Recently in newsblurb Category

Stupid little buggers.

I went to take pictures at the Anonymous protest, yesterday. Anonymous -- if you're unaware -- is a protest movement against the Church of Scientology. The movement's organizers cloak themselves in anonymity to "protect" themselves from the Scientologist's well-documented harassment of any critics. So the protests are generally a lot of people in masks (see: Anonymous) waving signs outside any branch or office of this "Church".

The general things that the protesters are upset about include Scientology's secrecy, their financial focus, questionable physical and mental health practices, their tax-exempt status as a church, and their harassment of former members any just about anyone trying to find out any details about them.

But I had a vaguely bad feeling when I was reading a bit on the local Anonymous chapter's website, here in DC, on Friday night. They were specifically telling their 'members' to be doubtful about anyone who showed up that wasn't part of the protest. Anyone who stopped nearby, or anyone who asked questions, or talked to them in any way, was supposed to be viewed with distrust, since they could be a scientologist "mole". And sure enough, within about two minutes of arriving, and taking pictures from a nearby meridian in the street, (right next to the traffic cop assigned to keep order), I had people looking at me suspiciously. There were plenty of people pointing at me, soon enough. And lots of pictures and video footage including me, eventually. A few of the braver souls eventually yelled across the street that I should have been more subtle... I was too obvious a plant.

A plant for what? I wasn't talking to them. I wasn't getting in their way. I wasn't trying to disseminate my own message. Assume the worst... that I was L Ron Hubbard reincarnate... then what harm was I still causing to them? Are protesters there to be seen or not? Is there any value to being rude to people asking questions, as I watched them do to a couple others, just because they aren't part of your protest? Isn't that why you're there? You will never convince someone who's already hard-line for a cause. You're whole purpose in protest is to convince the people in the middle, who aren't firmly decided. To ignore them, or even chase them off, is just shooting yourself in the foot.

But... also not particularly shocking. The majority of the protesters were -- by appearance -- black block-ers. The people who go to ANY protest, in all black, wearing masks and imagining themselves to be the hard-core true-believers. My biggest problem with the black block, besides the fact that most of them are just obnoxious little pricks who protest because that's what "you're supposed to do", is that they always do it with their face covered. Attending a public protest with your face covered is meaningless. You protest because you want to stand up and say that no matter what the risk, I personally support this cause. To do so in a mask removes any personal commitment, making you a useless twat.

And of all the things to be pissed about -- to choose scientology says just as much about you as it does about them. They absolutely have some questionable practices. And I have a real problem with anyone who isn't open to questions. But in just about every major religion you'll find all the same basic issues as you do in Scientology. They all expect money... (tithing would have you give 10% of your income to the church). Mormons are just as secretive about their buildings and papers. Jehova's Witnesses have difficult and questionable restrictions on medical practices. I don't believe the scale at which the Scientologists do these same practices warrants this special attention. And on the chart of fucked-up institutions and practices that humanity inflicts upon itself, they don't even make the Top 100.

In the end, I don't care what they yelled at me. And if they want to film me, it just adds on to all the tourists' shots I probably already show up in ever summer. And attacking me just for taking pictures of people acting strangely on the streets of one of the main tourist locations in the country makes them no different than the cop who stopped me a week after September 11, 2001 for taking a picture of an empty street. I'm sure the black block will love that comparison.

I am off in about an hour and a half, to spend Christmas with my family. (Am I worried about people knowing my apartment will be vacant? No. I have the attack cat.)

So I'm flying home at the last minute to be with the family. Very Norman Rockwell. You know... if his families were a bit more ... hostile.

My mother has been talking up her new neighbor. A "cute, young, single girl." Again... very christmas made-for-tv movie. At the very least, there will be a cute girl near by. Never happened while I was growing up in that town.

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I was working on an ad for a client earlier this week. And at about 3 in the morning, I saw something that made me think of college. And I said to myself... "hey, self, why don't you do a version of the ad in the style of every piece of design that ever came out of that school. So I did. Mostly as just an exercise in nostalgia, for me. Yes... I can be just as good as people with 9 years less experience than me.

Of course... the client chose that version. Loved it.

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Americans suck.

I watched maybe the first 5 minutes of the news tonight, and yelled at the TV at least 5 times. There was just too much stupid for my filters to handle. The other senator Rep from the 5th Congressional District from Virginia said, on TV, that he was offended by the new Islamic Senator wanting to be sworn in on the Koran. (Would you ask a Christian Senator to be sworn in on the Torah?!) And he bragged how he would never touch a Koran with 'these hands', and never have one in his office. ("I hate you and everything you stand for!" "What do I stand for?" "I don't know, but I'm sure I hate it!").

This story was immediately followed by a story about the Soldiers being charged in Iraq after they went on a killing spree after being attacked. They were apparently so upset by the death of their comrade, that even after repelling the attack, they stormed through homes in the area shooting anyone... men, women, and children. On the news, the family of a soldier accused of killing 10 people in this rampage said they were incredibly proud of their son, and that they were incredibly disappointed in and upset with the Marines for prosecuting him.

Fighting for a reason is occasionally understandable, though seldom good. Fighting for vengeance is just animalistic. If he's guilty, that fucker better spend his life in Leavenworth.

