Eviction Notice
Dear Mrs. Singleton,
I'm sure you don't remember me. I may have been one of many students who felt the sting of your proverbial whip, past and present; I may be the only one. I'll never know. You may even be dead by now, and for that, speaking ill of the dead will no doubt upset a balance I'll have to right at some point. I accept this, because I am done giving your teeth a place to rest in my dying body.
Being as old as you were, I'm sure you'd long forgotten what it was to be a child, and how badly things in society had changed since your day, when people were actually afraid to get divorced and kids didn't come home to an empty house. No doubt, this effected your ability to understand that some students in your classroom were far less fortunate than others, in ways they didn't cause or comprehend, and adjust your sensitivity accordingly. Or maybe you were just at the end of your crotchety old life and had stopped giving a shit.
But my secrets are done being kept. Whatever your reasoning, you have to leave me.
I can't remember the name of the book, now, that you were reading aloud to the class. But I was 100% sure that at some point, you uttered a word that I'd gotten my mouth washed out with soap for saying; something not meant for 5th grade ears. I was scared, but my mother had always taught me to tell the truth and if I was uncomfortable, to say something. That I had every right to stand up for myself, and she would always back me up if I believed in it.
I did the only thing a mind that little could think of: I went to your teacher, Principal Foote, and told him how upset I was. I remember walking into that big, dark office, shaking in my Power Rangers sneakers; it didn't help that Principal Foote was a lovechild between Merlin Olsen and a lumberjack. But he was a kind man; when I wrote a Fairy Tale about him years earlier for a class assignment, word reached him and he asked me if he could keep the story, he loved it so much. How would he react to this, though?
I told him what had happened. Sitting on the edge of the chair, squirming and fidgeting like I still do today, almost as if I'm afraid to stop moving lest I keel over and die, I told him what you had said and that I didn't think it was appropriate for a classroom. I remember saying that: "appropriate for a classroom". I didn't know if he felt like laughing or yelling. He knew I wasn't a troublemaker, because this was only the second time we'd met. I don't think he knew what to make of me.
Oh, but you did, didn't you? You made me out for what I was: A spoiled little shit trying to smear the good name and reputation of a dedicated teacher in the golden years of her career. A liar, a failure. An outcast. You screamed at me after Principal Foote called you into his office, shook your long skeletal finger at me and said "How dare you! How dare you accuse me of this!" And when my mom finally came (I still don't know who called her, or why), you yelled at her. You scolded her for raising such a disobedient daughter, for raising a liar. But my mom looked right at you and said, "She doesn't like attention. If she says she heard something, she heard something. Does she look like she's enjoying this to you?"
But you, Mrs. Singleton, you weren't about to be distracted with petty logic or rationality. No, you had a war to fight, a war against an eight-year-old girl bold enough to not be afraid of you. Did you even realize what a threshold all your students stood on, or had you forgotten in your long years as an adult? Because each and every one of us dangled over a vast canyon of darkness, and at any moment, our safety line could snap.
You had two roads before you that day: A defensive shield, an arrogant knee-jerk emotional response to show your horror at the accusation; or, you could slow down and consider that, perhaps, the entire exchange was a big misunderstanding. The class room is big, with so many distractions; maybe this little girl is just mistaken, and a few kind words and a promise that you'd never talk like that to students would fix everything. You chose the former, and you changed everything. So often I've cried, wondering what would have happened if you had chosen different.
It's not hard to break a child, Mrs. Singleton. It's not hard to make a child believe in an unreality of your creation, simply because it is what you want them to think, or because it keeps them quiet and complacent. But, as you must be aware, breaking a child's spirit and mind is easily the moral equivalent of beating or sexually molesting them; perhaps even worse, because the psychological signs disguise themselves much better than bruises or blood, and fester much deeper. I fear on the other side, you will find no hands to shake, congratulating you for your success, your resilience, your ability to handle dissent. For that I pity you, because then you must stand before whatever god and power is there, and explain exactly why you chose to break me. I hope that he shows you my life, shows you the consequences of my own choices based on the fear you put in me; not to blame you, for I chose my own path, but to fully illustrate to you the beauty of this universe and its flawless interconnectivity. For one thing I've learned is that many of us take for granted the ripple effect our actions take on others, and I've done my best to remember what power I have, the same power you abused so carelessly.
