10th May, 2018 The Honorable Joseph P. Kennedy III United States House of Representatives 29 Crafts Street Suite 375 Newton, MA 02458 Dear Mr. Kennedy, As your constituent, I’ve been wanted to share my views with you on the current state of politics within our country, especially as I see individuals pushing for a “Blue Wave” as well as specifically pushing for you to run for President in 2020. I’ve spent the time since the election of Donald Trump trying to determine a path forward for our country. [Read More]

2017 was a tough year for a lot of people, myself included. Imagine, believing you can see something as plain as the nose on your face, and a large portion of the country just refused to see it. I thought I understood the truth, but the truth is, I was clueless. Trump was elected, against the will of the people, at least based upon popular vote. One again, the electoral college was enough to override the candidate with the most votes, putting in place a conservative that would undermine the progress that a Democrat had achieved. [Read More]

We Trusted Facebook With Our Data We trusted Facebook with our data. Facebook decided that trusting third parties was easier than properly restricting access. The quiz app violated Facebook’s trust by violating terms of service. Facebook violated our trust by making that possible. Like you said, the single sign on functionality is very useful. Facebook doesn’t have a monopoly on that functionality though. Here’s a security talk from 2010 highlighting some of their issues, but putting too much (IMO) of the blame on users instead of Facebook. [Read More]

The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of a copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by fines and federal imprisonment. I am a former criminal, although I was never caught for my repeated offences. My crime was a violation of the Digital Multimedia Copyright Act through the use of software to circumvent DRM on DVDs. I used an open source library known as DeCSS in order to allow me to watch legally purchased DVDs on my operating system of choice. [Read More]

People have been talking about the American Dream since the term was initially popularized by James Truslow Adams in 1931. Like most pithy sayings however, most people use it without understanding the original intent or the broader context. “But there has been also the American dream, that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. [Read More]

Trump is Uneducated I don’t necessarily think he’s dumb since he certainly has been successful in life, but the ignorance he shows on a near daily basis is just dangerous. He makes decisions that show that he either does not understand the potential impact of his actions, or just just does not care. I firmly believe that the world is incredibly complex,with every little factor impacting every other in ways that may not be seen or fully understood. [Read More]

Injustice of the Peace But it is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard. [Read More]

Given the state of the world these days, and especially with the state of our current leadership, I’ve been thinking a lot about privilege and personal accountability. I’d like to share those thoughts. “Peach blossom on Tet holiday” by williamchad3214 is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0 I consider myself to be a fairly successful individual. I am good at what I do and I am paid well for it. I did this without college and was largely self-taught, at least in a formal sense. [Read More]

I’d like to start off by saying I am not yet finished with the audiobook. I’m 6 hours in, with plenty still to cover. And that’s listening at 1.5x rate. I believe this is the most important piece of journalism in decades. Probably since the last time he took down a US President. The portrait of the current US administration either triggers my confirmation bias, or I’ve been building a pretty accurate mental model of what’s going on there. [Read More]

All you can control is your own actions. The actions you are capable of performing in the moment depend on your past actions, and the values which drove decisions in the moment. When you learn to handle the books for a small business, you become someone capable of handling the books for a small business. A skill which you can call upon to help pay the bills. When you learn to scam people, you become someone willing to scam people. [Read More]