a sibilant intake of breath

Across the street

Milan — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:00:43 +0000

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The TOR browser bundle

Milan — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:23:22 +0000

The TOR browser bundle seems like a reasonably effective and very easy-to-use means of circumventing web censorship and surveillance.

The speed of web browsing falls significantly when data is routed through the TOR network, but tools like this are increasingly essential as governments undertake more and more inappropriate meddling with the free flow of ideas online.

There are versions for various operating systems. I have tried both the Windows and Mac OS installs and they are both easy to use and at least a bit effective in avoiding tracking and censorship. Remember, however, that TOR is useless if someone is tracking all your web traffic at your point of connection to the internet, for instance by reading all the traffic through your broadband connection or cell phone. If you are worried about that, use public networks along with TOR, or set up an encrypted connection to a proxy or virtual private network and then run TOR from there.

Remember, all security bets are of if an attacker gets malware on your machine or gains physical access to it.

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Toronto fire 1904

Milan — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:00:45 +0000

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Statue on bench, Toronto

Milan — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 11:00:02 +0000

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Power line repair

Milan — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 11:00:04 +0000

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What’s good for us, and what’s morally permissible

Milan — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:00:42 +0000

BuryCoal post: Canada does not have the right to develop the oil sands

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Rabbits and satellite dish

Milan — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:00:14 +0000

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UCSB

Milan — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:22:44 +0000

Today, I heard back from the first of the nine doctoral programs to whichI applied. I have been accepted to the PhD in Political Science program at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

I am going to wait and see what results I get elsewhere before deciding what to do, but this is definitely encouraging.

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Rialto Bridge graffiti, Toronto

Milan — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:01:34 +0000

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Ryerson tuition protest

Milan — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 21:15:39 +0000

On my way back from getting a chest x-ray done, I saw a demonstration while waiting for a streetcar. It seemed to be Ryerson students petitioning the provincial government for lower tuition rates. I doubt they will have much luck with that, given the mood of austerity, but it’s good to see people making an effort.

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When to shiver and when to work

Milan — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 02:17:00 +0000

From Daniel Yergin’s The Quest:

To demonstrate environmental sensitivity [at the negotiations for the Kyoto Protocol], the Japanese organizers turned down the heating in the conference center. But this created a new problem as Kyoto in December was cold. To compensate, the Japanese decided to distribute blankets to the delegates. But they did not have enough blankets, and so a whole separate negotiation erupted over how many blankets would be allocated to each delegation. (p. 483 harcover)

Worst choice of abstinence over resistance ever.

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Idea novelty versus urgency of publication

Milan — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:00:47 +0000

One sign that a person has had a genuinely novel idea is that they are in no particular hurry to publish it. When Idea A and Idea B are all over the place already, it is obvious that Idea A+B will be thought up by dozens of clever people in short order.

There is less of a rush to assert authorship or more unusual ideas, since it is unlikely that another person will dream them up soon. Thus there is an inverse relationship between the degree to which an idea represents novel and noteworthy thought and the urgency with which it must be published.

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Links for 2010-11-12 [del.icio.us]

Sat, 13 Nov 2010 00:00:00 PST

An Open Letter to Wired Magazine
Come to think of it, the last time that a woman was featured on your cover, because she was being featured in the magazine for an actual accomplishment, was way back in 1996 when it was Sherry Turkle, the academic and author. And, the only other time was in 1994, when musician/author Laurie Anderson was featured. Because since then, I guess no women have done anything notable in technology unless it had to do with their bodies? Really?

Links for 2010-11-10 [del.icio.us]

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 00:00:00 PST

Supply-Side Virus Strikes Again - By Paul Krugman - Slate Magazine
The appeal to the intellectually insecure is also more important than it might seem. Because economics touches so much of life, everyone wants to have an opinion. Yet the kind of economics covered in the textbooks is a technical subject that many people find hard to follow. How reassuring, then, to be told that it is all irrelevant--that all you really need to know are a few simple ideas! Quite a few supply-siders have created for themselves a wonderful alternative intellectual history in which John Maynard Keynes was a fraud, Paul Samuelson and even Milton Friedman are fools, and the true line of deep economic thought runs from Adam Smith through obscure turn-of-the-century Austrians straight to them.

