edge city

Two questions about transparency ...

2009-10-22T09:37:00.003-04:00

Transparency is the new black.

But when we all live in glass houses

Will we stop throwing stones?

And when we dig up the bodies,

What will we do with the bones?

Bruno Schulz: "There are things ..."

2009-06-22T14:37:00.002-04:00

"There are things that cannot ever occur with any precision. They are too big and too magnificent to be contained in mere facts. They are merely trying to occur, they are checking whether the ground of reality can contain them. And they quickly withdraw, fearing to lose their integrity in the frailty of realization ...."

(Bruno Schulz, 'The Book', Sanatorium under the Sign of the Hourglass, from The Collected Works of Bruno Schulz, Edited by Jerzy Ficowski, 1998, p. vi.)

I know these things. I meet them every day. Sometimes, usually later, I recognize myself in a recollected experience.

In the world of retirement ...

2008-11-04T12:47:00.000-04:00

"In the world of retirement, customary reticence is discarded, as needless baggage from the forsaken world of midlife responsibilities. We say what we think and ask what we wish."

- John Updike, "A Desert Encounter", The New Yorker, 2008.

Technorati Tags: experience, practice, retirement, relationship

Memorial Day 2008

2008-05-26T13:59:00.001-04:00

My friend Larry Winters, a Vietnam veteran, posted these Memorial Day 2008 thoughts.

I never served in the military. I have no idea what the men and women in uniform experience. I read what others have written. But I know they all need our tireless support when on duty, and care when they return.

Technorati Tags: Iraq, Memorial-Day, veteran, war

The three stages of expertise ... (from Simon Wardley)

2008-04-21T21:42:00.005-04:00

Copied in it's entirety from Simon Wardley's 'Bits or pieces?' blog:

The three stages of expertise ...

are "I know nothing", Hazard, and "I know nothing" (see figure 1).

Figure 1 - The three stages of expertise.

I've been in all these stages in many areas of my life. Which stage are you in?

Technorati Tags: experience, learning, practice

Arthur C. Clarke - a limerick remembrance

2008-03-19T16:13:00.001-04:00

Arthur C. Clarke gave us stories.
With science facts and fictional mores.
So when we do build our Hal,
(that uncooperative pal)
We should put him in geosynchronous orbit.

-----
Inspired by a Twitter from Jim Benson this morning. I'd like better, but am going for immediacy.

Technorati Tags: culture, free-association, poetry

It was a quiet and stormy day.

2008-03-19T11:48:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was an unusual day. The weather was stormy and changable. Air pressure was quite low, winds were brisk, rain showers came through quickly, and the sky successively cleared and clouded. Fortunately, the worst of the wind, rain, and tornado activity missed us. You would think that the raw energy of the weather would energize the day, but, in fact, something else happened. Our seven-month old puppy (who is full of energy and enthusiasm) pretty much took the day off. She slept, and didn't eat or drink much. Very different behavior. My weekly call with my good friend Dennis was also unusual. It's common for us to be forceful and verbal, eager to share stories and discuss whatever this week's topics might be, and fly off on the many tangents that arise. Yesterday was different. Our conversation was quiet, there were pauses between our exchanges. It wasn't a low energy call, but it was subdued in some way. I had the feeling that if we were face-to-face we would have sipped our coffees and been quiet ... together. Quiet, in the way close friends can be. But it's strange to be silent on a phone call. That's like dead-time on the radio -- a no-no. Or so it seems.

I wonder if we can be together in quiet ways online. I think it has something to do with intimacy. What do you think?

Technorati Tags: communication, culture, practice, relationship

There are a few simple questions ...

2008-03-01T16:42:00.001-04:00

My pal Orcmid sent me a link to a post by Luann Udell titled "A SIX-YEAR-OLD CAN DO IT…You Can, Too! " As I was saving this link in my del.icio.us list I added the following note:

This post reminds me that there are a few short simple rules of life available. For finding motivation: just ask "why" (like you did when you were young) and don't stop until you have an answer that's right. For getting things done: just say "no" and when needing help turning down another important, interesting, and juicy task or project, just ask "why".

I'm going to start with "why?"

Technorati Tags: practice, learning, puppy

Random reflection on a Monte Blanc Pen

2007-10-09T16:50:00.001-04:00

The Monte Carlo Pen.

No inkling of what's to come,

Take a chance, write now.

Technorati Tags: poetry, writing

Poetry Moment: Thinking about the mystery...

2007-08-18T15:25:00.001-04:00

SARTRE: COURTING SIMONE

What if the mystery proves to be nonresponsive?
What if the mystery doesn't see or hear or feel?
What if we are made in the image of oblivion?
What if we are alone?
What if I pray to you?
-CONSTANCE CAMPBELL

(The Texas Observer, Vol.99 #16, August 10, 2007) p. 19

I laughed out loud after reading the first line. This is one of the best poems I've read in a long time.

From The Texas Observer: "Constance Campbell lives in Austin. Her poems have been published in Texas Poetry Review and Lilliput Review.")

p.s. You do subscribe to The Texas Observer, don't you? No? You should.

Technorati Tags: art, Austin, culture, poetry, practice

Could've saved money years ago on a new car ...

2007-08-03T19:25:00.001-04:00

but I wasn't told about a certain option that seems to be on all cars in showrooms, but apparently does not have to be in the car when it's sold.

