10.30.08
Space invaders
Admittedly; what I am about to write about is not exactly ‘on the edge of current events’, but still. I think it is good to take a small step back sometimes and enjoy what beautiful things have been done in the last couple of years.
As a kid, I was a big fan of Space Invaders. And the fact that I wasn’t the only one, was proved by the Swiss artist Guillaume Reymond. In 2006, during the Belluard Bollwerk International Festival, he played the biggest Space Invaders game in human history, as part of the Game Over project. Not played by one person, but played (or should I say: acted) by no less than 67 people (or should I say: pixels). And this is excluding the crew. I think the video he made is absolutely beautiful (I actually prefer this over the Youtube award winning ‘tetris’) and I’d like to spread the joy. So: enjoy.
10.29.08
Economic crisis for dummies
Bankemployee: “Hello, poor person. Would you not rather live in that nice $250.000 house in the suburbs instead of that dump you live in now?”
Consumer: “Hello bankemployee. Of course I would, but I have no money.”
Bankemployee: “That’s no problem. I can loan you the money. You will never really have to pay it back anyway, because the value of your house will keep on increasing, which means we can loan you even more money in the future to pay of the loan I am giving you today.”
Consumer: “That sounds just swell, I will take that loan.”
Bankemployee:“Hello bankboss. I just loaned someone $250.000 dollars for a house. So someone owns us $250.000.”
Bankboss: “Hello bankemployee. Well done. We will add that $250.000 to our balance so we will appear to be $250.000 richer. As a reward we will give you a nice 5% bonus.”
Bankemployee: “Wow, I’ve made another $12.500, I will spend all my bonuses on buying a big villa myself.”
Bankboss: “Live a long and happy life, my High Potential, yuppie protégé.”
Bankemployee: “Hello Bankboss, I need to pay for my villa, can I please have my bonus money? “
Bankboss: “Hello Bankemployee, of course you can. Oops, we do not have enough cash, let’s ask for some of our loans back from poor consumers.”
Bankboss: “Hello client. Can we please have part of our money back we loaned you?”
Consumer: “Hello bankboss. I am sorry, but I have no money.”
Bankboss: “That is most unfortunate, we will have to sell your house.”
Bankboss: “Hello bankemployee, our clients seem to be unable to pay for their loans. We need to seel their houses.”
Bankemployee: “Hello bankboss. It wasn’t my fault, I cannot help it that they have no money. But I still need to pay for my villa.”
Bankboss: “Don’t worry we don’t blame you. But please do not lend anyone else any more money.”
Bankemployee: “Okidoki”
Another consumer: “Hello bankemployee, can I loan some money to buy the house the bank is selling to pay for your villa?”
Bankemployee: “Hello another consumer. Unfortunately I cannot, I cannot lend anyone any more money, because we don’t have any.”
Another consumer: “Oh. I will just pay with the money I have then.”
Another consumer: “Hello bankboss, here is the money for the house I bought.”
Bankboss: “Hello another consumer. But that’s very little money, the house was worth a lot more.”
Another consumer: “Well, I don’t have anymore. Banks are selling so many houses everywhere, I could buy another house from another bank if you don;t wish to sell me yours.”
Bankboss: “Nononono, don’t be silly. We will take that money for the house.”
Bankboss: “Hello bankemployee. All the houses that we have been giving people loans for, are only worth 10% of what we have put on our balances.”
Bankemployee: “Hello bankboss. That’s not good news, can’t we lend money from other banks?”
Bankboss: “Unfortunately they all have the same problem. We appear to be in deep shit.“
Bankemployee: “So, how about paying me those bonuses?”
Bankboss: “If no one is lending us any more money and we have financial obligations that are ten times greater than what we actually posses… There is only one thing we can do.”
Bankemployee: “What is that, bankboss?”
Bankboss: “We will ask the government for a couple of billions of dollars so the taxpayer can pay for the villa you’ve bought with the bonuses you got for creating money on paper that was never there in the first place.”
Bankemployee: “God Bless America. God Bless Capitalism.”
10.28.08
Method of (self)destruction and/or recovery
God,
I haven’t done any of the,
approximately,
1000 chores,
I had to do today,
Plus,
I realized that I cannot draw and,
I am no longer able to paint,
which resulted in a relapse,
of compulsive eating,
since I just got so(oo) depressed,
I could have pulled my hair out,
that is: if I had been a girl,
Duh,
And on top of everything else,
I started lying again,
I will grow fat, ugly and alone,
and I’l probably die,
hope you’re happy amidst the debris of a shattered aspiring artist.
CUL8A! -x- [wink]
note:
The illustrated poetry albums have unfortunately all sold out. Stop writing.
