Kafka and the Modern Surveillance State

Whenever life imitates Kafka, it's never a good sign.

The Summation Of Everything

Foreign policy snafus, domestic policy circuses, political nonsense, government shutdown, Obamacare, idiotic media, plus my "real life" (read: it's midterm exam time in Nerdworld and all hell's broken loose!) ... We're all short of time, money, energy, and patience.  I feel completely exhausted.  The whole kit and kaboodle can basically be summed up by this animated image from a favorite show:

Word of the Day: "Kafkatrapping"

Heh.  More here (by the way, I am Model T all the way, babe).  

What Fresh Hell Is This? Life Imitates Kafka in BP Spill Response

You cannot be serious!  

Also read this and this.  Oh, and this as background.

I'm so furious I'm defusing myself with some caustic humor with my favorite Time Lord's favorite expression, both verbal and facial, of "what the hell is this?"  I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot of this graphic.

Irony Overload: the Amazon Kindle Debacle -- Plus Commentary!

In a nutshell: Amazon recently deleted copies of George Orwell's Animal Farm and 1984 from the Kindles of its customers. Seriously. 1984.

OK, now check out this analysis, which contains commentary on Amazon's "lawyerspeak" response from someone surnamed . . . OK, wait for it . . . KAFKA.

I can't make this stuff up!

Anyway, fabulous quote from the article:

Information-controlling companies want to avoid the label Orwellian, but it certainly doesn't help when the thing you're being Orwellian about is the work of George Orwell.

More here from an unhappy technophile.

UPDATE: In defense of Amazon?

Satire Alert: If Kafka Designed Airports

The Onion strikes again, and the result is hilarious! Ah, nobody does oppressive, impersonal, dehumanizing bureaucracy like Kafka. And airports. Combining the two is a brilliant move.


Prague's Franz Kafka International Named World's Most Alienating Airport

(In the real world, I nominate London's horrific Heathrow for being the worst in all sorts of ways.)

Book Review: "Shakedown" and Canadian Free Speech Rights

Hmmm, there's the buzz of a new book from Canada. I haven't read the "Shakedown" by Ezra Levant, but after reading this book review, I think I'll have to!

The review itself has its delights; see, if you will, the following glorious characterization of Canadian politic correctness as "simultaneously absurd and frightening, Kafka dipped in Wodehouse. Welcome to the strange new world of political correctness roaming the landscape, seeking whom it may devour."