A slide down the slippery slope towards a totalitarian surveillance state.
Are Google and Facebook obliterating the web?
I have decided that John Key has wholly entered into hyper-reality, becoming little more than a holographic-psychic protective shell created by the minds of stress affective New Zealand taxpayers.
Mutually escalating aggression is more than just plain old ‘internet trolling’.
A short history of rap songs that confront the nature of commercial rap and the record industry, amongst other things.
Donald Kunth – “I remain convinced that the patent policy most fair and most suitable for the world will regard mathematical ideas (such as algorithms) to be not subject to proprietary patent rights.”
Thanks to Mathew and Bronwyn, the Creative Freedom Foundation is here: The Creative Freedom Foundation launches today in New Zealand to unite artists who are against the removal of New Zealander's…
We are threatened. In lieu of having the time or mental obduracy to eloquently express this stream of thoughts in essay or article form, I'll just jot down a summary of related themes. Hopefully…
Silverstripe is powering the Democratic National Convention website. The site has survived a maelstrom of traffic, peaking at well over 700 unique visitors per second, not to mention an additional…
As the dust settles, it is clear that the unrest is far from over. Wikipedia has detailed and thorough coverage which is currently the best starting point for exploring the issue, as grandstanding…
The Dominion Post all but ignores the local body elections for months leading up to the final vote count, but then turns around and has absolutely no problem giving Owen Scott a soapbox for hand-wringing…
And of course, it's not just record companies on the verge of extinction. With Australia Votes, Google is flexing its capability to move into the online media space traditionally dominated by…
Russian tycoon announces to the Guardian that he is plotting the overthrow of the Russian state. Kasparov is arrested, and the Putin government orders demonstrators off the streets, and sends riot…
The many "copycat" and "self-starter" groups that have been "inspired" by al-Qaeda and that have sprung up in England, Spain, Indonesia, and elsewhere will continue to pose the threat of attacks.…
Opinions have been flowing in local media, regarding the intersect between exploding urban situations in France and some of the serious problems in South Auckland at the moment. One thing I'm noticing…
Labour: wipe interest on all student loans. National: cut petrol tax. Vroom vroom... Let's treat the NZ public like a boisterous toddler. If they don't listen to us, we'll just stuff their…
Make a National billboard... a few people have taken this for a spin with the most obvious tax joke ever, looking after US interests, the Green Party, authority, and facism and socialism.
Since last week, the New Zealand Immigration Service website has been getting over 10,000 hits per day, and a stream of enquiries from Americans wanting to escape the BushCo…
INTERJECTION: "Mr Lange Sir, if I may address you as 'mate', perhaps. You talk about the quality of rationality. Now I've heard many reasons advanced for keeping American sailors out of ports…
Concerns about privacy are a subset of what we should be concerned about.
The story of Obama’s “Inside Man” and the context of the financial crisis, through decades of Washington policy.
As America flails ever closer to becoming an all-out corporate controlled polity, it's perhaps inevitable that a corporation will try to run for congress.
The result of the Smacking Referendum is really disappointing. I know of many people who refused to vote because they felt that the question misrepresented the actual law and the intent of the policy.
‘Respecting Creativity’ encourages teachers to introduce the concept of intellectual property and the debate surrounding copyright issues to a classroom discussion.
Narrow-minded fools who are unable to face the wider social problems of their society will always look to externalize the issue in an object.
The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. - John Gilmore Interesting recent developments in the ongoing war of perception. Now, Australian ISP's are refusing to take part…
How Do Committees Invent? is a 1968 paper by Melvin Conway, where he describes a social phenomenon later transliterated into the Conway's Law adage by Fred Brooks in the Mythical Man Month. The essence…
The diaries of George Orwell are now being published in blog format by The Orwell Prize. The diaries begin in August 1938 and cover the period up until October 1942. They're being timed to appear…
I found people remarkably free in talking about politics. Mostly I talked to geeks, of course; they laughed at the Great Firewall (finding a proxy to get around it is no big deal) but were livid…
Despite the fact that we may be just shambling toward a messy repeat of last time, I would urge all you Wellington residents out there to get out and vote in the local body elections. So far,…
It's been a long long time since I've participated in hours and hours of such lively and (mostly) positive discussion. I have to echo Mike's view that Wellington is one of the only places where…
He's a personable fellow, George, greeting our Prime Minister with a cheery "Hey, here's Helen!" upon her arrival. But he's not the sharpest tack in the pack, it must be said. I noticed he had some…
It may not matter whether Australian uranium is exported from three mines or thirty... This proposal, according to Labour leader Kim Beazley should define Australia's uranium policy. But maybe…
Francis Till comes down full fist slinging on Governments & Open Source, which turns out to be little more than another thinly veiled attack on the Green Party. Beyond the hot air and apparent…
One of the worrying things about this National Party under Brash, is the noticeable lack of clearly planned policies and strategies. In terms of fiscal objectives, these well documented tax cuts are…
KiwiMP is an open source project aimed at opening up the information available about New Zealand's government and political processes: For all its faults and foibles, our democracy is a profound…
It feels like a veil of darkness is descending... It's time for writers, poets, and philosophers to pick up their pens, and actors and activists to bring it to the streets. Nobody in the western…
How the iconic summary of the anti-corporate movement became a handbook for corporate marketing.
Did Saddam unconsciously model aspects of his regime on science fiction from Western popular culture?
Apple has no civic responsibility or moral obligations, but the citizens of the United States do.
A reporter from Reuters once asked Huey (Kingfisher) Long, the demagogic boss of Louisiana, if the US would ever have fascism. “Sure,” he said, “only we'll call it anti-fascism.”
Although experts and activists alike have been saying this for many years, it has taken until 2009 for the U.S. Department of Energy to admit that the era of cheap oil is over.
I recently heard of a situation where a project was completed ahead of schedule, on time and under budget. Much of this was that the person running it didn't bother waiting for pointless meetings…
This is the full text of my submission to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Trade regarding the proposed free trade agreement with the United States. Much of this draws from the precedent set…
Hip hop is not just a mirror of what is, it should also be a reflection of what can be. I like that Obama recognizes the problem of materialism in contemporary rap music. However, I'm not…
There is an interesting case for agile development of infrastructure, applying lessons learned from the software world to civil engineering projects. This is a useful metaphor, but there is an…
Sometime in the next 30 days, the telecoms firms of the world will have reached a new milestone - three billion subscribers. About ten percent of that number are customers who have multiple accounts,…
Verizon decides to act against its own economic best interests and block messages from an abortion rights group. This kind of discrimination sets a troubling precedent.
I was supposedly going to be in Auckland this weekend, but things changed. After a fascinating discussion with Callum Strong on the relativity of rates on Thursday, I spontaneously decided…
How could this have happened? How could some of the best, most fact-checked, most reputable news organizations in the English-speaking world have been so gullible? The answer is that they…
Charges: Silently enabling and contributing to the irreversible destruction of your planet. Absolving yourself of your responsibility to do anything about it that your immediate neighbors don't.…
If you are a young, idealistic person, don’t get involved in organised politics. Contribute to your community, your neighbourhood, your immediate circle of trust and support. This is the best…
A new TV3/TNS poll puts the Labour party back in front... Projected number of seats in the House on the basis of the latest poll results: * Labour 57 National 45 NZ First 6 Green Party 8 Maori…
So the Associate Minister of Education shoved a sawn-off tennis ball into a students mouth back in the early 80's at a Dunedin Secondary School - ye olde "mute puppet"…
It's been over a week - and still no Wellington election results... The local body elections are obviously not taken seriously by the majority of the population - witness a voter turnout…