November 18, 2008
SNARKMARKET ALERT: Snarkstruct 2019
Robin says,
The challenge is to generate an avalanche of different visions of the future in a mere 19 hours. To do that, you would need a crew of creative, engaged people... ideally from many different backgrounds... ideally used to asking and answering interesting questions... ideally kinda nerdy... ideally reading this right now.
IF ONLY WE HAD SUCH A CREW.
I'll kick it off in the comments, but then it's your turn. Remember, it can just be a sentence or two. Let's see if we can hit 20.
I'm gonna focus on "the future of society" -- how do you share your feelings in 2019? -- and I invite you to do the same, but feel free to choose any of the five options listed in the link above.
Our Academic Rival
Robin says,
MIT is starting a Center for Future Storytelling. But it doesn't start 'til 2010, which means we have time here at Snarkmarket to completely dominate this nascent field.
Pls suggest immediate research projects in the comments.
Funding is available.
November 17, 2008
The New Radio
My friend Bethany Klein, communications professor at the University of Leeds, has a terrific interview in the new issue of Miller-McCune about her research on the relationship between pop music and advertising:
[Y]ou get people flippantly saying, "Sure, what's the big deal? This is what people do now." But when you further investigate, you find that everybody has some kind of internal checklist: "What kind of product is it? What's my relationship to the product? What type of commercial is it going to be? Who's directing the commercial?" If it truly was just submission to hyper-commercialism and an embrace of advertising, would it really matter? The other interesting tension I noticed in the interviews was that all these musicians were, of course, huge music fans. Many of them saw their own work as not very precious, that it couldn't possibly be a big deal if they licensed a song, but then if you talked to them about instances in which their favorite musicians had licensed to advertising, they couldn't help but feel that sadness of a fan about it. There was a difficulty in reconciling these two positions, thinking nobody could possibly care that much about your own work but knowing how much you care about other people's. In my book, I devote a chapter to The Shins. They licensed "New Slang" to McDonald's, relatively briefly, maybe just during the Olympics a few years ago. And that case was an amazing example of "Oh, people do still care." You could see in all the interviews that James Mercer, their singer, did about this -- and it got brought up in every interview -- he was really struggling with the idea: "What's the big deal? This is just a commercial -- it happens all the time." And, on the other hand, he could recognize how painful it would be if, say, The Smiths got used in a commercial and how terrible that would make him feel as a fan.... Read more ...
You Don't Get to Choose Your Nickname
Robin says,
Fancy new Chinese buildings with humble nicknames:
Many of the famous new buildings that have gone up in Beijing recently have been given their own tags by the people. The National Center for the Performing Arts is known as the "Duck Egg." The National Stadium is known as the "Bird's Nest." They're both humble yet fitting names for these grand edifices.
So... what's this one called?
Your Brain On Video Games
I've always wondered whether the kind of video games you like (or whether you like video games at all) tells you about what kind of person you are. Early arcade games were built around reflexes, patterns, and a relatively limited set of moves, attracting the kind of guys featured in King of Kong. My older brother is pretty good at sports, but unbelievably good at any kind of sports game, even ones he hasn't played before -- even sports he hasn't played before. Some people's brains just seem to be wired for certain kinds of games. Me, I'm good at a lot of video games, but I really like Minesweeper, Final Fantasy II, and Wii Tennis.
Clive Thompson writes a little bit about the relationship between the brain and video games in his review of Mirror's Edge, a new first-person video game that (Thompson says) uniquely leverages human neurology -- specifically our sense of proprioception, "your body's sense of its own physicality":
... Read more ...Running Off, Barking At Cats
Roger Ebert -- yes, that Roger Ebert -- is writing one of the best blogs around. Not just about movies either. I think blog-writing has made Ebert's movie reviews better -- more fun, more adventurous. His review of Charlie Kaufmann's Synecdoche, NY is a delight, and his own summary is the best: "Fair warning: I begin with a parable, continue with vast generalizations, finally get around to an argument with Entertainment Weekly, and move on to Greek gods, 'I Love Lucy' and a house on fire."
Too Big
Robin says,
Robert Reich has a great (short!) new post: If they're too big to fail, they're too big, period.
(Cross-reference with Wired's old (but still classic) interview with Peter Drucker. Different argument, but complementary.)
(Via Ted R.)
November 16, 2008
This Post Typed By A Robot
An industrial robot is scripting the bible, stroke by stroke:
The installation 'bios [bible]' consists of an industrial robot, which writes down the bible on rolls of paper. The machine draws the calligraphic lines with high precision. Like a monk in the scriptorium it creates step by step the text.... Read more ...Starting with the old testament and the books of Moses ‘bios [bible]’ produces within seven month continuously the whole book. All 66 books of the bible are written on rolls and then retained and presented in the library of the installation.
‘bios [bible]’ is focussing on the questions of faith and technical progress. The installation correlates two cultural systems which are fundamental for societies today – religion and scientific rationalism. In this contexts scripture has all times an elementary function, as holy scripture or as formal writing of knowledge.
