Always thinking about Power

“A large populace held in check by a small but powerful force is quite a common situation in our universe. And we know the major conditions wherein this large populace may turn upon its keepers -
One: When they find a leader. This is the most volatile threat to the powerful; they must retain control of the leaders.
Two: When the populace recognises it’s chains. Keep the populace blind and unquestioning.
Three: When the populace perceives a hope of escape from bondage. They must never even believe that escape is possible!”
Herbert, Frank, “Children of Dune“, 1976, Great Britain, p. 104.

However, one could add that populations have an uncanny knack of removing leaders who do not eventually achieve the basic desires of that populace; nourishment, shelter, entertainment. There are some things a populace cannot be fooled about – an empty stomach, cold or heat, unhappiness. Of course these states are relative – the human state is always relative – but within its own scale a populace can be aware.

It is all to tempting to ascribe mindlessness to the masses, merely because they are many. Accident and individual should not be discounted, but very rarely in history can events be ascribed purely to the desires and directions of the powerful. The great, communal hordes always have a say.

Those that credit the rise of the Third Reich and its policies simply to Hitler’s leadership foolishly ignore the social and economic climate not only allowing that perverted genius to have his way but actively pushing the Reich down its ill fated and evil road.

The ultimate error of the powerful is to forget from where their power arises.

Power is truly in the people, the malleable, stupid, blind but infinitely hungry people.

Why white?

Why indeed? In this world of high impact and assertive opinion my choice to present the fresh, clean page may seem a little conservative … minimalist … even dowdy. Bland, uninteresting or unimaginative all seem reasonable observations about this page. Maybe I was rushed, or lazy, or just plucked the scheme at random.

Well no. This choice of scheme was a considered one – although some of the readily available options made it easy – banana?!

The real culprit is band width. Specifically lack thereof. Or, in the absence of credible technical knowledge, my perception of bandwidth and what makes a difference.

I have the privilege, nay, the joy, of renting a house that appears to have, some time in the past, fallen victim to some maniacal Telecom contractor who, just for kicks, meticulously wired telephone jacks into every room in the house – in some rooms even two plugs.

“Way hey” one might think. “How convenient” or “somebody with insight into the demands of the new age” even.

But no. The real effects of the tangled knot of analogue ganglia stretched about the house are delights including constant snap, crackle, popping on the phone, a tendency for the modem to disconnect every time the house creaks in the wind or, my personal favourite, a variable connection speed between the giddy flash of 33000 kilo-doodlywhatsits per something right through to 11000 … thingies.

And let me tell you, with that kind of hook up speed, things really hum along.

Well, at least, I hum. Emails, on the other hand, filter down the wire like oysters through a needle eye (especially when some clown decides to send you 3 megs worth of banal US sports fan footage).

I also twiddle my thumbs and stretch a good deal. The internet, meanwhile, takes up residence on my screen in much the same way as (I imagine) the Chinese water torture fills a pot under the subject’s head.

I go and watch some telly. iTunes, meanwhile, searches online for a whole five songs worth of info (anybody else spot the irony of going off to watch TV when you are “using” the computer?).

So, I tend to be a little fixated with bandwidth. Or whatever it is that determines how many ones and zeroes shoot in and out of my ‘puter at any given time. (Yes yes, I’m a guy so of course I’m fixated by the size of my pipe, hah bloody hah).

Hence – white. Its simple. Its clean. And even if it doesn’t really make a difference (because apparently its all in the code and it takes the same volume to tell my computer to display a black screen as it does a white screen) I have no intention of letting technical reality interfere with my take on what works.

Oh – and it actually looks all right, I think.