Archive for August, 2009

Oleg Volk: Parental Responsibility

Posted by Joshua Bardwell in Self-Defense on August 28th, 2009

no_excuses_6165

I love Oleg Volk (the creator of this photograph).

For more: http://www.a-human-right.com/introduction.html

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Playa-Bound

Posted by Joshua Bardwell in Uncategorized on August 27th, 2009

Off to the playa in just a few days now. Be gone until September 11th. Just so you know that this upcoming two weeks without posts will be for a completely different reason than any of the preceding two weeks without posts.

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Shocker: SERE Waterboarding Not Same As Real Life

Posted by Joshua Bardwell in Government and Law on August 27th, 2009

It has previously been argued that waterboarding must be okay to do to “terrorists”, since we do it to our own military personnel as part of their training. It’s true that waterboarding is part of military SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape) training, but the argument that SERE training and actual waterboarding has always seemed false to me. The primary difference is that military personnel have chosen to undergo the training, and are ideologically driven to participate in it. If I push myself to run a marathon, it’s psychologically very different than if a person with a gun forces me to run for 26 miles.

But never mind all that, because it won’t shock you to learn that the waterboarding performed in SERE training and that performed in real life aren’t even remotely similar. According to a recent report by the Office of the Inspector General:

oig-waterboarding

So, let’s just put the “waterboarding is okay because every member of the military goes through it in SERE training” argument to bed, shall we?

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Breaking Copy/Paste of Images

Posted by Joshua Bardwell in Uncategorized on August 25th, 2009

Dear people who make it impossible to copy/paste and/or right-click-download images off of their web site. The whole reason the Internet became useful was because of the ability to share information. The premise that everything you see is immediately available to you for re-use is essential. You are breaking the Internet. Stop it.

Especially because the image that you worked so hard to protect is a screen-cap from a report by the Office of the Inspector General, a public document that is freely available here. With two minutes of work and a screen-capture program, I could make my own images. It’s just that it’s five seconds of work to capitalize on your screen-caps. That’s not called stealing, it’s called efficiency and increased productivity, and aren’t all Good Americans supposed to be in favor of increased productivity?

Oh, and by the way, that same image cap program that I could use to create screen shots of the OIG report? I can use it to copy YOUR CAREFULLY PROTECTED SCREEN SHOTS.

See, look. Here’s your whole web site. Carefully-protected screen-caps included.

screen-cap

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Craigslist Founder Sums Up My Burn Philosophy

Posted by Joshua Bardwell in Burning Man on August 25th, 2009

Craig Newmark, the “Craig” of Craigslist, is quoted in an interview as saying:

If most people are good and their needs are simple, all you have to do to serve them well is build a minimal infrastructure allowing them to get together and work things out for themselves. Any additional features are almost certainly superfluous and could even be damaging.

The philosophy is the same philosophy that I like to see at burns. A burn’s organizers should “build a minimal infrastructure that allows people to get together and work things out for themselves.” Perfect.

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