Posts by Lucy Stewart
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Far from being hypothetical, cyberwarfare is already a hot war, with mounting evidence that China is particularly active.
This is so far from being news to anyone in the computer security field that it's laughable. Which doesn't stop it being frightening.
I have the gravest concerns for Assange's future. If he is sent to Sweden to stand trial it's almost certain that he will be rendered to the Americans, and he won't see the light of day for many years as their legal juggling, by deferring a trial, will keep him imprisoned, with all the horrors that will be for him. Even the loopy presidential hopeful Sarah Palin is calling for a Special Forces unit to go and assassinate him. So much for democracy in the land of the free.
I am somewhat leery of the argument that Assange can never be arrested for anything, ever, because he'll automatically be rendered to the Americans and tortured for years, etc. It....puts him in a position I'm dubious he deserves to be in.
Furthermore, being practical, if the Americans think that imprisoning Assange is going to stop Wikileaks, they're mad. Things like PayPal and Amazon doing their dirty work for them are far more likely to succeed.
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Busytown: She loves you, YA, YA, YA!, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
One theory is that we shouldn't cotton wool children because what they read is a safe place to start emotionally reconciling yourself to some hard truths -- the world can be hard and cruel, you will feel as if nobody understands you or cares, grown-ups will let you down. But, and here's the big but, there is a way through the woods.
How did Pratchett put it? Children need to hear stories about monsters because it teaches them that monsters can be defeated.
Of course, this involves admitting and facing the fact that for all too many children, it isn't the monsters that are the fantasy - it's the happy-ever-after. And as a society, we're bloody poor at that.
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Busytown: She loves you, YA, YA, YA!, in reply to bmk,
This is mostly true for me but the one notable exception being American Psycho - that is one novel where the words alone have burned some gruesome scenes indelibly on my brain.
There's been a few like that for me. Fortunately not too many. It's one of the points where having a very good memory for words and a vivid imagination sucks.
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Hard News: Popular Paranoiac Politics, in reply to John Farrell,
I owned book back in the 90s, published by Ten Speed Press, of politically correct definitions, which was definitely ironic in its intent.
I think that's what I was thinking of.
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Hard News: Popular Paranoiac Politics, in reply to Jan Farr,
I’ve always thought that being PC was just another couple of words for not being a vicious bastard.
Trouble is, vicious bastards can be quite vicious and bastardly about their "right" to continue to be such.
IIRC, the term "politically correct" was originally intended as satire. Sadly, no-one noticed.
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Hard News: Popular Paranoiac Politics, in reply to Megan Wegan,
In my defense, I am not particularly rational first thing in the morning.
That's not only rational, it's beautiful.
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Busytown: She loves you, YA, YA, YA!, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
If it's a personal quirk, it's a rather common one. In part, I suspect it's because we do have a class system for the arts -- LITERATURE is respectable, movies and comic books are not.
It's not that, not for me; I could name half a dozen comics that are far more worthy than some "LITERATURE". It's that - for me - pictures are much, much harder to forget, and therefore more disturbing. I can forget words, if I try hard enough, or at least mentally blur them. Pictures are...much harder, and therefore violent content stands out more. So I'll read things that I wouldn't watch if you paid me.
Whether this is common enough to account for the stricter censorship of visual media, I have no idea.
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Hard News: Popular Paranoiac Politics, in reply to nzlemming,
Yes, that’s always fun. “That’s not what it actually says, you know” is a great line, especially if you can whip out a bible to prove your point. Carrying a physical one was not always possible, but once I got a PDA I had the King James on there, just in case… ;-)
Those little Gideon New Testaments are kickass for that. Or for starting fires. On the other hand, I would be far more embarrassed at being found carrying a bible than I would telling the sort of people who accost one with religion in mind to go screw themselves, so. (Besides, as I said. Engaging with them does tend to encourage some of them.)
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Busytown: She loves you, YA, YA, YA!, in reply to Tui Head,
Lucy S., I gave my brother Sandman comics when he was twelve and he enjoyed them very much but beware the idea that comics are more appropriate for children than novels - not true at all, there's all sorts of R-rated content in there and I would imagine that 15+ would be the more usual age to come to them.
Okay, that's weird - I had distinct memories of you getting quite upset over said brother and said reading.
You know I have extremely liberal views about what's appropriate for children to read (whatever they're capable of understanding, basically) but I find depiction of violence a lot more disturbing that description, and so wouldn't give comics depicting R18-level violence to a twelve-year-old, whereas I might give them a book that technically rated the same. It feels more...real, in picture rather than prose. Maybe that's a personal quirk, I don't know.
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Hard News: Popular Paranoiac Politics, in reply to nzlemming,
I usually just go with "Atheist. Go away now." It's worked to date. Mind you, my accostings were largely on campus at Canty, and eighteen-year-olds eager to Save The World are a little easier to intimidate than the older, more experienced ones. I do know, though, that you don't want to get into an argument with any of them. It encourages them.
On the other hand, during his Unfortunate Baptist Phase, my husband used to invite them in, get out his Bible, and point out all the bits they were taking out of context. Apparently that worked quite well, too - assuming you have the patience and theological knowledge (and eagerness to counter-convert.)