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As I mentioned in my further post about the Nokia Map Loader, I would test the downloaded maps on
the N900 on my road trip only with the GPS functionality. The main reason why, is saving roaming
costs being abroad, which can be very high in some countries. Finally I got home and the test
succeeded with almost satisfying results. Mostly I described the functions of Ovi Maps in my post
Ovi Maps – Navigation on the N900, so please get further information about how
to use the map functionality there. Although ...0 0
In the
next few weeks, the ReadWriteWeb events guide will take you from New York City, to San Francisco,
to Portland, Oregon. Along the way you'll find a conference on search engine strategies, a
showcase for startups, an in-depth look at the freemium business model, and a day filled with of
social media case studies.
How do you like your events calendar? As a
world map? As an
iCal (and Google Calendar-importable) file? You can also import individual events using the
link beside each entry. Know of something cool taking place that should appear here? Let us know
in the comments below or contact us.
Go beyond search at Search Engine
Strategies New York. Learn the newest trends, strategic action plans, and technology that
industry leaders are employing today. Our experts will trace the natural evolution of search
exploring topics such as: digital asset optimization, mobile application development, transition
from search to discovery and more.Book your pass today. Enter RWW15 to save 15% off the
registration. Sessions include:
After a long winter's hiatus, S.F. Beta is back, for its forth year straight! Join
hundreds of founders, investors, developers, and technologists for a lively evening of demos,
drinks, conversation, and new connections. Early bird
tickets are available, and they're going fast. Register now for discounted admission. As
always, we feature startup demos all night. This time around, the theme is Search &
Discovery. If you're building the next Google (or the next Google acquisition), we want you here!
Email cperry@sfbeta.com for more info.
The first Freemium Summit is a one day
event focused on exploring what it takes to succeed under the freemium business model. Across all
segments of the media landscape, entrepreneurs and executives are pioneering models that combine
a free offering with a premium, paid offering. This hybrid business model is one of the most
exciting areas of business model innovation impacting the world of media and the Freemium Summit
will explore the most important topics on the minds of leading practitioners.
Confirmed Speakers: Toni Schneider, Automattic (WordPress); Matt Brezina, Xobni; Aaron Levie,
Box.net; Phil Libin, Evernote; Tom Conrad, Pandora; Drew Houston, Dropbox; Ranjith Kumaran,
YouSendIt; Ben Chestnut, Mailchimp; Lance Walley, Chargify; Isaac Hall, Recurly; and Lincoln
Murphy, Sixteen Ventures.
The social media conference for marketers, Social Fresh is not about concept, but focused purely on
case studies from the front lines. Learn what social media can really do for business bottom
lines. Over the course of the day, you'll hear from 35 speakers from companies like Intel, Ford,
Comcast, Nike and many more, as well as keynote Peter Shankman. Register now and use coupon code RWW15 for 15% off.
4 April 2010: Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania
TEDx CMU is an independently
organized TEDx event that will be held on April 4th, 2010 at Carnegie Mellon University and will
feature a full day of talks by prominent speakers as well as recorded videos from past TEDTalks.
Confirmed speakers include Jonathan Fields (author, blogger and entrepreneur), Stacey Monk
(founder of Epic Change, a startup nonprofit), Chase Jarvis (photographer, director and social
artist) and Nathan Martin (CEO of Deeplocal, an innovation studio in Pittsburgh).
The theme of the event is "Fearless", and we are inviting speakers from cross-disciplinary
backgrounds to talk about their experiences, and tell us a little about what inspires them to be
fearless in the pursuit of goals. We hope to spark discussions and foster connections between
participants, encouraging aspiring individuals to follow their dreams and make a difference. The
event is free to attend, and the application deadline is March 21, 2010.
For more information about the event, visit tedxcmu.com or email
info@tedxcmu.com. You can also find TEDx CMU on Facebook
or follow us on Twitter.
