The upside of this factionalizing is that true challenges to art and media have been few and far between in recent memory. When confronted with the vast content dump that is the Internet, the average media consumer is going to stick with things that conform to their mode of thinking, that were recommended to them by like-minded people, and that seem to be in their political and moral “safe-zone”. When there is unlimited access to unlimited content, the potential for somebody to be outraged is drastically reduced, because they have a plethora of alternative options to choose from. The downside is that while this potential for challenge, censorship, et al has been decreased, so has the potential for debate and discussion. It’s not that literature or art itself has gotten less controversial, it’s that the audiences that are moved to pick up a book that might be challenging are probably not going to be challenged by it, and those that might benefit are going to stay mired in the realm of opinions that reinforce their own.

People usually refer to Machiavelli’s writing as a type of canon of scheming and self-interest. But it’s not: it’s purely pragmatic and removing of all idealization. The above warning played out for plenty of virtuous people: Ghandi, MLK, even Jesus. And anyone would advise a king or prince against living/dying like them.

Epilogue:
Intern: permission to swap images?
Me: That’s a negative Gamma1. Need fire clearance from HQ
Intern: hope they like it because i feel like it finally pulls everything together
Me: Yeah it’s pretty much The Dude’s rug of website navigation

I’m endlessly amused at our hodge-podge of broadcasting standards and the similarly chaotic way in which audiences receive offence (or don’t) at what flashes by on their television screen.

Reddit user nibbles200 posted this original image. I cleared it up to more clearly show what is decent (women laying on their backs, with pelvic regions thrust fully into the air) vs what is indecent (the arrangement of fingers held up on the hand).

Today is the SOPA and PIPA Internet blackout day. I think Wired nailed it with this:

There is also a deep question here about the priorities of media executives. SOPA and PIPA represent a legal strategy that focuses the attention of business leaders on stopping losses rather than promoting innovation and building new products. It obfuscates the fact that piracy is, in the long run, an unavoidable cost of doing business, one that should be bearable provided the fundamentals of the business (say, customer satisfaction) are sound.

The big content creators, including the members of the MPAA and the RIAA, must stop trying to use legislation and the government as a tool to avoid innovation. They need to find ways to change or improve their business model, but as long as our legislators pander to their laziness, they won’t.

It’s another Tuesday night game development night. I’m the odd member of the team that doesn’t live in Madison, so they have a laptop setup to display my lovely face… almost like a digital presence there in their midst.

This type of digital co-working was a bit difficult to get used to, but we have it down now. My first tip is to remove the video feed from your main workstation. The picture above shows my preference: Simply having them on Skype on my iPhone, which is set up on a shelf about a foot and a half away from my head.

When the feed is on your main workstation, the other parties are constantly obstructing your work flow in an OS window, and every time you want to talk to them you have to Alt Tab over.

This setup feels very natural, and almost as if we’re in the room together. The added benefit of running it on a phone is the small footprint the phone uses, and it isn’t as much of a hassle to set up as a laptop.