How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Matrix

    [copied in from a comment for further discussion re: the NSA]

    We can skip the word "evil" and just take examples of what citizens might want to know.

    While apparently the post office has been scanning envelopes a long time, the use of OCR means they have a huge searchable database of From, To and Date. The recent improvements in data analytics & Big Data means it's trivial to compile that into categories - especially if you link it to Facebook and collected phone metadata - who your friends are, where you work, where you bank, who you call, what organizations you're involved with. Depending on who's sending you mail, they can figure out if you're having credit problems, health issues, seeing a psychiatrist, getting a divorce.

    Orion's picture

    NEEMA TALKS SEATTLE HIP HOP

    I held off on posting this because I felt like I had posted too much to this site - here is an interview with Neema Khorrami, a Seattle based rapper who may be right behind Macklemore as far as fame goes. I think this is what Michael Maiello had in mind when he encouraged me to post Blood Is One material here.

    Dyllyn Greenwood, the fellow who did the camera work here really likes what we did - a full on documentary may come out of this. We'll see how it goes.

    kyle flynn's picture

    Independence Day

    It's been suggested here at Dagblog and elsewhere that focusing so much attention on Edward Snowden is distracting us from the important work of holding our government accountable for the misdeeds Snowden has helped to expose. And while I agree the narrowly framed hero/villain back and forth has some limits, I think it begs a broader, more thoughtful conversation about our evolving attitudes toward Patriotism, especially in the context of foreign policy, as we continue racing through the 21st Century. The eve of the 237th anniversary of the approval of the Declaration of Independence seems like as good a time as any to jump into the fray.

    Richard Day's picture

    EPISTOMOLOGY VS. NIHILISM

    I have not been over to the Onion for sometime.

    I come across this perverted 'news' from time to time.

    I cannot find the link but the Onion article I caught spoke about the hazards of working in the subway.

    It cited the 'fact' that some 25,000 workers die every year attempting to save mass transit in a particular area; NYC!

    My reaction was (and still is) terrible.

    Every time I read this faux news item, I found myself laughing uncontrollably.

    Orion's picture

    Paula Deen, The N-Word And Prejudice

    Once upon a time, I was a hardcore libertarian. I think you can still find my stuff - at websites like United Liberty and The Liberty Papers. During that really critical stage in development when you start to form ideas about the world, around eighteen and nineteen, I had worked for a Seattle rap magazine where the editor was (and he still is) a hardcore libertarian. Hip-hop is something I love and so I connected the two, even if that connection no longer makes any sense.

    Orion's picture

    What Should Be Illegal: Targetting Children

    I've had alot of words put in to my mouth wherever I have talked about regulating psychiatric medication, including here (though it's been the tamest here - elsewhere some have accused me of being some sort of Christian Scientist or Scientologist, the latter of which I guess I can see).

    I want to show exactly, point blank, what is wrong with modern psychiatry and health care in general - right here:

    Orion's picture

    A Review Of "The Clone Wars" - With A Few Ideas

    More material from Blood Is One:

    I received a copy of the fourth season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars for my birthday. I have only watched the series sporadically since the initial movie that came out but wow, was it good.

    jollyroger's picture

    "Enemies of human decency..."

    Even a broken clock is right twice a day....

    Nino has it right, if perversely so.

    Opponents of marriage equality are enemies of human decency.

    Was there ever any doubt of this?

    !

    Any who hold to the contrary, ooze your slimy low-life way to the microphone and make your filthy Yahwist superstition ridden case.

    Orion's picture

    A Q&A With Awesome Author Michael Gural-Maiello

    From Blood Is One, where there is actually a direct link to buy Michael's book: 

    Michael Gural-Maiello is an accomplished published author, as I will note in this interview, he has written for Esquire and Forbes and has encouraged Blood Is One in its growth and maturity as a website. He has just self published a book called Shuts and Failures, which is filled with material that apparently was rejected from the big publishers. Given his penchant for humor and pop culture and actively helping Blood Is One expanding its reach in the realm of pop culture coverage, it really seemed like a no brainer to do an interview with him. Maiello thought much the same thing so... Here goes! 

