Today is my last full day in Hawaii.
Sadly… I didn’t bring my camera - but trust me, it’s beautiful.
I’ve been here for a week teaching a Digital Media class for the wonderful teachers of Sacred Hearts School.
Despite some technical issues, I think we had a good time and everyone got some hands on experience with the camera, editing video, etc.
Special Thanks to Principal Susan Hendricks for making this possible!
Tomorrow I’m flying to California where I’ll stay for about a week before returning to New York.
2600 Magazine (The Hacker Quarterly) is holding “The Last H.O.P.E” (Hackers on Planet Earth) on July 18-20, 2008 in NYC.
2600 Magazine was first published in 1984 and has been holding H.O.P.E. gatherings at Hotel Pennsylvania in NYC since 1994. With news that the Hotel will be demolished this is the LAST HOPE.
Besides the many great presentations, there will be a Digital Music Night organized by Create Digital Music / Create Digital Motion featuring a number of innovative musical and visual performers.
I will be creating visuals using handheld game consoles with my own software which can be “played” with the joysticks, dpads, buttons, etc. These actions map to variables in equations and by changing them various patterns arise.
The Digital Music Night happens from 11 PM - 2 AM on Friday, July 18th. You can find out more about the performers at this post on the Create Digital Music site.
All the info:
This will be another unpopular post (maybe it’s the heat?).
Every time that there is a presidential election, the same thing happens… my good and well meaning friends ask me to PLEASE support the Democratic Party candidate. Each time they tell me “It is REALLY important this year! Don’t throw away your vote again Paris!”
I then explain, one by one why I will not. So this time, I’ll post it here.
You are asking me to vote out of fear. Fear that a Republican will win. Philosophically, I can’t go there. Every year I vote for the Green Party candidates and will continue to do so in 2008. Yes, I know that they will not win but that is not the point. I do it because
- This is how change happens… every year a few more people will vote Green and someday I hope that the US will be more than a two party system.
- Real change will not happen with any candidate of the two major parties, no matter how good his or her intentions are. These two parties are huge entities with lots of baggage and obligations to those who support them. We are talking about a huge amount of money - and no candidate can throw out the interests of those who are writing checks and supporting the party. Even if the candidate him or herself does not accept campaign money from major corporations or others who aim to buy influence, the party does and has for years and being the candidate of the party means following the rules. Perhaps this is part of the reason that Dennis Kucinich was uninvited from the Democratic presidential debates.
So… I agree it is really important this year.
We are wrongly in a war in Iraq (actually the whole War on Terrorism is a sham - an excuse to make more money for some of the already wealthiest individuals in the US).
We are not doing enough to quickly address Environmental issues.
Our citizens need health care.
And the list goes on.
Someone will say… why are you expressing political views? Aren’t you a programmer? Shouldn’t you keep such things private?
Perhaps it is not very professional to express political thoughts but my frustration with things as they are has driven me to this. Besides, I think that I’m in very good company in doing so.
For more info on the Green Party, please see check out the Green Party Website.
Just received news that the Tank is losing it’s lease!
All info is here.
Digg is here.
The Tank is one of the last venues in Manhattan for alternative media (music, theater, film, etc) - please do what you can to support them!
Dear Friends,
Some people will think I’m stupid or just way too far in left field by posting this but it’s time to explain…
Many people have sent me links to their MySpace page or asked about mine.
Here’s the deal:
1. I took my MySpace page down years ago
2. I don’t want to look at your site if it’s on MySpace
Harsh, stupid, grumpy?
Save it - I’ve been called much worse!
What’s wrong with MySpace you might ask?
I mean it’s “free” isn’t it?
You can post your music, meet people, etc.
As the good folks at GNU and FSF would say - it is “free” as in “free beer!” but not as in “free speech”. Let me explain…
MySpace is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp (acquired in 2005).
If you aren’t familiar with News Corp they are the ones who bring you the constant steam of disinformation known as FOX News among others. News Corp owns hundres of newspapers, magazines and other media and uses them to spread lies, encourage war (well documented in the case of the Iraq War) and is known for censorship - yes, even on MySpace (search the net for articles).
Every time someone comes to your MySpace page, they are not only subjected to the horrible design and usability issues of the site but as a bonus - commercial banners are there adding the the revenue of News Corp so that they can continue spreading of lies which help to form opinions that lead to war, destruction and death and meanwhile they make a profit, and more money goes to Murdoch’s bank account.
I could go on and on but I’ll spare you and let you do the research if you are interested.
By the way, I don’t expect anyone who is currently using MySpace to stop because of this post. I just wanted to let people know where I’m coming from - and it’s not like I can refer them to my MySpace page 
