stray bullets

Can’t See the Forest for the Trees But as she drove around the country, Hecht noticed plenty of trees. Some were remnants of old forests, but she also saw hedgerows, backyard orchards, coffee groves, trees growing along rivers and streams, cashew and palm plantations, saplings sprouting in abandoned fields, and heavily wooded grassland. Almost every village abounded with trees—“like a big jungle forest,” she said. Rather than no trees, she saw them everywhere. Nature was far from extinguished; it was thriving. Re-evaluating the 'myth of the pristine forest', it seems that humans have been shaping them for quite some time. (via)

As SLow aS Possible Fair warning for long-term music lovers: the world’s slowest concert, a 639-year organ piece by American avant-garde composer John Cage (01912-01992), will next change notes in just over a month’s time, on 5 November 02008. (with video of the last change, this past July)

Indigenous Media Because I do Internet and Indigenous/Grassroot identity I am occasionally asked “what do you know about Indigenous people on the Internet or on other media?” The answer is: I don’t usually mix these two. However in the name of developing some competence here are a few links...

also:
Thomas Pynchon’s next book (can't wait)
Ancient Peru Pyramid Spotted by Satellite
Man reads entire Oxford English Dictionary
100 Skills Every Man Should Know (girls, too)
10 High Paying Dirty Jobs

viddy:
High-speed (super slow motion) Video Clips (loads)
Sam and Dave interview - 1967
1977 CBC Interview with Marshal McLuhan

stray bullets

Anthrax Evidence Called Mostly Circumstantial The evidence amassed by F.B.I. investigators against Dr. Bruce E. Ivins, the Army scientist who killed himself last week after learning that he was likely to be charged in the anthrax letter attacks of 2001, was largely circumstantial, and a grand jury in Washington was planning to hear several more weeks of testimony before issuing an indictment, a person who has been briefed on the investigation said on Sunday. (also) (also) all (via)

Falcon 1 suffers another setback Lost aboard the Falcon was the U.S. military's Trailblazer satellite, two small NASA payloads and a cache of cremated human remains, including the ashes of astronaut Gordon Cooper and Star Trek actor James Doohan. (via)

For Wealthy Brazilian, Money From Ore and Might From the Cosmos “I AM connected to the divine, to these forces here,” João Carlos Cavalcanti, the Brazilian mining magnate, said as he swept an arm out across the lily pad-covered lake behind his $15 million mansion. (via)

Lunch with Heather Perry (self-trepanner) It didn't take that long at all, probably about 20 minutes. Eventually I could feel a lot of fluid moving around. Apparently, there was a bit too much fluid shifting around, because they'd gone a little bit too far and I was leaking some through the hole, but this wasn't especially dangerous as there are three layer of meninges before you get to the brain. (via)

also:
Franz Kafka’s porn brought out of the closet (via)
Moscow's House of Fairy-tales (ht)
Blogging Merit Badge (out of stock) (via)
Make bookends from old vinyl records (via)
KLF - The Manual (How to have a Number One the easy way) (via)

viddy:
Balls Deep--Sewers of Bogota: Part 1 of 5 (don't miss it) (via)
How Buildings Learn - Uploaded by Stewart Brand Himself
Ask an Astronomer - What Will Happen to the Earth When the Sun Dies?
Iain Banks interview (audio)
20 Ways to Die Trying to Dunk a Basketball (via)

Brunei: Thinking of its future

The Economist Intelligence Unit (oooh!) dispatched a briefing on the Sultinate of Brunei's efforts to "future proof" their economy. Earlier this year the government of the oil-rich country unveiled its first long-term national development plan, dubbed Wawasan Brunei 2035.

From the Economist article:

Over the next 20 years or so Brunei's oil reserves are expected to run out, while in around 30 years the country's natural-gas resources will be depleted. Consequently, without a successful transition to non-energy-based industries and services, a much less pleasant future for Brunei could await.

Wawasan Brunei 2035 focuses on the need to find a sustainable path for the non-oil economy. The plan also aims to raise the sultanate into the ranks of the top ten nations in the world in terms of GDP per head by 2035. (Brunei is already in the top 30 globally.) Wawasan Brunei 2035 aims to produce an administration devoted to the task of safeguarding the sultanate's long-term future.

Economies worldwide seem to be in transition and it would serve us well to keep an eye on this project. While learning from the successes and failures of such an effort, a great deal could be gathered about the effectiveness and implementations of these types of long-term strategies.

It's refreshing to see a nation of immense wealth adopt a policy of forward thinking. Many nations could and should learn lessons from this.

Animated timeline of the peopling of the world

The Bradshaw Foundation website features a very cool timeline animating the Journey of Mankind.

All the things you've read about prehistoric human migration make a lot more sense in about five minutes.

via Long Views

How Long is Now?

One entity I keep an eye on is The Long Now Foundation

These people are into some very interesting things. They're building a 10,000 year clock, preserving the world's languages (including many that would otherwise disappear), and they have a series of monthly talks, Seminars About Long-Term Thinking (SALT), featuring UT favorites like Vernor Vinge, Brian Eno, Jared Diamond, Ray Kurzweil, Bruce Sterling and scores of other forward thinkers. I sub to the podcast but all of the talks are also available in their archive.

(helpful hint: the Vorbis (.ogg) files in the SALT archive are the best quality and listenable with our recommended media player. VLC plays just about everything with a minimum of hassle and intrusion. Five Stars, you'll never go back to WIMP)

One interesting note: in 2006 Will Wright and Brian Eno did a SALT on generative creation which was pretty cool. Will Wright, best known as the creator of The Sims, will be releasing Spore later this year. I'm not huge into videogames (as evidenced by my anachronistic labeling; 'gaming' still means D&D to me) but Spore is worth a scan, gamer or not.