☆ Hollow Point

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Simon Phipps

Each time I am told I should unreservedly respect decisions made by authorities in secret, I remember this song by Chris Wood. I always cry when I play it.

[youtube http://youtu.be/tI2YdHt_V7s]

In case you don’t recognise the story, it’s about Jean Charles de Menezes and his killing by British police whose certainty he was an Islamic terrorist overcame their humanity.

Folk music is still our folk memory. Bad laws limiting criticism of official business, restricting mention of trademark terms or preventing adaptation of popular culture will kill it and make us forget.

Filed under: ACTA, Music, Zeitgeist | Tagged: , | Comments Off on ☆ Hollow Point

☝ A Bright Future For LibreOffice

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Simon Phipps

Following on from my blog post at ComputerWorldUK, InfoWorld in the US asked me if I would write a column for them about LibreOffice. I gathered together the rather large number of positive news releases from the community in February and found a very positive story writing itself. You can find it at InfoWorld Open Sources today.

Filed under: InfoWorld | Comments Off on ☝ A Bright Future For LibreOffice