I make these all too often.

It's a mixing / learnings of at least 15 different brownie recipes, tirelessly testing and mixing ratios

This can make deliciously fudgy brownies, with a nice crisp crust on the top. ie: something sinfully decadent.

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 1 stick of butter
• 4oz baking chocolate
• 1 2/3 cup sugar. brown is best, but white is ok
• 1 cup flour ( i like a 2:1 white:whole wheat ratio , but you can use all white )
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp creme de cacao ( if you have it. not necessary at all )

Directions

Melt the butter & baking chocolate together. I imagine you could use a microwave proof bowl, but i just put my metal mixing bowl on top of a pot of boiling water -- within 10 minutes, its all good.

Mix in the rest of the ingredients, and pour into a pan. 8x8 or 9x9 should work fine.

Bake at 350 for about 35 minutes... just until the top just starts to set and look like a 'brownie' -- then pull out to cool. The batch will continue to cook for a bit with residual heat. You want to ensure that the top has just set -- this way they are fudgier and not cake-like.

Simple Variations:

• You can add another egg, or egg-yolk, and it will be pretty fine.
• You can probably go down to 1.3 cups of sugar or so -- but you'd best be off with brown sugar in that case
• I've cut the butter down to 1/2 a stick - but when I do, i add 2tbsp of molasses
• You can heat up some peanut butter to make it thinner, drizzle a bit on the batter in the pan, and use a fork to cut it in / make a design.
• You can drop some frozen raspberries into the pan before pouring the batter in
• You can add in 1-2 tsp of instant coffee to make the chocolate taste darker

About

Filling inspired by a recipe from Moosewood; topping inspired by a few dozen recipes; both altered to fit my fridge and tastes.

Notes

Sour Cream makes the topping moist and heavenly, and helps cut down on the use of butter.

Lime cuts the deepness of the mango with a splash of brightness -- it also means barely adding sugar.

Ingredients - Filling

• 2 very ripe Mangos ( 2 cups )
• 1 cup strawberries ( frozen is fine )
• 1 Lime
• 3 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp water
• 1/4 tsp cardamom
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• pinch of nutmeg

Ingredients - Topping

• 1 cup flour
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2.5 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• 1.5 tbsp melted butter
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 egg

Directions

Preheat oven to 400

Make the Filling

Chop stawberries into halves & quarters depending on size; roughly chop mangos to match; juice the lime over the mixture. Mix cornstarch & water, and add to fruit. Sprinkle on cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, sugar, and toss fruit mixture.

Make the topping

Melt the butter; mix with a rubber spatula into sour cream, water, egg, vanilla extract. Mix in flour, sugar, baking powder, salt.

Spoon the topping onto the filling. Try to spread it out.

Bake for 30-50 minutes; sometimes longer... you really just want the top to stay light, as parts start to turn golden brown.

CNN and BBC have both covered something called 'Attack of the Zombie Photos' - an experiment out of the University of Cambridge that tested to see how long a photo that was deleted by a website would really be deleted.

I found the experiment to be incredibly flawed and misleading.

The researches tested not the networks themselves, but internet cache copies. So a network could very well have deleted the image from their servers, but that change(deletion) had not propagated to their Content Delivery Network (CDN) in time -- ie: the photo was primarily deleted from their servers, but a distribution copy on another (possibly 3rd party) server had yet to be deleted or timed out.

While the researchers did indicate that they were testing the CDN in a graph, their text barely made mention of it, their analysis none, and they routinely called the CDNs "photo servers" -- as if they were the primary record. It seems as if the report was more about FUD ( fear , uncertainty , doubt ) than examining real issues.

You can view the report here : Attack of the Zombie Photos

My comment is below

I think this experiment is great in theory, but flawed in practice and conclusions. You are not testing to see if an image is deleted from the Social Network, but from their CDN. That is a HUGE difference. These social networks may very well delete them from their own servers immediately, but they are not exposed to the general internet because a (often third party) cache is employed to proxy images from their servers to the greater internet. Some of these caches do not have delete functionality through an API, the content - whatever it is - just times out after x hours of not being accessed. It also is often ‘populated’ into the cache by just mapping the cache address onto the main site. Example: http://cdn.img.network.com/a may be showing content for several hours that was deleted from http://img.network.com/a

Perhaps you know this already - but in that case you are presenting these findings in a way that serves your point more than the truth of the architecture.

In terms of your inference of the EU and UK acts, I wouldn’t reach the same conclusions that you have. Firstly, one would have to decide that an unmarked photo, living at an odd cache address with no links in from a network identifying it or its content, would be deemed “personally-identifiable data” — I would tend to disagree. Secondly, while the purpose of it may be to “share it”, it would really be “share it online” - and dealing with cache servers and the inherent architecture of the internet , I think the amount of time for changes to propagate after a request for deletion would easily satisfy that requirement. I also wonder if the provision to access ‘user data’ means that it is done in real time or in general. I’m pretty sure all these sites store metrics about me that i can’t see.

Again, I will also reiterate that we are talking about ‘cached’ data here — and that the primary records have been deleted of the requested data. At what point do you feel that privacy acts and litigation should force the use to access / view every bit of data stored : - primary record - server caches - data center/isp caches - network ( university , business , building , etc ) caches - computer / browser caches

Your arguments open up a ‘can of worms’ with the concepts of network optimization. I wouldn’t be surprised if your university operates a server on its internet gateway that caches often requested images — would they too be complicit in this scheme for failing to delete them immediately ? How would they even know to do so ? How could the network operator identify and notify every step in the chain that has ever cached an instance of the image ?

Elias Bizannes and some other folks from the DP project have started working on a way to unify network legal contracts.