ConnectNow brings together international
specialists and thought leaders in social media, emerging technologies and their intersection
with business. Learn how the realtime web, location based services, augmented reality, ubiquitous
computing and personalised services are changing marketing and communications. Understand the
importance of trust in relationship marketing and what is "social currency". For more info email
info@connectnow.net.au.
PubCon, the premier search
and social media conference, features the industry's biggest names and key players shaping the
future of the Web. PubCon South will include
cutting-edge panel sessions exploring tracks dedicated to search, social media and affiliate
marketing, an intensive professional search and social media training program, and some of the
world's top keynote speakers. PubCon South at Dallas will also hold a one-day, two-track slate of
intensive educational training programs led by some of the industry's most respected search
professionals. The event takes place at the Richardson Conference and Civic Center. Register
here.
Under the Radar: Cloud is must-attend
event for dealmakers and heads of IT from large enterprises, SMBs, service providers, carriers
and media companies who are responsible for helping their companies leverage new technology and
innovation in the fast-evolving IT ecosystem. Join us for the 15th Under the Radar conference,
featuring a hand-picked selection of the world's most innovative cloud startups among 350 top
tech, media, telcom and finance executives. For ticket and more information, visit http://undertheradarblog.com.
FutureMidwest is the region's largest technology and knowledge
conference. Founded by Adrian Pittman, Jordan Wolfe and Zach Lipson, FutureMidwest is the fusion
of two successful conferences held in Michigan in 2009 - the Module Midwest Digital Conference
and TechNow.
Both conferences highlighted how technology and digital tools have dramatically changed the way
we do business and the effect this transition has had on companies. FutureMidwest kicks things up
a notch with presentations, group breakout sessions, relationship-building opportunities and
influencers who are taking action to redefine business in the digital age. Register here.
The social media conference for marketers, Social Fresh is not about concept, but focused purely on
case studies from the front lines. Learn what social media can really do for business bottom
lines. Over the course of the day you'll hear from 35 speakers from companies like Ford, Best Buy,
Scottrade, Hardees, CMT and many more. Register now
and use coupon code RWW15 for 15% off.
DrupalCon is
the premier conference focused on Drupal, the award-winning open source content management
framework that is galvanizing social publishing and web development today. For a registration fee
of $195, attendees get three full days of sessions led by the best and brightest Drupal
experts.
Drupal has been downloaded over 2 million times since its inception, and project growth has
doubled annually for several years. Drupal is used to deliver a wide variety of application types
including blogs, wikis, community networks, digital media portals, and web content publishing and
management.
The Future of Money & Technology
Summit will bring together the best and brightest thinkers around money, including
visionaries, entrepreneurial business people, developers, press, investors, authors,
solution/service providers, and organizations who work where cash and commerce collide. We meet
to discuss the evolving ecosystem around money in a proactive, conducive to dealmaking
environment. Featured speakers include Jolie O'Dell from ReadWriteWeb, as well as representatives
from Wells Fargo Bank, Kiva, SharesPost, Jambool, Founders Fund, Outright.com, SoftTech VC, and
many more.
Use discount code "rww" to get 10% off registration.
The ReadWriteWeb Mobile Summit 2010
will be an exploration of the latest Mobile development trends - both the technology and the
emerging business applications. Get ready to explore, think and create the future of Mobile with
the brightest in the industry, your peers! As in our last Summit, The Real-Time Web, the
ReadWriteWeb Mobile Summit is an unconference.
An unconference is a participant driven conference where the agenda is created
on the day, in real-time and discussions are lead by conference participants. Read about the history of unconferences.
We will have two main tracks at this Summit - Development and Business - so the Summit will be of
interest to managers, marketers, developers, innovators, entrepreneurs and thought leaders alike.
Here's a sample of some of the topics we'll explore in both of these tracks.
FinovateSpring 2010 will again showcase the most cutting-edge
financial and banking technology innovations to Silicon Valley and the world. With Finovate's
signature mix of short, fast-paced onstage demos (no slides are allowed) from handpicked
companies and intimate networking time with their executives, this conference packs a ton of
unique value into a single day.
