The Menschlichkeit of the Machine

What the internet needs, according to trendguru Guy Kawasaki, is more Mensch. That will make the world a better place.

It (being Guy's story) all starts with 'I have a theory (as opposed to a dream) that Heaven is a three-class Boeing 777.' and it ends with 'hope this helps you become a mensch. No need to thank me if it does--helping you is reward enough--ie, “Don't menschion it.”'

Wanna figure out what or who's in the middle? (probably you, but then again, who am i?) Read Guy's full story here.

For those of you who are addicted to quick lists:

Help people who cannot help you.
Help without the expectation of return.
Help many people.
Do the right thing the right way.
Pay back society.

Kind of reminds me of what this Guy (his real name is Tony) said at last year's TED-convention.

It's really great stuff, especially for everyone who thinks business is all about making money, immorality and unethical behaviour.

Great work Guys!

On the road again with the DeadMan Street Orchestra

Recently I was skimming my "photography" feeds to find this slideshow, called The Ballad of the Hobo. It was published as a Times PhotoEssay and is made by selfmade but perfectly professional photographer James Heil. The Ballad of the Hobo is a documentary about the Deadman Street Orchestra, a band formed by street musicians, who accidently bumped into each other and started travel accross the country by hopping on trains. They usually sleep out in the open, look for food in trash cans, indulge themselves with excessive drinking and drugs and play great music.

The pictures, the lifestyle, the music, it's a form of raw poetry, a largely unknown aside and an intriguing humanised form of the Danse Macabre.

Life may be a bitch, but once and a while she is damn beautiful.
And you hate it. (Thanks James)

moscow going undercover

What happens when a city goes underground? Well people in Montreal know, because for now Montreal still has the largest underground city in the world. It consists of 32 km of tunnels and covers an area of 3.6 square kilometres.

But the haydays of the RESO might be over soon. Because Yuri Luzhkov, Moscow's powerful mayor, plans to build an underground version of his city. For a start Luzhkov wants to build 3 million square metres over the next three years.

I knew that there was a lot happening in Russia that shuns daylight, but to go completely underground seems quite absurd, don't you think?

Did you know that Russians were already thinking about an underground transportation system as early as the 1870s? But it would take up to 1935 before the first line of the Moscow Metro would go into service.

O yes, there's also the story of Metro-2, a secret subway system used by the former KGB. The system was built supposedly during (or from) the time of Stalin and codenamed D-6 by the KGB. No one has officially confirmed it's existence yet. Who knows what construction workers will find when they start digging for the new city.

you ain't seen nothing yet

until you've read this and closed your eyes. Unphotographable is a nice example of how deceiving the whole idea of a-picture-is-worth-a-thousand-words can be.
Michael David Murphy is a semi-professional photographer who got a bit frustrated when travelling Ehtiopia (1, 2, 3 Cyber Ethiopia rules) back in 1994. He couldn't take out his camera because the people would shun away from the moment they spotted his lens. But instead of whining about the pictures he never took, he started a blog to collect them. Yes, that's right, an imaginary photoblog/book. Now it's up to you to discover whether his pictures are photoshopped or not. Check it out! (podcast)

Rives: the end of the zillionation of internet?

Well, you've read about the funky babelesque proportions of the internet. (If you haven't, read the previous post.)

But what about it? It's still one big mess. Or it's pretty damn well organised so it looks like a mess when it actually isn't. Kind of reminds me of the whole Genesis-story. Author was some fellow called God.

Anyway, the net wouldn't be such a mess (and my infoaddiction would probably be a lot easier to bear) if the artist River would run it. Or at least, that's what he claimed in december 2006 at the TED-talks.

You tell me.



Full text?

More from Rives?

Official website

how many bits and bites have we produced

Yes sure, there's an information overload. But how big is that load? The technology research firm IDC figured it all out. IDC determined that the world generated 161 billion gigabytes - 161 exabytes - of digital information last year. Hard to imagine? Try this: 12 stacks of books reaching from the earth to the sun or 3 million times the information in all the books ever written. For the podfreaks among you: you'd need more than 2 million of the most capacious iPods to get it all portabled. I think we've all gone mad, and it's absolutely brilliant. Still wanna read more?

Tags: activate, data, IDC, information addiction, information overload, ipod, technology, wired

Who's right about the left? (Peter Duncombe maybe?)

What do Paris Hilton, Grand Theft Auto, Las Vegas and a McDonalds commercial have in common with progressive politics? Not much, you think. And you're absolutely right.
Ay, there's the rub. At least according to American professor Stephen Duncombe. In his new book Dream: Re-Imagining Progressive Politics in the Age of Fantasy he holds a passionate plea for more imagination in current left-wing politics.

Up to now leftwing politics got obsessed with reason. Why? Probably because Enlightened America believed it was the propper thing to do. But the means of reason are also available to conservatives and right-wing politicians. And apparantly they aren't doing such a bad job using them. If left wants to come up with an answer, they have to use their imagination again and start incorporating it into their political vision. This TED-talk by Sir Ken Robinson might be a good start. And the book by Duncombe as well of course. (website, forum).

Technorati Tags: duncombe, paris hilton, dreams, imagination, politics, leftwing, rightwing, grand theft auto, mcdonalds, ken robinson, TED, progressive, conservative

the beginning

Hi there you information addicts, a new blog has arrived.

What's it all about?

Well, this is about an addiction which seems to be pretty new.
It's called information addiction, which means... right, just that.
(Let's not be too redundant, shall we, because it only makes our problem worse.)

Is this some kind of therapy blog?

No it's not. It's even better.
This blog is a kind of trail, a testimonial of a human being struggling with his post-postmodern condition (and with this aweful term).

It's a life form (or should I say live form) and a museum of randomly collected traces.

Excuse me?

It all happened when I discovered the new waves of rss. This thing which is mistakingly called really simple syndication makes it easy to keep in touch with your favourite websites without visiting them.

Aka, every site is broadcasting its new posts through rss. All you have to do is get a reader and tune in. Yes, that's right, like you are listening to a radiostation. Although you can also compare it to your personal news agency.

You were trying to say that...

... on this blog you'll find things I discover while wandering through my reader as well as new feeds and remarkable websites.

Why should I care?

preciousssssssss.