Accept no substitutes

Month: April 2006 (Page 1 of 4)

At University of Granada

I’ve spent the day with meetings of the Louis Round Wilson Knowledge Trust meetings — so far. I’m now on a debate/talk with Nicole Wong of Google about economic and market effects of openness. I’ll be drawing on James Boyle’s Shamans, Software and Spleens: Law and the Construction of the Information Society and on Yochai Benkler’s Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom and on Koleman Strumpf’s work on the market effect of file-sharing (that is none).

Virtues of Wandering

As a result of wandering, I ended up having a nice talk with Lynne Brindley and her husband Tim as we sat out under the shade by the river looking up at the Alhambra. Luckily I had Yochai Benkler’s Wealth of Networks handy so’s I could refer to the chart on page 340 on patent revenues. We talked about more than that but that was a part of the talk. That and the Saint and James Bond amongst other things.

Also met up with Hafez Modirzadeh, who is here for the year on a Fullbright. Hafez is a musician and a scholar of music. We’ll catch up over coffee on Sunday.

Shower before dinner with the Louis Round Wilson Knowledge Trust folks.

In Granada

My trip over was mostly uneventful and mostly on schedule. That’s more that is true for most folks coming here from UNC and for our friend Paula who was on her way to Northern Cyprus. I met Paula in RDU after she had been bumped unwillingly from her connecting flight out. We ended up flying to Gatwick together and had a fine time if a fine time can be defined as passing out on an overnight transAtlantic flight.
In Gatwick, I stopped at the whiskey store looking for Ardbeg 17 year which seems to no longer exist. Ardbeg 10 year is there. I was offered a taste, which by the way amounts to a shot, and it just wasn’t as smooth as the 17. The shopkeeper recommended a Caol Ila 18 year which like Ardbeg is an Islay single malt about as smooth and with the taste of peat and of the sea slightly. Again she offered a taste aka a shot. I was in fine shape for sleep on the Gatwick to Mardid flight!
In Madrid’s lovely very modern airport, I wandered and was lost a little. I needed to find the ticket counter to pick up a boarding pass. eTixed people can’t get international boarding passes off the web and you have to go through customs to get the passes etc. A few things to learn here but all was just fine and I had a lot of time to work them out. A 45 minute delay of my flight helped on that front as well.
Ended up dirty and unshaven in Granada and took the airport bus into the hotel. Taxi = 20 euros; bus = 3 euros. So I got to wander a few blocks with my luggage. But I had my luggage and not everyone else did.
Dinner out late last night on the street whilst the locals filled the cafe to cheer on the local or was it national football squad.
Off to day to wander. Internet connections in the hotel as 15 euro/24 hours slot which is not cheap.
Meetings begin this evening at dinner (well informally then seriously in the morning).

Pew: How the Internet Matters in Our Lives

Whine if you will WSJ and others, but the rest of us depend on the Internet to help us through life in positive ways. Recent (4/19) Pew Internet and American Life surveys “show that 45% of internet users, or about 60 million Americans, say that the internet helped them make big decisions or negotiate their way through major episodes in their lives in the previous two years.”

In terms of growth of importance, the Pew surveys show these changes in the past three years (2002 vs 2005):

# 54% in the number of adults who said the internet played a major role as they helped another person cope with a major illness. And the number of those who said the internet played a major role as they coped themselves with a major illness increased 40%.
# 50% in the number who said the internet played a major role as they pursued more training for their careers.
# 45% in the number who said the internet played a major role as they made major investment or financial decisions.
# 43% in the number who said the internet played a major role when they looked for a new place to live.
# 42% in the number who said the internet played a major role as they decided about a school or a college for themselves or their children.
# 23% in the number who said the internet played a major role when they bought a car.
# 14% in the number who said the internet played a major role as they switched jobs.

The Pew report “Major Moments” is here [in PDF].

Dan Gillmor uses the reports to take on WSJ’s Dan Henninger on his Center for Citizen Media Blog.

Apple Chill – the love and the hate

We’ll be uptown in front of Aladdin’s Restaurant on Franklin today for the Apple Chill Street Fair. Tucker’s Odyssey of the Mind team will be selling drinks and raffle tickets (You could win an iPod Nano) there to raise funds to help pay for their trip to the Odyssey of the Mind World Competition in Ames Iowa at the end of May.