Come see the cutting edge of banking and financial technology and network with hundreds of the
leading financial executives, venture capitalists, press, industry analysts, bloggers and fintech
entrepreneurs. Early bird registration
rates are available.
The SF MusicTech Summit
will bring together 700-plus visionaries in the music/technology space - the best and brightest
entrepreneurs, developers, investors, service providers, journalists, musicians and organizations
who work with them at the convergence of culture and commerce. We meet to discuss the evolving
music, business and technology ecosystem in a proactive, conducive-to-dealmaking environment.
Enter the discount code "rww" to get 10% off.
Glue is the only conference devoted
solely to exploring the problem-sets facing architects, developers and IT professionals in a
"post-cloud" world. Glue focuses on the APIs and protocols (Twitter, Facebook, Websockets,
PubSubHubBub, XMPP), formats and standards (RDF/Linked Data, JSON, Microformats, HTML5),
platforms and providers (Amazon, Rackspace, Google App Engine, Salesforce.com, Eucalyptus),
Identity Protocols (OAuth/WRAP, SAML, OpenID, SPML) emerging NoSQL data models (Cassandra,
CouchDB, MongoDB, Riak, HBase), and other mechanisms that are building the post-cloud world.
ReadWriteCloud will be blogging live from Gluecon and CloudCamp, and ReadWriteWeb's Alex Williams
will be moderating the "Managing Complexity in the Cloud" session. Please join us May 25-27 in
Denver, Colorado. ReadWriteWeb readers can receive 10% off of
registration by using the code "RWW12".
The Corporate Social Media Summit is a
two day conference focused exclusively on how big businesses can take advantage of social media
to enhance their marketing/comms strategy. Featuring:
Practical and relevant insights from peers who have already used social media successfully
20-plus corporate speakers (including
PepsiCo, Whole Foods, Dell, McDonald's, General Motors, Citi, Johnson & Johnson),
Best practice, benchmarks and practical next steps you can use to take advantage of social
media in your business
A tightly-focused agenda with 14 in-depth,
practical workshops giving you knowledge on only the most critical business issues surrounding
corporate use of social media
Save $400 if you quote RWW400 when booking. Book here.
The 2nd annual Cloud Computing World Forum is
the perfect event to learn and discuss the development, integration, adoption and future of cloud
computing and SaaS. Building on the success of the 2009 show, this two day conference and
free-to-attend exhibition will provide a focused platform for the global cloud and SaaS industry.
Show highlights include:
Co-located with CloudCamp London
Co-located with Green IT conference
Free-to-attend exhibition with seminar and scenario theatre
FinovateFall will return to Manhattan on Tuesday, October 5 to
showcase dozens of the biggest and most innovative new ideas in financial and banking technology
from established leaders(...)
Don't muck around in the affairs of planets that are less technologically advanced than yours.
Despite how often it gets ignored, Star Trek's Prime Directive is a pretty nice attempt to take a
universe brimming with life and figure out how to interact with it in an ethical way.
Unfortunately, the Prime Directive isn't terribly nuanced. How do we relate to alien life that's
as, or more, advanced than us? What if alien life is bacteria—do we still have to leave its
home planet alone? How do we explore the galaxy without spreading—or picking up—any
deadly diseases? The Prime Directive can't really help you here. That's why scientists from NASA
and the SETI Institute are boldly going where no bureaucracies (real or fictional) have gone
before—drawing up the safety protocols we Earthlings will use as we explore new worlds, and
the social and ethical guidelines we'll turn to if we ever do find life on other
planets....
We know you’re busy. Even with every social media, web, and
RSS tool at your disposal, you can occasionally miss out on some of the week’s most
insightful content.
Never fear. We’ve taken a moment to round up the best Mashable resources from this past
week and present them here for your weekend enjoyment.
From in-depth how-tos, to app lists, to valuable business guides, browse below for a veritable
smorgasbord of value you may have passed over.
