a thaumaturgical compendium

Mr. Ntobo,

As a active participant in human rights watch groups, and a close follower of recent events in Zimbabwe, I am very happy to help you through this difficult time. My family, too, has rightful claims on farms within that country, and have faced similar pressures. Luckily, we have been able to diversify our land holdings within Africa, as well as in parts of South America and Australia. The amount you indicate is sizeable, and I feel that a partnership would be mutually beneficial.

“... in Hamburg, Milan, Madrid, London, Paris, as well as, Buffalo, New York. “

Hmmm. Which city doesn’t quite fit?

Went to Rochester to meet up with Liz Lawley, Jon Schull, Mike Axelrod, and Steve Jacobs and talk about the proposal for a grant to study microcontent/blogs. We threw around some ideas. It was a worthwhile brainstorming session, and now we are under some pressure to do what you shouldnt, by definition, do when brainstorming: censor. Or rather, we need to narrow it down to something less amorphous. I also need to be careful not to restrict it only to my interests. While narrow is better (George Barnett already has a claim on “science is difficult,” but I think I will get a sign to put over my office door that says “narrow is better”) we need to make sure that we are covering some of the bases.

Is the FAQ the manifesto of the 00s? The open spectrum FAQ does a good job of explaining why there should be changes in spectrum governance.

“Moblogging sucks” returns no hits on Google yet, much to my dismay. This entry is long in coming, but the result of a number of things I’ve read recently, an entry by Jia most immediately.

Jia writes of Cecily from The Importance of Being Earnest as the prototypical, self-involved, obsessed blogger. I think, in many respects, she is right. At its worst, blogging is an extension of the personal diary, which in turn can easily become a conceited conceit. But at its best, blogging remembers an audience that is more than the older self or posterity. Indeed, were the intended audience either of these two, pen-on-paper makes much more sense as a delivery mechanism.

NPR had a story on this morning about a tower designed by Antonio Gaudi for the lower east side, but never constructed. It is strange (well, duh!), but far more interesting than what seem to be the front-runners among proposed structures for the WTC site. (I hate saying this, but is that really the leading edge of architectural talent these days?) Gaudi’s design reminds me of a cross between a termite mound, a cathedral, and something Babar would endorse. It appeals to my inner SimCity. The image on the right appears on the NPR site courtesy of Paul Laffolley, which is an odd and interesting connection in itself.

There’s an interesting discussion over on Plastic about anti-intellectualism on college campuses. In some ways, it is nice to see that I am not alone in noticing that the increase in numbers of people seeking a university education has significantly changed the environment of the university. I wonder how this plays out in differences between parents and children’s perspectives and expectations about the college experience. A few there mention that the masters is the new bachelors degree, which is increasingly true.

None suggest what can be done about it. The funny thing is that I would expect that if there were a demand, small universities that maintained high intellectual standards would be thriving. While there are some well-known universities that actually deliver in terms of rigor at the undergraduate level, most do not.

What does that mean? Does it mean that a college education (like opera and ballet) do not work well within the market. I suspect that this is the case. The unfortunate side of this is that those undergraduate—and indeed graduate!—students with the potential for deep thought are often dragged down to the mean. The “digerati” often seem keen on hiding any intellect they might possess, and even within the faculty of many institutions, intellectual pursuits are frowned upon as unproductive. And much of whatever intellectual work that exists is reduced to games and posturing rather than serious thought. (There is implicit meaning here: I am not suggesting that my own university or department is necessarily this way. My accusation is broader than that.)