Assange has been charged

Julian Assange has been charged with crimes (not sure what).

Also, be sure to read this bombshell article from the New York Times about the practices of Facebook.

Thirdly, here's an assignment sheet for the extra credit. I am also still accepting hand-written letters for some extra points.

Lastly, watch both parts (1 & 2) of "The Facebook Dilemma," by FRONTLINE.

American Porn

This documentary is now old, but it's still relevant. It's now an interesting historical document about a moment in our history where this industry could have changed, but didn't. Like I said in class, if you're worried about watching a documentary on this topic, let me know, and I can tell you where get the material elswhere. Here is the documentary.

Things around Watergate

I have a few things following up on today's lecture about Ellsberg and Watergate. First of all, I got a few details wrong about the Harper's article, but you can read it for yourself. Here's what John Ehrlichman told Harper's about the reasons for the war on drugs:

"The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did."

 Second, if you're curious about Bohemian Grove, it's not hard to find out about. Here's what Nixon said on the Whitehouse Tapes in 1971:

"The upper class in San Francisco is that way. The Bohemian Grove, which I attend from time to time — it is the most faggy goddamned thing you could ever imagine, with that San Francisco crowd. I can't shake hands with anybody from San Francisco. Decorators. They got to do something. But we don't have to glorify it. You know one of the reasons fashions have made women look so terrible is because the goddamned designers hate women."

Last, there's a documentary about Ellsberg called The Most Dangerous Man in America. I'm not sure if it's on Netflix or somewhere else, but if you can find it, it's worth a watch.

Magic

If you're still not convinced that the technology that shapes and creates and constitutes your world is "magical"--meaning, breaking the discernible link between causes and effects--then I'll keep trying to convince you.

Today in class, we talked about Harry Potter, and my hypothesis that what made the books so stunningly successful was that the world of Hogwarts, and its particular magic, resonates so deeply with our lived experience in the early 21st century. In fact, the magic of Harry's world is often quaint or clunky by our standards.

One of the examples of Hogwarts' magic that was mentioned in class was "mind control." For comparison, check out this headline from today's New Scientist magazine, and then see if you agree that our devices are reshaping the world in ways we experience as magical.

The Mother of All Demos

Here's the now-famous demo of computer equipment that Douglas Engelbart gave in 1968. First computer mouse, first video conference, first hyperlinks, etc. You do not need to watch the whole thing.

"Printing Press" and moveable type

Since we're talking about books and printing, watch this good documentary about Gutenberg and his machine.

Pictograms