Since I now shunt my technical stuff into my other blog, you’ll find an account of cloud camp Brussels here. If you’re interested.
Archive for October, 2008
Cloud Camp Brussels
October 31st, 2008The Age of Science (1)
October 28th, 2008
I’ve been thinking about the times we live in, and how we threw away the old religions, and now consider ourselves to be rational beings with rational rules. To that, let me say: Ha. As in Ha Ha. I’ll do a few posts on the subject.
First off, consider this: our society is highly specialized, and so is research. This means we have to believe scientists, or some watered down extension of existing publications ON THEIR WORD.
For instance:
“Omega-3 are good for your immune system”
Do you understand why ? If so, did you review the article ? Did you repeat the experiments ?
So how is this different from someone in a position of authority telling you:
“The virgin Mary was really a virgin”
I’ll grant you, the example of Omega-3 isn’t the best, because in this case (common health), there probably were a few peer reviews, and the statement can be probably accepted as being true.
However, there are much more specialized cases, where there are very few specialists, and where trying to reproduce the tests takes expensive equipment.
The thing is, we just don’t know. We take it, without proof. And that, my friends, is the definition of dogma.
And talk about the weather
October 19th, 2008I’ve grumbled like everyone else about what a grey and soggy summer we had. But now is the time to notice that we’re having a fantastic fall season. This is october, and it’s been a succession of bright golden days. Skies bluer than baby eyes, soft temperatures, softly tumbling leaves all round.
Everywhere in Brussels i’ve seen people enjoying a terrace in the sunlight. More bikes for this time of year than usual. The parks are turning brown and red and littered with bittersweet-smelling leaves.
And this is why i like living in temperate climes – of course it’s not sunny all year, rather the contrary. But variation has its charms. Each time of year has some shining days, picture book examples of what the season should be. What more to ask ?
and with that, a little music
Credit crunch
October 18th, 2008The current financial crisis is just another illustration of how mindless a bunch of herd-animals we are, as a race. Or how the combination of self-interests doesn’t necessarily lead to the common good (The Wealth of Nations nonwithstanding).
Anyhow, it’s probably just another dip in the (approximate) sinus. Hedge funds are making a fortune short-selling, while a few companies collapse, people lose their job, or see their savings melting away. Business as usual.
(from Michel Vuijlstreke’s blog)
and a link: Why to start a startup in a bad economy (Paul Graham) (who might be biased as Y Combinator’s business is providing seed capital startups)
Blog Action Day: Poverty
October 15th, 2008
We human beings are blissfully forgetful – we do know deep down that things might not be going well in the world, that the planet might in a bad state, or that we have one problem or the other. We are very good at shoving all that aside and enjoying our morning coffee. Which is just as well – we might not be able to live without this quality.
However, sometimes it is good to remember. For having known people who suffered from real poverty, i can tell you: contrary to the capitalist creed, we are not given the same start. Those of us who are successful often have a structured and loving family and/or the opportunity and incentive to education and/or decent intellectual capacities.
When you’ve been badly fed as a child, your family is troubled, your youth was spent surviving emotional storms, what seems the obvious rational strategy to a peaceful, prosperous adult, might not be that obvious. You struggle from crisis to crisis, taking one bad decision after the other, wondering why these problems keep on happening to you.
And i’m talking about people who live here, in Belgium. God knows what it’s like when you live in a developing country and are not one of the lucky few. Probably economic darwinism is even more merciless there.
So sometimes it’s good to remember – to thank the dice that they rolled us a six – and maybe think of what we could do to even things out. Justice might not be a scientific concept, but it sure as hell is one that makes us human.
Options: donations, microcredits (Kiva, Triodos …), doing something for a charity with our skills (for me a website), generally exercising compassion
Retouched
October 5th, 2008It’s advertisement (and not too new) but good stuff.
And that doesn’t even show what they do to the bodies – sometimes they go a little bit too far, so you can actually spot it. No way that those perfect, busty, narrow-hipped aliens actually exist (not to mention eat and go to the toilet).
Plus they use 26-year young women for adverts about anti-wrinkle creams, and flawless 16-year olds for acne care. We’re in a time where the reality doesn’t actually matter any more, you can stretch and fix it any way you like – and all for the lofty aim of ROI.
Soon they won’t need those all-too-human models, they’ll just computer-generate whatever ideal is fashionable.
When i was a teenager my singing teacher told me : if you feel beautiful, you are beautiful. She was overweight and liked big stripey shirts, so what she said made me smile. But still she carried it off, just by who she was. I’m still grateful for that insight.
New dawn, new project
October 1st, 2008
I finished up my participation to channl.tv yesterday. As always, it’s a bit strange to let go of something you’ve put a lot of work and thought into …
So new page in my book today. For a few months i’m going to make no money whatsoever, because i’m going to be developing a web application in collaboration with a business partner. I’ll tell you more about it when there is something to tell – the business model would be the same one as 37signals, software as a service, with staggered pricing (seems like DHH’s speech convinced me).
It’s a gamble, like any entreprise – financially i could be losing out for three months, never to recover that money again – or it could pay for itself eventually. I think that whichever way it turns, it should be interesting. It’s also the first time ever that i’m the sole master of my own schedule – and that will be interesting as well 
