tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49909221026266882532026-01-09T05:29:19.365-05:00Go To HellmanThis machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender.Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14172740163003223132noreply@blogger.comBlogger433125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990922102626688253.post-71666338284361339862026-01-01T17:56:00.002-05:002026-01-01T18:01:23.788-05:00New Job: Project Gutenberg<p><i>Personal Note, January 1 2026: I have a new job: Executive Director of the <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation</a>. Here's what I wrote for PG's January Newsletter.</i></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Greetings from the new Executive Director</h2><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Z5oSgTUTMBlokIUVG2U0Q-sMaezWhIMO3QlzGhr3mz7lsIGqs_wezXSQ-DPsKU529w1CoKrnAebHZfKuP2e93QmyMtZuv1w0N0_Y6bBfmW_u9IN4weRQgZrblMEXCHVJBMlje0Ae3luPehuP20saqWkI5IdF5XDCzhXeDm7ISA9-xIFoWBEzeGzMM5k/s144/pg-logo-144×144.png" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Project Gutenberg logo with manual printing press" border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="144" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Z5oSgTUTMBlokIUVG2U0Q-sMaezWhIMO3QlzGhr3mz7lsIGqs_wezXSQ-DPsKU529w1CoKrnAebHZfKuP2e93QmyMtZuv1w0N0_Y6bBfmW_u9IN4weRQgZrblMEXCHVJBMlje0Ae3luPehuP20saqWkI5IdF5XDCzhXeDm7ISA9-xIFoWBEzeGzMM5k/s16000/pg-logo-144×144.png" /></a></div><br />Happy Public Domain Day! You might hear people say that books published in 1930 have "fallen" into the US Public Domain, or, that they have lost copyright "protection". This is not quite correct. Rather, books published in 1930 have been FREED of copyright restrictions. They have ASCENDED into the public domain and into the embrace of organizations like Project Gutenberg. They now belong to ALL of us, and we need to take care of them for future generations.<p></p><p>On October 21, Project Gutenberg lost its longtime leader, Greg Newby, to pancreatic cancer. I had agreed to step up as Acting Executive Director so that Project Gutenberg could continue the mission that had become Greg's life work: to serve and preserve public domain books so that all of us can use and enjoy them without restrictions. Although I've been doing development work for Project Gutenberg for the past 8 years, I did not really understand what Greg's job entailed, or how many tasks he had been juggling. Three months in, I'm still discovering mysterious-to-me aspects of the organization. I've also been amazed at the dedication and talent of the many volunteers behind Project Gutenberg and our sister organization, Distributed Proofreaders. And at the large number of donors who make the organization financially viable and sustainable. So as of 2026, with your support, I'm continuing as Executive Director.</p><p>In the past three months Project Gutenberg has proven to be resilient; we took a heavy blow and managed to keep going. My top priority going forward is to make Project Gutenberg even more sustainable as well as resilient. In other words, my job is be one runner in a relay race: take the baton and make sure I get it to the next runner. That's what we all have to do with public domain books, too. We want them to still be there in 50 years! Whether you're already a volunteer or booster, an avid reader, or just someone curious about what we do, I hope you'll help us pass that baton.</p><p> </p>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04483241450401134977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990922102626688253.post-77850902613519866402025-04-22T13:03:00.004-04:002025-04-22T13:03:51.674-04:00Boston Marathon Strava-verse: Paul Revere's ride<p>In seventh grade, Miss Phillips had me memorize "Paul Revere's Ride" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. So I did. After finishing "<a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2025/02/strava-verse.html">Jabberwocky</a>" to start off the year of run naming, it seemed obvious what my next effort would be. I calculated that I could arrange to end it on the day of the Boston Marathon, thus neatly tying the verse with the running. And to top it off, the "18th of April" cited in the poem was exactly 250 years ago on Friday.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEinzk4zLMiqCcVmHx7AWRj447yEU7IKeiu1szf-sw2i9jpiul_1ceLX8iPo5Cn6AAcgGZgBxGF-0uUQV2LxZpgF9HpkNmhOenTEmcDz6ecDEJxiQBHTfYWII0DDDtHSauT1camGOJSXrlFPLEn_qn7axj3Ua0Po7KeN4osXIUmIDvYy8ybDr8dceI9asI8" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Map showing the rout of th Boston Marathon" data-original-height="436" data-original-width="1088" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEinzk4zLMiqCcVmHx7AWRj447yEU7IKeiu1szf-sw2i9jpiul_1ceLX8iPo5Cn6AAcgGZgBxGF-0uUQV2LxZpgF9HpkNmhOenTEmcDz6ecDEJxiQBHTfYWII0DDDtHSauT1camGOJSXrlFPLEn_qn7axj3Ua0Po7KeN4osXIUmIDvYy8ybDr8dceI9asI8=w400-h160" title="Way to go Daniel and Crissa!" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh1W_mWrak831IaMxvUDU3LeUdGIqX7kax3B-ndKltnsIG6n_wA1UkwlNF8ToiuYfNwKeEAca_ZS1otxl8_fX_Tr1GaTMM5I4Pojd0JgtMLH8WazbixN_VuOl8rsKMtITCnDtOQisplJpaNG8POR-m4QYEQI_sn872VsaifjOGpEKI8Feg05eXbENt5KX0" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="text of Paul Revere's ride, as it originally appeared in The Atlantic" data-original-height="789" data-original-width="500" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh1W_mWrak831IaMxvUDU3LeUdGIqX7kax3B-ndKltnsIG6n_wA1UkwlNF8ToiuYfNwKeEAca_ZS1otxl8_fX_Tr1GaTMM5I4Pojd0JgtMLH8WazbixN_VuOl8rsKMtITCnDtOQisplJpaNG8POR-m4QYEQI_sn872VsaifjOGpEKI8Feg05eXbENt5KX0" width="152" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 12.376px; text-align: start;">"Paul Revere's Ride" was first published <br />in </span><i style="color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.376px; text-align: start;">The Atlantic Monthly</i><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 12.376px; text-align: start;"> in 1861.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p>On <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44637/the-landlords-tale-paul-reveres-ride">looking up the poem</a>, also titled "<a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44637/the-landlords-tale-paul-reveres-ride">The Landlord's Tale</a>", I discovered the poem's political undertones. It was written in the leadup to the Civil War, and Longfellow had been outspoken as an abolishionist. The poem was a call to action to Northerners, recalling their role in the American Revolution. So not irrelevant to the current situation.<div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/13551069765">Listen my children and you shall hear</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>of the midnight ride of Paul Revere
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>and of my runs like this one here.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/13573468667">On the eighteenth of April, in seventy-five</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Hardly a man is now alive who remembers that famous day and year,
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>or when the end of this poem shall arrive.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/13594001115">He said to his friend, "If the British march</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>By land or sea from the town to-night”
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>They be lost in New Jersey, no turnpike in sight.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/13603450528">Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>of the North Church tower as a signal light,—
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>One, if by land, and two, if by sea;
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>But if it be 'puter, then ye shall put three.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/13621201590">And I on the opposite shore will be,</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>ready to ride and spread the alarm
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>the royalists are coming and they mean to do harm!
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/13635505243">Through every Middlesex village and farm,</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>For the country folk to be up and to arm.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>On up the Park Street and down by the pond
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>to Chester, where merriment and good folk were found.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com//activities/13635505799">Then he said, "Good night!" and with muffled oar</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Silently rowed to the Charlestown shore
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>safe from the royalists and and their childish roar.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/13664974237">Just as the moon rose over the bay,</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Where swinging wide at her moorings lay
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>An emperor who would have his way
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/13673821088">The Somerset, British man-of-war; A phantom ship</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>… with each mast and spar
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>across the moon like a prison bar,
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>that traitorous rogue will go too far.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/13696776204">And a huge black hulk, that was magnified</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>by its own reflection in the tide,
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>For the pacer and the patriot,
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>there's no place left to hide.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/13708612242">Meanwhile, his friend, through alley and street</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Wanders and watches with eager ears,
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>wondering what we can do in these years.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/13718410597">Till in the silence around him he hears</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>the muster of men at the barrack door,
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>while the good folk of the country wish back on before.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/13737124098">Marching down to their boats on the shore.</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Forgetting their watches, they ran point eight four.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/13736994723">The sound of arms, and the tramp of feet</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>and the measured tread of the grenadiers,
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>…already tired of the next few years.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/13746141923">Then he climbed the tower of the Old North Church</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>By the wooden stairs, with stealthy tread,
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>the view kept coming, no need to search
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/13759584283">To the belfry-chamber overhead,</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>"Resist! Resist!" he angrily said
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>And startled the pigeons from their perch.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/13769071690">On the sombre rafters, that round him made masses</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>and moving shapes of shade,
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>seen through hay-air glasses.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/13781710359">By the trembling ladder, steep and tall,</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>to the highest window in the wall
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>for in the coming fateful brawl,
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>he will see the mighty fall.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/13785745875">Where he paused to listen and look down</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>A moment on the roofs of the town
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>the sun would soon rise and the breads would be round.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/13785746568">And the moonlight flowing over all.</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Crescent and full, they're having a ball.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/13810064969">Beneath, in the churchyard, lay the dead</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>in their night-encampment on the hill
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Warning lights blaring red,
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>this couldn't be a drill.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/13823904490">Wrapped in silence so deep and still</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>that he could hear,
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>like a sentinel's tread,
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>the muskrat's sneer
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>as he left them for dead.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/13838636111">The watchful night-wind, as it went</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>creeping along from tent to tent,
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>And seeming to whisper, "All is well!",
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>but veterans all, ’twas bad news to tell.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/13851007609">A moment only he feels the spell</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>of the place and the hour,
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>A code for unlocking the library’s power.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/13866611544">and the secret dread of the lonely belfry and the dead;</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Sixteen falcons thundering overhead
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/13875838915">For suddenly all his thoughts are bent
</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/13875838915">on a shadowy something far away</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Put in the water, a drone menace on the quay.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/13883232921">Where the river widens to meet the bay,</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>three walkers ramble in a state of dismay.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/13888919378">A line of black that bends and floats on the rising tide</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>like a bridge of boats coming to destroy, despite our votes.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/13898724341">Meanwhile, impatient to mount and ride, booted and spurred</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>with a heavy stride he knew that those soldiers were on the wrong side.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/13898724705">On the opposite shore walked Paul Revere.</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Now he patted his horse's side,
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>no yielding today,
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>he was wholly without fear.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/13912352549">Now gazed at the landscape far and near</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Then, impetuous, stamped the earth,
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Hoping present horrors would give way to rebirth.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/13931377298">And turned and tightened his saddle girth</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>But mostly he watched with eager search
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Five or six hundred? He wondered the worth.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/13940675506">The belfry-tower of the Old North Church, as it rose</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>above the graves on the hill,
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>his fear for his country grows and grows.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/13948040041">Lonely and spectral and sombre and still.</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>And lo! as he looks, on the belfry's height,
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>a somber thought. might is not right.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/13955133287">A glimmer, and then a gleam of light!</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>He springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns;
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>danger approaches with heighted concerns.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/13963812426">But lingers and gazes, till full on his sight</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>a second lamp in the belfry burns!
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>By sea it will be
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>that good people defeat the tyrant's might.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/13987441938">A hurry of hoofs in a village street,</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>a shape in the moonlight,
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>a bulk in the dark,
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>a sheet on the mark.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/13997353562">And beneath, from the pebbles, in passing, a spark</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Struck out by a steed flying fearless and fleet
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Feet flying forward like a harley in heat.</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/14012684736">That was all!</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>And yet, through the gloom and the light,
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>the fate of a nation was riding that night;
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>in two years or late, all will be put right.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/14020031296">And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Kindled the land into flame with its heat
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>for justice and doing all that is right.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/14029601410">He has left the village and mounted the steep</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>And beneath him, tranquil and broad and deep,
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>are the values and promises we keep.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/14053732155">Is the Mystic, meeting the ocean tides;</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>And under the alders, that skirt its edge,
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>trouble may be coming but still hope resides
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/14063668426">Now soft on the sand, now loud on the ledge,</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Is heard the tramp of his steed as he rides.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Our trusty band stay true to their pledge.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/14072993784">It was twelve by the village clock</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>When he crossed the bridge into Medford town,
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>he heard the crowing of the cock,
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>running round and roun' the anserine flock
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/14080640536">And the barking of the farmer's dog,</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Who sniffed a rat come into town
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>And felt the damp of the river fog,
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>That rises after the sun goes down.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/14082815934">It was one by the village clock,</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>when he galloped into Lexington
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>while everything had gone amok,
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>way down in Washington
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/14087279450">He saw the gilded weathercock swim</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>in the moonlight as he passed
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>No time for talk, too late now,
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>the tyranny would not last.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/14099285846">And the meeting-house windows, blank and bare,</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>gaze at him with a spectral glare
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/14121402177">It was two by the village clock,</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>When he came to the bridge in Concord town.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>With a figure of love he took the walk
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/14131932610">He heard the bleating of the flock</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>and the twitter of birds among the trees
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>the sheep felt a shock
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>and the twitter said "Oh Please!"
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/14141257233">And felt the breath of the morning breeze</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>blowing over the meadows brown.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Till the running faeries squeeze
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>colors over cap and gown.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/14158329452">And one was safe and asleep in his bed</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Who at the bridge would be first to fall,
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Not from the sleet pelting on his head
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Nor from fog depressing us all
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/14165327311">Who that day would be lying dead,</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>pierced by a British musket-ball.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Facing a taxing dread,
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>against a tyrant we must still stand tall.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/14174388936">You know the rest. In the books you have read,</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>how the British Regulars fired and fled,
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>They failed the test as shall we all,
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>if we don't heed the siren call.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/14178327505">How the farmers gave them ball for ball,</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>From behind each fence and farm-yard wall,
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Poor souls trapped in the tyrant's thrall.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/14179131118">Chasing the red-coats down the lane,</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Then crossing the fields to emerge again
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Confused by the tumult of where and when.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/14189166215">Under the trees at the turn of the road</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>They’ve trampled good faith,
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>ignored all the code.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>And only pausing to fire and load.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/14194560247">So through the night rode Paul Revere;</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>hoping to save values we hold dear.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/14198791346">And so through the night went his cry of alarm</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>To every Middlesex village and farm,
