detritus posted a photo:

detritus posted a photo:

My friend Jose writes on his blog about the shift from email to facebook as primary communication tool thanks to spam.  It's a situation that feels like a 15-year long train wreck to me, watching the rising volume of unsolicited commercial email wash over the world like a giant tsunami ever since the start of the popularization of the internet.

Email, using a non-web client, is still the center of my daily time-management practice. it's how information flows from the world to my calendar and to-do list. it's still the killer app, for me. but i'm a power user. I spend a non-trivial amount of time every day categorizing and deleting spam, and some time on a less-frequent basis tweaking my various spam filters.  It's something that works ok for me, but I realize that a lot of people don't have the tools or the time to live this way.  However, I still can't stand when people try to organize and do business via facebook messaging - FB's interface is just so bad and annoying...  but it's happening more and more, and i realize it's all because most people don't have the tech skils, resources, or patience to continue to battle email spam.  

what would the internet look like if spam hadn't destroyed email for most users? sigh.  the other thing i often forget and then re-remember is that for most people email IS the web - they just use a web app to get their email, which, even with gmail, is a poor interface compared to a dedicated client.  so to a lot of people, facebook's UI is no worse than the yahoo or hotmail or squirrelmail interface that they once were stuck with.

it's interesting that one communication mode was destroyed by unethical marketing and is now replaced with another communication mode that is funded by another type of marketing, which, when you take into account the concerns about FB's escalating privacy-violating practices, is also probably unethical (and in a deeper way, is harming us) but is easier for the average person to put up with on a daily basis. Read more>>>

detritus posted a photo:

Arizona passed a law that outlaws ethnic studies courses and teachers with accents in secondary schools. Tucson students walked out, surrounded the TUSD admin building and got a meeting with the superintendent cancelled, then marched down to the state building where the sup was having a press conference. they did a sit in there until police arrested around 37, including a professor at U of Arizona. about 100 supporters gathered in the courtyard and outside.

detritus posted a photo:

was trying to take a photo of josie at night in the yard of a church with lots of grass where she likes to play. didn't really work, but it looks cool and weird.

detritus posted a photo:

detritus posted a photo:

detritus posted a photo:

I find the Bike Beautiful Tucson concept and website problematic and somewhat creepy..

This local photographer basically likes to take sexy photos of girls on bikes around town and create sort of a brand about that, having events like rides and selling products like t-shirts. I guess it's sort of borderline but it feels disturbing to me and some others i've talked to.

Where does celebration of "beauty" end and valorization of certain body type begin? where does appreciation of beauty end and exploitation begin? This brings up the larger question of what exactly "sex positive" means or might mean and whether it really counts as a form of feminism or not.

look at his site and think about it for yourself and get back to me on what you think.
tucsonbikebeautiful.blogspot.com/
take a special look at
tucsonbikebeautiful.blogspot.com/2010/01/reina-and-dana.html Read more>>>