Interesting proposition from Wikipedia founder J. Wales, about what could you do with $100,000,000, in terms of freeing copyrights, with a teaser of the possibility of it becoming reality:

I would like to gather from the community some examples of works you would like to see made free, works that we are not doing a good job of generating free replacements for, works that could in theory be purchased and freed.

Dream big. Imagine there existed a budget of $100 million to purchase copyrights to be made available under a free license. What would you like to see purchased and released under a free license?

Photos libraries? textbooks? newspaper archives? Be bold, be specific, be general, brainstorm, have fun with it.

I was recently asked this question by someone who is potentially in a position to make this happen, and he wanted to know what we need, what we dream of, that we can't accomplish on our own, or that we would expect to take a long time to accomplish on our own.

Reminds me of a thing in Charlie Stross' latest book, where the protagonist regularly patents new business ideas and then immediately donates the profitable ones to a foundation that manages free distribution of the concepts.

(found via boingboing)

I was briefly talking to someone today about what comes after we stop fighting about oil. (If all else fails, when it runs out, there's nothing left to fight over). And I said, as I've thought for a while, that drinking water is the next big resource to cause conflicts. While I can't remember the exact countries, there's already UN Water monitoring stations in some of the southern former-Soviet republics, to prevent the countries from going to war over usage rights for drinking water from rivers. And today, Sri Lanka started bombing the Tamil Tigers again, after negotiations hosted by Norway over water rights fell apart.

Just in case ya thought things would get better soon.

Have you ever read Syrup, by Max Barry*? Pretty good book, released years ago. Focuses on a drink concept created by a man, and his attempts to maintain control of it long enough to get Coke to give him money for it. Product is named Fukk, and comes in a sleek brown container. Very angsty and shit. (No... really, I have a point here.) So I was waiting in line at the Soviet Safeway on Monday, and I notice a stack of Coke bottles on the floor. In slick black containers. With the name "Bläk" on them. At the exact same time, I both wanted desperately to buy one, while hating the thought of what went into that product if it was anything like Barry's story.

*Barry spelled his name with two Xs on that book, as a joke.

That same day, I decided to go down and check out the Hispanic Immigration protest marches on the National Mall. I wasn't expecting too much. I'd only heard of this particular march the day before. And marches that take place on a weekday are typically pretty small. But almost as soon as I stepped out of my front door, I knew something was up. The one sure thing to scare off the few locals who are willing to descend into the tourist regions of DC is to tell them there is a major protest or event going on near the Mall. But As soon as I left my apartment, a good 8 to 10 blocks form the Mall, I was surrounded by locals heading down there. Mostly hispanic families. Whole families, with grandparents, people fresh out of work, and babies in strollers. Several times I passed a pickup with a bed full of shouting people and waving flags. By the time I made it to Pennsylvania Avenue, I was caught up in a huge wave in people flowing onto the Mall. Another wave of almost equal size was flowing out of the Mall. By the time I got up to the Mall proper, it was really enough to stop you in your tracks. The entire Mall, full, practically shoulder to shoulder, with people, mostly hispanic. Tens of thousands of people at least. Bigger than 90% of the major gatherings I've seen on the Mall. The size of the Protest was staggering enough, primarily because I wasn't expecting it. But a few other things rather quickly stood out. People who come to DC to protest are usually upset. They're pissed an they want to make sure everyone knows it. Their signs are angry, their chants are angry, their costumes are angry. But at the Protest this week, everyone was smiling. Everyone was cheering. (Something I've never heard on the Mall in 8 years here). It had to be the most positive experience I've ever seen in DC. Sure these people wanted change. But they didn't come in saying "you fucked us over". They said "we love it here". "we want to live here". "We'll do anything for this place, if you'll just give us the chance". And everybody was waving the American flag, in one way or another. Flags on poles. Flags on sticks. Handkerchief flags. Flags as capes. Flags as shirts. Flags as signs. 50... 100,000 flags, all being waved every time a cheer went up. These people, who were there to protest some seriously disturbing bills aimed at them and people who help them, were more positive about America than any other group I've seen bring their message to DC.

Anyway...

Since Monday morning I've been torturing myself over a project. It's not particularly complicated. And I had no trouble coming up with some clean layouts that looked just fine. For various reasons they were just fine as is, really. But I really wanted to come up with some stronger "concept" behind the whole thing. But there were just so many things working against me. The type of project, the resources I had to work with. The nature of the client's personality. So it drove me nuts for three days. This afternoon I told myself it wasn't worth it anymore, and packaged up everything to deliver to the client. And after 15 minutes discussion, they narrowed it down to exactly those early, safe versions I worked up in 5 minutes on Monday morning.

Did I mention their "new" logo strongly resembles cigarette packaging?

Audrey Tautou, of Amelie fame, is going to star in the movie version of The DaVinci Code.

This a day after watching Syriana, where it was a major plot point: "China has signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia that may boost Beijing's purchases of Saudi oil. The deal came during a visit by Saudi King Abdullah to the Chinese capital." -- Voice of America

Guatemala's two top anti-drug officials and one police officer were arrested in the United States for attempting to smuggle cocaine, Guatemalan Interior Minister Carlos Vielmann said on Wednesday. – xinhuanet.com

Remember, remember
the Fifth of November
gunpowder treason and plot.
I see no reason
why gunpowder treason
should ever be forgot.

The bill would withhold for two years all federal economic development funds from states and localities that use economic development as a rationale for property seizures. It also would bar the federal government from using eminent domain powers for economic development. – San Francisco Gate