I have to say, I am disappointed by Obama’s decision to forgo public financing of his campaign. I am far more unhappy about his unwillingness to stick to a sensible position on maintaining freedom from warrantless surveillance. But I think it is especially important that he reiterate his position on ending the War in Iraq quickly. Bring our troops home.
Recent blog picks
I find that a read far fewer blog feeds these days, and find myself retiring feeds that–while they might have interesting posts once in a while–are not interesting on a regular basis. That said, I’ve added a number of feeds as well, over the last few months, into a folder on Bloglines called “Probation.” Some that have survived so far include:
* Architectures of Control is all about control and user interfaces in the physical world. Does a great job of collecting examples of how ways in which mechanisms and built environment are designed for social control. Consistently good stuff.
* The Last Psychiatrist contains observations on mental health, public policy, and a bunch of other stuff. It is often highly opinionated–the author notes that it is intended to foster more critical reflection.
* The Book Design Review starts with a sample of recent books in the New York Times Book Review and talks a bit about their cover design.
* The Daily DIY brings in posts from DIY sites (Instructables, etc.). It’s pretty high volume, but has some interesting stuff.
* I’ve been tracking the blog of Slate’s Human Nature which recently has been running articles on human reproduction and genetics policies.
* Tom Barrett, a primary school teacher in England, publishes ICT in my Classroom about his experiences with, um, ICT in his classroom.
* Open Education collects stories relating to opening access to education for everyone.
* I don’t know much about the folks who put together WebUrbanist, but I wish they would stop listening to my thoughts. Yes, the design and article titles (“top 7 ways of making top 12 lists”) feel Calicanistacular, but the actual content is great.
* Since Boing Boing is one of my favorite blogs, I had to add Boing Boing Gadgets, and I’m glad I did. When I decide to winnow the gadget blogs I follow (soon!), this one will probably be a keeper. I only wish Boing Boing would allow you to opt out of the “Best of BB Gadgets” posts, as they are redundant for those following both.
* And since Kevin Kelly’s Cool Tools is my favorite gadget site, I had to add his Technium, in which he posts infrequent (but frequently brilliant) discussions of our technical world.
* Developing Intelligence is one of the blogs in the ScienceBlogs network, and deals with issues of neurology and cognition.
* Active Social Plastic is another social architecture blog, this time by grad student Molly Wright Steenson.
* I’ve been tracking on Wired’s geekdad blog.
* zenhabits so often has neat, inspiring stuff, that I just decided to add it and read more regularly.
* Andrew Hearst publishes The Panopticist, a wonderful collection of cultural commentary well worth reading.
* Richard Florida updates his blog with interesting tidbits related to the Creative Class.
* Finally, in the arena of guilty pleasures, I have been following two blogs: Born Rich, which details the ridiculous consumer goods available to those with ridiculous disposable income (60 megapixel cameras, tiki bar trailers, etc), and Private Islands, which has infrequent posts about small inhabited islands around the globe.
Berkeley: Multimedia Journalsim Fellow
I just saw this. Would likely be of interest to some of the experienced journalists who have been through our program:
Multimedia Fellow (2), UCB Graduate School of Journalism: The University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism seeks two experienced journalists with extensive multimedia skills to help coordinate a new School-based research and educational project to develop digital news and information sites for under-served communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Fellows will work with Journalism School faculty to oversee the creation and management of the sites, collaborate with researchers from the Information School, Business School and other campus departments to assess the sites’ performance and viability, and train students in core journalism and multimedia classes at the graduate level. A BA degree at minimum is required, along with proficiency in the use of multimedia equipment such as digital video cameras, digital audio recorders and digital photo cameras, and multimedia software applications such as Flash, Final Cut Pro, Soundtrack Pro and Photoshop. Teaching experience is desirable. At least three years experience as a practicing journalist is strongly preferred. Salary: $80,000 a year for a 9-month teaching and research appointment, with year-round benefits. Possibility of summer employment opportunities at the School. This is a two-year appointment, beginning August 1, 2008, with the possibility of longer term renewal. The positions will remain open until filled. Applications will be reviewed upon their receipt. Application deadline: August 15. Please send applications to Sage Dilts, Dean’s Assistant, UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, 121 North Gate Hall, Berkeley, California 94720; sagedilts@berkeley.edu. The University of California is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action employer. The School is committed to diversity as a professional and educational ideal.
Gurbanity
So it’s no surprise that I love this design concept called liber toit. Basically, it is a set of bridges and tunnels to connect rooftops, and allow their use for exercise I guess. Yuppie parkour!
I guess, for it to be practical, you would need to have the same ownership of the buildings–like on an urban university campus–but even then, I suspect that construction codes would make it difficult to get this set up. It’s worth dreaming, though.
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