Plutonic Rainbows

Apple has shared a new Q&A page that explains why the company is opposing a court order to create a unique version of iOS that would bypass security protections and allow an iPhone to be unlocked by way of a brute-force attack.

Law enforcement agents around the country have already said they have hundreds of iPhones they want Apple to unlock if the FBI wins this case. In the physical world, it would be the equivalent of a master key, capable of opening hundreds of millions of locks. Of course, Apple would do our best to protect that key, but in a world where all of our data is under constant threat, it would be relentlessly attacked by hackers and cybercriminals. As recent attacks on the IRS systems and countless other data breaches have shown, no one is immune to cyberattacks.

Again, we strongly believe the only way to guarantee that such a powerful tool isn’t abused and doesn’t fall into the wrong hands is to never create it.

Great piece by Adrienne Lafrance in The Atlantic:

History is mostly silent to us now. Thousands of years of human stories have been told in paintings, and sculptures, and sheet music, and text; in shards and shells, and other fragments of things left behind. But because the history of recorded sound is only 160 years old, the original sounds of the distant past are lost to time.

Eli Stokols writing for Politico Magazine:

“The rules all changed this year. It was all about taking on the establishment,” said a Republican operative close to the Bush family. “When you’re the son and brother of former presidents, the grandson of a U.S. senator, how do you run in a year like this? It is just a year of personality, not message. All of a sudden, there was no path for him. They just kept falling back on his record as governor, which is all he has—and no one gives a shit.”

Surprising that it took the Republicans this long to figure that out. There was simply no way the public were ever going to tolerate a third Bush in the White House. It at least proves that money does not buy everything.

I made the decision back in July of last year that I would leave Japan permanently. It simply doesn't give me the same lifestyle anymore and I think there is a better long-term future back in England. I don't believe it was ever my intention to live here forever.

I need a greater degree of financial security than I currently have. I also am thinking more and more about saving and buying my own property. I have amassed a lot of stuff over the past ten years but I wonder how much of it has really made me happy.

Waking up each morning and enjoying the prospect of the day ahead is something that is more important to me as I get older.

This last year has really been like a farewell note to a country I enjoyed for many years. In some ways I feel sad that I cannot stay here but in truth, my interest in Japan has waned over the last five years. Maybe that's only natural. I don't think that many people have the same interest for their entire life.

A short excerpt:

All of this happened a very long time ago, before you and I were here. There once was a place in the world that looked a little bit like here but it was actually very different indeed. Autumn lay in the fields and along the empty road through the woods where no-one ever went anymore.

Beginning to wonder if it will ever stop raining. Some CDs I ordered arrived recently. I have been trying to pick up as many reasonably priced items as possible because it is unlikely I will ever be returning to Japan. To import would mean higher prices and customs charges.

• Grace Jones - Inside Story (CP32-5186)
• Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (28VD-1030)
• Rush - Signals (258P-5169)
• Propaganda - A Secret Wish (P35D-20007)
• Laura Branigan - Branigan (38XP-64)
• The Cars - Heartbeat City (38XP-76)
• The Human League - Crash (32VD-1041)
• Alan Silvestri - The Abyss (VSD-5235)
• Toto - Hydra (35DP-42)

Went to the Post Office about the delivery pick-up but it seems I have to phone them. Only twenty work days left.

I decided to re-read Ghost Story by Peter Straub. I first read it in the early 90s and thought it was time to revisit again.

It's nearly the end of the week.

That's how many working days I have left. Printed out my customs forms ready for the weekend.

Mark Johanson writing for the BBC:

When 48-year-old Londoner Cathy Eastburn had to give up full-time work in early 2015 due to ill health, she began looking for ways to make some additional income. That’s when she stumbled across Vrumi, a website that helped her rent out her living room as office space for location independent workers.