Now I may be all wrong here, but I've noticed an increasing number of new cars on the road that seem to be missing what I think is a crucial piece of equipment. I use this equipment every time I drive. In fact, I can't get three blocks from my home without using it at least once. But there are so many cars out there, and they're in driving situations where this option might be a life-saver (literally). But I guess they saved a ton of money by refusing to have it installed. I can't see any other reason that explains their driving behavior. I know that if the car were equipped they'd be using it. I just never knew it was an option. The equipment I'm talking about is ... the turn signal.

Technorati Tags: driving, experience, practice, cars

SXSW - close encounters

2007-03-08T18:43:00.000-04:00

I've been near but not in SXSW-land until yesterday, when I scored a trade-show badge from Jeff Barringer of Club Kingsnake. I met Jeff at last year's interactive fest in a conversation about civility on blogs. He's managed an online interactive pet website for years, startin' from scratch and makin' it work. I learn something every time we talk.

This year Jeff and his staff are busy meetin', greetin', and otherwise beatin' the live music experience drum(s). Definitely worth visitin' in person (if you're at the trade show today it's booth I14), and stayin' in touch online. The online site has a wealth of cool personal and inside reports, interviews, and commentary on this year's south by experience.

And just before I left the trade show I noticed that Jon Lebkowsky (of World Changing notoriety, among many other things) was doing a live interview of Bruce Sterling. (I need to find the online link for these interviews.) This was one of the more generative conversations I've listened to in a long time. It left me wondering what world we're gonna build once we're done twittering and flittering from place to place and thing to thing. What practices and patterns will we find workable ... and, maybe even more important, what will we be workin' on?

The light changed ... it's Spring!

2007-03-02T13:15:00.000-04:00

Every time it happens I'm surprised. Every couple of weeks or so I notice that the days are getting longer. But two days ago I noticed that the sunlight was different. It's hard to describe, but I noticed a change in the colors of the trees and houses and pavement. I'm guessing that it's related to the angle of the sunlight on the surfaces. It's fascinating that even though the orientation of the earth relative to the sun is changing continuously, one day I see a big change that feels like a jump, not a gradual difference.

It happens every Spring and every Autumn and I'm always surprised. One of life's little pleasantries.

P.S. I tried to post this on Feb 19th, but I hadn't switched to the new blogger (it's now longer an option; it's a requirement). So now it's Feb 27th and I'm trying again. But I have a feeling it's not going to work ... my login is different.

P.P.S. 28 Feb. I was right, ecto can't post to blogger. I even changed my entire Google accounts password and nada. This is crap!

P.P.P.S. 2 Mar. and I say "Uncle!" I'm going to post directly with the browser. These kinds of irritations and impediments to just getting something out there seems to come with the so called "Web 2.0" package. Now even simple things aren't always easy. We call this progress. George Orwell just shakes his head.

Ah, the great outdoors.

2006-12-20T14:55:00.000-04:00

My wife and I moved to Austin, Texas, at the end of August and now that the home is getting set up, and the weather is cooling down (it was 103 degF the day we arrived), we're getting out and around a bit more. Being from the NYC area I've also been impressed with the big open sky and how clean the air seems, when compared with large metropolitan areas. So this fascinating note about a bacterial census of Texas air in The Scientist really piqued my interest.

We all know that there are bacteria everywhere. Heck, we're even in a symbiotic relationship with many of them. But not all of them. And from The Scientist article we learn that there are "some 1,800 different bacterial species -- including relatives of bioterror pathogens -- in the skies above San Antonio and Austin, Texas, revealing a level of diversity approaching that found in soil." Who knew?

The work that yields these interesting (startling?) findings is part of a homeland security effort to "monitor the skies over urban areas for signs of bioterrorism." So here's a side effect of monitoring and surveillance that is not necessarily good news, but provides key data that we need to know in order to be attentive to our lived environments.

So the next time I breathe deeply of the great outdoors of Austin it will be a different experience.

Technorati Tags: Austin, data, environment, science

My introduction to electronic voting

2006-11-03T14:32:00.000-04:00

In Texas one can vote early in portable voting locations in supermarkets, malls, etc. I took advantage of this since I'll be away on election day. This was my first experience of electronic voting and it was not encouraging. Two things that I noticed right away. First, the voting stations were portable electronic screens that were set up adjacent to each other separated by only a screen that came up to my ears. There was no curtain or cover, so it was pretty easy to see how people were voting while waiting in line. So much for secret ballots. The electronic interface was fairly usable, but I did see one elderly woman being walked through her entire ballot by a poll worker. Definitely no privacy for that service. I was given a screen summary of my ballot choices at the end and then asked to hit the red button to record the vote. I did that and the screen displayed a message saying "your vote has been recorded". But I have no paper receipt of my ballot choices, so I have no idea what happened. I have a receipt that gave me the code to use to retrieve the ballot appropriate for my voting district. That's it. And on the way out it would have been easy to use a fingernail to break the paper seals on the back of the voting stations. This is a setup that requires an enormous amount of trust in the computer and in the election officials and staff. But the lack of privacy is what bothers me the most.

Technorati Tags: electronic+voting, politics, voting, trustworthiness

I'm going to have to get beyond groups ...

