Month: November 2002

Making emails public

Imagine the field day that Google could have if 1) all email files had access controls removed, and 2) people started surfing each others’ email messages. Unrealistic, right? Well, think again. Why have we grown so accustomed to the social norm that email should be private?

this hits home for me. in 1999), i had similar ideas, and decided to give some of my friends access to my private email archives. i had an interesting discussion about the implications back then:

(me) my private section contains all my mails (or at least all i could save) from 1993 to present. its like a diary, only more frank and complete. so far, only one person besides me has access. i may give you access some day, but not yet.

(her) somehow this scares me. i fear that i may could do something that could destroy that fine construct of our friendship and would tear it down. this went on too fast. give me access to your personnel diary? you did even think about it a few minutes? i AM overwhelmed. in my diary are my deepest thoughts written down. not all off them, because some things are not to be held anywhere – some things will always stay in your mind. but there are things that nobody knows.

in retrospect, the time was not yet ripe for that experiment back then. neither were there tools to discover interesting content (no google), nor was the narrative form of the blog widely known. i believe that people have become more accepting of trading in some of their privacy in exchange for other benefits. it has become acceptable to share with the world, and this process will only continue from its modest roots (“i had cereals for breakfast today” no shit!) towards more meaningful exchanges. i have been archiving my email in IMAP for years (100 MB and growing), and it would be relatively easy to make some IMAP folders browsable and searchable from within my blog. this would be one more facet of the personal CMS, a concept that has been taking shape in my thoughts recently.

A personal CMS gives a unified interface to a users’ thoughts (weblog), his emails (IMAP web mail), his contacts, his schedules (Web PIM) and also his files. The personal CMS supports the discovery of information within the personal data of a user by offering pervasive rss feeds, deep searches and extensive hyperlinking.

Language skills

63% of blogs are written by women. this is consistent with findings that women use their whole brain for language (men only use one half). i get the distinct feeling that women are more articulate and eloquent on average. fun to be a minority, both in having a blog and in reading skills. i read at 600 words per minute, making me 3 times faster than average at a comprehension rate of 82%. i didn’t realize that the difference would be that large. apparently, the sound barrier (speech) is at 400 words per minute. with some training, it should be possible to break 1000 wpm or more. some bogus? company claims that their product allows you to achieve 25000 wpm.

as for writing, i never learned touch typing really well which sets me back. i need to test later. apparently its possible to reach 170 wpm if you are REALLY good.

Looking for achievers

The intellectual standards at university of zurich are so low that you can graduate there with little effort, at least in the computer science department. It’s thus not a matter of great pride to be the best student of a year (which I arguably am). Most inspiration for my education i got in other places. I found it especially disheartening that there were so few really interesting fellow students to exchange ideas with. Most were either unknowledgable or assumed they were someone because they secured a cozy job in the bowels of a major bank. I got involved with the computer science students association, hoping to find some individuals that took a sophisticated interest in the field. Instead, i found people stuck in the world of megahertz and compiling linux from scratch (how lame). Another time, i was motivated enough to organize a lecture series on web services (then an emergent topic) only to find that precious few cared to show up. Not content with university, i focused on the workplace, hoping to find excellence there. My 5 year stint at KPMG consulting was very educational in the political aspects, but again where i expected to find competent colleagues to learn from i found idiots. It struck me as odd that a couple students were pretty much the pinnacle of technological knowledge at that company. Instead of learning new tricks from more experienced technologists, we had to deliver solutions with the knowledge that we possessed at the time, and created value where other “consultants” basically sat on their fat asses. No wonder that the clowns totally tanked in the market, not even a silly rename operation (bearing point, WTF?) helped. Good riddance.

Meanwhile there are kids aged 22 (or 15, respectively) that are W3C working group members. That’s the spirit severely lacking in zurich. Added to my rss feeds.

New hairdo

it’s been a while since i pondered hair styles. what to do? friend google may help. first i came across this advice

  • Who’s the sexiest of them all? Men wearing short, front-flip hairstyles (think Brad Pitt and Matthew LeBlanc) are perceived as most confident and sexy. It is not surprising that men with this hairstyle are also perceived as the most self-centered.