A little over a year ago I set out on the same path, trying to bootstrap a "Social Media Standards" organization. We've both come to many of the same conclusions, some differences, and focused on some different areas -- as he spent much time with networks, while I spent more time with startups and ad firms.

Here are some key points

• I don't think that a universal legal doc is possible, recommended, or even a good idea. All the portability concepts tie in very strongly to a company's business operations -- it's both unrealistic and arrogant to mandate 'you will do this!'. However I think clarity and guidelines are in order.

• I propose the following:

  • a 'legend' of datapoints / concepts , where there is a menu of set options that network operators can choose from
  • each datapoint and option has an iconic, easy to read, representation... very much like the CC licenses
  • there are several recommended configurations of datapoints & options that have trademarked names
  • operators may also create customized configurations that reference individual icons

  This approach would gives users the ability to identify and easily read TOS agreements, while affording network operators flexibility. In other words -- adopting this system could never conceivably hurt their business.

• Enforceability is an issue, as are the differences in legal concepts and wording between countries. Who can sue? How? Where? My idea has been to use SocialMediaStandards as a non-profit licensing group : networks would be able to say that their legal contracts are compatible with specific legal concepts or iconic configurations offered by the group ; in doing so and displaying the trademarked images , they would be liable to the group under contract law if they should make false claims. This would allow the group to litigate on behalf of end users who would be otherwise unable to do so, and greatly simplify enforcement as some other legal concepts get thrown into the mix. Users would still be able to sue for breach-of-contract, fraud, misrepresentation as well -- this would give the group the ability to file suit as well.

• I identified common sets of datapoints , and broken them each into 2 categories : Content and Activity. I think each should be treated differently. Content is what a user directly enters into a network, Activity is the networks' value-add. ie: I can upload a bio (content) and then there is the number of times that bio has been viewed (activity). For every datapoint, I believe there should be the same - but independant, options to regulate content and activity.

• Elias did something similar, breaking things down into 'nouns' and 'verbs'. There is a bit of overlap on both our concepts, but they're still quite a bit different.

You can see Elias's concepts by clicking here

On ownership of data

Elias and I fought on this for a while. Then we realized that we were both a little drunk, and talking about the same thing: that a user does, and always should own their content -- as afforded by copyright law in most countries.

Where we differ a bit is as follows, and is a bit of a controversial topic:

I believe that it is more than reasonable - and should be required - for a user to enter in a contract with a network , that grants an irrevocable non-exclusive license for the network to use and redistribute uploaded content in the original context once it has been interacted with by others. I don't beleive in this clause/point for the sake of the network , but for the sake of other users. This concept is akin to publishing a letter-to-the-editor in a newspaper or magazine: you can't undo things once published; people still have the ability to make clippings of the content. It's also like loaning a photo to a friend -- they may return the original, but copies may have been made and are floating around.

I believe this doesn't affect the concept or legality of ownership. The user still owns their content, and has all legal rights to it. There is simply a non-exclusive license granted to the network to keep content active... such as in the event that a photo is commented on or added to another's virtual photobook; or a thread of discourse on a topic doesn't have key sections missing.

Some people believe that this concept strips them of rights. I believe they are attempting to create rights where none existed before. Once something has become public, become shared, it is impossible to undo it -- one cannot take back their own words once they have been heard by others. I believe proof of this exists in the simple virtue that other users could simply screencap or printscreen on this content, and that while technology can allow things to be 'undone' it doesn't mean that it should.

That being said, I believe that networks should require users to enter into a covenant with one another , and the network , to agree that items should be forever published. I also stress that contracts like this are more important for the other users as they are for the network.

Last week I had the pleasure of meeting up with Elias Bizannes of the DataPortability.org project a few times.

One day he asked me: Why portability ?

This was my answer:

Data portability is a trick, and a really good one at that. It's not the be-all/end-all solution some make it out to be; while it offers some groups important advantages, to others it is more than threatening to their business concerns. What makes the concept of portability incredibly interesting, and brilliant in some ways, is the necessary balance of all concerned parties to actually pull it off. At it's core, portability is far less about the concepts of portability and than it is about the democratization and commodification of Social Networks.

Portability is presented as a good thing for users, which it undoubtedly is on the surface. But- and this is a huge "but"... there is the an all important sell-in to the networks -- they who actually have to implement ways to users to port in and port out. This offering to networks is complicated, because while porting 'in' makes sense, porting 'out' is an entirely different matter -- and one that may be detrimental to a business. More importantly, while open standards and 'libraries' may be free, there are real and serious costs with implementing portability: - engineering and coding costs : using architects, developers and network engineers to integrate these libraries and APIs - administrative costs : making sure portability works within current legal contracts, creating new contracts, etc

Small / Niche networks look towards portability as an amazing opportunity -- with a few clicks they can import thousands of new users, and for small sites integration can be a matter of hours. Under this premise, it makes sense for smaller groups to abide by the democratic principles of portability, and allow for information to port-out as freely as it ports in. There is no real downside

For Medium networks, or Large networks that have lost their prime , portability is a chance to streamline customer retention methods. By keeping profiles up to date, these networks can seem more lively to new users ( i.e. no more messages that read "Last updated in 2004" ) -- and they offer existing users the ability to browse the same unified & standardized data in a comfortable environment.

The concept of unifying & standardizing data resonates very well with me -- I first tried to convince people this would happen in 2006, and in 2009 it has finally started to catch on. It's really amazing seeing this happen. Before the advent of social networking, networks competed with one another based on their userbase -- people migrated from network to network because of who was on it, a mixture of critical mass and critical usage; popularity of online networking, portability and network integration efforts have completely shifted that. Users and content are now the same no matter where you go - and this is increasing at a faster rate. Networks now compete as a layer of user experience and user interface for this data.

