Comments for Code is Poetry

Comment on Smile! You’re on PRISM by Gabe

Gabe — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 22:51:41 +0000

Saying “the internet is a public square” is like saying “the post office is a public square”. In most supposedly free countries, we don’t expect our letters to be opened and read by the postman.

It has nothing to do with shame. If I order some porn on DVD from Amazon, I have an expectation that the postman will not open the package and judge me. Likewise, he has no business reading my bills or bank statements.

The NSA has no business reading my email, tracking my chat messages, listening in on my Skype calls, or looking at the websites I visit unless I explicitly make that information public OR they have a warrant and reasonable grounds to suspect me of a crime.

Simply using the internet to do something should not be a matter of public record.

I have nothing to hide, but that doesn’t mean I am okay with government snooping into my life.

Comment on Smile! You’re on PRISM by deindre

deindre — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 15:08:31 +0000

This is not right, this offends democratic sense.

It does! But since we live in a web-shaped world, I think nobody of us is really free. So you can decide to keep this problem in mind and be careful of what you share or you can decide to be invisible to this Eye. And turn your mobile off.

Comment on Smile! You’re on PRISM by Herli Joaquim de Menezes

Herli Joaquim de Menezes — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 14:44:38 +0000

The real point is about politics. This is not just what STASI and KGB did in Cold War times? This is not the case of being ashamed about what to post, but that the big brother is survelling us in order to track political dissidents. This is not right, this offends democratic sense.

Comment on Smile! You’re on PRISM by nzjrs

nzjrs — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 09:05:40 +0000

Obviously Vincent has not read, nor donated

http://www.gnome.org/friends/

Comment on Smile! You’re on PRISM by Vincent Vega

Vincent Vega — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 07:53:52 +0000

Yet GNOME developers think that encryption and OTR support in Telepathy framework is not a critical feature.

Comment on Smile! You’re on PRISM by Ryan S.

Ryan S. — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 00:30:12 +0000

The only thing is, Ubuntu are helping this surveillance along, in plain sight, by fetching targeted Amazon ads (yes, they’re ads, let’s not pretend otherwise) over unencrypted HTTP, even when the intended purpose of the search shouldn’t need to hit the network at all. Mark Shuttlecock has even accused people of being “McCarthyists” for speaking out against Canonical’s many transgressions. Choose your allegiances wisely. Canonical only care about “the community” when it serves their purpose.

Comment on The humble leader by Danilo

Danilo — Tue, 28 May 2013 10:40:46 +0000

@Jelly: we seem to be coming off different definitions of “humble” then. At least http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humility mentions “modest” as part of it. I see no reason at all to start with a modest person in particular for coming up with a good leader.

I’ve admitted to my own mistakes a number of times (hopefully every time I made them and was questioned about them), and have led a number of teams (I would hope successfully), but I am pretty sure not many people would define me as very modest (though I am sure some would as well).

There are also examples of good leaders who even get close to being classified as jerks (i.e. Steve Jobs, anyone?).

No, humble people are pleasant to be around. Just as we’d prefer a humble leader, we’d prefer a humble colleague. I am basically saying that humility is orthogonal to the issue of good leadership. All the same arguments hold for any area of human endeavor (“it would be good to have a humble car mechanic because [fill in the same reasons]“).

Comment on The humble leader by Graham

Graham — Mon, 27 May 2013 13:52:43 +0000

A humble team leader also needs humble team members. A team leader who does not dictate to the team but who coordinates the activities of the team needs other team members to support him or her against aggressive, domineering team members. A humble team leader also needs other team members to accept responsibility for doing the work that the team is required to do and not leave everything to the team leader.

Comment on The humble leader by Christopher

Christopher — Fri, 24 May 2013 22:57:31 +0000

Read Jo Owen’s book “How to Lead”. It explains clearly that leadership operates differently at different levels of an organisation and through a person’s career.

It’s a mature and well reasoned analysis. Worth your time and money to read it.

How to Lead (3rd Edition)

Comment on The humble leader by deindre

deindre — Fri, 24 May 2013 16:52:59 +0000

Pope John Paul? The guy who has his own page for criticism?

Not actually. I’m referring to the Pope which said in his first speech that “if I’ll wrong, you’ll correct me”, who made the first step toward Jewish considering Jewish people “elder brothers” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHtTgMVINSg) and, definitely, asked forgiveness for the sins of the church (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2000/mar/13/catholicism.religion).