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Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Smart contracts


“You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don't try to forget the mistakes, but you don't dwell on it. You don't let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space.”

-- Johnny Cash


"Operationalized hard irony poisoning" is when malicious actors recruit everyday web users to noxious ideas.
 The New York Times

Wanna A Piece Of A Warhol?


The art fund that will allow people—you, me, most everyone we know—to invest as little as $20 to purchase a share of an artwork. Masterworks acquires artworks that its leadership team believes to be undervalued—its first two offerings are an oil and silkscreen Colored Marilyn by Andy Warhol (bought for $1.8 million) and an oil Coup de Vent by Claude Monet (bought for $6.3 million)—for which investors may purchase a fraction. …Read More




A+Chronicle of Higher Education op-ed, Why I’m Easy: On Giving Lots of A’s, by Gary Laderman (Emory):
I love giving A’s to students, maybe even more than they love receiving them. In my religion courses over the years, I’ve acquired a reputation as an "easy" teacher, and I love that, too.
In this age of grade inflation, student entitlements, skyrocketing tuitions, and rampant anti-intellectualism, my wallowing in the pleasures of giving out A’s as if they were $100 bills might seem like ammunition for the enemies of higher education and the professorial life. In the face of that charge, I have only one response: I’m tenured.

Via Sagewise– Use this table to see which states have discussed legislation on blockchain or on smart contracts


Recode – News cycles come and go, but data is forever. It’s still summer and yet 2018 has felt years long. Here’s a look at the year so far — with a focus on tech and business stories — told through charts.

Auto makers are figuring out how to monetize drivers’ data [paywall]: “Car makers are collecting massive amounts of data from the latest cars on the road. Now, they’re figuring out how to make money off it. With millions of cars rolling off dealer lots with built-in connectivity, auto companies are gaining access to unprecedented amounts of real-time data that allow them to track everything from where a car is located to how hard it is braking and whether or not the windshield wipers are on. The data is generated by the car’s onboard sensors and computers, and then stored by the auto maker in cloud-based servers. Some new cars have as many as 100 built-in processors that generate data…Car companies stress that they get the owner’s consent first before gathering any data…Still, privacy experts say it is not always clear to consumers when they are giving consent. As with other electronic devices, the data disclosures are often buried in the terms and service agreement and described in ways that aren’t always easy for customers to understand…” 

Above the Law – Fair use is for everyone and benefits rightholders just as it benefits consumers. “A common misconception about fair use in copyright law is that it is relied upon solely by consumers. The reality, however, is that everyone uses fair use, including large rightholders like movie studios and publishers. Even while rightholders are often seen as advocates for strong intellectual property rights, even while they oppose fair use when bringing a lawsuit themselves, they are not shy in asserting their own right to fair use…”


The Digital Freedom Pass: Emancipation from Digital Slavery

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