April 26, 2006
Berkeley on iTunes
A few weeks ago, I mentioned that Stanford had opened up part of their iTunes U program to the public, so anyone could download audio of various visiting lectures and other events. Now it seems UC Berkeley has taken the idea a step further by actually opening up course content to the public. Cool.
Head over to itunes.berkeley.edu to get in.
If you have trouble choosing a course, I suggest you try IB 31: Animal Behavior. I haven't actually listened to the lectures, but animal behavior and behavioral ecology are fascinating topics. If you don't want to commit to listening to a whole course, there are a few lectures with intriguing titles:
- On the Trail of Our Human Ancestors by Tim White
- Studying the Human Condition: Habits of an Anthropologist by Nancy Scheper-Hughes
- Making Science Accessible by Eva Harris
- History of Information
- Open Source Development and Distribution of Digital Information: Technical, Economic, Social, and Legal Perspectives
- Search Engines-Technology, Society, and Business
- Bush Science: Use and Abuse of Science in Policymaking by Various.
26 Apr 19:56 | Link | Category: Cool Links, Human/Primate Evolution & Behavior, Libraries & Digital Information
April 25, 2006
'My Life in the Bush of Ghosts' remastered and re-issued
Back in 1981, Brian Eno and David Byrne collaborated on a pioneering and influential album entitled "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts." It was a mashup of all kinds of music and sounds, filled with funky rhythms and weird samples of everything from radio talk shows and exorcisms to Egyptian pop music and Lebanese vocalists. I stumbled across this excellent album five or six years ago and it instantly became a favorite.
It has now been digitally remastered and re-issued, with seven tracks not included on the original album. Even cooler, complete multitracks for a couple of the songs will be released under the Creative Commons license, meaning you can sample, edit, or remix the songs in any way you want.
Check out the re-release site to listen to the new tracks, see photos from the studio and original album art concepts, and even watch a video for Mea Culpa. Very cool.
To purchase the remastered album, go to Amazon.com or the iTunes Music Store. (The Creative Commons stuff should be released on the album's site at some point.)
(Also check out Pitchfork's review.)
25 Apr 16:31 | Link | Category: Music
More on the Pope's shoes
Back in December, I mentioned Pope Benedict XVI's fancy shoes and sunglasses. Now The Wall Stree Journal is running a story about it.
Since his election last year, the pope has been spotted wearing Serengeti-branded sunglasses and brown walking shoes donated by Geox. He owns a specially engraved white Apple iPod, and he recently stirred much publicity with a pair of stylish red loafers that may or may not be from Prada.
The raft of designer labels floating around the new pontiff is one of the odder consequences of last year's long-awaited papal transition. For the marketing world, the change at the helm of the Holy See is presenting an unprecedented opportunity, but also an ethical dilemma over how far to exploit religion for hyping a product.
Benedict XVI's media-savvy predecessor, John Paul II, was one of the world's most photographed public figures, but he also was a conspicuous ascetic. His preferred footwear was a pair of worn brown shoes. Prior to a 1981 assassination attempt, the Polish pontiff cruised around Rome in a 1960s Mercedes he inherited from his predecessor.
Benedict XVI is striking a snazzier profile, presenting international brands with a welcome change of pace. Being associated with the pope is worth at least 100 times more than an A-list celebrity because the pontiff has a more devoted following.
25 Apr 13:54 | Link | Category: Misc. Tidbits
April 24, 2006
No more Biosphere 2
It sounds like Biosphere 2 will be torn down soon. According to the Tucson Weekly:
Looks like Biosphere 2, the world's largest terrarium, may soon be history. Reporter Joseph Barrios of the morning daily broke the news last week that Fairfield Homes is making a deal to buy the Biosphere's spectacular 1,600 acres to develop a master-planned community. Evidently, a three-acre simulation of the planet isn't a selling point for buyers of luxury homes these days.
It'd be a shame if they tore it down. I visited Biosphere 2 a few years back, and not only was it in a beautiful spot, but the building itself seemed like quite an engineering marvel. Much more interesting than a master-planned community.
Such is life in the sprawling West.
(via J-Walk)
24 Apr 19:37 | Link | Category: Current Events, Science
Geologic Evolution of North America
Dr. Ron Blakey, a professor of geology at Northern Arizona University, has posted all sorts of cool paleogeographic maps on his web site. Check out Global Paleogeographic Views of Earth History or Paleogeography of the Southwestern US. One of the coolest sets of images is Paleogeography and Geologic Evolution of North America.