Links for 2010-11-09 [del.icio.us]

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 00:00:00 PST

Robert Christgau: Frank Sinatra 1915-1998
It's no surprise that among the post-Presley young he gets a lot more guys than gals. The gals have other ways to get off now--provisional romance is one thrill among many rather than the precondition of any thrill at all. The guys, on the other hand, admire Sinatra because he personified a style and an era in which guys still held all the big cards. And they admire the way he made gross material acquisitiveness seem classy instead of just classbound.
Geopolitical Journey, Part 1: The Traveler | STRATFOR
Nations and empires are living things until they die. While they live they grow to the limits set by other nations. They don’t grow like this because they are evil. They do this because they are composed of humans who always want to be more secure, more prosperous and more respected. It is inconceivable to me that Russia, alive and unrestrained, would not seek to return to what it once was.
To block EPA regulations, Koch Industries expands lobbying campaign to children | Grist
Koch Industries, the privately owned industrial conglomerate, is using any available method to fight the enforcement of laws to limit its toxic pollution. This summer's "Regulation Reality Tour," produced by Koch's grassroots marketing arm Americans for Prosperity (AFP), featured a "moon bounce in the shape of a SWAT car for children," ostensibly symbolizing the boogeyman of Environmental Protection Agency "Carbon Cops." "Let's make sure we keep doing our part to ensure that our generation passes on to our children and grandchildren the same freedoms we enjoyed," AFP cries, in protest of sewage overflow rules.

Links for 2010-11-08 [del.icio.us]

Tue, 09 Nov 2010 00:00:00 PST

Siddhartha Mukherjee has a powerful new metaphor in Emperor of All Maladies. - By Amanda Schaffer - Slate Magazine
This imagery reflects a contemporary, molecularly sophisticated view of cancer cells as savvy, prolific, and immortal. It provides a unified way of thinking about a disease that has come to seem less like one problem with one potential solution than it ever has before. In fact, this imagery carries a more dire implication: If the enemy is ourselves, only better, there may be no solution. As Mukherjee himself wonders, if cancer cells are more wily and adaptable than we are, is it possible finally to defeat them—and if so, by what strategies? Maybe we must ultimately accept cancer, to some degree, as the "inherent outer limit of our survival"—an inevitable offshoot of growth and aging that we might learn to hold at bay but can never truly eradicate.
Al Qaeda Unlucky Again in Cargo Bombing Attempt | STRATFOR
The details that we have been able to collect so far concerning the configuration of the devices is that both were camouflaged in parcels and both contained a main charge of pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) that was to be detonated by a primary explosive charge of lead azide. PETN is a military-grade explosive commonly found in detonating cord and some plastic explosives. PETN was also the primary explosive in the underwear bomb used in AQAP’s failed Christmas Day attack as well as its attempted assassination of Saudi Deputy Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef using an IED concealed inside the attacker’s body. Lead azide is a common primary explosive used in detonators, and it can also be used to effectively detonate an explosive such as PETN. According to media reports, the two devices contained 10.58 ounces and 15.11 ounces of PETN, both of which are larger charges than the 2.8 ounces contained in the Christmas Day device

Links for 2010-11-02 [del.icio.us]

Wed, 03 Nov 2010 00:00:00 PDT

Morals at the ballot box: If you're reading this, thanks for voting | The Economist
I argue that while citizens have no duty to vote, if they do vote, they must vote well—on the basis of sound moral and empirical beliefs in order to promote the common good—or otherwise they are morally obligated to abstain. Though individual votes make no significant difference to political outcomes, bad voting violates either a duty not to participate in collectively harmful activities or a duty not to participate in collective activities that impose undue risk upon innocent people
Tea-party blues: I still say we're doomed | The Economist
The tea-party movement is two different things: a bunch of spontaneous conservative gatherings, and a few well-financed, experienced and professional conservative political organisations under a new brand. The tea-party movement is spontaneous, and it has been effective. But where it is spontaneous, it is not effective, and where it is effective, it is not spontaneous.

Links for 2010-11-01 [del.icio.us]

Tue, 02 Nov 2010 00:00:00 PDT

C.K. Chivers' The Gun explains how the AK-47 changed the world. - By Nicholas Schmidle - Slate Magazine
The Kalashnikov was originally touted as a weapon to resist imperialism, capitalism—in short, the United States. But Cold War advertising rarely aligned with reality. The rifle's operational debut came in 1956, when the Red Army rolled into Hungary to crush a popular uprising in the streets of Budapest. Two events in Budapest that autumn foreshadowed the Kalashnikov's future. First, in the process of ruthlessly suppressing the revolution, the Kalashnikov emerged as "repression's chosen gun, the rifle of the occupier and the police state." More important, it quickly fell into the hands of rebels who deciphered the gun's simple mechanics and used it against Soviet-backed soldiers, even executing one lieutenant in broad daylight. Here was a weapon anyone could use—and use over and over. The Kalashnikov was "so reliable, even when soaked in bog water and coated with sand," Chivers writes, "that its Soviet testers had trouble making it jam."

Links for 2010-10-27 [del.icio.us]

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 00:00:00 PDT

CBC News - Politics - Canada's public service rated less corrupt
Canada rose to sixth place in having the most trustworthy public sector worldwide, according to a report released Tuesday.

The Corruption Perceptions Index calculated Canada's score as 8.9 out of 10 on a survey concerning whether public servants use their positions for private gain.

The country's score was a slight improvement from its 8.7 score in 2009, but the gain was enough to push Canada up two spots in 2010.