Re: Allahpundit
Subject: Re: Allahpundit
From: Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com>
Date: 5/31/10, 00:45
To: Charles Johnson <charles@littlegreenfootballs.com>

Also, one more thing - Stein won't be able to give us what I've asked for in terms of a widget that would send info from blog to blog, due to time constraints and the different direction that his app is taking. I'm going to ask a couple of our participants to try to build something by August that could be used for our blogger network as well as a similar app for use in our governing network, but want to make sure I know exactly what to ask for as well as have a sense of the viability and time requirements of such a project. Would it be possible for us to speak on the phone soon so I can ask you a few questions about that? You're the only person I know with extensive experience in building IT-related apps and widgets and whatnot, and of course you're something of a pioneer in blogging software, so your input would be of tremendous assistance and greatly appreciated.

On Sun, May 30, 2010 at 10:34 PM, Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com> wrote:
Thanks for letting me know. Basically, the first project I'm going to do is a very light simulated ecosystem game in which the play can walk around this little world consisting of a hundred or so "rooms" of the sort one finds in text adventure games like Zork, and the world is inhabited by these creatures which have four of 30 possible characteristics (such as the ability to move from room to room faster than normal or an increased chance to have multiple offspring in a single litter). They survive by eating food that appears randomly throughout the map. I plan on building much more into it later, but for something like that, would you suggest PHP or Python or Ruby? Someone also suggested javascript, but that someone is fucking insufferable so I can't get him to explain why.


On Fri, May 28, 2010 at 9:05 PM, Charles Johnson <charles@littlegreenfootballs.com> wrote:
Python is a really good programming language. Ruby is actually an extension of Python; a framework built with Python code.

I use PHP. If you don't have a lot of programming experience, PHP might be slightly easier to get into, because it's not as strict about some of the object-oriented stuff as Python (in fact, you don't even need to understand OOP at all to use PHP), and the syntax is a little easier to understand.


CJ

On May 28, 2010, at 5:36 PM, Barrett Brown wrote:

Yeah, I'm not even sure why I asked that.

One more question - I'm going to learn how to program while I'm in East Texas and Mexico for the purpose of creating a simple biological simulator and then designing a conceptual tool for writers and philosophers. I learned a bit of Python a while back, but that's it. A friend suggested Ruby. Do you have any other suggestions?

At any rate, I'll be travelling and hanging out in the third world off and on until I return to NYC for book launch in August, but if you have any questions about Project PM, you can e-mail our lawyer Clark Robinson, whom I've put in charge of the details for now and is CC'd on this e-mail. Feel free to make use of any of our participants for anything you'd like, and let me or him know if we can be of any assistance in anything else.

On Fri, May 28, 2010 at 8:22 PM, Charles Johnson <charles@littlegreenfootballs.com> wrote:
Well, all I can tell you is he sure didn't hesitate to burn bridges with me. I doubt he'll rethink anything - Hot Air's pulling several hundred thousand visitors a day with their act, and AP is fine with being the whipping boy as long as the checks keep coming.

CJ

On May 28, 2010, at 5:18 PM, Barrett Brown wrote:

Thanks, hopefully this will get his attention. What is your opinion as to the potential for salvaging the fellow?

On Fri, May 28, 2010 at 8:03 PM, Charles Johnson <charles@littlegreenfootballs.com> wrote:
Here you go - I posted it in our new Pages section, and featured it on the front page:


Yeah, I'm definitely still interested in doing a book too.

CJ




On May 28, 2010, at 3:20 PM, Barrett Brown wrote:

Howdy again-

Redid that video as per your suggestion; it's a little more concise this time aside from not cutting off in mid-sentence. Plus I wore a jacket.

http://trueslant.com/barrettbrown/2010/05/28/on-the-violent-gay-sex-fantasies-of-social-conservatives/

On Fri, May 28, 2010 at 4:12 PM, Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com> wrote:
Okay, I'll do that now and get back to you in a moment.

Speaking of editing, are you still planning on doing a book? I'm heading down to Texas next week for about two months to start my third with a change of scenery, going to Mexico from there with this chick and going to hunt with my dad. Anyway, if you do decide to do the book I'd be happy to assist either by editing or helping to find a good literary agent.