Music sharing and distribution on the web is nothing new. But some artists, bands, and labels
are going the extra social mile to get their music heard. Here’s how they’re
doing it.
Dick Tracy’s gadgets have nothing on today’s socially-savvy police departments.
Find out how they’re using social networks to catch criminals, prevent crime, and keep
the public informed.
Is you Facebook Fan Page lacking a little engagement “oomph?” Has your fan growth
leveled off? Try these four dead-simple ways to get folks sharing your brand again.
Location-based social media is still relatively young, but the future is bright for users,
marketers, and businesses alike. Here are 5 important lessons to take away from the current
LBS landscape.
For more mobile news and resources, you can follow Mashable’s mobile channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.
The B2B potential of social media is often overlooked. If you sell to fellow business owners
and you’re looking for an in on the social media action, don’t miss this post.
Social media is not the beginning or end of a marketing effort. It should be woven into every
aspect of your business plan. Take in these four tips on how to make that happen.
Is your business ready to make the leap into the cloud? Smart integration of Google Apps for
Business can really benefit your team and workflow. See how in this post.
Greetings, PlayStation Nation! It’s time for a proper introduction. I’m Sid Shuman, and
I’m the newest recruit of the PlayStation.Blog team! You might know me from my 11 years with GamePro, where I served as writer and senior editor
covering my favorite topic in the world: video games!
In my new role with the PlayStation.Blog, I’ll be working with fine folks like Jeff Rubenstein and
Chris Morell (a fellow
partner-in-crime from my GamePro days!). My day-to-day focus will be updating and maintaining
PlayStation’s official Twitter account (Follow us: Twitter.com/SonyPlayStation) and Facebook
page (Facebook.com/PlayStation),
as well as helping moderate and maintain our new PlayStation.Blog Share, where you can submit your own great ideas to the
PlayStation team. We read every one of them!
I’m proud to be a part of a PlayStation team and, especially, to be serving you. So without
further ado, let’s take a closer look at the week’s posts on the PlayStation.Blog. See
you on the internets!
Wakeboarding HD Coming to PSN March 25 — If you love Jet Moto, Hydro
Thunder, SSX, or Crazy Taxi, you owe it to yourself to check out this gorgeous hi-def PSN
title. Dodging sharks while busting monster wakeboard trick combos: yeah, I’m pretty sure
that’s a win.
ModNation Racers Release Date, Pre-Orders and Box Art! — Zoom, zoom,
zoom! I played this nimble kart racer at GDC 2010 for the first time, and was pleased by the
tight controls (epic drifting!) and the adorable character designs. Better yet, the track
creator is one of the best user creation tools I’ve ever seen. This one deserves your
attention.
God of War III Launch Special Tonight on SPIKE TV + Midnight Launch Events!
— The Game To End All Games is (finally) here, and the midnight launch festivities
couldn’t have been more epic. Catch up on the Spike TV special, too, hosted by
GameTrailers’ Geoff Keighley and featuring a special appearance by God of War III
director Stig Asmussen.
PlayStation.Blog God of War III GDC 2010 Meetup Recap — Epic game +
epic fans = epic community meetup. San Francisco will never be the same after our
record-shattering God of War community event, featuring a blistering Challenge of the Titans
competition, countless raffle prizes, and a special God of War III play session. Intense!
Coming to PSN this Week: Patchwork Heroes — In this charming PSP
game, you carve pieces off gigantic airborne battleships using a saw. Epic AND cute:
what’s not to like? The theme song deserves extra points, too.
God of War III Out Today! — The wait is over: Kratos will have his revenge.
The first level alone is enough to take your breath away. What are you waiting for?
New Limited Edition Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker PSP Entertainment Pack
— This limited edition PSP Entertainment Pack is a killer deal. Fully loaded with a 2GB
Memory Stick, free PSN movie voucher (US only), exclusive DLC, plus the slick “Spirited
Green” PSP-3000. And, of course, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, the
latest chapter in Hideo Kojima’s powerful series.
