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katlalog

060529 12:25 Society

The debate about whether it was morally right or at least excusable to leave a dying climber behind on Mount Everest has caused the moral values center in my chest to seriously cramp up.

40 people walked past the man, deeming him too far gone to be worthy of rescue, or of at least some care and company in his dying hours, and continued on their way to achieve entry in the list of people who have made it to the top. It was more important to them to attain this shabby bit of selfish fame than to be a compassionate human being. This is bad karma and it's gonna get you all.

Only an exceptional person would have willingly chosen to stay behind to comfort the dying man.

I'd rather be exceptional than famous.

060518 11:54 Currently reading

Neal Stephenson's The System of the World.

"Every snatch of conversation you overhear in this room shall be riddled with such flash cant as 'gager', 'lay', et cetera, for here, as in the legal and medical profession, the more impenetrable a man's speech, the higher the esteem in which he is held. Nothing would be more injurious to our reputation in this house, than for us to speak intelligibly."

[Update 060521] Just came across this sentence:

We [...] never expected the Spanish Inquisition.

Bloody geek.

060511 01:13 Internet

I've lived in cyberspace for so long now that members of geek mailing lists i'm on are having grandchildren. On the other hand... CmdrTaco is still only 30.

060511 00:55 Language

It seems that in the multi-lingual Europe, there is no need for English-speakers to learn another language.

But while the rest of Europe embraces the variety of European languages, Britain seems bent on becoming determinedly monolingual. A recent survey for the European Commission revealed that two out of three Britons are unable to speak a language other than English. The number of students studying A-level French has dropped by two thirds over the past 10 years.

Britons believe that there is really no need for them to learn any other European language, when in the end everyone aspires to speak theirs. [...]

My sisters and I were raised in a home in which only English was spoken, but my parents insisted that we acquire a second language too. They were convinced that learning an unfamiliar language makes one conscious of the mechanics of language-speaking, how language works as the bridge between us and those around us.

It tells you a lot about a culture and it's way of thinking. The understanding that things are not necessarily done and understood the same way all over the world, makes people generally a lot less arrogant.

The author of the article is right in respect to English being the European lingua franca. Not too long ago a debate was raging in the schools of southwest Germany because legislators wanted to make French (France being the direct neighbor) the first foreign language kids learn in school. Parents protested because they wanted their kids to start with English.

060507 14:49 The world outside

060506 22:32 Intellectual property

Cory Doctorow reports over at boingboing:

A Swarm of Angels is an ambitious project from an accomplished film-maker to produce a £1,000,000 movie with small donations from 50,000 people. The resulting film will be released under a CC license, and will be developed through feedback from the 50,000 angels who fund it.

Matt Hanson is the impressario here, and he's produced several movies, TV series and film festivals. He's signed Tommy Pallotta (A Scanner Darkly) as a producer, and both Warren Ellis (Transmetropolitan) and me are serving as advisors.

Good news a plenty here:

• The copyleft culture is growing.
• Warren Ellis is involved.
• Cory Doctorow is involved.

060427 13:23 SciFi

Seems that Battlestar Galactica is trying to become the next big franchise after Star Trek. A prequel is planned. It'll be called Caprica and will deal with the creation of the Cylons. The only thing that slightly worries me is the choice of words here:

"Caprica" will be as much family drama as sci-fi tale.

Family drama? Hmm. Sounds soapy.

060424 11:44 Intellectual property

One person (the one trying to squeeze some money out of the situation) calls it distortion, the other person calls it homage. And if it wasn't for the homage, fewer people would know about art.

Only very few things piss me off as much as copyright and patent stupidity.

060423 12:19 Comics

Star Trek XI - The Wrath of Fans.

060422 14:59 Society / Economics

The more desperate the job situation gets, the more likely people are to be treated like slaves again. Via Space and Culture, an article about Tele-McJobs:

Ms. Vargas seems unfazed by her job, even though it involves being subjected to constant electronic scrutiny. Software tracks her productivity and speed, and every so often a red box pops up on her screen to test whether she is paying attention. She is expected to click on it within 1.75 seconds. In the break room, a computer screen lets employees know just how many minutes have elapsed since they left their workstations. [...]

The call-center system allows employees to be monitored and tracked much more closely than would be possible if they were in restaurants. Mr. King's computer screen gives him constant updates as to which workers are not meeting standards. "You've got to measure everything," he said. "When fractions of seconds count, the environment needs to be controlled."

Reminds me of that story (can't remember where i read it. Was years and years ago.) where the boss of a small company started monitoring (key-logging and such) his always loyal, hard-working and trusted secretary, simply because he could. The software to do it was there and information wanted to be collected. That boss quickly lost his secretary's loyalty and happiness.

060422 12:54 Entertainment

Super idea from Graham Roumieu's Coming Attractions: Improving the modern movie experience:

Complaint 4: There is no real-time forum where I can share my insights into the subtle nuances of this motion picture.

Sending text messages from your cellphone or PDA to a scrolling comments bar - soon to be present at the bottom of every movie screen - will allow you to critique films like a regular cyber Ebert and Roeper.

060421 14:20 Civil liberties

All is good now. No need to loose sleep over lost civil rights anymore. Bush has appointed a civil-liberties protection officer for the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence

060406 23:21 Language

Learning japanese:

...let's examine the differences between Japanese and English grammar.

English Sentence:
Jane went to the school.

Same Sentence In Japanese:
School Jane To Went Monkey Apple Carbeurator.

060406 22:49 Space

When i first read about the new asteroid deflection project on warrenellis.com i thought it was a late april's fool:

The European Space Agency (ESA) said it had shortlisted three European consortia to submit proposals for its Don Quijote project, which seeks to deflect any future asteroid on a collision course with Earth.

Don Quijote against the asteroids. They have a sense of humour. I love it :)

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