14 Matching Annotations
  1. Dec 2023
  2. Aug 2023
    1. “Government is not the solution to our problem; government is theproblem.” So declared Ronald Reagan as he launched hisadministration in January 1981,

      Was this the end of government by the people? Government by the corporations had been building up for a long time, and this may have been the fulcrum at which things changed.

      Something ironic in a president saying this about the institution which he's running. Almost too meta. And naturally could be said about his own way of running the government.

    1. At the same time, our whole sense of community has been lost as the requirement of modern societies rely on us living in anonymous neighbourhoods with people we don’t know or share much of anything in common. Who are these representatives presuming to represent anymore anyway?
  3. Jan 2023
    1. Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve, "Brief Mention," American Journal of Philology 20.1 (1899) 108-113 (at 108): With all our advance in scientific astronomy, the average modern man is not so familiar with the sky as was his antique brother, and some of the blunders in modern works of fiction that are scored from time to time in scientific journals would hardly have been possible for a ploughman of antiquity, not to say a sailor. The world needs every now and then a reminder that the modern head holds different things from the ancient brain-pan, not necessarily more.

      How painfully true this may have been in 1899, it's now much worse in 2023!


      Specialization of knowledge tends to fit the lifeways of the people who hold and maintain it. Changing lifeways means one must lose one or more domains and begin using or curating different domains of knowledge.

      In a global world of specialization, humans who specialize are forced to rely more heavily on the experience and veracity of those around them who have also specialized. One may be able to have a Ph.D. in astrophysics, but their knowledge of the state of the art in anthropology or economic policy may be therefore utterly undeveloped. As a result they will need to rely on the knowledge and help of others in maintaining those domains.

      This knowledge specialization means that politicians will need to be more open about what they think and say, yet instead politicians seem to be some of the least knowledge about almost anything.

      This is just the start of a somewhat well-formed thesis I've developed elsewhere, but not previously written out... more to come...

  4. Jul 2022
    1. In searching for a configuration of intelligences in the world that would make possible for humansto govern, we want the exemplar human agents X, Y and Z to be able to impact the socio-econo-politicalsystem rather than be steered and moulded by it.

      !- in other words : This would be true individual DIRECT governance agency, rather than INDIRECT and ineffective representational agency.

  5. Jun 2021
    1. This style of testing is used to exercise one piece of code with a comprehensive range of inputs. By specifying the test case once, alongside a table of inputs and the expected output for each, your tests can be made easier to read and more compact.
  6. May 2021
  7. Apr 2021
  8. Feb 2021
    1. (b)(1) A representative form of annual or special meeting is a meeting of members elected by district to exercise the powers vested in the voters of the town to act upon articles. However, the election of officers, public questions, and all articles to be voted upon by Australian ballot as required by law or as voted under section 2680 of this title at a prior annual or special meeting, and reconsideration of articles under section 2661 of this title shall remain vested in the voters of the town. (2) An organizational resolution to adopt a representative form of annual or special meeting may be made by the legislative body of the municipality or by petition of five percent of the voters of the municipality. An official copy of the organizational resolution shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the municipality at least 10 days before the annual or special meeting at which the vote whether to adopt the organizational resolution shall take place, and copies thereof shall be made available to members of the public upon request.

      Town Representative Form of Local Gov't. Only Brattleboro has this.

  9. Aug 2020
    1. More information about limitations and exceptions to copyright

      Under more information about limitations and exceptions to copyright add section titled Case Studies: Case studies provide valuable information relating to the state of affairs in various countries, as well as the opposing views when debating copyright issues.

      • South Africa: a case study of politics and the global economics of limitations and exceptions to copyright. The current debate in South Africa regarding proposed amendments to the Copyright Bill allows showcases the different sides of the debate, and how legal frameworks, e.g. the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa also informs decision making.
      1. US Government Threatening To Kill Free Trade With South Africa After Hollywood Complained It Was Adopting American Fair Use Principles, by Mike Masnick, 4 November 2019.
      2. South Africa’s Copyright Amendment Bill – one year on, by Denise Nicholson, 30 March 2020. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
      3. South Africa’s Copyright Amendment Bill Returned to Parliament for Further Consideration, Mike Palmedo, 22 June 2020. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
      4. See the light and pass the Copyright Amendment Bill, by Mugwena Maluleke, Tebogo Sithathu, Jack Devnarain, Tusi Fokane, Ben Cashdan and Jace Nair, 24 June 2020. © Mail & Guardian Online.
      5. South African President’s Reservations to Copyright Bill Not Supported by Law, by Sean Flynn, 13 July 2020. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

      For a comprehensive list of materials relating to the South African Copyright Amendment Bill processes, see Copyright and Related Issues: USTR GSP trade threats re: Bill, list compiled and amended by Denis Nicholson

  10. Jun 2020
  11. Apr 2020
  12. Mar 2019
    1. Training Older Adults To Use New Technology

      This article, published in the Journals of Gerontology, discusses a study that focused on teaching older adults to use technology. This is often discussed in a practical sense, with many how-to's. This article, however, discusses the theory behind gerontological learning. Older adults don't generally learn the same way younger adults do. Therefore, it is important to provide them with practice that shows tasks have continuity, to ensure the important task components are focused on strongly, and to consider whether the learning goals are appropriate for the learner. Representative design is addressed here. This is the first time I've heard of representative design. I teach many people over the age of 60 to use technology, so it is important for me to know the theory that will help them learn best. Interestingly,this article mentioned that performance should be assessed based on a comparison of the older adult's environment. I wish I could use that more in my work, but it's a young person's world now. 9/10

  13. Apr 2016
    1. true liberal democracy

      A “well-informed citizenry” require journalistic assistance. Which is why US elections are such a neat context to discuss literacy, public opinion, agency, representativeness, and populism.