Meet The Tester Cast Members Luge and Doc in PlayStation Home Tomorrow
— Regular viewers of The Tester might have wondered whether Doc and Luge had “a
thing” for each other. If you made it to our in-Home meetup with these popular
contestants, you’d have gotten the chance to ask them for yourself!
3D Dot Game Heroes Walkthrough — If you’re elderly enough to remember
the 8-bit and 16-bit generation, 3D Dot Game Heroes will be right up your alley. It’s
both a tribute to, and a parody of, the Golden Age of Gaming. Let Atlus’s Aram Jabbari
give you the full tour!
Introducing PlayStation.Blog Share — Since starting with the fine folks of
the PlayStation.Blog, Share has been a near-obsession of mine. The concept of fans contributing
fresh ideas to PlayStation, and voting on them, is a powerful one. Have you Shared today?
make.believe: thatgamecompany — thatgamecompany is famous for introducing
Flower and flOw to gamers worldwide. But where did this innovative independent game studio come
from? How did they get started? All secrets are revealed in this short, beautifully shot
documentary video.
PlayStation Comics Store Update — Comic geeks, rejoice! The PlayStation
Comics Store grows ever-larger: highlights include Dragon Age # 1, Star Trek: Nero # 3, and The
X-Men (1963) # 6 through #10. Remember: reading is fundamental!
The Tester – Episode 5 Available Today —
With only three episodes left, The Tester is heating up! If you’re a newcomer to the
show, there’s never been a better time to check it out. There’s only three episodes
left! No spoilers!
PixelJunk Racers 2nd Lap Coming to PSN this Spring + PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe
on UMD — Dylan “Mr. PixelJunk” Cuthbert gives the skinny on eagerly
anticipated updates to the smash-hit PSN game series. With PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe hitting
the PSP on UMD for only $20, and PixelJunk Racers 2nd Lap getting a beefy upgrade on PSN,
now’s the time to dive into this celebrated retro-styled series.
First MAG DLC free, coming next week — Zipper Interactive
wasn’t kidding when they said their support for MAG had only just begun. Rejoin the fight
with potent new Flashbang Grenades, new Light Machine Guns, and a double-XP weekend starting
March 25th. All hail MAG!
PlayStation.Blog Moves East next week. Come Meetup with us! — Meet
Jeff and the PlayStation.Blog team in Boston and New York next week! Of course, we’ll
have cool prizes and gaming swag to hand out. But the real attraction will be hands-on sessions
with PlayStation Move, our state-of-the-art motion controller coming later this Fall!
PlayStation Network Video Content Update — Lots of scrumptious new
video content to peruse this weekend on the PSN Video Store, including Twilight Saga: New Moon,
Ninja Assassin, Universal Soldier: Regeneration, and my personal favorite History Channel TV
show, MonsterQuest (This week: Sasquatches!).
ModNation Racers: Redesigning Kart Racing — Building a Better Kart
Racer: Get a better ‘handle’ on ModNation Racers’ controls and feel with this
informative new video.
Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake Trailer and Interview — Learn more
about the exclusive new content planned for the PSP version of this team action-RPG, including
new modes, new maps, and a beefier (cakier?) story mode. Viva la girthiness!
Eye of Indra Bundle with Rika and Pinkerton skins to be released in North
America – Covered in full detail on the PlayStation.Blog, the Eye of Indra motion comic bundle will be available
for purchase on April 1 in the US, Canada and Mexico. You can get the Rika and Pinkerton
multiplayer skins by purchasing the bundle and we’ve made sure that anyone who has
purchased all the individual episodes also get the skins.
Player spawn point updates being rolled out – Over
the past couple of weeks we noticed that our spawn points needed some tweaking. We announced
this week that we’re rolling out updates to UNCHARTED 2 over time to our multiplayer maps
to alleviate unfair player spawning during matches.
The Art of UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves – out in April 2010
– Ballistic Publishing, SCEA and Naughty Dog are pleased to reveal the
upcoming 272-page art book of concept art, production art and character models. The art book
will come in three flavors for collectors of all kinds. You can pre-order now, and
there’s even a limited release pre-order bonus – a 15 minute
video walkthrough of 3 concept pieces.
