Psybertron Asks

…. in the BBC “Great Britons” poll. Well I’d like to have voted for an original genius thinker with an important legacy, given my current line of research, but I have to say the Brits in the top 100, all seemed a bit “derivative” of others. Our “revolution” never quite went the way of the French or the US. Is it part of the British Disease that I can’t quite hold Newton and Darwin to be the creators of important new ideas, however Newtonian and Darwinian the world Brunel operated in ?

Zen River Crossing. Nice one from Gimbo. I voted for Brunel (came 2nd) WTF ? Anyway Zen, bridges and Klogging, I couldn’t resist this one. [Quote] Interesting… I’d always thought of the Second Severn Crossing as just another suspension bridge (like the first one), but it is in fact a “cable-stayed” bridge. I think I always had a dull realisation in my mind that it was unlike other suspension bridges I’d crossed, but in that zen-like state we all drive in, I never really thought hard enough about it. *shrug* [Unquote] – Driving in a zen-like state – another one right from my “many a true word” thread.

The Official Truth ? Link via Seb [Quote] … how people find each other rather than just the officially published work …. [Unquote]. Same message again – knowledge is human – the “official ” story merely serves some transient purpose. See my earlier Cringley link.

Skilled Incompetence. Thanks to Danny for this 1995 essay on “Structured Procrastination” by John Perry. Magic. This is my main theme about information models Danny. Spot on the Argyris thread about how normal (western) culture in organisations institutionalises bad practices justified by rationalisations. I have a colleague that regularly characterises “displacement activities” when it is obvious there is something to do (some decision to be made) which is more difficult that some other more interesting tasks, and guess what ? Manana.

Wayback Machine. New Scientist article via Danny about the 100 tera-bytes of web archives. [Quote] The average life of a web page is 100 days. [Unquote] See my broken links plea below.
[Quote] And where is the Wayback archive ? physically? It’s now in three places, two in the San Francisco Bay Area and one at the new Library of Alexandria in Egypt. If you ask someone, “What do you know about the Great Library of Alexandria?” they mostly say, “Isn’t that the one that fried?” So don’t just have one copy. Take special care of collections that are really important to the definition of cultures. [Unquote] I have soft spot for the Alexandria Library since I was there when it opened to the public. Blogged a link earlier since I had in my hands (in Alexandria, but not in the library) an important first edition relating to T. E. Lawrence (one of my obsessions) which I enquired about bringing home to UK, but discovered the new library had the enlightened policy of maintaining Egypt’s legacy of published texts and forbidding export. – (link here later !).

Dismantling Walls – “Dad,” he said. “You know I said I want to be a doctor when I grow up?” “Yes, son.” “And I want to be a footballer, too?” “Yes.” “Well, now I’ve decided I want to be a martyr.” [Davos via John Robb] Don’t normally link to national politics in this blog but this is a powerful message that cannot be ignored.

The Plot Thickens. Doh ! – I didn’t even know Larry had been an Apple director – now he’s bought a slug of shares. Should we care ? (link via Adam Curry)

Epictetus Says … Adam Curry’s latest link to the “quotations page” throws up some bon mots from Epictetus – too true.

Upgrade Denied. Cringely tells it like it is as usual in his report on Comdex from a week ago.

News Just In – Stress is Psychological. If there was ever any doubt about the mind-matter link – here’s more “scientific” evidence via Science Daily of anecdotal truth that physical health is (at least in part) a state of mind.