I’ve always had mixed feelings about Apple Chill. In part because I’m both attracted and repelled by large crowds. And Apple Chill is large — not as large as Halloween, but large. Every year folks who avoid crowds and the Chill tell me how it used to be so much better, but thinking about it myself, I don’t think so. The Chill has certain appeal for people of different ages. The meeting and hanging out factor. The entertaining the kids factor. The excuse to eat bad for you fair food factor. The love and hate of live music factor — I love the energy, but the mix and tuning is never worth a poop especially at the street fair level of presentation. I have all the pottery I need — or do I? Let me just take a look.

The weather is beautiful and we’ll be out there in a few hours.

Library from Jet Parts

If this is to be believed there is a new library proposed for Guadalajara, Mexico to made from used fuselages:

New Jalisco Library, Gudalajara, Mexico (competition)

Over 200 Boeing 727 and 737 fuselages are stacked in a north-south slant in relation to sun exposure for energy efficiency. Two shifts in the direction of the main axis of the fuselages generate two large open spaces within the stack.

The building utilizes the space inside the fuselages to contain and organize functions that require enclosed spaces – such as book collections, meeting rooms and administration offices, – while the 2 large open spaces house a large atrium with all the reading areas on one side and two auditoriums on the other. are stacked in a north-south slant in relation to sun exposure for energy efficiency. Two shifts in the direction of the main axis of the fuselages generate two large open spaces within the stack.

The building utilizes the space inside the fuselages to contain and organize functions that require enclosed spaces – such as book collections, meeting rooms and administration offices, – while the 2 large open spaces house a large atrium with all the reading areas on one side and two auditoriums on the other.

[more with images at the link above]

From Memepunks via BoingBoing

Peter Kramer wins Kathryn Wallace Award for Artists in Community Service

When I get things settled down at ibiblio and I sneak off to write, I go to Peter Kramer and Susan Gladen’s farm and sit in the middle of their chicken yard. Peter, who cannot stop building small outbuildings, lets writers set up shop there.

Now Peter is recognized for his promotion of music with the Kathryn Wallace Award for Artists in Community Service from the Triangle Community Foundation.

I’ll let him explain, in his own modest way, further:

The judges were impressed by “Mr. Kramer’s ability to go on and on about musical esoterica, e.g., early 60’s soul music lyrics, well past the point where anyone is listening.” They also apparently took note of my musical skills: “Mr. Kramer never met a jazz chord he could play. He hasn’t listened to any new music since 1972, which he blames on hanging out with the same people he knew in 1972…”

Seriously, though…..I really won the thing, which comes with a small cash award that will be thrown back to some favorite groups like Lynden Harris’ Hidden Voices theater project at the ArtsCenter, Jude Reitman’s Women’s Prison Writing and Performance Project, the Education Foundation for the Orange County Schools, the Hillsborough Arts Council, and Tribes Magazine. All of you have been partners with Susan and me in a variety of ventures, which should continue until we’re dragged kicking and screaming off stage and the written page

Slate Eds on Arts Online – April 26

The J-School sends this alert (I’ll be in Granada — Have I said that enough? — but it should be very good):

What: How the Internet is Shaping Culture: What’s different about the arts in the online age?
When: Wednesday, April 26, 6 p.m.
Where: Carroll Hall 11 (in the “Garden” level)
Who:
Meghan O’Rourke, Slate’s culture editor.
Bryan Curtis, who writes Slate’s “Middlebrow” column and is Slate’s deputy culture editor.
Seth Stevenson, who writes Slate’s “Ad Report Card.”
Tim Wu, who writes on culture and legal issues for Slate and is a law professor at Columbia University.

Jones to Granada, Spain

Off to Granada on Monday/Tuesday for the Louis Round Wilson Knowledge Trust meetings. Jonathan Riehl sends these tips (Please add yours to the comments):

–The heart of the city is Plaza Nueva, at the foot of the hill leading up the Alhambra. Be sure to spend some time there at the outdoor cafes. The best place to get some really tasty food is, however, not outdoors. (Stick to beverages on the Plaza itself!) The street immediately *behind* the plaza (behind meaning away from the hill leading up to the Alhambra, which the plaza faces) features several restaurants that have great, cheap food. Look for the place with the huge barrels of sherry behind the bar…their assortments of tapas are hard to beat.

