thinking

Drupal's filter system is a pretty nifty thing- you can grab text coming through the system and modify it to your hearts content. This makes for great things like replacing various kinds of tokens, automatically making URLs link, and so on. I've been looking at the wordfilter module to check for "bad words" coming through the text.

One of the things that this module lacks is logging of the users who are using "bad words". Being able to track usage by user creates the possibility of creating specific kinds of actions around the user- settings various flags, demoting permissions, alerting admin, etc.

It has been widely reported that Obama's cabinet choices reflect a pragmatic centrism designed to gather support and legitimacy while creating a team who can adequately address wars and the downward spiraling economy. Obama himself was overheard on his plane suggesting that "[he does not] want us to go lurching so far in one direction" - a clear indication that he is trying to avoid being classified as solely a liberal politician. It seems a sensible move- particularly when the situation in American politics is so dire.

Reposting from Riseup the call to action against Data Retention.

Montpelier VT, USA

Activists hung a 20-foot banner across the main street in of the capitol city of Vermont and handed out informational flyers and talked to passersby.

The banner stated: "VIVA The People's Assembly of Oaxaca, Mexico. Self-determination, not State Repression"

It's unfortunate that rape continues to be placed with in a heteronormative and essentialized gender framework. The claim that "only men can stop rape" renders invisible not only victims of rape where that socially identifiable category of woman doesn't apply to, obvious allies who are concerned about the perpetration of rape, and of course avoids any kind of institutional questions.

Many people are realizing how crucial it is to shift the focus of rape and sexism prevention/awareness from women and onto men.

It was only a matter of time until viruses writers and phishers started to exploit social networking sites. Here's a little gem that just landed in my inbox:

Is it somewhat ironic that it features the plane crash from Lost? Here are some of the headers form the email:


Subject: Video em Destaque
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1
From: noreply@youtube.org

Two videos from Univision were posted on youtube showing the attacks against the anti-minutemen protesters. You can read the statement from Colombia's president which basically tries to cover the university's position under the banner of free speech.

This is my proposed talk for Renewing the Anarchist Tradition

The Promise and Peril of the "Political"

McAllister's attack on the FSF is both poorly thought and largely crying foul against an organization that is publicly objecting to market practices- one of the few to do so consistently and with an eye to the actual implications that technology and state intervention in technology can have.

While pointing out that the defectivebydesign.org caries some hyperbole, McAllister goes down the opposite road to argue an ill-informed libertarian perspective:

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After watching this interview, I have to say that I'm surprised that the differentiation that Hosler is drawing out is based on free vs. paid speech. He essentially makes the case for free use of any material with the exception of advertising which ultimately looks rather like a liberal version of free speech. I'm pretty sure that this distinction is actually artificial- where does the line between advertisement and non-advertisement begin and end?