Power Disorders- February 9, 2005 Via del.icio.ustagbooks I came across this interview with Neal Stephenson at Reason.com. Toward the beginning of the interview, Stephenson is asked about a recent talk he gave during which he cited theologian Walter Wink and Wink's discussion of "domination systems." I've never heard of Wink and must make a note to explore his writings, but I find Stephenson's discussion of the concept of power disorders in response to the question interesting. Reason: You gave a speech at the Computers,...http://levinson.blogspot.com/2005/02/power-disorders.html Truly, the NHL is doomed- February 5, 2005 Taking a break (or submitting before he went) from his Superbowl festivities, Bill Simmons takes the time to look over the bed the NHL owners made but now refuse to lie in: Even hockey diehards &8212; a dying breed right up there with Eddie Murphy fans and handlebar-mustache fans &8212; seem to agree this lockout is for the best. And that's a little weird, because we're not talking the WNBA here, where only a tiny segment of people will pay to watch the games. People like hockey. Sure, most of..http://levinson.blogspot.com/2005/02/truly-nhl-is-doomed.html Election Evaluation- February 5, 2005 Juan Cole posts his thoughts on the election in Iraq:With all the hoopla, it is easy to forget that this was an extremely troubling and flawed 'election.' Iraq is an armed camp. There were troops and security checkpoints everywhere. Vehicle traffic was banned. The measures were successful in cutting down on car bombings that could have done massive damage. But even these Draconian steps did not prevent widespread attacks, which is not actually good news. There is every reason to think that when.http://levinson.blogspot.com/2005/01/election-evaluation.html Blessed are the Children- February 5, 2005 The graphic tells you all you need to know. Many teeth will be gnashed and garments rended over this study of high schools students' opinions on the first amendment. I have not yet read the study, and only became aware of it from the most viewed images section on my yahoo. But looking at the graphic I am unsurprised by the finidings of the study. Let's look at two lines of the graphic. "Newspapers should be allowed to publish freely without government approval of stories. Students: 51% yes;.http://levinson.blogspot.com/2005/01/blessed-are-children.html Switching- February 5, 2005 Salon looks at the state of the Mac today, and there is a good deal of commentary to be mined. Hitting closest to home for me was this quote on the difference between Windows and Mac users: Perhaps the answer lies in what Jason Snell, the editor of Macworld magazine, says is the essential difference between Windows people and Mac people: Mac people love their computers on a personal, emotional level. Windows people, on the other hand, prefer to think of their machines as office tools, gadgets..http://levinson.blogspot.com/2005/01/switching.html Mac and Safety- February 5, 2005 Is the Mac actually safer SpyWare, AdWare, malware in general, all of it seeking to destroy my WindowsME installation. Will my looming switch to the mac make me safer Yes. Why Because OS X is structurally more impervious to these maladies. True You bet your buster browns say the mac people. Not true say the, er, experts From yesterday's Salon article: According to experts, though, it isn't the Mac's better structure that accounts for why so few pieces of malware and spyware are aimed...http://levinson.blogspot.com/2005/02/mac-and-safety.html ESPN Interview with Malcolm Gladwell- February 5, 2005 Page 2 interviews Malcolm Gladwell about Blink today. Two things struck me about this interview. First, Jeff Merron seems to have actually read all or most of the book. Second, Gladwell seems a genuine sports fan. The result is a quality interview where both participants are on the same (or at least similar) page. In my experience this is surprisingly rare in book interviews. I found most interesting the part where Gladwell talks about Moneyball and the need for balance in evalutating a...http://levinson.blogspot.com/2005/02/espn-interview-with-malcolm-gladwell.html Results Cloudy, Ask Again Later- February 4, 2005 MSFT search has been launched. Becuase of the way I use search engines (mostly for research), it will be some time before I have my own evaluation of MSFT search. Two bloggers did some searches of their own to evaluate the new service. Their experiences are starkly different and highlight, I think, the difficulty of evaluating any search engine. It depends as much on the results you want as the results you get. First up Kim Krause of Cre8PC: For the record, I'm freezing my butt off in my...http://levinson.blogspot.com/2005/02/results-cloudy-ask-again-later.html Dean in at DNC- February 4, 2005 A lot of people wonder what the Republican party would look like if John McCain had a stronger role in shaping its message. Well, if Chris Bowers is correct, the Dems are about to find out what happens when the maverick outsider who fell off his horse on the road to Damascus gets the keys to the party. I'm an outspoken supporter of Dean for the DNC chair and I hope that some of my predictions about the DC bubble being popped come to fruition. With Dean at the helm I think we'll start winning.http://levinson.blogspot.com/2005/02/dean-in-at-dnc.html Who Needs Reform- February 3, 2005 Reading over the commentary on the SOTU, I confirmed my suspicion that there was no need to actually watch it. Indeed, all Bush's speeches are, as Ezra noted yesterday, worthless by intent. Full to the brim of empty rhetoric that gets the good-intentioned all atwitter, but deliberately avoid any meaningful details. This is a luxury afforded Bush by his fellow traveller Tom DeLay. DeLay has structured the legislature such that all bills are written in their entirety behind closed doors,...http://levinson.blogspot.com/2005/02/who-needs-reform.html |