] Because now I've finally read Red Mars, and I am agog at
] what may be the finest sf novel I've ever read. Red Mars
] has all the hard-sf window-dressing that many of us
] imagine when we think of sf: great and accessible tours
] through speculative cog sci, geology, astronomy,
] rocketry, physics, biology, genetics, and so on, until
] the head swims with the sheer scope of the research task
] Robinson set himself in this book.

[ I read this some time ago, and recall liking it very much... i didn't read the sequels however, for no clear reason... -k]

Boing Boing: Red Mars: a very belated appreciation

] Schmitt said the donations help pay for the venues,
] vendors, parade-route bleachers, entertainment and other
] costs associated with staging the Jan. 20 inauguration,
] as well as lead-up events beginning Jan. 18.
]
] The inauguration is estimated to cost $30 million to $40
] million, which private donations will cover. The estimate
] includes security costs not covered by the federal and
] local government. Security is expected to be tight for
] the first inauguration since the Sept. 11, 2001,
] terrorist attacks.

WTF? Why does a second term president need to even do this? Why not give this money to No Child Left Behind? Or, y'know... feed DC's hungry and sick? Hell, feed Austin's hungry and sick.

[ Agreed. It seems like a nasty gratuitous waste on something that's all pomp and superficiality. And not just this year either. Ever. I recognize the importance of some degree of ceremony, but$ 30 million dollars worth. That's kind of grotesque. -k]

14 Give Inaugural Planners $250,000

noteworthy wrote:
] ] If you are taken in by all the fanfare and hoopla
] ] that have attended Google's latest project, you would think
] ] Sergey and and Larry are well on their way to godliness.
] ]
] ] I do not share that opinion.

Nor do I, but for entirely different reasons then this author.

Google is getting a lot of attention for doing something that a lot of other people have been doing for years. Thats the point where you are too famous to be cool.

But this author seems to be confused about the greater point, which is that books and buildings full of them are rapidly going the way of the horse and carriage.

The old romance of books was always tied to the information that they contain. But as the information is moved online the romance continues, shucked of its meaning, and we see people who love what books are rather then what they do. These people are going to be very disappointed as time goes on.

Brewster Kahle, who ought to be celebrated by the mainstream, instead of Google, for this kind of work, gave a wonderful talk at the Library of Congress on monday which was carried on CSPAN under the heading "Digital Future" which I memed previously. (Search my memestream for "span" and you can probably watch the video online.)

The fact is that you can print a bounded book, and digital paper technologies mostly elminiate the need. Neither of these things are in widespread adoption, but they are available, and you'll have them soon. The ability to search, sort, organize, recontextualize, and recommend this information with computers will be a vast improvement on row after row of dusty, decaying stacks of paper that previously served as our information infrastructure. The ability to provide instant access to all of this information anywhere in the world will be a revolution in many quarters of the planet that have suffered for lack of knowledge. No longer will your social status prevent you from learning if you are sufficiently motivated, and the motivation to learn will be the greatest determining factor in the quality of one's life.

This is the potential of human knowledge coupled with information technology, and to oppose it for aesthetic reasons is despicable.

The reasonsable objection raised here is that of Intellectual Property. But what common sense cannot kill in a court room history will kill in the marketplace. People will use the information they have access to, and there is a lot of really valuable stuff which is unencumbered by copyright. As this change carries forward the information that matters will be the information that is free. The LA Times is not often blogged simply because it requires registration. By requiring registration they deminish their value in the blogosphere. The WSJ, a really good paper, is almost never blogged, because no one can afford to access it. Online, the WSJ doesn't matter.

There is a substantial need to pay people to produce information products full time. Figuring out how to do that in the context of the new technologies is hard. Our process thus far has consisted of a power struggle more then a dialog. Those who want to get paid have yet to feel particularly incented to present a reasonable way of doing so that doesn't skuttle the value of what they are being paid for. The changes I discuss here will press the issue further. Over the course of several decades the tables will turn, and those who make their living by keeping information bottled up will be forced to find an answer or become irrelevant and die.