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>by Essex schools in hurried flight.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/14207904534">A cry of defiance and not of fear</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Shouting a message so powerful, so clear.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/14215636077">A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>And a word that shall echo forevermore!
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Two hundred fifty years to the day
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>That echo rings, it won't go away.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/14222777905">For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Through all our history, to the last
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>The present is tiny, our future is vast.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://strava.com/activities/14236745716">In the hour of darkness and peril and need</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>The people will waken and listen to hear
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>No matter their sex, gender, color race or creed
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>A message so powerful, so urgent and clear.
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><a href="/activities/14243828246">The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,</a></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>The crowds of townsfolk who shout and cheer
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>Those who run today and speed
</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><i>the midnight message of Paul Revere.</i></span></div></blockquote><div>
<br /></div><div>I came up with a name for what I'm doing: "<i>intercalated verse</i>". Look it up.</div><div><br /></div><div>Why I'm doing it? Sometimes I get an idea and I am unable not to do it.</div>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04483241450401134977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990922102626688253.post-66547100440512728832025-03-21T18:19:00.008-04:002025-03-27T12:26:24.363-04:00AI bots are destroying Open Access<p>There's a war going on on the Internet. AI companies with billions to burn are hard at work destroying the websites of libraries, archives, non-profit organizations, and scholarly publishers, anyone who is working to make quality information universally available on the internet. And the technologists defending against this broad-based attack are doing everything they can to preserve their outlets while trying to remain true to the mission of providing the digital lifeblood of science and culture to the world.</p><p>Yes, many of these beloved institutions are under financial pressures in the current political environment, but politics swings back and forth. The AI armies are only growing more aggressive, more rapacious, more deceitful and ever more numerous.</p><p>I'm talking about the voracious hunger of AI companies for good data to train Large Language Models (LLMs). These are the trillion-parameter sets of statistical weights that power things like Claude, ChatGPT and hundreds of systems you've never heard of. Good training data has lots of text, lots of metadata, is reliable and unbiased. It's unsullied by Search Engine Optimization (SEO) practitioners. It doesn't constantly interrupt the narrative flow to try to get you to buy stuff. It's multilingual, subject specific, and written by experts. In other words, it's like a library.</p><p>At last week's <a href="https://2025.code4lib.org">Code4lib conference</a> hosted by Princeton University Library, technologists from across the library world gathered to share information about library systems, how to make them better, how to manage them, and how to keep them running. The hot topic, the thing everyone wanted to talk about, was how to deal with bots from the dark side.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPjgzV0ZOwXdA8Zdw_C3yE7fn9e7lkrTxGcu49H3uz2_NyrpVpbIenpI8oQ2kUEqv3MuCD5m6UyFB12lpLUWDlVcY4Qc77Yj5u9ERzsmks9IN26pP18zWiAM6UjYMeanipbFtOHdrJb1VBRHrBloTxuyrqudi8a_A5oZb905b8vhjLme7hFWGejUDmmkw/s810/eyesofbot.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="robot head emoji with eyes of sauron" border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="778" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPjgzV0ZOwXdA8Zdw_C3yE7fn9e7lkrTxGcu49H3uz2_NyrpVpbIenpI8oQ2kUEqv3MuCD5m6UyFB12lpLUWDlVcY4Qc77Yj5u9ERzsmks9IN26pP18zWiAM6UjYMeanipbFtOHdrJb1VBRHrBloTxuyrqudi8a_A5oZb905b8vhjLme7hFWGejUDmmkw/w192-h200/eyesofbot.jpg" width="192" /></a></div><p>Bots on the internet are nothing new, but a sea change has occurred over the past year. For the past 25 years, anyone running a web server knew that the bulk of traffic was one sort of bot or another. There was googlebot, which was quite polite, and everyone learned to feed it – otherwise no one would ever find the delicious treats we were trying to give away. There were lots of search engine crawlers working to develop this or that service. You'd get "script kiddies" trying thousands of prepackaged exploits. A server secured and patched by a reasonably competent technologist would have no difficulty ignoring these.</p><p>The old style bots were rarely a problem. They respected robot exclusions and "nofollow" warnings. The warning helped bots avoid volatile resources and infinite parameter spaces. Even when they ignored exclusions they seemed to be careful about it. They declared their identity in "user-agent" headers. They limited the request rate and number of simultaneous requests to any particular server. Occasionally there would be a malicious bot like a <a href="https://docs.stripe.com/disputes/prevention/card-testing">card-tester</a> or a <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/topic/registration-spam-problem/">registration spammer</a>. You'd often have to block these based on IP address. It was part of the landscape, not the dominant feature.</p><p>The current generation of bots is mindless. They use as many connections as you have room for. If you add capacity, they just ramp up their requests. They use randomly generated user-agent strings. They come from large blocks of IP addresses. They get trapped in endless hallways. I observed one bot asking for 200,000 nofollow redirect links pointing at Onedrive, Google Drive and Dropbox. (which of course didn't work, but Onedrive decided to stop serving our Canadian human users). They use up server resources – one speaker at Code4lib described a bug where software they were running was using 32 bit integers for session identifiers, and it ran out!</p><p>The good guys are trying their best. They're sharing block lists and bot signatures. Many libraries are routinely blocking entire countries (nobody in china could possibly want books!) just to be able to serve a trickle of local requests. They are using commercial services such as Cloudflare to outsource their bot-blocking and captchas, without knowing for sure what these services are blocking, how they're doing it, or whether user privacy and accessibility is being flushed down the toilet. But nothing seems to offer anything but temporary relief. Not that there's anything bad about temporary relief, but we know the bots just intensify their attack on other content stores.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20241203035218/https://direct.mit.edu/web/20241203035218/https://direct.mit.edu/books/search-results?f_ContentType=Book&fl_SiteID=5&page=1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="direct.mit.edu Verifying you are human. This may take a few seconds. direct.mit.edu needs to verify the security of your connection before proceeding. Verification is taking longer than expected. Check your internet connection and refresh the page if the issue persists." border="0" data-original-height="948" data-original-width="964" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1VALy_VYV_XcUxIm2SnIcumRG502CYbJO92d6iu7faDGYjubnQh0_W3PSe9U25bMSAeiV9q0R18DQDahwz9ipx1dDRwiOV36CZvwPPjp2cCBdmWyEoSHEQD6RBiEyJATbgwT9IXeRRqifYF9U_QTVtQ87nZ8vTY8FopogAy_esfikkFHoLu-COBGjFck/w320-h315/cfmit.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view of MIT Press's Open-Access site from the Wayback Machine.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />The surge of AI bots has hit Open Access sites particularly hard, as their mission conflicts with the need to block bots. Consider that Internet Archive can no longer save snapshots of one of the best open-access publishers, MIT Press <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20241203035218/https://direct.mit.edu/web/20241203035218/https://direct.mit.edu/books/search-results?f_ContentType=Book&fl_SiteID=5&page=1">because of cloudflare blocking</a>. (see above) Who know how many books will be lost this way? Or consider that the <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/oapenbooks.bsky.social/post/3lklakcnecc2x">bots took down OAPEN</a>, the worlds most important repository of Scholarly OA books, for a day or two. That's 34,000 books that AI "checked out" for two days. Or recent outages at <a href="https://gutenberg.org">Project Gutenberg</a>, which serves 2 million dynamic pages and a half million downloads per day. That's hundreds of thousands of downloads blocked! The link checker at <a href="http://doab-check.ebookfoundation.org">doab-check.ebookfoundation.org</a> (a project I worked on for OAPEN) is now showing 1,534 books that are unreachable due to "too many requests". That's 1,534 books that AI has stolen from us! And it's getting worse.<p></p><p>Thousands of developer hours are being spent on defense against the dark bots and those hours are lost to us forever. We'll never see the wonderful projects and features they would have come up with in that time.</p><p>The thing that gets me REALLY mad is how unnecessary this carnage is. Project Gutenberg makes all its content available with one click on a file in its feeds directory. OAPEN makes all its books available via an API. There's no need to make a million requests to get this stuff!! Who (or what) is programming these idiot scraping bots? Have they never heard of a sitemap??? Are they summer interns using ChatGPT to write all their code? Who gave them infinite memory, CPUs and bandwidth to run these monstrosities? (Don't answer.)</p><p>We are headed for a world in which all good information is locked up behind secure registration barriers and paywalls, and it won't be to make money, it will be for survival. Captchas will only be solvable by advanced AIs and only the wealthy will be able to use internet libraries.</p><p>Or maybe we can find ways to destroy the bad bots from within. I'm thinking <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ">a billion rickrolls</a>?</p><p>Notes:</p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>I've found that I can no longer offer more than 2 facets of faceted search. Another problematic feature is "did you mean" links. AI bots try to follow every link you offer even if there are a billion different ones.</li><li>Two projects, <a href="https://iocaine.madhouse-project.org/">iocaine</a> and <a href="https://zadzmo.org/code/nepenthes/">nepenthes</a> are enabling the construction of "tarpits" for bots. These are automated infinite mazes that bots get stuck in, perhaps keeping the bots occupied and not bothering anyone else. I'm skeptical.</li><li><a href="https://github.com/samvera-labs/bot_challenge_page/">Here</a> is an implementation of the Cloudflare Turnstyle service (supposedly free) that was mentioned favorably at the conference.</li><li>It's not just open access, <a href="https://thelibre.news/foss-infrastructure-is-under-attack-by-ai-companies/">it's also Open Source</a>.</li><li>Cloudflare has announced <a href="https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/03/cloudflare-turns-ai-against-itself-with-endless-maze-of-irrelevant-facts/">an "AI honeypot"</a>. Should be interesting.</li><li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #f8f8f8; color: #1d1c1d; font-size: 15px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;">One way for Open Access site to encourage good bot behavior is to provide carrots to good robots. For this reason, it would be good to add Common Crawl to greenlists: </span><a class="c-link" data-sk="tooltip_parent" data-stringify-link="https://commoncrawl.org/ccbot" delay="150" href="https://commoncrawl.org/ccbot" navigationtraceid="T0B3FR8CQ-to-Thread:thread" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">https://commoncrawl.org/ccbot</a></span></li><li>Ian Mulvaney (BMJ) <a href="https://world.hey.com/ian.mulvany/ai-bot-traffic-a-real-problem-right-now-a6a513a3">concurs</a>. </li></ol><p></p><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04483241450401134977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990922102626688253.post-48637989032829537842025-02-11T21:59:00.001-05:002025-02-11T22:00:07.510-05:00Strava Verse<div class="separator" style="clear: both; padding-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1645Y9RMSoN-kYOuO9tAL8mKdzGU8OjEAYg020gf9fCdOjvvjztxi8JjdwEU7szD7UwzgWeFke_lXe-b36KXkDi7ij-tUjLltRcwLL-2P57IVIwaRpgrmeR_smrw_uJiGuBEPDNQ8YdmbcoYPAl7GorrSknwWP3I6agfycS6bhnfTTcE-RxABdKpTkp8/s862/elefanten.jpg" style="padding-left: 1em;"><img alt="strava route that looks like an elephant" border="0" data-original-height="862" data-original-width="736" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1645Y9RMSoN-kYOuO9tAL8mKdzGU8OjEAYg020gf9fCdOjvvjztxi8JjdwEU7szD7UwzgWeFke_lXe-b36KXkDi7ij-tUjLltRcwLL-2P57IVIwaRpgrmeR_smrw_uJiGuBEPDNQ8YdmbcoYPAl7GorrSknwWP3I6agfycS6bhnfTTcE-RxABdKpTkp8/w225-h264/elefanten.jpg" style="float: right; padding-left: 1 em;" width="225" /></a></div>The internet gives us new ways to express ourselves. One of the more strenuously esoteric forms of artistic expression is <a href="https://stories.strava.com/articles/13-of-the-most-incredible-pieces-of-strava-art-weve-spotted">Strava art</a>, in which people do runs that, when mapped, draw pictures. None of my strava art was particularly good, but my running club friends in Stockholm regularly run "<a href="https://www.strava.com/activities/13448397711">elefanten</a>". I spent a year attempting "Found Strava Art", where you just run a new route and give the run a name based on what it looks like. I ran a lot of flowers and space ships, but meh. Last year <a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2024/05/running-song-of-day.html">I named each run with a line of a song</a> that came up on my iPod. Too obscure.<div><br /></div><div>This year I decided to serialize poems with my Strava runs. I didn't have a plan, but I started with <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42916/jabberwocky">Jabberwocky</a>. It seemed appropriate to comment using nonsense words, because, Jabberwocky. I ended up <a href="https://www.strava.com/activities/13239343036">with this</a>:</div><div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><div>’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe</div></div><div><div>I love running with my slithy toves!</div></div><div><div>All mimsy were the borogoves, and the mome raths outgrabe.</div></div><div><div>My right knee was a grobble mimsy today, but mome what a rath! </div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><div>Beware the Jabberwock, my son!</div></div><div><div>Also, the Jabberrun can be hard on the knees.</div></div><div><div>The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!</div></div><div><div>ERC hosted run had quiche to bite and George to catch.</div></div><div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>He took his vorpal sword in hand</div></div><div><div>New York Sirens game. Women with vorpal sticks. Slain by the Charge 3-2.</div></div><div><div>Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun the frumious Bandersnatch!</div></div><div><div>Definitely well salted and frumious out there today.</div></div><div><div>Long time the manxome foe he sought</div></div><div><div>But quick the manxless chill he caught</div></div><div><div>So rested he by the Tumtum tree</div></div><div><div>Covered with snow in filagree</div></div><div><div>And stood a while in thought.</div></div><div><div>Though clabbercing in a profunctional dot!</div></div><div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>And, as in uffish thought he stood</div></div><div><div>Trolloping thru the Brookdale wood.</div></div><div><div>The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame</div></div><div><div>Cheld and hord, a glistering name…</div></div><div><div>Came whiffling through the tulgey wood</div></div><div><div>And caught the two burblygums because he could.</div></div><div><div>And burbled as it came!</div></div><div><div>So late the Jabberrun slept</div></div><div><div>For Eight Muyibles passed as though aflame</div></div><div><div>O'er Curbles and Nonces the pluffy sheep leapt.</div></div><div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>One, two! One, two! And through and through</div></div><div><div>Three four! Three four! Sankofa’s coffee’s fit to pour.</div></div><div><div>The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!</div></div><div><div>The Icebeest of Hoth kept blobbering back.</div></div><div><div>He went galumphing back.</div></div><div><div>He left it dead, and with its head</div></div><div><div>… the Garmind sprang to life</div></div><div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?</div></div><div><div>The ice, the snow, it's hard as rock.</div></div><div><div>Come to my arms, my beamish boy!</div></div><div><div>Think of my knees! Oy oy oy oy.</div></div><div><div>O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”</div></div><div><div>O jousbarf night! The fluss! The fright!</div></div><div><div>He chortled in his joy.</div></div><div><div>(And padoodled the rest of of the way!)</div></div><div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>‘Twas brillig and the slithy toves</div></div><div><div>Did not, had not, could not loave.</div></div><div><div>Did gyre and gimble in the wabe</div></div><div><div>“Dunno.” said the wormly autoclave</div></div><div><div>All mimsy were the borogoves,</div></div><div><div>Again and again, beloo and aboave</div></div><div><div>And the mome raths outgrabe.</div></div><div><div>The end. Ooh ooh Babe!</div></div></blockquote><div><br /></div><div>Terrible right? But it has its moments.</div><div><br /></div><div>I've started <a href="https://www.strava.com/activities/13551069765">a new one</a>. I fear it will get more topical.</div><div><br /></div><div>Notes:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>I previously invented "<a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2017/04/copyrighted-clickstream-poetry-to-stop.html">clickstream poetry</a>". It never caught on.</li></ul></div>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04483241450401134977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990922102626688253.post-6766522337511332282024-11-12T11:15:00.002-05:002024-11-12T11:18:46.263-05:00Thank you, New York City<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVBeGZ8f9I1rVQJCDQ3CvDKDYxgt9Z9G-8rnqli3UlxbZJAyvsUCGjGy9Q2W_XPWCeXFYHTjfQtMc6nPPnclpiR0p4yxaZva3BJVzPPeER5WPcqlnM6EXfmTrdcTqLbRhrHWdh5OdZSrzW5NL8XE95ymiWpu5YmhTTh8MbMB6GFMA1ouiFaaHcSHBS9wk/s2048/VNBfrom%20Bob.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1ex; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="A smiling Eric, next to a sign for "TCS New York City Marathon", the verrazano Narrows Bridge against a pink morning sky in the background." border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVBeGZ8f9I1rVQJCDQ3CvDKDYxgt9Z9G-8rnqli3UlxbZJAyvsUCGjGy9Q2W_XPWCeXFYHTjfQtMc6nPPnclpiR0p4yxaZva3BJVzPPeER5WPcqlnM6EXfmTrdcTqLbRhrHWdh5OdZSrzW5NL8XE95ymiWpu5YmhTTh8MbMB6GFMA1ouiFaaHcSHBS9wk/w320-h240/VNBfrom%20Bob.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">fresh off the bus</td></tr></tbody></table>It was 11:15AM in the pink D corral of the fifth wave, and surrounding me were runners of all shapes and sizes, from around the world, all of us waiting for our race to start in 15 minutes. We had waited through the morning (five hours for me) as our faster friends drifted away excitedly and cannons sounded the starts of earlier waves. There was a determined silence as each of us thought ahead to our <a href="https://www.nyrr.org/races/2024tcsnewyorkcitymarathon">2024 New York City Marathon</a>.<p></p><p>A few meters to my right I saw a woman wearing a large pink button proclaiming her status as a "Birthday Girl". Her shirt had the name "HEATHER" across the front. I shouted "HAPPY BIRTHDAY HEATHER!", and she turned to look at me, a bit startled. I walked over and we chatted a bit. She was from the UK, and was running New York to celebrate turning 50. I told her she was going to have fun, and that the crowd would be calling to her the whole way. "Really?" she said. "Hey, this is New York", I reassured her. "You don't have to know someone 10 years before you can talk to them on a first name basis!"</p><p>Then, over to the side of the corral, I saw another woman, wearing a BIRTHDAY GIRL shirt. "Heather, you <i>must</i> go over and wish her happy birthday!" Heather hesitated, but I said "Aw come on!" and led her through the crowd to the other birthday girl. The two marathon twins hugged, and everything felt right with the world. I looked around and the crowd seemed a bit anxious waiting. I shouted "Hey everyone! We have two birthday girls running with us! Let's sing Happy Birthday!"</p><p>And so I led a happy chorus of more than a thousand runners in a joyful rendition of "Happy Birthday". Miraculous. My whole day was like that. From start to end, the crowd was shouting my name. They got riled up when I acknowledged them, sometimes chanting "ERIC, ERIC, ERIC" as I gave them high fives. </p><p>I had decided to run the 2024 New York City Marathon about ten months earlier. A friend heard me talk about running and suggested that I get a fundraising entry through the charity he was involved with. At that point I had just run my 11th Half Marathon but never a marathon. A marathon seemed an unnecessary stretch for me and my creaky legs. But I decided in an instant. Two days later I told a running friend, Janell, and a few others about my decision. I knew I couldn't back out after that.</p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCYOvmZEczm1_0-V-Ds8IyTou5VMU9B60S600m5HLtavJ9mURhakLoBgNQo44z-XghROevbab3YvKh6VC7zOqneLbpsTTLk7vWaKerwDX5zhrPRs24G_08lNJh-EheIE9xBFMj9uVj7GJRPgZTvI0aeNLAs73hnYJggL1oT2ev7JsnDiCAaeo3A9bY18A/s2372/IMG_9103.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: 1ex;"><img alt="Eric is running, wearing a "Team Amref" singlet, an orange "81 flies on" cap, and blue Fleet Feet "Running changes everything"compression sleeves." border="0" data-original-height="2372" data-original-width="1698" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCYOvmZEczm1_0-V-Ds8IyTou5VMU9B60S600m5HLtavJ9mURhakLoBgNQo44z-XghROevbab3YvKh6VC7zOqneLbpsTTLk7vWaKerwDX5zhrPRs24G_08lNJh-EheIE9xBFMj9uVj7GJRPgZTvI0aeNLAs73hnYJggL1oT2ev7JsnDiCAaeo3A9bY18A/w229-h320/IMG_9103.jpg" title="Eric is running, wearing a "Team Amref" singlet, an orange "81 flies on" cap, and blue Fleet Feet "Running changes everything"compression sleeves." width="229" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">still looking good at mile 9</td></tr></tbody></table>The first 10 miles of the race flew by as I ran at a pace that was faster than I expected (I was doing a 3:1 run:walk). Axel and Karen were there rooting for me at mile 9 with my Fleet Feet friends and then again around mile 12. The crowd on 1st Avenue at mile 16 made me forget that I had never raced that far. More running friends were waiting at mile 18 where it really helped. At mile 21 my 3:1 cycle became 2:1, and at mile 23 it was 1:1. On Fifth Avenue it seemed like everyone I knew was there cheering me on. The bearded prophet with "The End is Near" on a sign <i>could have been</i> a hallucination. Coming out of the Bronx I had switched to my running playlist, and in the Park I started "singing" the lyrics out loud: "It's the End of the World and We Know It!". I wasn't feeling that fine and I switched to 100% brisk walk.<p></p><p>Re-entering the park for the last half mile, I was determined to finish it running. BIG MISTAKE! I cramped up immediately and could barely stagger on. But after a few minutes, my legs consented to a sloooow walk and finally relented on a brisk finish. Then a second miracle occurred. I knew I had friends who were volunteering at the finish line, but to see and hug them all was a blessing I had not expected. And to get the medal from my friend Janell! </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSebEIMI6IrLdPJpcMOJVuQhboIByRylSqjX1R3F0-u6IDDZcP7spnYXWPE3291GjfbGxQ37z27BirZBSNZciU-dXS_wG8LuH4xu0_5ZqTxqotEfvfogzW8HeqNHVrGEGADE972rz5M53uSqaar5BIxoq_PGpcl-r722Ultab6PYmSP-hOap1iLpnu2ao/s4032/medal.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSebEIMI6IrLdPJpcMOJVuQhboIByRylSqjX1R3F0-u6IDDZcP7spnYXWPE3291GjfbGxQ37z27BirZBSNZciU-dXS_wG8LuH4xu0_5ZqTxqotEfvfogzW8HeqNHVrGEGADE972rz5M53uSqaar5BIxoq_PGpcl-r722Ultab6PYmSP-hOap1iLpnu2ao/w320-h240/medal.