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Here’s a photo I took on my Minolta SLR manual camera. 400ISO film.
Paris in the winter, just next to Hôtel de Ville there’s a big ice-skating rink.
on media, ads and other things
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Two images from the recent French reform protests that I witnessed in Dijon, France.
The protest was surprisingly upbeat and lively, even with the dystopian red flares, plumes of white smoke and the occasional small explosion. A massive crowd of thousands walked all throughout the streets, controlled by only one policeman on a motorbike up front – however this time there was no violence and the protest was a success (apart from the eventual passing of the reform).
For me this was incredible, and in stark contrast to the depiction of violence and riots that seem to have been attributed to all of France’s protesting. This freedom to have such a widespread demonstration is something alien to my upbringing in complacent Australia.
I’ll be writing and posting up story on this experience soon.
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The recent snow in Paris from my apartment window in Montmartre, early in the morning. I’d like to add that at the moment here there’s sun and temperatures of 12°C, so I have no idea what’s going on.
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_Why, the Disappearing Hacker & the Fight Against Boredom
Here’s a link to an article by cult Ruby programming icon, known only by the alias _why the lucky stiff.
The article’s brilliant, and deals with a few prominent problems in the closed nature of technology in this age: it’s all polished and tightly regulated. Sometimes that’s a good thing, but how do you mess around with it where it doesn’t want you to see?
If you had an old car and it broke down you could fish for a new part for it and hack it on with some screws, but what do you do with your new Mazda? Probably nothing, you can’t even see the engine if you open the bonnet. The metaphor applies to just about anything technology related now, apart from the counter-movement of open source.
It’s a problem relating to a lack of ability - or more a lack of want - for people growing up in this era to find out how things work, and change them to how they want them. To quote _why, programming is nothing scary or complicated; when you get down to it, “it’s just a game”.
For those interested to read more, unfortunately _why is very mysterious and removed everything off the internet in 2009 and essentially disappeared. We may never know the reason, but here are a few of his other works that have been archived (particularly notable is “_Why’s (Poignant) Guide to Ruby”:
