So, the thing is – if you find yourself hiding, sitting behind the dumpster down the alley while there is a sniper sitting on the roof across the street waiting to nail you, you’ll wish the secretary bought the right cigarettes. She didn’t.
I am currently working on a story. I am not really sure how long it is going to be or where it is going to take me, but here’s an excerpt:
Piero waved his .38 at Smokey.
— Give it up, Smokey. There’s no way you’re getting outta this, so just cut that shit out!
— You give it up, Belacci, came a voice from the alley, — I’ve got you covered.
— You see, said Smokey, — Thing is, I’ve got my old man riding shotgun.
— You’ve gotta be fuckin’ kiddin’ me, Piero said.
A large, bearded man stepped from the shadows by the back entrance to the bar.
— Nope, he said, Even brought the damn dog. Name’s Blue. And the bit about riding shotgun… that aint no fucking metaphor.
He lifted the double-barrelled, sawed-off no-bullshit shotgun resting on his shoulder.
— So you see, you wanna put your hands somewhere pretty fucking far from that piece of yours. That’s the thing about not being too much of a shot. The trick is to find a piece that spits out lead enough to ventilate pretty much everything the way you’re pointing.
I am sure that these few lines will send a signal about where this story is going…
This page is frequently being spammed by evildoers.
And usually, the messages, intended to sell performance-enhancing drugs or low-interest mortgages or to initiate encounters of a sexual nature – or at least images and videos of such a thing – well, these auto-generated messages are simply a cacaphony, a revelation from the Excremeditation chamber, as Rev.Dr. Stang of the Church of the Subgenius calls it.
But this time, there was a curious one. The author’s name was listed as Viagra, which leads me to believe it is a spam comment, even if it would have been an innovative user name. But the comment was just one line:
Of course, she didn’t have any clothes on.
And I really thought that had some poetry to it. From an endless line of phrases, autogenerating semi-coherent text, this line comes out. It is beautiful – especially considering that hard-boiled, emotionally detached, crude and unpleasant source.
As the patrons of this literary speakeasy know, the Podiobooks site has long been a favorite source of audiobooks. Interestingly, this site has recently been mentioned along with a rising media interest in the transition of the publishing industry.
One of the icons of the site is the sci-fi/thriller author Scott Sigler. Sigler was having problems getting published and turned to the approach, which used to be a sure-fire way of never being taken seriously: Self-publication. He recorded his novel Earthcore and released it as a series of episodes (a format, which, later on, Evo Terra named the podiobook). Other authors pursued this format and created Podiobook versions of the printed works, which had a stimulating effect on the community building around the authors. Scott Sigler has pioneered the new ways an author can keep a personal hand on the publication process – without turning over the complete rights to the editor. Also, Sigler, with his involvement in the process, with a popular website, a Facebook group and Facebook fan page, has been able to use the Internet as a platform and a catalyst of his career. Even if he is now a published writer with success in the printed media, he continues to mix the media in a way natural for the new marketplace, for instance with the Addictive Comics version of Sigler’s The Rookie.
Now, something like this has been attempted elsewhere. What makes Scott Sigler interesting is that this was how it started. If one is to look at the experiment done by the music band Nine Inch Nails – they released two albums under a Creative Commons License, allowing the free sharing of the material, and the latest album was released digitally, available for free download, before the CD version came out. They still made a nice sum off that – not to mention the marketing effect of sticking it to the man, which was hardly the first time – but this entire experiment was based on the fact that the band had a considerable fan base to begin with. Jono Bacon has tried to musically mirror the Sigler effect with his Severed Fifth project, which he describes as a music project designed to explore how far a musician can take his music with the new economics of the music industry.
These processes have been taken up in a recent article in Time Magazine, which brings up the interesting point that while there is a financial crisis, and while there are video games, people actually read. The article goes into a very relevant description of an industry conceived in a different age – different when it comes to economy, when it comes to industry, and when it comes to culture. Also, they mention devices like the Sony Reader and the Amazon Kindle, lightweight computers with hardware specifically designed for reading electronic publications. Amazon also shows a certain grasp of the marketplace by stressing that the Kindle can use any electronic text, but is connected to the Amazon Kindle store, so one can buy books from there. Time Magazine also did a followup about some of the podcasters, which features some comments from Podiobooks.com’s Evo Terra.
Now, like the open source approach of software development, this publishing approach isn’t a magic wand. As with weblogs, giving everyone the ability to publish hardly means that all of it is going to be tasty as chocolate. But it will add to the offering, and the constant aggregation of content has created a certain culturally darwinistic approach to media. So I expect good things will come of it. As for the economy of it, I shall close up with a Twit by Cory Doctorow, which Evo Terra pointed to in a blog post: Content can be copied for free, so it is free. Containers aren’t free. They cost money to make. Use unlimited content to sell containers.
I am aware that this is quite a metaposting, but I felt it was good to mention a short article – a list, rather – that I came across, a feature by Ciaran O’Riordan from the Free Software Foundation Europe.
The piece is simply called Blogging thoughts. In this, Ciaran talks about some do’s and doh’s of publishing weblogs. He writes about layout, clarity, paraphrasing, source-based argumentation and how to present the author’s angle while sticking to the point – which is not the author. He concludes with a reference – he suggests taking a closer look at the style of Richard M. Stallman.
While RMS’s writings and speeches are hardly likely to be interesting to everyone, I agree with Ciaran that he does have a certain tightness of style. There is a certain programmer’s style to it – he does not open a thread without closing it or following up. This mindset would also explain how Mr. Stallman has been working in digital copyright and patent legislation without actually having a legal background.
Holmes and Watson went camping.
After they went to bed, in the middle of the night Holmes wakes his friend up and asks: “Tell me, Watson, what does this starry sky tell you?” — “It tells me that the weather is going to be nice in the morning” — “And to me it tells that someone has stolen our bloody tent!”.
This witticism was (however unlikely) discovered in the Wikipedia article on Russian Jokes. This odd article gets around many aspects of Russian and Soviet culture as expressed in the humor of the times. It is a good read – often very amusing.
Consider also reading the essay Hammer and Tickle by Ben Lewis for a more serious discussion on the phenomenon of humor in Communism.
As always, something new – a commercial! Who would have thought. And this from a man who has done his share of blog posts about the evils of ad-sponsored internet.
Well, this is not exactly a commercial, even if it is an endorsement. And alas, I am not making any money off it, even if that would be a sweet deal.
Today, I am going to be talking about 
JapanesePod101 and 
ArabicPod101. As previously mentioned, I am a linguist by education and inclination, and once in a while I am overcome by a hunger for getting into a new language – or delve more deeply into one I am already acquainted with (yes, I should write something about Russian phonetics at some point). For a long time, I have been interested in looking into Japanese. Like so many other geeks (to be fair about this, the Geek code also lists Geek of Classics and Geek of Literature, even if they fail to include Geek of Languages or Geek of Linguistics), I have been quite fascinated with Japanese history. Even if Japan is very fashionable nowadays – mostly since the magnificent movie Lost in Translation – I would say that a lot of the appeal of Japan is the old Japan, the Japan of the emperor, shogun and samurai. Probably the swords and Bushido, I suspect. Also, there is the martial arts aspect, like Eric Raymond emphasized in the Points for style section of his classic How to become a Hacker:
Train in a martial-arts form. The kind of mental discipline required for martial arts seems to be similar in important ways to what hackers do. The most popular forms among hackers are definitely Asian empty-hand arts such as Tae Kwon Do, various forms of Karate, Kung Fu, Aikido, or Ju Jitsu. Western fencing and Asian sword arts also have visible followings. In places where it’s legal, pistol shooting has been rising in popularity since the late 1990s. The most hackerly martial arts are those which emphasize mental discipline, relaxed awareness, and control, rather than raw strength, athleticism, or physical toughness.
Study an actual meditation discipline. The perennial favorite among hackers is Zen (importantly, it is possible to benefit from Zen without acquiring a religion or discarding one you already have). Other styles may work as well, but be careful to choose one that doesn’t require you to believe crazy things.
Anyway, it always seemed like a good idea to learn Japanese.
So, I was discussing it with Gregor Bočič, the Internetling – who is learning Japanese. And Gregor suggested looking into the daily free lessons at JapanesePod101.com.
Their concept is simple, but effective: They offer the daily lessons for free download as MP3 files, and paying members will get access to additional features, such as a PDF which elaborates on the accompanying episode. This is a way of working with the internet rather than against it; very often, services like this will offer something of very low value or a very limited version, but in this case, the lessons are actually a fill offering – with the possibility of buying an additional value-add. That is good marketing.
The episodes follow a distinct pattern: First, there is a dialogue; then, the dialogue is repeated – slowly and distinctly; then, the hosts go over the new vocabulary – the words and couplings to previously discussed expressions; then, they discuss the grammar points; and they finish up by playing the dialog again.
So you get to listen to it three times, and when you hear it after they have gone over it, this is very useful. I have certainly picked up a lot, considering have merely been listening to it while being on the road.
Now, there is one thing to be aware of: When learning languages like this, when the languages are not using latin letters, there is a discrepancy. The oral vocabulary is there, but there is a far cry between that and actually being able to write it. So one is stuck with rōmaji – using romanised words. And this can actually be quite counter-productive, especially since the Japanese script, the kanji, hiragana and katakana is quite a complex discussion. But then, that is a question of how you learn, I suppose.
JapanesePod101 is divided into varying sections, depending on the level and interests of the learner: Newbie, beginner, lower intermediate, intermediate and upper intermediate lessons – and cultural classes, survival phrases and an audio blog for those accomplished enough to understand this. Also, the site has a very active forum with some extremely knowledgeable people to answer questions.