For network operators this can -- and should -- be liberating. The emancipation of users allows networks to stop wasting resources on antagonistic retention methods that lock people into their network... freeing internal resources that can be spent on product improvements, making it easier and better for users to share , connect and interact with others.

Simplest put, networks should focus on making products that consumers WANT to use, not products that consumers dislike or despise yet are locked into using for some reason. Whether they're pushing for portability or not, virtually every social network or other consumer website is doing this right now, and its sad.

The allure of portability to large networks is an entirely different story. On the surface, portability offers little or no advantage to large networks. As sheppards and herders of massive userbases, networks rightfully fear openness as a way to lose the attention of their users. In deliberate steps, and under carefully controlled conditions, large networks have begun to test the waters... dictating how people can use their network off-site through platforming and 'connecting', and offering incredibly limiting export options.

Pundits like to use the term 'opening the gates' or 'tearing down the walls'. I liken this form of tempered portability to 'testing the waters' and 'opening a window'. Large networks are not embracing portability, they're trying to simulate it on their terms , in ways that best leverage their brand identity and commercial offerings to retain consumer loyalty.

I personally think this is great -- but it shouldn't be called portability or 'opening up'; this is simply a relaxed posturing.

What I dislike are the grand PR and marketing initiatives around large-scale 'portability' efforts. The large firms are all stuck in a cyclical pattern where one group 'opens up' a bit more than the last, forcing another group to try and outdo the last. This behavior of metered and restrained openness, and the creation and advocating of new 'open' standards that primarily drive the creator's brand instead of users... this isn't portability, this is sportability.

Portability and the true Open isn't about half-assed , ill-conceived standards and initiatives that were designed to create PR buzz and just be open-enough to seem like a viable option. Portability is about getting stuff done with the right product, and putting the user front and foremost. We're unfortunately left with a market-driven approach, where the large networks are in competition to release the least open standards they can, while still outdoing their competition.

While all of this is happening 'on the surface', there is a seedy underbelly to all this. Large networks realized an opportunity that they have all been looking towards and investing in -- one which may not be so user friendly. Increased portability and inter-connectedness mean an opportunity for better consumer profiling -- one that translates to higher better audience measurements and targeting, offering the chance for significant improvements in advertising performance. Portability offers networks a diamond in the rough. I had spent several years through FindMeOn developing audience profiling/targeting concepts, and quantifying the market opportunity and potential effects -- they are huge. This should be rather unsurprising -- you may have noticed that the largest proponents of portability efforts over the past few months are subsidiaries or sister companies to some of the world's largest advertising networks and inventories.

As a quick primer: Social Networks make their money (if ever) either through subscription or advertising models; most are forced into ad-supported models because consumers just won't pay. Ad supported models are at an odd moment in history right now: users have become so accustomed to ads, that they tune them out completely -- dropping CPMs sharply. The transactional model of 'do a task, watch an ad, repeat' was overused to much, that it became 'ask do a task, ignore an ad, do the first phase, ignore another ad, do another phase, ignore another ad'; no matter what networks do, the previous over-advertising has made a generation of users wholly oblivious to advertising -- sp some social networks can only get 5-10¢ to show 1k ads of remnant inventory, while others can charge $3 to show the same amount of targeted ads. While that might look like a decent improvement, online advertising elsewhere is doing far better. Behavioral networks can often charge $10 CPM if they hit a user on a content site, and niche sites or strongly branded properties where ads are purchased as a mixture of direct and endemic advertising can generate $40 or more per CPM.

Social networks are left at an odd crossroads today: once a network grows to millions of users, the brand simply isn't focused enough to be to offer reputable or effective endemic advertising; nor is the property likely to be niche enough to command premium CPMs for placement next to highly relevant content. Networks are unfortunately left with behavioral advertising - which should (and would) be doing better right now, if it weren't for the overexposure/fatigue that users feel. However, portability efforts offer networks the chance to greatly improve behavioral advertising relevance.

So to summize my answer to the original question posed by Elias..."why portability ?"

1. If you're a small or medium network, you're going to pick up users.
2. If you're a larger network, having your standard/platform adopted can result in market domination
3. If you're a larger network, you have the potential to improve advertising revenue

Perhaps more than a decade in online business and advertising have left me a bit jaded, but I see little that is particularly grand or noble in these efforts. We're not talking about curing cancer... we're talking about making it easier to share photos, comment on things, and improving advertising. For industry professionals like myself , these are really exciting times -- but let's do each other a favor and tone down the idealism a bit and admit to / talk about the factors that are really driving all this. Maybe then we can start taking some real strides, instead of all these tiny little baby steps.

Last week I had the pleasure of meeting up with Elias Bizannes of the DataPortability.org project a few times.

We got to nerd out about different concepts - and our positions - on the overarching theme of integrated networks... and I thought I'd use my photographic memory (even when drinking Bookers' all night ) to share my thoughts and some of his comments. That didn't work out too well -- or perhaps it did, as my recollections were fueled with bourbon.

In all seriousness, I haven't spoken with most people on any of these concepts in at least a year, so it was completely fun for me... and given all the recent developments in this area, its nice to see how some attitudes have changed and new concepts have begun to take shape.

Over the next 3 days I'll release a section of my thoughts in different areas. I like planning out postings like this -- it gives me something to look forward to in terms of writing !

I'm wondering how people like to handle deployment of projects maintained in subversion.

After MUCH testing, I've developed the following method that seems to work well for me:

• Trunk is managed in /trunk
• Tags are in /tags; When I tag something, I 'svn cp /trunk /tags/version-date' like most people
• I maintain a special tag at '/tags/-current-deployed' - I merge trunk into that whenever I deploy, then 'svn up' that tag on the server.

