Ignore This Comic

This is the shameless propaganda being sent out by a nonprofit that intends to “educate” young people about copyright violation and some other shit. Its message: a) FILE SHARING IS A HEINOUS CRIME THAT CAN DESTROY YOUR LIFE and b) it’s okay for the government to take your property, as long as they compensate you properly for it. 

You know, it’s not even that stuff that’s the worst part about it. It’s the complete credulity of the characters. They just throw themselves on the court’s mercy, and trust things to work out as they should, trusting America, trusting the legal system, trusting that there’ll be no politics that’ll take precedence over their fate. You say to me, they’re comic-book characters, relax. I say, they’re misleading examples to kids and it frustrates me to no end. Christ.

I hope the people behind this comic are sterilized by means of moose antler to the genitals. That’d be funny, and be in line with what they want: the sufferance of the individual for the greater good. The moose antler, of course, represents equality. 

Original post on Wired.com

Summer Living

I don’t write a ton about myself on this here bit on interweb real-estate, but I figured I’d let those of you who were interested know a bit about what I’ve been up to. Well, for one, I’ve been working on getting readmitted to Yale, which would make me no longer a dropout/fuckup etc… Part of that process has been taking a science course, which, despite what you might think about me and science, I’m really enjoying. I actually wish I could go back and change my major to CompSci. Alas, I fear that ship has sailed, but perhaps, someday, a technical degree awaits me. 

The course I’ve been taking is called The Digital Information Age, and it’s mostly about ones and zeroes. Converting data into binary, converting it out, how we transmit information, how we read information from bar codes, how data compression works, building logic circuits…. all very fun, and pretty cool stuff. 

My other big task this summer has been learning to live alone. It kind of sucked, at first, but I’m getting really comfortable with it. I like my apartment, and I like having to take care of myself. And finally, I like the privacy. It’s been a long time since I was last alone for huge stretches of time, and in a weird way, it’s really seductive for me. I have to force myself to seek out other people more. But, in time, that’ll come, and for now I’m happy being a little bored, a little lonely, and wishing my summer had been spent doing something more awesome. ‘Cause while what I’ve done hasn’t been that exciting or awesome, it’s been really good for me. I’m a calmer, generally happier, more pleasant person than I was even two, three months ago. 

Booya.

Oh, and I’ve also been writing and reading a lot more. And that I am stoked on.