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Back of the medal with braille text "TCS New York City Marathon"</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Thank you to everyone who donated to my fundraiser for <a href="http://donate.amrefusa.org/campaign/team-amref-runs-the-2024-tcs-nyc-marathon/c558619">Amref Health Africa</a>. Thank you to Karen and Axel for getting me home with my cramping legs. Thank you to the coaches, runners and PTs who helped my get through the training. Thank you to all the spectators and to the volunteers who got me from the start to the finish, and thank you to the zombies that trudged with me for the long long long walk out of the park. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/L8Kl3Bg6PAk" width="320" youtube-src-id="L8Kl3Bg6PAk"></iframe></div><br /><p>Strava: <a href="https://www.strava.com/activities/12817924969/overview">All my friends are in New York</a></p><div style="background-color: white; color: #131414; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><i>This series of posts:</i></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #131414; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em;"></p><ul><li><a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2024/04/well-run-till-we-drop.html" style="color: #006699; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;"><i>We'll run till we drop</i></a></li><li><i><a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2024/05/running-song-of-day.html" style="color: #006699; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;">Running song of the day</a> </i></li><li><i><a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2024/06/all-streets-in-montclair.html" style="color: #006699; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;">All the Streets in Montclair</a></i></li><li><a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2024/08/running-away-from-home.html" style="color: #006699; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;"><i>Running away from home</i></a></li><li><a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2024/11/thank-you-new-york-city.html" style="color: #006699; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;"><i><b>Thank You, New York City</b></i></a></li></ul></div>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04483241450401134977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990922102626688253.post-22699078163063724042024-10-10T15:43:00.002-04:002024-10-10T19:46:22.922-04:00I Fondled Salvador Dalí's Earrings<p><i> Content Warning: AI</i></p><p>My Uncle Henry was a Professor of Chemistry at NYU. He lived, for the most part, in his sister-in-law Barbara's 7-story townhouse on East 67th street in Manhattan. He acted as the caretaker of this mansion when Barbara went off living her socialite life in Paris or wherever. My family would stay in the townhouse whenever we came to New York to visit my favorite uncle.</p><p>This is how my parents ended up being at a fancy party attended by Salvador Dalí. It seems that Barbara had commissioned a portrait of herself, and the occasion of the party was the painting's unveiling. I was there too; I was a few months old. The great painter was amused to see a baby at this party and the baby was <i>extremely</i> amused at this strange looking adult. More accurately, I was captivated by his shiny earrings and reached out to play with them as though they were a mobile hanging in my crib. Or so I have been told. So many times.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiJ7NHo3B2ucSp45biCCH6y4FveP7INYDiEo7NhmrGA1f5nbOn1RmHpB29yKuYlcVugyH63ZUURjgXNjEaq99PWM2b5F1LWEJsv8NffnJAuNa_iprAquVLRx4aJLCYwdw2DabbEHEmr0O0Xl6nfV-9JWCpZAYiLuIlcSlrSeocDdh3NhVxPoD6JD2X6I4/s1024/DALL%C2%B7E%202024-10-10%2014.48.38%20-%20A%20surrealist%20figure%20resembling%20Salvador%20Dali%CC%81,%20dressed%20in%20an%20eccentric%20outfit%20with%20a%20curled%20mustache%20and%20large,%20ornate%20earrings.%20The%20baby%20sitting%20in%20th.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="A surrealist figure resembling Salvador Dalí, dressed in an eccentric outfit with a curled mustache and large, ornate earrings. A baby is playfully tugging on the ornate earrings" border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiJ7NHo3B2ucSp45biCCH6y4FveP7INYDiEo7NhmrGA1f5nbOn1RmHpB29yKuYlcVugyH63ZUURjgXNjEaq99PWM2b5F1LWEJsv8NffnJAuNa_iprAquVLRx4aJLCYwdw2DabbEHEmr0O0Xl6nfV-9JWCpZAYiLuIlcSlrSeocDdh3NhVxPoD6JD2X6I4/w320-h320/DALL%C2%B7E%202024-10-10%2014.48.38%20-%20A%20surrealist%20figure%20resembling%20Salvador%20Dali%CC%81,%20dressed%20in%20an%20eccentric%20outfit%20with%20a%20curled%20mustache%20and%20large,%20ornate%20earrings.%20The%20baby%20sitting%20in%20th.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dalí and Eric as hallucinated by DALL-E</td></tr></tbody></table><p>My dad was presented to Dalí as a brilliant young engineer, which he was. Dad was born in Gary, Indiana, but moved to Sweden with his family when he was 7 years old. (That's a whole 'nother story!) After graduation from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, he decided to take a job with Goodyear Aerospace in Akron, Ohio, because that way he didn't have to serve in the Swedish Army and give up his American citizenship. He worked on semiconductor devices before anyone had ever heard of semiconductors.</p><p>Maybe brilliant engineers were exotic creatures in that fancy New York City party circuit, because Salvador Dalí buttonholed my dad. He wanted my dad to invent something for him. The conversation went something like this (imagine me sitting in Dalí's lap, not paying attention to the conversation at all):</p><p>Dalí: "Tell me, young man, do you invent things?"</p><p>Dad: "As a matter of fact, I'm working on what they call a buffered amp…"</p><p>Dalí: "Never mind that, I have an idea I want you to work on…"</p><p>Dad: "Yes?"</p><p>Dalí: "I want you to invent a paint gun…"</p><p>Dad: "That doesn't sound too hard…"</p><p>Dalí: "… that will paint what I see in my mind."</p><p>Dad: "??"</p><p>Dalí: "I paint, but the paintings are never what I want."</p><p>Dad: "That's not how…"</p><p>Dalí: "I want to press a button and have the paint go in the right place."</p><p>Dad: "Well maybe someday…"</p><p>Dalí: "You start working on it, let me know how it goes"</p><p>Eric: "Waaaaaaaaa!"</p><p>Apparently, the paint gun was a bit of an obsession with Dalí. He created <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvador_Dal%C3%AD#Later_years_in_Spain">a technique called "bulletism"</a> that involved using an antique gun (an "arquebus") to shoot vials of paint at a canvas. A couple of months after the fancy party, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcDqaF4It4Q">he appeared on the Ed Sullivan show</a> firing a paint gun at a canvas! </p><p>Sixty-four years later, we sort of know how to build Dalí's mind reading paint-gun. We have technologies that let us see the brain think (functional brain imaging combined with deep learning), and technologies that can make pictures from human thoughts (when expressed as LLM prompts). It's now easy to imagine a device that uses your brain to control an AI image generator (see the image above!). Such a device could take advantage of the brain's plasticity to give Dalís of the future the power to make images from activity that exists only in their brains.</p><p>People are arguing about whether AI can make art. There's even <a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/10/artist-appeals-copyright-denial-for-prize-winning-ai-generated-work/">a copyright case</a> in which the US copyright office is saying, effectively, that you can't copyright what you tell an AI to create.</p><p>It seems clear to me, at least, that AI, wielded as a tool, can make art, in the same way that a Stradivarius, wielded by a musician, can make art, or that a camera, wielded by a photographer, can make art, or that computer program, wielded by a poet, can make art. </p><p>Salvador Dalí was just ahead of his time. </p><p><i>Notes:</i></p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>While OpenAI's "DALL-E" is supposed to be a combination of "Dalí" And "WALL-E", I've not been able to find any mention of Dalí's interest in brain-computer interfaces!</li><li>I couldn't find an image of the painting "Portrait of Bobo Rockefeller" on the web; <a href="https://www.salvador-dali.org/en/artwork/catalogue-raisonne-paintings/obra/775/portrait-of-bobo-rockefeller-unfinished">a study for the painting</a> is in the Dalí Museun in Spain. Dalí had a policy of not allowing his subjects to see their portrait before is was unveiled, and my understanding is that Barbara was never really fond of the painting. It had an prominent place in her living room though.</li><li><a href="https://dana.org/article/fmri-still-not-a-mind-reader/">Researchers have studied</a> the use of brain-scanning techniques <span style="font-family: inherit;">to develop brain-computer interfaces for uses such as the development of speech prostheses that convert brain activity into intelligible speech.</span> </li><li><a href="https://www.openwater.health/">Openwater</a> is combining infrared and acoustic imaging to see brain activity for neurological diagnosis. But they can see the potential for mind reading using the help of deep learning pattern recognition. Founder May Lou Jepsen <a href=" https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/machines-that-read-your-brain-waves/">says</a> “I think the mind-reading scenarios are farther out, but the reason I'm talking about them early is because they do have profound ethical and legal implications.” </li></ol><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #131414; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><b>Comments.</b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #131414; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> I encourage comment on the </span><a href="https://tilde.zone/@gluejar" style="background-color: white; color: #006699; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;">Fediverse</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #131414; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> or on </span><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/gluejar.com" style="background-color: white; color: #006699; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;">Bluesky</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #131414; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">. I've turned off commenting here.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #131414; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></div><div><i>Reminder: I'm earning my way into the NYC Marathon by <a href="https://donate.amrefusa.org/fundraiser/5389723" style="color: #006699; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;">raising money for Amref Health Africa.</a> </i></div><p></p>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04483241450401134977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990922102626688253.post-29771483069632782802024-08-07T06:49:00.003-04:002024-11-12T11:22:54.954-05:00 Running away from home<p><i style="background-color: white; color: #131414; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">(I'm blogging my journey to the 2024 New York Marathon.)</span></i></p><p>For a long time, it's been a goal of mine to live and work someplace where the language is something other than English. I've studied French in school and I've studied a bit of Mandarin and Japanese. And Swedish. But I'd never had the opportunity to live in another language, to get comfortable enough to have casual conversations and say the things I want to say.</p><p>Two years ago (2022) my Aunt Siv planned an 80th birthday celebration for herself, inviting the whole family to join her for a party in Lappland (northern Sweden). Coming out of two long pandemic years, we were eager to go and travel. There was still a lot of uncertainty about Covid, and with the invasion of Ukraine adding to the feeling that the trip might or might not happen, we booked refundable tickets for a vacation in Sweden. </p><p>Swedish was my first language! My parents both grew up in Sweden, but met and married in Ohio. My mom's teenaged sister Siv came over to help my mom with the baby (me) so there was a lot of Swedish in the house. When I started going to nursery school I quickly learned English, and began refusing to speak Swedish. By the time I got to kindergarten, I had completely forgotten all of my Swedish language. But traces remained. After college I decided I should learn Swedish and I took a class in Stockholm. Learning Swedish was completely different from learning French in school, because I could hear in my head if it was right. After one day of class, I could speak 2 sentences of perfect Swedish. I confidently went into a shop, used my 2 perfect sentences, and got into deep trouble because I had no clue what the answers meant. I had a good accent without much trying. This has been very helpful, because when swedes hear a foreigner try to speak Swedish, they immediately switch to English, making it rather difficult for the foreigner to learn. Not me. Swedish people are amazed that I <i>seem</i> to be able to speak good Swedish.</p><p>I wanted to improve my Swedish, so I wanted a little longer in Sweden than the rest of the family, and our planning took its final shape when my wife said "Eric, you should just stay! For years you been saying you want to live somewhere in another language, and now the internet lets you work from where ever you want!" So all of a sudden I was going to spend four weeks in Stockholm on my own without much of a plan. I was scared. How would I meet people? Sure, I could sit in my AirBnB and work as a digital nomad, but what would be the point?</p><p>Running was one of the answers. There was a half-marathon to run, <a href="https://www.runmaroloppen.se/en/">RUNmaröloppet</a>, that would take me out to an island in Stockholm's archipelago. I had identified a running club, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/mikkellersthlm/">Mikkeller Running Club Stockholm</a>, that seemed sociable, as they meet at a bar on Tuesdays and have beers afterward. Both of these turned out to be awesome. And so I started running away from home. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQkEw9k5WxZdD6KKT5Jgdq0gUtjZ8JK0EJKktAawMSwwMdYN_F0XVqAR4kLusboWvLW-f38TjNk_xIALYkqco0DOiFnQvz3yDSv6sEjDXP5NEa1nxOJATLkyI_Mj_ueqM0YQrQYnZA3aFEvEzCoae-0rcP2bS8LqY8HzqiM8LzNfT6WaOGrIBu5bfzBCs/s2048/runmap.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1364" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQkEw9k5WxZdD6KKT5Jgdq0gUtjZ8JK0EJKktAawMSwwMdYN_F0XVqAR4kLusboWvLW-f38TjNk_xIALYkqco0DOiFnQvz3yDSv6sEjDXP5NEa1nxOJATLkyI_Mj_ueqM0YQrQYnZA3aFEvEzCoae-0rcP2bS8LqY8HzqiM8LzNfT6WaOGrIBu5bfzBCs/s320/runmap.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><p>Running with a group is universal and local at the same time. No matter where you run you can have the same conversations with whoever's running next to you. "Are you training for a race?" "My legs are so stiff." "I'm recovering from an IT-band strain." "My name is Eric, have we run together before?" But every route you run is different in its own beautiful way, and the group helps newcomers (and often the regulars!) to avoid getting lost. By the end of the run, the group has shared an indelible experience and there aren't strangers anymore.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEpCrIUdVJ-yp69nMU4ZbWx3_ZmmrI2ejesNzAsWZs2BKnkv7Y6RNq1Xhrfm94dNZd3lFhoX6uqJhm3c7IxKGuaB47QX-tDjpWJ7H9YczrC1wJLYIj45dwWknD7RgZzXWCdsJ98UmuCsx3LeC4r4uTZ3Xdf9wFUHA4rsAtmvGmtB159VsSaeVewX-3v38/s4032/IMG_7990.HEIC" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEpCrIUdVJ-yp69nMU4ZbWx3_ZmmrI2ejesNzAsWZs2BKnkv7Y6RNq1Xhrfm94dNZd3lFhoX6uqJhm3c7IxKGuaB47QX-tDjpWJ7H9YczrC1wJLYIj45dwWknD7RgZzXWCdsJ98UmuCsx3LeC4r4uTZ3Xdf9wFUHA4rsAtmvGmtB159VsSaeVewX-3v38/w171-h228/IMG_7990.HEIC" width="171" /></a></div>RUNmaröloppet was a blast. You have to take a boat to the island. The course is quite technical in places and is also the most beautiful race I've ever run. I did it again this year, and finished 5th in my age group, despite a lingering knee injury that force me to use walk-run again. Full disclosure: I also finished DFL (Dead F-in Last) out of 282 runners, and was never so happy with a finish.<p></p><p>Mikkeller Running Club Stockholm meets every Tuesday on the lively urban island of Södermalm. Good people, good beer, 5K, 7K and longer routes. The 5K is at a "cozy" pace and welcomes runners of all paces. (Linguistic note: back home we call it "sexy" pace. Maybe this has deep sociological meaning. Or maybe it's the conversion from km to mi.) </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHAhhTUUovsMDG1LcKLPLCjNGZdN96tap4Kx-nri92aJeDFBWzptL2yFa59pu2OyrtIZg-nYdy1mnBuQBVwEFT1597A35JmdSlQ5meX2pLwvxa8CQ3SIy_G1wi8zOv9ijfqyUW-p5dTk8LNFsgNtuyrz2Y4BvmccqyCBj6X1B_sz9iSFiHtIW4j5FEqfY/s4032/IMG_8026.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHAhhTUUovsMDG1LcKLPLCjNGZdN96tap4Kx-nri92aJeDFBWzptL2yFa59pu2OyrtIZg-nYdy1mnBuQBVwEFT1597A35JmdSlQ5meX2pLwvxa8CQ3SIy_G1wi8zOv9ijfqyUW-p5dTk8LNFsgNtuyrz2Y4BvmccqyCBj6X1B_sz9iSFiHtIW4j5FEqfY/w169-h225/IMG_8026.jpeg" width="169" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPVD3XHTXUAbm9bTqe8sX7xrdlnH_mleuOCxgo2WAt-e697tY5cyMII2-st1dMRNBLo0Q4AvPXjeuqzjSeW3XAvJlMVlFsvSsJhNfQebGK9GNjLj2RYG_wZKQO8-uqYtX4-05cfQ7z-0NEtp7lW-7agJH8mxmQYrHLyBJY3oEvXZ8E5ft50_n_KVIwqas/s615/mrcrunners.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="525" data-original-width="615" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPVD3XHTXUAbm9bTqe8sX7xrdlnH_mleuOCxgo2WAt-e697tY5cyMII2-st1dMRNBLo0Q4AvPXjeuqzjSeW3XAvJlMVlFsvSsJhNfQebGK9GNjLj2RYG_wZKQO8-uqYtX4-05cfQ7z-0NEtp7lW-7agJH8mxmQYrHLyBJY3oEvXZ8E5ft50_n_KVIwqas/w264-h225/mrcrunners.jpg" width="264" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; float: left; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCStiBx_tTV7l04bqm8GNLPA441alsZByJ6nSDaF9VyDHLl8tonQZcWCDTRDUleajepKnKAJWte7PFvDRGAROKRV3rkR9AUdvtuIfwT1nMZdLqUb5gIT_ayf1w672443rWfmuYi6k-yGOnv8Ut313xcYzMgUVAJpwP3OrKgy3VfmEGVDD3AwuUgeFJzfQ/s3206/IMG_8012.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3206" data-original-width="2409" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCStiBx_tTV7l04bqm8GNLPA441alsZByJ6nSDaF9VyDHLl8tonQZcWCDTRDUleajepKnKAJWte7PFvDRGAROKRV3rkR9AUdvtuIfwT1nMZdLqUb5gIT_ayf1w672443rWfmuYi6k-yGOnv8Ut313xcYzMgUVAJpwP3OrKgy3VfmEGVDD3AwuUgeFJzfQ/w179-h238/IMG_8012.jpeg" width="179" /></a></div>In Stockholm I discovered this thing called <a href="https://www.parkrun.se/">ParkRun</a>. These people have taken "running away from home" to extremes. ParkRun started somewhere in England and has spread around the world like a pandemic. They have special t-shirts to commemorate milestones such as a runner's 100th ParkRun. I've now run the ParkRun in Stockholm's Haga Park 6 times. It's a timed 5K run. At every run there are people from all over the world – last week I met a couple from Sheffield who had hopped off their cruise ship and took a taxi to the ParkRun so they could add Sweden to their list of ParkRun countries. Some of them even try to run ParkRun places starting with every letter of the alphabet! I love how crazy runners can be.<p></p><p><br /></p><p>My Stockholm 2022 sojourn was topped off by a 10K race around Södermalm called "Midnattsloppet". <a href="https://midnattsloppet.com/en/midnattsloppet-stockholm/">Midnattsloppet</a> is sort of a night-time EuroPop Bay-to-Breakers. 22,000 runners in the 10K, another 17K in the 5K. There was a musical act every kilometer to fire up the runners but only two water stations on that pretty warm night. At the top of the first big hill, there was a choir of ~20 blonde women singing “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterloo_(song)">Waterloo</a>” which I thought a poor choice given the pre-ABBA history of Waterloo. The faster waves of runners got “We are the Champions”. At the start, runners were prompted to sing a song which apparently is the anthem of the Hammarby Football Club, written by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenta_(musician)">a guy</a> who must have been the guitarist for a Swedish Spinal Tap. Apparently he caused a scandal by wearing a "69" T-shirt on Swedish television and sadly died at a young age. On Midnattsloppet night you can walk into any bar in Stockholm in a shirt dripping with sweat and the bouncer will say "Good Jobb!". (I verified this.)</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEktXPNs_CxQ-bXoGxpzaut3JXoOMXreRQUGA4x4tLPkQcgQrjxOsu5aI39pZO6oXCztdhc9DMorH1pbZq350fAwYia16ggs3xhxu_NhqcjCh_8UAVaQOb7z1YULnkgm_bOGdexFLluDP2RFOn-Ws4q__FoXBAq0EPXPLD6gdF3FdO4SVzc9RRumpZ940/s3812/IMG_7055.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1485" data-original-width="3812" height="125" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEktXPNs_CxQ-bXoGxpzaut3JXoOMXreRQUGA4x4tLPkQcgQrjxOsu5aI39pZO6oXCztdhc9DMorH1pbZq350fAwYia16ggs3xhxu_NhqcjCh_8UAVaQOb7z1YULnkgm_bOGdexFLluDP2RFOn-Ws4q__FoXBAq0EPXPLD6gdF3FdO4SVzc9RRumpZ940/s320/IMG_7055.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><p>I now have <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_slippers">a pair of ruby red</a> New Balance 1080 version 12s. (NOT v13!) My running gait is such that there's a flat wear spot where my feet click together. There's no place like home. There's no place like home.</p><div style="background-color: white; color: #131414; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #131414; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDmQMEgQB3TzmdKxs5911XLt4dS6q-znbK0zA68rN06b8-BfvraSQAxV6QVNfbOyLoc1fmIV9T69mpgDHCcCkm-yQo3Ny1-ze_8V65UKSVvmnNHOPZzySMU3oSNj0-ukPQkMsuZFXhnCMVm-Xz3aNFiSM9fTVRsTXFuohLEPVuVuMWUhL-D7CejhYJEII/s4032/IMG_7617.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDmQMEgQB3TzmdKxs5911XLt4dS6q-znbK0zA68rN06b8-BfvraSQAxV6QVNfbOyLoc1fmIV9T69mpgDHCcCkm-yQo3Ny1-ze_8V65UKSVvmnNHOPZzySMU3oSNj0-ukPQkMsuZFXhnCMVm-Xz3aNFiSM9fTVRsTXFuohLEPVuVuMWUhL-D7CejhYJEII/w194-h259/IMG_7617.jpeg" width="194" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtsYPlcnC2xM1hYF8H16QjKm0pPBlMc81oa2DZ3RCbA5dD83rtJ-ZihY8QEO5MGxgkcuZCFLs1uHLAXSFnzqMqBGZ3p_IxiX3x5GUBA79uCVDMe7HIq8jlMap_2NQ4ayrn1gxVrQ90K1WY4c3LsXMCFy7A1xWSB_8ZD2KxbKl1wmbICRrPG98VsQj8umo/s2749/shoewear.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2749" data-original-width="1971" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtsYPlcnC2xM1hYF8H16QjKm0pPBlMc81oa2DZ3RCbA5dD83rtJ-ZihY8QEO5MGxgkcuZCFLs1uHLAXSFnzqMqBGZ3p_IxiX3x5GUBA79uCVDMe7HIq8jlMap_2NQ4ayrn1gxVrQ90K1WY4c3LsXMCFy7A1xWSB_8ZD2KxbKl1wmbICRrPG98VsQj8umo/w187-h261/shoewear.jpeg" width="187" /></a><br /><br /></div><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #131414; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #131414; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><i>This series of posts:</i></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #131414; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em;"></p><ul><li><a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2024/04/well-run-till-we-drop.html" style="color: #006699; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;"><i>We'll run till we drop</i></a></li><li><i><a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2024/05/running-song-of-day.html" style="color: #006699; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;">Running song of the day</a> </i></li><li><i><a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2024/06/all-streets-in-montclair.html" style="color: #006699; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;">All the Streets in Montclair</a></i></li><li><a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2024/08/running-away-from-home.html" style="color: #006699; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;"><i><b>Running away from home</b></i></a></li><li><a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2024/11/thank-you-new-york-city.html" style="color: #006699; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;"><i>Thank You, New York City</i></a></li></ul></div>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04483241450401134977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990922102626688253.post-56263366905654595482024-06-26T22:39:00.003-04:002024-11-12T11:22:10.741-05:00All the streets in Montclair<p> <i style="background-color: white; color: #131414; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">(I'm blogging my journey to the 2024 New York Marathon. )</span></i></p><p>At the end of 2020, <a href="https://www.strava.com/activities/4546224732">Strava told me</a> I had run 1362 miles over 12 months. "I hope I never do that again!" I told a running friend. It seemed appropriate that my very last running song from shuffle was Fountains of Wayne's "Stacy's Mom"; founding member <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Schlesinger">Adam Schlesinger</a> had died of Covid. For months of that pandemic year, there wasn't much to do except work on my computer and run. It was boring, but at the same time I loved it. In retrospect, the parks needn't have closed (or later in the year, required masks while running through). Remember how we veered around other people just enjoying fresh air? In that year, running was one thing that made sense. But never have I celebrated the new year as joyously I did on the eve of 2021. Vaccines were on the way, the guy who suggested drinking bleach was heading to Florida, and I had a map of Montclair to fill in.