RE: Google and God's Mind

] Human beings, it turns out, are wired to make dumb
] investing mistakes. What's more, we are wired not to
] learn from them, but to make them again and again. If
] there is consolation, it is that it's not our fault. We
] are born suckers.

[ Very interesting article. I appreciate the comparison of market beating investors to pro athletes... more people need to realize that they're just not that likely to strike it rich in the market. -k]

Born Suckers - The greatest Wall Street danger of all: you. By Henry Blodget

] Plenty of Treo 650 owners were cheesed off that palmOne
] released their new smartphone without support for their
] WiFi SD card.
] They've promised to get around to supporting it
] sooner or later, but you know how impatient those hackers
] can be, and so hot on the heels of his fine work to
] uncripple the Bluetooth on Sprint%u2019s version of the
] Treo 650 so you can use it as a wireless laptop modem,
] "Shadowmite" has figured out a way to hack the
] driver for the SD WiFi card so it'll work with the
] Treo 650, too (the hacked driver is hosted here).
] Hugeness, of course.

Add WiFi to your Treo 650! SD WiFi card drivers hacked - Engadget - www.engadget.com

] Shut Up Already
]
] After reading a story in the NYT, Jim's wife Heidi came
] up with a method to fight back against the obnoxious cell
] phone users that we all have to deal with in stores,
] restaurants, trains and pretty much everywhere else. Can
] design ride to the rescue? Jim and the incomparable Aaron
] Draplin think it can. So, as a public service, we
] introduce the reasonably polite SHHH, the Society for
] HandHeld Hushing.

[ Awesome! -k]

Coudal Partners

] EPIC FOIA Request Shows Postal Machines Take, Store
] Photos. Documents (pdf 1.9 MB) obtained by EPIC under the
] Freedom of Information Act show that new Postal Service
] self-service postage machines take portrait-style
] photographs of customers and retain them for 30 days on a
] Windows XP platform. One document reads, "Camera required
] by FAA. Privacy Office is requiring a notice for
] customers, advising that photograph may be taken during
] the transaction."

[ Not sure if it's big news yet, but there's a lot of privacy oriented folks up in here that may be interested to read this... -k]

EPIC Postal Privacy Page

] Artists produce visual art, writers produce words to tell
] stories, musicians produce songs. All of these things
] require at least four things the way I see it.
]
] 1) Perseverance - These people must be able to keep
] trying, even if they do not like how something they are
] working on is turning out. They don't just decide
] they can't do it and quit because it's too
] hard.
]
] 2) Creativity - These people have to obviously have
] something in their heads that they want and know how to
] get out onto a media that they can share with the rest of
] the world.
]
] 3) Balls - They also aren't afraid to put their work
] out there for the world to see. They aren't afraid
] of being laughed at because they know that its the best
] they could have done, and what does it mean if someone
] else makes fun of them?
]
] 4) Drive - They continue to work, learn, and grow at
] their skill by never being satisfied. By always pushing
] the limits of their abilities.

[ Kobi's a smart kid... i've already tossed some of my thoughts into his comment thread there, but since i saw that Tom memed it, i figured i'd bump. -k]

baudburn.com: Geeking in Style.: Comment on On Creation and Perseverance.

] My contention: Social Security privatization is not just
] unlikely to succeed, for various reasons that are subject
] to discussion. It is mathematically certain to fail.
] Discussion is pointless.

[ That's LA Times editorialist, Michael Kinsley... a somewhat interesting analysis, i haven't taken the time to critique as yet. -k]

TPM : Social Security Privatization is impossible...

] A linguist from the University of Pittsburgh has
] published a scholarly paper deconstructing and
] deciphering the word "dude," contending it is much more
] than a catchall for lazy, inarticulate surfers, skaters,
] slackers and teenagers.

Dude.

CNN.com - Dude -- professor studies 'dude' - Dec 8, 2004