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@@ -65,17 +65,17 @@ Another list:
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* 3u :: o (correct behaviour)
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** Images
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#&img;url=test0.png, alt='This is a test picture', width=270, float=right, \
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#&img;url=test0.png, width=270, float=right, \
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#&caption='A test picture'
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#+caption: A test picture \
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#+with a caption on two lines
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#&img;url=test0.png, alt='This is a test picture', width=240, float=right
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#&img;url=test0.png, width=240, float=right
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#&caption
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A test picture
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#&
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#&img;url=test0.png, alt='This is a test picture', width=210, float=right
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#&img;url=test0.png, width=210, float=right
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** Links
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@@ -1,3 +1,35 @@
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#+title: Atem: a new word
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#&summary
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A presentation of the new word 'atem' and why it's so desperately needed
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#&
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#+license: bysa
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wiktionary meta
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* Atem: a new word
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Have you ever checked the Wiktionary entry for 'meta'? I have. It's right
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[[http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/meta#English][here]]. When I looked at it, I noticed that there were no antonyms. *None!*
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But why?
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#+caption: This alien agrees.
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#&img;url=/img/aliens/lulala.png,float=right,width=200
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I often find it useful to be able to un-metaize complex thoughts: instead of
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thinking about thinking (meta-thinking), I think. Nothing else. However, when I
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mention that "I think", it may not be obvious that before I was thinking, I was
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thinking about thinking, which is why I have chosen to create *atem*, a new
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word whose only function is to act as meta's antonym. With this word, I can now
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say that "I atem-think", meaning "I think because I thought of thinking", or I
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can say that "I think", meaning "I think". 'atem' removes a lot of ambiguity
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from the English language.
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Ok, maybe not that often, but sometimes it's useful.
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Also, *atem* could be quite useful in abstract definitions, as a way to focus
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on making something abstract concrete instead of making something concrete
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abstract. For example, this page is probably an atem-page, because somewhere
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out there there's a page about this page.
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Perhaps every object in existence could be considered an atem object. It's not
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impossible, it just doesn't make much sense.
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Still, this word could be useful. I hope it gets into a dictionary.
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@@ -1,10 +1,20 @@
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#+title: Free culture
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#+summary: A short summary of free software with good external links
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#+license: bysa
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* Free software
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* Free culture
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** My definition
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Free culture is about sharing and mixing creative works, often under
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[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyleft][copyleft]]. It encompasses pictures, video, audio, text and similar types of
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works.
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It is good.
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** Other definitions
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** External links
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+ [[http://freedomdefined.org/Definition][Definition of Free Cultural Works]]
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+ [[http://freeculture.org/][freeculture.org]]
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+ The [[http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/][Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike license]] --- a widely used
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copyleft license approved for free cultural works. Wikipedia uses this
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license. This website uses it as well.
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@@ -1,12 +1,134 @@
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#+title: Free software
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#+summary: An explanation of the necessity of free software
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#+license: bysa
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* Free software
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** My definition
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This is a [[http://python.org/][Python 3]] computer program --- a piece of software:
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#+BEGIN_SRC python
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inp = input()
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print(inp.lower())
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#+END_SRC
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Or at least it's a very small part of one. It reads text input from a user,
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transforms the text to lowercase, and prints the transformed text. It is very
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simple. Larger programs are often far less simple, as they may contain
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implementations of complex algorithms or involve human interaction.
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[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSA][RSA]] and [[http://www.openssl.org/][OpenSSL]] are examples of this, RSA being an algorithm which requires
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several subalgorithms to work, and OpenSSL being the large implementation of
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RSA (among other things, but let's keep it simple) which contains way over
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100,000 lines of code. For such a computer program to be run, it will most
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often have to be compiled.
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/Compilation/ is a process which translates human-readable source code --- like
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the two Python lines earlier --- into a computer-readable format. When a
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program has been compiled, computers can understand it, and it can be run and
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used by users. The reason why programmers do not program in the
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computer-readable format from the beginning is that it is almost impossible and
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very impractical; humans need one or more levels of abstraction to be able to
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transform ideas into runnable, useful software --- humans need programming
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languages.
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There are two things that make a lot of sense when talking about computer
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programs: 1) if a program is installed on your computer, you should be able to
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run it (why else have it?), and 2) if a friend (or someone else) would like to
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use a program that you have, you should be able to share it to your friend,
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i.e. copy it and give the friend the copy.
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People who are unfamiliar with computers in general, and digital data in
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particular, might have trouble understanding that any data you see on a
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computer monitor or on an optical disc or on something else is nothing but
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bytes, be it images, videos, websites, text, programs, e-mails, anything. A
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byte x&var with a value n&var is no different than a byte y&var with the same
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value n&var, even if it is stored in a different location. Any byte can be
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cloned, copied, and only the amount of storage space available limits how many
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times this copying can occur.
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One must also be able to study a program, modify it to fit one's needs, and
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redistribute copies of one's changes. There are several reasons for this; first
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of all, a program must not be able to hide from you how it works and what it
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does. You --- or a hired programmer --- must be able to look through the source
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code and learn from it, so that knowledge about implementations of algorithms
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and structuring of code segments can be spread. Computers have become
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incredibly important on Earth, and it's just not good enough if a computer user
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who wishes to learn more about software and how it works cannot study
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the programs on their computer and in that way improve their computer
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literacy.
