Diesel Civil Trust

A truism perhaps, but before resorting to brute force and open repression to halt the “barbarians at the gates,” that would be us, the masters of declining empires (and the chattering classes who polish their boots) regale us with tales of “democracy on the march,” “hope” and other banalities before the mailed fist comes crashing down.

Twice or Thrice a Week Private Vehicle Use

smartercities:

It would be nice if there would be some sort of digital technology that would be installed into cars and allow them to only run thrice or twice a week. Of course when you park, its gps system would then see if your car is at its “base” or to the usual place where you park your car. And it’ll continue to run if it is not in the proper place.

Of course there should be a law that nobody could park overnight at a different place and could only be done if a certain service is called on the car’s internal telephone and giving the reasons to the call operator. And there should be a week’s limit of doing so or the operator should be contacted again after one week or then it shall be charged to your car’s limit and you cannot move your car until the next week.

A lot of laws could be proposed as of this. Some gadgets could be installed in cars that would signal if the car’s device is really working and the main service company that controls the cars would really notice if the car is not in sync with the database anymore and the cops would be sent. The method of the Singaporeans of having a long car registry could also be applied.

vaughnshirley:

Via “100 Must-Read Books: The Essential Man’s Library”, The Art of Manliness:
1984
If you are already worried about the information that your computer is collecting from you, re-read this one and you will feel much better! Or, perhaps, you will throw your computer in a river. This is the classic text for the will of the individual to maintain his privacy and free will, and how easy it is at the end of it all to just try to blend in and go with the flow to avoid making things even worse by speaking out.
“But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.”
[Ed. note: I had become aware of some intelligence collection devices/capabilities/programs that are essentially semi-public knowledge or lie in that grey area between what is known as the “black world” and the unclassified “white world,” growing up. And it really reinforced 1984’s paranoia, in ways indescribable. I think, to this day, that things that I’ve typed over the years looking for reportage and GAO documents on such programs into my Google window have developed a specific profile of me on some server with some outfit, especially post-9/11. One such program: Echelon.]

vaughnshirley:

Via “100 Must-Read Books: The Essential Man’s Library”, The Art of Manliness:

1984

If you are already worried about the information that your computer is collecting from you, re-read this one and you will feel much better! Or, perhaps, you will throw your computer in a river. This is the classic text for the will of the individual to maintain his privacy and free will, and how easy it is at the end of it all to just try to blend in and go with the flow to avoid making things even worse by speaking out.

“But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.”

[Ed. note: I had become aware of some intelligence collection devices/capabilities/programs that are essentially semi-public knowledge or lie in that grey area between what is known as the “black world” and the unclassified “white world,” growing up. And it really reinforced 1984’s paranoia, in ways indescribable. I think, to this day, that things that I’ve typed over the years looking for reportage and GAO documents on such programs into my Google window have developed a specific profile of me on some server with some outfit, especially post-9/11. One such program: Echelon.]

thedailywhat:

Reimagination of the Day: Graphic designer Alex Charchar, bored with the existing stock of cover art for George Orwell’s 1984, decided to design a facade for the book that made use of its content in a strikingly inventive way: “A cover as if it were made by those in the novel.”
Charchar explains the cover’s significant in depth here, but note that his essay contains a few big spoilers.
[via.]

thedailywhat:

Reimagination of the Day: Graphic designer Alex Charchar, bored with the existing stock of cover art for George Orwell’s 1984, decided to design a facade for the book that made use of its content in a strikingly inventive way: “A cover as if it were made by those in the novel.”

Charchar explains the cover’s significant in depth here, but note that his essay contains a few big spoilers.

[via.]

Years ago, there’s no way we could do this. It brings to mind Big Brother, George Orwell and ‘1984.’ It’s just funny how Americans have softened on these issues.

Keith Sadler, the police chief of Lancaster, Pa, discussing the “165 closed-circuit TV cameras” that “soon will provide live, round-the-clock scrutiny of nearly every street, park and other public space” in the town.

I’d agree with the sentiment if we replaced “funny” with “sad.”

(via jeffmiller)

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