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCB-9q5Z-nOby_0RZ-DarUv5338uzFGqtDunscZIOinP36ibvuJNht5vyQvkBcfPFo93hTul___tlMEzyOMU9AjmHUuyuKOy1Kgj9c7eSZfNl2M7A-YAUfOMDJNvWGTDYBl6f6aX-pvvV7Ry1izpWLB0J9iIFn1lQ4es_BWvEaLI-4LiVxZPdG0liMwG4/s1458/som.jpg" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1458" data-original-width="1128" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCB-9q5Z-nOby_0RZ-DarUv5338uzFGqtDunscZIOinP36ibvuJNht5vyQvkBcfPFo93hTul___tlMEzyOMU9AjmHUuyuKOy1Kgj9c7eSZfNl2M7A-YAUfOMDJNvWGTDYBl6f6aX-pvvV7Ry1izpWLB0J9iIFn1lQ4es_BWvEaLI-4LiVxZPdG0liMwG4/s320/som.jpg" width="248" /></a></div><p>I've called Montclair, the New Jersey town where I live, "a running resort". It has beautiful parks, long, flat tree-lined streets without much traffic, short steep streets for hill work, well maintained tracks, a <a href="https://www.fleetfeet.com/s/montclair">wonderful running store</a>, and at least 3 running clubs. During pandemic, <i>everyone</i> seemed to be out running. Even my wife, who for many years would tell me "I don't understand how you can run so much", started running so much. At Christmas our son gave us both street maps of Montclair to put on the fridge so we could record our running wanderings.</p><p>So, come 2021 the three of us said goodbye to the boring routine of running favorite routes. Montclair has 363 streets, and a couple of named alleys so we could have done a street a day for a year if we had wanted to. But it was more fun to construct routes that crossed off several streets ata time. While I was at it, I could make strava art or spell words. Most of my running masterpieces were ex post cursus <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia">pareidolia</a>. Occasionally I spelled out words. <a href="https://www.strava.com/activities/5093651045">Here's "love"</a> (in memory of a running friend's partner). </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigcpWRCORw2TTanpUddw9TSoqLkAuwHiqZC_C_vYrSBZy5GDJa32ljBf82lzi2Ev6zqJ_qtg6pWe0KQjUi0QEf_AGcjYLJGEXtqHy9t5ITrrSrjqUvGCJjAo73BnxeslGsBgFodZknIhUR1MrS9kj49fe05ubi0CSdt-oFk6rJPlAXyf78RN1cqYV_3yY/s2067/IMG_3792.jpeg" style="float: left; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1814" data-original-width="2067" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigcpWRCORw2TTanpUddw9TSoqLkAuwHiqZC_C_vYrSBZy5GDJa32ljBf82lzi2Ev6zqJ_qtg6pWe0KQjUi0QEf_AGcjYLJGEXtqHy9t5ITrrSrjqUvGCJjAo73BnxeslGsBgFodZknIhUR1MrS9kj49fe05ubi0CSdt-oFk6rJPlAXyf78RN1cqYV_3yY/w200-h176/IMG_3792.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div>Starting on New Year's Day with the <a href="https://www.strava.com/activities/6456457166">Resolution run up "Snake Hill"</a>, I methodically crossed off streets. I passed <a href="https://www.strava.com/activities/4601194951">Yogi Berra's "Fork in the Road"</a> I finished the complete set of Montclair streets <a href="https://www.strava.com/activities/5465893180">on Jun 13</a> .<p></p><p>The neighboring town of Glen Ridge came quickly on July 18, as I had done well over half on the way to Montclair streets. Near me, Glen Ridge is only 2 and a half blocks wide! <a href="https://www.strava.com/activities/5547924882">I took a peek</a> at the Frank Lloyd Wright house on a street I'd not been on before! </p><p>With five months left I started on Bloomfield, the next town east. Bloomfield is cut in half by the Garden State Parkway, the source of the "which exit?" joke about New Jersey, and I focused on the half near to me. I got to know Clark's Pond. My streets running helped me set <a href="https://www.strava.com/activities/6058320354/overview">my half marathon PR</a>, in the lovely town of Corning, New York. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOr2r9CVLDe_6gRfG3qqt4U20ZRWCcsA621h7EfsyqoyoHSOjpS0y7X3co378mm4PJLN6afkKKC_eOhTwOYFqOiQsB9BZaQaKB9t_PVsF2nqju-jFCEJenX-AF903r7u8wx8JMb98DrzAV58Ndx5SjCxOu8NtyTZRPkbW6kIcmzWC5Pz1ZCTodsESL7H0/s4032/IMG_6414.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOr2r9CVLDe_6gRfG3qqt4U20ZRWCcsA621h7EfsyqoyoHSOjpS0y7X3co378mm4PJLN6afkKKC_eOhTwOYFqOiQsB9BZaQaKB9t_PVsF2nqju-jFCEJenX-AF903r7u8wx8JMb98DrzAV58Ndx5SjCxOu8NtyTZRPkbW6kIcmzWC5Pz1ZCTodsESL7H0/w200-h150/IMG_6414.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div><p>I know of other streets running completists – it seems there's even an app to help you do it. <a href="https://www.bylauracarney.com/">Author Laura Carney</a> wrote about it in her book "My Father's List" My friend Chris has continued to add towns and cities to his list and <a href="https://www.strava.com/activities/11721041301">has only 9 streets left</a> to finish ALL OF ESSEX COUNTY. <i>Update: <a href="https://www.strava.com/activities/11831239132">He finished!</a> and was written up <a href="https://www.nj.com/essex/2024/06/66-year-old-has-run-5723-streets-in-this-nj-county-and-hes-still-going.html">by nj.com!</a></i></p><p>To finish the year <a href="https://www.strava.com/activities/6453244866">I spelled out 2021</a>.</p><p>2021: 1,268.3 miles, 223 hours 36minutes, 40,653 ft vertical. I ran to 1,700 different songs. Last running song of the year (on shuffle): Joy Division's "No Love Lost":</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p>Wishing that this day won't last</p><p>To never see you show your age</p><p>To watch until the beauty fades</p></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoHWz73angrb0ZsgQCQgZXCITvruif4yZFX1tib5XdVZ1LttXsoYKPzwSzu4d5FdWM-O6oJSbxPDUwGUogQbdtQ4wpMO5MhwUcPx9GZEY_yGMbSMHlpBP8XxzceMohh0h1QZecnn4MWnpr7bT5nfVbo-TFHe7jOM87aO9zkSFKNJiVg6MjknEzoakOqpE/s758/2021.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="758" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoHWz73angrb0ZsgQCQgZXCITvruif4yZFX1tib5XdVZ1LttXsoYKPzwSzu4d5FdWM-O6oJSbxPDUwGUogQbdtQ4wpMO5MhwUcPx9GZEY_yGMbSMHlpBP8XxzceMohh0h1QZecnn4MWnpr7bT5nfVbo-TFHe7jOM87aO9zkSFKNJiVg6MjknEzoakOqpE/s320/2021.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p><br /></p><div style="background-color: white; color: #131414; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><i>This series of posts:</i></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #131414; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em;"></p><ul><li><a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2024/04/well-run-till-we-drop.html" style="color: #006699; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;"><i>We'll run till we drop</i></a></li><li><i><a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2024/05/running-song-of-day.html" style="color: #006699; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;">Running song of the day</a> </i></li><li><i><a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2024/06/all-streets-in-montclair.html" style="color: #006699; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;">All the Streets in Montclair</a></i></li><li><a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2024/08/running-away-from-home.html" style="color: #006699; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;"><i>Running away from home</i></a></li><li><a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2024/11/thank-you-new-york-city.html" style="color: #006699; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;"><i>Thank You, New York City</i></a></li></ul></div>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04483241450401134977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990922102626688253.post-15252517409251331712024-06-12T16:43:00.000-04:002024-06-12T16:43:07.757-04:00 The PII Figleaf<p>The Internet's big lie is "we respect your privacy". Thanks to cookie banners and such things, the Internet tells us this so many times a day that we ignore all the evidence to the contrary. Sure, there are a lot of <i>people</i> who care about our privacy, but they're often letting others violate our privacy without even knowing it. Sometimes this just means that they are trying to be careful with our "PII". And guess what? You know those cookies you're constantly blocking or accepting? Advertisers like Google have mostly stopped using cookies!!!</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5E8hPUR-V-smOx8JjWmyiVA3opm08-Od6fst1EMx0BJI9yPPWXUuXB8XOguZOK_8l4Nq9JDdjzkoshRpbhidnBL9MIhn94oH_KZDJrbcwT25IWdlG_eUkmUIVKH6Cx9qTgm8eD_WKS0wbhGFkuPxzR2Qc9XsuPJIcIkTFOmzksqgxblAZuCwPfAveHNg/s4032/figleaf.jpg" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="fig leaf covering id cards" border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5E8hPUR-V-smOx8JjWmyiVA3opm08-Od6fst1EMx0BJI9yPPWXUuXB8XOguZOK_8l4Nq9JDdjzkoshRpbhidnBL9MIhn94oH_KZDJrbcwT25IWdlG_eUkmUIVKH6Cx9qTgm8eD_WKS0wbhGFkuPxzR2Qc9XsuPJIcIkTFOmzksqgxblAZuCwPfAveHNg/w240-h320/figleaf.jpg" width="240" /></a></p>"PII" is "Personally Identifiable Information" and privacy lawyers seem to be obsessed with it. Lawyers, and the laws they care about, generally equate good PII hygiene with privacy. Good PII hygiene is not at all a bad thing, but it protects privacy the same way that washing your hands protects you from influenza. Websites that <i>claim</i> to protect your privacy are often washing the PII off their hands while at the same time coughing data all over you. They can and do violate your privacy while at the same time meticulously protecting your PII.<p>Examples of PII include your name, address, social security number, your telephone number and your email address. The IP address that you use can often be traced to you, so it's often treated as PII, but often isn't. The fact that you love <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/cozy-paranormal-romance" target="_blank">paranormal cozy romance novels</a> is not PII, nor is the fact that you voted for Mitt Romney. That you have an 18 year old son and an infant daughter is also not PII. But if you've checked out a paranormal cozy romance from your local library, and then start getting ads all over the internet for paranormal cozy romances set in an alternate reality where Mitt is President and the heroine has an infant and a teenager, you might easily conclude that your public library has sold your checkout list and your identity to an evil advertising company.</p><p>That's a good description of a recent situation involving San Francisco Public Library (SFPL). As <a href="https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/18/mystery_of_the_targeted_mobile_ads/">reported by The Register</a> :</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">In April, attorney Christine Dudley was listening to a book on her iPhone while playing a game on her Android tablet when she started to see in-game ads that reflected the audiobooks she recently checked out of the San Francisco Public Library.</p></blockquote><p>Let me be clear. There's <i>no chance</i> that SFPL has sold the check-out list to anybody, much less evil advertisers. However, it <i>DOES</i> appear to be the case that SFPL and their online ebook vendors, Overdrive and Baker and Taylor, <i>could</i> have allowed Google to track Ms. Dudley, perhaps because they didn't fully understand the configuration options in Google Analytics. SFPL offers <a href="https://sfpl.overdrive.com/">ebooks and audiobooks from Overdrive</a>, "<a href="https://sfpl.libanswers.com/faq/167371">Kindle Books from Libby</a> by Overdrive", and ebooks and audiobooks from Baker and Taylor's "<a href="https://sfpl.boundless.baker-taylor.com/ng/view/library">Boundless</a>" Platform. There's no leakage of PII or check-out list, but Google <i>is</i> able to collect demographics and interests from the browsing patterns of users with Google accounts.</p><p>A few years ago, I wrote <a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2017/02/how-to-enabledisable-privacy-protection.html">an explainer about how to configure Google Analytics</a> to protect user privacy. That explainer is obsolete, as Google is scrapping the system I explained in favor of a new system, "Google Analytics 4" (GA-4), that works better in the modern, more privacy-conscious browser environment. To their credit, Google has made some of the privacy-preserving settings the default – for example, they will no long store IP addresses. But reading the documentation, you can tell that they're not much interested in Privacy with a capital P as they want to be able to serve relevant (and thus lucrative) ads, even if they're for paranormal cozy romances. And Google <i>REALLY</i> doesn't want any "PII"! PII doesn't much help ad targeting, and there are places that regulate what they can do with PII.</p><p>We can start connecting the dots from the audiobook to the ads from the reporting in the Register by understanding a bit about <a href="https://analytics.google.com/analytics/">Google Analytics</a>. Google Analytics helps websites measure their usage. When you visit a webpage with Google Analytics, a javascript sends information back to one or more Google trackers about the address of the webpage, your browser environment, and maybe more data that the webpage publisher is interested in. Just about the only cookie being set these days is one that tells the website not to show the cookie banner!</p><p>From the Register:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p>The subdomain SFPL uses for library member login and ebook checkout, sfpl.bibliocommons.com, has only a single tracker, from Alphabet, that communicates with the domains google-analytics.com and googletagmanager.com.</p><p>The page is operated by BiblioCommons, which was acquired in 2020 by Canada-based Constellation Software. BiblioCommon has its own privacy policy that exists in conjunction with the SFPL privacy policy.</p><p>In response to questions about ad trackers on its main website, Wong( acknowledged that SFPL does use third-party cookies and provides a popup that allows visitors to opt-out if they prefer.</p><p>With regard to Google Analytics, she said that it only helps the library understand broad demographic data, such as the gender and age range of visitors.</p><p>"We are also able to understand broad interests of our users, such as movie, travel, sports and fitness based on webpage clicks, but this information is not at all tied to individual users, only as aggregated information," said Wong.</p></blockquote><p>The statement from Jaime Wong, deputy director of communications for the SFPL, is revealing. The Google Analytics tracker only works within a website, and neither SFPL or its vendors are collecting demographic information to share with Google. But Google Analytics has options to turn on the demographic information that libraries think they really need. (Helps to get funding, for example.) It used to be called "Advertising Reporting Features" and "Remarketing" (I called these the "turn off privacy" switches) but now it's called "Google Signals". It works by adding the Google advertising tracker, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DoubleClick">DoubleClick</a>, alongside the regular Analytics tracker. This allows Google to connect the usage data from a website to its advertising database, the one that stores demographic and interest information. This gives the website owners access to their user demographics, and it gives the Google advertising machine access to the users' web browsing behavior.</p><p>I have examined the relevant webpages from SFPL, as well as the customized pages that BiblioCommons, Overdrive, and Baker and Taylor provide for SFPL for trackers. Here's what I found:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The SFPL website, <a href="https://SFPL.org">SFPL.org</a>, has Analytics and DoubleClick ad trackers enabled.</li><li>The BiblioCommons website, <a href="https://sfpl.bibliocommons.org">sfpl.bibliocommons.org</a>, has two analytics trackers enabled, but no advertising tracker. Probably one tracker "belongs" to SFPL while the other "belongs" to BiblioCommons.</li><li>The Overdrive website, <a href="http://sfpl.overdrive.com">sfpl.overdrive.com</a> has Analytics and DoubleClick ad trackers enabled.</li><li>The Baker and Taylor website, <a href="https://sfpl.boundless.baker-taylor.com">sfpl.boundless.baker-taylor.com</a> has Analytics and DoubleClick ad trackers enabled.</li></ul><p></p><p>So it shouldn't be surprising that Ms. Dudley experienced targeted ads based on the books she was looking at in the San Francisco Public Library website. Libraries and librarians everywhere need to understand that reader privacy is not just about PII, and that the sort of privacy that libraries have a tradition of protecting is very different than the privacy that Google talks about <a href="https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/11583528?hl=en#360">when it says</a> "Google Analytics 4 was designed to be able to evolve for the future and built with privacy at its core." At the end of this month earlier versions of Google Analytics will stop "processing" data. (I'm betting the trackers will still fire!)</p><p>What Google means by that is that in GA-4, trackers continue to work despite browser restrictions on 3rd party cookies, and the tracking process is no longer reliant on data like IP addresses that could be considered PII. To address those troublesome regulators in Europe, they only distribute demographic data and interest profiles for people who've given their permission to Google to do so. Do you really think you haven't somewhere given Google permission to collect your demographic data and interest profiles? <a href="https://myadcenter.google.com/controls?ref=my-account">You can check here</a>. </p><p>Here's what Google tells Analytics users about the ad trackers:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">When you turn on Google signals, Google Analytics will associate the session data it collects from your site and apps with Google's information from accounts of signed-in, consented users. By turning on Google signals, you acknowledge you adhere to the Google Advertising Features Policy, including rules around sensitive categories, have the necessary privacy disclosures and rights from your end users for such association, and that such data may be accessed and deleted by end users via My Activity.</p></blockquote><p>In plain english, that means that if a website owner flips the switch, it's the website's problem if the trackers <i>accidentally</i> capture PII or otherwise violate privacy, because it's responsible for asking for permission. </p><p>Yep. GA-4 is engineered with what I would call "figleaf privacy" at its core. Google doesn't have fig leaves for paranormal cozy romance novels!</p><div><br /></div>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04483241450401134977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990922102626688253.post-2061681309311062592024-05-08T21:47:00.012-04:002024-11-12T11:21:38.158-05:00 Running Song of the Day<p><i style="background-color: white; color: #131414; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">(I'm blogging my journey to the 2024 New York Marathon. )</span></i></p><p>Steve Jobs gave me back my music. Thanks Steve!</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxAQ-N_E5E8TCBwv8lrWumgB5M-6lyjlQeGDQs0RvfvkNBozQeXIbLe01cfW9VFXlvfVbK1p_BENm9kUakibLD7AsfwDiNgdw2oF5gVgAYJszfnTYMk4HAsaoFtPpgWGddu2RPZ8OM_zm50tlwStn1P76OkXETDdtEYX1yIF4NWE5PZMpUBKW5Mdp2jUM/s3630/ipodnano.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2886" data-original-width="3630" height="159" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxAQ-N_E5E8TCBwv8lrWumgB5M-6lyjlQeGDQs0RvfvkNBozQeXIbLe01cfW9VFXlvfVbK1p_BENm9kUakibLD7AsfwDiNgdw2oF5gVgAYJszfnTYMk4HAsaoFtPpgWGddu2RPZ8OM_zm50tlwStn1P76OkXETDdtEYX1yIF4NWE5PZMpUBKW5Mdp2jUM/w200-h159/ipodnano.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>I got my first iPod a bit more than 20 years ago. It was a 3rd generation iPod, the first version with an all-touch control. I loved that I could play my Bruce, my Courtney, my Heads and my Alanis at an appropriate volume without bothering any of my classical-music-only family. Looking back on it, there was a period of about five years when I didn't regularly listen to music. I had stopped commuting to work by car, and though commuting was no fun, it had kept me in touch with my music. No wonder those 5 years were such a difficult period of my life!<p></p><p>Today, my running and my music are entwined. My latest (and last 😢) iPod already has some retro cred. It's a 6th generation iPod Nano. I listen to to my music on 90% of my runs and 90% of my listening is on my runs. I use shuffle mode so that over the course of a year of running, I'll listen to 2/3 of my ~2500 song library. In 2023, I listened to 1,723 songs. That's a lot of running!</p><p>Yes, I keep track. I have a system to maintain a 150 song playlist for running. I periodically replace all the songs I've heard in the most recent 2 months (unless I've listened to the song less than 5 times – you need at least that many plays to become acquainted with a song!) This is one of the ways I channel certain of my quirkier programmerish tendencies so that I project as a relatively normal person. Or at least I try.</p><p>Last November, I decided to do something new (for me). I made a running playlist! Carefully selected to have the right cadence and to inspire the run! It was ordered to have to have particular songs play at appropriate points of the <a href="https://www.strava.com/activities/10268876076/overview">Ashenfelter 8K</a> on Thanksgiving morning. It started with "Born to Run" and ended with either "Save it for Later", "Breathless" or "It's The End Of The World As We Know It", depending on my finishing time. It worked OK. I finished with Exene. I had never run with a playlist before.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnnuIycAQaZXoHGyjczqTvlYS4Gs_Zp1XZMOGJm2-f9QixG55vmJx0IchLyZVr_4OjZSS26zn-CFoOV3rfvITd86MoM2q_McomfoTcZjdnmEQLfFO4tVPxA2hoXetq9riOrjoAEMym76gTGV4oEl7AwvGgfijDFOvAQ_lcbaVI8IDUoak71UnI3dpA_ko/s3779/playlist.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="1. "Born to Run".
2. "American Land". The first part of the race is uphill, so an immigrant song seemed appropriate.
3. "Wake Up" – Arcade Fire. Can't get complacent.
4. "Twist & Crawl – The Beat. The up-tempo pushed me to the fastest part of the race.
5. "Night". Up and over the hill. "you run sad and free until all you can see is the night".
6. "Rock Lobster" – B-52s. The perfect beats per minute.
7. "Shake It Up" – Taylor Swift. A bit of focused anger helps my energy level.
8. "Roulette". Recommended by the Nuts, and yes it was good. Shouting a short lyric helps me run faster.
9. "Workin' on the Highway". The 4th mile of 5 is the hardest, so "all day long I don't stop".
10. "Your Sister Can't Twist" – Elton John. A short nasty hill.
11. "Save it for Later" – The Beat. I could run all day to this, but "sooner or later your legs give way, you hit the ground."
12. "Breathless" – X. If I had hit my goal of 45 minutes, I would have crossed the finish as this started, but I was very happy with 46:12. and a 9:14 pace.
13. "It's The End Of The World As We Know It" – R.E.M. 48 minutes would not have been the end of the world, but I'd feel fine." border="0" data-original-height="1591" data-original-width="3779" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnnuIycAQaZXoHGyjczqTvlYS4Gs_Zp1XZMOGJm2-f9QixG55vmJx0IchLyZVr_4OjZSS26zn-CFoOV3rfvITd86MoM2q_McomfoTcZjdnmEQLfFO4tVPxA2hoXetq9riOrjoAEMym76gTGV4oEl7AwvGgfijDFOvAQ_lcbaVI8IDUoak71UnI3dpA_ko/w400-h169/playlist.png" title="1. "Born to Run".
2. "American Land". The first part of the race is uphill, so an immigrant song seemed appropriate.
3. "Wake Up" – Arcade Fire. Can't get complacent.
4. "Twist & Crawl – The Beat. The up-tempo pushed me to the fastest part of the race.
5. "Night". Up and over the hill. "you run sad and free until all you can see is the night".
6. "Rock Lobster" – B-52s. The perfect beats per minute.
7. "Shake It Up" – Taylor Swift. A bit of focused anger helps my energy level.
8. "Roulette". Recommended by the Nuts, and yes it was good. Shouting a short lyric helps me run faster.
9. "Workin' on the Highway". The 4th mile of 5 is the hardest, so "all day long I don't stop".
10. "Your Sister Can't Twist" – Elton John. A short nasty hill.
11. "Save it for Later" – The Beat. I could run all day to this, but "sooner or later your legs give way, you hit the ground."
12. "Breathless" – X. If I had hit my goal of 45 minutes, I would have crossed the finish as this started, but I was very happy with 46:12. and a 9:14 pace.
