oday was a great day as it was sunny, too. I left the house at 10 AM for a run around Salford and then sat down to type a few articles around a waterfall down the river (articles for Techrights of course). My knee started to hurt from all that running. I got back at 12:30 and then went cycling to a friend’s house. We cycled down the canal and stopped at the supermarket to buy some new bike kit, coal, steaks, and other meats. We then rode further till we came not so far from my house and had barbecue, then enjoyed some drinks and had chats with friends (over videophone on Android). Here are some photos from the latter part of the day. On the left side is the building I live in.

inding someone special who understands my mind is not easy. Finding someone who did the same degree as me (and is not male) is also hard, as Computer Science is largely dominated by geeky males. After many years looking for the right girl I finally found her last year. We recently got engaged, too. Here are some very recent photos.

My closer friends (and family) have known this news for a while, but now it seems okay to make it public. We love each other very much and are eager to spend our whole life together.

ost of my life I’ve looked roughly the same, which got a little boring. A few months ago I started a little beard experiment, but it didn’t last long. This month too I did another little experiment, but a few days ago I ended it by shaving. Here’s how it went on…

Experiment starts

Days later

‘Ghetto’ look

With goatee

Still scruffy

Last day before shaving

A day after shaving

Two days later

the main problem is, this gets too itchy after over a week. Beards are good for saving some time, but they have many downsides.

Me and Amy, my goddaughter.

Sent to me yesterday by her dear mother.

OR quite some time I’ve affiliated myself with progressivism, not libertarians, maybe because I became familiar with the subversion of the term libertarian when people like Ron Paul came to the scene, supporting all sorts of things like banning of abortions (so much for liberty, eh?). Over at Techrights I promote some progressive values, but these mostly relate to the utility of software (or contrariwise, the limitations). It probably won’t take long for the word progressive to be co-opted, just like republican (as in Republican Party) came to be associated with what we sometimes call here conservatives, or right-wingers. This is why, for the lack of words we have left (not incited against like anarchism), I would describe myself as “progressive”, at least while the word retains its true meaning. Some people characterise The Guardian as “progressivie”, but after it took a bribe from plutocrat Bill Gates I lost all respect for it. I want nothing to do with The Guardian anymore.

One thing is for sure: in the 2012 elections in the United States a Republican will win. This Republican will most likely be Mr. Obama with his Republican-esque policies.

IFE after 30 and a life after a doctorate degree is a tad mysterious. No longer is there the feeling of growing more mature and getting in better shape. No longer is there an aspiration to advance intellectually or academically (full professorship can be take many years to earn compared to a doctorate), so what it all comes down to is what good men (and women) sometimes refer to as “settling down”, reassuring themselves that whatever has been achieved can be looked backed at with foresight involving future generations.

Last week I decided to blog a little more about philosophy and a plethora of topics other than my job and my hobby (notably Techrights). The reason is, a lot can be said which was already implied before (e.g. the need to abolish software patents), but unless one diversifies the areas of one’s focus, it will get repetitive and dull. In the coming month I shall try to revive this blog, which used to attract a lot more readers back in 2005-2007 when I wrote in it on a daily basis. In a way, this is a sort of new year’s resolution.

EGACY of one’s life may typically matter to a person when death is near. That’s partly because last/recent memories persist better than old ones. Legacy is also what remains in visibility after a person departs from this world, having first emerged in it through conception. But legacy need not be associated with depressing things such as being deceased. Legacy throughout one’s life can be seen as the work that’s left to have impact when one moves from one area to another, from one field of work to another.

In older terms, publications and books were seen as a form of legacy. In a digital world the importance of these becomes more questionable and long-term persistence almost dubious. Work that is done in the disciplines of science and technology may matter a lot at the time of publication/invention, but only years later that work becomes uninteresting due to irrelevance. There are of course exceptions such as key, landmark papers (Charles Darwin’s for example) and immortal series such as Cosmos, but the vast body of work will only have its 15 minutes or fame — if any — and thereafter be shelved.

Activism is different in the sense that it has broader impact due to scale of reach (like target audience). Those who fought SOPA, for example, achieved a great deal and did this not for profit but for ideology.

In my younger days as a researcher I strived to publish papers and had my name put on half a dozen of them around 2005 when I was completing practical work on my Ph.D. In early 2006 I stopped submitting papers and also ceased to attend conferences. These had low impact compared to my sites, their target audience was small (mostly departments in the same field as mine), and the sense of accomplishment was not high. It was then that I turned to activism and spent the majority of my day dedicating energy/effort to good causes, even if it comes at the expense of a paying job. There have been no regrets, except perhaps regrets that I had not started doing this sooner.

The life of an activist is a lot richer than the life of a compulsive businessman. Richness cannot be properly measured in terms of monetary currency and some people are so poor that all they have is a high bank balance. Over the long run, history teaches, activists have a memorable legacy; the latter have not.