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It took awhile, but here’s your step-by-step guide to building your religion: R.R. Soares and Jerry Falwell, watch out!

Founding a Religion for Dummies

Well, I bite my tongue– I was always proud Brazil was moving towards open source, but apparently our good intentions always get shut down when it reaches the red tape.

Folha is reporting that the Brazilian Supreme Court (STF) ruled against a law by Rio Grande do Sul which favored bids which employed or supplied open source software. Here’s a translation of the original Folha de Sao Paulo article:

“04/16/2004 – 14h17
Supreme Federal Court bars law which gave preference to Open Source software in Rio Grande do Sul
by Folha Online

The STF accepted an injunction countermanding the law which gave preference to Open Source software in public contracts in Rio Grande do Sul.

The legislation determined that Open Source applications – which can be copied and modified freely– should have preference in licitations and contract bids for the state’s information technology services.

The STF issued an injunction of “direct inconstitutionality”, motioned by the Liberal Front Party (PFL), suspending the law’s effects.

According to the court, the law is inconstitutional, as it transfers to states the production of norms for government contracting. The STF says that the Federal Government is who should determine these general norms.

In addition, according to the STF, the law made a “convenient precedent” and hurt “interested parties’ competition.” This disrepected the Constitution, which establishes the “princple of equal treatment in public administration” in the selection of a contractor in public contract processes for administrative services.”

Fui no show do Stereolab ontem. I love this band. They make good electronic pop, teetering on the disco. O que eu mais gostei foi os “jam sessions” depois das musicas. AMAZING dance music if you ask me…

Suggested Listening: Margerine Eclipse (LP) – 2004 (iTunes link)

P.S. Slight note on attending audience: Me pareciam os dito cujos alternativos (your standard sample of Emerson/Berklee students), but it was still different. Provavelmente por causa do disco/pop/electronic, nao era uma galera tao “agressiva”. I border on saying “literary alternative people”.

P.P.S. Grato ao nosso inestimavel companheiro de luta o Dr. Rafael Kasinski por nos acompanhar,

Bought David Byrne’s book. Now, I agree, it’s a love-or-hate form of art, but I think it’s very unorthodox (the guy used PowerPoint for all this) and thought-provoking. It comes with a DVD and some original music… I could seriously sample this for VJing…

ric

I just watched Lost in Translation. Amazing film. She might have a nose designated a hazard to navigation, but Sofia’s got talent. After watching it took about 10 minutes, but it hit me. I would’ve been nuts to have watched it when it first came out– bad timing.

“Let’s never come here again because it will never be as much fun.”

ric

I went to a lecture by David Horowitz on Wednesday. He’s a conservative pundit who ironically enough used to be a hardcore leftist, until he violently swung to the right.

The story goes that he witnessed the leadership of the Black Panthers (with which he was affiliated) order the murder of a friend of his whom he had nominated for a position in the Black Panthers. In my opinion, this caused him to change opinion on the fundamental difference between conservatives and liberals. I agree with this premise: Liberals think we can make the world better, Conservatives think we can only make it worse. From then on conservatives may take on various machiavellian and utilitarian perspectives and liberals take on socialism and others.

To an extent, I agree with Horowitz’s cynicism; people are inherently selfish, and society was based upon waging war. He thinks we cannot change this. I think he started believing this once he became disillusioned by the left in the 60s/70s.

Horowitz says he much more of a centrist. I always say that politics isn’t black and white; it’s gray. And as far as gray goes, let’s just say he’s a darker shade of gray than I am… I cannot accept “means-to-an-end” justifications of military dictatorships or even lying to the public, as he defended in the case of Pearl Harbor and the Iraq War. But, I must agree with him that the Iraq war WAS a good thing. One contradiction I found in his remarks, however, was that while he claimed Iraq would “change the face of the middle east” instilling democracy, etc., he said people cannot change, which brings me to the fundamental question: Can we change culture, so that people who have historically lived under dictatorships (good or bad) accept and, most importantly, take advantage of democracy?

Anyways… I kinda felt like the guy is me in 30 years, after I become disillusioned with human beings as a whole. But being that I am model for cynicism, it makes me wonder how deeper I can go. It was really interesting however, to see someone who is politically conservative but not necessarily culturally conservative (IE: he might believe in gay marriage, but not necessarily in social security).

I felt sorry for him though; only 20 or so people showed up, so I bought his book. Interesting side note: I thought he signed the book for me “With all sandwiches” until I realized it was “with all good wishes” (thanks to Shinji). Dalipiphany: If I ever write a book, I’ll write dedications “With all sandwiches, –Ricardo”

ric

Meanwhile, in the West Bank…

“Y tu mamá también!!!”