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Sometimes, I wonder why certain people or parties are elected. No, I’m not talking about the election in Alberta. I’m talking about subways, subways, subways! It was brought to my attention over dinner last night that our mayor is enjoying (or at least has) a 47% approval rating from Torontonians. The question was raised about … Continue reading Who votes for these people? — Part I April 24th, 2012 12:00 pm EDT | Tags: subway, voting | Category: Rant, Social commentary | Leave a comment
This time, at least it’s an opt-in process. Unlike with Beacon, automatic face-tagging, location tracking, profiles being exposed to search engines, giving Facebook’s partners access to personal details, and so forth, this time, Facebook gives users a chance to say “Sure, you can track/reveal these details about me” rather than assuming you want to share … Continue reading Status update: You read it here first April 16th, 2012 12:00 pm EDT | Tags: Facebook, privacy | Category: Rant, Retweet, Social commentary, Things I've Read | Leave a comment
If you’ve been using computers for long enough, you’ve probably faced unreadable file formats or changes in distribution media: How do I open this old WordPerfect document? How am I going to read those files stored on a ZIP disk? Photographic prints and print editions of books have much less demanding requirements for seeing … Continue reading Unreadable file formats and bit rot: Novel problems in the digital age… or not? March 7th, 2012 12:00 pm EST | Tags: bacon, bit rot, data decay, language, preservation, surprise alligators | Category: Random musings, Social commentary | Leave a comment
I’ve heard some people say they don’t understand how people can hold the view that climate change is not anthropogenic yet claim that climate change can be countered cheaply using geo-engineering, e.g., by injecting sulfur1 into the atmosphere. The reason for their concern is that they think it’s logically inconsistent since the effects of geo-engineering … Continue reading In defence of climate change deniers August 20th, 2011 12:00 pm EDT | Tags: climate change, denial, geo-engineering, logic | Category: Analysis, Random musings, Science, Short, Social commentary, X or Y | Leave a comment
I ended up going to City Hall yesterday, but decided not to make a fuss. There were 344 people signed up to do just that. Instead, I went to listen and (by being a body in a seat) show that people of Toronto do care about what happens to it. The main action began at 9:30 … Continue reading Deputation Day and Night July 29th, 2011 12:00 pm EDT | Tags: politics, services, tocouncil, Toronto | Category: Social commentary, Things I've Attended | 2 comments
This Thursday, I’ll be heading down to City Hall to make myself heard over proposed cuts to city services. If you care about this city and have some time, you might want to come, too; the mayor has invited us! The way I see it, if no one shows up, the mayor has carte blanche … Continue reading Stop filibustering yourself! July 24th, 2011 12:00 pm EDT | Tags: politics, Toronto | Category: Random musings, Social commentary, Things I've Attended | Leave a comment
Toronto Mayor Doug Ford has been quoted as saying that congestion in Toronto can be reduced through “driving efficiencies”. He suggests that some of these could be realized by drivers were faster to drive off when the signal turns green “or didn’t stop at a crosswalk when a pedestrian is still five feet from the road [...]. … Continue reading Really, Mister Mayor? May 5th, 2011 12:00 pm EDT | Tags: carbon footprint, cars, commentary, driving, efficiency | Category: Science, Social commentary, Things I've Read | 2 comments
I recently noticed a car with a non-smoking sign inside. It had a trillium on the side, so it was likely owned by the provincial government. My next thought was why we permit smoking in cars. I’m not here to debate whether any government should get to have a say about this, but allowing smoking … Continue reading No smoking in cars or no consistency November 17th, 2010 12:00 pm EST | Tags: consistency, law, smoking | Category: Analysis, Random musings, Social commentary | 2 comments
Toronto’s new mayor, set of councillors, and school board trustees will determined tomorrow (or it may already have been determined if enough people voted in advance). Though I’ll be voting, I try to stay out of politics as much as possible. However, avoiding politics completely is almost impossible as practically everything is political including how … Continue reading Municipal election tomorrow |
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jonathan lung
The Proprietary Ties that Bind: Part I — Instagram, not the last straw
In yesterday’s New York Times, there was an article about people getting angry over changes to Instagram’s privacy policies under Facebook rule. Rebecca Lieb of the Altimeter Group was quoted as saying
There are always Facebook users who say ‘This is the last straw,’ [but] there’s not a lot of portability. Where would you go?”