Tag Archives: Society

A dream job: Chief Pornography Identification Officer

This is so cool. There exists a dream job for everyone, they say. I bet many will now want this job: the “Chief Pornography Identification Officer” is wanted. It is not spectacularly paid but, hey, imagine the job satisfaction level you get!

Job Responsibilities：Quickly and accurately identifying pornographic and obscene websites.

Job Description：1. Research and study pornographic videos and images, formulate criteria for determining obscenity. 2. Deploy courseware on the standards of obscenity determination, and study materials such as educational videos on pornography. 3. Manage and rate pornographic resources (including BT seeds, images, and online videos).

Job Requirements: 1. Familiarity with the different standards of determination of pornographic content of different countries; 2. Familiarity with the standards of determination and express regulations concerning pornography in China’s law; 3. Familiarity with the standards of pornography identification used by CNNIC (China Internet Network Information Center) and various major internet providers; 4. A bachelor’s degree or above; age between 20-35; all genders; 5. Possesses good teamwork skills, and a strong sense of responsibility.

If you are interested, the position is open, send an email to hr@anquan.org.… -->

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Life expectancy

I was reading Plato’s “The Republic” and it is a very worthwhile read. I highly recommend it to everyone, although that’s besides the point now. I want to talk about something else than the functioning of our society and its destination. In the very last chapter he managed to surprise me once again. Plato says:

“…once in a hundred years — such being reckoned to be the length of man’s life…”

And that small part of a sentence spoke mountains to me. I heard already from several sources that the length of human life is diminishing slowly over centuries, quite opposite to what the official science teaches us. But to hear from Plato that in his time (roughly 2400 years ago) the life expectancy was 100 years is stunning.

You see, Plato preaches philosophy as the basis for all human endeavors and he insists that everyone must study mathematics as the beginning of all other science and harmony. So, for him, to say the life expectancy is 100 years if it was not would be unacceptable. He speaks the truth in this case as in all other cases, mentioning it as a simple well-known fact of life.

So in his time to live to a hundred years was the same as now to live to sixty. We are down about one third in just two and a half centuries. This simple fact is hidden from us and we are taught that people live longer and longer while quite the opposite is the truth. People are dying.… -->

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Surveillance and resistance

Quite interestingly, it seems there is some resistance to total surveillance, both in the minds and in the reality. Yes, the surveillance is increasing and the automated processes for surveillance, linking of events, things and people and follow-up and recognition is driving the technological advances now in the so-called “big data” processing. Not only your shopping habits but also all of your whereabouts can be linked together and clearly identified with sufficient data and processing power.… -->

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Being polite means you are not afraid…

I was in a place where you had to talk to a receptionist today. And it was not in US. And not even in UK. Or any other English-speaking country. But the people in front of me were American and they made a big show of being cosmopolitan: “she should address me directly and in English!’, screamed the lady at a helpful old man who tried to translate the words of the receptionist to her. Witnessing such scenes always makes me wonder why people from Nowhere In Particular, North Hole, U.S.A. think that people the world all over are obliged to speak their language. All right, but even then, why do they have to be so offensive?

I think they are scared. They feel insecure, that’s what drives them madly shouting at others. And that makes me think now that when people are polite that is a sign of them feeling secure and relaxed. So when someone is impolite, you can safely bet they are afraid.

Don’t be afraid. Be polite.… -->

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A sense of urgency

I have a feeling today that there is something crucial in the sense of urgency. I can feel comfortable and cozy, this feeling being opposite to the sense of urgency. When I feel comfortable, I am stuck in that feeling, I want to keep it and I become inert and unwilling to change anything. A sense of urgency can be entertained in an opposite manner – by withdrawing yourself from the lure of comfort. The sense of urgency is important somehow, it makes me move, it makes me think, it makes me do things that I expect to be beneficial in the long run. It imparts on me this contradiction of now and after. The understanding, the logical thinking of the consequences in the future does not help to start moving, does not help to get you out of your cozy “now” and does not implant a firm boot in your behind. But the sense of urgency, once obtained, does exactly that. It helps to get things moving and without any outright struggle. The struggle is to get the sense of urgency and to keep it.… -->

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Internet: survival of the biggest

The Economist has an interesting cover this time that you can see here. The big four are warring over our data. The squids will use and abuse our data in numerous ways and they will war over the full control over that data. Scary but true. The on-line article is here.

The digital revolution these giants have helped foment has brought huge benefits to consumers and businesses, and promoted free speech and the spread of democracy along the way. Yet they provoke fear as well as wonder. Their size and speed can, if left unchecked, be used to choke off competition

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A matter of attitude

I came accidentally across an article describing the habits of burglars today. The article was short and interesting with some fair advice on where (not) to hide your cash. Since I usually do not have any cash at home anyhow, that was not so exciting though. But one of the comments on the burglars and burglaries stood out and it deserves to be shared:

I don’t sweat it. I have a 110 lb pit bull and a .357 Magnum among other guns. I got out of the military recently and currently carry a weapon at work. If you want my flat screen or my loose change, come on in…I have 40 acres and a bulldozer. Nobody will miss you.

It is all a matter of attitude all right.… -->

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