In computer technology 'basic input output system' (bios) designates the module which basicaly coordinates the interchange between hard- and software. Therefore it contains the indispensable code, the essential program writing, on which every further program can be established.
November 13, 2008
Here is a Picture of a Tiny Animal
Robin says,
Apropos of nothing: What a wonderful little expression.
Slow Snarkmarket! I'll pick up the pace next week, promise.
November 10, 2008
Adventures in Dorm Food
Matt says,
Cake in a mug is the new omelette in a bag.
100
Robin says,
GOOD deploys a first-hundred-days mega-chart onto their aptly-named awesome.goodmagazine.com subdomain.
On Bill Clinton's third day in office, he lifted the global gag rule. On George Bush's third day in office, he reinstated it. Watch for Barack Obama to blow it away again.
Meta: I love GOOD's infographic work. Why isn't it more popular? The fact that it never really seems to break out calls into question some of my core beliefs about what people find cool and useful. Troubling. Any ideas?
(Via Rex.)
No Sleep 'Til Barack-lyn
Robin says,
Super-smart CNET reporter Caroline McCarthy just posted a piece with some nice details about Current's election stuff and even a quote or two from meee. "No rest for the Web's election-weary" indeed.
Kinda related: Al's talk at Web 2.0 was the best I've ever seen him give. Worth the time if you've got it.
November 9, 2008
Shantytown Simulacra
Matt says,
These simulated favelas created by Spanish artist Dionisio Gonzalez are magnificent. The simulations echo the ad hoc architecture of the shantytowns of Sao Paulo. As well as the pure imaginative chaos they evoke, I like that they come across as thoughtful without seeming either to exploit or glorify the real favelas.
Control Browser Refreshing
Matt says,
After the ABC News site auto-reloaded the page three times while I was trying to watch an 18-minute segment from This Week, I went hunting for a way to make Firefox prevent this. Fortunately, it's wonderfully easy. Go to about:config, bypass the warning message, and look for "accessibility:blockautorefresh." By default, this is set to false. Set it to true, and Firefox will prompt you for approval whenever a site tries to refresh itself.
If you're wondering why so many sites auto-refresh these days, it's basically a cheap and easy way to inflate our pageview counts. What we tell you, of course, is that we want to make sure that if you keep the site open in a tab while you click away, we want to make sure you see the freshest content when you click back. I strongly suspect if that were really our primary motive, we'd find a way to update our pages with AJAX, thereby preventing a severely annoying disruption of the site experience.
November 6, 2008
Watching CNN Like Everybody Else
Robin says,
The Obama campaign's official photos from election night -- surreal in their normalcy.
Well, until they get up on stage.
The Politics of Grace
Robin says,
Rachel with a bit of comparative democracy. She calls what we've seen "the politics of grace" -- what a wonderful phrase.
I would say it's also the politics of revelation. We know things today that we didn't on Tuesday morning. You look around and think: Aha. This is the country I'm living in. I hadn't realized.
November 5, 2008
Current.com on Election Day
Robin says,
WOW. Sorry for the gratuitous Current link, but honestly, I can't even believe we're on this list. Pretty cool.
0.02% baby!
My President is Black / My Lambo's Blue
Robin says,
This is ridiculous, and awesome:
My President by Young Jeezy, feat. Nas.
I Was Born By the River
Matt says,
Obama shouted it out early in his speech. (Love this.) A splendid time to revisit the original:
Oh, and why the heck not taste it again for the first time:
And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world - our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand. To those who would tear this world down - we will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security - we support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright - tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope. For that is the true genius of America - that America can change. Our union can be perfected. And what we have already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.
November 4, 2008
Today
I didn't think today would feel like this.
My polling place was a dream. Eva's Hawaiian Cafe on Clement St. was pressed into service for democracy this morning. Everyone should vote in a cafe. Most of us skipped the booths and sat at tables in ones and twos.
I got there at 7:12 a.m. As the election volunteer was looking me up on her list, I was seized with an irrational fear: What if I'm not there? I know, I know, they would have let me vote anyway. But I couldn't shake it: I moved pretty recently. What if I messed up the paperwork?
Seriously, in the eight seconds it took her to flip to the letter 'S', I had a complete mini freak-out. I kept saying to myself:
I need to be able to vote for this man.
I need to be able to vote for this man.
I need to be able to vote for this man.
I smiled at my own weirdness as I filled out my ballot.
Then, five minutes later, in the car on the way to work, I started to cry. I have no idea why. How many people did exactly the same thing this morning? Millions? It must be millions -- a fellowship of wet-eyed citizens waiting at stoplights.
This man. His grandmother! This man. All of us.
I didn't think today would feel like this. Partially it's that I've seen the polls; I know what's happening; I know what's about to happen. It's exciting. But it's something else too, something I can't yet explain.
There is such a quiet force to the way we vote. It's glacial.
And today, we are on the move.
What was your morning like?
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