Monthly Archives: August 2013

Groklaw is shutting down

This is a big deal.

http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20130818120421175

As the people behind Silent Circle have said, there is currently no technical solution for the exposure of metadata in email; current encryption mechanisms only apply to the body of the message.

So, currently, using email means we all have to put up with this creepy feeling that the operator of Groklaw refers to.

The Music For His Funeral

Or “I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night”, by Tom Churchill. A new play by Tom, one weekend run just finished. I was honored to play the Piano Player.

The show was littered with old IWW “wobbly” songs from “The Little Red Songbook“, in print since the beginning of last century. Lots of seditious lyrics set to old hymns and folk tunes that everyone knows, so you don’t have to teach ’em the tune. We got the audience singing before the show. There was lots of mid-century “modern” film-y underscoring, too, right up my alley, improvised throughout the show.

The play’s about the persecution of suspected Communists in the late 40’s, made personal in the story of someone who used to live on Whidbey. Turns out this stuff was local, too.

The whole thing felt intensely topical. Songs about people claiming back power after being laid off for an age and tossed away as disposable. Banding together to take on the establishment. Got me revved up; the words and the ideas are energizing, and relevant.

Tom writes good stuff. I’ll do whatever he asks. He video’d one of the performances; let’s see if he’ll put it online with a Creative Commons license or something.

Little Brother

Just finished “Little Brother” by Cory Doctorow. One of those cant-put-it-down kind of things that keep you up til 2AM. I appreciate the Creative Commons release mechanism, with the support of his publishers and his reciprocal support for not undercutting them. It’s the right model for putting out digital stuff. He asks that, if you’re motivated to donate, you buy a physical copy for your local library. Yay! But Sno-Isle is enlightened, they already have his stuff.

Go download if you haven’t already.