ETech: Lessig Calls for Geeks to Code Money Out of Politics

But he doesn’t think legislators are by and large crooks who are taking bribes in exchange for votes. In fact, he says we may have the least bribery in our nation’s history.

But the money still corrupts in a number of ways. For instance, legislators, like scientists funded by drug companies, internalize their supporters’ interests.

“Money corrupts the process of reasoning”

“They get a sixth sense of how what they do might affect how they raise money.”

Let’s start with a public version control system that lets all of society see who is adding what to legislation and other important government documents.

Drugs, Body Modifications May Create Second Enlightenment

Coffee debuted in the late 17th century in Oxford, England — leading to rowdy coffee houses, jittery arguments and even an attempt by King Charles II to ban the substance for inspiring seditious behavior.
The other consequence: the Enlightenment.

I’ve often heard coffee houses mentioned as meeting places in various historical and revolutionary contexts. The idea that the coffee was to some extent the source of the revolutionary ideas is new to me.

The Adoption-Led Market

The switch for a mesh topology in society has led to easy access for everyone to Free software created by open source communities. The result is an emerging approach which is rapidly spreading for smaller software projects and in my view is the future of all software acquisition. The emerging approach is an adoption-led market.

In this approach, developers select from available Free software and try the software that fits best in their proposed application. They develop prototypes, switch packages as they find benefits and problems and finally create a deployable solution to their business problem. At that final point, assuming the application is sufficiently critical to the business to make it worthwhile to do so, they seek out vendors to provide support, services (like defect resolution) and more. Adoption-led users are not all customers; they only become so when they find a vendor with value to offer.

How green is your web page?

Saving carbon emissions with HTTP caching.

Assume a fully loaded server uses 100W. Six servers, year-round, consume 5,000 kilowatt-hours per year or approximately 500-1000 pounds of CO2 emissions.

Best Practices for Speeding Up Your Web Site

No quote but it’s still worth reading if you are interested in web development.