Tuesday, September 05, 2006

The Days as they Go

So it is number 2 of daddy days (117 to go) and I thought I would write something. Two kids at home both with colds. It is not as bad as it sounds. Elder son is turning into a screen junky with TV and computer his preferred environment. His is currently obsessed by The Return to the Milkyway (Tillbaka till Vintergatan), a clever Swedish TV series about space adventure, love, danger and excitement (so he tells me). There is also a game of the show which came out in 2000. We have set up an old computer for him with Windows 98 and no internet where he plays old games and does not mind it taking 30 seconds to load a screen (I could not cope with it). The game at the moment is Tillbaka till Vintergatan.
Younger son sleeps a lot.
I have been reading Sonia Katyal's essay from the Washington U. Law Quarterly (Autumn 2006), "Semiotic Disobedience" which provokes much thought. Although I am not sure I agree with "the phenomenon of semiotic disobedience aims to create dialogue where there isn't one" (Katyal 2006: 12). Perhaps a better word would be "acknowledge" or "outline" as dialogue seems to be difficult to create after the fact. It must have always be present in order to be found. But maybe I have the wrong idea as I have only managed the first 15 pages of the text. It was online up until yesterday as a 75 page document but it has been taken down (Why??). There is a draft version HERE.
Finally some cool links of late:

ThoughtAudio.com
ThoughtAudio.com is proud to present an audio classic line-up of MP3 downloads for your entertainment. Each title selection is part of a well-rounded, intelligent view of classic literature, history and philosophy. Segments of each title are easily downloadable and all of our audio books are free.

Global Text Project (Engaging many for the benefit of many more)
The goal is to create a free library of 1,000 electronic textbooks for students in the developing world. The library will cover the range of topics typically encountered in the first two years of a university's undergraduate programs. The global academic community and global corporations will be engaged in creating and sponsoring this library

Resonance 104.4 fm
Arts radio project broadcasting to the South Bank and Bankside in London. Run by the London Musicians Collective. The best radio station on the web. Includes listings, project and station information.

Totems without Taboos: The Exquisite Corpse
By Paul D. Miller aka Dj Spooky that Subliminal Kid
Database aesthetics, collaborative filtering, musical riddles, and beat sequence philosophy aren't exactly things that come to mind when you think of the concept of the "exquiste corpse." But if there's one thing at I want to you to think about when you read this anthology, its that collage based art - whether its sound, film, multimedia, or computer code, has become the basic frame of reference for most of the info generation. We live in a world of relentlessly expanding networks - cellular, wireless, fiber optic routed, you name it - but the basic fact is that the world is becoming more interconnected than ever before, and it's going to get deeper, weirder, and a lot more interesting than it currently is as I write this essay in NYC at the beginning of the 21st century.

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