Thursday, July 14, 2011

Did you know...

...that one of the four bills comprising the Alien and Sedition Acts is still in effect to this very day?!? I was rather surprised to hear that, myself, considering that, y'know, it was widely hated and largely dismissed as unconstitutional in 1800! Hell, even the Vice President at that time, an obscure guy named Thomas-friggin-Jefferson, said it was bullshit!

In case you're not familiar, the Alien and Sedition Acts gave the President, John Adams, the following rights, generally speaking:

  1. "Naturalization" time (how long an immigrant has to live in the U.S. before they can become a citizen) was increased from five years to 14 years. (--the Naturalization Act)
  2. The Prez could deport any alien considered "dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States". (--the Alien Act)
  3. The Prez could apprehend and deport any alien that is from a country which is at war with the U.S. (--the Alien Enemies Act)
  4. And, my personal favorite, it became a criminal offense to publish "false, scandalous, and malicious writing" against the federal government or its officials (Gee... I wonder which officials they were talking about...?). (--the Sedition Act)
The funniest thing (only funny thing?) about that last one, the Sedition Act, is that it had a specified term and was set to expire one day before the end of President Adams' term! How's that for coincidence?!?

Apparently, those laws caused some pretty bad times here in the Home of the Free. Adams had the Supreme Court in his pocket, along with all the politicians that we'd call "right wing" nowadays, and they strutted around Washington locking up anybody that didn't kiss up to them. Hell, Benjamin Franklin's grandson, a newspaper publisher, even died while "awaiting trial" for violating the Sedition Act (he didn't think very highly of Adams, it seems...).

One dude, Luther Baldwin, made a crack on Adams, a verbal crack on him, and ended up before the friggin' Supreme Court!  He was subsequently fined $100 (that's, what, enough money to buy a small island in 1790's money???), but it got worse. 

Another guy, David Brown, got some people together to help him set up a "liberty pole" (whatever the hell that is...) with some protest slogans on it, namely "peace and retirement to the President; Long Live the Vice President". Guess what he got? They fined him $4000 (HOLY S**T!!!), which he could not pay because he wasn't a friggin' tycoon, so they put him on trial. (I guess that, in those days, the option to buy your way out of trouble was much more open and accepted...) When he refused to identify those that had helped him, the judge fined him $480 and locked him up for 18 months. Take that constitutional rights!!!

Oh, and did I mention that only the criticisms of one political party, Adams' political party, were prosecuted?!? Funny that - they just ignored the trash-talking about officials from other parties.

I almost forgot to reveal which one is still in effect. Care to guess? ... Time's over - it's the Alien Enemies Act! You remember that whole "putting the Japanese in shitty prison camps" thing we did during World War II? Yeah, you can thank this one for that. You're welcome!

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Interview: Google's F/OSS Boss

Some German tech site posted the transcription of an interview they did with one Chris DiBona, the Free/Open-Source Software boss at a little boutique tech shop called "Google" (perhaps you've heard of them...?). I found it to be pretty interesting, overall. It's not one of those "Micro$oft suxor - FreeBSD rulez!!!!1!" shit-slinging monkeyfests, which is a relief. Rather, it's an informative discussion about the tech and tools they use inside Google (including closed-source), as well as their approach to F/OSS licensing, contributions, etc, and how they came to adopt such an approach.

It's not Earth-shattering, it's not revolutionary, but it's a good read and that's enough. Feed the computer in your head - read it!!!

Google: "Android is the Linux desktop dream come true" - Suchmaschinen - derStandard.at › Web

(Did I mention that it's in English? Thought that was nice of them...)

Monday, July 11, 2011

Technology And Moral Panic

OK, call me lazy. Go ahead, really - say it out loud (so that your cube-mates question your fragile grip on reality) - "You are sooooooooooo friggin' lazy, James!" Why? Well, instead of expending the neural electricity to "think" or "write something", I'm just going to post a link to something someone else wrote. An Interweb version of "re-gifting", if you will...

Women And Children First: Technology And Moral Panic - Tech Europe - WSJ

But seriously, that right there is a really nice, short little op-ed eye-opener. Feed the computer in your head - read it!!!

Obligatory favorite quote:
There was some wonderful stuff about [railway trains] too in the U.S., that women’s bodies were not designed to go at 50 miles an hour. Our uteruses would fly out of our bodies as they were accelerated to that speed.
Thank you, WSJ!!! Articles about flying uterii are always welcome here!

Wednesday, July 6, 2011