2006-11-01T13:50:00.000-04:00

This Krishnamurti quote was posted by Taran Rampersad on his Digital Divide weblog more than a year ago and it remains apropos today ...

When you separate yourself by belief, by nationality, by tradition, it breeds violence. So a man who is trying to understand violence does not belong to any country, to any religion, to any political party or partial system; he is concerned with the total understanding of mankind.

— J. Krishnamurti

We talk a great deal today about the web, and about it's ability to support community, communication, collaboration, and perhaps a different social future. The potential is real. But technology by itself isn't going to make any change in how we view ourselves and each other. The change is going to happen for me when I'm able and willing to understand that I am really in a human web, and that it's going to take work on my part to actually act out of that understanding. I'm not going to move beyond violence without revisiting my ideas of my self and of others. I need to understand that all systems are embedded systems, even my human systems of family, friends, etc.

Technorati Tags: Krishnamurti, quotation, systems+thinking, usthem

Be yourself: it's Independence Day

2006-07-04T13:35:00.000-04:00

My wife and I are moving, and this has given us an opportunity to think about what we want in a house and a home. Buying a home is a process of reflection. And yesterday, while deciding among three very nice, and very different, choices I had a deep and quiet realization. Let's choose our next home to support what we want to do with the remainder of our lives. Period. Let's drop the ideas we have about ourselves, the ideas about who we like to think we are. Let's try to be ourselves.

It seems like a good way to celebrate Independence Day.

Technorati Tags: practice, independence

One thing about dying ...

2006-06-13T17:39:00.000-04:00

In the book Cure Back Pain with Yoga, Savasana, a relaxation pose also called the "Corpse Pose" is described as follows:

Benefits: Relaxation of all muscles; mental repose.

Caution: As Ram Das commented, "One thing about dying, it's completely safe."

I feel better already.

Technorati Tags: death, relaxation, Yoga

Reading about writing and then writing about reading

2006-06-13T09:08:00.000-04:00

I was about to write that sometimes I stumble on a book that changes something for me, but that's not quite true these days. I've been finding, by referral and by accident, book after book that is pushing me to write. Today, however, I'm quoting from Mary Pipher's Writing to Change the World, a book that is changing me. In a section about getting started she quotes Mark Twain:

The human race is a race of cowards. I am not only marching in the parade, I am carrying a banner.

The open and undefended straightforwardness of Twain's statement stopped me cold and gives me hope. It gives me the energy to write and be a banner carrier myself. What could be more human that this? This is one of the great hopes for the internet and thousand-flowers-blooming blogosphere. As frustrating as it is to keep up with what's being written, it's also very pleasurable to keep finding new inspiriation. We're already marching in the parade. Now it's time to unfurl the banners. Speaking for myself, I need all the support I can get.

[Update 2006-06-17: fixed a punctuation typo in the quote.]

Technorati Tags: blogging, Mark Twain, Mary Pipher, writing

John Dewey breathes a sigh of relief

2006-05-25T10:43:00.000-04:00

Today's New York Times has an encouraging op-ed piece on science education by Brent Staples (subscription req'd). Staples writes about the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), science program that has been successfully graduating students (with diverse backgrounds) who excel in, and pursue, careers in science. The secret sauce? "The students are encouraged to study in groups and taught to solve complex problems collectively, as teams of scientists do. Most important, they are quickly exposed to cutting-edge science in laboratory settings, which demystifies the profession and gives them early access to work that often leads to early publication in scientific journals. At the same time, however, the students are pushed to perform at the highest level. Those who earn C's, for example, are encouraged to repeat those courses so they can master basic concepts before moving on."

John Dewey, that old pragmatist and educator, can finally relax a bit. It appears that we're paying attention to how people learn. I know that Dewey is not the only person to understand that humans are primarily social, and that we can learn and work well together. I read Dewey's Art As Experience over 20 years ago and it transformed my thinking about education. So it is very heartening to see further empirical evidence of how people can learn in groups and still be individuals. It's especially encouraging to have examples of successful science education. We need to keep reminding ourselves that science (like other work) is exciting, productive, and fun, because of its social nature, not in spite of it. We really are in this together and together is how we will make progress.

And I know there are a ba-jillion important threads thrown together in these two paragraphs that deserve more explanation. But, there it is; this is only a blog posting.

Technorati Tags: education, John+Dewey, science

Innovation is about renewal

2006-05-18T09:39:00.000-04:00

"For an innovation to be more than an exception, it must be repeated; it must be founded anew."

From the catalog of the current"Artists and Poets in Dialogue" exhibition at the New York Public Library. If you're in New York City, don't miss it.

Technorati Tags: culture, innovation, practice, art, quotation, writing

Sigmund Freud's scientific drawings

2006-05-07T12:57:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was the 150th anniversary of Sigmund Freud's birthday, and ever since I became interested in the psychodynamics of groups, more than 15 years ago, I've been a Freudian, at least partly. Recently I read and commented on Jonathan Lear's book Freud. One thing Lear points out that if Freud were alive today he'd most likely be a neuroscientist. In recognition of this aspect of Freud's work the New York Academy of Medicine is exhibiting Freud's late 19th century drawings of nerve tissue and cells, alongside his early-20th-century diagrams of the working human mind. Cool; a field trip.

Technorati Tags: Freud, history, psychoanalysis, neuroscience, science

Quotation and question all in one ...

