snob slob

2002.10.15
Quote of the Moment
'Know thyself,' the Greek sage advised. But of course this is nonsense. Truly happy people live by the maxim 'Overrate thyself.' [...] Each of these people is a god of self-esteem, dwelling on a private Olympus.
David Brooks in an Atlantic commentary "Superiority Complex"
The article is about how we're all masters of these little things. The "classes" society ideal in the USA allows each person to be a little snob in their own small domain...


Link of the Moment
Interesting little Fast Company article on The Art of Multiasking, best uses of technology to help with personal overworking.


Link of a Future Moment
It's easy to forget that an easy military victory in Iraq is not a sure thing.


Ramble of the Moment
Thinking about the Maryland sniper..makes me wonder about the use of surveillance technology. (I've never really been a big privacy rights advocate, and that's been even truer since 9/11.) I'm almost surprised that we don't have the technology to do 24-hour realtime satellite surveillance of a limited geographical area, so that once the ballistic work has been done to get the rough location of the shooter, visually trace all vehicles from that spot and find out where the hell he went. We have geosynchronous satellites, right? I don't know how long it takes for them to take and beam one picture...(so great, now I'd produce the "cloudy day sniper" who only strikes when there's a good cloudcover.) Oy. That shooter is such a limpdick dork...it's not that he's talented, it's that the system is open. "Cracker"-style hackers have the same mentality. If they can make people miserable, they must be powerful.


Article of the Moment
Intriguing New Yorker piece on the USA as the only superpower. That's why we're called in over stuff like "the island of parsley", where Spain and Morocco almost came to blows over a stupid little island that had nothing but goats and garnishes. Too bad we have such a singleminded manchild at the helm.


Sig of the Moment
Seven Deadly Sins? I thought it was a to-do list!