HTTP/2 301 server: nginx date: Sun, 01 Feb 2026 09:32:36 GMT content-type: application/rss+xml; charset=UTF-8 location: https://ragmanscircles.wordpress.com/comments/feed/ x-hacker: Want root? Visit join.a8c.com/hacker and mention this header. host-header: WordPress.com link: ; rel="https://api.w.org/" vary: accept, content-type, cookie last-modified: Sun, 01 Feb 2026 09:32:36 GMT etag: "175ee94c018fb2f672bc11e694b4d4a9" x-redirect-by: WordPress x-ac: 4.bom _dca MISS alt-svc: h3=":443"; ma=86400 strict-transport-security: max-age=31536000 server-timing: a8c-cdn, dc;desc=bom, cache;desc=MISS;dur=446.0 HTTP/2 200 server: nginx date: Sun, 01 Feb 2026 09:32:36 GMT content-type: application/rss+xml; charset=UTF-8 vary: Accept-Encoding x-hacker: Want root? Visit join.a8c.com/hacker and mention this header. host-header: WordPress.com link: ; rel="https://api.w.org/" vary: accept, content-type, cookie last-modified: Sun, 01 Feb 2026 09:32:36 GMT etag: W/"175ee94c018fb2f672bc11e694b4d4a9" content-encoding: gzip x-ac: 3.bom _dca MISS alt-svc: h3=":443"; ma=86400 strict-transport-security: max-age=31536000 server-timing: a8c-cdn, dc;desc=bom, cache;desc=MISS;dur=419.0 https://ragmanscircles.wordpress.com Talking about what the matter was Wed, 13 Mar 2013 02:44:39 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.com/ https://ragmanscircles.wordpress.com/2013/02/20/asteroids-moocs-and-medical-records-mediashock-and-the-entrepeneurship-of-cybercapitalism/#comment-46 Wed, 13 Mar 2013 02:44:39 +0000 https://ragmanscircles.wordpress.com/?p=160#comment-46 […] * Also from Richard: What do asteroids, MOOCs, and medical records have in common?  All are examples, currently in the news, of the way in which public policy in the US is driven not by the common good or professionals or expert knowledge, but b… […]

]]> https://ragmanscircles.wordpress.com/2013/01/14/whose-right-to-unlimited-data/#comment-41 Tue, 12 Mar 2013 21:14:07 +0000 https://ragmanscircles.wordpress.com/?p=89#comment-41 I too have been thinking about Sprint’s Unlimited commercial. Each time I see it I contrast it to the new Cat Power song “Human Being.” Whereas she writes of our human right to express, experience, and feel our selves, Sprint’s slogan seemed to move that experience away from our selves.

]]> https://ragmanscircles.wordpress.com/2013/01/14/whose-right-to-unlimited-data/#comment-10 Mon, 14 Jan 2013 19:40:47 +0000 https://ragmanscircles.wordpress.com/?p=89#comment-10 Hi Richard, You are completely correct and I apologize if I even seemed to be saying that your characterization was in any way incorrect–just wanted to add some more detail (specifically about JSTOR’s availability to non-academics, as this appears critical to the Swartz story) for others who might be following along and might not, as you and I both do, interact with JSTOR a lot.

]]> https://ragmanscircles.wordpress.com/2013/01/14/whose-right-to-unlimited-data/#comment-9 Mon, 14 Jan 2013 17:25:55 +0000 https://ragmanscircles.wordpress.com/?p=89#comment-9 Thanks, David, for the clarification. I agree that JSTOR is very different from for-profit services and as such a minor offender in the overall scheme of things (if, as you suggest, an offender at all). In my post, too, the JSTOR characterization is minor, but it is accurate (if not complete). I suppose if I had added that they were free to individual academics whose libraries paid for subscriptions it might have been moreso.

]]> https://ragmanscircles.wordpress.com/2013/01/14/whose-right-to-unlimited-data/#comment-8 Mon, 14 Jan 2013 17:06:11 +0000 https://ragmanscircles.wordpress.com/?p=89#comment-8 Richard, I appreciate and agree with a great deal of this post. I’m just a little bit concerned with the portrayal of JSTOR as “an academic database whose holdings were available (mainly to academics) through paid subscriptions from university libraries”–I know you know the rest of the story, but this seems a little truncated to me and to fit too well with the general media coverage of this story. JSTOR created and *provides* access to archives of journal articles that, prior to or without JSTOR, existed only as paper copies. From everything I’ve read, its very low fees go only to support its creation and maintenance of those archives, with some residuals to publishers for copyrighted data. Swartz’s actions, if his goal was to free JSTOR’s articles, can only be construed as meaning that JSTOR should not be able to charge for its product. Fine (although I disagree), but that means it should not be in business. If not in business the articles would only exist in paper form and be exponentially *less* accessible than they are today. Swartz expressed concern for people in developing nations, but JSTOR has long had a policy of pursuing open access in every way possible, and today (and apparently with no relation to Swartz) lets all institutions in developing nations access its archives completely free. JSTOR was actually *doing* what Swartz seemed to want–opening and freeing information–rather than preventing it. Further, it’s critical to note that in the US, all public universities are required to make their resources available to any citizen, and that most private universities follow this policy as well–ironically, that’s why Swartz as a non-MIT student was able to download much of JSTOR. The truth is that pretty much throughout the world, anyone can read, and often print and download, almost any JSTOR article they want for free, just by visiting a university library; now much of JSTOR’s public domain holdings are available for free, and they’ve recently started a program for individuals, and there is history of individuals who need and can’t afford it applying to JSTOR and being granted access. That *is* open access, on any reasonable understanding of it, that allows JSTOR to remain in business and keep providing its materials. Unfortunately for me, this misunderstanding (still promulgated in much of the media coverage of Swartz’s suicide) puts his actions in a different light–I don’t know what freedom he was fighting for, in the JSTOR case, unless it was to free the (very few) JSTOR employees from their jobs. I fear he had swallowed a line that is actually contrary, in many ways, to the principles to which he was apparently deeply committed. As such his loss is doubly tragic, at least.

]]> https://ragmanscircles.wordpress.com/2012/06/19/meditation-stitching-time/#comment-2 Wed, 20 Jun 2012 21:58:09 +0000 https://ragmanscircles.wordpress.com/?p=15#comment-2 This is so beautiful, Richard. And I have been thinking about breathing – about how my autistic friend and collaborator DJ Savarese calls us (so-called neurotypicals) “easy breathers” when “we” are anything but…

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