Privacy is a topic about which I see posts and tweets every few weeks, sometimes days. Seems to me a lot of these well intended posts don't quite make the point the way I would, especially about "well, if you have nothing to hide, no harm done, right?"
Let me use a sort of metaphor, the way G.K. Chesterton used to, although I know Chesterton would absolutely not ever use this metaphor. (Well, if he were alive today, who knows?)
So, you're at the airport, having just flown in from some other country not otherwise specified. The authorities (you pick one) decide you are probably smuggling drugs. In balloons, like they do.
Shoved up yer butt.
Not the most practical option, but we're supposin' here.
So the Authorities say, "to check whether you have balloons full of drugs shoved up yer butt, we're going to probe yer butt." And of course, "If you don't have drugs up yer butt, no harm done, right?"
You'd respond, "Wait a G.D. minute here -- probing my butt is harm! You find something, you don't find something, the probing itself is harm! It's not just offensive, it's literally invasive..." and so on.
But hey, if you have nothing to hide...
What is forgotten in the discussion in the first place is that invasion of privacy is harm, all by itself, whether they find everything, something, nothing, whatevah. The invasion itself, just like the anal probe itself. Even if they find a lump on your prostate while they're up there, they're not doing you any favors.
Was gonna do that as a podcast, but that's all I had to say right now.
Make the most of it.
Saturday, September 30, 2017
Thursday, September 28, 2017
Hiber-Nation 20170928 - Federalist # 3 - The Same Subject Continued: Concerning Dangers From Foreign Force and Influence
Upon further review ... one essay per podcast, for the moment.
The original text from Congress.gov
Book Theme: "Prelude in C Major" from Kevin MacLeod
Show Theme: "Canon in D" from Owen Poteat
Comments via the https://www.speakpipe.com/grizzlysgrowls
Comment Line: 218-234-CALL 218-234-2255
Contributions: https://www.patreon.com/grizzlysgrowls
Thursday, September 21, 2017
Hiber-Nation 20170921 - Federalist # 2 - Concerning Dangers from Foreign Force and Influence
A possible change in format. But not this time.
The original text from Congress.gov
Book Theme: "Prelude in C Major" from Kevin MacLeod
Show Theme: "Canon in D" from Owen Poteat
Comments via the https://www.speakpipe.com/grizzlysgrowls
Comment Line: 218-234-CALL 218-234-2255
Contributions: https://www.patreon.com/grizzlysgrowls
The Drama Continues...
Doing something tonight I really don't do often enough, listening to the many podcasts to which I'm subscribed. I'm only 1519 episodes behind, adding up to 67.87 Gigabytes of recorded audio and video.
Right now I'm listening to Sonic TALK podcast from 07/06/2017, a show about music recording and live music technology. So they talk in part about technology for making music. Also all that stuff the show engineer gets to play with, plugged into that vast and impressive-looking mixer. Also the stuff that takes performed music and makes it sound like something above and beyond what the instruments themselves put out.
I wish I knew more about such things. I'd like to be that guy at the show behind the mixer with the headphones... but I wouldn't know where to start learning how to do all that. Too old to be a roadie, realistically, of the type that wrassles around those huge speakers and whatnot. Way out of shape for hauling around anything big. For that matter, at my age, my hearing ain't what it used to be. Hell, at my age, my used-to-be ain't what it used to be.
That sounds like my idea of fun. And heck, MCing might be be fun, too. Y'all know I'd sound good, as long as I don't have to improvise much. Not a rap-style MC, of course. The old kind.
I like to listen to SonicTALK because I like to hear folks talk about this sort of tech, even though I don't know much about it myself. Similarly I listen to This Week in Virology, not because I know much about Virology or understand what the heck they're saying. I like to hear intelligent people talk about intelligent topics. It's a relief after all the politics.
G'night.
Right now I'm listening to Sonic TALK podcast from 07/06/2017, a show about music recording and live music technology. So they talk in part about technology for making music. Also all that stuff the show engineer gets to play with, plugged into that vast and impressive-looking mixer. Also the stuff that takes performed music and makes it sound like something above and beyond what the instruments themselves put out.
I wish I knew more about such things. I'd like to be that guy at the show behind the mixer with the headphones... but I wouldn't know where to start learning how to do all that. Too old to be a roadie, realistically, of the type that wrassles around those huge speakers and whatnot. Way out of shape for hauling around anything big. For that matter, at my age, my hearing ain't what it used to be. Hell, at my age, my used-to-be ain't what it used to be.
That sounds like my idea of fun. And heck, MCing might be be fun, too. Y'all know I'd sound good, as long as I don't have to improvise much. Not a rap-style MC, of course. The old kind.
I like to listen to SonicTALK because I like to hear folks talk about this sort of tech, even though I don't know much about it myself. Similarly I listen to This Week in Virology, not because I know much about Virology or understand what the heck they're saying. I like to hear intelligent people talk about intelligent topics. It's a relief after all the politics.
G'night.
Thursday, September 14, 2017
Hiber-Nation 20170914 - Federalist # 1 - General Introduction
My first effort on the Federalist Papers. One of those learning experiences you've heard about.
The original text from Congress.gov
Book Theme: "Prelude in C Major" from Kevin MacLeod
Show Theme: "Canon in D" from Owen Poteat
Comments via the https://www.speakpipe.com/grizzlysgrowls
Comment Line: 218-234-CALL 218-234-2255
Contributions: https://www.patreon.com/grizzlysgrowls
Monday, August 21, 2017
Episode 20170821 - Local Elections
Talked briefly to Janet Kennedy who's a candidate for an At Large seat on the Duluth City Council. She was nice enough to ask, so I'll probably vote for her. I'd have her on the show sometime, too, I think. Dunno if she'd do it, though.
