stray bullets

Engaging and Understanding the Egyptian Street Links to some interesting articles on the real Arab street. Well worth exploring. You know we rarely get the real story from mainstream or agenda-driven media.

Guizhou riots: an overview Chinese state-owned media, journalists, bloggers, and forum posters have all written about the riots that took place in Weng'an, Guizhou Province a week ago. The story, and how it has played out in official and unofficial media, illuminates several aspects of Chinese society and media, ranging from Internet pop culture and censorship, press freedom, the government's attempts to encourage but somehow control 'information openness' corruption of local officials and popular resentment against it, and what happens when crowds get out of control.

New and Not Improved The lustre of The New Hope is starting to wear off. This is happening a lot quicker than I thought. I wonder how long it will take for bandwagon Obama-ites to realize that they were projecting their distressed, war weary, post 9-11 hopes for a better world on a professional politician that really doesn't give a crap about what they think or want. It's nothing to be ashamed of, really. It's a logical reaction to the trauma that was the Bush administration. (via)

Google is doing WHAT? No, not THAT. But just about everything else. Image Gallery

Click! A Crowd-Curated Exhibition Click! is a photography exhibition that invites Brooklyn Museum’s visitors, the online community, and the general public to participate in the exhibition process. Taking its inspiration from the critically acclaimed book The Wisdom of Crowds, in which New Yorker business and financial columnist James Surowiecki asserts that a diverse crowd is often wiser at making decisions than expert individuals, Click! explores whether Surowiecki’s premise can be applied to the visual arts—is a diverse crowd just as “wise” at evaluating art as the trained experts? (via)

Summer reading: how to pick the right book for any trip A Room With a View might be perfect for a Tuscan villa, but what should you read at the Burning Man festival or while cooped up with the kids in a West Country cottage? Six leading writers select the best books to take with you - whatever type of holiday you're going on (via)

How to tie a tie (including the fabled Pratt Tie Knot) (via)

Daniel Schorr: Economy Reminiscent Of Great Depression Dan, one who grew into adulthood during the Great Depression, remembers... and sings.

factoid: On Wikipedia, the biography of George Costanza is five times as long as that of Tim O'Reilly.

Nature is trying very hard to make us succeed, but nature does not depend on us. We are not the only experiment. Buckminster Fuller, Interview, April 30, 1978 (via)