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| "I don't think the report is true, but these crises work for those who want to make fights between people." Kulam Dastagir, 28, a bird seller in Afghanistan
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'Pattern Recognition': The Coolhunter |
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| Topic: Sci-Fi/Fantasy Literature |
2:28 pm EST, Jan 18, 2003 |
Can a book with references to Starbucks, iBooks and Hummers become a classic? Can anything transcend its time now? Or is any novel about our tumultuous era bound to be a blip on the radar screen -- the equivalent of 20 seconds of stray footage on the Net? "Pattern Recognition" considers these issues with appealing care and, given that this best-selling author is his own kind of franchise, surprising modesty. Gibson's novel succeeds in being both up-to-the-nanosecond and also, in Cayce's highest praise, "curiously difficult to date." NYT reviews the new Gibson novel. You can also listen to audio of Gibson reading an excerpt from the book (approximately 13 minutes). 'Pattern Recognition': The Coolhunter |
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The Inner Ring, by C.S. Lewis |
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| Topic: Society |
6:25 pm EST, Jan 5, 2003 |
It is not, in fact, very likely that any of you will be able, in the next ten years, to make any direct contribution to the peace or prosperity of Europe. You will be busy finding jobs, getting married, acquiring facts. I am going to do something more old-fashioned than you perhaps expected. I am going to give advice. I am going to issue warnings. Advice and warnings about things which are so perennial that no one calls them "current affairs." In 1944, C.S. Lewis addressed the students of King's College, University of London with the annual Memorial Lecture. ... It is tiring and unhealthy to lose your Saturday afternoons: but to have them free because you don't matter, that is much worse. [ Po Bronson mentions this in _What Should I Do With My Life?_ ] The Inner Ring, by C.S. Lewis |
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Edwin Land, on the path to success |
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| Topic: Society |
12:03 pm EST, Jan 4, 2003 |
"If you dream of something worth doing and then simply go to work on it and don't think anything of personalities, or emotional conflicts, or of money, or of family distractions; if you just think of, detail by detail, what you have to do next, it is a wonderful dream even though the end is a long way off, for there are about five thousand steps to be taken before we realize it; and start taking the first ten, and stay making twenty after, it is amazing how quickly you get through those five thousand steps. Rather, I should say, through the four thousand nine hundred and ninety. The last ten steps you never seem to work out. But you keep on coming nearer to giving the world something well worth having." -- Edwin H. Land to Polaroid employees, 23 December 1942 Edwin Land, on the path to success |
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Pattern Recognition, by William Gibson |
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| Topic: Sci-Fi/Fantasy Literature |
11:59 am EST, Jan 4, 2003 |
Cayce Pollard is a coolhunter, "a 'sensitive' of some kind, a dowser in the world of global marketing," able to recognize trends (i.e., patterns) before anyone else ... Gibson's usual themes are still intact -- globalism, constant surveillance, paranoia, and pattern recognition -- only with the added presence of real-world elements (pilates, Google, Bibendum, Echelon, Buzz Rickson's). With incredibly evocative prose, Gibson masterfully captures the essence of a specific time and place ... Gibson fans will not be disappointed. The book goes on sale February 3, 2003. Man, this is going to be one hell of a year for sci-fi! Pattern Recognition, by William Gibson |
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Anti-Americanism in Korea [PDF] |
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| Topic: Society |
5:12 pm EST, Dec 30, 2002 |
Anti-Americanism is growing at a startling rate in South Korea, potentially escalating into a serious problem that could jeopardize the future of the U.S.-Korean alliance. An interesting look at the sources of Anti-American feelings in South Korea. Essentially, South Korea doesn't feel that it is respected by Americans. It is right. In this case, disrespect will ultimately cost the Americans a lot. I think that the conclusions in this article are a little one sided. Americans could benefit from a better understanding of South Korea, too. I think many Americans mistake a number of Korean products as being Japaneese (Ask a random friend what country Samsung is from). Furthermore, products that have been specifically marketed as Korean have been low end products like Kia cars. Americans tend to respect countries that produce technology that they preceive as being superior in some ways to domestic counterparts. If there was an effort to illustrate some of the high end, high quality consumer products that Americans use that come from South Korea this would likely raise South Korea's profile in this country. This would make racial slurs and similar banter on television a lot less popular. I'll also add that this article has the undertones of strategic psy-ops and is interesting from that perspective as well. Anti-Americanism in Korea [PDF] |
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| Topic: Movies |
9:22 pm EST, Dec 26, 2002 |
This is Salman Rushdie's op-ed piece for the Christmas Day edition of the Washington Post. He compares and contrasts The Two Towers and Gangs of New York in the context of contemporary history and current events. Getting Into Gang War |
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As Post-Boom Dust Settles, the South Grimly Downsizes |
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| Topic: Economics |
12:11 pm EST, Dec 16, 2002 |
If the nation boomed in the 1990's, Atlanta exploded. But what fueled Atlanta's eye-popping growth in the 1990's has proved the city's economic undoing in the last year and a half. The most poignant illustrations of the downturn are the roughly 20,000 highly skilled but suddenly unemployed workers who were laid off from telecom and technology companies with headquarters or major operations in Atlanta. The companies include ... Internet Security Systems ... "What does the future hold when every garage has got a new car in it?" As Post-Boom Dust Settles, the South Grimly Downsizes |
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Beyond 'Couch Potatoes' | First Monday |
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| Topic: Technology |
12:32 am EST, Dec 16, 2002 |
The fundamental challenge for computational media is to contribute to the invention and design of cultures in which humans can express themselves and engage in personally meaningful activities. Cultures are substantially defined by their media and tools for thinking, working, learning, and collaborating. New media change (1) the structure and contents of our interests; (2) the nature of our cognitive and collaborative tools; and, (3) the social environment in which thoughts originate and evolve, and mindsets develop. MemeStreams is not Yet Another Web Site. Beyond 'Couch Potatoes' | First Monday |
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RE: Kissinger Returning to Political Stage With 9/11 Post |
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| Topic: War on Terrorism |
1:27 pm EST, Dec 2, 2002 |
] In response to the editorial concerns about his independence,
] Mr. Kissinger said, "I think The New York Times will
] apologize for this editorial when our report is submitted."
]
] He promised that the report would be "nonpartisan, thorough
] and something that will permit the American people, when
] it is finished, to say that a full accounting has been given
] of the facts and circumstances that led to this tragedy." Kissigner is upset with NYT over their editorial. It takes some guts to directly address such criticism. Most of these sort of people simply ignore it. RE: Kissinger Returning to Political Stage With 9/11 Post |
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| Topic: Technology |
4:27 pm EST, Nov 27, 2002 |
I witnessed one of the most exciting technologies in years ... GfK, Germany's largest market research firm, has a new device for measuring TV watching and radio listening habits. It's a wristwatch! You are selected to wear the watch for two weeks. The watch takes a four-second "fingerprint" of ambient sound every minute. At the end, the watch is returned and the fingerprints are matched to determine exactly what you watched and listened to. The software behind this system appears similar to that of Shazam, which Tom blogged in early November. Tracking Moves Offline |
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