When you made me move away from the other children, because I was a 'distraction', you made me paranoid and sure I was meant to be alone. Your actions told me I wasn't good enough, and I believed you, because you were still an elder I was commanded to respect.
When you made me re-do papers with no direction as to what I did wrong, or graded me unfairly, you taught me that sometimes my sweat and smarts mean nothing, if a person in the right position of power chooses it to mean nothing. You should note that after this incident, I got the first non-As of my life, and after I had left you my grades returned to normal. Even a child can understand that.
When you denied me participation with my friends by keeping me in recesses to "search that book for what you thought you heard", or rejecting my applications to be in school plays, or stealing away the one dream I had to play in the Students vs. Faculty basketball game, a once-in-a-lifetime goal that you gave to students younger than me just to keep me out of it, you showed me that not only are authority figures wrong sometimes, but there is nothing preventing them from acting more childish than children. You showed that for me to trust another authority figure would be a stupid, stupid mistake; I trusted you, after all, at one point. And now, it's difficult for me to hold a job, because of how hard it is for me to be blindly obedient to even the slightest appearance of someone who thinks they have power over me. I have no problem obeying someone I trust, but once that's lost, I cannot in good conscience follow and relinquish my power to another, and society doesn't exactly understand that. So often I find myself in that same chair you had me in, being scolded for doing what I think is right, punished for standing up for something my apparently misguided brain mistook for being important. And how do I explain it to the husband depending on me when I have to report my failure? Does he understand when I tell him every instinct I had told me to fight? Are my instincts right, Mrs. Singleton? You hold the answer, because you took it from me that day, and I've never gotten it back.
When you made me cry in front of the class during a weekly meeting because I'd asked a classmate for time to play with my best friend alone, without her, you showed me true cruelty for the first time in my young life. You made me a social outcast, a joke, and the taunting that began after you threw me to the wolves would not end until I was forced into a mental hospital just to survive. You sold me out to pre-teens, Mrs. Singleton, kids trying to scramble their way to the top of the social ladder with everything they've got. And what do you do? You toss them a sacrificial lamb.
Your terror made me retreat inside myself, and I almost drowned in the darkness I found in there. I used to slice my arms open just to let some of it out, and relieve the pressure, and I will forever bear the scars and curious stares. I want you to feel that, too. I want to take you by your liver-spotted hand and lead you into eternally shadowed forest where that little girl ran away to, after you tore open her heart. I want to show you the beasts that stalk me, and the ones that I stalk; I want you to see the moon in here when it glows red and evil and turns the black oceans into a quiet mirror of blood and death. I want you to hear the monsters as they breathe, crawling closer and closer; I want you to hear your own hyperventilating as you wonder if they will reach you this time.
And when we emerge into a dark, cold city, I want you to feel the stares and laughs and taunts. I want you to hear all the terrible things they say about you, the wolves who smell your fear. I want you to feel them circling and snapping and drawing blood, a little at a time, as you cry and beg for mercy. Then you will scream as they drag you away. They rip you to shreds, and others rebuild you like a rag doll and pump you full of numbing drugs and send you stumbling like a zombie back out into the world. And you will never be as afraid as you are in that moment, even though the clouds gathering at your feet are still as dark as ever, and you know it isn't over. Now every god, prayer, devil, promise, lover, friend and dream has a dark secret buried in its belly. Now nothing is a true friend to you, because you understand how deep minds and truth and reality are; you know they have monsters, just like you do, and how do you trust a monster? How does anyone trust you? Are you here, Mrs. Singleton? Are you real? Did you know, this is all a foolish dream?