13. "It's The End Of The World As We Know It" – R.E.M. 48 minutes would not have been the end of the world, but I'd feel fine." width="400" /></a></div><p>Last year, I started to extract a line from the music I had listened to during my run to use as the Strava title for the run. Through September 3, I would choose a line from a Springsteen song (he had to take a health timeout after that). For my New Year's resolution, I promised to credit the song and the artist in my run descriptions as well.</p><p>I find now that with many songs, they remind me of the place where I was running when I listened to them. And running in certain places now reminds me of particular songs. I'm training the neural network in my head. I prefer to think of it as creating a web of connections, invisible strings, you might say, that enrich my experience of life. In other words, I'm creating art. And if you follow <a href="https://www.strava.com/athletes/25278153">my Strava</a>, the connections you make to my runs and my songs become part of this little collective art project. Thanks!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv0LH-zeM9WyGcmJ8DvtoYCz471sDOYdJwe-KivJrElchtCIJotCKqlwJ6C44iT0rbJS9yQGglOgvH7nwYQeK2RHtGyjWgd8AX24nKkdcvJ8M_KKj6Wn0yZMQxIYiC5DRSM6SVptMYhYuD3C87kC26QUiqENaixnuNl92TVJvlfLrkQ7nu5Ez8RmAmofI/s1024/sotd-litf.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="266" data-original-width="1024" height="83" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv0LH-zeM9WyGcmJ8DvtoYCz471sDOYdJwe-KivJrElchtCIJotCKqlwJ6C44iT0rbJS9yQGglOgvH7nwYQeK2RHtGyjWgd8AX24nKkdcvJ8M_KKj6Wn0yZMQxIYiC5DRSM6SVptMYhYuD3C87kC26QUiqENaixnuNl92TVJvlfLrkQ7nu5Ez8RmAmofI/s320/sotd-litf.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p><br /></p><div style="background-color: white; color: #131414; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><i>This series of posts:</i></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #131414; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em;"></p><ul><li><a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2024/04/well-run-till-we-drop.html" style="color: #006699; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;"><i>We'll run till we drop</i></a></li><li><i><a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2024/05/running-song-of-day.html" style="color: #006699; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;">Running song of the day</a> </i></li><li><i><a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2024/06/all-streets-in-montclair.html" style="color: #006699; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;">All the Streets in Montclair</a></i></li><li><a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2024/08/running-away-from-home.html" style="color: #006699; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;"><i>Running away from home</i></a></li><li><a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2024/11/thank-you-new-york-city.html" style="color: #006699; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;"><i>Thank You, New York City</i></a></li></ul></div><p></p><p><br /></p>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04483241450401134977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990922102626688253.post-55067671054123526152024-04-29T22:33:00.005-04:002024-11-12T11:20:46.566-05:00We'll run 'til we drop<p><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">(I'm blogging my journey to the 2024 New York Marathon. )</span></i></p><p> It wasn't the 10 seconds that made me into a runner.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmIp39l5roLxpa2bi9nE-1yBtSJmWQT8L8tXqsuBE0u9R4vDlW7ypWmpoHadj7uJpUMsO6eOFQ0c-PYNM_DXSxfj8pXpv1jerymeAq38JmusLPRhnBJ3SlwMYmpaRawHeHip67h6bSipGM7SRip_thJPUBRuPH45Xk37tAX39RK3ISlXYzPj42xXWVC7Y/s1151/MHRq3hPDeuvxxN56vulRwvQdQ0EXyYfWZt98um7RGcc-1505×2048.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Eric running across a bridge" border="0" data-original-height="1151" data-original-width="846" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmIp39l5roLxpa2bi9nE-1yBtSJmWQT8L8tXqsuBE0u9R4vDlW7ypWmpoHadj7uJpUMsO6eOFQ0c-PYNM_DXSxfj8pXpv1jerymeAq38JmusLPRhnBJ3SlwMYmpaRawHeHip67h6bSipGM7SRip_thJPUBRuPH45Xk37tAX39RK3ISlXYzPj42xXWVC7Y/w235-h320/MHRq3hPDeuvxxN56vulRwvQdQ0EXyYfWZt98um7RGcc-1505×2048.jpg" width="235" /></a></div><p>I started running races again 20 years ago, in 2004. It was <a href="https://www.montclairymca.org/montclair-run/">a 10K sponsored by my town's YMCA</a>. I had run an occasional race in grad school to join my housemates; and I continued to run a couple of miles pretty regularly to add some exercise to my mostly sitting-at-a-computer lifestyle. I gradually added 10Ks – <a href="https://www.ashenfelter8k.org/">the local "turkey-trot"</a> because the course went almost by my house – and then <a href="https://essexcountyparks.org/parks/branch-brook-park/calendar/cherry-blossom-10k-run">a "cherry-blossom" run</a>, through beautiful Branch Brook Park. But I was not yet a real runner – tennis was my main sport.</p><p>In 2016, things changed. My wife was traveling a lot for work, and one son was away at college, and I found myself needing more social interaction. I saw that my local Y was offering a training program for their annual 10K, and I thought I would try it out. I had never <i>trained</i> for a race, ever. The closest thing to training I had ever done was the soccer team in high school. But there was a HUGE sacrifice involved – the class started at 8AM on Saturdays, and I was notorious for sleeping past noon on Saturdays! Surprise, surprise, I loved it. It was fun to have people to run with. I'm on the silent side, and it was a pleasure to be with people who were comfortable with the somewhat taciturn real me.</p><p>I trained really hard with that group. I did longer runs than I'd ever done, and it felt great. So by race day, I felt sure that I would smash my PR (not counting the races in my 20's!). I was counting on cutting a couple of minutes off my time. And I did it! But only by a measly 10 seconds. I was so disappointed.</p><p>But somehow I had become a runner! It was running with a group that made me a runner. I began to seek out running groups and became somewhat of a running social butterfly.</p><p>Fast-forward to five weeks ago, when I was doing a 10-miler with a group of running friends (A 10 miler for me, they were doing longer runs in training for a marathon). I had told them of my decision to <a href="https://donate.amrefusa.org/fundraiser/5389723">do New York</a> this fall, and they were soooo supportive. I signed up for <a href="https://runjimthorpe.com/">a half marathon</a> to be held on April 27th – many of my friends were training for the associated full marathon. The last 2 miles were really rough for me (maybe because my shoes were newish??) and I staggered home. That afternoon I could hardly walk and I realized I had strained my right knee. Running was suddenly excruciatingly painful.</p><p>By the next day I could get down the stairs and walk with a limp, but running was impossible. The next weekend, I was able to do a slow jog with some pain, so I decided to stick to walking, which was mostly pain-free. I saw a PT who advised me to build up slowly and get plenty of rest. It was working until the next weekend, when I was hurrying to catch a train and unthinkingly took a double step in Penn Station and re-sprained the knee. It was worse than before and I had only 3 weeks until the half marathon!</p><p>The past three weeks have been the hardest thing I've had to deal with in my running "career". I've had a calf strain, T-band strains, back strains, sore quads, inter-tarsal neuromas and COVID get in the way of running, but this was the worst. Because of my impatience.</p><p>Run-walk (and my running buddies) were what saved me. I slowly worked my way from 2 miles at a 0.05-to-0.25 mile run-to-walk ratio up to 4 miles at 0.2-to-0.05 mile run-to-walk, with 2 days of rest between each session. I started my half marathon with a plan to run 2 mimutes and walk 30 seconds until the knee told me to stop the running bits. I was hoping for a 3 hour half.</p><p>The knee never complained (the rest of the body complained, but I'm used to that!!) I finished with the very respectable time of 2:31:28, faster than 2 of my previous 11 half marathons. One of my friends took a video of me staggering over the finish. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxTW4VCR13ACOVc3VWDjb-Bx8Z26OEPwTVY7-KrAJsVpacKXCnYan8tgloCeECyfTTMceszniqin2gMcDvQRA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><p><br /></p><p> I'm very sure I don't look like that in real life.</p><p>Here's our group picture, marathoners and half-marathoners. Together, we're real runners.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiZFkSl_w-duV_F9BQMiB5aB9A5AM2vKimsJxGiDvoBHR_vMpWeVWD-U2JPFr3TTdeqdggVu_RJkU-vRPyjrobp6Eu9lFYzNdijCo9tQ88JHBTsT8TZZSIUuSGFb-1-3sc4b3vc7TbqckPCEoTvRKnkU-HlaEpgmukU8EYlQ3jwDMXa5h9XYQ6tSS8Hck/s429/IMG_7777.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="312" data-original-width="429" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiZFkSl_w-duV_F9BQMiB5aB9A5AM2vKimsJxGiDvoBHR_vMpWeVWD-U2JPFr3TTdeqdggVu_RJkU-vRPyjrobp6Eu9lFYzNdijCo9tQ88JHBTsT8TZZSIUuSGFb-1-3sc4b3vc7TbqckPCEoTvRKnkU-HlaEpgmukU8EYlQ3jwDMXa5h9XYQ6tSS8Hck/s320/IMG_7777.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><p>After this weekend, my biggest half marathon challenge to date, I have more confidence than ever that I'll be able to do the New York Marathon in November – in one piece – with <a href="https://donate.amrefusa.org/fundraiser/5389723">Team Amref</a>. </p><p><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span jsname="YS01Ge" style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f;">We're gonna get to that place </span><span jsname="YS01Ge" style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f;">where we really wanna go and we'll walk in the sun</span></span></i></p><p><a href="https://www.secondwindtiming.com/result-page/?id=287429#2_50D290">Jim Thorpe Half Marathon 2024 results. </a></p><div><a href="https://www.strava.com/activities/11277170257">My half on Strava.</a></div><div><br /></div><div><div style="background-color: white; color: #131414; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><i>This series of posts:</i></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #131414; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em;"></p><ul><li><a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2024/04/well-run-till-we-drop.html" style="color: #006699; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;"><i>We'll run till we drop</i></a></li><li><i><a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2024/05/running-song-of-day.html" style="color: #006699; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;">Running song of the day</a> </i></li><li><i><a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2024/06/all-streets-in-montclair.html" style="color: #006699; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;">All the Streets in Montclair</a></i></li><li><a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2024/08/running-away-from-home.html" style="color: #006699; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;"><i>Running away from home</i></a></li><li><a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2024/11/thank-you-new-york-city.html" style="color: #006699; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;"><i>Thank You, New York City</i></a></li></ul></div></div>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04483241450401134977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990922102626688253.post-72744184908654558222023-12-14T20:26:00.000-05:002023-12-14T20:26:55.555-05:00 The Revenge of the Cataloguers<p>Over the past 15 years or so, libraries around the world have de-emphasized cataloguing. While budgetary concerns and technological efficiencies have been factors in the decline of cataloguing, the emergence of full text search and relevance ranking as practiced by Google and others has proved to be more popular for the vast majority of users. On the open internet, subject classifications have proved to be useless in an environment rife with keyword spam and other search engine optimization techniques. </p><p>In the past year, the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) with large language models with surprising abilities to summarize and classify texts has people speculating that AI will put most cataloguers out of work in the not-so-distant future.</p><p>I think that's <i>not even wrong</i>. But <a href="https://www.libraryjournal.com/story/marc-must-die">Roy Tennant</a> will turn out to be <i>almost</i> right. <a href="https://www.loc.gov/marc/">MARC</a>, the premier tool of cataloguers around the world, will live forever… as a million weights in generative pre-trained transformer. Let me explain…</p><p>The success or failure of modern AI depends on the construction of large statistical models with billions or even trillions of variables. These models are built from training data. The old adage about computers: "garbage in garbage out" is truer than ever. The models are really good at imitating the training data; so good that they can surprise the models' architects! Thus the growing need for good training data, and the increasing value of rich data sources.</p><p>Filings in recent lawsuits confirm the value of this training data. <a href="https://www.gettyimages.com/">Getty Images</a> is <a href="https://www.bakerlaw.com/getty-images-v-stability-ai/">suing</a> <a href="https://stability.ai/">Stability AI</a> for the use of Getty Images' material in AI training sets. But it's not just for the use of the images, which are copyrighted, but also for the use of trademarks and the detailed descriptions than accompany the data. Read paragraph 57 of the <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ded.81407/gov.uscourts.ded.81407.13.0.pdf">complaint</a>:</p><p></p><blockquote><p>Getty Images’ websites include both the images and corresponding detailed titles and captions and other metadata. Upon information and belief, the pairings of detailed text and images has been critical to successfully training the Stable Diffusion model to deliver relevant output in response to text prompts. If, for example, Stability AI ingested an image of a beach that was labeled “forest” and used that image-text pairing to train the model, the model would learn inaccurate information and be far less effective at generating desirable outputs in response to text prompts by Stability AI’s customers. Furthermore, in training the Stable Diffusion model, Stability AI has benefitted from Getty Images’ image-text pairs that are not only accurate, but detailed. For example, if Stability AI ingested a picture of Lake Oroville in California during a severe drought with a corresponding caption limited to just the word “lake,” it would learn that the image is of a lake, but not which lake or that the photograph was taken during a severe drought. If a Stable Diffusion user then entered a prompt for “California’s Lake Oroville during a severe drought” the output image might still be one of a lake, but it would be much less likely to be an image of Lake Oroville during a severe drought because the synthesis engine would not have the same level of control that allows it to deliver detailed and specific images in response to text prompts.</p></blockquote><p>If you're reading this blog, you're probably thinking to yourself "THAT'S METADATA!"</p><p>Let's not forget the trademark part of the complaint:</p><p><br /></p><p></p><blockquote>In many cases, and as discussed further below, the output delivered by Stability AI includes a modified version of a Getty Images watermark, underscoring the clear link between the copyrighted images that Stability AI copied without permission and the output its model delivers. In the following example, the image on the left is another original, watermarked image copied by Stability AI and used to train its model and the watermarked image on the right is output delivered using the model:</blockquote><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_wjc_Ygthv6-STJTd7xJqPwzybdLTJlNBJcrKEU0C6eYbq8xCYFktBtYw-FRhRQ6qyXnyXwJZ4BkN_r26R3w86EUR0bKcp98eeSTWDxfALYAOAOjaRj-PyrHR1pLacdPR83u2bJH5xzWGgBW-ysyKDTk6g6FJpfuuy_ppwRsxJ1CSjUv8P9_7uTWRu_Q/s1388/gettyfootball.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="832" data-original-width="1388" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_wjc_Ygthv6-STJTd7xJqPwzybdLTJlNBJcrKEU0C6eYbq8xCYFktBtYw-FRhRQ6qyXnyXwJZ4BkN_r26R3w86EUR0bKcp98eeSTWDxfALYAOAOjaRj-PyrHR1pLacdPR83u2bJH5xzWGgBW-ysyKDTk6g6FJpfuuy_ppwRsxJ1CSjUv8P9_7uTWRu_Q/s320/gettyfootball.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>If you're reading this blog, you're probably thinking to yourself "THAT'S PROVENANCE!"</p><p>So clearly, the kinds of data that libraries and archives have been producing for many years will still have value, but we need to start thinking about how the practice of cataloguing and similar activities will need to change in response to the new technologies. Existing library data will get repurposed as training data to create efficiencies in library workflows. Organizations with large, well-managed will extract windfalls, deserved or not.</p><p>If the utility of metadata work is shifting from feeding databases to training AI models, how does this affect the product of that work? Here's how I see it:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; float: right; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHVDg9UYwgTyRL3d_cGuCx1_BeGo7FJ3UC17dSGx1IInxnQFhDhmgCflnoG8qcVhyS9IV7bZp-ie-gqS0WCf8H2H0IxFaNOqwiQy4ltze3wzTb-68opbRVqYJ6uWZQNQzhgwEWw7SAR1LXxmuGEBsdG4oNt8lOmISrsgdowRkMwJc87OH5hyPfQE8SJqU/s1486/footballmarc.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1486" data-original-width="1159" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHVDg9UYwgTyRL3d_cGuCx1_BeGo7FJ3UC17dSGx1IInxnQFhDhmgCflnoG8qcVhyS9IV7bZp-ie-gqS0WCf8H2H0IxFaNOqwiQy4ltze3wzTb-68opbRVqYJ6uWZQNQzhgwEWw7SAR1LXxmuGEBsdG4oNt8lOmISrsgdowRkMwJc87OH5hyPfQE8SJqU/s320/footballmarc.png" width="250" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Tighter coupling of metadata and content.</b> Today's discovery systems are all about decoupling data from content – we talk about creating metadata surrogates for discovery of content. Surrogates are <i>useless</i> for AI training; a description of a cat is useless for training without an accompanying picture of the cat. This means that the existing decoupling of metadata work from content production is doomed. You might think that copyright considerations will drive metadata production into the hands of existing content producers, but more likely organizations that focus on production of integrated training data will emerge to license content and support the necessary metadata production.</li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Tighter collaboration of machines and humans.</b> Optical character recognition (OCR) is a good example of highly focused and evolved machine learning that can still be improved by human editors. The practice of database-focused cataloguing will be made more productive as cataloguers become editors of machine generated structured data. (As if they're not already doing that!)</li></ul><p></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Softer categorization.</b> Discovery databases demand hard classifications. Fiction. Science. Textbooks. LC Subject Headings. AIs are much better at nuance, so the training data needs to include a lot more context. You can have a romantic novel of chemists and their textbooks, and an AI will be just fine with that, so long as you have enough description and context for the machine to assign lots of weights to many topic clusters. </li></ul><p></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Emphasis on novelty. </b>New concepts and things appear constantly; an AI will extrapolate unpredictably until it gets on-topic training data. AI-OCR might recognize a new emoji, but it might not.</li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Emphasis on provenance. </b>Reality is expensive, which is why I think for-profit organizations will have difficulty in the business of providing training data while Wikipedia will continue to succeed because it requires citations. Already the internet is awash in AI produced content that sounds real, but is just automated BS. Training data will get branded.</li></ul><p></p><p>What gets me really excited though, is thinking about how a library of the future will interact with content. I expect users will interact with the library using a pre-trained language model, rather than via databases. Content will get added to the model using packages of statistical vectors, compiled by human-expert-assisted content processors. These human experts won't be called "cataloguers" any longer but rather "meaning advisors". Or maybe "biblio-epistemologists". The revenge of the cataloguers will be that because of the great responsibilities and breadth of expertise required, biblio-epistemologists will command salaries well exceeding the managers and programmers who will just take orders from well-trained AIs. Of course there will <b>still</b> be MARC records, generated by a special historical vector package guaranteed to only <i>occasionally</i> hallucinate.</p><p><b>Note:</b> I started thinking about this after hearing <a href="https://vimeo.com/889875840?share=copy">a great talk</a> (starting at about 30:00) by Michelle Wu at the Charleston Conference in November. (Kyle Courtney's talk was good, too).</p>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04483241450401134977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990922102626688253.post-78900523204130451152023-08-25T18:26:00.003-04:002023-09-11T12:33:25.349-04:00Let's pretend they're ebooksIn days of yore, back when people were blogging, <a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2011/02/harpercollins-and-suspension-of-ebook.html">I described the way that libraries were offering ebooks</a> as being a "Pretend It's Print" model. At the time, I felt that this model was designed to sustain and perpetuate the model that libraries and publishers had been using since prehistoric times, and that it ignored most of the possibilities inherent in the ebook. Ebooks could liberate the book from the shackles of their physical existences!<div>
<br />I was right, and I was wrong. The book publishing world seized on digital technology to put even heavier shackles on their books. In turn, technology companies such as Amazon locked down innovation in the ebook world so that libraries could no longer be equal contributors to the enterprise of distributing books, all the while pretending to their patrons that the ebooks they licensed were just like the print books sitting on their shelves.</div><div>
<br />Somehow libraries and publishers have survived. Maybe they've even thrived with the "pretend it's print" model for ebooks. There are plenty of economic problems, but whenever I talk to people about ebooks, the conversation is always some variation of "I love reading ebooks through my library". Most library users are perfectly happy pretending that their digital ebooks are just like the printed books.</div><div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQYCc8X42uQsFK7LwFC_6JRc6jXGWOC6yRaqTTCuWpZsouNRWEzq0_wilXEdeIcyxCW_9xh-NGTfDGJI-Zv73NyvPxeuZVZwIDzOh83qaTtW-bd5lTLWV6L7szzR_G89mu_0aYXniW8G7kO1ythAVcCPpNUMn5Lg7tstTqHoB3cNueBLGQ-0QUlZa9pv0/s512/robot%20ipad.jpeg" style="clear: left; display: block; float: left; padding: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="robot writing on an ipad" border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQYCc8X42uQsFK7LwFC_6JRc6jXGWOC6yRaqTTCuWpZsouNRWEzq0_wilXEdeIcyxCW_9xh-NGTfDGJI-Zv73NyvPxeuZVZwIDzOh83qaTtW-bd5lTLWV6L7szzR_G89mu_0aYXniW8G7kO1ythAVcCPpNUMn5Lg7tstTqHoB3cNueBLGQ-0QUlZa9pv0/s320/robot%20ipad.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
A decade later, we need to change our perspective. It's time we seriously started pretending that printed books <i>are just like ebooks</i>, not just the other way around. The library world has been doing something called "<a href="https://controlleddigitallending.org/">Controlled Digital Lending</a>" (CDL) , which flips the "pretend it's print" model and pretends that print is just like digital. The basic idea behind controlled digital lending is that owning a print book should allow you to read it any way you want, even if that involves creating a digital substitute for it. A library that owns a print book ought to be able to lend it, as long as it's lent to only one person at time. It's as if books were printed and sold in order to spread ideas and information!</div><div>
<br />Of course radical ideas such as spreading information have to be stopped. And so we have the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hachette_v._Internet_Archive">Hachette v. Internet Archive</a> lawsuit and its assorted fallout. I'm not a lawyer, so I won't say much about the legal validity of the arguments on either side. I'm an ebook technologist, so I will explain to you that whole lawsuit was about whether the other side was sufficiently serious about pretending that print books are just like ebooks and that ebooks are just like print books. Also that the other side doesn't understand how print books are completely different things than ebooks. Those lawyers really take to heart the White Queen's recommendation to believe <a href="https://gutenberg.org/cache/epub/12/pg12-images.html#link2HCH0005">6 impossible things before breakfast</a>.</div><div>