2006-04-08T13:15:00.000-04:00

On NPR this morning I heard the following quote attributed to the poet Robert Frost:

"How many things have to happen to you before something occurs to you?"

Technorati Tags: poetry, quotation, writing

Only science, history, music and art are left behind ...

2006-03-30T11:47:00.000-04:00

Kevin Schofield's Education Blog lays out the likely consequences of our fixation on testing as the way of insuring no child is left behind, at least in school. Aside from the fact that we have all learned a good deal of math and science by reading, playing music, and even futzing around in the kitchen, we are convinced that universal testing is the solution to declining literacy. Skill in reading and math are crucial for participation in modern society. But in addition to being able to count and calculate we desperately need some skills in learning how to choose what to count and when to calculate, and how to use the results.

I'm just starting to wake up to the fact that we all need a general understanding of both science and the humanities. This is especially true, if we're going to ask useful questions about how to use science and research to solve problems and imagine practicable possibilities.

In 1926 Everett Dean Martin wrote "The Meaning of a Liberal Education" (W.W. Norton & Co., now out of print). Near the end of the introduction is this:

"Whether the present increase of interest in education is to be an empty gesture depends on whether the thing demanded is really education. There is no one right way, and certainly each age with its special needs and peculiar industrial and cultural environment should make its own contribution to educational achievement. But there is something which belongs to no special time and to all times, a way of approaching our tasks or valuing experiences. No one who is merely a creature of his own times is really educated."

So now begins my own learning of what's going on now and what's gone on before regarding a liberal and useful education.

Technorati Tags: education, history, testing

Copyright gone Mad

2006-03-25T17:43:00.000-04:00

Rob Slade has a very sobering article in the current Risks-Digest about something that might happen to anyone who has published work and writing online. Asked to write a book about the history of computer viruses Slade, quite naturally, used and extended writing that he's done on the topic for nearly 20 years. The publisher has a policy of not publishing material that's appeared on the internet, so the book may not be published because the author has reference his own material.

Slade's short article is worth reading, and he has a very good attitude about the whole thing. But I can't help wondering what's next on the copy-right, wrong, and automated copyright management horizon? Are we having fun yet?

Technorati Tags: copyright, DRM, writing

Freud's legacy ... it's unsettling

2006-02-24T11:01:00.000-04:00

I'm reading Freud, by Jonathan Lear, a book that explores the philosophical significance of Freud's work and the work of psychoanalysis more generally. Lear uses the word "legacy" to mean not only ideas and insights that someone (or some many) may have discovered or invented, but also the unanswered questions that are left behind. For Freud, the unanswered questions are about learning to live an examined life, clearly a activity of philosophy as well as practical action.

The book touches on many aspects of Freud's legacy, but the one key insight that Lear provides for me is the realization that as much as I'd like to believe that I'm fundamentally a rational being, that I behave reasonably, and that, in the right context, even weird, unexpected, and potentially dangerous behaviors are rational, and can be supported by reasons, it just ain't so.

It's a bit startling to take this in and Lear suggests that one reason is that, as a society and culture, we've adopted an intellectual "complacency" that's let us believe that in the right context anything is reasonable. He suggests that this kind of relativity isn't accurate, and, furthermore, it impedes my ability to really work on my own development. I find this unsettling, and, oddly, comforting. I'm not sure if this rational or not, but it keeps me inquiring.

Technorati Tags: culture, Moral Issues, psychoanalysis, Freud

A public flogging is so much fun, why is that?

2006-01-28T22:52:00.000-04:00

The following letter to the NY Times made me stop and think about my own reaction to the James Frey - Oprah Winfrey news.

To the Editor:

Am I alone in feeling uneasy about the public shaming of a human being by a major celebrity on live television? In truth, it seems Oprah Winfrey's apology was an excuse for her to self-righteously berate the author James Frey for duping her.

With all of her power, was it necessary for Ms. Winfrey to take such an "eye for an eye" approach to her apology?

One thing is clear: The public support for her handling of the Frey fiasco proves that society still loves a good flogging in the square.

Patricia Madden, Orlando, Fla., Jan. 27, 2006

I was surprised at my own self-righteousness, and being caught up in the all the praise for Oprah being the grown-up and taking Mr Frey out to the woodshed. But Patricia Madden's letter is a good one. And I'm asking myself why the issues between Mr Frey and Oprah Winfrey, and how they resolve them, have any place on public television, or in public anywhere. I don't have any good answers.

Technorati Tags: memoir, public square, writing, truth

Africa: what is the value of outside help?

2005-12-15T11:15:00.000-04:00

Paul Theroux, in a provocative, compelling, and generative op-ed in The New York Times writes about the danger (and futility) of saving Africa with outside help. Theroux articulates something that I've been thinking about for some time and wrote a brief note about last year.

I don't want to minimize how hard it is to solve my own problems. I look the other way often. And I hope for some outside magic just as often. I do wish it were simpler and I could be a disinterested participant. Unhappily, but fortunately, none of that really works.

Technorati Tags: Africa, development, usthem

Where in Middle Earth would you fit?

2005-11-13T00:07:00.000-04:00

Numenorean

To which race of Middle Earth do you belong?
brought to you by Quizilla

Fun.

Oh yeah ... now look who's talkin', er, writin'

2005-11-10T19:17:00.000-04:00

A very encouraging and all around upbeat post on the Digital Divide Network about older folk's bloggin'.

