today, Jerry Garcia died. I was never really much of a ‘Head, though I went to a few shows over the years, but I remember Jerry’s death really clearly. I was working for Arthur and Marilouise Kroker at CTHEORY at the time, in the office we kept at Concordia on Bishop St. Although generally we took August off, for some reason (I don’t remember now), I was at work that day. And when the news broke, it was the first time I remember watching a story develop entirely on the Internet. It was before weblogs existed as such (though there were a couple), but through virtual communities, personal sites, news sites, and fan sites, the news got out very quickly. The diversity of the Internet coverage was so much richer and complete than anything in the mainstream media that it was a revelation of the power of the media. Though I think the whole weblogging = journalism idea misses the point, I trace back my interest in keeping a weblog to that day above all.
Things I learned on my summer vacation
- The depth of field of photographs I take with my old digital camera sucks
- It takes but a few days to bond with a puppy, but it takes two weeks to really develop a relationship
- I can live without blogging just fine. I knew that already, but taking a week off confirmed it. I don’t want to or intend to stop, though
- Aaron, with a beard and pilot’s glasses, bears some resemblance to the old unabomber sketch that they circulated a few years ago
- Jish is still Jish. This is unquestionably a good thing, and it was nice to have a quick visit with the man while he was here
- BBQs are great cooking devices
- Vacations are, in general, wonderful things.
Declan McCullagh
, now at CNET, has the story on the pro-corporate-hacking bill that Congresscritters Berman and Coble are introducing to Congress in coming days. This bill would allow corporations (or their agents) to hack into personal computers without a court order or any due process at all. As McCullagh writes: “Sponsored by Reps. Howard Berman, D-Calif., and Howard Coble, R-N.C., the measure would permit copyright holders to perform nearly unchecked electronic hacking if they have a “reasonable basis” to believe that piracy is taking place. Berman and Coble plan to introduce the 10-page bill this week.” Note that “reasonable basis” is not just the language they happened to choose – it’s legal language that basically gives companies the ability to give themselves permission to do this on a whim.
I fully support
any effort to remove as much responsibility for domain registrations from Verisign as possible, so the “.org is a public trust” is very interesting to me. What I can’t figure out though, as an ORG owner, is how it might affect me personally. Will I be able to keep my domain under this proposal? Or is it the sunshine and popsicles it seems to be according to the sites I’ve seen who support this plan.
Recombinant blogging about groceries
Ed (who I know very well) reports on the possible closing of Warshaw’s, around the corner from my place, citing Maggie, who I also know, and M-J (who wrote the story for Hour), who I know even better. I’m sure a lot of people are crying about this possibility, but although I appreciate the benefits of truly local businesses, Warshaw’s is/was expensive, has/had terrible produce and a worse selection than most places in the area, and is absolutely filthy from top to bottom. Good solid local businesses are important in an era such as this: Warshaw’s just isn’t one of them.
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