Gettin' up, fallin' down, gettin' up

Whit Diffie and Susan Landau on internet eavesdropping. This is one article in a full issue of Scientific American on the future of privacy.

A nuanced look at John Edwards's confession, Rousseau, and the American ideals of truth and forgiveness. Even if the string is lost somewhere in the middle of the post, it's worth reading. It made me think of Gary Vaynerchuck's pleas for transparency, which are coupled with, in my mind, the implicit threat of public shame. For, as Warner points out (quoting Joseph Coates), Rousseau's is, ultimately, a "utopian and inherently totalitarian goal."



Kevin Mitnick looks back in Forbes.

Vernor Vinge in the NYTimes.

A conversation with R. Crumb:


Galactic 'spaghetti monster' powered by magnetic fields. Also: "Many species - including birds and salmon - are known to use the Earth's magnetic fields in migration, rather like a natural GPS."

How magnetic fields affect me ("It ain't pretty"):

"Well my heart's runnin' round like a chicken with its head cut off
All around the barn yard falling in and out of love
Poor thing's blind as a bat
Gettin' up, fallin' down, gettin' up
Who'd fall in love with a chicken with its head cut off? "