smart child
When I was last in San Fran, I stepped over a homeless guy on the street who was thumbing a wireless device. I know that sounds like some horrible conservative cliche about the "welfare state" (remember the "cadillac welfare moms" of the '80s?) but it's apparently a phenom. Well, sorta. Walkerchalking is a "hobo language" for free wireless networking. If you find a wireless node, you chalk a symbol on the sidewalk so others can also find it. You can then use Hobo Phil on your Pocket PC to figure out the symbols, which are written in a hobo language.
So blogs are a democratising force in some ways. Right? They dismantle categories like "journalism." Or at least make them problematic. Similarly, one might argue, reality television is a democratising force: it breaks down categories like "actor." Right? If this logic is true, what the hell do we do with this?
My best friend, SmarterChild, has died.
Muse.Net (beta) is one of those websites that could change the rules. It's a personal media manager which you use to access your digital files from anywhere. Youngpup has a screenshot.
Huh? Nicole Kidman is playing Virginia Wolfe?
Terry Eagleton on HG Wells' love life.
Worthwhile stuff in the new New Yorker: new Murakami short story | review of Documenta 11.
The Guardian's Phillip K. Dick quiz.