All this talk about preserving digital legacies
got me thinking: What about the bits we don't want to leave behind? Y'know, the risqué
material? Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. More »
All this talk about preserving digital legacies
got me thinking: What about the bits we don't want to leave behind? Y'know, the risqué
material? Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. More »
If
you've wanted to learn origami but never got around to checking out any library books on the topic,
the massive collection of origami tutorials at Origami Club can help get you started.
More »
If
you've wanted to learn origami but never got around to checking out any library books on the topic,
the massive collection of origami tutorials at Origami Club can help get you started.
More »
"Thirty-Six Stratagems" refers to thirty-six war strategies in ancient Chinese ,which language
comes of the Northern and Southern Dynasties and the book was completed in Ming and the Qing
Dynasty.This books is summarized by the military thoughts and rich experience in the struggle in
ancient China and was on of the Chinese culture heritages."Thirty-Six Stratagems" is a masterpiece
which fcous on the scheme of the war and the strategies and reveals how to make a right decision
correctly and quickly and how to win the enemies in a right way.This book can not only be used in
the military war in China and other countries in the world,but also used in political, economic,
diplomatic, intelligence, etc. Thirty-Six
Strategies
LinuxCommand.org: "Over the next few weeks, I will show you how to take an old,
slow computer and make it into a text-only Linux workstation with surprising capabilities,
including document production, email, instant messaging, audio playback, USENET news, calendaring,
and, yes, even web browsing."
In the most interesting interview OSV conducted with Catholic
iconographer Marek Czarnecki, that I referred to yesterday, we gain a sense of how we can
properly understand the real language of icons. Before I quote from the second part of that OSV
interview let me answer a question or two about this subject.
Am I suggesting that you cannot worship fully without icons? Not in the least. Am I
suggesting that icons must be used in public worship? No. But are icons a form of
idolatry? Those who answer yes to this question are numerous in evangelical Protestant circles
and can easily impress others to follow their simplistic and iconoclastic reasoning without the
evangelical having a framework for considering this subject. I am attempting to give such a
framework and at the same time telling you why I use icons in my own worship.
Here is the second part of the interview that I began sharing yesterday from the (February 7,
2010) OSV.
*************
OSV: It seems like there is a lot going on in icons that many of us are not
aware of. Is that true?
Czarnecki: When you look at an icon, the meaning of it should be absolutely
open. There shouldn’t be anything hidden in an icon. There shouldn’t be anything
esoteric in an icon. There shouldn’t be anything so complicated in an icon that you
can’t immediately start praying with it. It’s like the Gospels. You don’t need
a degree in philosophy or theology to open up the Gospels and read them and understand them. The
icon has to be exactly the same. . . . People think icons are some very complicated symbolic map,
and they’re not. They express the reality of a person’s life. Iconographers only use
signs and symbols when the language when the language of naturalism is inadequate to express a
spiritual truth.
It’s forbidden to make an icon of God the Father because the First Person of the Trinity is
inexpressible. Like when Jews write up the Torah, they leave an empty space, and that absolutely
correct. We have no adequate expression of God the Father, even though our churches are filled
with them. In order to express that Jesus is divine, we can only make an image of his physical
presence. To show that he’s divine we have to use signs and symbols because there is no
adequate way to express his divinity. So we start with a halo, we put a three-barred cross in his
halo, and the Greek characters that in English look like WON, which is an abbreviation for
“I am Who I am.” Y putting in those characters, we demonstrate what Christ himself
said, which is, “I and the Father are One.” But there’s no way that I can
figure out how to paint that so we have to lapse into the use of semantic symbols, but it should
be minimal, and it should only be used when you can’t express something in a very
straightforward way.
OSV: For Westerners, icons can sometimes seem foreign, even
off-putting. What’s behind that and how can we get past it?
