The Web was invented so physicists could share research papers. Web 2.0 was invented so we could share cute pictures of our cats. The tools of Web 2.0, while designed for mundane uses, can be extremely powerful in the hands of digital activists, especially those in environments where free speech is limited.
This talk looks at creative uses of well-known tools to promote free speech in countries from Bahrain to China, and looks at ways in which the use of these tools helps evade internet censorship and promotes human rights issues to a wider audience. Great article at ethanzuckerman.com.
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Now reading: Thank You and Ok!: An American Zen Failure in Japan – David Chadwick.
David Chadwick, a Texas-raised wanderer, college dropout, bumbling social activist, and hobbyhorse musician, began his study under Shunryu Suzuki Roshi in 1966. In 1988 Chadwick flew to Japan to begin a four-year period of voluntary exile and remedial Zen education. In Thank You and OK! he recounts his experiences both inside and beyond the monastery walls and offers insightful portraits of the characters he knew in that world—the bickering monks, the patient abbot, the trotting housewives, the ominous insects, the bewildered bureaucrats, and the frustrating English-language students—as they worked inexorably toward initiating him into the mysterious ways of Japan. Whether you’re interested in Japan, Buddhism, or exotic travel writing, this book is great fun.
To learn more about the author, David Chadwick, visit More about David Chadwick
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
On this Friday, Feb 13 at exactly 3:31:30 PM (PST), Unix time (WTF is Unix time?) will equal ’1234567890′.
• 841,000: I have a large cat in my pants.
• 3,300,000: I have a large uterus.
• 112,000: I have a lovely bunch of coconuts (lots of swallows surfing the web).
• 256,000,000: I want to die.
• 3,160,000: Why do I fart so much.
Read the article here: Google Proves Humanity Is Sick and Sad, Yet Absolutely Hilarious [Google Insight]
Dammit, it is a strange world we are living in.
SoundTransit is a collaborative, online community dedicated to field recording and phonography. On the “Book” section of the site, you can plan a sonic journey through various locations recorded around the world.
Click to hear: Hamburg – Anuradhapura
Departure: Hamburg, Germany with Lasse-Marc Riek “recordings from “the hamburger dom” / “fair of hamburg”, listen to many various sounds. the sounds are together like in an soundscape-composition.recorded in may 2002, hamburg/germany”
via London, United Kingdom with Matthias Kispert “A cavernous space with walls covered in graffiti, the skate park at the South Bank Centre is somewhat reminscent of the sites of prehistoric rituals. In this place, youngsters daily worship the cult of the four wheels attached to a wooden board. Recorded for the D-Fuse project Undercurrent.”
Arrival: Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka with Andreas Bick “Young monks chanting in a monastery in Anuradhapura.”