10.27.08
Will Chrome snare the Fox?
Ever since I heard Google is building it’s own webbrowser I’ve been a bit worried about the future of my beloved Firefox. Perhaps I shouldn’t be, I have a tendency to be overly concerned, but still.
To a better browser
As you probably know, Google is the main source of income for the Firefox webbrowser as the Google search engine is pre-installed. Besides coughing up some needed dollars for Firefox’s parent, Mozilla, Google also had some programmers working on improving the Firefox browser. That probably helped in making Firefox 
the superior browser over Explorer. As Page and Brin had always expressed the desire to build an own browser (the time just wasn’t right with the browser war between Microsoft and Netscape going on) this was a two way deal; Mozilla got a better browser, Google got to learn a lot about building one of their own. And it does appear that Google has been able to make a browser that outdoes the competition; it’s faster, less intrusive, more convenient and it may become the ultimate Windows killer. Since Google build it’s browser ‘Chrome’ from scratch they did not need to take older add-ons and aps into account. This means that their browser is ready for all sorts of web-appliances, like spreadsheets and such, which could mean that you can finally get rid of your ‘Windows Office’ and the paperclip buddy.
Kicking Microsoft
A lot of people will cheer the fact that Google is rapidly becoming more than merely a worthy oponent for Microsoft, upon entering the mobile and webbrowser market. And they do it with good products too. What’s even more important; they do it with a very good business plan. Google doesn’t want to make money of granting you access to the internet, nor do they want to make you pay for having fun on the web. Google makes money of having as many people as possible, spending as much minutes online as possible, since their money comes from advertising.
Don’t be evil
Google’s mantra is: Don’t be evil. But actually, I’m quite confident that most people (no more than in any other segment of society) at Microsoft are not evil either. It just happens. In the Netherlands they have a saying: ‘opportunity makes the thief’, which seems to be very fitting. As more and more people start using Google products and Google is sitting on top of more and more information about our behaviour, preferences and other even more sensitive information… Abuse of this information is just around the corner. Starting with minor invasions of our privacy (things that users consider ‘handy’ and would happily trade some privacy for) and from that point on slowly expanding, untill it just might be too late. I’m not saying Google is evil, or that anyone at google wishes it to be evil. I’m saying this might just happen in the future without anyone actually knowing why, including Page and Brin themselves. Gogole has become so big it cannot be controlled by a board anymore, it’s developped it;s own dynamics, or ‘personality’ if you will.
Snaring the Fox
Back to Firefox. Their official comment is that they’re not worried. Google has no intentions of taking money away from the project as they’re still willing to pay for the users of Firefox to use the Google search-engine and because a lot of internet users are great fans of Mozilla and the open source community. Mozilla thinks that most of their users will give Chrome a try, but then come back to Firefox becasue it is genuinly open source. This sounds plausible. Google does not have any beef with Firefox after all. Chrome is going after Explorer. And what if Chrome is becoming the (nearly)biggest webbroser out there and Google finds out there is much more money to be made of consumers that use Chrome than of consumers that merely use their search-engine through Firefox. Perhaps this would take place at a time when the economy is pretty bad and Google employees might need to be laid off in the near future. Wouldn’t it be ‘not evil’ to keep employing your Googlers by killing your alliance with Firefox (and by taking away your money, that might just mean the end of Firefox quite soon). And with the technical ties between Google and Mozilla being so close, but with Google (as the party with all the money) holding all the cards, it would stand to reason that there is no way that Firefox can outsmart Chrome. It would appear that the only way out for Firefox is to build their own search-engine and/or find new ways of making money, which -sort of- geos against their open source ideology.
I keep my fingers crossed for Firefox and hope they don;t go the way Netscape did; pushed out by corporate powerplay. In the end it might not be Google being ‘evil’ to kill the Firefox browser, it might just as well their being ‘not evil’.
p.s.
I apologize to the people of Apple for not mentioning Safari. Yes, Safari is also a webbrowser. But at this point no one is using it. Give it time.
10.22.08
Meanwhile… customs will read your cybersexchatlogs.
Obviously, no one does the ‘cyber’ thing anymore. The twentieth century has long passed after all. And who stores confidential business data on a laptop? Only idiots would do such a thing. So, actually everybody wins, except for idiots and criminals. Hardworking, honest people have nothing to hide, so they have nothing to fear. Wondering what I’m talking about? Well, while everybody is very much focused on the credit crunch and the US White House election, plans are for Europe to follow the American example to grant customs officers the right to seize your laptop and go through your files. Privacy? Well, the twentieth century has long passed after all.
