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How to Lie
Orrin Hatch is pushing a law through the senate that would stop me from being able to provide my own music on my own website.
Why? Because it isn't equipped with Digital Rights Management.
I use Andromeda to stream my music. It's my music. I created it. With my own two hands. But Andromeda doesn't contain any DRM provisions. I could, if I wanted, stream Brit Spears or other music.
The record labels, who have previously fought with Mr. Hatch so they could have the rights to say "Fuck" and similar words, are now buddying up to him. They want him to save their property. Rather than come out with a law that directly protects their property, Hatch lies utterly and spins it as saving children.
It would be funny if it weren't actually happening.
1960s Fears & Hopes - 2000s Realities
I finished reading Amy Tan's Hundred Secret Senses more quickly than I had anticipated and didn't have time to get to a bookstore. So I raided my archives for something I hadn't touched before or in a long time.
I ended up selecting Robert Theobald's 1972 book Futures Conditional. I had first read cuttings of this for a Community Futures class at the University of Nebraska - a graduate course I took as a Freshman after a rather crazy interview with the professor, Joe Luther.
I later purchased the book in Lansing, Michigan, after I transferred to go to Michigan State. I picked up the book for a paper I was writing for an Urban Planning course. That was in the 80s, when the book was slightly more than 10 years old.
Like many books I've read, it's become part of me, but I haven't touched it in a very long time. Probably 18 years or so. Now the book is 32 years old. It spends a great deal of time looking at the next historic milepost and wondering how the ills and promises of the 60s will impact the future.
What has been most interesting is that most of the articles in the book describe a 1960s culture, looking for direction and fearful of much. Fearful of nuclear weapons, communism, government intrusion on privacy, overpopulation, technoinduced alienation, urban form (megalopolises), terrorism and so on.
One might say, the views of the futurists in this anthology are spot-on with statistical margin for error. But often only about things that don't matter. Cell phones, PDAs, and the like.
They were also correct in saying that starvation wouldn't be a problem in the 21st century. Given that the US alone makes enough food to feed everyone on earth is proof of that. Some of the cynical ones would have likely correctly assumed that people would still starve - we'd just throw most of the food away.
There were recurring issues that were very important to the late 60s / early 70s world that come out of this book. I'm not certain how we've solved them. But I'll discuss a few briefly:
Alienation Through Technology
Authors in the book rightly predict cell phones, small computers, and a sorta version of the internet. They predict identity theft, invasion of privacy, and decreasing private time by virtue of always being reachable. And many of them extrapolate that this gives us more information, but also alienates us.
No one really seemed to get that we'd have e-mail, personal web sites or things like Blogs. No one grasped that technology would bring us Meet Ups, e-vite, chat groups, e-mail lists or the other ways the technology has created community where it was previously unimagined.
I feel very liberated by my technology. It has allowed me to collaborate with artists all over the world, have long conversations with people with great minds, and have emotional flame wars with bozos I'll never see in the flesh.
So, how did we do? I'd give us a C+. We have the potential to be closer, more caring, and more focused in our endeavors of community. On the other hand, cell phones do ring in the park, anyone with the desire can steal your personal information, and we do end up working longer hours despite our higher productivity.
Overpopulation
This is overwhelmingly (almost as much as the next topic) prevalent in the book. We will be stacked up like cordwood by the 21st Century. I recall in the early 80s, sitting with a psychology professor of mine. We were discussing the depletion of natural resources (also mentioned in the book). Petrol would be entirely gone by the late 80s, he was convinced.
The curbing of the baby boom in the industrialized countries was not foreseen. Neither was the wars, famine and AIDS that plague the third world today. While population is certainly still a problem today. For better or for worse, it isn't at the center of conversation.
With 40s to 60s era growth trends, it is no wonder that there was general alarm.
So with this, I'd give us a C again. We didn't run out of resources. But that might not be a good thing in some respects. We have lowered the population explosion -- but often through unfortunate circumstance and luck and less through a coherent policy. The Reagan / Bush / bush policies with family planning and foreign aid can quickly attest to that.
Megalopolises
A Megalopolis is a cluster of huge cities that run together and have little differentiation between them. The Bos-Wash Corridor on the eastern US seaboard or the LA Sprawl (arguably from Tijuana to Bakersfield and nearly out to Palm Desert) are examples of this. The ultimate fear in this realm is the Ecumenopolis. Which is basically a global city.
As you can see, the wikipedia didn't immediately link to Megalopolis and that Doxiodes' book on Ecumenopolis is very out of print. Megalopolises are a certainty of the future. We will continue to tend to sprawl unless we directly check it. That is why currently, the sprouting Megalopolis between Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, BC, is happily taking place entirely in Washington State.
