C|NET News has a great writeup on what the effects of REAL ID are going to be to people in different states – depending on whether your state has complied or not. There are some SERIOUS problems here of course – for example, you may not be able to go visit your representative in Washington… Continue reading Effects of REAL ID
Category: society
The Power of Nightmares
An interesting BBC Video that explores the origins of Islamic Fundamentalism and Neo-conservatism. Well worth the time it takes to watch. “Both [the Islamists and Neoconservatives] were idealists who were born out of the failure of the liberal dream to build a better world. And both had a very similar explanation for what caused that… Continue reading The Power of Nightmares
Security vs. Privacy
As usual, Bruce Schneier puts it more eloquently than I can: …it’s precisely why, when people in their business are in charge of government, it becomes a police state. If privacy and security really were a zero-sum game, we would have seen mass immigration into the former East Germany and modern-day China. While it’s true… Continue reading Security vs. Privacy
“Stranger Safety” and “Public Solitude”
Today I saw an ad for a video called “Stranger Safety.” It’s supposed to teach your children how to be safe around strangers. Thinking about it afterward, I realized that there is this mentality – driven into our collective mindset over many years – that ALL strangers are not to be trusted; that ALL strangers… Continue reading “Stranger Safety” and “Public Solitude”
Our Paranoid Society
This is what happens when everyone is afraid of everyone else: His mission was to photograph each of the nation’s 50 state capitol buildings and dispatch a postcard from each city, using postage stamps from a childhood collection. Each postcard would be mailed to the next state on his journey, where he would pick it… Continue reading Our Paranoid Society