This methods does a few things:

• it allows me to make changes on the 'current deployed' on the server if something needs to be fixed there ASAP, then merge into trunk -- without breaking the 'sanctity' of a tag
• I really just 'svn up' and 'svn merge' -- i never have to 'svn swtich' then 'svn up' the project. i find that easier.

I'm sure others have good strategies. What's yours?

Dear Hulu,

I told you so.

A few weeks ago you blocked Boxee.

I said in my article Hulu's dumbest move: blocking Boxee

See, internet people are smart and savvy. It won't be long until someone makes a plugin / patch / version of Boxee that identifies itself as Safari or Internet Explorer or something else -- re-enabling the ability for users everywhere to revel in streaming video.

Guess what. They did. And it wasn't even hard.

Boxee now shows Hulu content through Hulu's own RSS feeds.

So take this warning...

If you're lucky, and they're still identifying themselves as Boxee devices -- don't block them. Embrace them.

Don't follow the advice of your content producers -- educate them. Help them understand new media.

Tell them:

Someone is sitting back on a couch. there are probably multiple people watching. this is probably on a big screen. we can charge 5x the CPM for this display.

And have a business that works not only for you, but your consumers and corporate partners alike.

You've been given a second chance -- don't miss it.

Fueled by excessive amounts of rage (and alcohol) we formed the "Students of Pomona College, Associated" in 1999 in an unsuccessful coup.

Below, behold our groundbreaking Charter/Manifesto -- "Formula for a New Student Corporeal Program (14 Point Program to Destroy)", along with an early draft of the budget request, a constitutional amendment, and a roster of early leaders.

Please note: most of this is egregiously plagiarized from French surrealist manifestos, punk rock lyrics, and critical theory tomes.

Students of Pomona College, Associated (SPC,A)

Charter

Formula for a New Student Corporeal Program (14 Point Program to Destroy)

Point 1:

Milord, I am from another Country

We are bored in the town, there is no longer any temple of the sun. The dadaists wanted to see a monkeywrench between the legs of the girls walking by, and the surrealists a crystal bowl. So much for all that, we can read every type of promise into every type of face, concluding phase of morphology. The poetry of commercial advertising has lasted 20 years. We are bored in the town; you really do have to be pretty bored to still be looking for mystery on the hoardings and in the streets, concluding phase of poetry and laughter: Bain-Douches des Patriarches Machines a trancher les viandes Zoo Notre Dame Pharmacie des Sports Alimentation des Martyrs Beton translucide Scierie Main-d'or Centre de recuperation fonctionelle Ambulence Sainte-Anne Cinquieme avenue café Rue des Voluntaires Prolongee Pension de famille dans le jardin Hotel des Etrangers Rue Sauvage And the swimming pool in the Street of Little Girls. And the police station of Rendezvous Road. The medical-surgical clinic and the free labour exchange of the quai des Orfevres. The artificial flowers of Sun Street. The Castle Cellars Hotel, the Ocean Bar and the Coming-and-Going Café. The Hotel of the Epoch. And the strange statue of Doctor Philippe Pinel, benefactor of the insane, the last evenings of the summer. To explore Paris. And you forgotten, your memories ravaged by all the chaos of the planet, wrecked in the red caves of Pali-Kao, without any knowledge of either music or geography, no longer leaving for the hacienda where the roots dream of the child and where the wine ends in tales from some old almanac. Well, you've blown it now. You'll never see the hacienda. It doesn't exist anywhere. The hacienda must be built.

Point 2:

Do, sweet Daniel! If I weren't a jones in myself I'd elect myself to be his dolphin in the wildsbillow because he is such a barefooted rubber with my supersocks pulled over his face which I publicked in my bestback garden for the laetification of siderodromites and to the irony of the stars. You will say it is most unenglish and I shall hope to hear that you will not be wrong about it. But I further, feeling a bit husky in my truths.

Point 3:

Ask for the various "anarchist" groups, they possess nothing beyond this ideology reduced nothing to a mere label, and they are all prisoners of this label. The "incredible" The Student Life, obviously edited by students, attains the most fantastic degree of confusion and stupidity. Since they tolerate each other, they would tolerate anything.

Point 4:

No doubt one desires to serve the master badly, and to pay the price. And no doubt the master wishes to be badly served. Literature's claim to privacy in respect to all critical commentary - a claim most often put forward by masocritics themselves - barely conceals the author's inevitable desire to submit to the violence of interpretation. Author's complaints about the stupidity and venality of critics, although certainly accurate, are coded demands to be suspended from and brutalized by critical discourse. Why else publish?

Point 5:

Fuck You

Point 6:

(leaflets, announcements over microphones, comic strips, songs, graffiti, balloons on paintings in the Sorbonne, announcements in theaters during films or while disrupting them, balloons on subway billboards, before making love, after making love, in elevators, each time you raise your glass in a bar):

• Occupy the Factories
• Power to the Workers Councils
• Abolish Class Society
• Down with the Spectacle-Commodity Society
• Abolish Alienation
• Abolish the University
• Humanity won't be Happy till the Last Bureaucrat is Hung with the Guts of the Last Capitalist
• Death to the Cops
• Free also the 4 Guys Convicted for Looting During the May 6 Riot

Point 7:

Diptheria

The road to hell is paved with chocolate treats, and candy corn is sown at the side of the streets. Every morsel promises to make you satisfied, but every wrapper carries another lie.

The road to hell winds through a gingerbread town. It looks real good, tastes real good, but truth be told, it leads straight down.

And every ounce tells, when every pound kills, and every loose tooth betrays another wrong move, in the diet of denial.

