Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams
July 30, 2008Forget TV, there is now enough material online to spend intelligent evenings with outstanding people.
YouTube – Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.
The (recent) origin of consumerism
December 9, 2007It all boiled down to a vision elaborated after World War II and most clearly expressed by a retail analyst of the era, Victor Lebow:
“Our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction and our ego satisfaction in consumption. We need things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced and discarded at an ever-increasing rate.”
For more details and ressources on the subject, go see the very good 20 minutes cartoon by Annie Leonard.
What is wrong with the google blog?*
November 27, 2007Why is the google blog so unnerving to read? It never gets to the point, always start with a story about some innane details about ideal life and frankly is very tedious to read. How many times did I go to Techcrunch instead to get the gist of today’s Google annoucements?
*Of course I know why: it is because this blog is open to almost anyone in google wishing to write there with little or no censorship. They are just not always good writers.
Of Web 2.0 experts and the written medium
September 24, 2007On september 17th, 2007 took place the Techcrunch 40 conference, allowing the newest and smartest web startups to show off their ideas and projects.
While browsing the presentations I noticed a funny thing. Below is a picture of a panel of experts asserting the merits of the projects showed up that day. Can you tell what caught my eye?
Where are the laptops and other ultra slim pda? The members of the panel still use pen and paper to take notes.
Writing 1.0 is not dead.
The hobbits are back!
August 16, 2007But this time they live in Wales and this is for real.
Nice looking house by the way.
Complaints choirs
July 31, 2007The Helsinki Complaints choir, who would have thought?
And there are plenty more.
It is funny how you cannot help to notice the recurring patterns.
Science and fiction : an eternal duet
July 19, 2007I love scientists : they always end up a great source of fiction material. Like the grand unified theory waiting – literally – for the right man to find it. Go read We are meant to be there, an article on salon.com
And I also love science fiction author : because there is always one who saw it coming ages ago. Check out “The last Question” by Isaac Asimov.
And before you click : yes those two are related.
