George Orwell

Quote For The Day II — "All nationalists have the power of not seeing resemblances between similar sets of facts. A British Tory will defend self-determination in Europe and oppose it in India with no feeling of inconsistency. Actions are held to be good or bad, not on their own merits, but according to who does them, and there is almost no kind of outrage -- torture, the use of hostages, forced labour, mass deportations, imprisonment without trial, forgery, assassination, the bombing of civilians -- which does not change its moral colour when it is committed by 'our' side ... The nationalist not only does not... [Tags: atrocities, civilians, europe, forgery, gaza]

If there was one thing that movie Minority Report gained any recognition for; other than being generally panned, was its Orwellian depiction of our future under constant surveillance. Surveillance that included what we were thinking of doing at some point in the future. More often as not these days the movie title is used in the same way that we have been using George Orwell’s 1984 book about a society without any rights. A society where the government has total control over your movements and you can be questioned at any time. As much as we might like to believe that... [Tags: 21st century, camera footage, camera operator, clear evidence, daily mail]

George Orwell: Egg man (koo koo ka joob) — I've been riveted by the latest installments in the Orwell Diary blog, in which the Orwell Society posts one diary entry from George Orwell's 1938 journal every day as a blog-post. Since mid-October, the journal entries have been from a rented villa in Marrakech (sic), and Orwell's journals have grown increasingly obsessed with the number of eggs his hens are laying (not many). Every time I see an entry like this: "21.11.38: Two eggs," I crack up. 30.11.38: Two eggs. 29.11.38: One egg. 28.11.38: Two eggs. 27.11.38: One egg. 25.11.38: Two eggs. 24.11.38: One egg. Cylinder of Butagaz gave out... [Tags: amp, blog, candle power, diary entry, egg man]

William Ayers On George Orwell and John McCain — Walter Shapiro, my former boss and continuing mentor, has a fascinating interview up at Salon with former "domestic terrorist" William Ayers, formerly of the Weather Underground. It's notable because Shapiro and Ayers go way back, as "guys in the neighborhood" in 1968 at the University of Michigan, but also because it gives one of the clearest pictures yet of Ayers' view of the 2008 campaign and the legacy of his violent activism. Some highlights: SHAPIRO: During the campaign, how many clips did you see of people like Sarah Palin denouncing Bill Ayers, "the terrorist pal" of Barack Obama? AYERS: I'm... [Tags: activism, alderman, barack obama, bill ayers, cartoon character]

Little Brother Book Report — Earlier this year, I told the World about the book Little Brother, written by Cory Doctorow. Leif wrote in to let me know he had read the book, and wanted to share his book report with all of you. Following is what he had to say. The book Little Brother (by Cory Doctorow) takes place in a slightly different present-day San Fransisco, in the middle of the war on terror. The title is a play on the book, 1984, by George Orwell, in which the Big Brother lead the government, and was always watching you. There is high security, and... [Tags: 1984 by george orwell, american citizen, bay bridge, big brother, book report]

If You Think Apple and IBM Were Never Rivals, Steve Jobs Has a Funny Story for You [Digital Daily] — This is pretty funny. Mark Papermaster, the 26-year IBM (IBM) veteran being sued by his employer for taking a job at Apple (AAPL), is convinced Big Blue’s suit is entirely without merit. Why? Apple doesn’t compete with IBM and never has. “I do not recall a single instance of Apple being described as a competitor of IBM during my entire tenure at IBM,” Papermaster said in a court filing. Now, I know Apple’s famous “1984″ ad (see embed below) is a few decades old now and and memories of the company’s 1984 Annual Shareholders meeting are well faded, even at... [Tags: aapl, american business history, annual shareholders meeting, apple ii, brink]

New iPod chief: Apple and IBM were never competitors — “I do not recall a single instance of Apple being described as a competitor of IBM during my entire tenure at IBM.” I did mental double take when I read those words, and I suspect I was not alone. They were filed in a U.S. district court in Manhattan early Friday by Mark Papermaster, a 25-year IBM veteran and, as of Tuesday, Apple’s newest senior VP. Papermaster is stepping into the spot recently vacated by Tony Fadell. (See The man who made the iPod.) IBM had filed suit to block the move, claiming that Papermaster was violating “his contractual obligation... [Tags: aapl, apple ii, big brother, computer industry, contractual obligation]

Kevin Morris and Glenn Altschuler: Left Brain, Lame Brain — Review of The Great Brain Suck and Other American Epiphanies, by Eugene Halton. The University of Chicago Press, 309 pages. American culture has no shortage of critiques from across the political spectrum decrying the advance of technology and the media-dominated Information Age. Add to this list The Great Brain Suck, by University of Notre Dame sociology professor Eugene Halton. Less from South Bend than around the bend, the book is an unintentional parody of an anti-modern, anti-materialist primal scream. It helps us understand why no one is listening to this slice of the academic left. A collection of fourteen essays... [Tags: academic left, altschuler, corporate versions, eugene halton, fritz lang]

So Much Time, So Little Damage — On the day before Election Day, the NYT ran an editorial about eleventh-hour scrambling by Bush and aides to alter rules and regulations on the environment, civil liberties, abortion rights, and other issues. There are 75 days remaining for the Bush presidency, and they're evidently hard at work on change, too. Snip: CIVIL LIBERTIES We don’t know all of the ways that the administration has violated Americans’ rights in the name of fighting terrorism. Last month, Attorney General Michael Mukasey rushed out new guidelines for the F.B.I. that permit agents to use chillingly intrusive techniques to collect information on Americans... [Tags: abortion rights, bush presidency, civil liberties, civil rights groups, co workers]