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Since machine code does not contain the original code and comments, source code
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availability is a precondition for the studying and modification of a program.
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Second, if a program does not work properly, you can only fix it if you're
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allowed to do so and have the source code.
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Third, it is impractical to constantly reinvent the wheel, which is what
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programmers who do not use software that allows sharing and modification tend
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to do.
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Fourth, if a program cannot be studied, and if that program contains code for
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reading from and writing to files in special formats --- e.g. the Microsoft
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Word format --- people are forced to use that program if they have a file in
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such a format (yes, OpenOffice.org and LibreOffice have good support for such
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non-free formats, but not full support).
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Fifth, if a program cannot be studied, you cannot be certain of its
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intentions. Since you do not know what the program does (in details), you do
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not know if it does anything harmful --- if it tracks you, or if it reads your
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documents without your permission.
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Sixth, if a non-free program is abandoned by its developers, it will never
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become better, and users of it might not be able to keep running it, because no
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one can fix or improve it.
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And so on.
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*Free software* is the type of software that encompasses these freedoms; it
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allows you to be in control of your computing, instead of others taking control
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of it. Proprietary software, or non-free software, is the opposite of free
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software. Many programs and systems are proprietary, including (but not at all
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limited to) Microsoft Windows, Apple iPhone, Amazon Kindle, etc. Well-known
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/free/ software includes Firefox, Inkscape, GIMP, and many others.
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Today it often seems commonly accepted that software development and usage
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follows a model like this:
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#&block
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Someone (a corporation, an individual, an organization, could be anyone)
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develops a program --> the creator allows people to use the program
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--> a user wants to share the program with a friend, but the user knows that it
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is wrong, because that's what the creator said --> the user does nothing, and:
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The user needs a new feature added to the program --> the user asks the creator
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to add the feature, because the user knows that only the creator may modify the
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program, even if it runs on the user's computer and not the creator's --> the
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creator answers --> nothing happens
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#&
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It makes sense that you should be allowed to modify a program that runs on your
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computer, or get someone to do it for you. It makes no sense that an entity
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x&var should have the power to control a user just because that user runs a
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program created by x&var. Programs should /not/ have owners, even if that's
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what some have been mislead to believe.
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All of this leaves us with these four condensed freedoms:[fn:freeswdef]
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#&block
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/The freedom to/
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+ run the program
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+ study and modify the program
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+ share the program (redistribute copies)
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+ share your modified program
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#&
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** External links
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Continue your reading here:
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+ [[http://gnu.org/][GNU's Not Unix]]
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+ The [[http://fsf.org/][Free Software Foundation]]
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+ [[http://trisquel.info][Trisquel, a free operating system]]
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+ [[http://debian.org/][Debian]]
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+ [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyleft][Copyleft]] on Wikipedia
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** Other definitions
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[fn:freeswdef] GNU.org. /The Free Software Definition/,
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[[http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html]]
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@@ -1,12 +1,49 @@
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#+title: Hacking
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#+summary: A simple description of what hacking is really about
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#+license: bysa
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* Hacking
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** My definition
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He's a *hacker*! Oh no, the pirate's going to *hack* our computer! And our mobile
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phones! And our TV! Run for your lives! He'll use our credit cards to *hack*
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even more! He might even *hack* our fridge!
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That's not a hacker. That's an evil person. Hackers are not evil. Hackers are
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curious people. The evil person described above can be called a /cracker/
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instead. Such a person can be said to /crack/ computers and mobile phones, not
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hack them. Hacking is very different.
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*Hacking* is the act of creating new ways to use objects with well-defined
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uses. It's about experimenting, being clever, and playing. Hacking does not
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have to result in something useful, though it sometimes does in the long
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run. It's about the present.
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When you've hacked something, you've created a *hack*. It can happen
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spontaneously, or it can happen because you want it to happen.
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** Other definitions
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Once, I was eating a pizza in a restaurant with a group of friends when one of
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my friends couldn't eat anymore of his hummus. I had one slice of pizza back,
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and he had a little hummus back. I realized then that I could /combine/ the
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pizza and the hummus, and tada: I ate a hummus pizza slice (which was good, by
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the way); i created a hack.
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Much more clever hacks have been created, but the hummus pizza example should
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serve as a simple example of what a real-life hack /could/ be --- a hack can be
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so many things.
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Hacking is often associated with software development, because that's often
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about finding clever solutions and being open for new ways to do things.
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** "Just stop it already. You've lost."
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One could argue that the hacking community should just accept that the media
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and the non-hacker part of the public have long ago changed the meaning of
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hacker to "person who breaks digital security", and that hackers should just
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find another word to describe themselves. But if we did that, all the history
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associated with hacking would fade as new generations came along.
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** External links
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+ [[http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/H/hacker.html][The Jargon File: hacker]]
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+ [[http://stallman.org/articles/on-hacking.html][stallman.org: On Hacking]]
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