paranoia

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Do we really care about our kids?

01 December 2008 in Internet, Politics by Stilgherrian | 12 comments

Photograph of Verity Firth

Despite all the rhetoric about “protecting our children” and “children are the future”, our governments seem determined to prevent them preparing for the real future. Take NSW schools minister Verity Firth…

This morning the Sydney Morning Herald tells us the NSW government will receive $285M for new laptops — which will then be blocked from accessing social media and most everything else.

The Minister for Education, Verity Firth [pictured], said the Government would prevent access to the social networking sites, and other sites, even when the laptops were used at home.

“We don’t want these kids to be using these computers for the not-so-wholesome things that can be on the net. And they won’t be able to because essentially the whole server is coming through the Department of Education.”

So kids will be prevented from using their computers to connect with and understand their peers and the real world because of this continuing paranoia about unspecified “not-so-wholesome things” and parents being too lazy to supervise their own children.

Maybe Ms Firth needs to read Mark Pesce’s Those Wacky Kids, or watch the video. As Pesce quite rightly points out, if the classroom is the only part of these kids’ lives which isn’t hyperconnected, then the classroom will be seen as irrelevant.

Rupert Murdoch is right to say we have a 19th Century education system. Our Minister seems intent on keeping it that way.

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I won’t be doing an episode of Stilgherrian Live Alpha tonight, but within 48 hours I’ll let you know when episodes 6, 7 and 8 will be on.

03 July 2008 by Stilgherrian | No comments

Yes, episode 4 of Stilgherrian Live Alpha will happen at 9.30pm tonight Sydney time. Will it be as disturbing as last week’s? There’s only one way to find out… well two, actually, ‘cos you could just ask someone. That shows how silly that stock advertising phrase really is.

29 May 2008 by Stilgherrian | 5 comments

Links for 27 April 2008

27 April 2008 in Daily Links by del.icio.us | No comments

I’ve decided to have another go at publishing the links I find online. So, thanks to del.icio.us and some mild semi-automation, here’s today’s batch.

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As an antidote to the intense conversations across the weekend, try Garfield minus Garfield. “Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life?” (Thanks, Garth.)

10 March 2008 by Stilgherrian | No comments

Some things I found on the weekend which you might like. The UNIX-HATERS Handbook, which reminded me that for all the religious hype over Unix/Linux it really is just a kludge. (Hat-tip of the geekiest kind to Alastair Rankine.) A NY Times article How Dangerous Is the Internet for Children? Answer: not particularly. A fine Wired story about Titan Salvage, the smart, brave and somewhat scary guys who salvage ships. And Possums Pollytics’ wonderful response to an attack by The Australian‘s Dennis Shanahan.

03 March 2008 by Stilgherrian | 2 comments

Post 801: Kill the Hallucinating Goldfish

13 January 2008 in Hallucinating Goldfish, Human Nature, Media, Music, Politics by Stilgherrian | 9 comments

This is blog post number 801. It’s time for something special. Time for an extended essay encapsulating several trains of thought which I’ve been following for some time.

We are the 801,
We are the central shaft
And thus throughout two years
We’ve crossed the ocean in our little craft (Row! Row! Row!)
Now we’re on the telephone,
Making final arrangements (Ding! Ding!)
We are the 801, we are the central shaft

Cover from Brian Eno album Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)

So sang Brian Eno in the song The True Wheel from his 1974 album Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy).

Eno says he wrote the lyrics while visiting New York:

I went to stay with this girl called Randi and fell asleep after taking some mescaline and had this dream where this group of girls were singing to this group of sailors who had just come into port. And they were singing ‘We are The 801 / We are the Central Shaft’ — and I woke up absolutely jubilant because this was the first bit of lyric I’d written in this new style.

Yes, apparently in the 1970s a musician wrote a song while under the influence of hallucinogens. Who’d have thought.

Society generally frowns upon people who make important decisions while under the influence. (By an odd coincidence, Hugh MacLeod posted some vaguely-related thoughts only yesterday, in dying young is overrated, revisited.) However the more I look, the more I worry that we’re governed as if our societies were hallucinating. And even worse, it’s as if they’ve forgotten how to remember the lessons of the past.

I’m worried that we’re governed by Hallucinating Goldfish.

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Human relationships in GoogleAds

08 July 2007 in Internet by Stilgherrian | No comments

Screen grab of GoogleAds

Ah, there’s a lovely microcosm of human relationships represented in this pairing of GoogleAds. What’s makes it even more curious is that I found it on a web page which shows us a graphic about the global people smuggling trade.

Why do Businesses Lie?

10 March 2006 in Business, Human Nature, Transparency by Stilgherrian | 3 comments

Why do people even bother with lame excuses like “I didn’t receive the invoice” or “The cheque was mailed yesterday”? Wouldn’t telling the truth help build a stronger relationship? Or do they actually think people believe this stuff?

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