And the seizure of your laptop is not the resulting measure after having raised suspicion. no, it can be just random. I don;t know about you, but I have a big, big problem with someone going through my personal files, stored on my personal laptop. Holiday pictures, blogpostings in progress, my resumé, or correspondence with my insurance. ‘Nothing to hide, nothing to fear’, my arse.
Apparently, this is yet another measure that is supposed to make us feel safe from a terrorist threat. Which is a nonsense argument. What sort of a lame terrorist would ’smuggle’ threatening info on a laptop computer when sending an encrypted file over the net is faster, safer and more reliable? It may also have something to do with -again- copyright laws. If one of those customs guys takes hold of your laptop and find an entire mp3 collection of Burt Bacharrac on it, you can expect to find a nice unexpected bill in your mailbox soon.
In the end it’s all about control. I do not think that the government is out to get us. I do however, have a strong suspicion that they are out to control us. More information will not lead to better security, since there is no way that all that information you gather can actually be researched. You’re just adding pieces to an already complete puzzle. All the information to prevent 9-11 was there, but there was so much information on the table no one managed to oversee it all. So this laptop seizing thing will actually make us less safe.
But who cares. There is actually no way you can be against this. If you are pro-privacy nowadays, you are also considered pro-terrorism. If you think this is something to fear, apparently you have something to hide.
More info?
http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jun/26/business/fi-laptops26
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/may/15/computing.security
http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/10/24/business/24road.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=
10.21.08
How much does copyright suck?
Dear dudes and dudettes. I understand the idea behind copyright. It like totally sucks (if you pardon the expression) to have someone else make money on something that you (think you have) thought up. On the other hand: copyrights are so 19th century. It’s old, it’s lame, it should be gone. If you don’t believe me, believe Jagdish Bhagwati.
Torrenting Rufus
Old Walt built his empire on infringing copyrights; by stealing the fairytale of Snowwhite for example and after he became rich; he’d sue the pants of everybody that was called ‘Mickey’, undoubtedly including mr. Mantle and mr. Rourke. The Oxford dictionary was the first Wiki in the 1800’s with over 800 volunteers participating in putting the thing together (imagine what would have happened if one of those writers had been smart enough to copyright his additions…). The music and film industry play the role of innocent victims perfectly, while they hire extremely expensive lawyers to get the last pocket money from a 10 year old kid who was criminal enough to upload a ‘Over the hedge’ clipping on her Youtube page. Let’s drag the bastards that torrent the latest Rufus Wainwright to have his fine melodies accompany a slide show of his latest concert they went to as paying fans. If you are stupid enough to be a fan, you are stupid enough to bleed for it.
Global intellectual property
A global market and open economy is, apparently, good for all economies in the world. If you think along that line, wouldn’t opening up intellectual property legislation be good for all sorts of research and development? Who ever said that if you’re the first one to ever register an idea, that the idea is yours to exploit for eternity in the first place? There are other ways of making a living of your intelectual effort than by just putting a price on it, our Mozilla friends seem to be doing very well, mr. Gates. And thank you very much for coming up with a medicine that delays HIV from becoming AIDS, but why do you want to stop everyone else from producing that medicine, if that means that millions of people will die (if you’re making billions of dollars in profits anyway… I’m afraid the ‘we’ve invested so much money, blah-blah argument doesn’t really fly.).
Jagdish Bhagwati
So, who’s this Jagdish Bhagwati I’ve mentioned earlier on this post, and why should you care? Mr. Bhagwati is an economics professor at the Columbia University, which makes him a much more credible source than I will ever be. Professor Bhagwati is also an appreciated adviser to the World Trade Organisation and he feels globalisation is not just about the free flow of labor and capital, but of ideas too. In his view, copyright laws are just another form of protectionism.
Not my story, theirs
Recently I read a blog posting that ’s sort of illustrative of how copyrights lawyers are ruining this planet for us. I’ve copied and pasted (and then edited) the basic idea of the article and then provided a link to the source. This, to avoid being sued for trying to get readers over their back… can’t be too careful these days… (Please click links provided to avoid prosecution)
The Performing Rights Society will stop at nothing as it demands money from small businesses, charities, playschools, and now, kids’ community centers, all so that they can listen to music without fear of prosecution.
Source: torrentfreak.com
The UK’s Performing Rights Society (PRS) is a non-profit organization, setup to ensure that the music industry continues to make plenty more profits on an on-going regular basis. For years now, they have collected license fees from companies that use music as part of their businesses, such as pubs, clubs and restaurants. Some might argue that these type of companies benefit commercially from playing music to the public, so a license fee, although not particular popular, can be absorbed as a legitimate business expense.