  • Why Wall Street men walk tall – Men with medium-length, side-parted hair are viewed as the most intelligent and affluent – great for that job interview. However, men with these styles are also seen as the most narrow-minded.

  • Fabio ain’t so fab after all – Bad news for long-haired Fabio types. The study validates the myth that men with long hair seem to be all brawn and no brains. They are perceived as least intelligent and most careless. But all is not lost – they are also seen as the most good-natured.

ok, time to go style shopping. maybe software can help? turns out its very hard to find decent hairstyles online, at least for men. for women there is a lot of choice, and even some software to morph hairstyles. i tried that program, quite entertaining. are there any good cuts out there? maybe these:1, 2 another alternative would be to make a fashion statement and go with a mullet.

Charango!

What a great, great concert. Morcheeba came across as a band that has found their style, has found success, yet still was able to connect to the crowd without the airs and graces that normally beset rock stars. I had some reservations at first when I heard that they were gonna play in the biggest venue in Zurich, which normally only sees mediocre bands (read: ones with mass appeal). They were not able to fill it completely, but apparently they were quite surprised at the turnout. I now need to check out their new album Charango for real. I wish I had my md recorder with me, would have been an excellent foray into audio blogging.

Confused revolutionaries

the economist is reviewing naomi klein, and the verdict isn’t in favor of her at all. naomi became well known for railing against the “evils of globalization”. she fails to offer any perspective beyond that though:

What is the superior alternative to capitalist development that Ms Klein proposes? She feels under no obligation to say. It is not her job to dictate to the movement. The most she can do, in all modesty, is to offer indications and observations; the people, thus empowered, must do the rest.

she is of course not alone with having no recipe against the ills she perceives in the world. it is fashionable to throw some rocks and participate in riots, but using mental capacity to think about solutions isn’t en vogue at all. an observer might conclude that this capacity is not present in these people.

Refreshingly tasteless

i’m in that mood again. when everything tasteless has a mesmerizing quality, and the mind yearns for relief from the onslaught of facts that is also known as prepping. lucky me that i rediscovered a book that i had never opened so far. here is a sample.

Louis XIV of France (1638-1715)
During the French Revolution the tomb of the French king was wrecked and plundered. His heart was stolen and sold to Lord Harcourt who later sold it to the Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend William Buckland. One night at dinner, the Dean, who liked to experiment with food, ate the embalmed heart.

if only i could remember who gave me that book as a gift. must have been a kindred spirit.

Dear diary

It’s healthy to see some criticism on a friends blog. Discourse invariably involves dissent, and having friends take you up on your writings is a nice change from blogging into the void, “dear diary” style. I would expect to have more and more conversations over the blog instead of email. blog death matches as spectator sport? Deciding issues by a public poll? Spreading memes?
2002-12-20:

Quite a list for someone with major depression isn’t it. I missed out on a lot more than that party for someone who really wasn’t good for me! I read a lot more than I listen to music. I read a lot of diarists who also read my toothbrush chronicles and I find such comfort in that 😦 I didn’t want to do this because it seems to cut-and-dry but this is for people who don’t know me or haven’t read a lot of this diary so they know what’s going on : I didn’t want to give because it could all be taken. I didn’t want to buy any of them but that didn’t stop me from staring at em and wondering who the heck thought up this stuff. It didn’t stop me from getting this wacky record player.
There seems to be nothing that will stop me from protecting the earth and my furry friends. There seems to have been some confusion about my probation 😉 There’d have been some serious fisticuffs if he had done that. I’m so glad i wasn’t there i would have told her lady you have some serious issues and need help. But you didn’t and i would have rather you walked away than destroy every last memory even the good ones they’ll be tainted now like our marriage was it just this once dillon. Normally i would have felt really bad but he looked like he had been hit before.

2004-11-10:have your diary entry written

the future of politics

this is 21th-century politics. way to go, tara! Guys like Coble (as described by his staff), Tara’s opponent in this election, can’t even turn a computer on. What’s worse is that he is actively engaging as a committee chair in making policy for the Internet and related businesses. it may seem to happen in a land far away, but this is the watershed. if they (old media interests) win, you will be forced to be a diligent consumer, with no possibility to be creative. if tara wins, you will enjoy your digital freedoms in the future.