ramesh was here

Bershon is something I’ve been meaning to write about for ages now. Bershon is a word that I’m pretty sure is not really a word at all, but Erin and I, growing up in two different cities, both encountered it separately in our youth, and when we discovered in the early stages of getting to know each other that we’d both heard it, it was like pouring cement on our friendship. Both of us heard it used in exactly the same manner, namely the cool girls in middle school rolling their eyes and saying, “… and Kayla said yes, and I was like, ohmyGOD, whatever, I’m SO BERSHON.” I was unclear at first, but by using contextual clues and in conferring with Erin, we’ve determined that the spirit of bershon is pretty much how you feel when you’re 13 and your parents make you wear a Christmas sweatshirt and then pose for a family picture, and you could not possibly summon one more ounce of disgust, but you’re also way too cool to really even DEAL with it, so you just make this face like you smelled something bad and sort of roll your eyes and seethe in a put-out manner. Kelly Taylor from Beverly Hills, 90210 is the patron saint of bershon, as her face, like most other teenagers’, was permanently froze

C APIs in Extension and Extensible Languages

Abstract Scripting languages are used in conjuction with C code in two ways: as
extension languages, where the interpreter is embedded as a library into an applica-
tion; or as extensible languages, where the interpreter loads C code as add-on modules.
These two scenarios share many similarities, as in both of them two-way communi-
cation of code and data needs to take place. However, the differences between them
impose design tradeoffs that affect the C API that bridges the two languages, often
making a scripting language more suitable for extending than embedding, or vice-versa.
This paper discusses how these tradeoffs are handled in the APIs of popular scripting
languages, and the impact on their use as embedded or extensible languages.

Building Flexible and Extensible Web Applications with Lua

The World Wide Web is in constant renovation, with new technologies
emerging every day. Most of these technologies are still incipient, and there are few de
facto standards for this \new Web". There is a need for tools that can run with cur-
rent standard support, but which are exible and extensible enough to be eventually
ported to new APIs and to incorporate new technologies. On the other hand, many
Web developers cannot keep pace with the fast track of Web technologies. Therefore,
it is important for new tools to be simple enough to be mastered quickly by the aver-
age programmer. This paper presents CGILua, a Web development tool that matches
these requirements. The paper also discusses why this tool is being adopted in many
commercial and academic projects, focusing on issues such as exibility, extensibility,
simplicity, and portability.

Tche - a visual Environment for the Lua language

The Tche (Tiny Canvas-Hosted Environment) system is a visual environment that sup-
ports the direct manipulation of visual objects written in the Lua language. Tche was designed to be simple, portable and flexible, being also highly user customizable. Tche uses a workspace where the visual objects can be manipulated, modified and browsed. The system allows the use of text Lua commands, offering real-time interactions not available in conventional systems. We introduce other visual environments such as Visual Basic, ACE, Smalltalk, Oberon, SELF and Tcl/Tk, and briefly discuss the solutions and characteristics of each system in the direct manipulation of visual objects, ease of use and portability.

Labels: books, food for thought

Labels: books, food for thought

1. Robots are more than sex machines.
2. Artificial intelligence is still intelligence.
3. Robots are sensitive and responsive.
4. A robot will only create drama if I want it to.
5. Robots have off switches.
6. Accessories.
7. Robots are available for sexual adventure without elaborate discussions, permissions or restrictions.
8. The safest sex on the planet.
9. A robot can be a personal trainer for sex.
10. A robot is forever -- at least until the warranty runs out.

Labels: food for thought, science + technology

Alas, that premise is false right out the gate. For we already live in the openness experiment, and have for 200 years. It is called the Enlightenment -- with "light" both a core word and a key concept in our turnabout from 4,000 years of feudalism. All of the great enlightenment arenas -- markets, science and democracy -- flourish in direct proportion to how much their players (consumers, scientists and voters) know, in order to make good decisions. To whatever extent these arenas get clogged by secrecy, they fail.

How did we get the freedom we already have, becoming the first civilization in history to (somewhat) defy ancient patterns? Yes, it's imperfect, always under threat. We swim against hard currents of human nature. But reciprocal accountability is the innovation that lets us even try.

Labels: philosophy, politics

When I write and speak about privacy, I am regularly confronted with the mutual disclosure argument. Explained in books like David Brin's The Transparent Society, the argument goes something like this: In a world of ubiquitous surveillance, you'll know all about me, but I will also know all about you. The government will be watching us, but we'll also be watching the government. This is different than before, but it's not automatically worse. And because I know your secrets, you can't use my secrets as a weapon against me.

This might not be everybody's idea of utopia -- and it certainly doesn't address the inherent value of privacy -- but this theory has a glossy appeal, and could easily be mistaken for a way out of the problem of technology's continuing erosion of privacy. Except it doesn't work, because it ignores the crucial dissimilarity of power.

Labels: philosophy, politics