For someone used to getting anything off the web for free, the non-free content of this site is somewhat pricy:
Basic 1 Month Subscription (PDF Resources) – $8 US
Basic 3 Month Subscription (PDF Resources) – $21 US
Basic 6 Month Subscription (PDF Resources) – $36 US
Basic 12 Month Subscription (PDF Resources) – $60 US
Premium 1 Month Subscription (PDF Resources & Learning Center) – $25 US
Premium 3 Month Subscription (PDF Resources & Learning Center) – $66 US
Premium 6 Month Subscription (PDF Resources & Learning Center) – $120 US
Premium 12 Month Subscription (PDF Resources & Learning Center) – $180 US
- as you see; but usually, when you subscribe, you are offered some newcomer discounts.
I have certainly received a fair share.
Now, that was JapanesePod101. But as you saw way back at the top, this is not the only one I want to mention. As it turns out, there is also EnglishPod101, FrenchPod101, SpanishPod101, KoreanClass101, RussianPod101, GermanPod101, ItalianPod101 and ArabicPod101. Since I have been working in a municpal department with refugees – and I had a colleague studying Arabic – I have long been interested in this language, too (which is also why I have made a mental note of having a closer look at A History of the Arab Peoples by Albert Hourani, even if it got some harsh words by Daniel Pipes; at least New York Times praised it).
While employing the same techniques as Japanesepod101, the differences are great – insofar as this good and educational podcast has been short of a presenter for a long time, so there has not been new episodes since October last year. As I registered for a membership to access the PDFs, I was offered a place on the list of “Founding Fathers” – the first 101 paying members. There is a forum attached to it, but it is practically empty, and the latest comments before mine are from last year. That is the age of the internet, isn’t it – a page trailing off to a halt.
I hope that it comes up again. I have downloaded and listened to the existing episodes, and like the other site, it has been quite educational. At least I have contributed a bit to set it back into motion. I emailed the site and was soon informed that there was work being done to resume the cast.
Still, it would be unfair to recommend the first site without recommending the latter. Have a look at them, if you are interested in learning new languages.
A couple of comments on the reference management system Zotero are in order.
I first posted this review at Technographer.net because of the technological nature of it; but since it is of use to academics, and this site after all does cater to that crowd, it seemed reasonable to post it here, too. Accuse me of recycling content as you see fit.
Now – when I refer to it as a reference management system, it is because it is comprised of several components. Essentially, it is a Firefox plugin, which facilitates building reference lists of books, magazines and so forth – much like programs like the immensely popular Endnote or more independent (and affordable) applications like Pybliographer and JabRef.
Zotero offers other advantages based on the fact that it is fundamentally a browser extension. With a few clicks, Zotero can add web site links and details to the materials list, and it is possible to take a snapshot of a web page in order to preserve it in the original form. Using this function, Zotero essentially harvests text and images from a page and embeds them as a static attachment to that reference post. This way, one does not have to rely on the web site remaining unchanged (since very few sites do). This is both possible with whole web pages and a partial text cut from a site. Once the command is executed, a small popup… well, pops up and indicates that the selection is being saved.
Zotero also has the ability to save data from a number of academic sites. One can look up a piece of literature on a site – Jstor, for instance – and a small icon will appear in the address bar. When you click on this icon, all the metadata around this work – author, periodical, ISBN number and others – will be added as a reference, including a note of where these data were harvested. This import is also available from Amazon.
To each datapost in one’s reference list one can add attachments – files of any type – and there is an option to add comments to it as well. In the version currently being developed, the text formatting options of these notes are being significantly extended.
There is an interesting function allowing the export of a reference list to a report, which is a printable, well-formed presentation of the data along with the notes the user has made. This is useful for teaching purposes. It is also possible to export the data to a HTML file, ready for upload.
Now – that was the browser component. As I mentioned, there are other components in Zotero – which make it considerably more interesting. There are also plugins for OpenOffice and Microsoft Word, which bridge the already described browser component and the word processors, so the collected data from Zotero can be inserted into the documents being worked on. The posts can be inserted as references, text quotes can be inserted directly, and after inserting these references, a list of literature can be generated automagically, following reference style standards like the Harvard Reference Format or the formats laid out in the Chicago Manual of Style.
Zotero works rather well, and it is quite straightforward to work with. It can be recommended to anyone doing academic research – or simply anyone who needs a system to keep track of references and documentation – to look into using Zotero.
The system is published under the Education Community License and can be downloaded at Zotero.org. On this site, you can find documentation on using Zotero – you will especially consider having a look at the screencast tutorials section, which is very educational and which presents the Zotero concepts in a very intuitive fashion.
Just a few lines to note that the scribe is back.
Expect some more features here, as the technotendencies are on hiatus at the moment, and I am in the middle of a tour de langues et lettres, which you are going to be hearing more about.
Don’t go away – the evening is just getting started.
As a natural progression of, well, everything, really, I put up a Quotes section. Please feel free to contribute.