(Michal Migurski combined the images to create a movie.)
24 Apr 19:15 | Link | Category: Science
April 23, 2006
Anyone up for some desert wandering?
I think spring has finally arrived. Yesterday it was 76° F. A couple of days before that, I finally took the top off my Jeep. (What a glorious moment that always is -- I've been saying it for years, but I'll say it again: the dogs are right; a drive is not a drive unless your face is in the wind.)
All of this means I've caught the annual springtime travel bug. One of my favorite destinations for a quick getaway is Southern Utah. During recent years, I've been visiting fairly regularly during April. I was too busy - and the weather was too bad - this April for me to consider going. And during May I have two trips to California planned. But I would still like to take a short trip to Southern Utah soon.... maybe during June.
This time, I'm going to spend some more time exploring the Comb Ridge / Butler Wash area (in the four corners area near the San Juan River and the town of Bluff - population: 320). It's an area full of beautiful canyons and rock formations.
Because the area was heavily settled by Ancestral Puebloans, it is rich with ruins and rock art - nearly 200 sites per square mile. I explored the area very briefly a few years back (it's where this photo comes from) and I've been itching to go back ever since. If you care to join me, drop a line and let me know when you can go. I'm thinking early June, depending on what I do as far as summer classes.
The images at the top of the post are from Google Earth. If you have the program (it's free for Windows & Mac), download this file to have it automatically take you to the location. Notable cliff dwelling sites are also marked. Damn, I love Google Earth.
Elsewhere: Utah adventure cures vacation doldrums
23 Apr 15:42 | Link | Category: Travel
April 22, 2006
The Decider, or How I Beat Rolling Stone to the Punch
More than two weeks ago, I wrote:
I think I've mentioned Helen Thomas before... back in 2002 I wrote about her statement that Bush was the "worst president ever". I agreed somewhat, but wondered how he really compared to others traditionally considered poor presidents (Warren Harding, Andrew Johnson, James Buchanan, Ulysses Grant, etc.). But the more time George W. Bush spends in office, the more I start to think she might've been on to something back then.
This week, the latest issue of Rolling Stone showed up with this cover story: The Worst President in History?
The article is fairly interesting, so take a few minutes to read it. I was unaware that a survey of 415 historians in 2004 (back in much better days) found that eighty-one percent considered the Bush administration a "failure." Twelve percent - the same amount who called Bush a success - said he was the worst president in history.
One thing I picked up on was the fact that many of the other traditionally low-ranked presidents (like Buchanan, A. Johnson, and Hoover) only served one term. What sort of failure on the part of the U.S. citizenry and U.S. political system led to GWB being elected twice (even if barely)?
22 Apr 16:07 | Link | Category: Opinion & Thoughts
April 20, 2006
Current Playlist
Another month, another hour of disjointed listening...
| Joe Pernice - Bum Leg >> |
| M. Ward - Four Hours In Washington >> |
| The Walkmen - We've Been Had >> |
| The National - The Thrilling of Claire >> |
| Paul Duncan - Oil In The Fields >> |
| The Dandy Warhols - Sleep >> |
| Gravenhurst - Animals >> |
| Film School - On & On >> |
| Okkervil River - Red >> |
| The National - All The Wine >> |
| Aeroc - Bue Eyed Bitter >> |
| Thievery Corporation - Amerimacka feat. Notch >> |
| Thievery Corporation - The Heart's a Lonely Hunter feat. David Byrne >> |
| Blackalicioius - Lotus Flower feat. George Clinton >> |
20 Apr 14:29 | Link | Category: Music
April 9, 2006
Why Do You Do What You Do?
I was in my office late one night not wanting to be bothered. The phone rang, and I wanted to ignore it. But, I felt compelled to answer. Before I could start, a child’s voice blurted, "Why do you do what you do?"
"Write your own answer. Take a picture. Draw something. Upload." "And read what others have written."
Interesting idea. I'd like to see it branch out and get a wider variety of photos/answers.