<br />The magic of technology is that it can make our pretendings into something real. So let's think a bit about how we can make the pretense of print-ebook equivalency more real, and if the resulting bargain makes any sense.</div><div>
<br />Here are some ways that we could make these ebooks, derived from printed books, more like print books:
<ol>
<li>Speed. It takes me an hour or so to get a print book from a library. Should I be able to get the digital substitute in a minute? Should I be able to read a chapter and the "return" it so that someone else can use it the next seconf? CDL already puts some limits on this, but maybe there could be a standard that makes the digital surrogate more like the real thing?<br /><br /></li>
<li>Geography. Printed books need to be transported to where the reader is. Once digitized they could go anywhere!. Maybe something like a shipping fee could be attached to a loan or other transfer. Maybe part of the fee could accrue to creators? Academic libraries have long done interlibrary loan of journal articles by copying and mailing the article, so why not do something equivalent for books?<br /><br /></li></ol>
These two attributes matter a lot in defining commercial markets for books and ebooks, and will become increasingly important as distribution technologies scale up and improve. Although publishers today make most of their money on the most popular books, book sales and usage of books in libraries <a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2011/03/statistician-cant-distinguish-library.html">have very long tails</a>. There are millions of books for which global demand could be met by aggressive CDL of just a few copies. The CDL system instituted by Internet Archive also has a countervailing effect – the world-wide availability combined with so-so EPUB quality and usability probably result in stimulation of demand for print copies. This effect is likely to diminish as technologists like me smooth out the DRM speedbumps in CDL and begin to apply machine learning to EPUB generation.</div><div>
<br />It's worth noting that the "long tail" in book publishing also applies to authors and publishers. It's likely that the Internet Archive's CDL service has a larger market effect (whether positive or negative) on these market participants.</div><div>
<br />Here are some ways that we shouldn't make ebooks more like print books:
<ol><li>
Search. Ebooks make search much easier than in print books. Maybe search should be disabled in CDL ebooks? Or maybe, we could enable search in print books. Google Books already sort of does this, if you have the right edition, but the process of making an ebook from a print book should give you an easy way to enable search in the print!<br /><br />
</li><li>Accessibility. Many reading-disabled users rely on ebooks for access to literature, science and culture. Older adults such as myself often find that flowable text with adjustable font size is easier on our eyes. In addition to international treaties that treat accessible text as an exception to copyright, most authors and publishers don't want to be monsters.<br /><br />
</li><li>Smell. Let's not go there. <br /><br />
</li><li>Privacy. The intellectual property world seems to think that copyright gives them the right to monitor and data-mine the behavior of readers on digital platforms. In some cases, copyright extremists <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_BMG_copy_protection_rootkit_scandal">have required root access to our devices</a> so they can sniff out infringing files or behavior. (While they're at it, they might as well mine some bitcoin!) It is an outrage to think anyone who makes ebooks from print books would wire them with surveillance tools; the strong privacy policies of Internet Archive should be codified for CDL.<br /><br />
</li><li> Preservation. Publishers do a terrible job of preserving the lion's share of the printed books they publish, and society has always relied on libraries for this essential service. In this digital age, any grand bargain on copyrights has to provide libraries with the rights and incentives needed to do digital preservation of both printed and digital books. <br /><br />
</li></ol>
The bottom line is that if we're going to continue to pretend that intellection property is a real thing, we need to start pretending that printed books are like ebooks, <i>and</i> vice versa. A grand bargain that benefits us all can eventually make these illusions real.</div><div><h4 style="text-align: left;">Notes: </h4></div><div><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><b><i>Copyability. </i></b>CDL books, like publisher-created ebooks, rely on device-enforced restrictions on duplication (DRM). Printed books rely on the expense of copying machines and paper to limit reproduction. In both cases, social norms and legal strictures discourage unauthorized reproduction. Building those social norms is what creating a grand bargain is all about.</li><li> <i><b>Simultaneous use. </b></i>Allowing simultaneous use of library ebooks during the pandemic is what really got the publishers mad at Internet Archive. A lot of people went mad during the lockdown, to be honest, and we're still recovering. </li><li> <i><b>Comments.</b></i> I encourage comment on the <a href="https://tilde.zone/@gluejar">Fediverse</a> or on <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/gluejar.com">Bluesky</a>. I've turned off commenting here.</li></ol></div>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04483241450401134977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990922102626688253.post-38240199098047026732022-02-12T21:15:00.002-05:002022-02-12T21:16:10.179-05:00 Crowdfunding Lessons from the Spice DAO<p>What if we get a huge bunch of people together and buy something that lets us do fun things with a book that we all love, while making it accessible as never before? Great idea, isn't it?</p><p>If that sounds familiar, maybe you've heard of <a href="https://Unglue.it">Unglue.it</a>, a web site we launched 10 years ago? We asked people what book they wished was free to everyone and the number one answer was Douglas Adams' <a href="https://unglue.it/work/5255/">Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy</a>. We talked to the literary agent for the Adams estate, and long story short, the rights entanglements made that impossible for any amount of money. We had a success with <a href="https://unglue.it/work/81835/">a seminal Anthropology book</a>, but the intersection between books people were excited about and books that authors were willing to license openly was small. Probably you haven't heard of the site, but while it has focused on building a catalog of open-access books (<a href="https://blog.unglue.it/2022/01/05/100000-open-access-ebooks/">now over 100,000 titles</a>!) we still crowd fund a book here and there, most recently an academic monograph.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg5_jLBCthAMmlEC5K9Kj_mk8K0ZK3Ptpt0psOQ_C4elQD1bZUiorvXlrF7UzYkofvZBo7s84rTkh6MNAODBn2-7uvQdmkfFfhdxhDaWvUsfgP1fls0w5OEEeQDCPplO9zKCwN8uWDg5RR44U7B5vS4GKKM5LHaTb7KY9WvCHFmTftTT39Mnmp7PpKcdg=s1100" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1100" data-original-width="940" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg5_jLBCthAMmlEC5K9Kj_mk8K0ZK3Ptpt0psOQ_C4elQD1bZUiorvXlrF7UzYkofvZBo7s84rTkh6MNAODBn2-7uvQdmkfFfhdxhDaWvUsfgP1fls0w5OEEeQDCPplO9zKCwN8uWDg5RR44U7B5vS4GKKM5LHaTb7KY9WvCHFmTftTT39Mnmp7PpKcdg=s320" style="float: right;" width="273" /></a></span></div>Probably you HAVE heard about <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220119101517/https://dune.foundation/">Spice DAO,</a> a "Distributed Autonomous Organization" that sprinkled some magic blockchain dust on <a href="https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-6345488">an auction for a copy of Alejandro Jodorowosky's movie treatment</a> of Frank Herbert's novel.<p></p><p>Web3 enthusiasts came through for Spice DAO, "crowdraising" enough to win the auction for €2.66M, though Christie's estimate for the item was only €25-35,000.</p><p>Spice DAO vows that:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Instead of letting it remain hidden away in private collections, Spice DAO crowdraised funds … to collectively explore options to digitally preserve the manuscript, make it accessible to the public for the very first time, and develop creative projects inspired by the vision Jodorowsky set forth.</p></blockquote><p>Predictably, the success of Spice DAO led to widespread ridicule , because:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The price paid was 100X the esimate</li><li>Nothing about the item purchased gave them any rights to "make it accessible" or "develop creative projects" it inspired.</li><li>Images of another copy were already freely available on the internet. But no more. Ironically, the publicity around Spice DAO seems to have knocked the images off of the internet!</li><li>Even the DAO's website https://dune.foundation/ is no longer online, most likely trademark infringement. (archived version linked above.)</li></ul><p></p><p>One crypto lesson: a DAO constructed this way may get ripped off in an auction. Even if the seller was not using shills to see inside the DAO and bid up the price, the DAO was vulnerable to crypto-pranksters (or arbitrageurs?) who knew exactly what the DAO was forced to bid by its "smart" contract to avoid dissolution.</p><p>Despite all that, the 2.1 Billion "Spice" tokens given to crowdraise participants are still worth over 800,000 "dollars", <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/spice-dao/">according to Coinmarket</a>, so maybe the product here is a convincing story for unregistered securities that apart from representing something tangible, can be used for tax evasion and money laundering. And the team seems to have had a crash course in copyright law:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">After two months of outreach, conversations with former business partners and consultations with legal counsel we have not been able to reach an agreement with any of the rights holders involved in the creation of the contents of the book of collected storyboards of Jodorowsky’s Dune. (<a href="https://medium.com/@spicedao/roadmap-timeline-ae319c92505d">medium</a>)</p></blockquote><p>Spice DAO, like most successful crowd-funding projects, had a good story, and clearly that's worth a lot. There's still a big difference between a good story and an honest, well informed story. Crowdfunding services such as Unglue.it are limited by all the facts they have to deal with. But magic crypto dust has a certain reality. The crowd-raise generation of tokens that can be bought and sold in free markets allows participants to dream that their tokens will increase in value, and they very well could. In the real world, Spice DAO spent the equivalent of $300,000 to create the liquidity pool needed to distribute the SPICE tokens. Which makes credit card fee seem like a bargain! But dreams are priceless. </p><p>At least with "conventional" crowd funding, you know there's some accountability if you're investing in a nightmare!</p>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14172740163003223132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990922102626688253.post-39248275500278143552021-12-22T09:19:00.000-05:002021-12-22T09:19:32.858-05:00 Top 25 foods at a Traditional Hellman Christmas.<p>Have only made 7 of the 25 so far this year. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj9-JwHFquWa6ozyQXTDBlqIO9PK4OEw_ijKkOTEVWWdBuc6adetx8sX7X15v0Jj3IktMQmANDfMpttd-vug8qCEYeYZT2iJYtEpsB4Top4e-7OnMFD1_WVOOFcM-ltO8NgvY160U3q3xbULnY6aapK89i2EJrWBi6VMIOkRiznsPUbwOnKIozJTNyR=s4032" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj9-JwHFquWa6ozyQXTDBlqIO9PK4OEw_ijKkOTEVWWdBuc6adetx8sX7X15v0Jj3IktMQmANDfMpttd-vug8qCEYeYZT2iJYtEpsB4Top4e-7OnMFD1_WVOOFcM-ltO8NgvY160U3q3xbULnY6aapK89i2EJrWBi6VMIOkRiznsPUbwOnKIozJTNyR=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bulla, 2021</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Julskinka (Christmas Ham). It doesn't count unless you cure it yourself. It once came out blue.</li><li>Köttbullar (Meatballs). Still working to perfect the Impossible™ version.</li><li>Limpa (Christmas rye Bread). You absolutely must have this with lever pastej, but its also great with just butter.</li><li>Sil (Herring). Must have Akvavit to kill the taste. A proper smörgåsbord should have two kinds at least, but we usually made do with one.</li><li>Akvavit. Must have Herring to kill the taste.</li><li>Boiled Potatoes. Great with Sil and Akvavit. Alleged to go great on knäckebröd with butter and Kalvslyta.</li><li>Kalvsylta (Jellied Veal). It's surprisingly easy to make. Keeps at least a year in the freezer.</li><li>Lever Pastej (Liver Paté). Also surprisingly easy to make, if you have a grinder.</li><li>Korv (Sausage). Two kinds in some years.</li><li>Spare Ribs. More than once these were forgotten in the oven.</li><li>Dopp i gryta (Dip in the pot). You dip some knäckebröd into boiling ham broth, then slather with butter. Matsos will work in a pinch.</li><li>Ost (cheese). Västerbottens Ost, Bond Ost, Herrgardsost, Havarti and Swiss are all good.</li><li>Rödkålsalat (red cabbage salad).</li><li>Rödbetsalat (red beet salad).</li><li>Inlagd gurka (picked cucumber).</li><li>Jansson's frestelse (Jansson's temptation). Creamed potatoes, anchovies and onions. Gonna try fermented tofu instead of anchovies this year.</li><li>Shrimp omelet.</li><li>Rotmoss (Mashed rutabagas). This used to be stuff that people in Sweden ate every day *other* than Christmas, because they could afford it. Now we never have it except at Christmas, because we can afford it.</li><li>Lingonsylt (lingonberry sauce).</li><li>Öl (beer). But never Swedish beer. Have dubbed this year's batch "Cipher Ale".</li><li>Glögg (spiced wine). Dad made it with 1 part vodka to one part wine. </li><li>Coffee.</li><li>Pepparkakar (Ginger Cookies). You can make a wish on them- if the cookie breaks into 3 pieces you get your wish. If some other number, you only get your wish if you wished for pepparkakor</li><li>Bulla (Cardamon cinnamon coffee b<br />read). Comes out differently for every baker. There's also the saffron and almond paste variety made for Dec. 13 and sometimes saved for Christmas.</li><li>Sand formar (Sand cookies). A ground almond cookie shell that you put vanilla pudding and a mandarin orange inside.</li><li>Jam cookies. </li><li>Many other cookies. Log cookies. Broomstick cookies. Chocolate chip cookies. Macaroons. Knäck. Our seasonal output peaked at 10 dozen dozen. </li><li>Donuts. With the next door neighbors.</li><li>Lutfisk. Not a figment of Garrison Kiellor's imagination, but only Dad liked it, with cream sauce, peas and allspice. </li></ol><p></p><p>I know that's more than 25, but did I mention that Dad made the glögg with one part vodka to one part wine?</p><div><br /></div>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04483241450401134977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990922102626688253.post-31160478141682267782021-07-04T13:40:00.004-04:002021-07-04T13:41:54.890-04:00 The Ebook Turns 50<p>On July 4, 1971, Michael Hart made the text of the Declaration of Independence available on arpanet (which is now the Internet), using the gopher protocol (look it up). Although books in digital form certainly existed before that, many of us regard the beginning of <a href="https://gutenberg.org/">Project Gutenberg</a> as the birth of the ebook. There were computer-readable books on magnetic disks, punch cards and the like, but the revolutionary element of Project Gutenberg was the distribution method. Printed books, after all, are a digital media, it just that the bits are embodied by the presence or absence of ink rather than electrons on a transistor gate. Sending the bits over a wire or a fiber is what puts the 'e' in ebook.</p><p>The birth of the ebook was a political event as much as a technical achievement. The choice of the "Declaration of Independence of the United States" as <a href="https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/1">etext #1</a> couldn't have been solely an expression of patriotic fervor. Rather, I think it was a manifestation of the radical belief that everyone should have access to the printed word, without having to pay for the privilege. (Yes, libraries are radical in this way, too!).</p><p>As Thomas Jefferson put it:</p><p></p><blockquote><p>… it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the Powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them.</p><p></p></blockquote><p>In the context of 1971, the "bands" that needed dissolving were expensive services such as Dialog. The idea that users had to pay Dialog per word to read the Declaration mush have been galling to Hart. (Let's overlook the fact that he and other denizens of the 1971 arpanet got their access for "free" because someone else was paying.) Books are things in their own right; stripping ebooks of their "bands" to a single device or service is what put the "book" into ebook.</p><p>Although Project Gutenberg is now delivering about 50 million ebooks a year, about 2% of global ebook unit sales, until at least 2009 it delivered the majority of the world's ebooks. Today, that position has been taken by Amazon's Kindle. Just as the United States can't ignore the ideals that led to its founding, the stakeholders of the ebook ecosystem- authors, publishers, distributors, libraries, and readers, all of us need to remember that the ebook was born out of a desire for freedom.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_D9TGg0847aa6DXZHqquIpgN862dL1981XQkRiUURZuliRIpkUY0c5G0IJkCieFf5D3aGimyB70ClbSx_JSnATIAZtavewAVJnj8VXz5G6Gsy3P7pjj4m0AQJlOEz9LrJQtQlH6VZR-LZ/s948/dec1th.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="948" data-original-width="619" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_D9TGg0847aa6DXZHqquIpgN862dL1981XQkRiUURZuliRIpkUY0c5G0IJkCieFf5D3aGimyB70ClbSx_JSnATIAZtavewAVJnj8VXz5G6Gsy3P7pjj4m0AQJlOEz9LrJQtQlH6VZR-LZ/w418-h640/dec1th.jpeg" width="418" /></a></div><p><br /></p><div><i>Note: Though I've been helping Project Gutenberg modernize its technology, I don't speak for them in any way, though I am certainly in awe of what they've achieved! If you'd like to support my work advancing freedom for ebooks, consider <a href="https://unglue.it/about/funds/">a donation to the Free Ebook Foundation</a>.</i></div>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14172740163003223132noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990922102626688253.post-18922305876812211822021-02-22T21:49:00.003-05:002021-02-22T21:49:17.996-05:00 Open Access for Backlist Books, Part II: The All-Stars<p>Libraries know that a big fraction of their book collections never circulate, even once. The flip side of this fact is that a small fraction of a library's collection accounts for most of the circulation. This is often referred to as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zipf%27s_law">Zipf's law</a>; as a physicist I prefer to think of it as another <a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2011/03/statistician-cant-distinguish-library.html">manifestation of log-normal statistics</a> resulting a preferential attachment mechanism for reading. (English translation: "word-of-mouth".)</p><p>In my post about <a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2021/02/creating-value-with-open-access-books.html">the value of Open Access for books</a>, I suggested that usage statistics (circulation, downloads, etc.) are a useful proxy for the value that books generate for their readers. The logical conclusion is that the largest amount of value that can be generated from opening of the backlist comes from the books that are most used, the "all-stars" of the library, not the discount rack or the discards. If libraries are to provide funding for Open Access backlist books, shouldn't they focus their resources on the books that create the most value?</p><p>The question of course, is how the library community would ever convince publishers, who have monopolies on these books as a consequence of international copyright laws, to convert these books to Open Access. Although some sort of statutory licensing or fair-use carve-outs could eventually do the trick, I believe that Open Access for a significant number of "backlist All-Stars" can be achieved <i>today</i> by pushing <i>ALL</i> the buttons available to supporters of Open Access. Here's where the Open Access can learn from the game (and business) of baseball.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyoqpU1KoKh61OubllQrFeEATcOiIURtHfX0eCC7kQJkdGWxadmsMsHTFIkhfsZJgFUK7UPtKLIMLpklZOuTfgeFH4Nm_vRuqCZHLIryoOvBstuAmC6u2AF_v6l9DQKxxZ-JF-olMqTAQ/s2048/commonwealth_p5547w56j_accessFull.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1274" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyoqpU1KoKh61OubllQrFeEATcOiIURtHfX0eCC7kQJkdGWxadmsMsHTFIkhfsZJgFUK7UPtKLIMLpklZOuTfgeFH4Nm_vRuqCZHLIryoOvBstuAmC6u2AF_v6l9DQKxxZ-JF-olMqTAQ/s320/commonwealth_p5547w56j_accessFull.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Baseball", Henry Sandham, L. Prang & Co. (1861).<br /> <a href="https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/p5547w56j">from Digital Commonwealth</a></td></tr></tbody></table><p><br />Baseball's best player, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Trout">Mike Trout</a>, should earn $33.25 million this year, a bit over $205,000 per regular season game. If he's chosen for the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_League_Baseball_All-Star_Game">All-Star game</a>, he won't get <i>even a penny</i> extra to play unless he's named MVP, in which case <a href="https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/los-angeles-angels/mike-trout-8553/#:~:text=Mike%20Trout%20signed%20a%2012,annual%20average%20salary%20of%20%2435%2C541%2C667.">he earns a $50,000 bonus</a>. So why would he bother to play for free? It turns out there are lots of reasons. The most important have everything to with the recognition and honor of being named as an All-Star, and with having respect for his fans. But being an All-Star is not without financial benefits considering endorsement contracts and earning potential outside of baseball. Playing in the All-Star game is an all-around no-brainer for Mike Trout.</p><p><i>Open Access should be an All-Star game for backlist books.</i> We need to create community-based award programs that recognize and reward backlist conversions to OA. If the world's libraries want to spend $50,000 on backlist physics books, for example, isn't it better to spend it on the the Mike Trout of physics books than on a team full of discount-rack replacement-level players?</p><p>Competent publishers would line up in droves for major-league all-star backlist OA programs. They know that publicity will drive demand for their print versions (especially if NC licenses are used.) They know that awards will boost their prestige, and if they're trying to build Open Access publication programs, prestige and quality are a publisher's most important selling points.</p><p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiffsUdpMdiu_jC09kGOCjV_0af2xfac0vjlluM5yWgr33zQd2UlMw8XQcPRCpMtL5DFSqJ5tz-5f80C6KcBJC56cM8eA20GWlFmnAW9GaJFzLsd123iReiuoEo2l2JQ9_zAhwQEyTM9Nk/s202/pgraphic1-545.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="202" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiffsUdpMdiu_jC09kGOCjV_0af2xfac0vjlluM5yWgr33zQd2UlMw8XQcPRCpMtL5DFSqJ5tz-5f80C6KcBJC56cM8eA20GWlFmnAW9GaJFzLsd123iReiuoEo2l2JQ9_zAhwQEyTM9Nk/s0/pgraphic1-545.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Newbury Medal</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Over a hundred backlist books have been converted to open access already this year. Can you name one of them? Probably not, because the publicity value of existing OA conversion programs is negligible. To relicense an All-Star book, you need an all-star publicity program. You've heard of the <a href="http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberymedal">Newbury Medal</a>, right? You've seen the Newbury medal sticker on children's books, maybe even special sections for them in bookstores. That prize, award by the American Library Association every year to honor the most distinguished contributions to American literature for children, is a powerful driver of sales. The winners get feted in a gala banquet and party (at least they did in the before-times). That's the sort of publicity we need to create for open access books.</p><p>If you doubt that "All-Star Open Access" could work, don't discount the fact that it's also the right thing to do. Authors of All-Star backlist books want their books to be used, cherished and remembered. Libraries want books that measurably benefit the communities they serve. Foundations and governmental agencies want to make a difference. Even publishers who look only at their bottom lines can structure a rights conversion as a charitable donation to reduce their tax bills.</p><p>And did I mention that there could be Gala Award Celebrations? We need more celebrations, don't you think?</p><p><i>If your community is interest in creating an Open-Access program for backlist books, don't hesitate to <a href="mailto:eric@ebookfoundation.org">contact me at the Free Ebook Foundation!</a></i></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Notes</h3><p>I've written about the statistics of book usage <a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2011/03/pareto-principle-and-true-cunning-of.html">here</a>, <a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2011/03/statistician-cant-distinguish-library.html">here</a> and <a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2019/04/fudge-and-open-access-ebook-download.html">here</a>.