YouTube has been everyone’s favorite soap box for quite some time now. For anyone who lives in a country where TV programs are just painful to watch, YouTube is such a lifesaver. Not only is it a great source of information and misinformation, it’s also a practical platform for citizen journalism. It has been so effective in its instant gratification, and so convincing in its democracy, that we almost forget that our worshiped soap box is still controlled by a corporation that has its own interest to look out for. Not every video is treated equal. Sure, it can’t prevent you from getting on the soap box, but it can give you a defect megaphone; it can’t tell the pedestrians to go away, but it can employ warm bodies to pose as bystanders to block you from view.
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Popularity: 53%
March 21st, 2008
Posted by
em8chel <<
a site for sore eyes, geek pride >>
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It’s the 4th Friday of the month and you know it’s time for your favorite A Gentle Introduction to Linux for Non-Geeks again! If you’re wondering about the rather skimpy content of Cryptic Clarity of late, it’s because I’ve been traveling and there’s an important deadline coming up. Perfectly legitimate and acceptable excuses wouldn’t you say? I should be able to devote more time to this little project of mine once 2007 is behind us. Anyways back to our Linux.
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Popularity: 47%
October 26th, 2007
Posted by
em8chel <<
a gentle introduction to Linux for non-geeks, a site for sore eyes, free lunch out in the open >>
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For many expats, one of their biggest gripes is how expensive books are in Germany, especially imported English books. The Buchpreisbindungsgesetz not only stipulates a book’s price but also prohibits publishers and bookstores to sell it for any less. The idea is to protect the value of books as a cultural heritage by exempting it from the “supply and demand” inevitability of a free market, as well as protecting the smaller, independent bookstores from being disadvantaged by a more competitive pricing chain stores more capable of sustaining. Amazon Germany is also subject to the same regulation. Since 2004 customers were no longer able to use coupons for book purchases. Thank goodness at least free shipping for books is not verboten. I can see that the heart of the law is in the right place, but on the other hand you’d have to wonder at the end of the day if book lovers aren’t the real underdog with the heaviest burden to bear?
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Popularity: 44%
March 2nd, 2007
Posted by
em8chel <<
a Taiwanese in Berlin, a site for sore eyes, judge a book by its lover >>
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