Participatory democracy.

Participatory democracy.

To-day, thanks to LibriVox. The Decameron, book 1. The Plague comes to Florence.

“Free trade agreements” in the modern world are inevitably actually a means of massively ratcheting up global trade restrictions in the name of intellectual property, in order to protect the monopoly interests of of powerful copyright and patent holding corporations in the global North.

“Free trade agreements” in the modern world are inevitably actually a means of massively ratcheting up global trade restrictions in the name of intellectual property, in order to protect the monopoly interests of of powerful copyright and patent holding corporations in the global North.

To-day in Security Theater, the AU Alert system is activated and blasts a message to us through every available multimedia channel (including full-screen blinking !!! WARNING !!! messages literally popping up over my lab computer’s screen) to tell me that a “Suspicious person” had been reported at the Lowder business building wearing dark clothing, that the police were swarming the scene and that I should avoid the area. Shortly thereafter, the same system blasts a notice that everything’s all clear. What was so suspicious? Welp. “Auburn University students were briefly evacuated from Lowder business building on Auburn University’s campus Tuesday afternoon as police swept the building looking for a suspicious person who turned out to be wearing a medical brace.”

To-day in Security Theater, the AU Alert system is activated and blasts a message to us through every available multimedia channel (including full-screen blinking !!! WARNING !!! messages literally popping up over my lab computer’s screen) to tell me that a “Suspicious person” had been reported at the Lowder business building wearing dark clothing, that the police were swarming the scene and that I should avoid the area. Shortly thereafter, the same system blasts a notice that everything’s all clear. What was so suspicious? Welp. “Auburn University students were briefly evacuated from Lowder business building on Auburn University’s campus Tuesday afternoon as police swept the building looking for a suspicious person who turned out to be wearing a medical brace.” http://ift.tt/1Pha1Dh