Twitter Hash-Jack Wars

The Oddest Show on Earth?

US politics are a funny kind of circus.  The  hash-jack battles and skirmishes currently being waged on the battlefield of twitter would probably seem a bit pointless and nutty to a sane species.  Firstly does anyone vote on the basis of their twitter-feed content?  And in terms of pointlessness, it's a battle that one side seems pre-determined to never win and to at best gain a small victory when the other side own-goals.

A good tweet might be insightful, must be pithy, and will travel further if funny.  One side is significantly better at the last item on the list, unless you count unintended own-goal humour.  I did for instance get a good laugh when one of the twitter hash-warriors tweeted that the other lot were unable to distinguish satire from news, using the example of Colbert.

Someone Actually Researched That?

The hash-warrior probably figured this was safe ground.  Who would guess that anyone had actually researched whether or not political inclination would result in being challenged in distinguishing satire from serious discourse?  And who would have guessed if someone did such obscure research, they would have happened to use Colbert as the satirical subject matter? I wouldn't have guessed that, but I didn't need to guess because as it happens I'd recently encountered this.

On Owning OWS' Goals

Just about the only way the disadvantaged lot can win is to ignore the primary battle and go after the most doofus-esque sub groups that might be easily associated with the "other lot" to provoke an own-goal.

Whether by luck or by skill a bunch of hashtag-warriors from the humour challenged lot were observed last doing having great success doing exactly that when they jacked the #occuchat tag, exposing the #occuchat-ers as a bunch of bleating whingers in the process.  The weak link #occuchat-ers were easily defeated into this own-goal by the use of nothing more sinister or galling than a few allusions to poor personal hygiene.

Hardly stellar wit.  Yet the #occuchat babies crumpled like a soggy, used, and allegedly slightly slimy snot-rag, lamenting the jacking of their tag. 

I've no idea what their issue was.

If they were fresh and clean then it should have gone down the drain into obscurity like water running over a showering occuchat-er's freshly soaped back, and if they were bothered by the "you're a poo-head" level of name calling because they had some reason to be sensitive about their personal hygiene, they should have resolved the issue by taking a shower instead of publicly bawling about "their" tag being jacked.

Get a sense of humour, take a shower, or GTFO occuchat-ers. 

You Know Who Stunk?  Nation-Builders!

If the occu-chater's were both bothered and allergic to water, they could have pointed out that the US was built on the stinky sweat of stinking pioneers who sometimes went months between baths, and maybe added that modern conservatives probably wouldn't last a day without their loofahs and foaming body washes, much less be of any use in constructing a nation. 

We might need pioneers again one day, so maybe we should celebrate any lack of shower occupation by the occuchat-ers.  At a minimum, reduced shower occupation conserves water and there is a serious drought going on right now.  Will no one think of the farmers? 

Unjackable?

Perhaps as a result of this rare experience of an own-goal defeat, but more likely just because arms races, even trivial hashtag jacking arms races, the "Obama lot" have launched their newest defensive weapon to save their hashtags from the "other lots" rampant jacking.

As the victims in all this (well so they claim, but everyone's a victim these days) they have been forced (forced I tells ya') to defensively deploy their latest high tech "defensive" weapon in the form of an unjackable (and intentionally offensive) hashtag.

As if you could not guess, the unjackable hashtag,  "#MittHatesThisHashtag", was of course promptly hashtag jacked.

So I am now waiting in a state of mild, idle interest for the "other lots" unjackable "defensive" (and yet intentionally offensive) tag to trend and be jacked, an easy to predict development, as is the likelihood that the attached content for the most part just won't be as witty or funny as the stuff generated by "Obama's lot".

Turns out not everyone's a comedian after all.

Easy & Always Popular "Pot Luck" Event Recipe

Because I'd Rather Think About Summer

It's summer for some, but not for me.  I'm so cold this morning the best solution seems to be to think of summer.  If it's summer for you now, you might find yourself invited to pot luck events or BBQs where you are expected to bring a dish.  And for those like me, stuck in the cold barren depths of winter (melodrama alert), summer will return.

So here's an easy and always really popular recipe for all those occasions where you are obliged to turn up with a dish of food.  A perfect finger food, and can be fancified by your serving choices (it's fancy if you use a fancy dish to plunk it on, amirite?).