</p><p>This is the third in a series of posts about creating value of Open Access books. The first two are:</p><a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2021/02/creating-value-with-open-access-books.html"></a><ul style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2021/02/creating-value-with-open-access-books.html"></a><li><a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2021/02/creating-value-with-open-access-books.html"></a><a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2021/02/creating-value-with-open-access-books.html">Creating Value with Open Access Books</a></li><li><a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2021/02/open-access-for-backlist-books-part-i.html">Open Access for Backlist Books, Part I: The Slush Pile</a></li></ul>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04483241450401134977noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990922102626688253.post-32144191152454586912021-02-16T21:32:00.003-05:002021-02-22T22:07:06.893-05:00 Open Access for Backlist Books, Part I: The Slush Pile<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK1KBLm8ZlETq2CAZiN8-c57WS3wOcwUfG_-7uJ2fqr097QslPMV1ZdGjyZWj8rKkqwCjY6T568qhfmMj3Zqk0En7ZkcQas4H472ooN5zlBkYs9ZpTJhB-9dAfQ6x07rtQD-RmVoHiUaw/s2048/slushpilekale.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1916" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK1KBLm8ZlETq2CAZiN8-c57WS3wOcwUfG_-7uJ2fqr097QslPMV1ZdGjyZWj8rKkqwCjY6T568qhfmMj3Zqk0En7ZkcQas4H472ooN5zlBkYs9ZpTJhB-9dAfQ6x07rtQD-RmVoHiUaw/w262-h281/slushpilekale.jpg" width="262" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Kale emerging from a slush pile" <br />(CC BY, Eric Hellman)</td></tr></tbody></table>Book publishers <i>hate</i> their "slush pile": books submitted for publication unsolicited, rarely with literary merit and unlikely to make money for the publisher if accepted. In contrast, book publishers <i>love</i> their backlist; a strong backlist is what allows a book publisher to remain consistently profitable even when most of their newly published books fail to turn a profit. A publisher's backlist typically consists of a large number of "slushy" books that generate negligible income and a few steady "evergreen" earners. Publishers don't talk much about the backlist slush pile, maybe because it reminds them of their inability to predict a book's commercial success.<p></p><p>With the advent of digital books has come new possibilities for generating value from the backlist slush pile. Digital books can be kept "in print" at essentially no cost (printed books need warehouse space) which has allowed publishers to avoid rights reversion in many cases. Some types of books can be bundled in ebook aggregations that can be offered on a subscription basis. This is reminiscent of the way investment bankers created valuable securities by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Short">packaging junk bonds with opaque derivatives</a>.</p><p>Open access is a more broadly beneficial way to generate value from the backlist slush pile. There is a reason that libraries keep large numbers of books on their shelves even when they don't circulate for years. The myriad ways that books can create value doesn't have to be tied to book sales, as I wrote in <a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2021/02/creating-value-with-open-access-books.html">my previous post</a>.</p><p>Those of us who want to promote Open Access for backlist ebooks have a number of strategies at our disposal. The most basic strategy is to promote the visibility of these books. Libraries can add listings for these ebooks in their catalogs. Aggregators can make these books easier to find.</p><p>Switching backlist books to Open Access licenses can be expensive and difficult. While the cost of digitization has dropped dramatically over the past decade, quality control is still a significant conversion expense. Licensing-related expenses are sometimes large. Unlike journals and journal articles, academic books are typically covered by publishing agreements that give authors royalties on sales and licensing, and give authors control over derivative works such as translations. No publisher would consent to OA relicensing without the consent and support of the author. For older books, a publisher may not even have electronic rights (in the US, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Times_Co._v._Tasini">Tasini decision</a> established that electronic rights are separate from print rights), or may need to have a lawyer interpret the language of the original publishing contract. </p><p>While most scholarly publishers obtain worldwide rights to the books they publish, rights for trade books are very often divided among markets. Open-access licenses such as the Creative Commons licenses are not limited to markets, so a license conversion would require the participation of every rights holder worldwide. </p><p>The CC BY license can be problematic for books containing illustrations or figures used by permission from third party rights holders. "All Rights Reserved" illustrations are often included in Open Access Books, but they are carved out of the license by separate rights statements, and to be safe, publishers use the CC BY-ND or CC BY-ND-NC license for the complete book, as the permissions do not cover derivative works. Since the CC BY license allows derivative works, it cannot be used in cases where translation rights have been sold (without also buying out the translation rights). A publisher cannot use a CC BY license for a translated work without also having rights to the original work.</p><p>The bottom line is that converting a backlist book to OA often requires economic motivations quite apart from any lost sales. Luckily, there's evidence that opening access can lead to increased sales. <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3339524">Nagaraj and Reimers</a> found that digitization and exposure through Google Books increased sales of print editions by 35% for books in the Public Domain. In addition, a publisher's commercial position and prestige can be enhanced by the attribution requirement in Creative Commons licenses.</p><p>Additional motivation for OA conversion of the backlist slush pile has been supplied by programs such as used by <a href="https://knowledgeunlatched.org/">Knowledge Unlatched</a>, where libraries contribute to to a fund used for "unlatching" backlist books. (Knowledge Unlatched has programs for front list books as well.) While such programs can in principle be applied for the "evergreen" backlist, the incentives currently in place result in the unlatching of books in the "slush pile" backlist. While value for society is being gained this way, the willingness of publishers to "unlatch" hundreds of these books poses the question of how much library funding for Open Access should be allocated to the discount bin, as opposed to the backlist books most used in libraries. That's the topic of my next post! </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Notes</h4><p>This is the second in a series of posts about creating value of Open Access books. The others are:</p><p><a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2021/02/creating-value-with-open-access-books.html"></a></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2021/02/creating-value-with-open-access-books.html"></a><li><a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2021/02/creating-value-with-open-access-books.html"></a><a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2021/02/creating-value-with-open-access-books.html">Creating Value with Open Access Books</a></li><li><a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2021/02/open-access-for-backlist-books-part-ii.html">Open Access for Backlist Books, Part II: The All-Stars</a></li></ul>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04483241450401134977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990922102626688253.post-75833397956230512672021-02-12T12:31:00.005-05:002021-02-22T22:10:23.362-05:00Creating Value with Open Access Books<p>Can a book be more valuable if it's free? How valuable? To whom? How do we unlock this value?</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN46Z3GgQrzJjgeSPPvyLCHZgLEtI09f8eybCiyaFrpWTndtZmkyUkBVCpLBnHD6eZe3HuE2MhslXeI-ttd2l9k9LTjhd32p3ohqGnROzrMyD95vcIwRVTt5fVe85TWKDuBapCLehgyT6e/s2048/clearlock.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="a lock with ebooks" border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1755" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN46Z3GgQrzJjgeSPPvyLCHZgLEtI09f8eybCiyaFrpWTndtZmkyUkBVCpLBnHD6eZe3HuE2MhslXeI-ttd2l9k9LTjhd32p3ohqGnROzrMyD95vcIwRVTt5fVe85TWKDuBapCLehgyT6e/w274-h320/clearlock.JPG" width="274" /></a></div>I've been wrestling with these questions for over ten years now. And for each of these questions, the answer is… it depends. A truism of the bookselling business is that "Every book is different" and the same is true of the book freeing "business".<p></p><p>Recently there's been increased interest in academic communities around Open Access book publishing and in academic book relicensing (adding an Open Access License to an already published book). Both endeavors have been struggling with the central question of how to value an open access book. The uncertainty in OA book valuation has led to many rookie mistakes among OA stakeholders. For example, when we first started <a href="https://unglue.it">Unglue.it</a>, we assumed that reader interest would accelerate the relicensing process for older books whose sales had declined. But the opposite turned out to be true. Evidence of reader interest let rights holders know that these backlist titles were much more valuable than sales would indicate, thus precluding any notion of making them Open Access. Pro tip: if you want to pay a publisher to make a books free, don't publish your list of incredibly valuable books!</p><p>Instead of a strictly transactional approach, it's more useful to consider the myriad ways that academic books create value. Each of these value mechanisms offer buttons that we can push to promote open access, and point to new structures for markets where participants join together to create mutual value.</p><p>First, consider the book's reader. The value created is the reader's increased knowledge, understanding and sometimes, sheer enjoyment. The fact of open access does not itself create the value, but removes some of the barriers which might suppress this value. It's almost impossible to quantify the understanding and enjoyment from books; but "hours spent reading" might be a useful proxy for it.</p><p>Next consider a book's creator. While a small number of creators derive an income stream from their books, most academic authors benefit primarily from the development and dissemination of their ideas. In many fields of inquiry, publishing a book is the academic's path to tenure. Educators (and their students!) similarly benefit. In principle, you might assess a textbook's value by measuring student performance.</p><p>The value of a book to a publisher can be more than just direct sales revenue. A widely distributed book can be a marketing tool for a publisher's entire business. In the world of Open Access, we can see new revenue models emerging – publication charges, events, sponsorships, even grants and memberships. </p><p>The value of a book to society as a whole can be enormous. In areas of research, a book might lead to technological advances, healthier living, or a more equitable society. Or a book might create outrage, civil strife, and misinformation. That's another issue entirely!</p><p>Books can be valuable to secondary distributors as well. Both used book resellers and libraries add value to physical books by increasing their usage. This is much harder to accomplish for paywalled ebooks! Since academic libraries are often considered as potential funding sources for Open Access publishing it's worth noting that the value of an open access ebook to a library is entirely indirect. When a library acts as an Open Access funding source, it's acting as a proxy for the community it serves.</p><p>This brings us to communities. The vast majority of books create value for specific communities, not societies as a whole. I believe that community-based funding is the most sustainable path for support of Open Access Books. Community supported OA article publishing has already had plenty of support. Communities organized by discipline have been particularly successful: consider the success that ArXiv has had in promoting Open Access in physics, both at the preprint level and for journals in <a href="https://scoap3.org/">high-energy physics</a>. A similar story can be told for biomedicine, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/">Pubmed</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/">Pubmed Central</a>. A different sort of community success story has been <a href="https://scielo.org/en/">SciELO</a>, which has used Open Access to address challenges faced by scholars in Latin America.</p><p>So far, however, sustainable Open Access has proven to be challenging for scholarly ebooks. My next few posts will discuss the challenges and ways forward for support of ebook relicensing and for OA ebook creation:</p><ul style="background-color: white; color: #131414; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><li><a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2021/02/open-access-for-backlist-books-part-i.html" style="color: #006699; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;">Open Access for Backlist Books, Part I: The Slush Pile</a></li><li><a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2021/02/open-access-for-backlist-books-part-ii.html" style="color: #006699; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;">Open Access for Backlist Books, Part II: The All-Stars</a></li></ul>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14172740163003223132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990922102626688253.post-90743989435896568182020-12-29T13:17:00.000-05:002020-12-29T13:17:47.914-05:00 Infra-infrastructure, inter-infrastructure and para-infrastructure<p>No one is against "Investing in Infrastructure". No one wants bridges to collapse, investing is always more popular than spending, and it's even alliterative! What's more, since infrastructure is almost invisible by definition, it's politically safe to support investing in infrastructure because no one will see when you don't follow through on your commitment!</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4HRqLJKxWxOk_5bAXHFDm5-VKjEGxXAPvEoB_8T7vDqxmAEJ_D0RKkDiFkiPszDVhnda4vIaM6K0foL7Dj2EOcpsJxgqj1rvPrkKsreIZ4ZJJWUgh_HT4y8StV6oXirkEayVip3iVh-Q/s826/Il_Ponte_Morandi_dopo_il_crollo%252C_visto_da_Est%252C_dettaglio.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="511" data-original-width="826" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4HRqLJKxWxOk_5bAXHFDm5-VKjEGxXAPvEoB_8T7vDqxmAEJ_D0RKkDiFkiPszDVhnda4vIaM6K0foL7Dj2EOcpsJxgqj1rvPrkKsreIZ4ZJJWUgh_HT4y8StV6oXirkEayVip3iVh-Q/w443-h275/Il_Ponte_Morandi_dopo_il_crollo%252C_visto_da_Est%252C_dettaglio.jpg" width="443" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ponte Morandi collapse - <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Il_Ponte_Morandi_dopo_il_crollo,_visto_da_Est,_dettaglio.jpg">Michele Ferraris</a>, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons</td></tr></tbody></table><p><a href="https://www.crossref.org/people/geoffrey-bilder/">Geoffrey Bilder</a> gives a talk where he asks us to think of <a href="https://crossref.org">Crossref</a> and similar services as "information infrastructure" akin to "plumbing", where the implication is that since we, as a society, are accustomed to paying plumbers and bridge builders lots of money, we should also pony up for "information infrastructure", which is obvious once you say it.</p><p>What qualifies as infrastructure, anyway? If I invest in a new laptop, is that infrastructure for the Go-to-Hellman blog? Blogspot is Google-owned blogging infrastructure for sure. It's certainly not <i>open</i> infrastructure, but it works, and I haven't had to do much maintenance on it. </p><p>There's <i>a lot</i> of infrastructure used to make <a href="http://Unglue.it">Unglue.it</a>, which supports distribution of open-access ebooks. It uses <a href="https://www.djangoproject.com/">Django</a>, which is open-source software originally developed to support newspaper websites. Unglue.it also uses modules that extend Django that were made possible by Django's Open license. It works really well, but I've had to put a fair amount of work into updating my code to keep up with new versions of Django. Ironically, most of this work has been in fixing the extensions that have not updated along with Django.</p><p>I deploy Unglue.it on <a href="https://aws.amazon.com">AWS</a>, which is <i>DEFINITELY</i> infrastructure. I have a love/hate relationship with AWS because it works so well, but every time I need to change something, I have to spend 2 hours with documentation to find the one-line incantation that make it work. But every few months, the cost of using AWS goes down, which I like, but the money goes to Amazon, which is ironic because they <i>really</i> don't care for the free ebooks we distribute.</p><p>Aside from AWS and Django, the infrastructure I use to deliver <a href="https://ebookfoundation.org">Ebook Foundation</a> services includes <a href="https://www.python.org/">Python</a>, <a href="https://www.docker.com/">Docker</a>, <a href="https://www.travis-ci.com/">Travis-CI</a>, <a href="https://github.com">GitHub</a>, <a href="https://git-scm.com/">git</a>, <a href="https://ubuntu.com/">Ubuntu Linux</a>, <a href="https://www.mysql.com/products/community/">MySQL</a>, <a href="https://www.postgresql.org/">Postgres</a>, <a href="https://www.ansible.com/">Ansible</a>, <a href="https://requests.readthedocs.io/en/master/">Requests</a>, <a href="https://www.crummy.com/software/BeautifulSoup/">Beautiful Soup</a>, and many others. The Unglue.it database relies on infrastructure services from <a href="https://doabooks.org">DOAB</a>, <a href="https://oapen.org">OAPEN</a>, <a href="https://librarything.com">LibraryThing</a>, <a href="https://gutenberg.org">Project Gutenberg</a>, <a href="https://openlibrary.org">OpenLibrary</a> and <a href="https://developers.google.com/books">Google Books</a>. My development environment relies heavily on <a href="https://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit/">BBEdit</a> and <a href="https://jupyter.org/">Jupyter</a>. We depend on Crossref and <a href="https://archive.org">Internet Archive</a> to resolve some links; we use subject vocabulary from <a href="https://www.loc.gov/">Library of Congress</a> and <a href="https://bisg.org/page/BISACEdition">BISAC</a>.</p><p>You can imagine why I was interested in "<a href="https://investinopen.org/community/jrost-2020-conference/">JROST 2020</a>" which turns out to stand for "Join Roadmap for Open Science Tools 2020", a meeting organized by a relatively new non-profit, "<a href="https://investinopen.org/">Invest in Open Infrastructure</a>" (IOI). The meeting was open and free, and despite the challenges associated with such a meeting in our difficult times, it managed to present a provocative program along with a compelling vision.</p><p>If you think a bit about how to address the infrastructure needs of open science and open scholarship in general, you come up with at least 3 questions:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>How do you identify the "leaky pipes" that need fixing so as to avoid systemic collapse?</li><li>How do you bolster healthy infrastructure so that it won't need repair?</li><li>How do you build <i>new</i> infrastructure that will be valuable and thrive?</li></ul><p></p><p>If it were up to me, my first steps would be to:</p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Get people with a stake in open infrastructure to talk to each other. Break them out of their silos and figure out how their solutions can help solve problems in other communities.</li><li>Create a 'venture fund" for new needed infrastructure. Work on solving the problems that no one wants to tackle on their own.</li></ol><p></p><p>Invest in Open Infrastructure is already doing this! Kaitlin Thaney, who's been Executive Director of IOI for less that a year, seems to be pressing all the right buttons. The JROST 2020 meeting was a great start on #1 and #2 is the initial direction of the "<a href="https://investinopen.org/blog/jrost-rapid-response-fund/">JROST Rapid Response Fund</a>", whose first round of awards was announced at the meeting.</p><p>Among the <a href="https://investinopen.org/blog/jrost-rapid-response-fund-awardees/">first awardees of the JROST Rapid Response Fund</a> announced at JROST2020 was an organization that ties into the infrastructure that I use, <a href="https://2i2c.org/">2i2c</a>. It's a great example of much-needed infrastructure for scientific computing, education, digital humanities and data science. 2i2c aims to create hosted interactive computing environments that run in the cloud and are powered by entirely open-source technology (Jupyter). As I'm a Jupyter user and enthusiast, this makes me happy.</p><p>But while 2i2c is the awardee, it's being built on top of Jupyter. Is Jupyter also infrastructure? It needs investment too, doesn't it? There's a lot of overlap between the Jupyter team and the 2i2c team, so investment in one could be investment in the other. In fact, Chris Holdgraf, Executive Director of 2i2c, told me that "we see 2i2c as a way to both increase the impact of Jupyter in the research/education community, and a way to more sustainably drive resources back into the Jupyter community.".</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO4P60W0TpvlnzEbrD_PXwFlbBf0OuB5_QFEmSkxTZcAXlo-Y5FvEgkap481NjnZcm5pbEd8nAg6EFgs1yO7I6-IsmJ2RakBbHW72k4Ejg1E0nn_vxMKHn10sI3fCtHzwlaqY9t3y16ok/s1898/interdependecies.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Open Science Infrastructure Interdependency" border="0" data-original-height="1078" data-original-width="1898" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO4P60W0TpvlnzEbrD_PXwFlbBf0OuB5_QFEmSkxTZcAXlo-Y5FvEgkap481NjnZcm5pbEd8nAg6EFgs1yO7I6-IsmJ2RakBbHW72k4Ejg1E0nn_vxMKHn10sI3fCtHzwlaqY9t3y16ok/w455-h259/interdependecies.jpeg" width="455" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption">Open Science Infrastructure Interdependency (from<br /> “Scoping the Open Science Infrastructure Landscape in Europe”, <br /><a href="https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4153809">https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4153809</a>) </td></tr></tbody></table><p><br />Where does Jupyter fit in the infrastructure landscape? It's nowhere to be seen on the neat "interdependency map" presented by SPARC EU at JROST. If 2i2c is an example of investment-worthy infrastructure, maybe the best way to think of Jupyter is "infra-infrastructure" – the open information infrastructure needed to build open information infrastructure. "Trickle-down" investment in this sort of infrastructure may be the best way to support projects like Jupyter so they stay open and are widely used.</p><p>But wait… Jupyter is built on top of Python, right? Python needs people investing in it, Is Python infra-infra-infrastructure? And Python <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CPython">is built on top of C </a> (I won't even mention Jython or PyJS), right?? Turtles all the way down. Will 2i2c eventually get buried under other layers of infrastructure, be forgotten and underinvested in, only to be one day excavated and studied by technology archeologists?</p><p>Looking carefully at the interdependency map, I don't see a lot of layers. I see a network with lots of loops. And many of the nodes are connectors themselves. Orcid and CrossRef resemble roads, bridges and plumbing not because they're hidden underneath, but because they're visible and in-between. They exist because of the entities they connect cooperate to make the connection robust instead of incidental. They're not <i>infra-infrastructure</i>, they're <i>inter-infrastructure</i>. Trickle-down investment probably wouldn't work for inter-infrastucture. Instead, investments need to come from the communities that benefit so that the communities can decide how to manage and access to the inter-infrastructure to maximize the community benefit.</p><p>There's another type of infrastructure that needs investment. I work in ebooks, and a lot of overlapping communities have tackled their own special ebook problems. But the textbook people don't talk to the public domain people don't talk to the monograph people don't talk to the library people. (A <i>slight</i> exaggeration.) There are lots of "almost" solutions that work well for specific tasks. But with the total amount of effort being expended, we could some really amazing things… if only we were better at collaborating.</p><p>For example, the Jupyter folks have gotten funding from Sloan for the "<a href="https://executablebooks.org/en/latest/index.html">Executable Book Project</a>". This is really cool. Similarly, there's <a href="https://bookdown.org/">Bookdown</a>, which comes out of the R community. And there are other efforts to <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/wpub/">give ebooks the functionality</a> that a website could have. <a href="https://www.gitbook.com/">Gitbook</a> is a commercial open-source effort targeting a similar space, <a href="https://press.rebus.community/">Rebus</a>, a non-profit, is using Pressbooks to gain traction in the textbook space, while MIT Press's <a href="https://www.pubpub.org/">PubPub</a> has similar goals.