However, recently the PRS has been getting more and more aggressive in its quest to funnel cash to its paymasters. It now sees every UK organization – commercial or otherwise – as a legitimate target to intimidate with threats of legal action, should they dare to play a radio, TV or DVD within earshot of the public without a license. Small businesses playing the radio for personal entertainment to pass the working day, charities, tea rooms, corner shops and even community centers are being targeted by this outfit. Bizarrely, they are currently going after the British police, who have been refusing to pay. It’s clear, they care about just one thing – money.
But it is possible to further outrage people. And this is what these type of collection outfits are doing, by widening their campaigns to start going after the softest most impressionable target in the country – kids. Last week we reported how the MPLC, a Hollywood royalty collection outfit, (illegally) demanded money from kindergartens in Ireland, so that the kids could watch DVDs there.
Elizabeth Busby, the after-school supervisor at the center told ClydeBank Post: “We can’t afford to pay this money. Although we have a TV license for the center, under these rules we cannot let all the kids watch it.”
Read the rest of this article here.
10.16.08
Robotics in paint – Art by Eric Joyner
I have no idea who’s working for them, but I sure like the taste of the person responsible for planning shows at The Corey Helford Gallery. In september they hosted a show with beautiful works by the amazing painter Eric Joyner.
Eric Joyner is a robotics artist. Not that builds robots, he paints them (okay, maybe he does do some building, but that’s not relevant here…). But not like Futurists or constructivists would paint them. Eric is a romantic when it comes to our mechanical, electronical friends. Beautifully, lushly painted sceneries show various loveable (and very human) robots in everyday situations. In forests, theme parks, restaurants or just on the streets. In several paintings you don’t even notice the robots at first because they blend in so naturally.
Joyner’s main occupation after graduating from the Academy of
Art in San Francisco is as an illustrator. and this also shows in his works as a painter. Well balanced compositions, clear lines that make it easy for the viewer to see waht story the artist is trying to tell. Fortunately Joyner combines that gift with a healthy dose of love for paint, with which he is very generous. Joyners paintings never feel as mechanical as his subjects: tin robots. And that creates exactly the sort of tension that lift his works from merely pretty to look at, to beautiful art.
10.15.08
Blog Action Day 2008
Today is blog action day; “thousands of bloggers will unite to discuss a single issue – poverty. We aim to raise awareness, initiate action and to shake the web!“.
Over ten thousand blogs are currently participating, reaching an audience (through RSS alone) of over 11 million users. That may not be enough to reach the necessary tipping point as mr. Gladwell would be more than happy to point out, but it’s a start.
I’d say the basic idea to ending poverty is pretty straightforward; 1. end corruption, 2. provide micro-credits, 3. relieve the debt. Coming up with a solution is not the biggest challenge, the biggest challenge is implementing it. Poverty increases the likelihood of corruption and corruption is the surest way for a nation to become poor. Ending corruption also means that you must put in place a legal system that works.
Micro credits are needed because you need something to start with, if you’re going to work your way out of poverty. If someone could actually the piece of land he or she lives on, that means he or she has something to lend money with. And with this money this person could start a business. Poverty does not end with a massive group of people, it can only end with a massive group of individuals.
Finally, the wealthy and greedy industrialized nations must relieve the debt they hold over the developing nations as a means of controlling them. If hard work meant nothing for you, but making someone else very rich, would you work hard then? I think the fall of the Berlin wall proved that people aren’t wired that way.
With the credit-crunch we may think we have enough of our own worries now. But when you think about it; our worries are about whether or not we will be able to buy that extra tv this year, not about if we have food for our starving kids tonight. Write your mp, congressman or political party and get involved in ending poverty kids! If not for them, do it for yourself.
The Great Schlep
I do not identify with any religious group or belief. Nor do I encourage simply copying and pasting of texts from other websites, but hey, it’s Sarah Silverman (anyone that’s been on the cover of Wired is okeydiddlydokey by me… possible exception of Julia Allison), it’s pro-Obama (prObama??) and it’s well written, so here we go:
“The Great Schlep aims to have Jewish grandchildren visit their grandparents in Florida, educate them about Obama, and therefore swing the crucial Florida vote in his favor. Don’t have grandparents in Florida? Not Jewish? No problem! You can still become a schlepper and make change happen in 2008, simply by talking to your relatives about Obama.“
You can be a great Schlep by talking to your relatives in person of a small Schlep by talking to them over the phone. I don;t have any family in Florida, so I’ll just use the yellow pages online and start calling up some random people. Go and visit the Great Schlep website. (Or watch the video first:)
10.14.08
A thrill in the morning
The Irish keep gate-crashing
If I could learn to love you,
Could you learn to love me,
Lust will only get us so far now.
