February 2007 Archives
With only three and a half months left in Grand Rapids, it's time for me to start passing along one of my few locally-based responsibilities. Building up Grand Rapids WiFi has been a great way to get to know the city and to learn a few new coding tricks, and I hope to keep enhancing the code, but it needs someone locally based who can keep their finger on the pulse of new wifi hotspots and make occasional visits to keep the site up to date.
So if you're based in Grand Rapids (preferably the city rather than the 'burbs, as that's where most of the hotspots are) and would like to help out, let me know. The minimal advertising revenue to the site doesn't cover its hosting costs, so there's no money in it, but it's really very little work and makes a satisfying little contribution.
The geographical illiteracy of much of the US population is something of a joke both in-and outside of the United States. But it's a shame that it's shared by so much of its media, particularly when they're frequently sending reporters to distant lands.
For their assistance:
| Tehran (Iran) | 442 miles |
|---|---|
| Damascus (Syria) | 466 miles |
| Washington DC (U.S.A) | 7000 miles (approx) |
or to put it another way, where is the USA on this map?
So which country should we be surprised has been invited to a regional summit to discuss Iraqi security?
(In response to an NPR story based on this, but seemingly expressing surprise that Iran and Syria had been invited to a regional meeting)
Documenting the hypocrisies of the Bush administrations claims about "spreading democracy" in the Middle East can be a thankless task, and to do so on an ongoing basis would quickly become repetitive and dull. Every now and again, however, it's time for an article covering that ground and providing a sense of what democracy might actually mean on the ground in the Middle East. Ken Silverstein's "Parties of God" in Harpers' March 2007 issue is just such a survey and well worth reading for a more nuanced understanding than is otherwise readily available. Hopefully it'll be online soon.
The piece touches on similar themes to those which keep occurring to me as I work my way through Will Hutton's "The Writing On The Wall," which is an analysis of the state of the Chinese economy and western relations with it. Hutton's argument is that for China's economy to evolve it will need more of the civil society structures that the West attained through the Enlightenment, and it is a compelling one (it's also worth skipping his introductory chapter, which gives a skewed sense of what he's about to cover).
But Hutton's analysis seems to presume that civil society can only take the form it has in the West. Certainly to date many innovations dubbed "Chinese-style" have simply been fronts for the same old authoritarianism, but that doesn't mean there isn't some future approach which offers a comparable set of checks and balances in a very different context.
Tags: Harper's, Ken Silverstein, Islamic Democracy, Bush Doctrine, Will Hutton, China
I don't know quite what to say about the ongoing belligerence on the part of the USA towards Iran. If they're not stopped by disclosures that Dick Cheney rejected an offer Iran made four years ago that would have satisfied all their public demands, then I fear there's not much that can be done to prevent the administration from using Iraq as a launching pad for an invasion of Iran. This story at Kos' place didn't help (via Ed in email)
I don't put much hope in such things, but for those who are so inclined please do visit Stop Iran War and sign their petition. (via Eric, by email).
Having written a number of blog entries about carbon offsetting around a year ago, I've been watching the mounting debate over them with some interest. While I appreciate much of what George Monbiot has to say, I wasn't impressed with his claim that carbon offsets are 'the new indulgences.' The emotive rhetoric masked a real issue of how we can ensure that measures to combat climate change are fair to the poor, and don't simply let the rich buy our way out of obligations.
Today I spotted a story on the BBC website about the testimony of Jutta Kill (of the Forests and the European Union Resource Network) before a committee of British MPs investigating carbon offsets.
The first thing that struck me was that while the story is labelled as being about offsets in general, it appears the testimony was directed purely at those which are based on planting trees. Not all offset schemes work that way, and those we chose to support are focussed on building an infrastructure, through investment in clean energy, to help reduce future emissions.
Similarly, not all such schemes are selling themselves as a complete solution to global warming. There are those who would like to do themselves out of a job, by showing us how much carbon we're generating and so focus our minds on reducing that. And for those of us who are in a life situation where we're unlikely to ever be able to shake the transatlantic flying habit, it's good to know that we can at least offer something back to the environment.
Tags: Carbon Offsetting, George Monbiot, FERN
I'm beginning to wonder if I should give up on going to see movies at the multiplex.