Both BC and Oregon have relatively stringent development rules and growth management. In Washington, we have little growth management. This will allow that space between Portland and Vancouver to fill up with all the crap that neither Oregon nor British Columbia are thrilled to have in their regions.
Meanwhile, places like Hong Kong and Tokyo are showing other elements of the desire to sprawl even when no space is available. Both cities regularly fill in their shallower bays and waterways to "reclaim" land for development. This fill-type development is good in that it lowers land values and creates affordable housing (in theory), but it also destroys a habitats (as with the Hong Kong Disneyland nuking the habitat of rare Pink Dolphins) and will turn to quicksand in the event of a good, strong earthquake.
So, I'm not sure how to grade the Megalopolis issue. The authors were primarily interested in avoiding overcrowding. We've pretty much avoided that by having urban sprawl and unsustainable development patterns. Megalopolises are there. But I'm not sure what the alternative would be. And most Megalopolises are dealing with issues of mobility by building light rail systems and other good things. So, B for avoiding overcrowding and a D- more short-sighted sprawl.
That's it for this longish piece. Mr. Theobald passed away a few years ago, as you'll find if you follow some of those links. He was always an excellent conversation starter. You'll probably have to go used on his books.
Location Lifter Located Lemotely
We're starting to work with AGPS technologies. Here's an interesting story of how it embarassed one sneaky thief.
Comparative Aesthetics for the Morning After Sex with David Byrne or Meryl Streep
If you were to go out and accidentally pick up David Byrne or Meryl Streep and end up going home with them. Here is a comparative analysis of what you would wake up to in the morning, after they quietly slipped out the door.
Torn Hemispheres - First Division
I am releasing First Division, the first draft of the first track of my next CD ... Torn Hemispheres. The track can be found on the "Listen to J. LeRoy Music" link to the left, or it can be downloaded here.
This is a CD mixing up a series of Native American and Chinese instrumentation and selected soundscapes. All songs for this CD are recorded as Live performances using Ableton Live software on my Compaq Presario 1500.
This first track is a 25 minute piece consisting of approximately five 5 minute subthemes. Please, break with tradition, and listen to it and respond in the comments section for this post.
For those of you keeping score at home, I finally figured out what was causing the nasty distortion in my MP3s. The 3.93 LAME Codec seemed to wig out occaisionally in some very ugly ways. The 3.95 codec I'm using now shows no signs of similar failure.
My wife has also announced that she likes this piece, which makes it unique among all music I have ever created.
The Smack Album
I have a new virtual CD of music called The Smack Album. The Smack Album is its own folder. Check it out!
What is Politically Savvy?
Today I received an urgent note from the local Democrats. Again, it seems, Tim Eyman wishes to make our region as livable at the Texas from which he fled. Over the years he has led many campaigns directed toward least-common-denominator voting. He has been masterful at finding low-hanging fruit.
The full impacts of Mr. Eyman's petitions of mass destruction are sort of recorded by Permanent Defense. And a quick google of Tim Eyman will get you still more opinions, some more reasoned than others.
The Washington State Democrats rightly oppose Tim Eyman's desire to cripple and bankrupt the government that keeps us safe, paves our streets, educates our children and provides mechanisms for the public initiative process.
But they sent the following e-mail:
Subject: Stop Tim Eyman
We need your help. Tim Eyman is working to pass two harsh initiatives that would harm essential human services and expand gambling in our communities. You can help us fight Eyman by doing the following:
- Call the Voter Education Committee Hotline (below) or email c2everett@council2.com to report the whereabouts of any paid signature gatherers you encounter. It is critical that we know where they are.
- Volunteer to help educate the public about the effects of Tim Eyman's initiatives. We need help throughout the state to defeat Eyman before he makes it onto the ballot. Please call the Voter Education Committee Hotline at (800) 856-2465, or email declinetosign@yahoo.com.
This just blows me away. But it shouldn't.
It's been my experience as a planner, as a politically active person and as an employee of some major corporations that when an organization of any type has members, it makes erroneous assumptions about those members. The majorerroneouss assumption is that people trust their leadership. That their members will respond to direction without rationale.
No one trusts their leadership.
This is the entire reason someone like Tim Eyman is successful. Tim Eyman's message has never been "Let's make this a better place to live" because everyone has a different idea of what a better place to live is. His message is "I don't trust my leadership." And everyone is like "Hell, yeah!"
When I was a planner in the Seattle area and went to public meetings, people would be angry. Some were angry about what we were proposing, but most were angry because they felt uninformed. Classic voter disenfranchisement. They loved what we were proposing, but only after it was explained to them. No one wants anything rammed down their throats -- everyone only has one throat and it's in their best interests to know what's going down there.