As you writhe in the arms of insanity I would tell you, this is not a punishment. This is an education, just like the one you gave me. Universally, truth has always been the most painful of all burdens to bear, and yours will be no different. And you can soothe yourself afterwards with all the stories of people who, no doubt, loved you till the end of their lives, thought you were an angel from god, and remember that all is not lost. It's true, Mrs. Singleton; all is not lost, nor is it simple to understand.
But before you go into that good night, I must implore you to take all your truths with you on your way out. Too long your disease, your fear, your terrible mistakes and ignorant arrogance have feasted away at my soul and pulled me back down into the darkness I've fought tooth, claw and nail to escape. And you are done. You chose to make yourself a part of a child's life, and you failed her.
The very least you owe her is a second chance.
I am the queen of this forest, and however dark it may get, these monsters are mine and mine alone. No longer will you rule them.
So take your claws and your hatred and be gone from my fucking mind. Because the sacrificial lamb you created is become the wolf, and she is done with your lies.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Celebrating the Marlboro Monopoly Act
I thought I'd celebrate today with a very brief review of case studies on smokers, a bit of info on previous smoking bans and some random other tidbits. As of today, the Marlboro Monopoly Act (aka, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act) has made all cigarettes containing these flavors illegal: (not menthol), strawberry, grape, orange, clove, cinnamon, pineapple, vanilla, coconut, licorice, cocoa, chocolate, cherry, and coffee. This is restricted only to cigarettes (wrapped in paper) and not cigars (wrapped in tobacco), so the clove industry (the only tested smoke with health benefits) has already begun making cigar versions of their clove products. This is also the beginning of a 12-year plan for the FDA to greatly reduce the amount of tar and nicotine in all American cigarettes at a slow rate.The negatives are well-known at this point, so here are some positives that've gone without mention:
* Smokers are more honest than non-smokers (to the point where a commentator on the study referred to this as "abrasively honest"). [1]
* Smokers generally have an increased sex drive, 55% of aged 19-27 smokers being in sexually active relationships as opposed to 15% of non-smokers (the gap increasing as age does). [2]
* Smokers have an increased reaction-time (7% quicker), process information more quickly (21.65% quicker) and have improved short-term memory (5.76% higher retention). [3]
* A fifth of smokers only smoke four days out of the week. Men populate the majority of heavy smokers while women have less success quitting. [4]
* Most smokers believe smoking is worse for you than it really is, overstating health disorders and mortality rates. [5]
As to non-smokers, there is a long history of anti-smoking policies found most heavily in totalitarian governments. From the closure and burning of smoking cafes in Persia to early American 9-pin alleys, but the only one that beats out current U.S. policy is that of Nazi Germany. It should be noted that this most recent policy is nothing new, as America has trended more and more towards both Fascism and Communism for close to a century. Here are tidbits on anti-smoking from the master race:
* From Hitler, himself: "Tobacco is the wrath of the Red Man against the White Man for being given hard liquor." [6]
* Smoking was banned in all public places, government offices, shared living quarters and by any uniformed police and officers. [7]
* Smoking rose by almost 50% during the Nazi anti-smoking propaganda period. [8]
* Germany raised more than a billion Reichsmarks a year from 1937 to 1941, contributing to 1/12th of the funding used to build their army and launch the war. [9]
* "Passivrauchen" (trans. "Passive Smoking") was coined by the Nazi Anti-Tobacco League. Fritz Lickint, its author, gave no evidence to support its claim against environmental poisoning nor for the claim that coffee caused cancer, although both his statements were worked into Nazi propaganda. [10]
* The Nazi Reich Health Office produced posters stating that smoking was the filthy habit of Jews, Gypsies, blacks, intellectuals and Indians. [directly from preserved posters]
References:
1. "Smoking: The Artificial Passion", David Krogh
http://www.amazon.com/Smoking-Artificial-Passion-David-Krogh/dp/0716722461
2. "Smoking, Personality and Stress", Hans J. Eysenck, King's College, London, England
http://www.amazon.com/Smoking-Health-Personality-Hans-Eysenck/dp/0765806398
3. "Effects of nicotine and smoking on event-related potentials: a review", Pritchard W & Sokhadze E & Houlihan M., St Thomas College, New Brunswick, Canada
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11498715 [summary]
4. "Individual Differences in Smoking and Nicotine Addiction", Saul Shiffman, University of Pittsburgh
http://www.drugabuse.gov/meetsum/nicotine/slides/21Shiffman/ShiffSlides.html
5. "Smoking: making the risky decision", "Patterns of Risk Perception", W.Kip Viscusi, Harvard
6. "Hitlers Tischgesprache im Fuhrerhauptquartier", Picker H., Bonn: Athenaum Verlag, 1951
7. "Die Genussgifte", Rauchverbot fur die Polizei auf Strassen und in Dienstraumen, 1940;36:59
8. "Smoking and death", Smith G D & Strobele S A & Egger M, BMJ1995;310:396
9. "Der Tabak, sein Anbau undseine Verarbeitung", Reckert FK. Tabakwarenkunde, Berlin-Schoneberg: Max Schwabe, 1942.
