Here We Go Again
Greetings! I know it’s been one and a half month since we last spoke but things like this happen time to time. If you need a short explanation, it’s basically because I have a problematic sense of time and can’t really calculate how much time the work I have on my hand will take. Thus, stuff gets delayed.
So, how 2020 is going for you so far?
Right now, I’m making my final adjustments for full hermit life. I have a masters thesis, at least one academic paper and many other things I either have to or want to write. And last two year taught me, it’s not possible when I’m moving too much. That’s why I’m minimizing all kinds of other stuff that’ll needs me outside the house. Hopefully things will go according to plan and I can do what I really want, which is writing.
To be honest, I was not expecting to have a career that requires me to travel that often. This is probably why I always feel like it’s an obstacle and something that messes with my regular life. Maybe I should work on that, wire my brain in a way so travel doesn’t always feel like that. Is that something possible or I just have to learn to live with my misery?
From the Blog
Let me tell you a funny story.
You probably know that Wikipedia is blocked in Turkey for 2,5 years. There was a legal battle going on since then and on December 26th, Constitutional Court said it’s unconstitutional and ban should be lifted immediately.
It’s been three weeks since then and the ban still not lifted. First couple days there was no word. Then government officials said it’s going to be lifted when the detailed decision published. Today, the detailed decision is published at the Official Gazette. And even after that, it took them until 23:00 to lift the ban, finally.
In a normal country, it would become a scandal on day 2. But since law is not that important around here, other than a small group of people, no one cares at all. This is what happens when stuff like law, human rights, freedom of speech become meaningless in a country. There are still hunderds of thousands websites blocked in Turkey and even Wikipedia was blocked for almost 1000 days. But until the court decision, everyone forgot about Wikipedia and still only a minority talks about the rest of it.
WADI Filter
New Years Day: Things I Have Learned in The Last Ten Years — Quinn Norton
A return to blogs (finally? sort of?) — Joanne McNeil
120 :: Connect, BTS — Jay Springett
114 :: Please for the love of Blarg, Start a Blog — Jay Springett
Our Neophobic, Conservative AI Overlords Want Everything to Stay the Same — Cory Doctorow
The invasive predators took my chickens away — m1k3y
So, that’s pretty much all I have for this week. There won’t be any breaks like the latest one in the foreseeable future. Hopefully, we’re going to have many conversations like this every week. But I’m not sure if I’ll send these Wednesdays again. Thinking about moving a bit later in the week. What do you think?
Take care and stay strong! See you next week!
P.S. If you like what I’m doing here, you can click the heart at the top of this email, use the share button below and support me on Patreon.
Who Writes This?
Ahmet A. Sabancı (that's me), writer, journalist and researcher. Writing about many things including technology, surveillance, censorship, philosophy, science fiction and futures and occasionally about politics and Turkey. There’s a good chance you found me through my blog or Twitter or maybe some nice people recommended this newsletter to you. You can find more about me here and small selection of my writings here.