I saw the same thing at large companies. The company would make a change that would be a pretty nice change, but employees would start asking questions, get brush off answers, and then morale would drop -- because the company did a good thing, but didn't give proper information.
So I sent the following e-mail to the democratic party, which was, of course, returned because the reply-to was a dummy box. Which isn't really a good idea either...
I appreciate your efforts in thwarting the next set of ill conceived plans from Mr. Eyman. Do you have a web site or a location for people to get information on what, exactly, Tim's new petitions involve?
If I were mounting a clear campaign against him, I would arm my people with facts, the impacts of what he's proposing, the language in his petitions, the impacts of his previous proposals, etc.
It doesnÂ?t take long to send them to places like http://permanentdefense.homestead.com/ and then backing that up with sending them to http://www.permanent-offense.org/ that way, if they so choose, people can see both sides.
It also doesn't take long to see that Eyman's site has no facts, no real information, yet the Permanent Defense site is filled with good info.
At my caucus alone, there were tons of web designers and bloggers who could make this a few minutes work each time something like this comes up.
I implore you, the next time you get the urge to send out an e-mail like this, contact me and I will return you a draft that simultaneously arouses interest and provides information. I know a whole network of politically active, technology savvy people who can back me up.
I am in now way related to Permanent Defense, I'm just a registered democrat and an urban planner that knows from experience that people in the Puget Sound region want information to make decisions and sincerely resent being told what to do.
My offer is genuine. I will provide you with e-mails (provided they keep coming once every two weeks or so) that will both inspire and inform.
Thank you,
I really do hope I get a reply.
Jay's Best Spam Ever
I recieved a Spam from Jay today. "What Can Jay Do For You?" It is classic. The best spam I have ever received. Easily by-passed my spam filters. I love this thing. Warning! I haven't altered the links, if you click on them you will go where Jay wants you to.
Marrying Wrong
You can marry wrong if your parents don't like your spouse or if the government doesn't like your spouse. Or maybe the government likes you and your spouse fine ... but if you get married to each other that's bad.
In the 60s, two people went to jail for doing what my wife and I did -- get married. Also like my wife and myself, they weren't of the same race.
Imagine, that people who love each other can't get married.
Here's about two hours worth of the Supreme Court hearing that resulted from the trial that sent those people to jail.
If you want the punch line, download it and go right up to 1 hour and 20 minutes into the mp3 file. There you will have the arguments of the state of Virginia against interracial marriage.
Surprise! They are the same arguments now used against gay marriage! What a shock.
Some People are Very Fast
Yes some people are very fast.
The Radical Christian Hate Comic Aesthetic
Being an old Zine maniac, I have always been fascinated with self publishing and the whole Samizdat ethic. I have also always been fascinated by how people package and distribute hate propaganda.
Anyone in the US that has ever been near a pay phone knows that there is a secret cabal of angry radical Christians that distribute little comics. Sometimes they leave them on city buses. Sometimes they leave them in waiting rooms. But mostly, they seem to leave them near pay phones.
These micro zines are about 1.5 inches by 3 inches. Ann sent me a link to a web based micro zine site. Sort of a clearing house for ill-will misattributed to a more-than-likely embarrassed God. Here is the zine she sent me.
The message provided doesn't really matter. It's transparent and dull-witted. But what's really interesting to me is that Mr. Chick is deeply involved in these little comics. I've never seen comics of this size used for any other purpose. There must be some kabbalistic perfection to the relationship of the dimensions of these zines and being malevolent.
Politics is Dead
Okay, when I was a kid I went to mass every Sunday. Christiaan Virant can tell you that I was always disheveled - like I had just come out of a typhoon.
But I went and I thought about things and in the end I came to the conclusion that my fellow paritioners were largely (but certainly not entirely) comprised of people who never ever gave a thought to how the God they professed to believe in might perceive their daily actions.
So I stopped being a Catholic.
So, that was okay. No real permanent harm there.
I've never been a good "member" of any group, really. And the Democrats have been no exception. I am often fighting with my chosen party over stupid policies surround their blind faith in labor unions, their overcommitment to gridlock and their desire to have "loyal opposition" elements of the party platform -- which are there merely to anti-parrot what is in the Republican platform.
But, that's all okay. That's only a paragraph is dissent, whereas I'd have volumes between me and the Republicans.
But, today I received an offical e-mail from the Democrats with the following plea. Now I'm sure this woman is just a fantastic person. But the entire e-mail is utterly demeaning to her, American Politics and ... well, everything, really.
Here is the e-mail from the chair of the Washington State Democrats:
I need your help.
Lisa Witter is an ardent supporter of the Democratic Party and Democratic causes in the state of Washington and across the country. She is a contestant on Showtime’s new political reality show “The American Candidate.”