10. "Berlin: alcohol, tobacco and coffee", JAMA 1939;113:1144-5
Information on Marlboro's Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Smoking_Prevention_and_Tobacco_Control_Act
Lastly, one more factoid on smokers: the majority of innovators, as well as early adopters, are smokers. With the heavy research going into locating, securing and maintaining a pool of innovators within each company, the profile of an innovator is very well known at this point. For my last three months before leaving my previous job, the top three performing agents in the world were all found most often in the forest outside the building smoking together. Rock! Here is one of the first studies that discovered this:
"Psychological characteristics of innovators", Abraham Pizam, European Journal of Marketing, ISSN:0309-0566
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewContentItem.do?contentType=Article&contentId=852555
Suicide Through Pleasure by ~Ally23 on deviantART
Happy Tree Friends
You know "The Itchy & Scratchy Show"? Well, those two had it easy. "Happy Tree Friends" has, for years now, been the source of cute, cuddly and horribly wrong... and oh, so right. If you're unfamiliar with the series, take two minutes and watch this fan trailer:
As of April, 2009, "Happy Tree Friends" has been banned in Russia. That limits the cutest most accident-prone cuddly creatures in the world to only 49 countries worth of viewers. Censorship wins one round, but far from winning any real ground. Here's the video covering Russia's sad choices pertaining to these cartoons:
In celebration of such a flub-up from Censorville, here's my own personal favorite episode (both parts) from the series:
[note: second video starts automatically after first]
Remember, censorship could come to your country as well, so show your support and watch some cartoon violence. To tune in, the main options are to subscribe to MondoMedia's YouTube channel or visit the main site. Here are both links:
SXSW:SXSV 2009 Full Set for Free Download
My full set from SXSW:SXSV is up for free download for a limited time. With all the last-minute changes, there were plenty who couldn't make the show. This mix doesn't have BMFD's drumming, but it does include all the track-mixing as well as the quotes I mixed into them. Sadly the original link expired, but I am keeping the entry live as I'd like to mix it again in the future (update: the links keep getting hit with takedown notices, lost another). Mad love to all how made the show, to all who listened here on Mall of Me afterwards and to all the artists!
Tracklisting:
01 - Protestant Work Ethic - Beekeepers
02 - Deadbeat - Roots and Wire
03 - Stina Nordenstam - People Are Strange (UNKLE Mix)
04 - UNKLE + 3D - Invasion (Medway vs. Eva Coast-to-Coast Mix)
05 - Kammerflimmer Kollektief - Matt (David Last Pocket Pet Mix)
06 - Venetian Snares - She
07 - lacunae - from dust
08 - Kirsty Hawkshaw - Beautiful Danger
09 - X Marks the Pedwalk - Time Tunnel (Phase Two)
10 - Burial - Archangel
11 - Downliners Sekt + Evi Vine - LRAD
12 - Nine Inch Nails - At the Heart of It All (Aphex Twin Remix)
13 - Smashing Pumpkins - The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning
14 - San Jaya Prime - Time Interrupt (Eternal Nightshade Mix)
15 - Order in Chaos - Desolation
16 - Telefon Tel Aviv - The Birds
17 - The Marcia Blaine School for Girls - Still
18 - Lamb - Scratch Bass
19 - Moby - New Dawn Fades
Artwork: San Jaya Prime - Nocturne Electric
Quotes:
1 - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - "The decision to flee came suddenly. Or maybe not. Maybe I'd planned it all along, subconsciously waiting for the right moment."
