Category Archives: Articles

keep your sensitive information very private

June 13, 2014 smac Leave a comment

1:48 am is a bad time of night to realise you’ve lost that clipboard with passwords and possibly other sensitive information on it. gyah… anybody seen my green clipboard? I wonder what other nuts stuff is written in there, could be anything really, and best as well consider that the whole world has that info, now. Those parties affected will be notified directly, within minutes.

I’m going to consider this as an opportunity to demonstrate my damage control skills, and as an important reminder to take much more care keeping such pertinent information entirely to myself. I suppose the best way to learn a lesson like this, is to be in the midst of trouble, but hopefully others don’t follow down these footsteps; I wish I had learned in a different manner.

One method I’m considering, is writing new passwords in vegetable based ink on my body, ensuring that it fades away after a number of days, in which time I should have remembered it.

Imagine the agents that might be sent out to covertly procure that info!

Articles

March Against Monsanto

May 20, 2014 smac Leave a comment

Please consider Marching Against Monsanto this coming Saturday, to help raise awareness about genetic pollution and the attempted usurping of our food chain by this unscrupulous multinational corporation. I participated last year: it was a very pleasant, well organised, empowering event, friendly to both families and revolutionaries. Similarly, I’m very optimistic that we will ensure there will be no violence or other trouble this year. http://www.march-against-monsanto.com/2013/04/why-do-we-march.html

Here’s a link to the Halifax, NS event. https://www.facebook.com/events/146354302212719/?ref=2&ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming

Here’s a documentary film to help get your blood boiling. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VEZYQF9WlE

Articles, Computing

the internet should be operated in the public interest

May 17, 2014 smac Leave a comment

umm… the internet should be operated in the public interest, with the goal of maximizing utility to the public, rather than with the goal of maximizing profits. For mine and many other’s livelihood, the internet is as much an important public resource as the roads or hospitals are. It is, in large part, necessary in order for me to make my money.

Besides, most goods will most likely soon not be sent via land, sea, or air; they will be transmitted through the internet and fabricated either at a local fabrication centre, or even at home. Even now, books are distributed electronically, movies, music… next up, dishware, constructable furniture, houses… you name it, it likely already exists in a distributable electronic format, just waiting to be “printed” out. Look it up.

here’s a link to some neat looking stuff.

Florea, Designer of the 3D Printed House & Gran Torino Has More Up his Sleeve – Is a Submarine Next?

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Articles, Computing

Net Neutrality: a great concern with regards to freedom of information & communication

May 5, 2014 smac Leave a comment

I believe we’re moving completely toward solar electricity, battery, electrical & human powered transportation, on-demand local manufacturing, open & free technology and information and communication, at home or neighbourhood based veggie production, and widespread free knowledge about how to take preventative health measures based upon your own personal genetic & environmental makeup, along with freely available & easily accessible mental health services for all. Much less pollution of the mind, body, spirit, and ecosystem. Much less profiting via passively (or actively) enforced ignorance which renders marketability to products previously unneeded to maintain health & happiness.

An important pillar of our evolution as a society is the ability to share the knowledge, this information, this discussion, about how to make our world a better place while learning how to free ourselves from the grips of those who profit from our lack of knowledge in our current consumerist culture.

Which is why the issue of Inter net Neutrality concerns me. I’m concerned about living in a world, where only that information for which telecoms have received a “premium price” is allowed to be shared or accessed. I am also concerned about paying a “premium price” for the information that I, or others, want to access. There are many who would pay a “premium price” so that their information, and not others, is more accessible; you can imagine who they might be and what might motivate them. To me, not having Internet Neutrality leaves much too great a possibility of oppressed information. If we’re going to let oligopolies control our telecommunications infrastructure, we should be considering ways to ensure that all communication is treated as equal. I believe that this is a core feature of a free, healthy, democratic society.

Please, take some time to research Net Neutrality, while asking yourself critically why this is important. Please come to understand the battles that are going on right now, over Net Neutrality. It’s one of the most important battles for freedom of our age.

Please consider discussing this matter with everyone, including your local governmental representatives, perhaps even letting them know how you feel about it.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Articles

communism: will you be a victim?

August 23, 2013 smac Leave a comment

The Government of Canada (Sorry, the “Harper Government”) is providing $1.5 million in funding to a group titled Tribute to Liberty, who have plans to erect a “victims of communism” monument. I am so saddened and disgusted by this, I’m going to have to take some time to calm down and think rationally about it in order to properly write about it.

To spend over a million dollars to erect such an illogical and hypocritical propagandistic symbol just outside of Parliament and beside a library is making me feel ill. Just because there were nations in the past who both utilised communism and caused suffering, does not mean that communism caused suffering. That is illogical. If I started a country with a communist government, and decided I needed to slaughter the country next to mine, does that necessarily mean that communism is to blame? No, it means that I’m a maniacal violent criminal of a leader.

Please people, educate yourselves. It seems the federal government wants you to believe that communism is this terrible force that necessarily hurts people. Why is this? It seems foolish.

Communism is an idea, a model; for governance, economics, and other aspects of society. It can be democratic and free, or anarchistic, or fascist and totalitarian, depending on who is utilising it. Capitalism can also be fascist and totalitarian, depending on who utilises it. (Warning: link leads to leftist Analysis)

The Nazis and Soviets were also fascist and totalitarian, the two of which are terrifying; they did indeed cause a great amount of suffering to countless people. Communism, however, is not necessarily to be feared, and works well as a means of production & governance for some aspects of our community or society. To erect a monument which denounces communism in this way seems reminiscent of American cold war propaganda techniques.

I don’t necessarily agree with all points in this article (excerpt), (full article .pdf) but it is interesting and describes how our Free Software development methods more or less follow a communist model; it touches on current technology, the history of economics focusing on communism, and government.

Maritime Current