Denial.

Denial.

Point 8:

It is pretty safe to say that the student is the most universally despised creature in Amerika, apart from the policeman and the priest. But the reasons for which he is despised are often false reasons reflecting the dominant ideology, where as the reasons for which he is justifiably despised from a revolutionary standpoint remain repressed and unavowed. The partisans of false opposition, however, are aware of these faults - faults which they themselves share. The invert their real contempt into patronizing admiration. Thus the impotent leftist intelligentsia (from Les Temps Modernes to L'Express) goes into raptures over the so-called "rise of the students" and the actually declining bureaucratic organisatioins (from the "ASPC" to "Pomona College") jealously contend for his "moral" and "material" support. We will show the reasons for this concern with the student and how they are rooted in the dominant reality of overdeveloped capitalism. We are going to use this manifesto to denounce them one by one: the suppression of alienation necessarily follows the same path as alienation.

Until now all the analyses and studies of student life have ignored the essential issues. None of them go beyond the viewpoint of academic specialization (psychology, sociology, economics) and thus they remain fundamentally erroneous. Fourier long ago exposed this "methodical myopia" of treating fundamental questions without relating them to modern society as a whole. The fetishism of facts masks the essential category, and one can't see the totality for all the details. Everything is said about this society except what it really is: a society dominated by the commodity and the spectacle. The sociologists Bourderon and Passedieu, in their study Les Heritiers: les estudiants et la culture, remain impotent in face of the few partial truths they have succeeded in demonstrating. For all their good intentions they fall back into professional morality; the inevitable Kantian ethic of a real democratization through a real rationalization of the teaching system - that is, of the teaching of the system; while their disciples, the Kravetzes, compensate for their petty0bureaucratic resentment with a hodgepodge of outdated revolutionary phraseology.

Point 9:

A true community consists of individuals - not mere species members, not couples - respecting each other's individuality and privacy, at the same time interacting with each other mentally and emotionally - free spirits in free relation to each other - and cooperating with each other to achieve common ends. Traditionalists say the basic unit of "society" is the family; "hippies" say the tribe; no one says the individual.

SPC,A will become members of the unwork force, the fuck-up force; they will get jobs of various kinds and unwork. For example, SPC,A salesgirls will not charge for merchandise; SPC,A telephone operators will not charge for calls; SPC,A office and factory workers, in addition to fucking up their work, will secretly destroy equipment.

SPC,A will unwork at a job until fired, then get a new job to unwork at.

SPC,A will forcibly relieve bus drivers, cab drivers, and subway token sellers of their jobs and run buses and cabs and dispense free tokens to the public.

SPC,A will destroy all useless and harmful objects - cars, store windows, "great art", etc.

Eventually, SPC,A will take over the airwaves - radio and TV networks - by forcibly relieving of their jobs all radio and TV employees who would impede SPC,A's entry into the broadcasting studios.

SPC,A will couple-bust - barge into mixed (male-female) couples, wherever they are, and bust them up.

Point 10:

It seems a man compelled to understand his actions in all their totality will undergo a metaphysical crisis wherein he becomes the simultaneous subject of his actions and the sole perceiver of their total implications. He is forced to perceive the total metaphysical and ethical consequences of the totality of his actions. Tsun becomes radically isolated as he must survive the compelling exertions of consciousness as a reality of this diaphanous consciousness itself. Tsun must execute and simultaneously perceive the execution as a final irrevocable act of his own destiny, and his own perception of that act as an act of total self-consciousness is its ultimate execution. Under these circumstances, any statement predicates its antithesis, and the result of each statement is a conflict of dichotomies. The dichotomies cannot be displaced through reconciliation, as the antithesis to the totality of any action in this Borgian dialectical construction is a vacuum. The dichotomies must be annulled and canceled by the reiteration of the context of the vacuum in which they occur. Yu Tsun, our hero of consciousness, is a nihilist. Following Borges, examining the superimposition of the executor of a nihilistic action upon the perceiving subject of the action and forcing their identity, is a nihilistic act in itself. Dialectics with a predetermined synthesis create a vacuum. Continuing dialectics within this vacuum is an act of nihilism.

Point 11:

Turn your cap back to front and root for the home team. Don't root. Root around bed without a partner. Cross dress. Memorize military nomenclature: theater of operations, corps, division, brigade, regiment, battalion… Root around bed with a partner, just make sure he's been tested and can prove it. Flick on the TV. Watch TV while swearing at the jingoism, sentimentality and consumer cannibalization of war. Fling your shoe at the telegenic TV anchordroid and miss, your shoe soaring through the empty window but being intercepted by a Patriot anti-missile-missile in mid flight, the impact demolishing a crack factory in the inner city, no casualties. Watch TV approving the jingoism, sentimentality and consumer cannibalization of war. Get stoned. Get stoned and watch the dissidents on TV throw stones and the occupation forces shoot rubber bullets and tear gas. Get stoned and listen to the optimistic estimates of the tens of thousands of allied bombing sorties which take out military and military-industrial targets but murder almost no civilians. Carpet bombing, cluster bombing, smart bombs, smart missiles… Get naked. Look in the mirror. Get a heart attack.

Point 12:

These Comments are sure to be welcomed by fifty or sixty people; a large number given the times in which we live and the gravity of the matters under discussion. But then, of course, in some circles I am considered to be an authority. It must also be borne in mind that a good half of this interested elite will consist of people who devote themselves to maintaining the spectacular system of domination, and the other half of people who persist in doing quite the opposite. Having, then, to take account of readers who are both attentive and diversely influential, I obviously cannot speak with complete freedom. Above all, I must take care not to give too much information to just anybody.