09 Apr 0:53 | Link | Category: Misc. Tidbits, Photography
April 8, 2006
Video of giant centipede eating mouse
I generally don't have any problem with insects, spiders, and the like. But one arthropod I've always had a visceral feeling of revulsion towards is the centipede. This video doesn't help. You've probably already seen it since it's been buzzing around the web for a while. But if not... check it out.
08 Apr 19:32 | Link | Category: Misc. Tidbits, Science, Video
Little Boxes
Back in the 60s, Malvina Reynolds wrote a fine little ditty called Little Boxes about conformity and how we are put in (and how we put ourselves in) 'little boxes' (made of ticky-tacky), both physically and mentally.
If you haven't heard the song, here's a copy of her singing it (MP3, 2 MB).
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky tacky
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes all the same,
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
And the people in the houses
All went to the university
Where they were put in boxes
And they came out all the same
And there's doctors and lawyers
And business executives
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
And they all play on the golf course
And drink their martinis dry
And they all have pretty children
And the children go to school,
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university
Where they are put in boxes
And they come out all the same.
And the boys go into business
And marry and raise a family
In boxes made of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same,
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
The message is just as appropriate a critique of contemporary American culture as it was of mainstream 50s/60s culture. But more than that, I think it highlights the human tendency - even drive - to conform and fit in. Any social grouping requires certain rules and norms to function, so it's not surprising. Even people in 'nonconformist' subcultures and 'counter'-cultures often end up little boxes like so many others. There are some spoofs of the song that point this out. Like the Beatnik Version:
And they're all nonconformists
And they all dress just the same
And they go to the university
And they major in philosophy
And they're all deep thinkers
And they all think just the same
And they all read their Sartre
And they all read their Kierkegard
And they all talk about it
And they all sound just the same
Or this one I found on Google:
And the women all wear over-alls
And grow organic vegetables
And their jewelry comes from Pakistan
And it all looks just the same
Still, many times when I drive past a new modern-day Levittown gobbling up the countryside or hear people talking about their little year-by-year formula for a happy, successful life I often start humming "Little Boxes".
I'm also quite fond of this additional verse:
Politicians, politicians
Politicans making promises
Politicians, politicians
Politicians all the same
There's republicans and there's democrats
And there's liberals and conservatives
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all sound just the same
08 Apr 17:09 | Link | Category: Music, Opinion & Thoughts
Stanford on iTunes
Stanford University is using iTunes to deliver digital content. Part of the project is a completely free public site from which you can download lectures, music, and other stuff. Check it out here. You'll need iTunes, but I'm not sure whether or not you need an account to download.
There are lots of interesting lectures. All the audio I listen to tends to be music, but I think I'm going to forgo the music once in a while to listen to some of these. Some recommended downloads (even though I've only listened to a few of them so far):
- Daniel Dennett: Intelligent Design
- Peter Godfrey-Smith: Philosophy of Science
- Robert Sapolsky: Stress and Coping: What Baboons Can Teach Us
- Denise Clark Pope: Getting Ahead in School: How We Are Creating a Generation of Stressed-Out, Materialistic, and Miseducated Students
- David Laitin and James Fearon: Postmodern Imperialism
- Laura Carstensen: Aging and the Perception of Time
- Robert Dunbar: Is Global Warming Real? Climate Change and Our Energy Future
- Steve Jobs: 2005 Commencement Address (or video)
While I'm on the topic of iTunes downloads, episodes of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report can now be downloaded. They're expensive at $1.99 a pop, but you can also purchase a 'multi-pass' that gets you sixteen episodes for $9.99. (They download automatically the day after they air on TV.) It's still not the cheapest way to get your Daily Show or Colbert Report fix (at about 60¢ an episode), but it's very convenient. I got a pass for The Daily Show just out of curiosity, and once the sixteen episodes were up, I really missed being able to watch The Daily Show - commercial-free - whenever it was most convenient for me.
08 Apr 1:00 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Cool Links, Libraries & Digital Information, Technology & Computing
April 7, 2006
Should we talk about the government? (Hi... hi, hi... hi)
Ah... politics. So much to talk about. I thought about writing a long series of paragraphs on Tom DeLay, but I think Studs Terkel summed it up pretty well the other night when he said that DeLay had "made the best career move of his life -- quit public life and became a private servant, which he's been all his life."
There was also the UAE ports fiasco, but I think Jeff Greenfield summed it up pretty well by pointing to the fact that it had more to do with xenophobia than safety. Read With port deal dead, do you feel safer?
