This may be hard to believe, but as recently as a few years ago people were announcing the death of rock ‘n’ roll. “Rock,” they said, “is dead.” The music of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin ……
Reading
As a wise poet once wrote, “I learned all there was to learn, and much besides, from the books in my library that I have.” Books may not be the latest form of technology, and they certainly may not be…
Gossip is a tradition as old as mankind. It is human nature to gather in circles and whisper about the goings-on of one’s neighbors and movie stars. Such discussions are a way of establishing behavioral norms and reminding one’s community…
I can’t believe I have to spell this out, but:
free/libre/open-source software developers and open web activists selflessly running independent services online are people too.
It seems this idea is especially difficult to grasp for researchers (including, apparently, whoever reviews and green-lights their studies). The latest kerfuffle with the Princeton-Radboud Study on Privacy Law Implementation shows this well.
“Not a human subject study”
The idea of that study seems simple enough: get a list of “popular” websites (according to the research-oriented Tranco list), send e-mails to e-mail addresses expected to be monitored for privacy-related requests (like privacy@example.com), and use that to assess the state of CCPA and GDPR implementation. Sounds good!
“[We are] like a school bus teetering on the guardrail of a bridge over a roaring river. The bus driver is trying to coax the children to move calmly and carefully to an exit door in the portion of the bus that is still on the bridge, but some of the children are running and […]
The post “Like a school bus teetering on the guardrail of a bridge over a roaring river.” appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design.
Science is the art of using logic and research to make sense of our world. At its best, it leads to stunning new discoveries and cutting-edge results. At its worst, it leads to mistakes that must be corrected … using…
Whereas Enlightenment thinkers had faith in the linear progress of the human mind, attaining higher states of thinking and behavior may in fact depend in part on extreme events. But this is a far cry from saying that we should deliberately will evil in order to achieve good.
In his opening address to the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow at the beginning of November, Boris Johnson evoked the end of a James Bond movie in which the hero is “strapped to a doomsday device, desperately trying to work out which colored wire to pull to turn it off, while a red digital […]
The post ‘Arum Arum Araaaaaagh’ appeared first on The New York Review of Books.
2021 was a year that will be remembered as “The Year Where We Went To The Movies … Or Did We?” While some theaters were filled with people watching the latest offerings on the big screen, other theaters were empty…
When all is said and done, 2021 will be remembered as an extraordinary year full of challenges, breakthroughs, and triumphs. From a very young age, we grow up to eventually understand many things about the world … including years. And…
Publisher: Wild Rose Press
Written By: Mark Rosendorf
RRP: £12.99 / $10.21 (Paperback) | £3.59 / $4.99 (Kindle)
Reviewed by: Sebastian J. Brook
Publisher: Self Published
Written By: Edward M. Hochsmann
RRP: £8.30 / $10.99 (Paperback) | £2.56 / $3.49 (Kindle)
Reviewed by: Sebastian J. Brook
This internal council document was only recently unearthed in our archives. It refers to a secret governmental emergency plan to "purify" the town following some kind of "infestation or plague," the details of which have now been lost.
Just announced: I'm being given the International Sociological Association's Award for Excellence in Research and Practice. This award is given once every 4 years; it's a great honour. My thanks to the ISA! And to the many, many colleagues & friends I have worked with, over the years.
The social science I value is engaged in the world, it doesn't watch from a distance. It's empirical and utopian. It's willing to explore questions ranging from personal life to global empire. It doesn't flinch from issues of violence and power. But it also asks how new and better possibilities emerge.
BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA -- Friday, December 10th, 2021 -- A global community of activists is taking part today in the Defective by Design campaign's 15th annual International Day Against DRM (IDAD) to protest use of Digital Restrictions Management, a widespread technology that places unethical restrictions on how people access digital media. Though from different backgrounds, countries, and perspectives, participants in the campaign share the common cause of opposing DRM in all of its forms. This year's target is Disney+'s streaming platform.
During the Trump days, I argued that the Trump presidency signified the waning power, if not end, of the Reagan regime. To that extent, Trump bore comparison to Jimmy Carter, whose presidency also signaled the end of another political order (the New Deal). I was wrong about that, and I explained how and why in a lengthy piece in 2019. My argument about Trump was based on two theories: one, my own, about conservatism and the right; the other, Steve Skowronek’s theory of the presidency. In the New York Times this weekend, I take stock of the Biden presidency, asking, essentially, this: if Trump turned out not to be Carter, how does that help us understand Biden? The Skowronek theory […]
I was recently invited by the The Economics Society of Northern Alberta to speak at their 2022 Outlook Conference about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on homelessness. Here’s an overview of my presentation: https://nickfalvo.ca/covid-and-homelessness-ten-things-to-know/
Another end of the world is possible
Following on from How everything can collapse, the french collapsologists now turn their attention to coping with collapse, psychologically, intellectually and even practically.
This is a thoughtful book drawing on useful experience, and covering a lot of ground in a fairly systematic way.
Audio chapters in this zip include
One of the Doctor’s most feared nemeses will be back on screens this UK New Year’s Day as Doctor Who returns for a special episode entitled Eve of the Daleks. Following the explosive series finale of Doctor Who: Flux, The Thirteenth Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) and friends Yaz (Mandip Gill) and Dan (John Bishop), will kick-start 2022 with an action-packed spectacular episode set to air on BBC One on New Year’s Day. Eve of the Daleks will also feature guest stars Aisling Bea (This Way Up, Living With Yourself, Quiz), Adjani Salmon (Dreaming Whilst Black, Enterprice) and Pauline McLynn (Father Ted,… Continue reading
It’s December so I suppose I should mention these books in case you might want to incorporate any of them into your Christmas shopping. ‘50 Ways to Score a Goal’ is a collection of poems, perfect for the football obsessive in your life, whether they’re aged eight or eighty (but not thirty-four for some reason).…
Annual reminder to water your tree poems this Christmas.
The MP’s posh, privileged persona has been a good cover for an untrustworthy, self-serving character
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