Your current reading list

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Re: Your current reading list

Postby friendlyskies » Sun Sep 04, 2011 10:33 am

coldharvest wrote:No tool invented by man has ever been used solely for good.


All the more reason to know how they work. To paraphrase Pariser (because I'm not going to look it up), "If a service is free, you are not the customer. You are the product being sold."
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Re: Your current reading list

Postby coldharvest » Sun Sep 04, 2011 11:33 am

friendlyskies wrote:
coldharvest wrote:No tool invented by man has ever been used solely for good.


All the more reason to know how they work. To paraphrase Pariser (because I'm not going to look it up), "If a service is free, you are not the customer. You are the product being sold."

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Re: Your current reading list

Postby Fenrisco » Sun Sep 04, 2011 2:20 pm

friendlyskies wrote:The fact that your results were exactly the same when using a proxy vs. using your undisguised persona is.... interesting.


Possibly because I get my politics by thinking rather than courtesy of Google. Or maybe I have a perfectly-balanced outlook. More likely I gave a bad example, probably the tracking cookie is domain-specific so searches conducted on google.nl don't reflect searches you've performed on google.com.tw (although one would think they would be shared, maybe not). In which case it would be interesting to see how the same search terms perform on different national sites.

I'm sure it's an interesting read, no need to write reams defending it, it's all good. I used to write loads of this sort of futurist stuff for security mags (although the best stuff got spiked by the Pentagon because some idiot official didn't know the difference between the ROC and the PRC) so perhaps it doesn't seem as surprising or potentially worrying.

Of course, Facebook is bona fide evil through and through. Wouldn't touch it with a bargepole.
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Re: Your current reading list

Postby nowonmai » Sun Sep 04, 2011 6:23 pm

So far nuclear weapons have only been used for good.
coldharvest wrote:No tool invented by man has ever been used solely for good.


Except the atomic bomb. So far.
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Re: Your current reading list

Postby LechoZX » Tue Sep 06, 2011 4:18 pm

friendlyskies wrote: It's a nice refresher course that will probably come in handy, now that I'm back in the Bible Belt, where 50% of everyone thinks the world is 7000 years old. For fuck's sake.


You will enjoy this guy's videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63LRfLyR-JU&
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Re: Your current reading list

Postby kilroy » Thu Sep 08, 2011 3:05 pm

google has search preference options so your results will be different depending on your settings there first and foremost (such as the option to return results from pages in other languages or english only).

a 'profile' for results could only be used only if you are logged in or haven't cleared any cookies. otherwise what how would they use to base that profile off of?

the filter bubble concept is not that scary, people simply tune in to what they want to hear anyways, like republicans watching fox news on tv. no matter what your sources are you aren't going to get a balanced look at anything unless you make a point of doing just that.
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Re: Your current reading list

Postby Royal » Wed Sep 21, 2011 4:14 pm

War reporting for cowards, by Chris Ayres.
Reporter with U S Marines during 2003 Iraq War, his coverage earning him a nomination for the British Press Awards 'Foreign Correspondent of the year'.

So far, funny & informative. Good read imo.
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Re: Your current reading list

Postby kilroy » Thu Sep 22, 2011 1:38 pm

Image

memoirs of a true south side bad ass. the republicans are currently pissing themselves because of his visit to the whitehouse, but if you know who common is and listen to republicans talking about him, it's super clear that republicans have no idea who he is. they just assume 'black' and 'rapper' equals 'gangster'. what a bunch of douchetards.
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Re: Your current reading list

Postby coldharvest » Thu Sep 22, 2011 2:28 pm

kilroy wrote:it's super clear that republicans have no idea.

I took the liberty of tightening that up for you.
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Re: Your current reading list

Postby vagabond » Thu Sep 22, 2011 3:16 pm

This:

Image

First Stop in the New World by David Lida. Pretty good so far. Overview of Mexico City, its street life, problems, etc by a journalist that's been living there for 20 yrs.

http://amzn.to/oaaGkU
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Re: Your current reading list

Postby Sri Lanky » Fri Sep 23, 2011 12:10 pm

I don't buy into the idea that the BRIC countries are the future nor any other so-called "ascendant megacity". They all have their own problems and getting big on international finance means fuckall. That's a mini-reality anyways.

New York and London will remain kings in the 21st century with their diverse populations,freedom of the press,and superior military backing.

Others like Bombay(I still call it that),Shanghai,and maybe Rio will become more powerful but don't rule out the mighty Anglo-American axis just yet. The Chinese,Indians,and others still have a long way to go...getting over their own ethnocentric worldviews would be a good start.

I haven't read the book...I'm assuming that this is what it's about.
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Re: Your current reading list

Postby vagabond » Fri Sep 23, 2011 3:23 pm

Sri Lanky wrote:I don't buy into the idea that the BRIC countries are the future nor any other so-called "ascendant megacity". They all have their own problems and getting big on international finance means fuckall. That's a mini-reality anyways.

New York and London will remain kings in the 21st century with their diverse populations,freedom of the press,and superior military backing.

Others like Bombay(I still call it that),Shanghai,and maybe Rio will become more powerful but don't rule out the mighty Anglo-American axis just yet. The Chinese,Indians,and others still have a long way to go...getting over their own ethnocentric worldviews would be a good start.

I haven't read the book...I'm assuming that this is what it's about.


Not it's not really about that. There's no M in BRIC even though it is one of the larger economies after Brazil in the Americas.

It's more about how Mexico City as a megacity is indicative of the trends of vast urban 3rd world megacities - the inequality, poor sanitation, what have you as well as a cultural biography of the people that live there and what makes Mexico City unique. So it's a mix of travel narrative (but in one place) with some observations about on the ground socioeconomics facts. As far as I've I've gotten into it, there's no ra-ra cheerleading like you see various bankers/economists doing every time India or China is mentioned. The guy is just a journalist and talks equally well about lucha and Mexico City nightlife as he does crime and sanitation.

I'm personally a fiend for books like these about specific cities esp. when I'm not able to be on the road. They tend to go a lot deeper than most travel writing.

As to BRICtalk and the megacities - you're right. But that's a topic for another thread.

And if you're interested in Bombay, I definitely recommend Suketu Mehta's "Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found":

http://amzn.to/qHKTaA
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Re: Your current reading list

Postby Sri Lanky » Fri Sep 23, 2011 11:18 pm

Cool. Each city definitely has it's own vibe. I like to go into the inner cities. I've spent time,weeks,in places that are not too crazy. Kingston was the craziest. Rotterdam was the most interesting...largest port in the world,huge Morrocan and Surinamese populations. Anarchic and nihilistic in the 90's anyways. Port-au-Spain and Havana....and others. Birmingham,UK is somethin' else. Yeah,each with their vibe. I liked the dark ones. Chiang Mai was a pleasant change.
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Re: Your current reading list

Postby Kurt » Mon Oct 03, 2011 12:38 pm

coldharvest wrote:No tool invented by man has ever been used solely for good.


The vibrator.
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Re: Your current reading list

Postby Fenrisco » Mon Oct 03, 2011 3:41 pm

Kurt wrote:The vibrator.


Not if you read Voyage of the Space Beagle by A. E. Van Vogt. It's full of men turning their vibrators on one another in heated moments.
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