I've taken this dish along to numerous pot luck occasions and it's been universally loved (and completely eaten) every single time.  I managed to wrangle it out of someone else who reported the same success.  The only problem she described is that because it's so quick and easy, and so very yummy, whenever she gives the recipe to anyone else in her social group, they want to bring it to events too, leaving her wondering what she can bring now.

You'll Need

* Cream Cheese (just an average size tub, this recipe is not fussy, so just grab your preferred brand in the most commonly sold size and it's likely to be exactly right),

* Tinned tuna (again the size you have in your cupboard or grab off your supermarket shelf is probably perfect; just make sure there is less fish than cream cheese so the two bind easily and hold together when set),

* Lemon juice to taste (just squeeze some in; personally I like more, but to your own taste is just fine), or you can use lime if you prefer,

* Sweet chili sauce (go for mild to ensure maximum utility; not everyone likes it hot, or go hot if you're confident your intended eating-audience like that sort of thing),

*Crackers, (or you could use strips of pita bread, or your own preferred accompaniment, although you might need to think about how people will get the spread onto the pita; with crackers they can dip and scoop a bit like chips and dip).

Method

Drain the fish and pull out any bones if your tin has any obvious big bones in it (like the spine).  Put in a bowl and give a really good mix n' crush up to ensure any remaining small bones have been broken up (you probably can use an electric blender but it's not worth your while getting it out and a fork does this task perfectly).

In a bowl, fork or electric blend the cream cheese until soft (honestly, the fork is the way to go but if you must use your electric blender that's your choice).

Combine the cheese and fish.

Add the squeeze of lemon (you could also try lime if you want to be a little exotic)

Put into a container and stash in the fridge to set.  Use a fancy mould container if you are inclined and think you can get it back out in one piece (the recipe is firmer when set if the cream cheese to fish ratio is kept higher and a little less firm if you use more fish).

Put in the fridge so the cream cheese can reharden (and the dish will set)

When you are ready to serve, plonk it on a plate pour chili sauce over top to finish and put the crackers next to it. 

Profit

So so easy.  Takes about 10 minutes of work, and everywhere I've taken this dish it has been a huge hit.

You can tailor your accompanying crackers or bread to your own tastes although if you use something soft and flexible like pita bread you will need to consider how people are going to get the spread onto it, with crackers they can just dip and scoop like chips and dip.

You can fancify by using a mould for the cream cheese mix.  You might want to experiement first so you can get the recipe to the right firmness, (it's never a good idea to try a recipe for the first time when you need it, I always rehearse a new recipe at least once before "showtime").

If you have the time to get really fancified, you can put the unset cream cheese spread mix right onto crackers or strips of pita bread (use cake icing tools) and add the chili sauce decoratively and serve on a platter all ready to go.  Perfect finger food, although a little more time consuming this way.

Interestingly, a few years after I first began using this recipe one of the cream cheese makers brought out a cream cheese with sweet chili sauce.  I have not tried this product but I am certain that it's nowhere near as good as this fishy recipe (I did try some cream cheese with just the chili sauce once when I was making a batch of this recipe up and it's nowhere near as tasty without the fish and citrus).

As mentioned earlier, the biggest risk with this dish is that you give others the recipe and suddenly no one ever brings anything else to a pot luck event.  Its a nice dish (and oh, so easy) but there can be too much of a good thing, so if you're going to share the recipe, maybe just don't tell it to those who are likely to attend the same pot luck events as you!

Some Linkies: Fun, Cloudy, Grim

Monkeying 'round on the net...

I think this is the cleverest Gorilla campaign I've seen in a while.  Better not do this stuff in London though, at least not until the games are done.

Noctilucent

Fancy-speak for night shining.  Clouds do it some places, but only when they're really high.  National Geographic has some pics (and a more lucid explanation).

And Finally In the Interests of the Spirit of Peace and Good Will

An arial view of the "accomodations" (and I use that word very loosely) for the Olympic cleaners.  Unbelievably grim.

Loving on #nethui

Twitter Highlight of My Week

@7daykaties Does Some Lovin' On #nethui And Talks About Why Fair Deal NZ is Crucial to New Zealand's Economic Future

 

#nethui Awesome! 

 

The #nethui participants not only provided and took part in a great event, but also kept the interested informed and regaled with a lively twitter stream and plenty of streaming content (unavoidable glitches notwithstanding).

I was drawn right in by the twitter stream and had a great time reading and responding to the awesome stream of twitters that reached out to the wider community, keeping us "in the loop" in real time.  Everyone did a fantastic job and the event was highly engaging even for non-attendees (or "remote" attendees).  Well done to everyone involved!

