…nerding it up. Lots of my A/V club brethren are here at Barcamp Vancouver 2007 giving talks and enlightening each other as to the mysteries of social media, Web 2.0, and assorted whatnot. More later.
While America throws money down the drain trying to redraw the map of the Middle East and debates how many angels can dance on a stem cell (and why that stem cell was clearly created 6000 years ago), Asian countries are quietly pouring money, brains and talent into nanotechnology research and other productive pursuits.
Esquire has an article up about “Idiot America,” dealing with how the US has gone from a country that valued science and intellectual rigor to a place where people operate on “gut feeling” and dismiss anything involving reasoned thought as potentially dangerous. And as if that weren’t enough to put a shiver in your trousers, there’s also a profile of Shenzen, China’s fastest growing city, which has become a white-hot hub of economic expansion, consumer madness, and anything-goes capitalism in less than a decade.
The Bush administration is trying to label the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as ‘terrorists’, which is a neat way of justifying possible military action. My money is on the summer 0f 2008 for a bit of the ol’ bomby-bomby over Tehran, neatly destabilizing the Middle East even further and throwing a wrench into elections the Republicans will surely lose.
Warren and Steven tear into what was definitely the lowlight of the season, Daleks in Manhattan, which had all the potential for greatness but failed to live up to its promise every step of the way. At least it gave us ample ammunition for slagging during our commentary, which we did with great relish and abandon. We also cover bits and pieces of news, including the as of yet unconfirmed (but oh so tasty) rumour that Ben Kingsley might play Davros in Season 4. (feed, web, direct download)
I’m firmly in the Dawkins camp, myself, but I found this story by a religion reporter (and former devout Christian) fascinating. It details how the ongoing sex scandal in the Catholic Church shook his beliefs to their core, and as if that wasn’t enough, he then started profiling televangelists, further depressing and saddening him. A riveting read.
Such a possibility is not as far off as you’d think, as noted thinker Gwynne Dyer explains in his latest article.
Even though Iraq is in a state of chaos, Global War on Terror ™ supporters have always pointed to Afghanistan as an example of America’s propensity for hands-off invading as a good thing. An article in the New York Times spells out just how wrong that notion is, cataloguing the rebirth of the Taliban and the continuing struggle to keep the country out of the hands of warlords and extremists.
Well, laptop converted into a steam-driven information conveyance, at any rate. The Wall Street Journal (now a Lord Murdoch daguerreotype!) brings the goods in the form of a moving picture.
There was a time in my distant past when I was a Master Control Operator for several Canadian national broadcast networks. Despite the grandiose sounding title, it was thankless drudgework which consisted mostly of making sure “Caillou” kept broadcasting through the wee hours.
Youtube has done this sad situation one better by hiring people to sift through endless cat videos, confessionals and other meaningless drivel to find copyright-infringing material. I feel sorry for the people in those jobs, and predict a sharp uptick in the income of local psychologists after participants get a few months under their belt.