–When you tour the Alhambra, save some time to also walk further up the hill beyond the castle. There is only one road leading up, so you’ll see what I mean. Proceed on this road past the castle entrance and you’ll arrive (after no more than 10 minutes walking, steeply uphill) into an olive grove which abuts a small condo complex and–to your right–a phenomal overlook of the entire city; to your left the Sierra Nevada. There’s never anyone up there–could be trespassing, who knows; I’ve never run in to trouble…there is a very municipal-looking arboretum on the overlook, though come to think of it it’s always deserted…

–I’d advise you don’t bother with any tour groups going up into the Sacramonte, the “gypsy” part of town. Nowadays it’s mostly tourist traps and worse. Authentic flamenco is hard to come by, but one place I’d really recommend is the jazz club “Eshavira,” located just a few blocks from Plaza Nueva. Anyone around there will be able to direct you and it appears in some travel books. Local jazz artists and flamenco performers routinely stop in at all hours (mostly after midnight) — it’s hit or miss, but worth the shot.

–If you’re game for a formal Spanish meal (rabo de toro and such) the best place in town is the Rincon de Espana–also a few blocks from Pl. Nueva, on the street immediately behind the square housing the city municipal offices. Ask for it by name; it’s well known by the locals. No seatings before 9pm!

–There is a wonderful little wine bar also near Pl. Nueva–if you spot the car rental shot on the side of the plaza, the street leading up the hill from there leads to a small plaza where you’ll see a statue of a Moorish explorer. The wine bar is just a tad further up the hill and to the left from there. If you ask for the bar de vino, people will know where you’re headed. They have dozens of Spanish wines by the glass and, of course, tapas.

–If you continue up that street, you’ll eventually reach the Andalusian/Granada ministry of culture building, the ‘Casa de los Tiros’. The first floor of the building is a public (e.g. free) art gallery that features shows by local artists. I’ve seen some amazing exhibits there. Worth a visit.

–On the other side of town from Pl. Nueva and the Alhambra (all of a 20-30 minute walk) is the parque Garcia Lorca, a rather dull park, but Garcia Lorca’s house is worth the trip. Full of interesting relics.

If DNA testing is so simple…

If DNA testing is so simple that a whole lacrosse team can be tested and the results back within two weeks, then why can’t a deathrow inmate be tested?

This is the question being asked and chronicled as the businesss of an entire blog dedicated to the case of Jerry Conner with the title ” North Carolina Obstructs DNA Testing for Condemned Man! : Take action now to stop a wrongful execution! Tell the State to stop opposing DNA testing that promises to reveal the truth about the crimes for which Jerry Conner was convicted and sentenced to die”

The Laurel Hell – A novel in weekly installments

Warren Wilson alum Hillary Nelson has started publishing “The Laurel Hell” on her blog at the rate of one chapter per week. Do we have a blook and a Blooker cooking here?

The rain won’t come yet, not for a while, but Michael can smell it and can see it, miles away, a ragged shadow suspended from a blue thunderhead mounding so high it looks as though it reaches heaven. He thinks of a picture he once saw of a man opening a little door in the sky and sticking his head through. Michael can’t remember what was on the other side of that door.

The Ancient Way wins Horizon Interactive Award

The UNC Journalism and Mass Communication School produced The Ancient Way (hosted by ibiblio.org) was named top in their category for the Horizon Interactive Awards. Gabriel Dance, who worked with ibiblio.org, was in Galacia working on the project last summer and contributed to the project as did my collegues Rich Beckman, Pat Davidson, Alberto Cairo and Laura Ruel.

The judges said:

[G]reat use of video, photography, audio and a website. This site is more than an online magazine or news site… it is an experience. Visually it is well done. the navigation is simple and clean. The content speaks for itself.

We seem to be covering Spain pretty well. Galacia is in the Northwest of Iberia. I’ll be in the South next week in Granada. Just finished reading Washington Irving’s Alhambra and just received Ornament of the World from the conference organizers and have begun the Conquest of Granada also by Irving.

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