Our unfortunate times thus compel me, once again, to write in a new way. Some elements will be intentionally omitted; and the plan will have to remain rather unclear. Readers will encounter certain decoys, like the very hallmark of the era. As long as certain pages are interpolated here and there, the overall meaning may appear: just as secret clauses have very often been added to whatever treaties may openly stipulate; just as some chemical agents only reveal their hidden properties when they are combined with others. However, in this brief work there will be only too many things which are, alas, easy to understand.

Point 13:

I confess I am hesitant to take this leap, fearing a fall into some endless unknown. Shadows of all sorts swirl rapidly about me, creating high walls whose lack of substance I am powerless to prove. Yet these same shadows seem to yield not the slightest hint about one episode of my life, so oddly moving as it was revealed to be: several times I have recounted a series of facts relating to some intimate circumstances of my life, strange enough to deserve attention. Only a precise and absolutely careful reference to the emotional state of the subject to whom such things happen can furnish any basis for their evaluation. Surrealism has always suggested they be written like a medical report, with no incident omitted, no name altered, lest the arbitrary makes its appearance. The revelation of the immediate, bewildering irrationality of certain events requires the most severe authentication of the human document conveying them. The time in which such a poignant interrogation is inscribed seems far too valuable to permit additions or subtractions. It can only be rendered properly by considering, and having agreed, that it has really gone by.

Point 14:

How many times have you endured such a ritual as this? How many times have you sat this way, already half defending yourself against some imminent tedium or assault, and listened, or half listened, as paragons of intellectual productivity rose to offer you the fruits of their labors, what they have learned, what they have come to know.

But let me say, quite honestly and if possible without the slightest rhetorical ploy, that I find it difficult to proceed in that manner. I cannot offer you things I have conceived through hard labor, things I have established and known to be true. All I have to offer you are suspicions, fears, urges, superstitions, habits, the faintest of glimmers, things I imagine some of you will dismiss as nonsense, or useless, or worse.

Epilogue:

We, the dissociated students of Pomona College, in order to form a more perfect Student Union, establish justice, domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense promote the general welfare and secure blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the Students of Pomona College, Associated.

The Students of Pomona College, Associated, are what are name implies - students who have banded together. Students come first. We are not, and inherently against, bureaucratic machines that valuing an "association" first.

the structure: the Students of Pomona College, Associated (SPC,A) shall be headed by a prime minister and his cabinet.
the individual ministers shall be as follows: Minister of Truth, Minister of Information, Minister of Sex, Minister of Athletics, Minister of Recreation, Minister of Academics, Minister of Thought, Minister of Art, Minister of Campus Events, and Minister of Residence. the Ministers shall each head their own ministry of the same name. the official music group of the organization shall be named Minister of Sinister, lead by the President of Vice. ministers shall be addressed by the following title "Minister of (department) (first initial of last name. in the event that another minister of a similarly starting name exists, the newer minister shall incorporate the next unique letter in (s)he's last name into the title)" the floor rules shall not be Roberts Rules of Order, but instead the Queensboro Rules of Boxing. there may be no limits to the number of minister, unless limits are instated. there may be no restrictions on membership, unless restrictions are instated. any person, belonging to the people, may join the SPC,A in achieving its goals. the SPC,A functions to (re)present the people with a responsive student government.

additional responsibilities: in addition to carrying out their respective responsibilities, the SPC,A government shall operate a Residence Halls system.. Headed by the Minister of Residence, the system will provide SPC,A sponsors, resident advisors, and deans to the various on and off campus housing facilities. These positions shall compensate for the errors of the so-called "legitimate" offices. the minister of athletics shall also head the athletic liberateurs of pomona, leading the way to a whole new dia(th)lectic the Ministers of Sinister shall be the official musical group. They are fronted by the president of vice, and general secretary, with the police of thought assisting as backup.

derivation of power: power is derived by means of peaceful revolution. if power is not able to be obtained by means of peaceful means, a hostile coup is permissible.
members of the founding government are appointed by their dedication to the cause once stability has been maintained, as deemed by the prime minister, cabinet positions may be elected by a two thirds majority of the registered eligible voting population. if no candidate fails to win an election by the proscribed voting requirement , the incumbent minister shall retain power for an additional year. the spc,a retains the right to take any actions deemed necessary in order to maintain peace and power Ministers shall be elected twice yearly by the cabinet, at the start of each semester.

preliminary goals:

to represent those that the "aspc" (or other so-called "legitimate" bodies) fails to represent to reinstate the all important swim requirement for graduation to enforce a moratorium on the creation of new a capella groups, and disband excessive existing groups to reinstate the weight and measure day for both women and men during their freshman orientation to return pomona college and its students to the high level of social consciousness it had once attained to hold annual "drunk the dean" contests, in which students shall challenge college administration to publish a newsletter that will keep the spc'a public informed of all important matters. this newsletter may also be a conduit for slander, libel and defamation of character so long as said activity is limited to opponents of the spc,a to additionally publish a tabloid style newspaper

partial listing planned activities:

Swim Test It is clear that the ability to swim is important as a life skill. If a plane were to crash over a body of water, and people actually survive, the ability to swim would be necessary. If one were to fall into a pool, or off the side of a naval battleship or similar flotation device, the ability to swim and stay afloat is likewise necessary. Unfortunately, less and less Sagehens are capable of this feat. We propose to have swim parties, where sagehens will be able to learn, practice, and prove their skills in order for them to leave pomona prepared. We plan on gaining the support of administration, so that this test can once again be required as a part of graduation.

Swim tests will feature licensed life guards and swim instructors, live music of the highest calibar, smoothies and assorted tropical drinks, and tequila.