Over 400 years ago today, Guy Fawkes and his co-conspirators placed 20 barrels of gunpowder beneath the British House of Lords. Today, the Houses of Parliament are getting a much more peaceful, but perhaps equally incendiary, delivery. Chafing beneath Britain’s widespread surveillance and increasingly restrictive laws, the Libertarian Party UK is sending each Member of Parliament a warning shot on the direction of their nation: a copy of George Orwell’s anti-totalitarian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. Yesterday, the Libertarian Party announced the launch of its “1984 Campaign,” and by today, each Member of Parliament will have received a copy of Nineteen Eighty-Four... [Tags: british house of lords, cctv cameras, conspirators, george orwell, grassroots campaign]

A Blogger Avant La Lettre — In my essay, Why I Blog, (which I'll be discussing tomorrow on NPR for On Point at 11 am EST, by the way), I cited early non-blogger bloggers such as Pascal, Montaigne, and Karl Kraus. Allan Massie made the case for including Orwell this summer (his son, Alex, emailed me about it). This should push Leon Wieseltier over the edge: The decision to publish in this way makes one wonder whether Orwell would have been a blogger if the internet had existed in his day. The answer is surely yes. Though, as Eric Blair - his real name, which he... [Tags: 1941, allan massie, april 24, blogger, drudgery]

Clock Quotes — Sometimes the first duty of intelligent men is the restatement of the obvious. - George Orwell Read the comments on this post...... [Tags: clock, george orwell, intelligent men, restatement]

If there was ever a poster child country for the world as foreseen by George Orwell it has to be England. This was the country of my birth and even though I originally left with my mother aboard the QE II at a very (very) young age I have been back twice with the last time when I was 14 years old. Since that time England has changed into a country I don’t even think I would recognize let alone want to call home. It is a country where privacy is something that has disappeared totally as your every moved... [Tags: affront, billions, canadians, cctv cameras, crime figures]

Barry Michael Cooper: When Politics Became The New Hip Hop — The definition of Hip Hop has always been a political one: at the heart of democracy lies the aorta of free speech. Be it George Orwell, V.I. Lenin, Karl Marx, or Donald Oliver Soper shooting the gift (of gab) in London at Speaker's Corner of Hyde Park, or KRS-One and Chuck D voicing their opposition to Reaganomics and a Dickensian New York in the late '80s, or Jay-Z, Puff, and Kanye describing theirBrave Rich World from Gulfstream-V windows 40,000 feet above Monaco in rhythmic iambic pentameter, Hip Hop is the vox of the common man speaking to power. FDR was... [Tags: barack obama, city upon a hill, democratic national party, dickensian, donald oliver]

George Orwell Is Composing More Science Fiction Without Even Trying [Blogging From The Dead] — George Orwell's diaries are slowly being turned into a series of blog posts by scholar Peter Davison. You can leave mean comments on each and every 70-year-old blog post. Regular readers of the blog will experience a disjointed narrative of the fantastic, one that is drastically different from our everyday. Illustrated with Google Maps, Orwell's journey is so foreign to our modern sensibilities that it is slowly aging into a retro-futurist science fiction, even though the accompanying Twitter is getting a little annoying. George Orwell is the ultimate crossover writer: loved by both liberals and conservative, travel and SF... [Tags: civil war vet, eric blair, fantasy land, george orwell, google]

Fear, the Enemy of Freedom — We all know that lately time seems to be moving backwards and we are living in a moment that it is eerily similar to George Orwell's "1984". For that reason alone, when I saw a banner of something called "Freedom, Not Fear" I jumped to read about it immediately. Sadly, I arrived late to the call, as the international event took place yesterday (October 11) and mostly in European cities. Buenos... [Tags: enemy of freedom, european cities, george orwell, living in a moment, october 11]

Quote For The Day — "As nearly as possible, no nationalist ever thinks, talks, or writes about anything except the superiority of his own power unit. It is difficult if not impossible for any nationalist to conceal his allegiance. The smallest slur upon his own unit, or any implied praise of a rival organization, fills him with uneasiness which he can relieve only by making some sharp retort," - George Orwell. (Hat tip: David Polansky. Photo: Jewel Samad/Getty.)... [Tags: allegiance, david polansky, george orwell, getty, hat tip]

Ridley Scott Confirms He's Making Brave New World [Exclusive] — We got the chance to ask science fiction legend Ridley Scott for an exclusive update on his adaptation of Aldous Huxley's classic dystopian novel Brave New World. While he's still knee-deep in the details of the adaptation, he's already got some strong opinions — including his view that Brave New World is closer to the truth than George Orwell's 1984. So what does Scott have in mind for his Brave New World? Why did you decide to adapt Brave New World into a movie, why do you want to make this story? I didn't choose to do it, someone came... [Tags: adaptation, aldous huxley, big brother, brave new world, classi]

You might be surprised by how many good free ebook sites out there. Nowadays, you can find pretty much any popular (and not) book online. You just need to know where to look. Here are my favorite ebook sites. 1. Ebook Search Engines These are simple Google-like search engines but for PDF files. I usually start my ebook search using one of these sites. Type in the title of the document or book name you’re looking for and click on the search button. Find your book in the search results and click on download link. Done. So far my top... [Tags: anton chekov, data sheet, dickens, document templates, edgar allan poe]