2 - Dark Knight - "You know what I am? I'm a dog chasing cars. I wouldn't know what to do with one if I caught it. You know, I just do things."
3 - The Devil's Advocate - "God likes to watch. He's a prankster. Think about it. He gives man instincts. He gives you this extraordinary gift, and then what does He do, I swear for His own amusement, his own private, cosmic gag reel, He sets the rules in opposition. It's the goof of all time. Look but don't touch. Touch, but don't taste. Taste, don't swallow. And while you're jumpin' from one foot to the next, what is he doing? He's laughin' His sick, fuckin' ass off! He's a tight-ass! He's a sadist! He's an absentee landlord!"
4 - Monsters, Inc. - "Ssshh, sshhhh, sshhh... you hear that? It's the winds of change."
5 - Mrs. Miniver - "This is the people's war. It is our war. We are the fighters. Fight it then! Fight it with all that is in us, and may God defend the right."
6 - War of the Worlds - "We know now that, in the early years of the 20th century, this world was being watched closely by intelligences greater than man, yet as mortal as his own. We know now that, as human beings busied themselves about their various concerns, they were scrutinized and studied. With infinite complacence people went to and fro over the earth about their little affairs, serene in the assurance of their dominion over this small, spinning fragment of solar driftwood which, by chance or design, man has inherited out of the dark mystery of time and space."
7 - Brandon Lee* - "Because we do not know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well, and yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood? How many more times will you watch the full moon rise. Perhaps four... five times more? Perhaps not even that. And yet it all seems limitless."
8 - Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? - "Each little Crunchie contains energy, contains pep for your growing youngsters, builds strong legs so that when they're older they can stand the long waits in the unemployment lines."
9 - X-Men - "I will bring you hope, old friend, and I ask only one thing in return... don't get in my way."
* Lee is quoting "The Sheltering Sky" (1949) by Paul Bowles. It's the same quote that Lee put on his wedding invitations, and the same quote now inscribed on his tombstone. I thought it fitting as a lead-in to Telefon Tel Aviv, who lost Charles Cooper this last January 22nd.
And yet it all seems limitless.
Tracklisting:
01 - Protestant Work Ethic - Beekeepers
02 - Deadbeat - Roots and Wire
03 - Stina Nordenstam - People Are Strange (UNKLE Mix)
04 - UNKLE + 3D - Invasion (Medway vs. Eva Coast-to-Coast Mix)
05 - Kammerflimmer Kollektief - Matt (David Last Pocket Pet Mix)
06 - Venetian Snares - She
07 - lacunae - from dust
08 - Kirsty Hawkshaw - Beautiful Danger
09 - X Marks the Pedwalk - Time Tunnel (Phase Two)
10 - Burial - Archangel
11 - Downliners Sekt + Evi Vine - LRAD
12 - Nine Inch Nails - At the Heart of It All (Aphex Twin Remix)
13 - Smashing Pumpkins - The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning
14 - San Jaya Prime - Time Interrupt (Eternal Nightshade Mix)
15 - Order in Chaos - Desolation
16 - Telefon Tel Aviv - The Birds
17 - The Marcia Blaine School for Girls - Still
18 - Lamb - Scratch Bass
19 - Moby - New Dawn Fades
Artwork: San Jaya Prime - Nocturne Electric
Quotes:
1 - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - "The decision to flee came suddenly. Or maybe not. Maybe I'd planned it all along, subconsciously waiting for the right moment."
