Knowledge and Security and Openness

My pal Saudade floated this to me the other day: an article by Matthew B. Stannard on Wardriving in SF Gate.

What I really liked about the article was the emphasis on correct levels of network security. As an example, if you are a using a home network with little information-of-interest on it, there is no real need for a 16 hex password. If you are a bank--well then you better have a full-time team of security professionals online and ready.

That said, the librarian-hat goes on. And what does said hat look like? Well, it's different for each librarian, invisible, and can only be recognized by others with similar hats; anyhoo: there is a lot to be said for keeping as many networks open as possible. If you have secure info, store it in an external and hermetically selaed hard drive, or better yet: don't keep sensitive info on your network.

But here is the tension: we all want freedom of information (information wants to be free, right?), but at the same time we want safety. So which to choose because true freedom is not always safe, and true security rarely includes very much freedom. Maybe we should look to the Tao te Ching:

9
Fill your bowl to the brim
and it will spill.
Keep sharpening your knife
and it will blunt.
Chase after money and security
and your heart will never unclench.
Care about people's approval
and you will be their prisoner.
Do your work, then step back.
The only path to serenity.


But back to the Stannard article; Check this out:

"I got like 135 (access points) off the freeway on my way up here from Santa Cruz," said Seric, as he adjusted his equipment - laptop, Wi-Fi antenna, GPS antenna - in the parking lot of Stanford Shopping Center.

After a five-hour cruise around the Bay Area - including residential and downtown sections of Palo Alto, San Francisco and Oakland before returning to Palo Alto across the Dumbarton Bridge - Seric's list included more than 2,600 individual networks, spotted at businesses, in homes, on campuses and within moving buses.

Open networks appeared every block or so, beaming from homes in West Oakland and near the Hewlett-Packard garage in Palo Alto, from Stanford University to Oakland's Federal Building and San Francisco's City Hall, along freeways, on tree-lined streets and in dusty industrial parks.

Wow!

Sloppy ninja comes up with clever excuse...

A New Jersey school was shut down due to a ninja being spotted as he dashed through the wooded area surrounding the elementary school. I only hope that this was a school for the gifted, like Charles Xavier's, or, and this is more likely I suppose, a school filled with Jersey Devils masquerading as children--anything else and this not-so-sneaky *sigh* ninja should hang his head in shame and commit seppuku.

Read more about this here: http://tinyurl.com/6px2y4

Mahmud Darwish

Saw this today on David's blog: Mahmud Darwish died yesterday.

I met him once in San Francisco. He was quiet, wry, and patient (I was pretty much the opposite) and I enjoyed his reading and conversation.

You can read one of his poems here: http://www.webdelsol.com/Perihelion/darwish.htm

New issue of the Scrambler is fresh off the press!

Jeremy Spencer, the publisher of Rarer and More Wonderful, just published the newest issue of the Scrambler--with a brand new layout (which is lookin' sharp). I very much recommend that y'all take a look and read Donald Illich's two poems--they're brilliant! "We drink plastic from plastic cups."

Torture, Music, Copyright, and David Gray

Saw this article posted on Saudade's blog, and thought it worth re-posting here:

http://music.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2289778,00.html

I do have large issues with current copyright law (c'mon the DMCA? lame!). But should artists get royalties if their music is being used as a form of torture? I suppose that they should by American copyright law's standards, but I wonder if Mr. Grey will choose to pursue this...

Here I must quote saudade as I love puns; I, too, "want to see how this plays out."

Poetry at Studio One!

Reading at Noah and Sara's in Denver

So the last week, pretty much, I spent in Denver, Colorado (thank you Eric for the kind use of your apartment!) where A. and I visited with the Baus, learned to really drink water, and how to ignore cars successfully when crossing streets. Denver is a weird sort of town--as Eric put it, "it has little friction." That said, Denver has a lot going for it: some delicious vegetarian restaurants, lots of parks, a museum (and, in 2010, Denver will have the only Clyfford Still Museum), an absolutely gorgeous public library and, best of all, a dynamic and friendly creative-community. Case in point: Noah Eli Gordon's and Sara Veglahn's salon/reading/dance party hosted in their home. I was lucky to have this terrific opportunity to read with and listen to some really super writers: Barbara Barg, Bhanu Kapil, Bin Ramke, and Danielle Pafunda.

Bhanu's writing was lyrical, intimate; documenting the intersections of race, gender, and passive xenophobia with candor, music, and depth.

Bin's writing was elegantly structured, concerned with etymology and its tie to experience.

Danielle's poems explored animals that have evolved in tandem with man. Each piece evoked its title with surprising and sharp associations.

Barbara read and sang her work: witty-jazzy, a little sad, angry, political, and very smart.

Of course, this doesn't really capture the reading, but luckily Eric did: keep an eye on PennSound as the reading should be posted soonish.

And of course, thank you Noah and Sara for hosting such a terrific soiree! Thank you for the books, the food, and (best of all) the company!