Buzz

State of the World 2012

• #134: Ted Newcomb (tcn) Wed 11 Jan 12 16:19
  Whole 'nother meaning to "Smart Mob", Mafia now Italy's #1 bank:http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/10/us-italy-mafia-idUSTRE8091YX20120110 [Read entire topic] […]
• #133: Jon Lebkowsky (jonl) Wed 11 Jan 12 15:52
  I did read that Charlie Stross piece today, though not all the hundreds of comments that followed, despite the fact that so many of them looked interesting at a glance. There's always too much good stuff to read and digest; if we have attention deficits, it's because there are so many roadside attractions, all seductive.Stross was talking about the […]
• #132: Jon Lebkowsky (jonl) Wed 11 Jan 12 13:32
  I see your motorcycle magnet bomb, and raise you this headline: "Google predicts flu, fountain spews germs, boy blows up silo..." http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/healthyperspective/post/2012-01-11/google-flu-stress-norms-elder-abuse-waterfall-legionnaires-disease-cancer-boy-blows-up-building-/600908/1Actually a set of unrelated stories, though […]
• #131: Bruce Sterling (bruces) Wed 11 Jan 12 12:11
  Speaking of which, I sure wish I could interview the Mossad guy who designs and builds magnetic limpet mines for Iranian nuclear scientists. What a career this dude must have.When the results of his labors hit Google News -- "men on motorcycles blow nuclear scientist and unnamed companion to bits" -- what's his personal reaction, I wonder? I […]
• #130: Bruce Sterling (bruces) Wed 11 Jan 12 12:03
  http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2012/01/11/phobos_grunt_the_u_s_didn_t_shoot_down_russia_s_mars_probe_but_it_could_have_.html*So, the "Phobos-Grunt" Russian Mars probe came to a bad end, and here Vladimir Popovkin, the head of Russia's space agency, hints that it was done in through spacewar foul play.*I'm guessing this is "P […]
• #129: Jon Lebkowsky (jonl) Wed 11 Jan 12 11:59
  Venessa Miemis writes very good "back to square one, let's rethink the world" posts. Latest is here: http://emergentbydesign.com/2012/01/10/core-principles-for-the-new-economy-human-agency-enlightened-self-interest/"I believe in a social and economic future that is convivial, vibrant, thriving, and life-enhancing for all. We live with pas […]
• #128: Bruce Sterling (bruces) Wed 11 Jan 12 11:51
  "So then we look at a picture of the globe at night. What's out there in the dark spaces where the enlightenment has not yet reached?"I'm inclined to think that the "dark spaces" are the ones where the enlightenment is in full retreat. Chernobyl and Fukushima, for two. [Read entire topic] […]
• #127: Bruce Sterling (bruces) Wed 11 Jan 12 11:50
  That Gibson interview in Paris Review is about as good as Gibson interviews get.http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/6089/the-art-of-fiction-no-211-william-gibson [Read entire topic] […]
• #126: Jon Lebkowsky (jonl) Wed 11 Jan 12 11:00
  Drone wars: http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2011/08/10/obama-2011-strikes/(Thanks to @gregoryfoster for tweeting that link.)This is something you didn't see on television ("you can't handle the truth!"). Covert and subtle war drones on; note the collateral damage. [Read entire topic] […]
• #125: Julian Bond (jonl) Wed 11 Jan 12 10:12
  From Julian Bond, via Google Plus:Re "Darkness on the edge of town". That image and also one by Joni Mitchell "A prisoner of the white lines on the freeway" have resonated with me in the past as metaphors for Western and particularly USA society. You're free and there is freedom just as long as you stay between the white lines on the […]