The New Promulgation (Snippet of the Moment)

Earlier on Twitter I wrote that Lawrence Lessig was the coolest lawyer / code man. I am currently reading his Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace. Published in 1999, the book is somewhat dated (especially since we're talking about the Web here), but I still think Code is hip.

Code is hip because we're talking about the new promulgation. Legislatures promulgate rules. These rules become the code that regulates our conduct and behavior. But another group of folks promulgate rules: software developers. These folks promulgate in the form of HTML and a variety of other languages.

In his chapter on regulating code, Lawrence writes:

"Congress passes an endless array of statutes that say in words how to behave. Some statutes direct people; others direct companies; some direct bureaucrats. The technique is as old as government itself: using commands to control."

Software developers create their own commands. These commands, in turn, control "killer apps" like micro-blogging tool Twitter, allowing journalists (or anyone else) to send realtime tweets on the political debate from inside town hall. That's just one example of what Twitter can do. And Twitter, like other like-minded programs, is a product of the new promulgation.

I love an un-regulated Web. It's good to see the average citizen make some rules.

Grainy McCain (Snippet of the Moment)

Friends!

Ever notice how television insists on portraying Senator McCain as some kind of ghost in the screen? As if suddenly everything went from digital to analog again; the image just isn't quite as clear. The effect makes you think that the footage is from some bygone era, irrelevant and old. This is, however, conjecture. Who knows?

I will, of course, draw an analogy to words. Behold, Michael Crichton of thriller-book fame in State of Fear:

"...there was no scientific basis for eugenics. In fact, nobody at that time knew what a gene really was. The movement was able to proceed because it employed vague terms never rigorously defined. 'Feeble-mindedness' could mean anything from poverty and illiteracy to epilepsy. Similarly, there was no clear definition of 'degenerate' or 'unfit'. Vague terminology helped conceal what was really going on."

What was really going on was genocide in the name of progress. According to Wikipedia, eugenics is a social philosophy. A smarter, healthier, less-suffering human race is its fundamental goal. But if what Mr. Crichton says is true, then it's quite important to wake up when you come across impotent words like "feeble-mindedness" and "unfit" - or a television network's subtle use of poor imagery.

Wax Moon Garden (Snippet of the Moment)

This first snippet is a relevant one for a blog that is, ostensibly, on words. From the pen of Ray Bradbury in his 1953 book Fahrenheit 451:

"So now do you see why books are hated and feared? They show the pores in the face of life. The comfortable people want only wax moon faces, poreless, hairless, expressionless. We are living in a time when flowers are trying to live on flowers, instead of growing on good rain and black loam."

Until a few days ago our vegetable garden was struggling to survive the onslaught of bunny rabbits. My wife and I put up an imposing wire fence and electrified it. (I'm kidding about the electrified part.) Our wax moon garden is much more comfortable now.