John Maeda on "post digital":

I am often asked what my term "post digital" signifies. It is a term that I created as a way to acknowledge a distinction between those that are passed their fascination with computers, and are now driven by the ideas instead of the technology. It is not an expression of Luddite-ism nor is it a loaded term like that icky "post modernism" business. If we are to consider the book by Nicholas Negroponte Being Digital as an affirmation that the computer has arrived, then the "post digital" generation refers to the growing few that have already been digital, and are now more interested in Being Human. Buying a good computer is easy. Being a good person is something that cannot be merely bought ... even on the great god of eBay.

President Bush, Dick Cheney and others who support the use of torture by the United States and its agents usually rely on the ticking time bomb argument. Sometimes torture is necessary to prevent a greater evil. I accept this argument. If my kid were kidnapped and the suspect was refusing to talk, I'd want Vic Mackey to do the questioning.

But it does not follow from the "ticking time bomb" argument that torture should be legal. The problem with making torture legal is that the government will abuse its powers. I do not trust the government, any government, to use this power responsibly. Leviathan must be heavily restrained, especially when it comes to torture.

Here is where economics can make a contribution. By making torture illegal we are raising the price of torture but we are not raising the price to infinity. If the President or the head of the CIA thinks that torture is required to stop the ticking time bomb then they ought to approve it knowing full well that they face possible prosecution. Only if the price of torture is very high can we expect that it will be used only in the most absolutely urgent of circumstances.

The torture victim faces incredible pain and perhaps death at the hands of his torturer. If these costs are to be born by the victim then we had better make damn sure that the benefits are also high and the only way we can do that is to make the torturer also bear some of the costs. Torture must not be cheap.

Everything in moderation, including and especially moderation.

If programmers got paid to remove code from sofware instead of writing new code, software would be a whole lot better.

As should be clear, this site is in the midst of a major redesign and reconceptualization. My blog has lay mostly fallow for some time now, and I've spent alot of time thinking about what format would better suit it to my self-publishing needs...

Most Fennesz sounds to me like Reaktor granular synthesis patches auto-evolving while an Austrian checks his email and/or online bank account, but this early tune makes hearty poetry from audio trimmings, static crackles powered by the Stones aura.

Programming is like sex, one mistake and you have to support it for the rest of your life.

Calatrava's dancer, then, is more like a marionette — controlled by visible means of support. But this doesn't detract from the design: the steel bracing is one of the handsomest things about this building. The frame curves right up the full height of the tower, highlighting the fluid, flowing form in a way that Calatrava's pseudo-cubes don't fully manage to do. This exoskeleton also connects the Turning Torso to a long tradition of skyscrapers whose form illuminates their structure. Louis Kahn once referred to the Seagram Building as a beautiful lady with hidden corsets, because its bracing was tucked behind Mies van der Rohe's exquisite facade; Calatrava's lady has confidently removed her dress.

A small feed of the last five photos I've posted to Flickr is now featured in the sidebar. As of this writing, those pictures are all of The Gates in Central Park which I was able to see while in New York a few weeks ago. There are currently over SIX THOUSAND photos tagged "gates" on Flickr — go start your saffron overdose.

Check out my entire set of photos of The Gates