Living on a Cloud

Cloud computing and storage has been the big thing lately. Things like Rhapsody and Spotify are based on the idea that you don't physically own mp3s on your hard drive (as physically as one can own mp3s). Now Google wants in too. Last time I spoke with Raymond Roker of URB Magazine, after our debate about the iPad, he mentioned that he's really trying to store everything on the cloud. His rationale was very rational. "Google has millions of servers all around the world. I have one server, and if that crashes, I lose everything."

There's been a lot of resistance to the idea of cloud computing. There's a comfort in owning something, in being able to access it without having Internet access. After all, Internet access is still far from ubiquitous. But if you think about it, banks used to be suspiciously looked upon. People would rather store their cash or gold or what have you under their bed. Entrust someone else with your entire life savings? Hell no! Of course, if your house burned down, you'd be left with nothing, whereas banks are insured. Perhaps there will come a day when we think it's silly that people used to download mp3s, and everyone lives on the cloud. I'm not quite there yet, but if I follow the bank analogy, it may not be a too long time in coming.

Systems and Cultures: Affirmative Action

I've always wanted to write about systems and cultures (and how they work together or are opposed or reconciled or unreconciled. And I realized, rather than trying to write a huge article about it, I should start with just rough ideas about what I wish to explore.

To me, the notion of systems and cultures are very much like Derrida's law and justice, Freud's conscious and unconscious, Postman's (among others) science and faith. One defines, while the other gets invisibly woven into the fabric of how we perceive the world.

This came up because I had a very short, but fairly intense conversation with my friend, Yvonne, who has just started law school up in Berkeley. She had read an article about affirmative action, which got us thinking about how much race actually plays in a kid's success in life. When in reality, it's not race that determines whether or not your kid will succeed in school. It's everything else. And yet, the system of the school makes it so that it's race, when in reality, what needs to be changed is the system of values, the prioritization of education in the kid's home environment. Which is a lot more complicated than saying just that.

But...

I have to run now, but I'm sure more will come under this title.

NYTimes: Judge Rejects Military Policy Toward Gays

From The New York Times:

Judge Rejects Military Policy Toward Gays

While the policy will not change right away, the ruling reflects others taking aim at discrimination against homosexuals.

http://nyti.ms/cf6VXy

Get The New York Times on your iPhone for free by visiting http://itunes.com/apps/nytimes

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