Monday, December 19, 2005

Cluedrain

While Jimbo Wales takes hits for "obsessively monitoring his own biography" (which I'd probably do too, if I were Jimbo), my own bio remains a stub. Meanwhile, the Cluetain entry in Wikipedia carries notices that say The neutrality of this article is disputed and This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. A look at the edit history of the piece shows that none of Cluetrain's four authors have contributed anything to the entry.

That said, I regard Wikipedia as one of the most important and remarkable documents of our time, and perhaps ever. Kudos to Jimbo and the other folks who started it, and to everybody making the effort to improve it.

Cielo de Los Angeles

The Winter Solstice arrives on the West Coast at 10:35am Wednesday. Given the invisible analemma that determines the time and point along the horizon where the Sun rises, we're at the optimum time of year, here on the South Coast, to watch the sun rise and set over the Pacific Ocean.

We've seen a lot of spectacular sunrises and sunsets here in Santa Barbara — especially over the last two months. But this morning's was the best so far. Here are 49 photos taken between 6:32 and 6:53am. The show was so good it all but required symphonic music. As I've said before, the words of Whitman (Dazzling and tremendous...) always lift me when I see a sunrise, especially one as spectacular as this morning's.

If you have the time, look around this photo set, at the brilliant oranges, reds and purples of the clouds, the pale blues on the predawn Pacific, the silhouettes of the trees and shadings of the mountains.

Also bear in mind that most of the clouds in these pictures were hovering over Los Angeles at the time I shot them. (And no, it wasn't smog. These clouds were too high for that.)

Must be quiet as a factory, too

Via Chip Hoagland: Gizmag reports on a V-8 snowblower that looks like it could also trench through rocks and dirt. Details:

...you’ll never get bored with the job as the 454 cubic inch big block Chevrolet V8 produces 412 horsepower, 430 foot pounds of torque and can throw snow 50 feet at just 3500 rpm.

Gang justice

Sister Helen Prejean called the execution of Stanley "Tookie" Williams last week "gang justice":

Gang justice is, if you kill a member of our gang, we kill you -- and don't tell me anything about how you changed your life or what you're going to do," she said. "You kill, and we kill you." And that's what the United States of America is doing with this.

Well, in this case it was the State of California, in Gov. Schwarzenegger's denial of clemency, which I called a "fatal book review."

Again, though I'm opposed to the death penalty, I believe the Governator should have based clemency denial on the convincing findings of the state's courts and its appeals system, and not on Williams' own refusal to admit guilt, along with Willams' book dedications.

Thanks to Madame Levy for the pointage.

Siding with individuality and independence

I love the term "fauxtilitarian", which Ed Batista points toward Hummer's latest civilianized offering. Specifically,

I love solidly-built, well-designed objects that are intended to be used hard and last a lifetime.  And I'm as susceptible as the next consumer to the lure of an aspirational purchase.  But when Hummer's touting the "Duramax 6600" on the back of the Wine Spectator (see the Dec. 15 issue), well, fauxtility has officially exhausted itself as an aesthetic.  I'm expecting a return to flashy superficiality any day now.

Bonus link: Ed sees a connection between Terry Gilliam's surreal movie Brazil, and World of Ends:

From a "Central Services" view of the world, user-driven innovation is sabotage, and the Harry Tuttles of the world (read: entrepreneurs who can't take the paperwork) are terrorists.  The company (or agency or ministry or bureau, ad infinitum) knows best. They know what you need, they even know what you want...and they're never wrong.

It's time to pick a side, and who do you think's on your side: Harry Tuttle...or Spoor?

Backsynd, cont'd

Yesterday I kept public notes on bloggers' reports from, and after, last week's Syndicate conference, which I chaired and where I keynoted. I'm continuing that today, here.

The Syndicator Blog kept up both conference and its topic. Dick Hardt and Marc Canter responded to Paul Kedrosky's knock on Structured Blogging, which was announced at the show.

Ed Batista covered a lot with these four posts.

Debbie Weil wasn't there, but picked this up about the show.

Steven M. Cohen posts eight highlights of the show, plus a photoset.