    In which V. Putin alters my Snowden prediction

    In an earlier comment I referred to Julian Assange as an unfortunate choice of prom date for Ed Snowden.

    Now, Snowden's choice of Moscow as a transit point has cast him into an odious threesome including Vladimir Putin of Russia. There are quite a few possibilites for what could happen now. So I have to alter my prediction of a drawn-out flurry of diplomacy ending in a quiet life in Iceland which does not feature a career in technology. The new possibilities are as follows:

    Richard Day's picture

    AN ODE TO PAULA DEEN!

     

    I think that I shall never see

    A poem as lovely as Paula Deen

    A Southern Lady with real taste

    Who cooks the entire pig eschewing waste

     

    A Southern Belle with the temerity

    My Snowden prediction

    What the heck, I don't care if I'm wrong. So fwiw, here's my prediction of what will happen in the Snowden case. (As long as Greenwald/Poitras don't release further information without Snowden's permission, in which case all bets are off.)

    When Google and Amazon Own the Internet

    It warmed my heart, just a little bit, to see the recent traffic spike at search engine DuckDuckGo. Apparently people are worried about the NSA seeing their Google search queries, or are moving off Google in protest. Whatever the reason, the spike just won't last. Even as a guy who wants an alternative search engine to capture some of Google's market, I can't help but admit that DDG falls short of usability. Those people who want to nobly move away from Google will be back before long. Google has made quality search results the rule.

    Well, quality search results if you share the mindset of the masses. In truth Google's search results are like America's largest beer brands. Miller-Coors wants to reach as many people as possible, and so they produce beer that is inoffensive, rather than good, to the greatest number of people. Similarly, Google's results can't offend people, or else they'll seek an alternative. The problem is that the way Google approaches this just decimates small businesses. 

    No, NSA's General Alexander was Not Making Stuff Up

    WASHINGTON — Gen. Keith B. Alexander, the head of the National Security Agency, said on Tuesday that American surveillance had helped prevent “potential terrorist events over 50 times since 9/11,” including at least 10 “homeland-based threats.” But he said that a vast majority must remain secret to avoid disclosing sources and methods......

    Orion's picture

    Madchild's Rebirth

    This one was originally published at Blood Is One. Again, I am a bit weary of posting some of this at Dagblog. I am very curious as to some of your thoughts but also afraid of them? smiley Madchild's music is hardcore, raw rap - pretty unapologetic. 

    Richard Day's picture

    WHERE HAVE ALL THE COMEDIANS GONE?

     

     

    You know a friend of mine is a comedian and he had this gig in Vegas or somesuch and there were these Germans in the audience.

    And he told me that following a comedic presentation there some Germans came back to have a tete-a-tete with him.

    Orion's picture

    "The Great Dictator"

    I posted about Kanye West and his latest album on Blood Is One and got a pretty good reception from Michael. I thought of following up with an article here about how his demented, deranged music illustrates how cold, empty and pointless our society has become. As I thought the article out, I didn't really want to pursue it. I figured you all could get more thought about society from this:

    Edsel-Like Religion Sells Snake-Oil

    Auto manufacturers and religious institutions commit the same blunder. Sometimes, their innovative solutions run far ahead of the public’s endorsement and fall out-of-favor with consumers.

    In 1957, Ford Motor Company launched an advertising blitz for the goofy-looking Edsel. Consumers were turned off by what Ford featured above the car’s front bumper—an oval vertical grill. Customers quipped it looked like a horse collar.

    Orion's picture

    The American Hikikomori

    This article originally got published a few weeks ago at Practice of Madness. It's more in line with the material usually published here. Give it a full read - it's a collaboration with a very close friend. Apologies if it's difficult to read here - Jennifer's page is very interactive. If you have trouble, go ahead and read her website from the source:

    You know it's going to be a movie someday.

    All I can say is, if James Van Der Beek and Krysten Ritter's (of don't trust the B in apartment 23) agents are not shopping them as possiblities to play Edward Snowden and Laura Poitras in the eventual movie to be made about this NSA story, then James Van Der Beek and Krysten Ritter have the dumbest agents in the history of Hollywood.

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