Archive for the ‘personal’ Category
Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have ‘Nothing to Hide’
One such harm, for example, which I call aggregation, emerges from the fusion of small bits of seemingly innocuous data. When combined, the information becomes much more telling. By joining pieces of information we might not take pains to guard, the government can glean information about us that we might indeed wish to conceal. For example, suppose you bought a book about cancer. This purchase isn’t very revealing on its own, for it indicates just an interest in the disease. Suppose you bought a wig. The purchase of a wig, by itself, could be for a number of reasons. But combine those two pieces of information, and now the inference can be made that you have cancer and are undergoing chemotherapy. That might be a fact you wouldn’t mind sharing, but you’d certainly want to have the choice.
[A great read an why we're about to make a huge mistake in the US. Reductionism fails again on this issue. Looked at as a whole, it is frightening.]
Yahoo: Mayer culpa | The Economist
Yahoo: Mayer culpa | The Economist:
Ms Mayer’s move is not just a bad idea in itself but also a nail in the coffin of the naive notion that women with big jobs help their sisters up the ladder. Her plan will knock out a few rungs. Flexible employers help women run families and jobs simultaneously. Rigid working practices make combining the two impossible or unpleasant. To be fair, as somebody who took two weeks off to have a baby, Ms Mayer is hardly asking others to do what she would not; but then she has dulled the pain of separation from her child by installing a nursery next to her office. Yahoo’s less privileged and less Stakhanovite women may well hoof it to a friendlier organisation.But this is not just about women. A well-managed company’s workers want to be productive, and managers trust them to decide how and where they will perform best. If that’s not happening, the boss needs to find out why. You can shackle a Yahoo to his desk, but you can’t make him feel the buzz.
[A lot of folks ask what I think about this since I run a remote team with folks in 3 countries. And the short answer is if folks aren't motivated to work you need to fix that, and not place rings around how they do what they do. Solid piece.]
The death of greatness
Aaron Swartz, a web technologist and internet activist who worked on RSS, reddit and fought against SOPA/PIPA, committed suicide the other day in Brooklyn. Metafilter has a collection of some of his accomplishments.
[II was in the right place, at the right time to meet many amazing folks. Aaron was one of them. I met the 14 year version of Aaron and his talent was obvious, as was his compassion.]
The Days When We Had Rest, O Soul, for They Were Long « Blogarach:
…even as we’re dimly aware that poorer, less connected, less important people are hounded to their lives’ ends by the dirty machinery of our penal system, which is powered by punishment wholly out of scale to any wrong, punishment which is itself quite often the only wrong ever committed, the sheer, tawdry, grotesquely ill-proportioned persecution of the young man for acts whose criminal taxonomy is something out of a Lewis Carroll poem is the sort of spectacle that really does make you wonder how long, actually, a society intent on destroying its genius in order to preserve the inbred rights of its rentier class to extract filthy lucre from the margins of genuine intellect can endure.
[It's easy to wail when greatness dies. But as Bacharach points out, there is a shame to it as well since we don't cry enough about the loss of "poorer, less connected, less important people". We all contain the same divinity. No one is given more or less of that. We need to do more and by that action provide ourselves the peace of knowing we did all we could.]
Stop bullshitting.
This is the best piece you’ll read all day, maybe all year.
Don’t miss the opportunity to clean house and have a great rest of your life, even if you haven’t narrowly escaped death.
Stop Bullshiting – Bucketlistly Blog:
Facing with mortality, people become more open, and honest to themselves. The things that people usually do in their daily lives such as being right, being important, and being selfish suddenly vanished. That’s what made these people become more human than any of us. They are open to changes, even if they were certain for their entire lives that they were right. They apologize, They forgive, express love whenever possible.
[What a profound effect this can have for all of us. I lie and fool myself and worse, demand honesty and truth from others at a very high level. I will continue to be better at this. I've made the greatest strides so far at giving others space to not face the truth. Time for reach for more.]
Source: Scripting News
Most boring Job in the Universe
Most boring Job in the Universe:
A fun animated short named E.T.A. about Marvin, having the most boring job in the universe
[Cute.]
Source: Design You Trust
Larkfarm: Random Bits: Twitterless and Happy
Rather, it’s a simple reflection of one fact of life: the payoff from Twitter does not, for me, justify the time investment.I’m coming up on 52 years old in less than two months. I’m acutely aware, in a fashion that was not true in my twenties, that everything I choose to do uses up some of my dwindling supply of hours on this earth. As life goes on, I find that this makes me ever pickier about what I’m willing to spend time on. Some things – like earning a living and supporting my kids – are simply not optional. But for many others, the question is simple: is this the most enjoyable and fulfilling thing that I could be doing with these hours?
[I hear that. Been in the back of my mind as far back as I can remember.]
Scripting News: Heat-seeking missiles.
Scripting News: Heat-seeking missiles.:
This stretch of beach was about 10 miles long, and except for a town in the middle of it, mostly empty. One morning I decided to take my swim via car. I drive a couple of miles south, on a stretch of beach that was totally empty. I laid out the towel, read for a while, then went for my swim. When I came back, there was another car parked right next to mine. The people were gone, so I couldn’t ask them why they chose that spot, when there were so many other places to stop that were totally secluded.
[Dave's example is more extreme, but I find the same thing is true at the mall. I park far away from everyone. I'm rarely at a mall during its peak hours. I love walking. Yes, almost invariably when I return from my errand there's rows of empty spaces, but someone parked right next to me. And sometimes so closely that I can't get back in my car without climbing in on the passenger side. That's crazy. I've considered printing up cards for the occasion so I can leave one on their windshield.]
Source: Scripting News
On Human Technology
Brian David Johnson: Being More Human:
But as we near 2020, something different will happen. When computational power approaches zero, we will be able to turn anything into a computer. We can put computer intelligence into a water glass or your shirt or even your body. We no longer will ask ourselves: Can we do it? We will ask ourselves: What do we want to do?
I’m trying not to imagine a teaspoon of miniscule computer chips dissolved in my coffee.
[Is that what those little black things are? No wonder...]
Source: inessential.com
Thread: Occupy Staten Island. (A marathon? Now? I think not.)
Thread: Occupy Staten Island.:
People don’t realize how much damage was done to our communities, and even more important to the infrastructure that connect us. It looks like these systems are really damaged. Months before they come online. it’s time to sober up and get a clue, all of us. Especially our mayor.
[The marathon folks should consider having the runners who came to NY help others instead of run. Think how much good they could potentially do in that one day. And the Road Runners should consider donating back to the city the resources that are normally used to put on their event.]
Source: Scripting News
Hypothetically Speaking
“What would you do if you got cancer?” he asked instead.
[Is there ever a good answer to this question?]