</p><p>I'll call these overlapping efforts "<i>para-infrastructure</i>." Should investors in open infrastructure target investment in "rolling up" or merging these efforts? When private equity investors have done this to library automation companies the results have not benefited the user communities, so I'd say "NO!" but what's the alternative?</p><p>I've observed that the folks who are doing the best job of just making stuff work rarely have the time or resources to go off to conferences or workshops. Typically, these folks have no incentive to do the work to make their tools work for slightly different problems. That can be time consuming! But it's still easier than taking someone else's work and modifying it to solve your own special problem. I think the best way to invest in open para-infrastructure is to get lots of these folks together and give the time and incentive to talk and to share solutions (and maybe code.) It's hard work, but making the web of open infrastructure stronger and more resilient is what investment in open infrastructure is all about. </p><p>Different types of open infrastructure benefit from different styles of investment; I'm hoping that IOI will build on the directions exhibited by its Rapid Response Fund and invest effectively in infra-infrastructure, inter-infrastructure, and para-infrastructure. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;"> Notes</h4><p>1. Geoff Bilder and Cameron Neylon have a nice discussion of many of the issues in this post: “Bilder G, Lin J, Neylon C (2016) Where are the pipes? Building Foundational Infrastructures for Future Services, retrieved [date], <a href="https://draft.blogger.com/u/3/#">http://cameronneylon.net/blog/where-are-the-pipes-building-foundational-infrastructures-for-future-services/</a> ”<br /><br />2. "Trickle-down" has a negative connotation in economics, but that's how you feed a tree, right?</p>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04483241450401134977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990922102626688253.post-82908289165651137692020-10-19T21:29:00.002-04:002020-10-19T21:29:43.616-04:00 We should regulate virality<p>It turns out that virality on internet platforms is a social hazard! </p><p>Living in the age of the Covid pandemic, we see around us what happens when we let things grow exponentially. The reason that the novel coronavirus has changed our lives is not that it's often lethal – it's that it found a way to jump from one infected person to several others on average, leading to exponential growth. We are infected with virus without regard to the lethality of the virus, but only its reproduction rate.</p><p>For years, websites have been built to optimize virality of content. What we see on Facebook or Twitter is not shown to us for its relevance to our lives, its education value, or even its entertainment value. It shown to us because it maximizes our "engagement" – our tendency to interact and spread it. The more we interact with a website, the more money it makes, and so a generation of minds has been employed in the pursuit of more engagement. Sometimes it's cat videos that delight us, but more often these days it's content that enrages and divides us.</p><p>Our dissatisfaction with what the internet has become has led calls to regulate the giants of the internet. A lot of the political discourse has focused on "section 20" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_230 a part of US law that gives interactive platforms such as Facebook a set of rules that result in legal immunity for content posted by users. As might be expected, many of the proposals for reform have sounded attractive, but the details are typically unworkable in the real world, and often would have effects opposite of what is intended. </p><p>I'd like to argue that the only workable approaches to regulating internet platforms should target their virality. Our society has no problem with regulations that force restaurant, food preparation facilities, and even barbershops to prevent the spread of disease, and no one ever complains that the regulations affect "good" bacteria too. These regulations are a component of our society's immune system, and they are necessary for its healthy functioning.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzRVVAYNaF_lxXZI5Hd-BHRhZOJ6mq55C5fQU65XOIVB4KrIJovYIkH3Pa6PF9MF16Oop8tDzFK0UTd24uesO9ivAjvMqRiaa0urMDWfquLBcoNmdTzyYSXZ6K007O6JVoaEUbgM-ic5Gh/s2048/nggyu-19.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="never going to give you covid" border="0" data-original-height="2025" data-original-width="2048" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzRVVAYNaF_lxXZI5Hd-BHRhZOJ6mq55C5fQU65XOIVB4KrIJovYIkH3Pa6PF9MF16Oop8tDzFK0UTd24uesO9ivAjvMqRiaa0urMDWfquLBcoNmdTzyYSXZ6K007O6JVoaEUbgM-ic5Gh/w320-h316/nggyu-19.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Add caption<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />You might think that platform virality is too technical to be amenable to regulation, but it's not. That's because of the statistical characteristics of exponential growth. My study of free ebook usage has made me aware of the pervasiveness of exponential statistics on the internet. Sometime labeled the 80-20 rule, the Pareto principle, or log-normal statistics, it's the natural result of processes that grow at a rate proportional to their size. As a result, it's possible to regulate virality of platforms because only a very small amount of content is viral enough dominate the platform. Regulate that tiny amount of super-viral content, and you create incentive to moderate the virality of platforms. The beauty of doing this is that a huge majority of content is untouched by regulation.<p></p><p>How might this work? Imagine a law that removed a platform's immunity for content that it shows to a million people (or maybe 10 million – I've not sure what the cutoff should be). This makes sense, too; if a platform promotes illegal content in such a way that a million people see it, the platform shouldn't get immunity just because "algorithms"! It also makes it practical for platforms to curate the content for harmlessness- it won't kill off the cat videos! The Facebooks and Twitters of the world will complain, but they'll be able to add antibodies and T-cells to their platforms, and the platforms will be healthier for it. Smaller sites will be free to innovate, without too much worry, but to get funding they'll need to have plans for virality limits.</p><p>So we really do have a choice; healthy platforms with diverse content, or cesspools of viral content. Doesn't seem like such a hard decision!</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Techdirt has <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/blog/?tag=section+230">excellent coverage of Section 230</a>. </li></ul><p></p>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14172740163003223132noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990922102626688253.post-61692672279321561382020-09-06T20:46:00.003-04:002020-09-06T20:55:18.841-04:00 Notes on work-from-home teams<p>I've been working from home full-time for over eleven years – at least partly work-from-home for 20 years. I've managed work-from-home teams, and worked with quite a few others on joint projects. So when some colleagues were sharing their work-from-home experiences, I piped up with some thoughts. When I was asked recently to repeat them, I realized it might be useful to make a list for the blog. Old-style.</p><p>SO…</p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>In-person time is super-valuable. It builds a foundation for the digital interactions we're all stuck with for a while.</li><li>Engineers in particular are prone to under-communicate, so a manager has to pro-actively push people to communicate more than they would on their own …</li><li>… and create a safe environment that promotes asking for help.</li><li> Most remote workers need an extra helping of encouragement and positive reinforcement…</li><li>… doubly so for people prone to self-doubt or imposter syndrome.</li><li>Worker depression is the hardest thing for a work-from-home team to manage.</li><li>Trust is the most important attribute for work-from-home teams, and it has to be mutual in any type of relationship.</li></ol><p></p><p>I think most of these are self-explanatory. In the near-term current environment, the first point is not so helpful for teams that haven't banked some in-person time; non-work activities, remote meal-sharing and happy hours are imperfect substitutes for the real thing.</p><p>The point about worker depression is worth emphasizing. It's a real hazard, often without easy mitigations. For me, daily exercise and intentional social interaction are the most effective medicine, but everyone is different. A work-from-home team needs time, space, and often support to figure out what works.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjL4TExuaWSJ5_j3tpxSzYB-lQhjsjH5qvMgjW2929yjNeNZUlDi_5ehe8zhvuYJodFi5fPzbZZ2HU60PjeRqhUXKczA0JXXVbaTSbGNpw7IYC9cXVHTUWrIVLgzg08gaSGGhydSnANYc/s2048/wfh.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1159" data-original-width="2048" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjL4TExuaWSJ5_j3tpxSzYB-lQhjsjH5qvMgjW2929yjNeNZUlDi_5ehe8zhvuYJodFi5fPzbZZ2HU60PjeRqhUXKczA0JXXVbaTSbGNpw7IYC9cXVHTUWrIVLgzg08gaSGGhydSnANYc/w400-h226/wfh.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04483241450401134977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990922102626688253.post-70481217329014592042019-12-03T14:45:00.000-05:002019-12-05T13:09:21.063-05:00Your Identity, Your LibraryToday, your identity on the Internet is essentially owned by the big email providers and social networks. Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter – chances are you use one of these services to conveniently log into other services as YOU. You don't need to remember a new password for each service, and the service providers don't have to verify your "identity". What you gain in convenience, you lose in privacy, and that's turned out really well, hasn't it?<br />
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The "flow" you use to take advantage of this single sign-in is a "dance" that takes you from website to website and back to the site you're logging into. A similar dance occurs to secure access to resources licensed on you behalf by libraries, institutions, corporations, etc.. I wrote a bunch of articles about "RA21" (now rebranded as the vaguely NSFW "<a href="https://seamlessaccess.org/">SeamlessAccess</a>"), an effort spearheaded by STM publishers to improve the user experience of that dance. (It can be complicated and confusing because there are lots of potential dance partners!)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/2e/La_danse_(I)_by_Matisse.jpg/640px-La_danse_(I)_by_Matisse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="424" data-original-width="640" height="212" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/2e/La_danse_(I)_by_Matisse.jpg/640px-La_danse_(I)_by_Matisse.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13.3px;">Henri Matisse, </span><i style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13.3px; text-align: start;">La danse</i><span style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13.3px;"> (first version) 1909</span></td></tr>
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These dance partners style themselves as "identity providers". That label makes me uncomfortable. Identity can't be something that can be stripped from you by on the whim of a megacorporation. Instead, internet identity should be woven from a web of relationships. These can be formed digitally or face-to-face, global or local, business or personal.<br />
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You'd have thunk that the whole identity-on-the-internet thing would have improved in the 13 years since <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OAuth">that login dance</a> was first rolled out. And you'd be almost right, because a new architecture for internet identity is now on the horizon. Made possible by many of the same technologies that are securing the internet and inflating the blockchain bubble, massively distributed and even "<a href="https://medium.com/@AlexPreukschat/self-sovereign-identity-a-guide-to-privacy-for-your-digital-identity-5b9e95677778">self-sovereign identity</a>" are becoming real-ish.<br />
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These technologies will inevitably be applied to the access authorization problem. Access via distributed identity replaces the website-to-website dance with the presentation of some sort of signed credential. A service provider verifies the signature against the signer's public key. It's like showing a passport that can't be forged. A tricky bit is that the credential also needs to be checked against a list of revoked credentials. This would have been cumbersome even ten years ago, but distributed databases are now a mature technology, versions of which underpin the internet itself.<br />
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Interlinked with the concept of distributed identity is the notion that users of the web should be able to securely control their data, and that decisions about what a web site gets to know about you should not be delegated to advertising networks.<br />
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Unfortunately, we're not quite ready for distributed identity, in the sense that implementation for today's web would require users to install plugin software, which has its own set of usability, privacy and security issues. The ideal situation would be for some sort of standardized distributed identity and secure data management capability to be installed in browser software – Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc.<br />
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There's a lot of work going on to make this happen.<br />
<ul>
<li>ID2020 has put out an <a href="https://id2020.org/manifesto">identity manifesto</a> that starts with the declaration that "The ability to prove one’s identity is a fundamental and universal human right."</li>
<li>Tim Berners-Lee is leading the <a href="https://solidproject.org/">Solid Project</a>, which let's you "move freely between services, reuse data across apps, connect with anyone, and select what you share precisely".</li>
<li>The W3C Verifiable Claims Working Group has published Technical Recommendations for "<a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-use-cases/">Verifiable Credential Use Cases</a> and a "<a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-data-model/">Verifiable Credential Data Model</a>". They observe that "from educational records to payment account access, the next generation of web applications will authorize entities to perform actions based on rich sets of credentials issued by trusted parties."</li>
<li>The <a href="https://sovrin.org/">Sovrin Network</a> is a "new standard for digital identity – designed to bring the trust, personal control, and ease-of-use of analog IDs – like driver’s licenses and ID cards – to the Internet."</li>
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/identitywoman">Kaliya Young</a>, <a href="https://blogs.harvard.edu/doc/">Doc Searls</a> and <a href="https://www.windley.com/">Phil Windley</a> have been convening the <a href="https://internetidentityworkshop.com/about/">Internet Identity Workshop</a> twice a year since 2005 to create a community centered around internet identity. A glance at <a href="https://internetidentityworkshop.com/past-workshops/">prior year proceedings</a> gives a flavor of how much is happening in the field</li>
</ul>
The common thread here is that users, not unaccountable third parties, should be able to manage their identity on the internet, while at the same time creating a global chain of trust.<br />
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It seems to me that there's a last-mile problem with all these schemes. If identity is really a universal human right, how do we create a chain of trust that can include every human? That problem becomes a lot easier to solve if there were some sort of organization with a physical presence in communities all over, trusted by the community and by other organizations. A sort of institution experienced in managing information access and privacy, and devoted to the needs of all sorts of users.<br />
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In other words, what if "libraries" existed?<br />
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The federated authentications systems used by libraries today – Shibboleth, Athens, and related systems use a dance similar to what you do with Google or Facebook. It's a big step that moves your internet identity away from "surveillance capitalists" towards community institutions. But you still don't have control over what data your institution give away, as you will in the next-generation internet identity systems I describe here. (RA21 is no different from Shib or Athens in this respect.)<br />
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What might libraries do to prepare for the age of distributed identity? The first step is not about technology, it's about mission. I believe libraries should start to think of themselves as internet relationship providers for their communities. When I get access to a resource though my library, I won't be "logging in", I'll be asserting a relationship with a library community, and the library will be standing behind me. Joining an identity federation is a good next step for libraries. But the library community needs to advocate for user identity as a basic human right and prepare their systems to support a future where no dancing is required.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Update 12/5/2019: revised last two paragraphs to be less mystifying.</span><br />
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<br />Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04483241450401134977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990922102626688253.post-88357149408142070122019-07-26T20:31:00.000-04:002019-07-26T20:36:09.592-04:00Four-Leaf CloversIt seems a friend of mine collects four-leaf clovers.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG5XNPjbQ8hDOQHYK6St3BuaEUsU_9yNVcsbOm0wykTIUr0rAs-DYz_RSQOowtErTJGusQ1cJ1owlEkLU4hwiB8KfChGGiMPdm1HHcboilLmLRLTx7j473bLIlo7RYDTZtLDIBHSaYzbI/s1600/IMG_5865.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1052" data-original-width="1600" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG5XNPjbQ8hDOQHYK6St3BuaEUsU_9yNVcsbOm0wykTIUr0rAs-DYz_RSQOowtErTJGusQ1cJ1owlEkLU4hwiB8KfChGGiMPdm1HHcboilLmLRLTx7j473bLIlo7RYDTZtLDIBHSaYzbI/s320/IMG_5865.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
When I was a kid, I loved looking for four-leaf clovers in the lawn. It was the same sort of relaxing concentration and observation you use to find a piece of a jigsaw puzzle. But one day, I found a clover plant in front of the garage that had multiple four-leaf clovers. Looking carefully, I found that not only were there four leaf clovers, but there were FIVE-LEAF-CLOVERS. I had hit the jackpot. And even a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:6_Leaves.jpg">six-leaf clover</a>!!!! I swear to all of God's integers that I even found a SEVEN leaf clover. I saved that seven leaf clover in my box of treasures for years, until I just had seven crumbling leafs of a clover.<br />
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I never looked for a four-leaf clover again.<br />
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Now, whenever I remember that clover plant (and that garage), I think of the toxins that must have caused the polyfoliate abomination.<br />
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Please don't let my story stop you looking for four-leaf clovers! Happy summer!<br />
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<br />Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04483241450401134977noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990922102626688253.post-26435367646332201762019-05-30T19:24:00.001-04:002019-05-30T19:33:03.428-04:00Responding to Critical Reviews<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The first scientific paper I published was submitted to <i><a href="https://journals.aps.org/prb/">Physical Review B</a></i>, the world's leading scientific journal in condensed matter physics. Mailing in the manuscript felt like sending my soul into a black hole, except not even <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawking_radiation">Hawking radiation</a> would came back. A seemingly favorable review returned a miraculous two months later:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"I found this paper interesting, and I think it probably eventually it should be published – but only after Section II is revamped and section III clarified."</blockquote>
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I made a few minor revisions and added some computations that had been left out of the first version, then confidently resubmitted the paper. But another two months later, I received the second review. The referee hadn't appreciated that I had deflected the review's description of "fundamental logic flaws and careless errors" that made my paper "extremely confusing". The reviewer went on to say "I do not think the authors' new variational calculation is correct" and suggested that my approach was completely wrong.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvMsC2ICUBcjHwc23M8bBOr164BeuLj1Y0IKhZw2hHwDGh3JNc4JGTt6nXDctgGTLG_M7OAz1LVdIlHOYk9Zt7fgEatJOFWZQ9E6vgM5JYeEaktRbS9JTnnAe11jgQeGl3Fk2hk2Jws48L/s1600/IMG_5687.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="A ridiculously long equation" border="0" data-original-height="363" data-original-width="1600" height="90" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvMsC2ICUBcjHwc23M8bBOr164BeuLj1Y0IKhZw2hHwDGh3JNc4JGTt6nXDctgGTLG_M7OAz1LVdIlHOYk9Zt7fgEatJOFWZQ9E6vgM5JYeEaktRbS9JTnnAe11jgQeGl3Fk2hk2Jws48L/s400/IMG_5687.JPG" title="This is the Hamiltonian I used for my variational calculation." width="400" /></a></div>
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My thesis <a href="https://ee.stanford.edu/~harris/">advisor</a> suggested that I go and talk to Bob Laughlin in the Physics department about how to deal with the stubborn referee. I had been <a href="https://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.34.5475">collaborating</a> with Bob and one of his students on a related project, and he had become a surrogate advisor for my theoretical endeavors. During that time, Bob had acquired a reputation among my fellow students for asking merciless questions at oral exams; many of us were scared of him.<br />
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Bob's lesson on how to deal with a difficult referee turned out to be one of the most useful things I learned in grad school. Referees, he told me, come in 2 varieties, complete idiots, and not-complete-idiots. (Yes, Bob was merciless.) If your referee is a complete idiot, all you can do is ask for a different referee. If your referee has the least bit of sense, then you have to take the attitude that either the referee is somewhat correct, and you think YES-<a href="http://genderfork.com/2012/question-alternatives-to-sir-and-maam/">SIR</a> MISTER REFEREE <a href="https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/121727/can-sir-be-used-to-address-female-officers">SIR</a>! (Bob had been in the Army) and do whatever the referee says to do, or you take the point of view that you have explained something so poorly that the referee, who is an excellent representative of your target audience, had no hope of understanding it. Either way, there was a lot of work to do. We decided that this referee was not an idiot, and I needed to go back to the drawing board and re-do my calculation, figuring out how to be clearer and more correct in my exposition.<br />
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A third review came back with the lovely phrase "The significance of the calculation of section II, which is neither fish nor fowl, remains unclear." Using Bob's not-idiot rule, I recognized that my explanation was still unclear and I worked even harder to improve the paper.<br />
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My third revised version was accepted <a href="https://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.33.8284">and published</a>. <a href="http://large.stanford.edu/">Bob</a> later won the <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1998/summary/">Nobel Prize</a>. I'm here writing blog posts for you about <a href="https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/search/label/RA21">RA21</a>.<br />
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RA21 received <a href="https://groups.niso.org/apps/group_public/document.php?document_id=21376">120 mostly critical reviews</a> from a cross-section of referees, not a single one of whom is the least bit an idiot. Roughly half the issues fell into the badly-explained category, while the other half fell in the "fundamental flaws and careless errors" category. RA21 needs to go back to the chalkboard and rethink even their starting assumptions before they can move forward with this much-needed effort.<br />
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Erichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14172740163003223132noreply@blogger.com0