Posts from — May 2004

but this is a pretty cool flash unrelated to that i suppose.

and overcoming it.

Nick Dyer-Witherford, “Cognitive Capital Contested” [Interactivist Info Exchange]

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interesting little essay on the computer game industry….

Anti-Joppolos. I’m rereading a superb article by Robert Kaplan called “Supremacy by Stealth” that appeared in the July/August 2003 Atlantic Monthly. His thesis is that the… [Outside the Beltway]

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sounds interesting….

RTMark reports false arrest of artist by FBI who mistakes art for bioterrorism.

RTMark

FBI ABDUCTS ARTIST, SEIZES ART
Feds Unable to Distinguish Art from Bioterrorism
Grieving Artist Denied Access to Deceased Wife's Body

ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ DEFENSEÊ FUND ESTABLISHED – HELP URGENTLY NEEDED

Steve Kurtz was already suffering from one tragedy when he called 911 early in the morning to tell them his wife had suffered a cardiac arrest and died in her sleep.Ê The police arrived and, cranked up on the rhetoric of the “War on Terror,” decided Kurtz's art supplies were actually bioterrorism weapons.

Thus began an Orwellian stream of events in which FBI agents abducted Kurtz without charges, sealed off his entire block, and confiscated his computers, manuscripts, art supplies… and even his wife's body.

Like the case of Brandon Mayfield, the Muslim lawyer from Portland imprisoned for two weeks on the flimsiest of false evidence, Kurtz's case amply demonstrates the dangers posed by the USA PATRIOT Act coupled with government-nurtured terrorism hysteria.

Kurtz's case is ongoing, and, on top of everything else, Kurtz is facing a mountain of legal fees. Donations to his legal defense can be made at http://www.rtmark.com/CAEdefense/

It reminds me a bit of when the Secret Service came after etoy.

RTMark is nortorious for social hacking, but this story appears to have at least two supporting news stories.

WKBW Local News – Local Investigation Into Ub Artist Continues
WKBW Local News – Bio Hazard Or Art?

The weird thing is that these news articles are archived on RTMark's site and I can't seem to find them on the WKBW site. Having said that, a search on Google News shows an article about this, but it has “expired” and can't be accessed.

IF this is true, it's another example of patriotic stupidity, but it's often the role of artists to help us understand this stupidity.

Anyone else heard about this? Lately I'm becoming more wary of single source news stories. Any help in veting this story before I get really excited would be greatly appreciated.

via Scott

[Joi Ito's Web]

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this could be false, but if it isn't it is just wrong and our government shouldn't be doing things like this.

Going to an intervention? Be Prepared.. No one likes to go to interventions. Tensions are high and there is always a lot of fear, uncertainty and doubt. You can't eliminate the unpleasantness of an intervention, but you can ease some of the tension by simply being… [Ernie The Attorney]

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funny…..

Eric Idle Says “Fuck You Very Much” To The Shrub, The FCC, Cheney, Condi, Arnie, and the Lot of Them. This just in from Eric Idle: The FCC Song. Here's My mirror of the song, in case you have trouble with the first link. Lyrics: Here's a little number I wrote the other day while out duck hunting with a judge. Fuck you very much the FCC Fuck you very much for fining me Five thousand bucks a fuck So I'm really out of luck That's more than Heidi Fleiss was charging me So fuck you very much the FCC for proving that free speech just isn't free Clear Channel's a dear channel So Howard Stern must go Attorney General… [On Lisa Rein's Radar]

My Work Is Done Here.

Blogging is hard to quit for many reasons. Not least because once you've made the decision to quit, you need to blog about it. It's like a glue, or something.

I've been thinking about whether I should stop, and if I stop whether I should say I'm stopping or just, well, stop. Or whether this is just another temporary impasse or blockage. If I had to call it today, then I'd say I'm stopping. But you can never say never, so to speak.

What's brought this sudden change of heart? Frankly, and I'm not sure if I'm 100% on the ball with this, it's an identity crisis that was quietly baked in from the very beginning but which lately, has been surfaced and exacerbated by my recent spate of meetings. In short, my blog self is not my entire self. I've been cool with that as long as both of those selves never appear together in the same room. When that happens, it shines a spotlight right on top of that partial disclosure or split identity issue.

This isn't a profound real life personal identity crisis thing, fear not, it's just something that I've recently come to notice and realise is a conflict in my blogging terms of reference, and one which seems to have mortally wounded my blogging self.

Perhaps this blog was a journey of self development or discovery and I've just reached it's natural and inevitable end. I'm not sure.

What I am sure about is that I have no motivation to continue this, but that is not to say that I intend to absent myself from this place or community entirely, or that I'll never 'blog' again in the future. But if I do, it'll probably be different.

In whichever capacity I choose to involve myself in the future, I should say that I have enjoyed myself enormously, made some great friends and relationships and hopefully have spread a little worth or value around to make my participation in this community vaguely worthwhile to a few people.

Take care, I'll see you around.

[memoria technica]

Bye GT, We'll see you around, and your public thoughts will be missed.

Exercising the Right of Dissent. by TChris Cynthia Tucker reminds us that it isn't unpatriotic to criticize President Bush, his administration, or his decisions. Exercising the right of dissent is so vital to the democratic process that the Bill of Rights enshrines it in the… [TalkLeft: The Politics of Crime]

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dissent, for those interested in politics, is the key motivation toward change. consent always yields conservativism, and its partners authoritarianism/fascism. this is why Guattari wrote about dissensual politics.

Guess I'm square.

Isn't “personal democracy” an oxymoron? Unless you don't mind nothing but unanimous votes, I guess. In any case, I wish I was here.

[The Doc Searls Weblog]

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looks like an interesting conference, but yes, there is no such thing as personal democracy. demos sort of rules that out.