So maybe I'll move on to George W. Bush. Where to begin... The recent developments in the Plame/Libby case are pretty amusing. I doubt it will lead to anything (Salon.com's Tim Grieve writes more about what the documents do and do not prove), but it's yet another item to add to the steaming pile of all things rotten with this administration. (Maybe we should limit presidents to one term to avoid the second-term scandals that inevitably pop up.) It's amazing that this administration has been able to get away with so much corrupt, negligent, and potentially criminal behavior without anyone (except Russ Feingold) calling for any sort of acknowledgement or accountability. People were (rightfully) upset when the Clinton administration got away with things, but this administration makes the Clinton folks look like a bunch of silly lightweights.
Last month, I remember looking at a blog where the author asked readers to come up with a list of every 'idiotic' thing President Bush has done in the last five years. I've lost the link, but a good example is an outdated list of 100 mistakes from May 2004. Needless to say, there's now much more to add to the list.
Ah well. At least people seem to be reaching the breaking point with Bush & Co. If you missed the guy at the town hall meeting the other day, here's part of the transcript (you can see a QuickTime video clip here):
Q: You never stop talking about freedom, and I appreciate that. But while I listen to you talk about freedom, I see you assert your right to tap my telephone, to arrest me and hold me without charges, to try to preclude me from breathing clean air and drinking clean water and eating safe food. If I were a woman, you'd like to restrict my opportunity to make a choice and decision about whether I can abort a pregnancy on my own behalf. You are --
THE PRESIDENT: I'm not your favorite guy. Go ahead. (Laughter and applause.) Go on, what's your question?
Q: Okay, I don't have a question. What I wanted to say to you is that I -- in my lifetime, I have never felt more ashamed of, nor more frightened by my leadership in Washington, including the presidency, by the Senate, and --
AUDIENCE MEMBERS: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: No, wait a sec -- let him speak.
Q And I would hope -- I feel like despite your rhetoric, that compassion and common sense have been left far behind during your administration, and I would hope from time to time that you have the humility and the grace to be ashamed of yourself inside yourself. And I also want to say I really appreciate the courtesy of allowing me to speak what I'm saying to you right now. That is part of what this country is about.
THE PRESIDENT: It is, yes. (Applause.)
Q And I know that this doesn't come welcome to most of the people in this room, but I do appreciate that.
Helen Thomas was sent thousands of flowers after grilling the president at a press conference a few weeks ago. (Oddly, the campaign to send the flowers was started by a woman who lives in a suburb of Salt Lake City. Go, red states!) I think I've mentioned Helen Thomas before... back in 2002 I wrote about her statement that Bush was the "worst president ever". I agreed somewhat, but wondered how he really compared to others traditionally considered poor presidents (Warren Harding, Andrew Johnson, James Buchanan, Ulysses Grant, etc.). But the more time George W. Bush spends in office, the more I start to think she might've been on to something back then.
But fear not. The Bush dynasty will roll on. Check out George W.'s nephew, Pierce, being interviewed on the Today Show. I actually agree with him somewhat, but... wow. Georgetown has (or rather, had) some really sharp students. I'm sure he got in based on his academic merits. (Please please please don't follow in your uncle's footsteps, Pierce. Y'knowhatI'msayin?)
And finally, a page to supplement the always entertaining Complete Bushisms: Keep up-to-date on your Bushisms with Fresh Dubya from DubyaSpeak.com.
Now that I've surely pissed off at least a few of you, my job is done so I think I'll go see a movie.
07 Apr 18:18 | Link | Category: Current Events, Opinion & Thoughts
Should we talk about the weather? (Hi... hi, hi)
Today, it's 60° F and sunny. Yesterday, we got slammed by biggest spring storm in more than thirty years. This isn't terribly unusual... springtime in Utah is often an adventure in extremes.
But it seems like everyone I talk to thinks the weather is increasingly baffling. Even the old-timers who have seen it all. Are we actually beginning to experience the symptoms of global warming as climates begin to shift? Or are we just using global warming as a convenient way to explain weather we don't like?
I first started gobbling up information on global warming about eight years ago, after reading two essays by Carl Sagan entitled "Ambush: The Warming of the World" and "Escape from Ambush". (You can find copies in his final book, Billions & Billions.) It didn't take much digging to convince me of the reality and ramifications of increasing global temperature.