In order to continue on the show Lisa needs your support tonight!
Sincerely,
Paul Berendt
Chair
WSDCC
Seattle’s "American Candidate" to Launch Campaign Tuesday in Downtown Seattle
Lisa Witter is One of 12 Candidates on
Showtime’s New Political Reality Show
YOU MUST ATTEND OR LISA IS OFF THE SHOW!!!
Edgewater Hotel, 2411 Alaskan Way, 4th Floor Ballroom
Anytime 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. TUESDAY JUNE 8th
Come, BE COUNTED, meet Lisa
Attendance the whole time not required! Thanks for any time you can give!
Anyone who arrives after 7 p.m. will not count towards the goal.
The first test of "American Candidate" is building a large crowd for the campaign kick-off. Please turn out to support the Northwest’s own candidate.
Lisa Witter’s been raring to go from the moment her mom went into labor on the 4th of July at a demolition derby near her blue-collar town of Everett, Washington. Lisa naturally shared her family’s love for monster trucks, but her passion for politics was all her own.
Lisa’s political resume includes managing the campaign for Washington’s first Latina woman to run for statewide office. Lisa was named a Rising Star by the Washington State Democrats for co-founding the Institute for a Democratic Future, an organization that develops and promotes emerging generations of Democratic leaders. After working for Seattle Councilmember Peter Steinbrueck, Lisa moved to DC where she designed a national public education and voter mobilization campaign against the privatization of Social Security during the 2000 election. Currently, Lisa runs the country’s largest public interest PR firm, Fenton Communications. Lisa not only keeps the company’s three offices running smoothly, but also works on campaigns for progressive causes and ventures like Air America Radio and MoveOn.org.
AMERICAN CANDIDATE will attempt to identify one individual who has the qualifications and qualities to be President of the United States. Over the course of 10 weeks, 12 candidates will face-off against each other in a series of challenges designed to test their presidential mettle. Made by R.J. Cutler, the Producer of the War Room, the original pool of candidates will be winnowed down weekly. More information can be found at http://www.americancandidate.com.
Please God No
Please Tell Me this is Not Paul McCartney singing about CC Lemon ... er ... just singing CC Lemon. If you haven't tried Suntory's CC Lemon, it's sorta like you to a Limon San Pelligrino and added twice as much of the reconstituted lemon juice like taste to it.
Why Indeed Doth We Bloggeth?
This post from Gordon G. and This post from David B. describe an hypothesis for ... why people blog.
Way back in the mid 80s I was asked why I wrote and the reason I gave is the reason why I am still writing. For the conversation of it.
Gordon says that we are looking for micro-fame. A fame within a small, trusted group.
But I say for me that I write to get some ideas out there. Bounce off of other people. And add to the AdHocracy that is the net in general and the blogging community in particular. So the small group shifts and moves depending on the issue, depending on who is awake at the time.
We are generally self selected blabbermouths that operate by necessity under an ethic of finger pointing and source quoting. If I just came out and started talking about blogs and writing it would have no weight. But here, to give credibility and context to my post, I have linked you two both Gordon and David. Earlier posts have sent you to Ann or Joi or Trevor or Xeni or John etc.
Boing Boing, arguably the most popular blog, simply does nothing but points people to wacky/pertinent content on the net or in culture.
In order to join in on these conversations, the authors need to establish some degree of Gordon's "micro-fame". But that could well be merely a social necessity in blogging culture, rather than the reason for blogging in the first place. It is certain, though that micro-fame is an imperative for getting your message heard.
Interesting Juxtaposition
Was reading about the US Military Pain Ray not reported by Pleasant Blogger. At the end of the article from the Sacramento Bee I had this juxtaposition of Google advert and Helpful Pain Ray Diagram.
OVO is On-Line
Trevor has re-released new all-digital masters of OVO. His press release is here.
OVO itself is here.
Trevor is always good at putting me to shame like this. While all my old writing languishes in copies of BVI-Central in a file cabinet or in difficult to find substrata of ourfounder.com. I'm sure ourfounder.com will be resurrected some day. Sigh.
His ressurection of OVO is no small feat. Pay him a visit.
Factcheck
I was reading Pleasant Blogger the other day and realized that I never blogged Factcheck here. I'm going to put it in my links to the left as well. I've been going to it for a while. Alas, it has no RSS feed. That would make it the most useful tool ever. But as it is, it comes close.
Factcheck reviews advertisements, statements and literature by our esteemed presidential candidates and points out distortions based on the uncommon metric of ... fact.
If everyone read it every day, the campaigns might have different advertising. If I were rolling in money, I'd put a 10 second TV spot after every political ad saying, "Check out Factcheck.org for the truth behind the claims." The site also says when they are telling the truth.
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