I LIKE it!

A sampling of elder-blogs:

Urban Vancouver

John Jay Hooker Center ...

Dad's Tomato Garden Journal

Thoroughly Modern Millie [whew! I was wonderin' where the women were ....]

And here's a longer list compiled by Joe Jennet testifying to the fact that blogging is not about age ... it's about beauty ... wait! no, that's not right. I love middle age ... I really do.

Technorati Tags: blogging, age, stereotypes

You've Stolen My Heart

2005-11-08T18:34:00.000-04:00

A week or so ago I caught the tail end of an NPR story on a collaboration between the Kronos Quartet and Asha Bhosle performing songs from R.D. Burman's Bollywood. The album is titled You've Stolen My Heart and a preview is available here.

It's been some time since I've come across music that feels like it's changing my life.

Take a listen.

Technorati Tags: music

Compassionate opposition: how to support the troops and oppose the war

2005-10-24T13:38:00.000-04:00

Two news articles brought tears to my eyes, a new respect for the military, and a profound disappointment with President Bush and his administration.

My friend orcmid referred me to Gary Trudeau's article in yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle detailing his experiences getting behind the lines and talking to wounded soldier's recently returned from Iraq. This article made real for me how dedicated our soldiers are, and how much respect and care they deserve. Read the entire article.

The second article is Dexter Filkins' feature from yesterday's New York Times Magazine that details the realities faced by US troops battling the Iraqi insurgency. While the article describes questionable behavior by US troops, it also makes clear how ill-trained and ill-equipped they are for the work they need to do. I'd like to think that I would have behaved differently than some of the soldiers described in this article. But I really don't know that to be true.

If insurgencies are the future of international conflict then we have no choice but to support the troops by providing education, training, supplies and, above all, respect for their efforts and sacrifices.

Technorati Tags: Iraq

Interdependence is the human condition.

2005-10-14T09:47:00.000-04:00

Molly Ivins latest column on Alternet on the continuing reduction of pension benefits, ends with the following:

"The biggest byproduct of these changes [in pension benefits] is fear," said the Star Tribune in its series. Fear may be a more dangerous emotion than anger. It turns life into an "every man for himself scramble" without unity, community, caring or sharing.

In fact, every one of us comes into this world naked and helpless, and most leave it in the same condition -- and we are dependent on one another every single day in between. The "stand on your own feet and take care of yourself" attitude the right wing keeps pushing is not only cruel, but stupid, too.

Independence is often required, but it is not sufficient, for my well being. I am dependent daily on thousands of people for the simple necessities of life.

Technorati Tags: community_indicators, usthem

The United States is a developing country ...

2005-09-16T13:48:00.000-04:00

I left for a trip to South Africa very early Saturday, 3 Sept. As I walked on the tarmac at JFK to board a regional flight I remarked to a fellow traveller how I was reminded of the early days of air travel. He replied, "yes, it's like being in a developing country." Suddenly, the early hour (just sunrise), the relative quiet of the airport (JFK without crowds), the recent news from New Orleans about US citizens being called "refugees", and the seeming inability of government institutions to get mobilized to help filled my mind. I was struck by the feeling that this might be a small taste of what life is like in developing countries, where people are displaced by natural disasters, and where governments appear to be ineffective. Guess what. That's my country too.

Technorati Tags: New Orleans

Oryx and Crake: an unsettling story about technology

2005-08-31T11:10:00.000-04:00

I've been a big fan of Margaret Atwood ever since I read Cat's Eye more than a dozen years ago. Recently I read Oryx and Crake and found it unsettling and a bit frightening. It's a story about the end of human civilization, and perhaps our own species. The end comes as a result of genetic and biological tinkering with animals and humans that seems only a few steps away from recently reported genetic manipulation and cloning experiments. A few unintended consequences and this story doesn't seem like fiction.

And although it seems against our (my) human nature, I fear we will need to learn to think before we act, as we build a world increasingly interdependent on our own technical and scientific creations.

Technorati Tags: Moral Issues, technology

One for the heart from Walt Kelly

2005-07-21T09:57:00.000-04:00

"There are other motivating forces besides anger that go into making up the so-called humorous treatments of recognizable situations. Despite his preoccupation with being a flashy, cigar-smoking, sharp, tough-minded, all-around good sport and well read to boot, the American male has soft deposits of tenderness in some of the lower strata of his make up. These occasionally quiver and rumble so that a recording is made on the seismograph of the mind. Such indications are very often ignored, put down firmly or chalked up as manifestations of approaching senility or drink-induced sentimentality. But now and then your infield is a little slow afoot and the heart puts a soft liner through for a two-base hit."

- Walt Kelly, creator of Pogo

Technorati Tags: Walt Kelly

Fair Use Day - today!

2005-07-11T10:01:00.000-04:00

I don't often simply copy an entire post to my blog, but this one seems worth it.

This just in from Peter Suber's Open Access News:

Happy Fair Use Day

Today is Fair Use Day in the U.S.