Ordinarily we can go several weeks between visits, preferring the smaller theatres in town, but with the Oscars coming up there's been a sudden influx of larger releases we want to see. But even though a couple of the films have been very good (Children Of Men, Pan's Labyrinth) and several others have been worth seeing (such as last night's choice, Babel which was intense but could have done with some significant editing), the the overall experience is far more exasperating than entrancing.
The problem is the noise. I enjoy being in an audience that is noticeably affected by a film. I have no problem with people making the occasional aside to the friend sitting next to them, preferably in a low voice. And I can handle people asking lots of plot questions when they're watching a film at home. But every movie audience we've been in this year has included people who insist on talking through significant chunks of the film.
I've become well practiced at asking people to keep the noise down, but by the time I've decided to get up and ask, a significant portion of a film has been interrupted. It's a discipline in which I don't want to be practiced.
Watching films at home on DVD doesn't have nearly the magic of a good cinema experience. But sometimes I can't help but wonder whether those experiences have lapsed into myth, and whether it would be better to give up on the possibility in favour of actually getting to watch movies.
Tags: crowd noise, distractions, annoyances, babel, children of men, pan's labyrinth
Another piece of our promotional strategy for this year's Festival of Faith and Music (a strategy which has registrations four times higher than last year's total, with six weeks still to go!) is a short animated video by Karen and Peter. We like it a lot, but I don't think I'd posted the link here as yet.
You can, of course, find it on youtube.
Tags: ffm2007
Slacktivist has a link to, and some salient commentary on the astonishing speech by House Minority leader John Boehner, in which he argued that the current 'war on terror' began with the US Embassy hostage taking in Iran in 1979. It's a fairly obvious part of the ongoing propaganda build up that seems increasingly directed towards military action by the USA against Iran.
But one thing Boehner opens himself up to is an immediate counterpoint that if we're going to trace the conflict back to 1979, perhaps we could go one step further and look back to 1953 when the United States and the United Kingdom acted to stop the spread of democracy around the world with Operation Ajax.
I'm not sure I want to engage ideologues like Boehner in that sort of tit-for-tat debate. The entire premise of their approach is fundamentally flawed. But since the US media and the public consciousness have forgotten any vague awareness it once had of events in Iran back in the early 50s, it is worth bringing up the fact that the hostage crisis didn't emerge from a vacuum any more than the World Trade Center attacks and Iraq War.
Tags: John Boehner, Operation Ajax, War On Terror, Mohammed Mosadegh, The Other Ajax
Steve and Jonny both beat me to the punch, but that doesn't reduce the value of linking to the video for Duke Special's "Freewheel".
Duke Special's sets at Delicatessen (our 'acoustic night' in Reading) were some of the highlights of running that event and it's fantastic to see him/them winning such well deserved attention. One of the many things I'm looking forward to about moving back to the UK is getting to see them play more regularly.
Over the Festival of Faith and Music weekend, Sufjan Stevens will be playing two shows. The earlier show will be for festivalgoers only, while the second is a general public show and has sold out.
In fact, it sold out so quickly that tickets can now be found on ebay. It's somewhat amusing to see tickets for a show you're involved with (and an artist you've watched come up from playing to much smaller audiences) being sold in this way, but also frustrating as it's certainly not fair to those who become priced out of seeing their favourite artists.
But what is definitely amusing is the claim that:
These are FULL PRICED TICKETS with no limitations or restrictions, unlike the Student tickets or expensive festival passes.
At the time of posting, these tickets are listed for $86. Festival passes are $100 (or $50 for students). For that $100 you not only get to see Sufjan and Anathallo, but you also get to hear talks by both of them (and a whole range of others), and get performances Emmylou Harris, Neko Case, Sarah Masen and Liz Janes.
Perhaps the person listing the tickets wasn't expecting them to go for this much, but given the buzz around Sufjan right now, I doubt it. We will of course be making use of ebay's relevant policies.
(you can also find the tickets over on stubhub).
Tags: Sufjan Stevents, FFM2007, Ticket scalping, Touting, Ebay
I find much to enjoy in Orion Magazine, but sometimes there is an attitude within its agrarian approach which I find somewhat distasteful. That is a tendency to write off communication technology without seriously considering its context or the ways in which it can be channeled into positive uses. Lowell Monke's piece "Charlotte's Webpage: Children and Computers" is a case in point.
