Walter L. Newton

Home Page
http://newton.acrossthebow.com

Wikipedia
Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Never_Promised_You_a_Rose_Garden_(play)

Custom hand made jewelry
http://www.etsy.com/shop/hummingbirdcustom

Home 303-838-2058
 

From: Barrett Brown [mailto:barriticus@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, January 09, 2011 2:46 PM
To: Walter L. Newton
Subject: Re: Whatca up to...

Thanks for getting in touch. I've enjoyed your comments for quite a while, although I only rarely read comment threads at LGF - which itself helps to explain what happened with Charles, whom I met a year back through our common enemies and whom I've described in glowing terms from several outlets, largely out of admiration for having publicly shifted his views despite the inevitable rancor. I also got him a paying gig at True/Slant, praised him in my upcoming book, and was talking to him about helping to develop our software for Project PM. On the surface, it looks like a dispute over Wikileaks and Anonymous prompted our unusual fissure, and that was indeed a proximate cause, but what actually prompted me to tell him off was the combination of libelous nonsense written about me by Kilgore Trout and others and Charle's decision to ban someone for pointing out that he had linked to Reason himself while preventing others from doing so, and then not only requiring an apology from that person in order to be reinstated, but also calling him a "jerk" afterwards. Obviously Charles can run his blog any way he wants and he has done a good job of creating a relatively interesting forum but I was mortified to learn that I had pointed to this fellow as a paragon of new media and associated him with Project PM. No matter what one's views may be, there is a certain sort of conduct that actually offends me, although I am almost impossible to offend otherwise, and that certainly qualifies. At any rate, I will just say that Charles would be less inclined to prevent anyone from linking to my little video explanation of all this if he did not think it is a pretty reasonable one.

Kundra is only marginally correct in comparing me to Hunter S. Thompson, though I understand what he means to convey by that, which is along the lines of"young eccentric fellow with some writing talent who is up to something." The main thing I have in common with Thompson is a drug-fueled and nomadic lifestyle and even that has pretty much ended due to me having just now settled down with a girl.

This is the part where I try to recruit you for Project PM. In your case, I'll note that several of our members come from LGF, including Scott Mintz, who is in charge of finances and otherwise serves as one of two people who work most closely with me. Our membership is largely comprised of journalists, scientists, academics, activists, and random erudite people from around the world, all of whom are interested in working together to better utilize the internet in pursuit of goals largely having to do with efficiency of information flow. This started out as a method by which to raise awareness of the media's deficits and encourage people to help fix the problem but has rapidly expanded into a few other realms, including African development pursuits (we've partnered with a Cambridge researcher who's working with several institutions and also have our own pre-existing plans involving viral information campaigns). Once the software is completed, this network will expand automatically and operate without central direction while also maintaining a high level of competence through a schematic I have designed to alleviate some of the negative dynamics that arise within such entities.

I would very much like to send you some more info and put you in touch with a couple of our other members; I'd also like to invite you to attend one of our weekly IRC meetings this Wednesday at 7:00 EST. Let me know if any of this interests you. And again, thanks for getting in touch and for your kind words.

--
Regards,

Barrett Brown
512-560-2302