Images by Cafe Press, a charity which supports human rights campaigns in China.
Shoots, Hides and Leaves…
.. is the delicious headline on Dan Froomkin’s column in the Washington Post:
The vice president of the United States shoots someone in a hunting accident and rather than immediately come clean to the public, his office keeps it a secret for almost a whole day. Even then, it’s only to confirm a report in a local paper.
Why Salon published the new Abu Ghraib photos
Salon has published the new set of Abu Ghraib prison photographs (in contrast with most of the US media). Here’s an excerpt from the editors’ explanation of their decision:
Abu Ghraib cannot be allowed to fade away like some half-forgotten domestic political controversy, which may have prompted newsmagazine covers at the time, but now seems as irrelevant as the 2002 elections. Abu Ghraib is not an issue of partisan sound bites or refighting the decision to invade Iraq. Grotesque violations of every value that America proclaims occurred within the walls of that prison. These abuses were carried out by soldiers who wore our flag on their uniforms and apparently believed that Americans here at home would approve of their conduct. Rather than hiding what they did out of shame, they commemorated their sadism with a visual record.
That is why Salon is willing to publish these troubling photographs, even as we are ashamed to live in a country that somehow came to accept that torture and prisoner abuse were simply business as usual — something that occurs while a sergeant catches up on his paperwork.
Campfire
Simple group chat for work-groups. it’s called Campfire. I can think of uses for this on projects I’m involved in.
Quote of the Day
I think science has always been under assault to some extent. I think there are fashions in cycles in which science is attacked for a period of time and is embraced for a period of time and it’s attacked again. Generally attack against science is part of a greater attack against intellectualism in general. I think right now we’re in an anti-intellectual period in the United States, but I think the pendulum will swing back in the other direction again. I agree with you that we’re not seeing anything now that hasn’t happened in earlier centuries.
Alan Lightman, in an interview with LiveScience.com on “The Future of Science”.
The riches of the Web
I’m writing an article about the blogging phenomenon at the moment and, naturally, use the web as a research resource. It’s wonderful what there is out there if you go searching. For example, this excellent piece in New York Magazine, which looks at the operation of power law distributions in blogging. And then there’s Dave Sifry’s State of the Blogosphere survey and his more recent analysis of the growth of the blogosphere as media, in which he discusses some of the emerging trends in handling information overload. These are all thoughtful and helpful essays, and I can get them without leaving my study. Fifteen years ago, this would have been unthinkable. And I still can’t quite take it for granted.
Soundslides
It’s funny how hard it can be to do some simple things using computers. For ages I’ve been looking for an easy way of creating illustrated lectures which can be published as Flash movies (a technology Larry Lessig has used to great effect, but with the aid of serious ad-hoc geekery). Since then, Larry has published a method of doing it using iMovie, which is clearly feasible (if a bit tedious), but has the downside that it produces huge MP4 files. I’ve just come on Soundslides which is still in Beta but does produce Flash files and might be just what I’m seeking.
Update: Just opened my mailbox this morning to find a message from Ian Yorston pointing me at Videocue, which is out of Beta and also works as a teleprompter. It only outputs Quicktime files, though — no Flash, as far as I can see. Still… for $39.95…
A new corporate motto for Google?
In view of the moral capitulation to Chinese demands, perhaps “Don’t be evil” should be modified to read “Do the lesser evil”?
Inside the iPod Nano
Fascinating exposition of what’s inside the Nano. Very neatly done. Needs Flash plug-in. Means one doesn’t have to invalidate the warranty just to satisfy one’s curiosity!
Chinese chickens — contd.
There’s a wonderfully ironic blast in Good Morning Silicon Valley today about the Chinese censorship issue. Here’s a sample:
Given a choice, representatives of four big tech companies probably wouldn’t be spending the day sitting in front of a congressional panel getting their eyebrows singed by accusations that they consort with torturers. But there they sat today — the crash-test dummies sent by Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Cisco to take the hit for their employers’ concessions to repression as the price of doing business in China — as Rep. Tom Lantos, ranking Democrat on the International Relations Committee, unloaded on them: “Your abhorrent actions in China are a disgrace. I simply don’t understand how your corporate leadership sleeps at night.” And Republican Rep. Chris Smith, chairman of the House subcommittee on global human rights, produced a quote that should be engraved on the entrance of every stock exchange: “Cooperation with tyranny should not be embraced for the sake of profits.”
The responses from the witnesses was [sic] familiar: The “lesser evil” argument (Google’s Elliot Schrage: “The requirements of doing business in China include self-censorship — something that runs counter to Google’s most basic values and commitments as a company. … [but Google entered the market believing it] will make a meaningful, though imperfect, contribution to the overall expansion of access to information in China.”) and the “little us” argument (Yahoo’s Michael Callahan: “These issues are larger than any one company, or any one industry.’ … We appeal to the U.S. government to do all it can to help us provide beneficial services to Chinese citizens lawfully and in a way consistent with our shared values.”).
For Rep. Smith, that just doesn’t cut it. “It’s an active partnership with both the disinformation campaign and the secret police, and the secret police in China are among the most brutal on the planet,” he said. “I don’t know if these companies understand that or they’re naive about it, whether they’re witting or unwitting. But it’s been a tragic collaboration. There are people in China being tortured courtesy of these corporations.”
I particularly liked the headline on the piece: “But we’re only giant, powerful tech companies … how could we possibly make a difference?” And the phrase “crash-test dummies”. Must make a note of it. Might come in useful sometime.