NEWS YOU CAN USE: How To Mentally Manipulate Your Fellow Drivers
Sentimentality is far worse than death Facts about blue-footed boobies
Sentimentality is far worse than death Facts about blue-footed boobies
Shyness is both common and mysterious. Is it a mere feeling? A chronic condition? A form of anxiety? It’s certainly misunderstood... Art is Misunderstod as the purpose of art is to “imitate nature in her manner of operation”
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking Quiet, Please Harvard Magazine
Is writing about the arts self-indulgent in a time of political upheaval? No. Cultural criticism is a community service
Why do writers write? Narcissism, rage, a quest for ecstasy, a therapeutic impulse. Then there’s J.M. Coetzee, who writes out of apathy
Utopia Inc - Most utopian communities are, like most start-ups, short-lived. What makes the difference between failure and success? Subcultures - in pursuit of misfit subcultures
Records tumble through Straya’s “angry summer” MacroBusiness
Special Rapporteur calls for privacy as a right, but also for International Data Warrants
State surveillance boom sparked by fear-mongering political populists, says UN
Special Rapporteur calls for privacy as a right, but also for International Data Warrants
The United Nations' Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy has heavily criticised new surveillance laws in France, Germany, the UK and the USA, saying they are “predicated on the … disproportionate though understandable fear that electorates may have in the face of the threat of terrorism” but are informed by “little or no evidence” of their “efficacy or … proportionality”.
Those words come from the Report to the 34th Session of the UN Human Rights Council (.docx), formally published this week after it was presented by Prof. Joseph Cannataci of Malta, the first-ever Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy.
Cannataci writes that “... the past eighteen months have seen politicians who wish to be seen to be doing something about security, legislating privacy-intrusive powers into being – or legalise existing practices – without in any way demonstrating that this is either a proportionate or indeed an effective way to tackle terrorism.” The resulting troves of data, he argues, represent a new security risk as they are a tasty target for criminals.
Those words come from the Report to the 34th Session of the UN Human Rights Council (.docx), formally published this week after it was presented by Prof. Joseph Cannataci of Malta, the first-ever Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy.
Cannataci writes that “... the past eighteen months have seen politicians who wish to be seen to be doing something about security, legislating privacy-intrusive powers into being – or legalise existing practices – without in any way demonstrating that this is either a proportionate or indeed an effective way to tackle terrorism.” The resulting troves of data, he argues, represent a new security risk as they are a tasty target for criminals.
The Library As Community-Maker
“A healthy library, like a healthy habitat, is diverse and dynamic. Like species in a rainforest or fishes on a reef, the books on the shelves shift and change, with time and season, so that every week there is something new to discover. A healthy library invites the eye and mind to wander round. This book habitat does not happen on its own – it is created by librarians.”
Why do writers write? Narcissism, rage, a quest for ecstasy, a therapeutic impulse. Then there’s J.M. Coetzee, who writes out of apathy
Utopia Inc - Most utopian communities are, like most start-ups, short-lived. What makes the difference between failure and success? Subcultures - in pursuit of misfit subcultures
Intelligence: a history - Intelligence has always been used as fig-leaf to justify domination and destruction. No wonder we fear super-smart robots Intel of latitude fame
STILL GOOD ADVICE: Stop Taking Pride In Not Knowing How To Do Basic Shit.
Did I think I was just going to wake up one morning and suddenly take everything really seriously? Was there going to be a day where I popped up, naturally, at 6:30 AM, had a light breakfast in my well-appointed and sparkling-clean kitchen, then hit my reasonably-priced gym for a morning workout to invigorate me for a day at my job (which I was passionate about but which did not dominate my life)? I think honestly, on some level, I thought that way.I think I imagined there was just this Adult Pixie Dust (it maybe looked like glitter in some tasteful, neutral color palette), that was sprinkled over you in your sleep some time in your late 20s/early 30s, that magically changed everything and taught you how to do things like negotiate a salary or wear heels on city streets without destroying them on subway grates. The point is, I thought these things would just manifest in Future Chelsea, and Present Chelsea did not have to deal with it, and could keep getting day-tipsy at expensive brunches and wander around Duane Reade wobbily looking for Q-tips for 30 minutes.This is ridiculous, and frankly offensive to ourselves, and is in many ways my least favorite part of ~social media culture~. It’s considered adorable and relatable to talk about how “Whoops just spent the rest of my paycheck on a bottle of champagne and pizza, which I’m eating in the dark because I can’t change a lightbulb, while watching a Netflix show on an account I share with seven people, which I have turned up all the way because my smoke alarm has been beeping for the last three months.”
Social media is toxic. I mean, when even IowaHawk quits. . . .