poorboyoftroy

Natural filters applied Like all supplicants of literary cyberpunk, I’ve devoted a decent amount of armchair time to parsing the oft-quoted William Gibson-attributed maxim, “The future is already here -- it’s just not very evenly distributed.” Despite having some serious attribution issues, it is a favorite of technology optimists and a mainstay of douchebag keynotes for all sorts of industry conferences. It is generally interpreted as some version of the following -- that human progress realized in “the future” is generally technology-enabled and that those on the lower socio-economic rungs have less access to the technologies (the Internet, ubiquitous computing, etc.) with which “the future” manifests. A footnote would point out that, yes, many technologies have been distributed down the socio-economic ladder as they have become cheaper to manufacture at scale. There are other futures, though, largely outside of the experience of the global upper and middle classes. From Bhopa

For a sedentary person, I spend a lot of time thinking about public spaces. This isn't to say that it's particularly productive or profound thinking in nature -- but it borders on the prolific. Whether it's weekend farmers markets, coffee shops, large institutions spanning indoor and outdoor spaces like the Woodland Park Zoo, public transit, or the de facto agora that is the Central Public Library, the ritualization of public life engendered by the combination of architectural and urban planning design (as well as the omission of any design intent) is of endless interest to me. My commute unfortunately doesn't involve public transit at the moment, but I believe strongly in it and vote accordingly. Seattle's public transit funding and infrastructure is on the uptick, but it has a lot of ground to gain in what is an intrinsically west coast, car-besotted city in the midst of a population boom. Dedicated bus lanes and the recent expansion of light rail help, but w

Because the Internet is suffering from a dearth of content, especially from anonymous assholes with no journalist credentials, I have decided to throw my hat into the ring and contribute content at a staggeringly more aggressive pace than I have previously. I'm talking listicles, I'm talking social commentary on the state of the contemporary Internet, I'm talking general social commentary, I'm talking...well, actually, that about covers all possible content permutations. I'm kicking things off with my write-up of my top 5 albums of 2017. Gird yourselves for a wild ride... OK. Here we go. With the list. 1. Jlin - "Black Origami" Full disclosure: when this album released in May, I decided right then and there that it would be my favorite album of the year, that nothing could displace it from that accolade barring some sort of "OK Computer"-level event. I regret nothing. Jlin is peerless in both her particular toolkit, the footwork subg