I will soon be checking out for a while, barely dropping in from time to time... so tomorrow - or the next day - I will take this opportunity to post another of my really long and idea-drenched essays, trying to poke away at cliches and offering new ways of viewing old things.
So take this as a warning! ;-)
Meanwhile, anyone with further suggestions about:
* the tall buildings escape scenario
* my holocene project
* evil genius attack possibilities...
...or things like that, are welcome to post comments HERE.
Oh one more thing. I eventually would like to catalogue and link a list of "best of" postings for this site. Feel free to (here in comments) list the URL of your favorite (or several) and why. I may post the compiled comments at http://www.davidbrin.com
.....................................
Aw heck, while I'm at it, let me use this opportunity to empty what was in my "political" tray... That'll do. But watch for that B-i-i-i-g posting soon. It's all about GAR!!!!!
(Yes, pirates! ;-)
--
For those of you who like an entertainingly left-lean - but always unconventional and interesting - in your political rants (kinda the way I wallow in libertarianism, now and then), try the latest Armageddon Buffet. http://www.armageddonbuffet.com/ I don’t always agree. For example, if I could have Ronald Reagan now, instead of these monsters, I’d kiss him like a long lost father Moreover, for all hist faults and blindnesses, he’d see right through them for what they are..
If this had happened under Clinton...
Once-secret documents obtained by The Associated Press show a disaster supply management company went unpunished for Sept. 11 thefts after the government discovered federal agents and other government officials had stolen artifacts from New York's ground zero.
Misc: geopolitical items:
The UN Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown's major unofficial assignment has been to act as a liaison between the UN and the U.S. government. If someone like him — a Briton with a lot of experience in international organizations — suggests U.S. leaders to care more about the United Nations, the world should take heed.
Does Migration Hurt Developing Countries?
-
5 comments:
Saw that 9/11 article...wow.
Here's my political dump:
Judicial Watch got a bunch of docs from the goverment concerning Cheney's involvement in landing Halliburton its no-bid Iraq contract yesterday...it's about what you'd expect:
http://tinyurl.com/jhjtd
Down near the bottom, you find this gem of an e-mail:
----
From: redacted
To: redacted
Re: Estimate for Import and Distribution of Refined Products within Iraq
I meant to add that it is physically impossible to do this. As we discussed, it requires purchase of 2420 trucks; 7260 driver. etc
In discussions with DFSC we were told they had trouble coming up with 20 trucks.
Nevertheless, this is our best estimate of the task we we handed.
----
Pure comedy gold.
Got curious what DFSC is...turns out it's Defense Fuel Support Center. It supplies the military with all its fuel.
The military is burning through 150 million barrels of oil a year...or one month's worth of America's oil production each year!
http://tinyurl.com/ev7ve
Something to ponder...
RE this KEI outfit . . . I'd ask "How the hell did they get away with that?" . . . then I remember: Oh, yeah, Bush Administration.
* * *
I haven't seen many good rants out of Bruce Sterling lately; maybe he's having too much fun being an ex-pat industrial design wonk. But I liked this one:
Suicide by Pseudoscience
For example, if I could have Ronald Reagan now, instead of these monsters, I’d kiss him like a long lost father
You could not possibly mean that - you'd cath a loasthsome and contagious disease.
Regarding your holocene project, David, it sounds fascinating and it is indeed a much-needed product... unfortunately, I can't comment much on it because I've never seen it. I'm an interface designer myself (-ish). I've been helping out the Raskin Center for Humane Interfaces, being the forum admin and writing the Zoomable User Interface Specification.
In short, I'm really looking forward to what you've come up with, and if you need any help, please let me know.
Cold Wolf, please write to me separately at davidbrin@sbcglobal.net. The Raskin Center looks very interesting, tho my impression is that it only has ten times the budget of Holocene! (Which isn't much.) Well, good things start that way.
(Oh, "largly" is misspelled on the home page in sentence #2.)
I respect Raskin, though he, too, appears to have focused on other "conversational basics" than I did. (Have you viewed the power point downloadable at http://www.holocenechat.com ? It hasn't been updated yet with new material about transforming IM.)
I am pleased to say that while there seems to be almost zero overlap of concept or methodology, there appears to be huge overlap in goals and interest. Some great potential for complementarity.
One thing tho, I saw no address so no way to tell where the principals are located.
Stefan, that was vintage Sterling. Thanks.
Post a Comment