While Monke is not entirely negative about the use of computers in education, he does leave half-developed research hanging and ignores contextual details that could run counter to his argument. For example early on in the article he notes:
"There have been no advances over the past decade that can be confidently attributed to broader access to computers," said Stanford University professor of education Larry Cuban in 2001, summarizing the existing research on educational computing. "The link between test-score improvements and computer availability and use is even more contested." Part of the problem, Cuban pointed out, is that many computers simply go unused in the classroom. But more recent research, including a University of Munich study of 174,000 students in thirty-one countries, indicates that students who frequently use computers perform worse academically than those who use them rarely or not at all.
What is lacking in this article (and possibly in the original survey) is any breakdown of how those students are using computers. The experience of using a computer, particularly one connected to the internet, cannot be reduced to a monolith. While the cases of children simply killing time online are numerous, there are also plenty of examples of children demonstrating and enhancing their imaginations in ways that significantly benefit from access to the world wide web.
More fundamental, however, is the article's commentary on how children weaned on what now passes for the information superhighway can find the real world dull and often want to retreat back online. There is a danger of exaggerating this risk, particularly when few educators or parents would be too worried if it were books their children were reading rather than (potentially) exploring online, developing their own narratives in MMORPGs, sharing their nascent musical creations on myspace, or even learning more about their local community.
Used carefully, the internet has a huge amount to offer when it comes to connecting people in a given locality. Aside from very small towns, the connecting power of the net allows people to discover others with shared (or fundamentally opposed) interests from whom we can learn. It connects us to a much more varied range of issues and fosters a very positive form of emergent behaviour. In modern America, sprawling and suburban as so much of it is, this can provide far more authentic experiences than the car-contained existence many of these children grow up with. And in large, high density cities it can offer a space for reflection that is sorely needed.
Certainly we don't want children learning about their local flora, fauna, streets and buildings entirely online, or learning all about exotic places without knowing their own. We all should be not just spending time outside, but actively exploring our environs. But then we'll get home. Hopefully we'll talk with friends and family, hopefully we'll read some books, but hopefully we'll also get online and find out what a broader community has to say about what we've just experienced.
(via CINO's Daily Asterisk)
Tags: orion magazine, computers, education
For at least the past two years around Oscar time I've bemoaned the fact that it's so hard to get access to short films, even those nominated for Academy Awards. Last year Apple picked up some of the slack by making a few of the films available for download through iTunes, but this year there's a more interesting offering.
Oscar Torrents provides summaries of all the nominated films and links to torrents (the files you can feed into bittorrent software, see wikipedia for an introduction) or youtube pages for the films. Not every film is available, but there are enough to give anyone a good overview of what's up for awards.
It wouldn't be a surprise to see the site disappear pretty quickly. It's sure to upset the academy and the MPAA, and its creators may well be deliberately goading them. But it does once again highlight the fact that the existing distribution systems just aren't up to the task of the most talked about films to the masses.
(via waxy, who also has an interesting analysis of piracy and the Oscars)
Tags: Oscars, MPAA, Bittorrent, file sharing, Oscar Torrents, Film Distribution
Moving from Grand Rapids to the UK, as we're doing this summer, is going to involve selling a lot of our belongings and, of course, our house.
We decided that a good way to do that would be to set up a new blog. So over at going... going... you can find a gradually developing listing of what we'd like other people to take off our hands. In a big step, I just listed our house on the site.
I'm also going to be using flickr for similar purposes.
I have to confess that we were a little disappointed to hear on the radio the other night that Beijing have announced plans to crack down on poorly translated (into English) signs in the run-up to the Olympics. We were looking forward to seeing such signs when we visit this summer.
Thankfully, it seems like Malaysia Airlines are extending some sympathy. I've been having consistent problems with 500 errors on their website, so emailed them to suggest they might like to fix it. A few seconds later, I got this delightful automatic response:
I'm not sure whether to prefer 'we will revert' (specially since that's actually what I want them to do--revert to a working version of their code) or the fact that it's signed off in such a generic manner.
