Your action delayed the destroy the internet Bill!

Update received in my email. See what lateral power to the people can accomplish via the internet? This is just what the corporatocracy cannot stand and want to quash. Keep up the good fight comrades! :


BREAKING NEWS: Because of immense public pressure, the House Judiciary Committee cancelled their vote on the bill that would kill Internet innovation and free speech -- and adjourned for the rest of the year!
Over the last 36 hours, over 97,000 people like you signed our joint petition with reddit against this bill, and thousands more called their representatives. This momentum succeeded in stopping this bill, for now.

Sales data refutes piracy claims

I recently posted on the insidious and speciously named Protect IP Piracy Act. The crux of the claim is that piracy robs sales from the owners of the content. Is that true? Check out this study by Michael D. Smith. (Also see his article here.) An excerpt of the write-up:

"Our results suggest that (1) online 'free' distribution can complement legitimate purchases of media goods, (2) legitimate digital distribution channels can reduce the demand for piracy, and (3) that digital distribution is unlikely to cannibalize sales in physical channels in the short-term"


Recall Bryant noted anecdotally that sales of The Speculative Turn at Amazon went up when the free pdf version of the book was released.

Malad(a)y Greetings

From Cthulhu, patron saint of OOO. Madness and woe to you and your kin.

What the media didn't tell you about arresting Occupy LA

This story is absolutely shocking about how the police arrested the LA protesters. So shocking that I will provide the story in full from one who was arrested. What the flying fuck has the US come to? I'm embarrassed for my country over this.

My Occupy LA Arrest

by Patrick Meighan /  blogspot / December 6, 2011

Quantum OOOrgasm

Once again our IPS OOO discussion returns to the quantum, since the thread kicked off with Morton's interpretations of it in "Here comes everything." Some excerpts:

From this post on nonlocality at Morton's blog, the commenter quoting Morton:

"For example, in relation to nonlocality you say, 'nonlocality. This is definitely metaphorical and not literal, at least as far as we know, since real nonlocality, which is a quantum phenomenon, only occurs (we think) at very small scales.'” 

Morton responded to this commenter in this post. But honestly it sounds like jibberish to me. This is where I prefer Bryant's clear writing style. Morton is so obtuse here under the guise of aesthetic rhetoric that his tropes have no traction, for me.

Lakoff responds to Luntz

In his Huff Post article today he chastises the progressives for once again dumbfoundedly accepting Luntz's framing, not realizing its importance. "It's a trap," he says. If progressives merely frame their agenda as opposite to Luntz's suggestions they maintain the frame. This is a must read for a more effective way to step outside the wrong frame and into the right one. For example:

OOO, Buddhism & penis size

Our IPS discussion has returned to the relation of OOO and Buddhism. Here are a few snippets of that discussion:

Balder:

What is the status of the self in OOO?  Does it lead back to conceptions of an independent, isolated nuclear self?

theurj:

I don't think so. My sense is that an object's autonomy is not devoid of its (inter)dependent origination. And that its withdrawn nature is akin to the emptiness of the self (or any object). Bryant might be more aligned with this interpretation, being Buddhist.

Sachs: 5 steps to fix our economy

Jeffrey Sachs' 11/28/11 Huff Post article is clear and concise on how to fix our broken system.

"First, restore the Glass-Steagall Act's separation of commercial banking and investment banking, and strongly regulate derivatives trading. The financial casino continues to infect the core of the banking system and the real economy.

Lakoff preempts Luntz

I look forward to George Lakoff's response to Luntz's recent comments. However Lakoff has already offered advice to OWS on how to frame itself. From this 10/20/11 AlterNet article:

"It seems to me that the OWS movement is moral in nature, that occupiers want the country to change its moral focus. It is easy to find useful policies; hundreds have been suggested. It is harder to find a moral focus and stick to it. If the movement is to frame itself, it should be on the basis of its moral focus, not a particular agenda or list of policy demands. If the moral focus of America changes, new people will be elected and the policies will follow. 

Frank Luntz scared of OWS

When the chief conservative spin meister is worried about OWS you know the movement is having a significant impact. According to this post Luntz spoke at the Republican Governors Association this week and said he's “scared of this anti-Wall Street effort. I’m frightened to death” and acknowledging that it is “having an impact on what the American people think of capitalism.” He then proceeded to offer advice on how to reframe the message in the hope of neutralizing it, as follows from the linked article. I look forward to Lakoff's re-frame of this frame.

– Don’t Mention Capitalism: Luntz said that his polling research found that “The public…still prefers capitalism to socialism, but they think capitalism is immoral. And if we’re seen as defenders of quote, Wall Street, end quote, we’ve got a problem.”