Allen

[Allen @aldohiggins]

Design and poetry are deeply similar.

[Dawan Stanford, JD, PhD @dawanstanford]

Keats' idea of negative capability: you should be able to hold two completely contradictory ideas at any time. I think designers can do that well because they can see the world in multiple ways. Allen Higgins | #DesignThinking 101 #Podcast https://t.co/mkwdZQx7pk

[Allen @aldohiggins]

Frank McGuinness’s speech and sets the bar high, but not so high as to be unobtainable, rather, aspire-able, attainable, human and personal. What challenge and inspiration!

[Allen @aldohiggins]

@mofoghlu Lucky you. By all accounts it was a homecoming

[Allen @aldohiggins]

At the #TRAPDOOR launch, with Dónal Lunny and musicians launching this spanking new space into the world.

[Siobhán McHugh podcast maker, critic, academic @mchughsiobhan]

For anyone seeking a handy survey: this is a pretty good mix of industry/media/academic stuff on #podcasting Thanks @willcoley for compiling 🙏

Resources on The Theory & Practice of The Podcasting Space https://t.co/p7VmhAp48L

[Bright Eye Games @brighteyegames]

Great questions about the business of publishing board games, and some insights into our upcoming titles.

[RU_Research #Fella 🇺🇸 🇺🇦 @ru_research]

Sasha Skochilenko's Last Word - her final statement to the court, delivered at her sentencing - my translation into English.
***
Your Honor and Respected officials of the Court:

My criminal case is so strange and ridiculous that it is appropriate that I was charged precisely on April 1. My case is so strange and ridiculous that it even seems to me sometimes as I enter the courtroom for a new judicial hearing, sometimes I half expect that confetti will fall from the sky and everyone will stand up and shout “You’ve been pranked! You’ve been pranked!”. My case is so strange and ridiculous that the staff at Pretrial Confinement Facility 5 open their eyes wide and exclaim, “Can it be that people are sentenced for this in Russia?” My case is such that even the supporters of the Special Military Operation I’ve met with don’t think that I deserve a prison term for my act.

My case led to my investigator being fired without waiting for him to close the case. In personal conversation with my attorney he said, “I didn’t become part of the Investigative Committee (translator note: Russia’s counterpart to the FBI) for cases like Sasha Skochilenko’s”.

He dropped my case, which brought a halt to his brilliant career growth and resulted in his demotion. He left the Investigative Committee and went to work for the Military Goods store Voentorg. I have deep respect for his actions and consider him a kindred spirit – we both acted according to conscience.

Article 207.3 of the Russian Criminal Code (translator note: Knowing public dissemination of false information about the actions of Russian Armed Forces) is prejudicial at its very roots, since it applies only to a specific circle of people – those who serve the organs of the State. Just imagine this – the information that I disseminated was only considered “knowingly false” by my investigators, in distinction to me. Nonetheless they distributed the material to their investigation department as well as among prosecutors and the offices of the court, thereby insulting military eyewitnesses and creating an excuse for vast social resonance.

Thanks to my investigators and prosecutors the information I shared spread to thousands of people in Russia and all over the world. If they had never arrested me, this information would only have been known by a grandmother, and the cashier and security guard at the “Crosswalk” store.

And the so-called “price tags”, as shown by the evidence in my case, didn’t make any impression on these 2-3 people. So tell me, do investigators also distribute drugs among government staffers when they want to prove someone’s guilt under Article 228 (translator note: Russia’s criminal code article on distribution of illegal drugs)? The investigators themselves would have been charged according the that very article. So why are my investigators not charged under Article 207.3, nor my accusers, but only me?

If these five pieces of paper were so frightening then why has this trial even taken place? So that we would pronounce, dozens of times, these theses which in the State Prosecutor’s opinion so seriously threaten social order? What was the result? Did the Earth shake? Did a revolution rise up? Did soldiers begin to fraternize with the enemy at the front? No. Nothing like that happened. So, what’s the problem?

The State Prosecutor stated many times that my actions were extraordinarily dangerous for Society and the State. How weak must be the prosecutor’s faith in our State and Society if he thinks that our National Identity and Social Order can be shaken by five little pieces of paper?

When someone starts a military mutiny that has caused great losses to the country, they get charged and the case is closed within a day. No one suffered from my actions, yet I have been held under guard for more than a year and a half, together with murderers, thieves, pedophiles and pimps. Can it really be that the so-called harm to society caused by me compares with the crimes of my cellmates?

Every judicial sentence is a message to Society. Regardless of how you may assess my actions, you probably agree that I demonstrated courage and strong character, that I was not hypocritical but honest and forthright to myself and in front of the judge, that I acted consistently with my moral convictions. And you will agree that I do have moral convictions, even if you hold differing ones dear. In investigator’s jargon, arresting someone in pretrial confinement is called “taking a prisoner”. And so, I did not give up and did not yield during my captivity under threat of prosecution, sickness, and hunger.

