I never really followed the late Aaron Swartz's activities, but the #pdftribute hashtag - in which academics re-release papers on various subjects for free - is shaping up as one hell of a memorial. Here's Adam Cathcart on music diplomacy with North Korea, including extended musings of how the shape and themes of classical composition can be shaped to serve totalitarian ends.
Obviously, that's the way I roll. But there's lots on the hashtag to choose from.
Footnote 7 to that deserves to be noted,
Posted by: Richard J | January 13, 2013 at 07:20 PM
It's absolutely shit news. I had one long phone conversation with Aaron about 18 months ago- we were introduced by Dsquared, who knew him pretty well. I can confirm all the reports that Aaron was, as well as being ridiculously intelligent, an unusually kind and open-minded man.
The prosecution that helped push him to his death was a particularly nasty and dishonest piece of government bullying. I hope there are big consequences to this affair, but Aaron is still dead long before his time.
Posted by: Dan Hardie | January 13, 2013 at 11:08 PM
The female DA (who wasn't directly involved, but she was the boss so screw her. They both should suffer) was involved in the odious Tarek Mehanna case.
Sadly there was nothing unusually nasty, or dishonest, about this. Just regular everyday viciousness from an ambitious DA. Usually the victims are black and unknown. And Aaron knew that, and cared about that, which is one (of many reasons) why he was such a great guy.
Posted by: Cian | January 14, 2013 at 03:18 PM