Fen Labalme

Fen's stream of consciousness

Stream of Consciousness

Vote for Kerry - not just against Bush

2004-10-05

I'm aloft somewhere between Rome and Cincinnati, jetting back towards my crazed, stupefied, dangerous country after three days in Berlin. I dread coming home. You know things have taken a paradoxical turn when Germany feels safe, sane, and free by comparison with the United States of America. But that's how it looks to me. That's how it looks to the Germans too. The idea that we might actually re-elect George Bush is unfathomable - indeed, inexcusable - to them. As one of them put it to me, "We can forgive you for electing him once.

Baghdad Year Zero

2004-10-03

This is a great article. This stuff just doesn't appear in mainstream media. It's an analysis of what's been happening economically and politically in Iraq since the war started. Long, but IMO, well worth the read.
http://harpers.org/BaghdadYearZero.html
Peace, Fen

FOAF meets XRI

2004-07-23

FOAF uses the mbox field as a primary key. Here's a super-simple FOAF record:

Virtual Rights

2004-04-21

Jaco Aizenman just wrote me via the Anonymity group of orkut asking for
any comments you may have on Virtual Rights and Virtual Identity.

Details on: http://www.nephridium.org/virtualrights/

Virtual Rights:

  1. To have a Virtual Identity
  2. Not to have a Virtual Identity

Letting Go

2004-04-02

I've been running my web servers off of a machine in my home office for eleven years (since August 1993).

Lessig on IP

2004-03-19

I have fought software patents for years, and am equally appalled at the creeping (creepy?) unlimited enforcement of copyright. Staford law professor Lawrence Lessig recently had this to say:
Tuesday sharpened the definition of the ongoing legal struggle to satisfy both proprietary and open source advocates through equitable intellectual property regulations.

Identity Commons

2004-03-18

We're trying out new ways of saying what we do. Here's one I sent a friend this evening... The gist of what we're up to involves returning control over people's identities to the rightful owners - the people themselves. Today, many corporations each own bits and pieces of one's identity, and buy, sell and trade this information for their profit. A huge additional expense is incurred by each of these corps in trying to keep the data accurate and up-to-date, such as when people move, etc.