And if my sentence is a message for society, then what you will tell people, to our citizens, when you condemn me? That they should give up? That they should be hypocrites? That they should proclaim your innocence? That they shouldn’t have pity on our soldiers? That they should not want to live under a peaceful sky? That our society and our State can be crumbled by five little pieces of paper? Can that really be what you want to tell people in a time of crisis, instability, depression, and stress?

My trial is well known in Russia and the rest of the world. Tens of thousands are following it closely, perhaps even hundreds of thousands. People will write books and make documentary films about my trial. That will happen no matter what sentence you give me – and you will go down in history. Perhaps you will be remembered as the person who put me in prison, perhaps as the one who acquitted me, or perhaps as the one who handed down a neutral decision and gave me a fine, a suspended sentence or sentenced me to time served. Everyone will see and know that you are not convicting a terrorist. You are not convicting an extremist. You aren’t even convicting a political activist. You are convicting a pacifist.

I am a pacifist. Pacifists have always existed. They are a special breed of people, who count life as the highest value possible. We think that any conflict can be resolved peacefully. I cannot kill even a spider – it frightens me even to imagine taking someone’s life. Military actions are taken at the initiative of warriors, but peace comes thanks to pacifists. And when you sentence a pacifist, you delay the long-awaited day of peace.

Yes, I think that life is sacrosanct. Oh yes, life! If we throw away all the tinsel of this world like money, power, glory, social position, what is left is only life. Yes, life! Life is stubborn, persistent, incredible, poignant, amazing, strong! It was born on Earth, and thus far we have found no analog even in the vastness of space. Life can break through asphalt, it can shatter stones, from a tiny shoot it can turn into a gigantic baobab tree, from a microscopic cell – an enormous whale. Life is found from mountain summits, is hidden in the depths of the Mariana trench, exists from the arctic ice to the hottest desert. And its most perfect form is found in the human being.

The human is a very reasonable life form. It is life which can contemplate itself, recognizing its own mortality. Yes, most often we fail to remember this and live as if we would live eternally. But in reality, human life is fleeting. It is incredibly short. All we are able to do is to prolong a brief moment of bliss. Everything living wants to live. Even on the necks of hanged men there are the marks of fingernails. This means that in their last moments, they want to live.

Ask any person who has just had a malignant tumor removed what life is, and how precious it is. Today scientists and doctors all over the world are striving to increase the human lifespan and find medicines that can cure deadly illnesses. Because of this I can’t understand – what is the purpose of military action? Combat, after all, shortens life. War means death. In 2021 during the Coronavirus Pandemic, we lost many of our elderly loved ones – grandmothers, grandfathers, mentors, teachers. We survived so much pain, alarm, and grief, and we who were left had only begun to stand up and started to live again, and – War. Now we are losing the lives of the young. Again death, again grief, again pain. And I cannot understand, what is the point of military action?

Call me what you will – deceived, mistaken, or brainwashed. I maintain my opinion and my view of truth. I do not think I will be forced by law to accept a different truth.

The State Prosecutor believes in a completely different version of truth than I do. He is convinced that so-called “NATO hangers-on” or that all the independent media are being financed from abroad. But the difference between the prosecutor and me is that I would never put him in prison because of his different ideas.

I am sorry if I offended anyone by my actions. My pretrial confinement where I met many people very different from me gave me cause to think that everyone believes in their own truth. The same applies to how people view the Special Military Operation. And it is a huge tragedy that we don’t all share the same truth and accept each other’s truth – this causes societal schism, destroying families and setting people who used to be close against one another, raising the level of aggression, and multiplying enmity on Earth, pushing us ever farther from long-awaited peace. I will not sin against the truth if I say that every person in this room wants the same thing – Peace.

Why make war? If we are all that each other has in this world of troubles, disasters, and difficulties? Can all the wealth and power of the universe redeem your loved one from death’s captivity? No – it can’t be done, not by money, power, career, or an apartment, or a car.

We are all each other has. I too have my favorite people, dearer to me than anything else in the world. They come to this courtroom and are not indifferent to my life, health, and freedom. They don’t want to see me put in prison. At home I am awaited by an elderly mother, a sister, my favorite girl, who has just received a frightening diagnosis of cancer. And I still don’t know any other person besides the State Prosecutor who wants to see me put in prison.
In truth, I think that even the State Prosecutor, in his heart of hearts, doesn’t want this sentence. It seems to me that he became a Prosecutor in order to put away real criminals and evildoers, people like murderers, rapists, child molesters. But everything has become different: it’s necessary to imprison those who need to be put into prison – and this is the rule for climbing the career ladder. This is how the system has turned out. Let’s not even try to pretend that it’s any different.

