016 09:45:30 -0500

“There’s often a strong need on the part of progressive people to believe that all ailments are essentially economic and that, therefore, if there is a political program that isn’t economic in its emphasis it must be surreptitiously economic in its real purpose. It’s a little like Freudian analysis: since all neuroses are sexual traumas, then a sexual trauma will always be found. But one of the fundamental and tragic lessons of the last century is that nationalism can exist on its own as a cause and faith and belief attached to the most meagre shreds of any kind of economic project. That’s the way Mussolini worked, or, later, Berlusconi. People still identify—yes, let’s go there—Hitler’s rise with the currency inflation of the Weimar Republic. And yet that panic had already passed; Hitler’s appeal, as any reader of “Mein Kampf” can find, was very marginally about economic grievances, almost entirely to feelings of aggrieved identity and unavenged humiliation.”

- Roots and Rot: Dodging the Blame for Donald Trump by Adam Gopnik

Re: this podcast episode on Dorothy Parker There should have...

Mon, 22 Feb 2016 11:34:00 -0500

Re: this podcast episode on Dorothy Parker

There should have been a moment in Sex and the City, somewhere in the middle of the series–say, after breaking up with Aidan for the first time–when Carrie is shocked out of her complacency and starts developing a fascination with radical politics. Maybe it was the WTO protests in Seattle, or the stories of corporate malfeasance that emerged after the boom years of the ‘90s ended (e.g., Enron, WorldCom). Maybe it was something more close to home, like reports of sweatshop conditions at Manolo Blahnik. In any event, a seed is planted in Carrie’s mind, though at first she remains as materialistic and self-absorbed as ever. But then she begins acting differently: She dates a labor organizer; she insists that the gang meet at a run-down diner in the Bronx because the workers there earn a living wage; she writes about exploitation in the fashion industry for In These Times and The Progressive (while still filing pieces for Vogue–they do pay $2 a word, after all). Her column becomes increasingly strident, exhorting readers to see the constant churn of dating advice and style trends as tools used by our corporate overlords to keep us distracted from inequities happening every day right under our noses. Eventually, her friends become alienated from her. First, Samantha (of course), whose politics begins and ends with “I got mine!” Then Charlotte, whose mushy feelings of compassion for the oppressed don’t survive accusations that her affluence makes her complicit in their oppression. And last, Miranda, who agrees with Carrie in principle, but doesn’t understand why she can’t be more pragmatic about it. The series ends with Carrie and a crowd of antiwar protesters battling police in front of the U.N. building, or something.

Story Time: Drugs, Fur, and One Epic '77 Snowstorm

Thu, 11 Feb 2016 15:29:31 -0500

Story Time: Drugs, Fur, and One Epic '77 Snowstorm:

Well this was a hell of a story.

Red Tape and Installation Prove Biggest Challenge to Solar Today

Wed, 23 Dec 2015 12:13:08 -0500

Red Tape and Installation Prove Biggest Challenge to Solar Today

AP Investigation: US power grid vulnerable to foreign hacks

Tue, 22 Dec 2015 14:31:08 -0500

AP Investigation: US power grid vulnerable to foreign hacks

What can a technologist do about climate change? A personal view.

Tue, 01 Dec 2015 11:45:51 -0500

What can a technologist do about climate change? A personal view.:

A lot to read through, but really impressive throughout.

"What climate change is doing is basically devaluing all the real estate south of the United States..."

Thu, 22 Oct 2015 15:00:04 -0400

“What climate change is doing is basically devaluing all the real estate south of the United States and making the whole planet less productive. Climate change is essentially a massive transfer of value from the hot parts of the world to the cooler parts of the world. This is like taking from the poor and giving to the rich.”

- Sol Hsiang, co-author of a new study on the impact of climate change on the world economy.

"If someone tells you “coding is the new literacy” because “computers are everywhere today,” ask them..."

Wed, 14 Oct 2015 08:21:51 -0400

“

If someone tells you “coding is the new literacy” because “computers are everywhere today,” ask them how fuel injection works. By teaching low-level coding, I worry that we are effectively teaching our children the art of automobile repair. A valuable skill — but if automobile manufacturers and engineers are doing their jobs correctly, one that shouldn’t be much concern for average people, who happily use their cars as tools to get things done without ever needing to worry about rebuilding the transmission or even change the oil.

There’s nothing wrong with basic exposure to computer science. But it should not come at the expense of fundamental skills such as reading, writing and mathematics — and unfortunately today our schools, with limited time, have tons of pressure on them to convey those basics better.

I’ve known so many programmers who would have been much more successful in their careers if they had only been better writers, better critical thinkers, better back-of-the-envelope estimators, better communicators. And aside from success in careers, we have to ask the broader question: What kinds of people do we want children to grow up to be?

”

- Jeff Atwood: Learning to code is overrated - NY Daily News (via ayjay)

"The original sin of Internet culture was the exploitation of user-generated content to enrich a..."

Mon, 05 Oct 2015 13:48:56 -0400

“The original sin of Internet culture was the exploitation of user-generated content to enrich a lucky few at the top of dominant platforms. Spreading that wealth — toward the moderators, watchdogs, and auditors who could detect and respond to the problems Reagle and Phillips so expertly illuminate — would be a good first step toward taming trolls and shaming sock-puppeteers and astroturfers. Where “spontaneous order” failed, good old-fashioned editorial judgment may yet succeed.”

- Frank Pasquale: How to Tame an Internet Troll

Photo

Thu, 01 Oct 2015 22:13:40 -0400

Energy Outlook: The Fallout from Volkswagen's "Defeat Device"

Wed, 23 Sep 2015 11:09:49 -0400

Energy Outlook: The Fallout from Volkswagen's "Defeat Device":

Geoffrey Styles tends to have a more favorable view of fossil fuels than I do, but he raises some good questions about the possible trade-off between reduced NO_x emissions and reduced CO₂ emissions in diesel cars. And note that he is only talking about the 482,000 affected cars in the US, not the 11 million that are said to be affected worldwide. That changes the calculus considerably.

4 Questions About Volkswagen’s Massive Emissions Cheating Scandal That Still Need Answers

Wed, 23 Sep 2015 11:01:34 -0400

4 Questions About Volkswagen’s Massive Emissions Cheating Scandal That Still Need Answers:

Why did Volkswagen do it?
Why didn’t the EPA’s own tests catch Volkswagen?
How widespread could this be?
What comes next? (For Volkswagen, and the EPA, and consumers, and the auto industry…)

Good questions, all. I’m still gobsmacked by the scope of this scandal.

"If it is a human thing to do to put something you want, because it’s useful, edible, or..."

Mon, 21 Sep 2015 13:11:18 -0400

“If it is a human thing to do to put something you want, because it’s useful, edible, or beautiful, into a bag, or a basket, or a bit of rolled bark or leaf, or a net woven of your own hair, or what have you, and then take it home with you, home being another, larger kind of pouch or bag, a container for people, and then later on you take it out and eat it or share it or store it up for winter in a solider container or put it in the medicine bundle or the shrine or the museum, the holy place, the area that contains what is sacred, and then next day you probably do much the same again–if to do that is human, if that’s what it takes, then I am a human being after all. Fully, freely, gladly, for the first time.”

- Ursula K. Le Guin, “The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction”