Rights and Liberties: Culture of Fear: Poetry Professor Becomes Terror Suspect
Because of my recycling, the bomb squad came, then the state police. Because of my recycling, buildings were evacuated, classes were canceled, the campus was closed. No. Not because of my recycling. Because of my dark body. No. Not even that. Because of his fear. Because of the way he saw me. Because of the culture of fear, mistrust, hatred and suspicion that is carefully cultivated in the media, by the government, by people who claim to want to keep us “safe.”
… The police officer told me that in the current climate I needed to be more careful about how I behaved. “When I recycle?” I asked. … The spokesperson of the university called it an “honest mistake,” not referring to the young man from ROTC giving in to his worst instincts and calling the police but referring to me who made the mistake of being dark-skinned and putting my recycling next to the trashcan.
My body exists politically in a way I cannot prevent. For a moment today, without even knowing it, driving away from campus in my little Beetle, exhausted after a day of teaching, listening to Justin Timberlake on the radio, I ceased to be a person when a man I had never met looked straight through me and saw the violence in his own heart.
AlterNet — What a horrible story, wonderfully told.
Ignore the US copyright bullies
For example, this year it is a virtual certainty that Canada will receive special attention, with the U.S. claiming that the country has neglected to address critical issues and suggesting that it is rapidly emerging as a piracy haven.
While the report will generate media headlines and cries for immediate action, the reality is that Canada meets all of its international copyright obligations.
… Not only are the policies suspect, but the USTR report should be seen for what it is - a biased analysis of foreign law supported by a well-orchestrated lobby effort.
Michael Geist, BBC — Brace yourselves
EVERY year, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics awards prizes for the best papers presented at its annual conference. Last year’s winner in the nuclear and future flight category went to a paper calling for experimental tests of an astonishing new type of engine. According to the paper, this hyperdrive motor would propel a craft through another dimension at enormous speeds. It could leave Earth at lunchtime and get to the moon in time for dinner. There’s just one catch: the idea relies on an obscure and largely unrecognised kind of physics. Can they possibly be serious?
New Scientist — Cool story!
“Ancient lights” is a colloquialism for the “right to light,” guaranteed under English law, whereby windows that have seen twenty years’ worth of “uninterrupted” daylight cannot be blocked by the construction of new buildings.
BLDGBLOG — I knew about access rights, I didn’t know about this.
Scaling TwitterBlaine-of-Twitter on SlideShare — The scaling Rails presentation. Needs more explanation. Either there isn’t any or I just haven’t come across it.
Thinking of trying the Drupal open source content management system? It’s a powerful platform, but the learning curve can be steep, even if you’re already comfortable with its underlying technologies: PHP, MySQL and CSS. As the volunteer webmaster for the Monterey County (California) Democrats, I’ve gotten deeper into this stuff than I ever anticipated, and believe me, I know that learning curve well. Here’s a list of some of the top gotchas.
O'Reilly ONLamp Blog — Yuck!