Weigh in Day Another great tradition of Pomona College, has been the weigh in day, where Freshman women would be weighed and measured by Senior men. Realizing the blatant sexism of this act, college officials ended it. SPC,A seeks to reinstate it, in a gender-neutral form. Male and female freshman shall be measured by male and female seniors upon entering the college. The human body is a precise machine and as such must be taken care of. Health is of the utmost importance, and SPC,A aims at reminding students how to take care of themselves during a day of various activities.

No Socks and Stocks Program SPC,A plans a public program of image building and maintenance. In efforts of improving student fashion, SPC,A will purchase new shoes for students willing to donate a pair of socks and leather sandals they would otherwise wear together to charity.

Student Activities Fund Enough money has been wasted by the so called "Committee for Campus Life and Activities" for events frequented by only an "elite" few. Programming shall return to the people.

Students of Pomona College, Associated Today The weekly newsletter shall promote the events and ideology of the SPC,A to all members of the Pomona Community.

The Truth Joint publication of the ministries of truth and information, seeks to discredit SPC,A opposition in a parody like way in order to escape standing slander, libel and defamation of character laws. Also known as a weekly campus humor magazine, The Truth shall feature entertainment stories and guides, as well as poke fun at unpopular ideas.

Residence Halls Staff SPC,A shall organize and maintain a residence halls staff. Each year sponsors shall be selected for the freshman, sophomore, and junior classes. These sponsors will live in residence halls with their sponsees, acting as peer advisors and helping them acclimate to pomona college life. There will also be three "head sponsors" who will oversee the sponsor system, underneath the minister of residence halls. The SPC,A will also operate a Resident Advisor staff, located within the residence halls. These resident advisors, also known as RAs, shall enforce the rules and regulations of the SPC,A. They reserve the right to cite, fine, and report the actions of any student or "pomona college RA" to the proper authorities. Additionally, the SPC,A will operate a network of Deans, responsible for the campus life.

Addendum to Constitution

Ministers shall be addressed by the following title "Minister of (department) (first initial of last name. In the event that another minister of a similarly starting name exists, the newer minister shall incorporate the next unique letter in (s)he's last name into the title)"

Ministers shall be elected twice yearly by the cabinet, at the start of each semester.

The floor rules shall not be Roberts Rules of Order, but instead the Queensboro Rules of Boxing.

There may be no limits to the number of minister, unless limits are instated.

Any person, belonging to the people, may join the SPC,A in achieving its goals.

The SPC,A functions to (re)present the people with a responsive student government.

Spring 1999 Officers

• Prime minister J. Vanasco
• Minister of Athletics D. Tuohy
• Minister of Truth M. Lieberman
• Minister of Information D. Check
• Minister of Beats J. Marietta
• Minister of Sex M. Purn
• Minister of Arts and Features Nora Lawrence
• Minister of Twee Camille Cettina
• Minister of Desserts and Snack Elise Nussbaum
• Ministers of Sinister (musical ambassadors) President of Vice ; General Secretary With their backup band Police of Thought
• Faculty Advisors
  1. Paul St. Amour

Unallocated: - Minister of Residence - Minister of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms - Minister of Thought - Minister of Foreign Affairs - Minister of Recreation - Minister of Academics - Minister of Campus Events

Budget Request

Students of Pomona College, Associated SPC,A Budget Request

The Students of Pomona College, Associated hereby request the sum of $ 0,000 in funding. This figure is based on the average voting turnout of past "ASPC". By these figures, it is clear that the so called "associated students of pomona college" are in fact not a legitimate governing body, averaging only % participation. As a true people's government claims total participation, we reject your "authority" over us and our surpressed brethren. We, the dissociated students of pomona college, assume our own leadership and guidance.

As our registered manifesto points out, the "APSC" is no associated group of pomona students, but instead a self serving machine, dedicated to forcibly raping its taxpayers with high tariffs and using the profit to serve its members needs. The wants of an elite few are too often put above the needs of the many. We rise out of the fire you have so many times tried to burn us in. Ashes no more, we are a united people, students associated, and will burn your suffocating hands.

We respectfully request that all fees, wrongfully assessed from ourselves and our constituents, be deposited into an account in our name.

In case you are wondering how we will use the peoples' money to achieve what you have continually failed to, this is a partial listing of our planned activites.

Swim Test

It is clear that the ability to swim is important as a life skill. If a plane were to crash over a body of water, and people actually survive, the ability to swim would be necessary. If one were to fall into a pool, or off the side of a naval battleship or similar flotation device, the ability to swim and stay afloat is likewise necessary. Unfortunately, less and less Sagehens are capable of this feat. We propose to have swim parties, where sagehens will be able to learn, practice, and prove their skills in order for them to leave pomona prepared. We plan on gaining the support of administration, so that this test can once again be required as a part of graduation.

Swim tests will feature licensed life guards and swim instructors, live music of the highest calibar, smoothies and assorted tropical drinks, and tequila.

Cost (based on 4 parties per academic year): 4,000 Swim instructors (4) 500 Live entertainment 2000 Smoothies and tropical drinks 1000 Tequila 500

Weigh in Day

$5000

Another great tradition of Pomona College, has been the weigh in day, where Freshman women would be weighed and measured by Senior men. Realizing the blatant sexism of this act, college officials ended it. SPC,A seeks to reinstate it, in a gender-neutral form. Male and female freshman shall be measured by male and female seniors upon entering the college. The human body is a precise machine and as such must be taken care of. Health is of the utmost importance, and SPC,A aims at reminding students how to take care of themselves during a day of various activities.

No Socks and Stocks Program

$10,000

SPC,A plans a public program of image building and maintenance. In efforts of improving student fashion, SPC,A will purchase new shoes for students willing to donate a pair of socks and leather sandals they would otherwise wear together to charity.

