confused of calcutta

Here’s how an article I was reading started:
WHAT do a bicycle that goes faster over bumps, a lever that allows car pedals to be operated by hand and a pedal-powered washing machine have in common?
I know, I’m easy that way. I was hooked, so I read on. You can find a stub to the article [...]

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Take a look at this photo stream. 6EMEIA is a collection of young artists in Sao Paulo, and they’ve been converting mundane objects like storm drains and paving stones into works of art.
Maybe it’s the Calcutta in me, but I love stories such as the one above, where creativity blossoms forth in the midst of [...]

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The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not mov’d with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils;
The motions of his spirit are dull as night,
And his affections dark as Erebus.
Let no such man be trusted. Mark the music.
I’ve always loved that quote from The Merchant of Venice, I can almost [...]

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By now regular readers of this blog should have become used to my referring to Doc Searls’ Because Effect; more recently, I essayed a simple definition as well.
Last night I stayed up to read Dov Seidman’s HOW, a fascinating book. While I am still going through it on Pass One, I cannot resist sharing an [...]

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If you get the chance, take a look at young bassist Victor Wooten playing Amazing Grace. I’ve watched a lot of people play bass, and never quite seen anything or anyone like it. Also on my VodPod as usual.

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I’ve been reading a lot, as you would expect. In this context, I would strongly recommend danah boyd’s months-old article on the subject, titled Social Network Sites: Public, Private or What? I was particularly struck by this quote early in the article:
What it means to be public or private is quickly changing before our eyes [...]

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This post was triggered by a comment that Andrew Back made on a recent post of mine, on orphan albums.
The long tail has two dimensions to it. On the one hand, it shows how the hit culture is breaking down, how there are many many niche markets for many many things. On the other hand, [...]

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You know I’m confused. So you shouldn’t be surprised that I found this funny.

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First catch your hare.
So wrote Hannah Glasse, in the recipe for Jugged Hare, to be found in her 1747 book The Art of Cookery. [When I first heard the quotation, I was given the impression, mistakenly, that it was a quotation from Mrs Beeton].
In today’s globalised knowledge-worker-dominated world, most enterprises have figured out that the [...]

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Sometime this morning I was quietly listening to Tina Dico, following up on a recommendation made by Sean. And one of the tracks reminded me of a song by Sandy Denny on an album called Fotheringay, by a band with the same name. I was brought up staunchly Wodehousian, so I have no choice but [...]

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