I don’t blame you. You are concerned for your careers and seeking a stable situation for the future, to provide for your families, put bread on the table and a roof over their heads, to help your current and future children get on their feet. But what will you tell them? Will you tell them about how you sent a seriously ill woman to prison for five little pieces of paper? No. Doubtless you will tell them about other things. You’ll probably comfort yourself with the thought that you were simply doing your job. But what will you do when the pendulum swings back the other way?

There is a law of history: Liberals laugh at conservatives; conservatives laugh at liberals. After the inevitable natural death of one leader, another comes to power and takes the opposite course. The first become the last and the last, the first. And however strange it may seem to you; I feel sorry for you.

In spite of the fact that I am behind bars, I am freer than you are. I can make my own decisions, I can say whatever I want, I can quit my job if someone tries to force me to do what I don’t want to do. I have no enemies, and I am not afraid to be penniless or even homeless.

I am not afraid not to build a brilliant career, unafraid that I will look funny, vulnerable, or strange. I am unafraid to look different from others. Perhaps this is why my State fears me and people like me so much, and keeps me in a cage like a wild animal.

Yet, a person isn’t like a wolf to another person. Simply getting angry at each other because of different opinions is easy, but loving each other, trying to understand and find consensus is very difficult. So, it is unendurably difficult that at times this seems simply impossible – in such moments violence or coercion seems like the only way out. But this is wrong. One needs to learn to love and resolve conflicts with the help of words – this is the only way to climb out of the moral crisis in which we find ourselves.

Your Honor, by your sentence you have the opportunity to set an example for others, an example of how it is possible to solve a conflict by using words, love, mercy, compassion rather than coercion to the alleged truth by means of a prison sentence. This could become a huge step toward decreasing anger, to healing and reconciliation of society.

Your Honor, I understand that for you this is simply a job, a private matter, long hours and a lot of paperwork. Probably in all this routine, as in any job, truth gets wiped out and forgotten. But the truth is that you have great authority to decide people’s fates. In this case, my fate, my health, my life, and the happiness of my loved ones is in your power. I believe you will wield this power wisely.

[Allen @aldohiggins]

@dawanstanford @Apple This window is a veritable mosh pit of GUI widgets.

[Allen @aldohiggins]

Update - my new episode for the @designtalk_ie pod with Mark Cooke from @brighteyegames sharing lessons learned from being in the business of boardgames. https://t.co/X3XvPFYdAe #CoraQuest #ThePlotThickens #TermiteTowers #WaggleDance and more to come.

[Allen @aldohiggins]

@LoyaltySquid Amazing!!😍

[Allen @aldohiggins]

@akohli Hmm. How do you reckon you’d phonetic spell my name? I got called Eileen the other day 🧐

[Peter Keenan @PB_Keenan]

I'm pleased to announce that we will be hosting the International Network Optimization Conference (INOC) 2024 at the Quinn School of Business from 11 March - 13 March 2024.
https://t.co/M6S9cmTivg

[Chris Grey 🇺🇦 @chrisgreybrexit]

The eighth summer of Brexit: pragmatism without honesty. New post on my Brexit & Beyond Blog, analyzing how attempts to fix consequences of the delusion of 'taking back control' without admitting that it is a delusion run through the summer's Brexit events https://t.co/LVodM0nxQF

[Allen @aldohiggins]

@mchughsiobhan Nicely phrased. There must be an area in the sciences that studies and theorises how speaking and listening drives, compels, urges learning to happen...

[Siobhán McHugh podcast maker, critic, academic @mchughsiobhan]

I used to try to tone down my passion for audio: seemed unacademic! @gurvy100 calls it a strength🙏

"McHugh: ‘this book is my attempt to distil the magic of narrative podcasts’. She certainly achieves that, her passion and knowledge for audio storytelling captures the reader."

[aman kohli | he/him | akohli@mastadon. ie @akohli]

Tweet a random picture from your phone with no explanation

[Allen @aldohiggins]

@robinwriting Expect it to be incredibly hot. Plan accordingly. 🥵

[Allen @aldohiggins]

@dawanstanford Thank you for spending the time on this interview Dawan. And thanks too to your amazing backroom team - they are complete professionals. It was a pleasure to take part.

[Allen @aldohiggins]

The "what's the problem we're trying to solve" question, is, if not the first, is at least the question we come back to again and again. It sets the conditions for the "what might we", "how might we" moments...

[Dawan Stanford, JD, PhD @dawanstanford]

I do a lot of my work and my practice around questions. What problem are we trying to solve? is probably the most powerful question in my toolbox. Dawan Stanford and Allen Higgins | #DesignThinking 101 #Podcast https://t.co/mkwdZQx7pk

[Dawan Stanford, JD, PhD @dawanstanford]

"Good services don’t happen by accident. They are the result of a deep understanding of the people that will use the service. They are carefully crafted to help those people do what they want to do." #ServiceDesign #DesignThinking #DigitalDesign https://t.co/grt1JOibQ3