2 - Dark Knight - "You know what I am? I'm a dog chasing cars. I wouldn't know what to do with one if I caught it. You know, I just do things."
3 - The Devil's Advocate - "God likes to watch. He's a prankster. Think about it. He gives man instincts. He gives you this extraordinary gift, and then what does He do, I swear for His own amusement, his own private, cosmic gag reel, He sets the rules in opposition. It's the goof of all time. Look but don't touch. Touch, but don't taste. Taste, don't swallow. And while you're jumpin' from one foot to the next, what is he doing? He's laughin' His sick, fuckin' ass off! He's a tight-ass! He's a sadist! He's an absentee landlord!"
4 - Monsters, Inc. - "Ssshh, sshhhh, sshhh... you hear that? It's the winds of change."
5 - Mrs. Miniver - "This is the people's war. It is our war. We are the fighters. Fight it then! Fight it with all that is in us, and may God defend the right."
6 - War of the Worlds - "We know now that, in the early years of the 20th century, this world was being watched closely by intelligences greater than man, yet as mortal as his own. We know now that, as human beings busied themselves about their various concerns, they were scrutinized and studied. With infinite complacence people went to and fro over the earth about their little affairs, serene in the assurance of their dominion over this small, spinning fragment of solar driftwood which, by chance or design, man has inherited out of the dark mystery of time and space."
7 - Brandon Lee* - "Because we do not know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well, and yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood? How many more times will you watch the full moon rise. Perhaps four... five times more? Perhaps not even that. And yet it all seems limitless."
8 - Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? - "Each little Crunchie contains energy, contains pep for your growing youngsters, builds strong legs so that when they're older they can stand the long waits in the unemployment lines."
9 - X-Men - "I will bring you hope, old friend, and I ask only one thing in return... don't get in my way."
* Lee is quoting "The Sheltering Sky" (1949) by Paul Bowles. It's the same quote that Lee put on his wedding invitations, and the same quote now inscribed on his tombstone. I thought it fitting as a lead-in to Telefon Tel Aviv, who lost Charles Cooper this last January 22nd.
And yet it all seems limitless.
Apple
Apple
To preface this, I'm an oldschool hacker who began teaching himself MS-DOS and GWBASIC at the age of 11. I spent the greater part of almost two-decades insulting Apple lovers. This blog entry is nothing less than a surrender and acceptance of a future that is not "on the horizon", but has already come. The end is not nigh; it is now.
On November 6th of 2006, Joel Garreau (author of "Radical Evolution") gave a speech on the NJIT campus about the evolution of technology and its link to human evolution. In his speech, when approaching the evolution of computers, he pulled a cell phone out of his pocket, declaring this device "the future". I watched this video when it was released to the public on January 8th of 2007, knowing immediately that he was correct in his statement. A day later, on January 9th, Steve Jobs announced the iPhone to the world.
Today, not even two-years following the release of the iPhone, more than 20-million devices run the iPhone OS. It provides mail, music, videos, applications, web browsing and thousands of other features. Just two years ago, I couldn't go more than a day without hearing someone complain about their phone. Now, people can barely look away from them. The entire market was hit and hit hard, spinning about face. They've been re-acting to the onslaught of this new creation ever since... and none have compared.
PDAs and trios, the early signs of this evolution, had short battery life, well-known issues syncing with computers and they limited developers greatly in how applications could be created for these rather bulky devices. None of those early limitations exist in the iPhone, nor in the iPod touch that I use. I have more computing power in my pocket than nearly every computer I've ever owned.
The iPhone has won and much of the industry must not even realize it. But its victory is not limited solely to the phone industry. While HD and Blue-Ray were caught up in their "format wars" for nearly two-years, the consumer market was moving away from such permanent storage formats and over to data. I and others like me began storing our files online, somewhere off on a server we will likely never see... but can access from anywhere in the world that has a Net-connection. Apple has been eating into the PC market, but even this war is smoke and mirrors. Laptops will still have a place with producers and designers, but more than 90% of users are end-users, not producers. The majority of users will not even be using laptops in a few short years as computers move from the lap top and into the pocket... where Apple already owns the market. No, more than that. It now defines it.