Fair Use rights have been under siege for a long time and from every direction. Sometimes it seems that almost anyone who makes or sells anything wants to eliminate another piece of Fair Use rights for their own gain....We think Fair Use should have its own "Day", a day to celebrate Fair Use in any lawful way you wish. Exercise your Fair Use rights or contact a corporation or government of your choosing and let them know you want Fair Use rights and you want them protected - demand your Fair Use rights!...Fair Use isn't just about what you can play on your ipod. Fair Use promotes interoperability and the advancement of learning and expansion of knowledge. It impacts every thing from the computer in your car to accessing material at your public library, to playing a DVD you purchased or rented on your Linux computer. We invite you to learn more about your rights where Fair Use intersects technology.

Learn more about Fair Use. Definitely!

Technorati Tags: Fair Use

Contemporary Moral Issues

2005-07-06T21:00:00.000-04:00

It's fun to clean out the old accumulated files because I come across some little treasure that I don't really remember collecting. I found a page that causes me to reflect on my current actions, on the choices I make, and the consequences they have. Here is the text of that single page:

Philosophy 145 Contemporary Moral Issues
C. Love

(Ivan to Alyosha:)

"...Tell me yourself, I challenge you -- answer. Imagine that you are creating a fabric of human destiny with the object of making men happy in the end, giving them peace and rest at last, but that it was essential and inevitable to torture to death only one tiny creature -- that baby beating its breast with its fist, for instance -- and to found that edifice on its unavenged tears, would you consent to be the architect on those conditions? Tell me, and tell the truth."

"No, I wouldn't consent," said Alyosha softly....

-- from Dostoevski, The Brothers Karamazov, C. Garnett, translator, Book V, Chap. 4 (New York, Modern Library, 1950)

Technorati Tags: Moral Issues

Iraq: Lessons that can be learned?

2005-07-01T09:59:00.000-04:00

Kenneth M. Pollack's op-ed in today's New York Times (free subscription req'd), Five Ways to Win Back Iraq, is one of the few practical pieces I've read recently about how to make counterinsurgency progress in Iraq. The five ways are:

1. Think safety first. Don't chase insurgents; protect Iraqis in daily life.

2. Provide enough manpower for the job. Get American troops patrolling on foot with Iraqis.

3. Let them learn. Learning takes time, as does building command and community relationships.

4. Get beyond Baghdad. Reconstruction will likely succeed from the bottom up.

5. Buy off the Sunni sheiks. It sounds un-American, but it's a time-honored tradition in Iraq.

What I like about these suggestions is that they provoke me to think. I think about our history in Vietnam and the British history in Ireland, and what those experiences can teach. I think about how to change the current cat and mouse game that seems to be in a time loop. I think about what it takes to actually learn from the past.

Pollack concludes that "No matter what one thinks of the invasion, it is clearly in our best interest, to say nothing of the Arab world's, that we succeed in Iraq. To do so, we will have to apply some lessons we learned from bitter history." I agree, but until our behaviors and approaches actually change, these will remain lessons that can be learned.

Technorati Tags: Iraq

Asking what we can do for democracy ...

2005-04-30T17:11:00.000-04:00

Orcmid strikes gold with his inquiry into the activity we call democracy. Orcmid's definition of democracy is terrific; viz., "Democracy is trusting ourselves to govern each other and granting our fellow citizens equal voice in arriving at the means and authority by which we do that".

What works for me in this definition is that it's about my actions, and my responsibility for the intended and unexpected effects. It's about having faith in myself and in others to be responsible and accountable for participating in actions, interactions, and reactions that end up yielding a social order we consider democratic.

Can it work? Well, I can be responsible and accountable for my actions. But I don't always want to, and more times than I like to admit, I shirk the responsibility. So this is my work, and it ain't always easy. But I can do it.

The ways we talk about the world

2005-02-15T10:49:00.000-04:00

Stuart Henshall has another generative post on Skype and Mobile operators. Stuart's been pushing a valuable conversation about mobile and telephony technologies and communications experiences. This one continues that discussion.

But I was most struck by the language in the last paragraph:

Who is threatened?

- Mobile operators need help! Skype potentially turns off you and me from any "positive vibes" for our mobile services. The Wi-Fi handset becomes a "cheap" alternative. Only way to keep us.. put Skype on the mobile.
- Handset vendors that don't accomodate / embrace Skype are left behind. Outmoded UI's, lack of presence etc.
- The Landline operators become really desperate. They will look for a Skype killer. The problem is that the solution is even more challenging for them to embrace. (think Popular Telephony)

I agree with Stuart's assessment. But I just saw the following words in a new light: "threatened," "desperate," and "killer." It's probably always been this way, but it seems that almost all the news in business is about threats (to profits, revenues, growth), desperate measures (to increase profits, revenues, growth), and killer applications, or deals, etc. And maybe markets are all about aggression, winning, and losing. Is that it?

Valentine's Day seems to have put me in a soft mood. Definitely can't be good for business.

Science isn't design, is it?

2005-02-07T16:04:00.000-04:00

Today's New York Times (free subscription req'd) op-ed Design for Living by Michael Behe tries to make the case that the intelligent design narrative about life is not the same as the creationist story about life, and that it also differs from the theory of evolution. In short the argument is if it looks designed, then it is designed. Period. I'm not really sure what to make of this. Personally I'm agnostic about the whole designer of the universe story.

But this essay started me thinking about the practices of design and the practices of science. I don't think the two enterprises are the same, although they are related. I think it's important to elucidate some of the differences.