Student Activities Fund

$30,000

Enough money has been wasted by the "Committee for Campus Life and Activities" for events frequented by only an "elite" few. Programming shall return to the people.

Organizational Funding

$20,000

We maintain the right to organize, establish, register and fund new student groups.

Operational Expenses

$remainder

Copying, publicity, discretionary funds, miscellaneous operational costs, and account maintenance (trust fund seed money and miscellaneous funding reserves)

Students of Pomona College, Associated Today

$5,000

The weekly newsletter shall promote the events and ideology of the SPC,A to all members of the Pomona Community.

The Truth

$5,000

Joint publication of the ministries of truth and information, seeks to discredit SPC,A opposition in a parody like way in order to escape standing slander, libel and defamation of character laws. Also known as a weekly campus humor magazine, The Truth shall feature entertainment stories and guides, as well as poke fun at unpopular ideas.

Residence Halls Staff

$20,000

SPC,A shall organize and maintain a residence halls staff. Each year sponsors shall be selected for the freshman, sophomore, and junior classes. These sponsors will live in residence halls with their sponsees, acting as peer advisors and helping them acclimate to pomona college life. There will also be three "head sponsors" who will oversee the sponsor system, underneath the minister of residence halls. The SPC,A will also operate a Resident Advisor staff, located within the residence halls. These resident advisors, also known as RAs, shall enforce the rules and regulations of the SPC,A. They reserve the right to cite, fine, and report the actions of any student or "pomona college RA" to the proper authorities. Additionally, the SPC,A will operate a network of Deans, responsible for the campus life.

Scholarships

Two full scholarships, covering both tuition and room/board shall be established in the name of the SPC,A each year and awarded on the basis of commitment to the common cause.

Soccer Ball

$30

Three $10 soccer balls are required for the Athletic Liberateurs of Pomona, and three-sided soccer (only one soccer ball is needed for each game, but several are needed throughout the course of the year).

Big Table & Chairs

Big Table $4,000 Chairs $3,000

A big, round table is required in Frank dining hall to seat the executive board of the SPC,A and their friends. The table shall be made of natural wood, preferably oak or maple, to match existing dining room tables. Additionally, the chairs shall be cushioned and covered with burgundy colored velvet.

Ivory

$5,000

Supercuts

$12

Subscriptions

$170

One subscription to each: Playboy, Playgirl

A Large Bag Full of Quarters

$???

To be used for photocopies.

Depeche Mode

$50,000

The SPC,A requires $50,000 to reunite Depeche Mode to play at Frary Steps. The evening of a randomly chosen a capella performance, Depeche Mode shall turn on their amplifiers and start playing behind the Blue and White, just as they begin to sing. The power, authority and superiority of music with instruments will then be unquestionably asserted.

Knit Caps

$9.95 +tax

Five (5) $1.99 knit caps will be purchased from the Claremont Village Market. Each day, a new person will have the opportunity to wear a cap.

Golf Carts

2 The SPC,A requires 2 golf carts (the fast kind) to carry on its business. The carts should be new, painted virgin white, and feature velvet upholstery with gold tassels. A powered CD changer and fm radio stereo are also required of each cart, with accompanying subwoofer and powered amplifier.

The Circus

$25,000 The SPC,A wishes to bring the circus to Pomona College. Everybody likes the circus, especially little children and grandmothers, for either the animals (lions, and tigers, and elephants (oh my!)), stupendous feats (cannonball man, trapeze artists, contortionists or freaks), or clowns. The circus will play for one evening only, complete with a sideshow carnival, carousel, and games of chance. Everyone will have a pleasant time, with popcorn and cotton candy available.

Non Pastel Clothes

$300 The SPC,A, in the public interest, wishes to purchase new wardrobes consisting entirely of non-pastel clothing for Dan Check ('01) and Camille Cettina ('01).

Bullets

$400

Condoms

$5,000 SPC,A, will allocate $5 worth of condoms to each student on campus. Those who chose to remain celibate may trade with their friends for different styles, brands or colors, or just opt to play the very popular pog game with them.

Are there any people out there in Senior Tech roles in NYC interactive agencies, startups, and service companies -- preferably management oriented , but seasoned engineers would be welcome -- interested in starting a (bi)monthly roundtable ?

We'd sit down , or grab a drink , and chat about things

• Architectures we like and hate
• Vendors we love and despise
• Recent issues we've run into , and solutions we had
• Maybe we'd have presentations on software stacks or creative problems+solutions
• How your online project does what it does , and why you chose that platform ( but not what it does or even why it does it )

Things that would be completely banned and may result in a flaming bag filled with dog poo appearing on your stoop include:

• Startups pitching
• Vendors presenting
• Anything related to your business model
• Anyone that does marketing
• Anyone that is trying to 'network'
• Anyone who is going just to try and get a job. ( But if you are between jobs and want to participate, we'd be happy to have you! )

This would be modeled somewhat like the NYC BSD monthly meeting - ie: problem/solution oriented on presentations, but also have room for roundtable discussion. The point of the meeting would be to try and better ourselves , our teams, and our products.

The reason why this would be limited to management and engineers with the right attitude is that we're not concerned with why "Cake PHP is so awesome!" or "Rails Rocks!" -- we'd be concerned with business and architecture decisions -- the implications of choosing one framework over another; tips on how to avoid pitfalls; and learning from one another. Typically the people who make these decisions are managers - not developers.

Why? All of my friends out there are using drastically different combinations of OpenSource and Commercial technologies. All of the special interest groups are focused on a specific platform, and all of the NYC meetups are filled with people trying to pitch me something or give me their resume.

Interested? Email / Twitter / Facebook me !