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Today's reading list

I'm not sure if I like these reading lists. They bundle many entries under one, giant entry at the expense of categorization. This may be a short-lived experiment.

• Authenticity blues
• Climate Change Melts Arctic Ice
• Climate change is here, now, say scientists
• Winning and losing the compliment game
• A Mobile Web That Knows All About You
• Riemann zeta function
• Data haven

• Authenticity blues

[ via Arts & Letters Daily -> The New Criterion ]

The author praises Stanley Crouch's approach to Art and social criticism and examines the essays in Crouch's recently published The Artificial White Man: Essays on Authenticity [Amazon]. I'm not convinced by his assertion that Crouch cuts through the bullshit of generally stereotyped, unoriginal analysis partly because the proof's just not presented and partly because I never liked Crouch. Stanley Crouch is part of the movement institutionalizing jazz with his writings, his involvement with Jazz at Lincoln Center, and his commentary in the stultifying Ken Burns' Jazz documentary. Take this line:

[H]e writes to put the so-called intellectuals on notice: he is tired of condescension, of casual, unconscious racism, of worn-out P.C. pieties.

If we're going to speak of uninspired criticism, let's talk about the label "condescending intellectuals." When did you last encounter this group and what was their influence? It's as tired and unreal a label as any of those that Crouch rails against. Although I'm admittedly arguing from a position of only passing familiarity with his work.

The author also mentions the anxiety of authenticity and I am immediately (intentionally?) referred to Harold Bloom's earlier concept of the anxiety of influence (from his book The Anxiety of Influence [Amazon]). The obvious contrast of those two terms is stunning. The earlier showing artists' struggles with the deification of the past; the later showing perhaps that we've now cast off all respect for the past and are struggling to find meaning without historical context.

• Climate Change Melts Arctic Ice

[ via TechNewsWorld ]

• Climate change is here, now, say scientists

[ via CBC North ]

The Arctic Council--a group of scientists from Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, the Russian Federation, Sweden, and the US--have collaborated on a recent report stating:

While some historical changes in climate have resulted from natural causes and variations, the strength of the trends and the patterns of change that have emerged in recent decades indicate that human influences, resulting primarily from increased emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, have now become the dominant factor.

Expect character assassinations from the US government of the scientists involved.

• Winning and losing the compliment game

[ via Arts & Letters Daily -> The Japan Times ]

A humorous article on the falseness, stylized falseness, of Japanese compliments. Never compliment a friend or relative in front of others ... compliments are usually intended as very left-handed and should always be demurely denied by the receiver. Made my head hurt.

• A Mobile Web That Knows All About You

[ via BoingBoing -> The Feature ]

Carnegie Mellon University has implemented a wireless semantic Web service to help students study, socialize, plan meals, attend events, shop, and engage in extracurricular activities. 3000 Students use wireless PDA to access the service from 700 access points across the campus. Intelligent agents make suggestions based on their preferences, friends, class schedules, etc.

• Riemann zeta function

[ via Wikipedia ]

Referenced in Cryptonomicon w/r/t numbers that are a product of two primes. The next book I read needs to be a math textbook. This stuff is kicking my ass.

• Data haven

[ via Wikipedia ]

An encrypted and politically untouchable location for data. Also referenced in Cryptonomicon.