Science is empirical. It is based on verifiable observations, reproducible experiments, and confirmable calculations. It is about description and prediction, exploration and discovery.

Design, in contrast, is creative. It is about building things. Design is also empirical. It's pretty hard to tell if a new chair shape or fabric is comfortable without sitting in it or touching it. Furthermore, what science discovers is often used in the design of new material goods, and new ways of working and playing.

Engineering is the practical application of scientific information and knowledge in the construction of homes, the preparation of food, the education of children, and the treatment of disease. Engineering is a blend of design (creating something new) and observation and experimentation (seeing if and how well it works).

It would be great if I could tie this all together in some neat way, but I can't.

The Internet: plumbing or shared space?

2005-01-14T16:30:00.000-04:00

Stowe Boyd picks up nicely on David Weinberger's Web as World post.

The optimism is very helpful, and the focus on humans in groups first and as isolated individuals second is great. But, really, we're both interdependent and individual. And it kind of makes me a little crazy. Especially when I'm in a group that's trying to get something done.

Thoughts and practices for managing ourselves in groups have been around for quite a while, and come from many different perspectives. In 2003 Clay Shirky posted a talk he gave that explained a psychodynamic perspective on group behavior.

We need to be reflective about this web we're building; we need to ask questions about our behaviors. This web is a wonderful opportunity for learning about ourselves, our groups, and how to be productive together. I like it, but it makes me edgy ....

Small size, but enormous range

2005-01-14T15:47:00.000-04:00

I took the cat to the vet today for an extended stay and some tests. First was the trauma of tracking her down, putting her in the pet carrier, and leaving her at with the vet. But when I returned home and stepped in the door I was overwhelmed at how empty the house felt. I've noticed this before, but today the feeling was strong. It's just amazing that a seven pound, relatively docile cat can fill a two story house with a palpable energy and warmth. Where does that energy come from?

The Last Time You Used Algebra Was ...

2004-12-16T16:35:00.000-04:00

This provocative phrase titled an article in The New York Times on Sunday, December 12, 2004, Section 4, Page 3, describing the recent OECD report on the math skills of United States students. The OECD survey ranked the US students as 28th out of 40 countries surveyed.

There are three sorts of utilitarian reactions to these kinds of reports. One is to complain that the surveys are unfair: average US students are compared to elite students in other countries. A second reaction is the gloomy prediction that poor math skills will impair the US economy. A third reaction comes from "the Peggy Sue school of thought, which asks: So what?" Only in a small set of specialties does math aptitude and skill really matter in being able to do the work. The rest of us can rely on calculators, spreadsheets, and printed cards specifying a 15%, 18%, and 20% gratuity.

But what struck me most in this article was the last paragraph, attributed to a certain Miss Collins, a math teacher at a school for young women:

"What we do isn't exactly what mathematicians do," she explained. "And I know that more alums here become artists than become mathematicians. But kids don't study poetry just because they're going to grow up to be poets. It's about a habit of mind. Your mind doesn't think abstractly unless it's asked to -- and it needs to be asked to from a relatively young age. The rigor and logic that goes into math is a good way for your brain to be trained."

Amen.

What kind of country is the USA?

2004-11-15T12:29:00.000-04:00

I've been reading a plethora of commentary on the election. And I was just in Germany last week at a scientific conference that had an unusual level of conversation about politics, terrorism, and the US government.

Katha Pollit writes in The Nation about mourning. But the paragraph that struck me the most in her piece is at the end:

"Maybe this time the voters chose what they actually want: Nationalism, pre-emptive war, order not justice, "safety" through torture, backlash against women and gays, a gulf between haves and have-nots, government largesse for their churches and a my-way-or-the-highway President."

And perhaps this is the country of which I am a citizen.

[UPDATE: 2004-11-18] I should have said that I was feeling resigned by this kind of extreme statement. However, today Salon.com has a review of a piece on the wisdom of the american voter. The main point of the article is that many voters (and, presumably, non voters) are woefully uninformed about world, and do not really connect the dots when thinking about elected officials and government action or inaction in their world.

Again, at the risk of losing the context of the article I quote the last paragraph.

The depressing upshot of this is that Democrats can't make headway by configuring their policies. In the end, Hayes sees only two options: "either abandon 'issues' as the lynchpin of political campaigns and adopt the language of values, morals, and character as many have suggested; or begin the long-term and arduous task of rebuilding a popular, accessible political vocabulary -- of convincing undecided voters to believe once again in the importance of issues." In other words, find a demagogue or educate the country -- either way, Democrats have their work cut out for them.

Yes, indeed. There's hard work to be done.

Now I just need to breathe

2004-11-03T12:04:00.000-04:00

I made a big mistake this morning and got caught up in the blather about the election. This just compounded my disappointment ....

It will take me some time to come to terms with the apparent differences between my beliefs and approaches to the role of government, and what is purported to be those of the majority of people voting yesterday.

But, in order to get there, the first thing I need to do is take a break, pay attention to my breathing, and look at acting locally.

This too will pass.

Science and politics

2004-10-20T15:23:00.000-04:00

Prometheus comments on a Science Times article in the New York Times (19 October 2004) that reviews the interactions between some scientists and the Bush policies.

Ryen offers some interesting advice on how to answer a question about supporting the President, if it is asked as part of an interview process for a science advisory committee post. I think that the advice is good.

