Published by jon at November 8, 2006
in Notes.
So, first off, looks like Democrats are taking control of the House and Senate hopefully repealing and changing the current bad state of the United States. Then Rumsfeld resigns his post! What a great day!
I’m also feeling optimistic about the Microsoft/Novell deal now as well, as the complexities of it unfold.
Then, come to find out, one of my areas of major interest, Open Source Cellphones received a major boost with the announcement of the OpenMoko phone and Harold Welte’s involvment. This is great because I will be speaking at a conference in Taiwan in January, so hopefully can connect them up with Creative Commons Taiwan so we can get some properly licensed content onto these phones.
Oh, and to top it all off, tonite is the 10th Creative Commons Salon in San Francisco where the Homebrew Mobile Club, featuring Matthew Hamrick (who works for ACCESS, used to be palmsource) will be presenting about the “Complete Open Phone.”
UPDATE: The good news doesn’t end now that I see this post that Google’s CEO, Eric Schmidt is calling for making data EXPORT a key strategy and encouraging others to do so, similar to something I wrote in the past. This is so great. I want to work with Google more!
Published by jon at November 6, 2006
in Notes.
Patrick and I have been back and forth sorting out the current status of Wikipedia in China’s status. Thus, after we did some tests, have confirmed that Wikipedia is accessible in English (and probably most languages to appease Olympics 2008 goals), but it is blocked at least at his residential connection in China (in Chinese).
At least he can look up what MSG is, now.
Also, would anyone like to display our project in any upcoming art shows, conferences, etc. Basically, we are getting a server in China that we will use as a reverse proxy so that anyone can test if their site or service works in China. Would anyone be intersted in this? It is actually useful, practically, but on an artistic level, would provide a nice visual account that China is actually blocking some content.
Oh, I call it a reverse proxy, because when traveling in China, one must have their own proxy or external-to-China server to get certain accounts, like my ctyme.com based email for a well known non-profit, and to get to my other illegal content.
Don’t forget, I have documented how to get access to sites outside of any Internet-connected country through ssh tunneling.
Published by jon at October 31, 2006
in Notes.
Whoa, there has been quite a stir on the web about the comments made by a Chinese official that China does not block the Internet:
I don’t think we should be using different standards to judge China. In China, we don’t have software blocking Internet sites. Sometimes we have trouble accessing them. But that’s a different problem. I know that some colleagues listen to the BBC in their offices from the Webcast. And I’ve heard people say that the BBC is not available in China or that it’s blocked. I’m sure I don’t know why people say this kind of thing. We do not have restrictions at all.
This is not an uncommon statement as I have heard many different Chinese academics and business make similar claims about how they have the “largest offices,” the “best beer in the world,” and can say “whatever they want.” These are obviously interesting statements, which I can’t deny outright, but more anchor my own response in trying to understand the mindsight of the people who make these statements.
Also, Patrick is posting about his dilemma with getting his employer, Beijing University, to pay him for teaching (even though he has been doing so for the past month). He is writing his dissertation in part about this type of power-struggle in China.
I will make a blanket assertion, as I often do, that this power struggle comes from the myth of trying to maintain a socialist nation in the face of the dominant global democratic capitalist economy. As anyone who has been to China knows, the distance between the really poor and the really rich is pretty huge. Where’s that middle class for stability?
Published by jon at September 29, 2006
in Notes.
This is a sad day! The US Senate and House have given the Bush administration its tool so they are protected against war crimes. More horrible is that the “Republican party is the party of torture.”
What can we do? This country is going down in flames it seems with destruction of the constitution, failed leadership, and the intelligent folk of the USA left powerless against the majority of local passive consumers.
What steps can citizens take to A.) Impeach Bush B.) secede from the USA C.) Get another passport?
Which brings up the next point. As an American what is the second-best backup-plan passport to get and how hard would it be to get this? I’m thinking a good backup plan would be E.U. citizenship. I would ideally like to keep my USA citizenship till the bitter end, but have my foot in the door somewhere else. If I could get Chinese citizenship and keep my American passport, I would.
Published by jon at September 1, 2006
in Notes.
http://mces.blogspot.com/2006/08/metro-lines-i-have-used.html
Published by jon at August 20, 2006
Uncategorizedin .
The most democratic election process to ever happen in China is a tv show (in slang) called SuperGirl where the final episode in 2005 had 400 million viewers. Also, if you can read the image above, there is a sly misuse of Chinese propaganda stating that boys and girls are the same (in trying to defeat old pro-male Chinese superstition by the government). Oh, Li Yuchun is the most popular SuperGirl above who is reportedly a Lesbian (another against taboo in Mainland China).
Oh, in another funny twist, the image is said to come from the population and birth control office in China. I think its a ’shopjob (photoshopjob).