So take a good look at the future. It's already here.
Do you know where I watched Garreau's speech at NJIT? I downloaded it thru iTunes from iTunes University, where colleges and other educational institutions around the world can upload content for free download to anyone in the world. It doesn't matter who is downloading their speeches and videos. It can be a student or laymen, it's still free. In fact, if you have iTunes, this link will open iTunes to Garreau's speech for you to download and watch. A world of education, entirely free from iTunes University.
If you don't feel that, then it hasn't hit you. Knowledge, in the form of data, is floating in the air all around us and into my pocket. Apple has created an SDK for developers designed to give them as much power as possible so that they can create the best applications for these new computers. Apple has watched what hackers have done with iPhones, then replicated the most popular of these "mods". Apple has paid attention, taken action, and worked to create something that has without a doubt changed the world.
On a closing note, I am providing full disclosure. I've worked for Apple previously (twice, in fact). I loved it, with rare exceptions. I've seen how they evolve to better serve their customers and how they aim time and again to make sure each customer who needs assistance leaves happy. Having been a worker, and seen how they treat us as well, is what gives me the extra inspiration to cede my hatred of the Apple that once was in order to love the Apple that now is.
To preface this, I'm an oldschool hacker who began teaching himself MS-DOS and GWBASIC at the age of 11. I spent the greater part of almost two-decades insulting Apple lovers. This blog entry is nothing less than a surrender and acceptance of a future that is not "on the horizon", but has already come. The end is not nigh; it is now.
On November 6th of 2006, Joel Garreau (author of "Radical Evolution") gave a speech on the NJIT campus about the evolution of technology and its link to human evolution. In his speech, when approaching the evolution of computers, he pulled a cell phone out of his pocket, declaring this device "the future". I watched this video when it was released to the public on January 8th of 2007, knowing immediately that he was correct in his statement. A day later, on January 9th, Steve Jobs announced the iPhone to the world.
") gave a speech on the NJIT campus about the evolution of technology and its link to human evolution. In his speech, when approaching the evolution of computers, he pulled a cell phone out of his pocket, declaring this device "the future". I watched this video when it was released to the public on January 8th of 2007, knowing immediately that he was correct in his statement. A day later, on January 9th, Steve Jobs announced the iPhone to the world.Today, not even two-years following the release of the iPhone, more than 20-million devices run the iPhone OS. It provides mail, music, videos, applications, web browsing and thousands of other features. Just two years ago, I couldn't go more than a day without hearing someone complain about their phone. Now, people can barely look away from them. The entire market was hit and hit hard, spinning about face. They've been re-acting to the onslaught of this new creation ever since... and none have compared.
PDAs and trios, the early signs of this evolution, had short battery life, well-known issues syncing with computers and they limited developers greatly in how applications could be created for these rather bulky devices. None of those early limitations exist in the iPhone, nor in the iPod touch that I use. I have more computing power in my pocket than nearly every computer I've ever owned.
The iPhone has won and much of the industry must not even realize it. But its victory is not limited solely to the phone industry. While HD and Blue-Ray were caught up in their "format wars" for nearly two-years, the consumer market was moving away from such permanent storage formats and over to data. I and others like me began storing our files online, somewhere off on a server we will likely never see... but can access from anywhere in the world that has a Net-connection. Apple has been eating into the PC market, but even this war is smoke and mirrors. Laptops will still have a place with producers and designers, but more than 90% of users are end-users, not producers. The majority of users will not even be using laptops in a few short years as computers move from the lap top and into the pocket... where Apple already owns the market. No, more than that. It now defines it.
So take a good look at the future. It's already here.