Fair Deal NZ

 

Exciting and important developments #nethui drew attention to include the much needed #fairdealnz advocacy group.

If you are interested in copyright issues or potential implications of the #TPPA  (IP chapter leaked draft courtesy of Knowledge Ecology Internation) trade deal, this is a great place to start.

At Fair Deal NZ's website  you can learn why organizations like the Royal New Zealand Foundation for the Blind, TradeMe and InternetNZ (amongst many others) are disturbed by potential Intellectual Property measures drafted for TPPA.

 The TPPA

 

The TPPA is the super secretive trade agreement that New Zealand's current Trade Negotiations Minister, Tim Groser, concedes will cause "some loss of sovereignty for New Zealand".

Fair Deal NZ's website has accessible information as well as opportunities to participate democratically in these astonishingly secretive negotiations that will cause some loss of our sovereignty by informing our elected political servants (Members of Parliament) where kiwis stand in relation to the imporant issues being negotiated, currently without us.

In an age when the public expect more transparency and say in how they are governed by their political servants, it's not appropriate to leave us entirely out of decisions about ourselves and our nation's future.

Fair Deal NZ have set up their website so that taking part in this discussion is as easy as sending an internet postcard.

The Provisions of the Leaked Draft Would Effect Every New Zealander If Implemented

 

Amongst things slated to be prohibited (according to the leaked TPPA documents) are parallel imports (and this probably effects every single household in New Zealand) as well as more niche but vitally important and socially worthwhile activities like circumventing digital copy protection for lawful accessibility purposes (like making content accessible to the sight-impaired; it's difficult to imagine what kind of folk would be against sight impaired people having access to the same content available to everyone else).

There are Siginificant Human Right Issues at Stake

 

The fact is, if you cannot access information equally today, then you cannot fully and equally participate in society.  There are sweeping implications in the leaked TPPA's Intellectual Property chapter for everyone, but also some very significant human rights issues where harms will be felt or not felt entirely on the basis of  "protected characteristics".

In other words some of the implications are simply discriminatory, placing insurmountable barriers to participation in socity because copyright holders are simply not interested in meeting the costs of making information equally accessible, but would rather no one carried out this act as a public service either.  That's wrong no matter how it's spun.

Because Dead People Might Feel Less Motivated to Author New Works if We Don't?

 

Kiwis would also be expected to pay dead authors for 20 years longer than the existing half century that New Zealanders are already obliged to pay royalties to whoever a particular dead author bequeathed their stuff to.

Copyright is unjustifiable as an anti-competition monopoly tailored for the benefit of a few rent seekers.  It's is unjustified for censorship purposes.  The only good justification for copyright that I have ever encountered is that enumerated in (of all places) the Constitution of the USA.  That document sets out intellectual property monopolies (copyright and patents for instance) are justified in so far as they promote the arts and sciences.

In other words if people are rewarded by being given an assured but time limited monopoly for sharing, they will be motivated to share more creative works (books, or inventions, or music for instance).

Is there anyone in the world who will refuse to share their book with the world because their estate can only collect royalties for 50 rather than 70 years after they die? 

TPPA Must Not Be Allowed to Force Software Patents on New Zealand

 

Probably the most dangerous provisions in the leaked draft of the TPPA's Intellectual Property chapter, is the requirement to allow software to be patented.  We don't allow this in New Zealand, and for very, very good reasons.

The prospect of software patents is of particular concern for New Zealand.  The reality is, we are geographically located so that there are heightened costs to getting physical goods to a large marketplace and this is a real competitive disadvantage in the physical goods market.

Software is the kind of market where the tyranny of distance need not matter for us.  We can compete much more equally.  So any risk to our software and tech industry is frightening stuff for our economic future.

The current draft, if enacted, would potentially destroy New Zealand's blossoming software industry by applying absurd monopolist rights over ridiculously obvious processes and astoundingly vague ideas, usually unsupported by any actual working code (aka invention) or so much as a hint as to how to implement the so called "invention" in practice.

Software Patents are Already Causing Huge Damage In the US

 

This problem is already being seen in the US.

In the US patents are supposedly granted in exchange for a precise description of an invention in a form that ensures anyone can replicate the invention simply by applying the knowledge contained in the patent application/description, and are only supposed to be issued for non-obvious inventions and in the absence of prior art.

