Sense, Nonsense, and Not-Sense

[It's December Days time! There's no overarching theme this year, so if you have ideas of things to write about, I'm more than happy to hear them.]

The Internet Archive intends to copy itself to Canada in case the incoming administration gets censorial. Public libraries intend to keep the minimum of data and logs possible to prevent privacy intrusions by government order. People become creative and inventive in the ways that they route around censors and others who wish to stand in the way of information. Onion routing, for example, or the use of the virtual private network.

If you are confronted with keyword filters, then it's simple enough to find pages with images or videos that contain the information requested. (Not so great for the visually impaired, but I'll bet there are audio and other means that do the same.) Blacklists can be brute-forced, somewhat, to find things that aren't on the list. Whitelists can be turned into an aggravation headache for IT with deluges of requests. Port blockers can be tunneled around, credentials forged or stolen. Essentially, as technology advances, the technology to fool it advances as well. (It's a great line from My Teacher Flunked The Planet.)

But this also applies to social situations well. The Ashley Madison hack showed us that there were more than a few people who needed or wanted to route around the covenants they had put themselves in, without necessarily wanting to it being able to dissolve those agreements. People who don't want to be spied on by others, which could be partners, employers, or government entities, use library computers for their work and Internet searches. Or check out library materials for use in their lives, so that they can explore ideas and identities without having to deal with the judgment of others.

This is why it is essential that devices that are in your possession be under your control. What's phoning home on you is important to know. I also don't like having to make decisions between installing an operating system on a smartphone of my choosing and not being able to partake in cultural phenomena, but that also happens when someone gets overbroad and zealous about making sure a phone has never had anything that might lead to modification done to it.

Getting back to the actual point that started this post, the decision by the Internet Archive should be seen as good practice - since a lot of the servers that power websites and other things are located in the United States, it seems life a very prudent idea to have an off-site backup, in case the political climate shifts so strongly that the information in the Archive is at risk. Or in case bad things happen at the data center that houses the archive. I think it's a rather telling sign, though, that people who are dedicated to archiving and documenting what has happened online are making sure that they have plans to be outside the reach of the incoming administration. It's pretty bad now in surveillance and secrecy, thanks to the cover of fighting the Concept War, but they stayed put for that time. Now they're looking to move. While you can't easily stop things that want to be out in the open, because networks reroute around damaged nodes, you can make it difficult for anyone who wants to speak that truth.

It is my sincere hope that such measures do not become necessary to do one's work.

(And that any of you suffering under censorship of any form find the way to get out and tell the truth about it all.)

[It's December Days time! There's no overarching theme this year, so if you have ideas of things to write about, I'm more than happy to hear them.]

Giftmas and the holidays had some nice events. An OVA, a nice game, some books on comics, a gift card or two, some nice games for the digital platform, and Christmas cheer. A letter that warmed my heart. And time and games spent with friends.

And a couple attacks of the brainweasels, because no day is complete without them. The things I gave were much appreciated. The things I received, I also appreciate. Many thanks to all of you for being supportive of me, in all the capacities that you can and have been. I can only hope that I will continue to be worthy of your affection and friendship.

[It's December Days time! There's no overarching theme this year, so if you have ideas of things to write about, I'm more than happy to hear them.]

azurelunatic asked me a question that I have no answer to.

"What is love? What makes a good relationship?"

Well, I could describe it in terms of a profound lust for someone, a desire to know their body in every intimate way, to get excited sexually at the sight of their body, both from previous memories, anticipation of the future, and whatever imagination, fantasy, and creativity can produce. Love has that, or so I'm told.

"Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind."

Maybe love is the intimate time and touch, the shared things together, the massages, the making food, the doing things together, the holding hands, the places gone, the notes in lunches, the words exchanged on phone or Skype or anything else that communicates. The tiny gestures of intimacy that you can see in any grouping that has been together for long enough and that are still fond of each other.

"After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake."