Do you know where I watched Garreau's speech at NJIT? I downloaded it thru iTunes from iTunes University, where colleges and other educational institutions around the world can upload content for free download to anyone in the world. It doesn't matter who is downloading their speeches and videos. It can be a student or laymen, it's still free. In fact, if you have iTunes, this link will open iTunes to Garreau's speech for you to download and watch. A world of education, entirely free from iTunes University.
If you don't feel that, then it hasn't hit you. Knowledge, in the form of data, is floating in the air all around us and into my pocket. Apple has created an SDK for developers designed to give them as much power as possible so that they can create the best applications for these new computers. Apple has watched what hackers have done with iPhones, then replicated the most popular of these "mods". Apple has paid attention, taken action, and worked to create something that has without a doubt changed the world.
On a closing note, I am providing full disclosure. I've worked for Apple previously (twice, in fact). I loved it, with rare exceptions. I've seen how they evolve to better serve their customers and how they aim time and again to make sure each customer who needs assistance leaves happy. Having been a worker, and seen how they treat us as well, is what gives me the extra inspiration to cede my hatred of the Apple that once was in order to love the Apple that now is.
The ATX Clocktower
In Austin, Texas, on New Year's Eve 2008, we burned time.
A clock tower, fully functional and constructed primarily of wood, counted down the hours on the last day of 2008. Standing more than 34ft, and with more than 90,000 in attendance (burners and non-burners alike), it was lit ablaze by burner crews of specialists. It was the largest metropolitan area burn event ever... taking place, of course, in the largest active burn community in the world--Austin, Texas. Here is the video of the day and the burn:
A clock tower, fully functional and constructed primarily of wood, counted down the hours on the last day of 2008. Standing more than 34ft, and with more than 90,000 in attendance (burners and non-burners alike), it was lit ablaze by burner crews of specialists. It was the largest metropolitan area burn event ever... taking place, of course, in the largest active burn community in the world--Austin, Texas. Here is the video of the day and the burn:
The event was free to all.
Those who don't know about burners--the last great tribe of mankind--should check out the main site... this is one of the legendary icons of our time. Don't miss it.
Burning Man (Main Site): http://www.burningman.com/
Piracy, 4 Fun 'n Profit
US Vice Admiral William Gortney, commander of the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, said: "There is no reason not to be a pirate."
That's right. Now's the time to turn pirate! Seriously. Most targeted ships don't carry weapons. Also, even if caught, there is almost no way to bring a pirate to court due to international treatises. Corporations cannot even fire on a vessel or its people until the pirates have physically boarded their ship, or have connected the two ships in an attempt to board. If they do, they can be taken to court... and will lose. Ah, the lovely world of legalized (tamed) justice. That's right pirates.. . the law's on your side.
It's also fairly cheap, at least when compared to the investments it may take to get into other criminal careers. The ratio of potential gains to start-up costs is possibly the highest return-rate in all the black market. Don't forget the fact that you get to wear a sword. Gotta love international waters.
That's right. Now's the time to turn pirate! Seriously. Most targeted ships don't carry weapons. Also, even if caught, there is almost no way to bring a pirate to court due to international treatises. Corporations cannot even fire on a vessel or its people until the pirates have physically boarded their ship, or have connected the two ships in an attempt to board. If they do, they can be taken to court... and will lose. Ah, the lovely world of legalized (tamed) justice. That's right pirates.. . the law's on your side.
It's also fairly cheap, at least when compared to the investments it may take to get into other criminal careers. The ratio of potential gains to start-up costs is possibly the highest return-rate in all the black market. Don't forget the fact that you get to wear a sword. Gotta love international waters.
If you think I'm joking, think again. Here's a good place to start:
The business case for high-seas piracy
If you're thinking about turning pirate, here's where to find other like-minded parties:
Live Piracy Map
I'm free for some high-seas piracy in March of 2013. Anyone pirates who read this and have had any success, please contact me around that time. I have no morals and I'm a quick learner. I have many references, a few of which are still alive. Have your peeps write my peeps. Nos vemos.
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