Kevin Kelly writes on something that is getting a fair amount of attention: the new book by Duncan Watts (Six Degrees). Watts critiques another book by Malcolm Gladwell (The Tipping Point), and Kevin Kelly does a good job of commenting on it.
My problem with all this analysis is the use of metaphors. Using metaphors of disease or forest fires helps model and understand the characteristic of certain activities (e.g. the success of failure of certain forms of communications), but they are just that, models. And limited ones at that. It’s good that Watts has shown the limits of Gladwell’s metaphor. But I suspect his metaphor is just as limited.
When everyone else on the bus is bopping along to hip hop, you can be grooving to Schopenhauer’s “The World as Will and Idea” if you surf over to here.
For truly smart people. (I didn’t know they had podcasts in Plato’s time! )
Over at techdirt.com is a very concise argument on why giving up your privacy doesn’t make you more secure. Key quote:
“Confiscating shaving cream and nail files at the airport doesn’t make anyone safer. Neither does creating a national ID card, because terrorists rely on surprise, not anonymity. The fundamental issue is that real security involves focusing resources on identifying and stopping the tiny fraction of the population that is engaged in criminal and terrorist acts. The vast majority of people pose no threat to anyone, and it’s a waste of resources to monitor them. “
…by reading this article, Chasing the Darkness With Sleight of Hand in the New York Times, which presents a nice case study on how to make a dark room light up. It features a room by Jeffrey Bilhuber, a Manhattan interior designer, whose client had a bedroom in their apartment with very little light. The end result is light and very attractive. Lots of good ideas to borrow here.
To people outside the world of fashion, this could be a big, “eh…whatever”. But after 45 years as a leading designer, it’s a big thing that Valentino does his last haute couture fashion show (in Paris, of course). This piece in the NYT’s doesn’t do him justice. Maybe we’ll need the New Yorker to do a story on him, like they did for Lagerfeld recently. In the meantime, see So This Is It: Valentino – On the Runway – Fashion – Style – New York Times Blog
Matthew Sullivan has a great idea for a wine blog. His blog, the Short Cellar, is all about:
“….offering some advice about the joy of aging wine as I build my own cellar from the ground up, detailing what is going in, when it comes out, and what happened to it along the way. My emphasis will be on wines that are easily available in Ontario and that only take a year or two before developing into something special. Who has time to wait 10 years? I’m patient, but not a saint. There’s a perception that having a wine cellar implies expertise or money. This is a myth. You’re never too young, dumb, or soaked in debt to want a better bottle of wine. It’s true that a cellar takes some foresight and knowledge, but only enough to guess what you are going to have for dinner three years from now, and the knowledge that you’ll want something extraordinary to wash it down. You can spend any amount that you wish on wine, but the sweet spot is between $15 and $25. At that level, there are some exceptional wines that will mature marvellously, but there’s no guilt in drinking them at any time since, litre for litre, they are still cheaper than a latte.”
Also, check out the site n+1 — he referenced earlier — that has an interview with a Hedge Fund Manager that not only talks about this problem but problems in the world of high finance generally. An eye-opening interview.
The globeandmail.com has an article on how the LCBO will now stock cheaper wine in 2008. Fans of wine under $10, take heart!
Some highlights from the Beppi Crosariol article:
- Wine drinkers in Ontario may soon notice a strange trend taking shape at their local liquor stores: more shelf space given over to bargain imports. (Why is this strange? -bm)- Portugal is likely to be a key source of some of the best buys. The LCBO has reduced its minimum selling price for wines from that country to $6.95 for a 750-millilitre bottle, down $3 from last year’s minimum price of $9.95. Similarly, wineries from South Africa and Australia, two other low-cost regions known for abundant bargains, can now submit products for consideration priced as low as $7.95.
- The new $6.95 threshold also applies to “cellared in Canada” blends.
- Bargain wines acquired under the new purchasing program issued this week … are expected to reach shelves over the coming year, starting as early as April.
- The LCBO also sells a rotating selection of limited-release premium products through Vintages… may also choose to source under-$10 deals…
- Chris Churchill, president of Churchill Cellars Ltd., which represents such popular Australian brands as Banrock Station and Hardys, said quality at all price points has improved significantly during the almost 20 years he has been travelling to wine fairs around the world and that $8 and $9 no longer means a gamble with mediocrity. “With better-trained winemakers and better technology, it’s now difficult to find really bad wines, even in the less-than-$10 category.”
