Estd. 2002. Politics, tech, startups, media, law, history, philosophy
As I was blogging yesterday, I went to see a redoing of an ancient tragedy. I have re-read it now, and I am struck by many of the passages in it, especially those of Creon. I will quote some of his speeches over the next few days hopefully- from the Penguin Classics translation.
No other touchstone can test the heart of a man,
The temper of his mind and spirit, till he be tried
In the practice of authority and rule.
Fellow Irish blogger Karlin has bought a new Apple powerbook. Since I have been considering a portable computer, and I have read a couple of reviews lately of Apple’s iBooks, I am now increasingly tempted to ‘switch’ to Apple. Hmm. What to do. I think I will leave it a while, but Apple is definately becoming more attractive. I was looking at Apples Irish store today, the prices are certainly reasonable. I just hesitate for some reason.
CNET is asking the question, is Google changing? With the acquistion of Pyra, increased selling of ads, it asks if Google is changing for the better or worse.
I have also been following much interest in relation to the privacy of Google searches. I am concerned with the cookies Google is using on my computer, it makes me feel like I should be clearing out my cookies after every session.
‘3’ has opened a shop on Londons Oxford Street. What does it sell? 3G phones. Yes they are here, and over the next year we might be using 3G (UMTS) networks without even realising it. There is a fairly comprehensive here, on the Herald Tribune. I read a similar article to it in the Economist.
Ian Black writes an amusing piece as usual in his Inside Europe article. The now long running issue of whether to put a god, or the God, in the European constitution is the subject of his article this week. Of couse, as he says, the ‘F’ stands for Federal, and no that other word as some of you out there may think. God or gods should not be put in any constitution. Europe should not even be writing a constitution nevermind having one to put God into in the first place.
Naomi Klein is now imploring peace activists to take action – civil disobediance. Klein is always a good read, I look forward to her articles in the Guardian.
In this weeks piece she talks about the “voila moment” – the point at which Iraqi people turn against their leader. She is sceptical that the propaganda being used by the US will work, in order to achieve this moment. But her is her suggestion to all of us:
The civil disobedience the US military is hoping to provoke in Iraq is exactly the sort of thing the anti-war movement needs to inspire in our countries if we are really going to stop, or at least curtail, the pending devastation in Iraq. What would it take for large numbers of people in the US, the UK, Italy, Canada – and any other country assisting the war effort – truly to break with our leaders and refuse to comply? Can we create thousands of Voila Moments back home?
She goes on to say that the marches must continue, every weekend, that once war starts people should call sick for work, not watch CNN and not buy anything. This sort of activism is refreshing in a society that seems to apathetic towards politics.