The Cyclotrope: Using a Bicycle Wheel to Create Animation
http://gizmodo.com/5782139/the-cyclotrope-using-a-bicycle-wheel-to-creat...

Google Apps Slammed by Advocacy Group for the Blind
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/222189/google_apps_slammed...

Wisconsin State Senator’s Wife Joins Recall Effort Against Him
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/03/wisconsin_state_senators_wife.html

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today's photo

There's been a ton of digging on Houston Street lately. I stopped to take a photo.

One of the construction workers came over to me and asked me what I was doing

"Taking a picture" I replied
"Why?"
"Because I like to take pictures, What are you guys doing?"
"We're laying new pipe for Con-ed and verizon, we'll be digging all the way down houston and then to Canal Street"
"So, in other words, you're digging a hole to Chinatown"
he smirked and walked away.

Days since I started this daily ritual of posting photos and other content: 74
Number of photos taken in that time: 1,080
Number of photos posted: 168
Number of photos posted I really like: ~25

Today's photo is of a strange step in evolution, trees all over the neighborhood have started to grow fingers

I find it interesting that many of the people and media outlets that cried foul when people tried to bring up the relationship between the violent rhetoric on the right and the recent shootings in Arizona (how dare you turn this tragedy into a political thing! they shouted) are now raising "interesting" questions about what's going on in Japan after this weekend's earthquake and tsunami.

It's not appropriate to talk about the culture of violence and its relation to actual violence in America, but it is ok to wonder "why is there no looting in Japan" while suggesting that it's because there are no african-americans on welfare there as there are in New Orleans. That's not offensive manipulation of a tragedy for unreasonable political hay? Really!? Come on folks, get real.

First off, while there has been little reporting in english-language media about looting in Japan, I have no idea if it's happening. For all I know it's rampant; for all I know it's just being done in a way that makes it hard for western media to even see it. Hell, maybe it's because stores are giving stuff away free; maybe it's because the government is providing the necessary relief support.

One article I found http://current.com/191tp4c had some interesting thoughts on it.

The communitarian spirit at the foundation of Japanese culture seems to function even more efficiently under the stress of disaster, he said.

The natural American inclination is to operate independently.

“So you do everything you can to protect your own interests with the understanding that, in a rather free-market way, everybody else is going to do the same. And that order will come out of this sort of invisible hand.

“And Japanese don’t function that way. Order is seen as coming from the group and from the community as a sort of evening out of various individual needs.”

If this view is at all accurate, it's explicitly the Japanese rejection of the American "way of life" that is responsible; it's community centric thought that lies at the core of their reaction. I'm sure the Right is not able to process that possibility, they will stay on point and rant about the leftist communal centric destruction of the American family and ignore the reality of the situation.
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Very rarely do I get this excited about a book; only on a few occasions have I read something that made my head explode, providing the glue to pull together tons of seemingly random rants and thoughts.

Jaron Lanier's You Are Not A Gadget is one of those books.

I'm only about 1/3 of the way through, but already my brain is spinning with thoughts and ideas. It would be easy to sprint through it. The format, a series of very short but idea dense essays, and it being only 200 pages long could make it a fast read. But I feel I'd be doing myself a disservice if I did not read it slowly, let my mind linger on the ideas, spend the time to really think as I read.

In a way, that seems to be the point of the book. The digital world is leading to a change in how we view reality; how we view ourselves; how we view being human. Many of these changes are not challenged, we take them for granted; we accept that this is just the way things are in the wired age.

Over the next couple weeks, I'll be writing a number of posts that tangent from ideas brought up in the book. The thoughts Jaron put to paper have inspired me, helped me to start to clearly outline details about various things that have been annoying me for a long time.

The sig at the end of all my emails used to say "People are intelligent, Machines are tools," and I think I might just start using that phrase again. It really does sum up my love/hate relationship with technology and tech culture.

But, instead of rushing to rant, I'm going to take Jaron's advice and counter the prevailing trivialization of thought by "Writing a blog post that took weeks of reflection before you heard the inner voice that needed to come out."

Thanks to Jessamyn for sending the book to Jenna, and to Jenna for passing it on to me.
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Today's photo is of a kite eating tree in the East River Park.

Don't have much to say. The world is falling apart, earthquakes, tsunamis, nuclear meltdowns in Japan; and closer to home I spent the day visiting my mom. She's in a bad state, she usually shows some recognition of who I am but not today. She spent the visit talking to Jenna about some imaginary man at the nursing home who has a gun and wants to kill her. I'm pretty sure the root of that is her desire to die, she wishes that there was someone with a gun that could turn her slow rot into a quick exit. On that cheery note, here's a couple photos taken outside the nursing home.