Based on the evidence, in reality this exchange has become one-sided with patents routinely being given out for any old nonsense, including crustless, long life peanut butter and jam/jelly sandwhiches, and whether or not there is really any invention, or really any precise description.

The USPTO is Apparently Not Fussy

 

In an age of long-life convenience snacks, removing the crusts from a sandwhich, infusing it with preservatives, and shrinkwrapping it, are not all entirely obvious steps nor based on prior art according to the USPTO (the authority that issues patents in the US).  Luckily the courts were sensible when the patent holders' inevitable anti-competion motivated law suites against competing food manufacturers arose, but relying on the courts is pot-luck and very, very expensive for unfairly sued innovators and competitors.

But even the wacky stuff that gets patented as an actual physical invention looks sensible next to the software and even worse "business methods" patents that the USPTO routinely hands out.  The problem presents a particularly heightened risk to everyone in effected industries because courts are just as likely as the USPTO to be "bamboozled" by complicated descriptions of very simple and obvious stuff if someone adds "e" to the front of a word or term, or either the phrases "on the net" and "on a computer" to a description of a process. 

Chilling Effects

 

Kiwi software industry insiders fear the chilling effects software patents would bring to innovation and progress in New Zealand, as do most people who look into what a wasteful, innovation destroying and customer disadvantaging mess this has devolved to in the US.

Attack of the Trolls

 

A parasitic profiteering "IP troll" industry has sprung up to exploit the vague and silly nature of many patents and the sorry state of copyright law in the US, and this is becoming ever more problematic in the tech industry amongst others.

Software Patents:  Fast Road to Legalised Protection Rackets?

 

Our very sensible prohibition on software patents is no doubt the envy of every honest and innovative US tech company and start up.  The situation in the US is so bad, it's probably impossible to innovate in the tech industry and not "infringe", and their courts and innovators are being bogged down by a wave of multi million dollar litigations, most of them no more meritous than a common thug's protection-racket shake down.

Start ups have been reported as describing these IP trolling parasites circling around, just waiting for the innovating startup to gain enough traction for a decent revenue stream, then pouncing to sue as though a hard earned revenue stream were "blood in the water" to a ruthless shark.

Negative Impacts on Investment

 

It's so expensive to fight these law suites, many companies simply settle and others go out of business even when they eventually, millions of dollars later, prevail in the courts.  And a lot of investment simply never happens because the risks posed by potential patent litigation are frightening away potential investors.

The costs of IP trolling to honest innovators trying to bring new and better products and services to the market and consumers are estimated to be tens of billions of dollar, while research found that the cost to society could be as high as 80 billion dollars!  This is frightening to both innovators and potential venture-capital investors who we cannot expect not to be startled and frightened away from investing in the face of the very real and unpredictable risks of being hit up in a patent "shake down" operation.  Not to mention all the innovations consumers are being deprived of.

Litigious Lawyer's Paradise 

 

Worse, the problem just keeps growing and even companies that actually sell products and should be using their funds for R & D are wasting huge amounts of money hitting each other over the head with obnoxious and destructive patent suites.  The lawyers gobble up this huge waste and the consumers are the ones who have to cover these "costs of business" while missing out on the innovations that don't end up coming to market because of patents that it never made any sense to issue in the first place.

Kiwis have avoided much of the litigation madness seen in the US, in part through the no blame ACC insurance scheme.  But allowing software patents could potentially undo the constructively non litigious nature of the New Zealand business environment.  It would potentially open up the flood gates to a tsunami of unnecessary, destructive and parasitic litigation.

With Software Patents, Even Ordinary End Users Face Unpredictable Risks

 

And the law suites do not stop with technology innovators and providers.  Even ordinary end-users of technology are not safe when IP trolls are allowed to proliferate in the manner apparently encouraged by the US's absurdly ramshackle IP regime.

Kiwis Deserve a Fair Deal that Promotes New Zealand's Economic Well Being

 

For all these reasons and many more, the establishment of Fair Deal NZ is crucially important to New Zealand's economic future and tech industry, as well as to New Zealand businesses and consumers more broadly.

The US would in fact be much better off adopting our IP regime.  It's madness to even consider importing their's.

Fair Deal NZ's efforts are key to the future health and stability of the New Zealand tech sector, but equally as important to everyone from the sight impaired consumer who wants accessible content, to the ordinary retailer selling parallel imports along with those of their kiwi customers who don't want to pay more for the exact same stuff, just because they happen to live in New Zealand.