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  • in music
  • 1 min read

Pearl Jam – Mind Your Manners

Pearl Jam is back with a new single from their upcoming 10th release, Lightning Bolt.

Check out “Mind Your Manners” – a punk inspired, hard rocker. Can’t wait!

 

[//www.youtube.com/embed/DhODYyZVL6Y]

  • in Books
  • 1 min read

Godspeed Mr. Banks – 1954-2013

[Iain Banks - Cambridge - April 2012][1]

Iain Banks, one of my favorite authors, was diagnosed with cancer this past April, which I [previously wrote about][2].  He [passed away yesterday at the age of 59][3].

[Charlie Stross][4] and [Neil Gaiman][5] each share their thoughts on his passing.  Their words far surpass anything I could write.

Godspeed Mr. Banks.

 

 

Photo by Chris Boland under a CC NC-BY-ND 2.0 license

[1]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisboland/6928964406/ "Iain Banks - Cambridge - April 2012 by Chris Boland, on Flickr" [2]: http://www.paulcutler.org/blog/?p=2333 [3]: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22835047 [4]: http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2013/06/fuck-every-cause-that-ends-in-.html [5]: http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2013/06/iain-banks-with-or-without-m.html

EFF: Why Metadata Matters

In response to the recent news reports about the National Security Agency’s surveillance program, President Barack Obama said today, “When it comes to telephone calls, nobody is listening to your telephone calls.” Instead, the government was just “sifting through this so-called metadata.” The Director of National Intelligence James Clapper made a similar comment last night:  “The program does not allow the Government to listen in on anyone’s phone calls. The information acquired does not include the content of any communications or the identity of any subscriber.”

What they are trying to say is that disclosure of metadata—the details about phone calls, without the actual voice—isn’t a big deal, not something for Americans to get upset about if the government knows. Let’s take a closer look at what they are saying:

  • They know you rang a phone sex service at 2:24 am and spoke for 18 minutes. But they don’t know what you talked about.
  • They know you called the suicide prevention hotline from the Golden Gate Bridge. But the topic of the call remains a secret.
  • They know you spoke with an HIV testing service, then your doctor, then your health insurance company in the same hour. But they don’t know what was discussed.
  • They know you received a call from the local NRA office while it was having a campaign against gun legislation, and then called your senators and congressional representatives immediately after. But the content of those calls remains safe from government intrusion.
  • They know you called a gynecologist, spoke for a half hour, and then called the local Planned Parenthood’s number later that day. But nobody knows what you spoke about.

Sorry, your phone records—oops, “so-called metadata”—can reveal a lot more about the content of your calls than the government is implying. Metadata provides enough context to know some of the most intimate details of your lives.  And the government has given no assurances that this data will never be correlated with other easily obtained data. They may start out with just a phone number, but a reverse telephone directory is not hard to find. Given the public positions the government has taken on location information, it would be no surprise if they include location information demands in Section 215 orders for metadata.

If the President really welcomes a robust debate on the government’s surveillance power, it needs to start being honest about the invasiveness of collecting your metadata.

Reposted from the EFF under a Creative Commons Attribution License

Henry Rollins – Spoken Word

Henry Rollins spoken word CDs

I don’t remember how I was first introduced to Henry Rollins and his spoken word performances. I know it was a long, long time ago and when I first purchased the CD Box Set of his albums, it was over twenty years ago now. I wore those CDs out and they helped me drive cross-country at least once.

For a man who got his start in punk music singing for Black Flag, Henry may be the closest thing we have to a Renaissance man. He sings and writes music, writes poetry, acts, and tours non-stop on his spoken word tours. His stories are touching, funny, and over the last 10 years, he has become much more political with his messages, in a good way. Just don’t read his poetry – after I first got into Henry, I bought a couple of his books, and it was the darkest, most depressing poetry I’ve ever read. But when you see him live on a spoken word tour, he’s mesmerizing.

I haven’t listened to the CDs or watched a video in quite a while – but Boing Boing linked to JWZ’s site today, with some videos of Henry doing his spoken word thing. Next thing I know, an hour has gone by and I have a craving for some more Rollins.

I’m a bit disappointed to see Netflix doesn’t have any of his shows available any more. But I know what I’ll be listening to while I work this week.

(Via Boing Boing)

  • in Books
  • 2 min read

Iain Banks

I was sad to learn this morning that Iain Banks shared that he has terminal cancer and probably only less than a year to live. I first saw the news via Charles Stross’ Twitter account and a number of other people have shared the news this morning.

Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks

The first book I read of Iain Bainks was his Culture novel, Use of Weapons. He writes his science fiction books as Iain M. Banks and his fiction books as Iain Banks. Use of Weapons is still by far my favorite book from the Culture series – and when the protagonist makes a cameo appearance years later in a different book, I was thrilled (don’t worry, I won’t spoil which one!) The Culture books are one of the most imaginative and unique universes ever created. I can’t do justice trying to explain it, but Wikipedia has a detailed page about all things Culture. One of my favorite things is the names he gives the ships / AI in his books – how he came up with these names is beyond me, but they’re hilarious and stunning at the same time.

Years later I would dive into his fiction as well. The themes of his books, whether fiction or science fiction, deal with the human condition and how we interact with family, friends and the groups we belong to and are a part of.

I can’t recommend his books enough and I’m thankful I’ve been able to share in his imagination.

  • in Games
  • 2 min read

Support Small World on Kickstarter (Especially for Table Top Day!)

[http://www.youtube.com/embed/x3m0PIWqkfQ]

This Saturday, March 30th, is Table Top Day! Geek & Sundry has organized an international day to support, enjoy and play table top games. About a year ago a friend invited a friend of ours, my eldest son and myself over to have a table top gaming night. I was blown away by number of games now available. You’ve probably heard of some of the biggest, such as Settlers of Catan, but there is a revolution going on in old school games. We don’t get together as often as we’d like, but about a month ago we scheduled it for this Friday night – coincidentally, just a day before Table Top Day, which Felicia Day talks about in the video above.

I’ve bought a number of games to play with my littler two over the last year, most notably Castle Panic and Small World. Tuesday nights are now game night with the kids, whether it’s a board game, chess or a card game. We usually try and play more games over the weekend as well. I really like that Castle Panic is a co-op game – working together takes a lot of the competitiveness (and trash talking) out, making a more enjoyable experience for everyone.

Small World also released an iPad version last year and are now working on Small World 2. The sequel is looking for funding on Kickstarter, with the hope of building a version for PC (on Steam), Android tablets, and iPad. If you’ve already purchased the iPad game, it will be a free upgrade on iPad.

[http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/daysofwonder/small-world-2-the-return/widget/video.html]

One of my favorite features of Small World 2, is if the player starting the game owns any of the expansions, you get to play the expansion as well – even if you haven’t bought it.

I highly recommend Small World – if you’re looking for a new take on the classic board game, this game has it all – strategy, quick combat and turns, and infinitely replayable.

Want to learn more? The very first episode of Table Top on Geek and Sundry reviewed Small World:

[http://www.youtube.com/embed/X9QtdiRJYro]

So grab a game and play some board games this Saturday, for Table Top Day!