More than ten years ago, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that "the balance of evidence suggests there is a discernible human influence on climate." (Even without all the evidence that has piled up in the last ten years, scientists in 1995 stated that there was a 90 - 95 percent chance the observed warming was not caused by natural climactic variability.)
A few weeks ago, Time Magazine published a cover story about global warming that was... well, old news to anyone who has done even cursory research into global warming. The reactions to this "news" item were pretty interesting. George F. Will, for example, wrote an article blaming "big crusading journalism" for calculating to produce anxiety among Americans. In it, he recalls how scientists and media in the 60s and 70s warned of the 'coming ice age', essentially arguing that we should dismiss their current warnings because they're just chicken littles trying to scare us. He mentions a one degree temperature rise, but conveniently fails to mention so much else (for example, the fact that at the current rate that Earth's temperature is rising, by 2100 it will probably be 4 degrees warmer than it is now, with the Arctic at least as warm as it was 130,000 years ago).
I don't think it's a case of the media simply manipulating and frightening people. The fact is that large-scale climate change is very serious business and any sane person should be a little frightened by the uncertainty of it. The global mean temperature is changing faster than at any time since we started this whole civilization business. (Ask an anthropologist or historian for examples of climactic/environmental change ripping a society apart at the seams and you'll get a laundry list of examples.) The world's poorest will be hit first and hardest, but global climate change will affect all humans and a great variety of other life (arguably all life - ask any biologist about how climate shapes life). Remember, the difference between an ice age and an interglacial interval is only 3° - 6° C.
There's no question that the mean global temperature is steadily rising. To me, the key uncertainty is how resilient global climate systems are. In other words, is there enough negative feedback to balance positive feedback? The Time article mentions an example of positive feedback:
One of the reasons the loss of the planet's ice cover is accelerating is that as the poles' bright white surface disappears it changes the relationship of the Earth and the sun. Polar ice is so reflective that 90 percent of the sunlight that strikes it simply bounces back into space, taking its energy with it. Ocean water does just the opposite, absorbing 90 percent of the light and heat it receives, meaning that each mile of ice that melts vanishes faster than the mile that preceded it.
There's also negative feedback. For example, an excess of CO2 in the atmosphere might cause plants to grow faster and intake more CO2, reducing severity of the greenhouse effect. Another example would be that as the planet heats up, more water will evaporate, forming more clouds which in turn reflect sunlight and help keep things cool.
There's incredible complexity, so making predictions of what will happen is extremely tricky business. (If you want to contribute to the climate prediction effort, check out this site.) But I think the inescapable point is that things are changing, and they seem to be changing rapidly. As Sagan points out in his essay:
The faster the climate is changing, the more difficult it is for whatever homeostatic systems there are to catch up and stabilize. I wonder if we're not more likely to miss the unpleasant feedbacks than comforting ones. We're not smart enough to predict everything. That's certainly clear. I think it's unlikely that the sum of what we're too ignorant to figure out will save us. Maybe it will. But would we want to be our lives on it?
Anyway. I'm rambling. I started out wondering if the odd weather everyone is noticing is real or imagined. I still don't know. But I do know that global warming increases the chances of having bad weather. All computer models show that global warming is accompanied by increases in bad weather (drought inland, flooding near the coasts, hotter/colder weather locally, etc.). We humans like to think we're smart and resilient, and I suppose we sometimes are. But we depend on the stability of our planet's environment and we haven't done a very good job of paying attention to it.
The most unsettling thing of all is that politicians and corporations are the only ones who will be able to affect truly significant change. I wonder how long it will take and how bad it will have to get before they start to even think about it. Meanwhile, the polar bears are disappearing, the Caribbean coral continues to die, and weird things are happening with phytoplankton. (What happens when you mess with the base of the food chain?)
07 Apr 12:00 | Link | Category: Opinion & Thoughts, Science
April 6, 2006
Need a ten year old computer?
If you're looking for an old computer, I have two (that I'm having a hard time giving away). They're on eBay right now. (If you're here in the Salt Lake City area, ignore the shipping charges.) One is an ultra-speedy Compaq 486 DX4 100 MHz laptop. The other is an old Apple Power Macintosh 7200/120.
06 Apr 14:24 | Link | Category: Technology & Computing