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library of babel - an idea that should have come to mind a while ago
it seems like a lot of people have been revisiting the library of babel, which seeing that its nearing the end of the semester makes sense i guess.
seeing that so many people were writing about it, made me briefly skim through it in my mind and i realized something. as i remember it one of the strongest reasons people seemed to be uncomfortable with the idea of such a place existing was because it would mean that no one could ever create anything new - because it had already been predestined to exist or already existed in another form somewhere in the stacks of this library.

MARINA AND MERLIN PRESENTATION
We (Marina and Merlin) Led a class activity today, in which we tried to illustrate a particular aspect of the transformation of information. Our goal was to look at the critical distinction between observations and interpretations..
Question:
HOW Can you interpret something created by code and algorithms?

Sadie's Final Performance Description
Apo and I performed an excerpt from our skit, "A Natural Disaster," in class as our final performance.
Here is the full description of Apo's and my final performance.

Class Notes for 4/20
Class Notes for 4/20
Reactions to Lady Gaga:
phreNic -- The image is not necessarily empowering. She's the motorcycle. You ride motorcycles...
m. aghazarian's letters to dead people post -- who is the master and who is the creator when you use technology?
check out merlin's post about a complicated idea involving nanobots
Anymore thoughts on Bloodchild?
Hilary: do others think the interpretation is useful? (humans as technology and technology as humans)
the message is that technology is something you can have intimate personal relationships with; emotions tied into technology

In June 2009, China banned the "gold farming" practice.
Saw this article a while back: http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/ebusiness/218101859
"In addition to its ongoing crackdown on Internet porn, the Chinese government has declared that virtual currency cannot be traded for real goods or services..."
It's worth noting, though, the in-game items like armor and weapons are not considered currency, and therefore are not covered by the ban. So, my question is, what's stopping people from farming the gold, buying a shiny new breastplate, and selling it off to the highest bidder for real-world cash?

Apo's Final Performance Description
The following is a copy of the scene performed in class today from my second webpaper written with tangerines. In terms of the presentation schedule, I introduced the plot and tangerines elaborated on the character development prior to the performance.
A NATURAL DISASTER
By: Sadie Mahmoud & Apocalipsis Rosario
CHARACTERS

At MIT: technology and militarism; selling sex through mobile technology
There's so much going on in the MIT Gender & Tech course that I wish we could participate in and learn more from-and-about! Tomorrow night they are discussing technology and militarism, with help from Jennifer Terry's Killer Entertainments site on Vectors, and the author's note.