On Fri, May 28, 2010 at 4:03 PM, Charles Johnson <charles@littlegreenfootballs.com> wrote:
It's a great rant but as your editor ... what, I'm not your editor? ... OK, as a friendly adviser, you really should re-do it, so it doesn't cut off in the middle of a sentence...

CJ

On May 28, 2010, at 12:04 PM, Barrett Brown wrote:

Just put up the video; could you embed or link to it or otherwise try to shame Allahpundit into answering for allowing his commenters to advocate violence against gay men?

http://trueslant.com/barrettbrown/2010/05/28/on-the-violent-gay-sex-fantasies-of-social-conservatives/

On Fri, May 28, 2010 at 1:59 PM, Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com> wrote:
Yeah, figured. I just got a new laptop with a better camera, going to do a few videos in support of Project PM but first was going to make one addressed to Allahpundit telling him to join the dark side. Will send you a link.

Have you taken a look at our Google Docs we're using to organize PM matters? I've got a couple of guys in particular whom I've put in charge of a lot of our day-to-day operations at this point, including this retired lawyer out of Chicago named Clark Robinson who's taken particular initiative on all of this. Check out our Africa sub-project if you get a moment; we've decided to hold off on incorporating as a non-profit as we've devised a way to have a particularly large impact in terms of sustainable development on the village level without need for much in terms of resources on our end. One of the other lawyers we've recruited specializes in patents and he had the idea of identifying older engineering techniques - certain sorts of pumps, waterwheels, things of that nature - that he's come across, the kind that don't require much skill or resources to implement. We'll compile the most useful of these and then partner with an entity in East Africa to print out how-to pamphlets and distribute them on the village level; we're also thinking of figuring out a method by which to encourage recipients to spread this knowledge to nearby villages, perhaps by way of an incentive program. Basically, even before we start raising funds, we can easily do something that is certain to increase the productivity and standard of living of between hundreds and thousands of Africans, and in a way that builds a foundation upon which additional productivity gains are likely to arise. We have other plans in addition to this, and have brought on a couple of folks with direct experience in running charities servicing Africa (I lived in Tanzania for a while when I was younger and from what I know, this flagship program is totally viable, and others with more experience with the environment over there have confirmed this). We're also in talks with another organization that takes Brooklyn students to Africa to do hands-on charitable work, and would thus be able to help distribute these and other materials.

Meanwhile, we're still setting up the media network as well and are planning to launch in August. True/Slant was bought by Forbes this week so I'm thinking we'll steer away from partnering with them as originally planned and instead maintain our independence, as it seems likely we'll be able to get funding on our own to the extent that we'd actually need any.

If you get a moment and would like to discuss the project further, give me a ring.

On Fri, May 28, 2010 at 1:19 PM, Charles Johnson <charles@littlegreenfootballs.com> wrote:
I know Allahpundit quite well. He actually got his start in the blogging world at LGF, posting under the name "NC". I lost quite a bit of respect for him when he refused to take a stand against the out and out nuts at his site -- then attacked me for criticizing them.

He's riding the tiger at Hot Air and he knows it. He has a well-paying gig but the extremism of his readers has to be a serious strain for him; he's doing it for the greenbacks.

CJ

On May 28, 2010, at 10:10 AM, Barrett Brown wrote:

I occasionally read his blog, largely when I expect to see a discordance between his generally reasonable brand of conservatism and the psychosis of the bulk of his commenters. Check out how brief is the duration between his post on DADT and the first instance of anti-gay violence fantasy expressed by his readers. Poor fellow.





--
Regards,

Barrett Brown
Brooklyn, NY
512-560-2302



--
Regards,

Barrett Brown
Brooklyn, NY
512-560-2302




--
Regards,

Barrett Brown
Brooklyn, NY
512-560-2302



--
Regards,

Barrett Brown
Brooklyn, NY
512-560-2302




--
Regards,

Barrett Brown
Brooklyn, NY
512-560-2302




--
Regards,

Barrett Brown
Brooklyn, NY
512-560-2302




--
Regards,

Barrett Brown
Brooklyn, NY
512-560-2302



--
Regards,

Barrett Brown
Brooklyn, NY
512-560-2302