In response to the question "Do you support the President?" answer "Yes, I do support the President, and I'd like to participate in offering the best scientific counsel I can."

Whether or not I support the administration's policies, I still might be able to help by providing honest input. Of course, this may also be a very naive position. But, basically, if I want to participate, then a politically smart response to a "litmus test" question seems appropriate.

Election year choices

2004-09-13T13:13:00.000-04:00

orcmid has a very informative post about the choices before us in this election. Do read it. Please.

Four Essays by Bruce Schneier

2004-08-27T14:38:00.000-04:00

David Weinberger posts a reference to four recent essays on aspects of security by Bruce Schneier. Very much worth reading, then weeping.

For me, the most important essay discusses the psychological cost of the color coded security warnings. These announcements promote anxiety about general threats, but don't provide anything specific to act on. At the same time, government officials encourage normal behavior. It is literally crazy making ...

Two movies of note

2004-07-06T10:38:00.000-04:00

1. Farenheit 9/11. Preaching to a choir? Defnitely! However, no matter how biased, it's a good reminder about what's at stake.

2. The Corporation. A little too precious, but another reminder of what kind of economic and social systems we're are currently building. Good for business, not so good for people.

What will I do?

Finally got the news ...

2004-06-01T09:42:00.000-04:00

A couple of items came to the desk and desktop that seem to fit a better-late-than-never category*:

1. The Learner Of The Future Is A Critical Thinker.

2. Glaser, A., S. Fu, and M. Tumelty, "Growing a Participatory Programming Environment", Comm. ACM, Vol. 47, No. 6, June 2004, pp. 27-29.
This short, personal, story is about a software development group that "discovers how programming issues are resolved more effectively when a team approach is employed.

* "Finally got the news" refers to the film of the same name. It is definitely category motivated by crankiness, a sentiment I hope to moderate.

Humans: we're too smart to really know what we're doing ...

2004-05-25T22:38:00.000-04:00

The Science Essay in the Tues, May 25, 2004 New York Times is When Even Mathematicians Don't Understand the Math. (registration req'd)

It's pretty interesting and raises some issues regarding the nature of mathematics and programming discussed in a book by Donald MacKenzie, Mechanizing Proof.
From the essay:

In fact, it is difficult to explain what math is, let alone what it says. Math may be seen as the vigorous structure supporting the physical world or as a human idea in development. Some mathematicians say it is not in the same category as biology, astronomy or geology. While those fields have empirical systems of experimentation and discovery, some might say mathematicians rely on something more intuitive.

"It isn't science," said Dr. John L. Casti, the author of "Five Golden Rules: Great Theories of 20th-Century Mathematics and Why They Matter." "Mathematics is an intellectual activity - at a linguistic level, you might say - whose output is very useful in the natural sciences. I think the criteria that mathematicians use for what constitutes good versus bad mathematics is much more close to that of a poet or a sculptor or a musician than it is to a chemist."

And just as one cannot define what it is that makes a moving phrase played on a violin moving, the essence of the superb equation may also be ineffable.

This makes for a frustrating human dilemma. Our brains have the ability to compute the abstract mathematics they created to construct theories about reality, and yet they may never be smart enough to comprehend those theories, let alone explain them.

Despite his and his colleagues' tireless efforts, Dr. Greene concedes that this paradox ultimately makes sense.

"Our brains evolved so that we could survive out there in the jungle," he said. "Why in the world should a brain develop for the purpose of being at all good at grasping the true underlying nature of reality?"

There we have it ....

The internet is sh*t

2004-05-21T15:38:00.000-04:00

Pretty good rant.

Worth reading.
[update: 2004-05-25: but it does go on a bit]

Semantic Web: we just need to make up vocabularies

2004-05-20T17:26:00.000-04:00

Primer - Getting into the semantic web and RDF using N3

I got here from this Slashdot comment to slashdot story about Tim Berners Lee speaking this week on the Semantic Web.

Scanning this primer to get a sense of the landscape ... (disclaimer, this is taken completely of out context and so it might not be fair)

These are the RDF, RDF schema, and OWL namespaces, respectively. They give us the core terms which we can bootstrap ourselves into the semantic web. I am also going to assume that the empty prefix stands for the document we are writing, which we can say in N3 as

@prefix : <#> .

This means we could have the example above as

:pat :child [ :age 4 ] , [ :age 3 ].

which is slightly less characters to type. Now you understand how to write data in N3, you can start making up your own vocabularies, because they are just data themselves.

Aside from the slightly annoying error in usage (" ... is slightly less characters to type.") the ability to produce defined vocabularies doesn't yield interoperable meaning. Does it? It's a start to allow strings like "Title" to be locally defined. But it doesn't help searching if for users of one vocabulary "Title" really is understood to be a name for a document or book and in another vocabulary it means, say, bowel movement.

This really requires a lot of study to have coherent thoughts about it. I wish we were more realistic about the effort required.

Setting up home in another town ...

2004-05-14T10:00:00.000-04:00

All this just to add a comment to orcmid's weblog posting.

Couldn't link to my professional blog without being required to provide all sorts of local server information. I don't understand why one simply can't just add the weblog name and URL and be done with it. Of course, I understand that Blogger is a business and not just a bulletin board for pointers to elsewhere. Nonetheless ...

Capitalism, do we really have to love it?