Perhaps it involves a fiery intellect, a stimulating conversation, big and small issues discussed with each other, brains operating at high levels, debating and understanding, advocating and defending and making points, but never at the expense of each other. Puzzles solved together, games played and strategized and optimized to play their very best with and against each other. Nobody in the group will ever be bored with each other, and the pursuits of the mind will stretch on into infinity, possibly aided by the Singularity.

"After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire."

None of these capture the essence of love, although they do hint at aspects of it. Sexual compatibility, intimacy, intellectual compatibility, touch and affection, all of these things are important to me and love, but I've been raised and socialized to believe that love is an ineffable quality, a thing that you recognize when you have it, and not necessarily a thing that is built up by successful instances of compatibility and resolution of conflict and shared experience, even though that's likely what it is.

I can't describe it because I don't know what it is, and I haven't been given the tools to do it. And so, I don't think I've experienced it enough (or at all) to get a clue.

"And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave."

[It's December Days time! There's no overarching theme this year, so if you have ideas of things to write about, I'm more than happy to hear them.]

cxcvi wanted a rebuttal to the idea that 2016, as a year, should be elided or struck from the record as a year to be talked about because of all the horrible things that happened.

There's an obvious place to start - if 2016 turns out to be the start of a dark time, then we owe it to our descendants to preserve the year and its activities so that they can find the through lines, the connections, and the parts that came together and created the situation. It's the basic argument that those who fail to learn their history are required to repeat it.

Except in this case, I think it works more like an immunization - experience allows you to prevent a situation like that, or something similar enough to raise the alarm, from reoccurring, and you can pass along enough markers to your descendants that they can also recognize it and prevent it from happening. If, however, there's a strain that looks different enough that you can recognize it, but it's not the one that you're immunized against, you'll still fall prey to it. Eventually, you'll figure out what the common threads are and inoculate everyone against them, only to be struck by the next thing.

So, if you think this year sucked, figure out why, find the underlying aspects of that why, and propagate them into memory, along with possible solutions, if you have them.

But also, there's the second argument, one that's not focused on the long term ramifications, but very specifically on the people who are there, and it has to do with how people get through these kinds of times. Although I haven't yet read any of the works, I've been exposed to the fact that many of my circle are fans of Miles Vorkosigan and the setting in which he appears. From the same author, and with similar interest, is a setting of five gods, four that are acknowledged openly everywhere, and one that isn't. And a particular snippet grabbed me as one of interest.

And the Bastard grant us, in our direst need, the smallest gifts: the nail of the horseshoe, the pin of the axle, the feather at the pivot point, the pebble at the mountain's peak, the kiss in despair, the one right word. In darkness, understanding.

The small things that make big things, or that join with other things to become big, or provide hope and light in the darkness at the point where it is needed the most.

This year cannot be erased from memory or time because it contains so many good things in it along with the rotten ones. The politics all year was ugly, but it has also exposed a thing that was trying to hide itself and gain power in shadows. Perhaps the exposure and the sunshine will kill it before it can grow or do damage.

I got to meet excellent people this year, through conferences, conventions, and the Internet.

I wrote great stories, one of which may be the capstone of this year's efforts in fiction. They are generally well-received, if kudos counts and comments are to be given the right weight.

There were love memes, haiku fests, December Days, Just One Thing for so, so many days, and the multiple ways that people express the affection, admiration, and respect for each other, even if they've only met each other in text boxes and comment fields and all of the other ways that we connect in places other than faces to faces.

And there were games played, and hangouts made, and problems solved. And even on bad days there were things that were good. You can have your car burglarized and people will be willing to loan you spare tech. (You can curse within earshot of your Executive Director, and they grab a broom and dustpan and some sticky plastic and help you clean up.)

Sometimes, it turns out, cluelessness works in your favor. And other times, knowledge only increases your pain. And there are times where you have to take bold steps to protect what you have or to chase something worth running after.

The nail of the horseshoe.
The pin of the axle.
The feather at the pivot point.
The pebble at the mountain's peak.
The kiss in despair.
The one right word.

In darkness, understanding.