- Ontario would still have miles to go before catching up to bargain-wine trends in the United States, where mass-produced brands such as Barefoot Cellars often sell in … for as little as $4 a bottle (which are $9.95 in the LCBO! -bm))
See the article here with the misleading title of LCBO flips anti-plonk policy, since all LCBO outlets have always had alot of plonk on it shelves that never seems to shrink. Low cost wine isn’t synonymous with plonk.
P.S. for more on some of the fine, award winning and non-plonk wine from Barefoot, see here and here for some good examples.
To me, this is a significant step in the growth of such Web 2.0 services. Imagine if more and more librarians put their archives on the Web in such a fashion.
Under 30? Live in or around Toronto? Love or interesting in opera? Then mark this date on your calendar:
On Saturday
January 19, the Canadian Opera Company’s Opera for a New Age
tickets go on sale. You get tickets at $20 a seat (as opposed to $60 or more.) for performances of Tosca by Puccini and From the House of the Dead by Janácek.
According to a study reported on in the globeandmail.com, children hate clowns. Even older ones. It found that:
“clowns are universally disliked by children. Some found them quite frightening and unknowable.”
I think this may be an exaggeration, but I think there is alot more too it than adults realize. Perhaps a few generations from now, people will look back and think: wow! There were clowns back then!
What ismaterialicious™? As it says, it is “a weblog featuring residential architecture, design, craftsmanship, materials and products. It is edited by Justin Anthony, a New Yorker who is currently residing in Phoenix, AZ., and was a residential restoration specialist for 25 years.” It is chock full of great architecture and design, like the Casa Cachagua featured above. Go see.
Kevin Kelly, in his list “Cool Tools”, has excerpts of what looks like a good book for anyone who wants to know not just about making art but being creative generally. Here’s a link to the site, and here is a fascinating story from the Cool Tool: Art & Fear
‘The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the “quantity” group: fifty pound of pots rated an “A”, forty pounds a “B”, and so on. Those being graded on “quality”, however, needed to produce only one pot -albeit a perfect one – to get an “A”. Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning out piles of work – and learning from their mistakes – the “quality” group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.’
The
article is written from a viewpoint of how to use a blog to improve
yourself, and the bonuses they list regarding blogging (e.g. track
progress, get feedback, share knowledge) apply to anyone, either
personally or professionally.
There used to be a number of Hungarian restaurants in the Annex, including the Korona, my old favourite. Sadly, most of them are gone. But not Country Style. Head on over to 450 Bloor St West and have one of these…
When you are Bill Gates, you can get some PRETTY powerful people to show up in a spoof video of you. The video is funny, but the underlying message is: hey, I am Bill Gates, and look who I can get to show up.
John’s Background Switcher over at John’s Adventures web site is a really nice tool that easily allows you not only to switch your background, but has links into flickr, Picasa, and more. Lots of great features for the tool, too. I highly recommend it.
I stumbled across this demo of how to pick a master lock #175. There are alot of these videos! If your lock is in one of them, you should get rid of it.
That said, it is impressive to see some of these videos. It’s hackers for hardware.
There are a number of architects and builders specializing in very small dwellings for people.
Tumbleweed Houses are appropriately named and nicely done. It makes being a nomad seem grand! You should visit the site, just to see what can be packed into such a small space.
I understand that younger people wear watches less and less, likely due to the abundance of other sources to provide the time. Cell phones will kill off watches, perhaps. If you know of such a watchless person, send them over to watchismo and see if they don’t want to get a watch by the end of it!
by David Byrne in WiReD. His knowledge of the industry and his insights make for a fascinating article. If you are musician, or if you love music, it’s a great read.
Designers should define their role broadly as agents of good in the world, and limit their work to ‘legitimate’ products: those that are needed, and those that can be made without damage to nature or — through the unethical actions of manufacturers and investors — damage to people.
– Industrial designer Phillipe Starck, on the purpose of design
Over at Razor Apple is a feature on 11 Masked Hoodies to Hide Your Face. With the rise of more and more public cameras, there may be a trend to more fashion that (stylishly) covers the face.
If you love bread, or want to learn how to bake it, the Bread Blog has lots of great recipes and instructions on how to make all kinds of bread, including one of my favourites, Panettone (chocolate chip, no less)
I was using the computer tonight and my young son said: play the Funny Cat Cartoon! So here it is! It’s funny on it’s own, and if you have ever had a cat, it is even funnier, I think.
(Photo of me in the Indigo bookstore, Yonge and Eglinton. Taken by my 7 year old son, who is a natural photographer. He waited until I looked away to take the photo. Afterwards he said: people look better when they look away from the camera.)
)
and watch them. 
-bm))![[William J. Bradley, Toronto (baseball)] (LOC)](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2283/2163449080_04d9f0d5a9_m.jpg)
