DECIDING FOR YOURSELF OR A PRIORI

OLD IS SOMETIMES BETTER
Have you followed the almost other worldly debate between
Twitter and Google about access to data and subsequent
sharing of that information?
Link here for background from Reuters news.

This very medium that we are sharing at this moment is 
extraordinary in its depth, reach and ability to be 
instant. It continues to change how we live, inform ourselves and think.  And yet as we rely on its
capacity, it begins to replace some of our
own intellectual command.  Decisions are being made for us.
This video appeared here earlier, but many of you missed it,
according to the analytics available to even a blogger such as me.  And that is part of the point.

The technology is impressive, even if inevitable.
But I wonder what happens as the decision making, fed by 
 data mining and analytics, continues. Will
we become like the humans depicted
in the Pixar masterpiece Wall-e?
What happens to the human specie if everything
is done based on convenience, prior patterns
and algorithmic decision making?
I fear that anything that begins to shape or trim 
our curiosity and free exploration leads us
to being intellectual chia pets.


HERE IS AN EXAMPLE OF HOW IT HAS CHANGED
The video was recorded during a break
on the NBC Today show in January 1994.
Bryant Gumble and Katie Couric ask
WHAT IS THE INTERNET ANYWAY?

I assume Bryant and Katie now get a kick out of 
their naivety. In those days
there was no threat to the media from the new
technology platforms that today call
institutions like the network news "mainstream" or "lame stream" media. Of course all news organizations
calculate how to survive.
Computer mined and manipulated data leads to 
a kind of apriori decision making,
but how free or unbounded is it?
What price for convenience?
I hope you sometimes visit the 
21st Century Intelligence component at the
very bottom of this page.  It does a great 
job of tracking the business of our tech future.
See you down the trail.

LIBERTY'S LIGHT AND A LEGEND

A LION FALLS

The entire affair is sad.
A terrible allegation followed by apparent inaction
leads inevitably to a bad ending.
The board of trustees has acted now, but where 
were they before now?
Paterno was a legend. This is not how it should end.
Everyone looses here.
Responsibility, accountability and honor 
are more important than a game.


FREEDOM AND THE MUSE

PUBLISHED IN PUNCHNELS
Link here to Punchels  to read
Liberty's Light-An American Tribulation,
a new poem inspired by the 
10th anniversary of the Patriot Act
and the ongoing Occupy Wall Street movement.
CHEERS TO FREEDOM
UNFETTERED.
CHEERS TO PUNCHNELS 
AND TO YOU!

See you down the trail.

ABSOLUTE

FREEDOM & COMMUNICATION
On first amendment issues, I am an absolutist.
Congress can not make laws prohibiting the
freedom of religion, speech, press or the right to assemble
to petition government for a redress of grievances.
If Congress can not prohibit those freedoms,
then no one, certainly not a commercial enterprise,
can.  Which makes what appears to be a Yahoo based
censorship program wrong. It is maddening and frustrating
in this age when we rely on communication platforms.
There is every indication that is what Yahoo was doing
with people who were trying to communicate from
the Wall Street protest demonstrations.
Here is video of what appears to be Yahoo's censorship.

Here's background on the story.
Look for updates on the story.
In this cyber age when speech and communiclation
are relayed via information platforms, we need to be
vigilant that our freedoms remain intact and 
are not encroached upon by powerful commercial
interests, who in essence control mediums of communication.
Reference an earlier post here on the new form of 
thought police. 
These are challenging times and we must not allow
disregard or lack of care to undermine what is much
too valuable to a representative democracy. 
DAY BOOK
JUST SNACKIN' AND NAPPIN'

See you down the Trail.

STABILITY? AND CAT PLAYS

WHO IS DISSIN' WHOM

PHOTO/GETTY IMAGES
As of this posting, American officials say they've heard
from several sources that Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal
will be released soon. As I noted earlier this week, I feel
connected to the two free lance journalists. In
this post we also featured an interview with Sarah Shourd, who was captured with Bauer and Fattal.
What is troubling is that Iranian officials are playing power games with each other, using the freedom of the hikers as a pawn.  President Ahmadinejad said earlier they would be free, but since then Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini  said not so fast. The unpredictable President and the Supreme Leader have been engaged in a power struggle.
The significance of that is for other analysts, but the 
off shoot is that troublesome Iran has inner political struggles.
In the meantime I hope American diplomacy, public 
and otherwise, is successful in getting Bauer and Fattal
free and on the way home.
AS THEY SAY,
NOW FOR SOMETHING
ENTIRELY DIFFERENT
DAY BOOK
KITTEN TIME

It seems to be bath time

beneath the jade.  I'm

wondering how long until

they are too big to fit.

Also wondering how long until Luke realizes he's getting
too big to fit here.
See you down the trail.