Show Theme "Hot Swing" and other music from Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com.
Comments via the https://www.speakpipe.com/grizzlysgrowls
Comment Line: 218-234-CALL 218-234-2255
Contributions: https://www.paypal.me/grizzlysgrowls
Or https://www.patreon.com/grizzlysgrowls
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
The Allies and the Axis
This afternoon, I was once again considering not only the babbling from 45, and the babbling of those who won't quite oppose him... and being marginally associated with the PR world, I thought about branding.
The Nazis don't want to be called Nazis. (As I side note, keep reminding yourself that Neo-Nazi doesn't mean "not quite Nazi." It means new Nazis. Doesn't mean they're significantly different from the old Nazis, except they speak English now not German.) The wave Nazi flags, chant Nazi slogans, take actions that the brownshirts would recognize immediately -- but they're not Nazis? And the Fascists, too, don't wanna be Fascisti anymore. They wanna be called the Alt Right.
They want the self-titled Alt Right to be treated as a political movement. Well, Nazism could be called a political movement -- a scummy, evil political movement -- and Fascism could be called a political movement. Alt Right isn't a political movement. Alt Right is a brand.
And to generate some sense of equivalency to those of us who oppose them, they want to call us the Alt Left. Some, foolishly in my opinion, have chosen to accept that title, that branding. I won't. Nazis have been applying names to those they wish to destroy as long as they've existed. Not gonna do it. They don't get to define this battle.
Then I was reminded of George W Bush's phrase from early this century, "The Axis of Evil." At the time he was referring to Iran, Iraq and Syria I believe. But he used the particular term "Axis" because of it's previous use, referring to our enemies in World War II. The Nazis in Germany. The Fascists in Italy. And the militarists in Japan.
And what do we face now?
The Axis. Or, if you will, The Axis of Evil.
Let's do our own branding. The Nazis, the Fascists, the modern American brownshirts -- they're the Axis. We fought the Axis before. We can and will fight the Axis again.
And who are we? Well, of course, the Allies.
You'll recall that though the Allies were united, we weren't all united about what we were for. But we were sure as hell united in what we were against. I'd wager heavily that Roosevelt and Churchill were never in love with old Joe Stalin. The various resistance groups from the smaller, conquered countries weren't overjoyed to have to depend on Americans and Brits to get their countries free again -- much less having to ally with Stalin, who had his own conquering agenda. Then there's Asia; we ended up in extended wars fighting the folks with whom we'd allied against Japan.
But the Allies were (eventually) all against the Axis.
And it was and is very clear, the Allies were the good guys, the Axis were the bad guys. The new "very nice people" wave the flags of the bad guys my Dad went to fight back when.
So, my new Branding. We're the Allies, and damn proud of it, even though we don't all agree about everything. And the Axis? I suppose they're proud, too. They're certainly proud of the President of the Axis of Evil now, aren't they?
Let's let the Axis be proud of being losers once again.
The Nazis don't want to be called Nazis. (As I side note, keep reminding yourself that Neo-Nazi doesn't mean "not quite Nazi." It means new Nazis. Doesn't mean they're significantly different from the old Nazis, except they speak English now not German.) The wave Nazi flags, chant Nazi slogans, take actions that the brownshirts would recognize immediately -- but they're not Nazis? And the Fascists, too, don't wanna be Fascisti anymore. They wanna be called the Alt Right.
They want the self-titled Alt Right to be treated as a political movement. Well, Nazism could be called a political movement -- a scummy, evil political movement -- and Fascism could be called a political movement. Alt Right isn't a political movement. Alt Right is a brand.
And to generate some sense of equivalency to those of us who oppose them, they want to call us the Alt Left. Some, foolishly in my opinion, have chosen to accept that title, that branding. I won't. Nazis have been applying names to those they wish to destroy as long as they've existed. Not gonna do it. They don't get to define this battle.
Then I was reminded of George W Bush's phrase from early this century, "The Axis of Evil." At the time he was referring to Iran, Iraq and Syria I believe. But he used the particular term "Axis" because of it's previous use, referring to our enemies in World War II. The Nazis in Germany. The Fascists in Italy. And the militarists in Japan.
And what do we face now?
The Axis. Or, if you will, The Axis of Evil.
Let's do our own branding. The Nazis, the Fascists, the modern American brownshirts -- they're the Axis. We fought the Axis before. We can and will fight the Axis again.
And who are we? Well, of course, the Allies.
You'll recall that though the Allies were united, we weren't all united about what we were for. But we were sure as hell united in what we were against. I'd wager heavily that Roosevelt and Churchill were never in love with old Joe Stalin. The various resistance groups from the smaller, conquered countries weren't overjoyed to have to depend on Americans and Brits to get their countries free again -- much less having to ally with Stalin, who had his own conquering agenda. Then there's Asia; we ended up in extended wars fighting the folks with whom we'd allied against Japan.
But the Allies were (eventually) all against the Axis.
And it was and is very clear, the Allies were the good guys, the Axis were the bad guys. The new "very nice people" wave the flags of the bad guys my Dad went to fight back when.
So, my new Branding. We're the Allies, and damn proud of it, even though we don't all agree about everything. And the Axis? I suppose they're proud, too. They're certainly proud of the President of the Axis of Evil now, aren't they?
Let's let the Axis be proud of being losers once again.
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