Czarnecki: When the schism [between the Eastern and Western Churches] happened,
it was such a profound thing, like a divorce. The Western Church moved toward more incarnational
theology. The Eastern Church developed into more mystical theology. And the art in both churches
reflects that theology. Both are correct. . . . Western art was much more naturalistic because it
talked about the immanence of God in the world. Orthodox iconography just kept developing
internally to show the transcendence of God in the world.
There are a couple of things that make the artistic language of the icon a little bit different
than Western art, and one is the idea of space. When we make a naturalistic painting of a
landscape, for example, an artist uses what’s called one-point perspective. You have a
horizon line and all space recedes as it gets to the horizon line and things become smaller. In
the icon, the idea is that we are looking through a window into that space of eternity. Since
we’re looking into an eternal space, there can’t be a horizon. There can’t be
an end. We use what’s called inverse, or reverse, perspective so that all things
continually open up in front of us. . . . The other thing that’s different is the way the
iconographer uses light. In a naturalistic painting, you always have some definite light source.
In the icon, the light has to look like it comes from inside the figure and from many different
points outside it. In an icon, you’ll never have cast shadows because a shadow means that
there’s some light source.
OSV: If icons are looking into eternity, where does Western religious art look?
Czzarnecki: If you think of St. Francis of Assisi and that traditional act of
making the first Nativity scene, what he was doing was starting the process of the humanization
of Catholic art. . . . . When he made that Nativity scene and people were able to walk into a
setting where they felt themselves participating in that space and God was participating in their
space by statues, it was an articulation of God coming out into our space, and that’s an
articulation of immanence.
It’s also a reflection of the very strong social mission of the Catholic Church. We
aren’t afraid to get our feet dirty. I think of Dorothy Day. We put ourselves out into the
world, go out into the world and find God.
Orthodoxy is inverted. It’s not better or worse, it’s just a different vision. In
Orthodoxy, the approach is usually to leave the world, go find some high mountain, some dense
forest, some dry desert and go into God’s space. That’s also the vision of the
icon—to go into God’s space—whereas statues
articulate God coming out into our space. Both ways are correct, but that schism created what I
call a psychosis, two halves of the same picture.
*************
Several years ago I was involved in a dialogue with a group of Anglican priests and lay folks in
an annual meeting of the Anglican Mission in America in Dallas. I was in a room where Dr. James
I. Packer and I were asked to discuss theology and ministry with mostly younger leaders. It was a
memorable time for me. There was a moment when someone asked Dr. Packer if he still held to the
view he held against religious art being used in worship as a clear violation of the second
commandment. (He expresses such a view in his classic book, Knowing God.) I was not
surprised to hear Dr. Packer say that he had changed his mind about his understanding and that he
no longer held to a strict Puritan view about religious art. I came to the same view many years
ago but did not know Jim had also changed his mind. I thought to myself, “This is another
reason why I love this man so dearly. He is willing, in his eighties, to keep thinking and to
even admit that he had changed his mind regarding a particular section of a best-selling classic
book that he wrote decades ago.”
Whatever you think of art and icons I hope you will better understand the positive role that they
have in the hearts and experience of Christ’s people now. The word iconoclast broadly
refers to those who oppose widely accepted traditional views. The word actually originated in the
church. An iconoclast was a person who made it their goal to write and speak against icons. Some
even worked to destroy icons as their special ministry for Christ. The spirit of the iconoclast
lives on in many forms, literally and spiritually. An understanding of the real purpose of icons
just might change all of that. I expect that we will see a growing number of younger Christians
return to the use of icons as they see them in the way that I have explained in this mini-series.
I welcome this and hope that they will discover more of Christ’s power and love in the
process.
The extent to which a society is civilized can be assessed from how it treats its disabled members.
In India, not only facilities for disabled to access public buildings etc. are hard to come by from
the executive part of the government, now the Supreme Court is also showing its callous attitude.
Recently it has dismissed a plea from a dyslexic student who just wanted to use a calculator in a
CBSE exam. If this person fails the CBSE exam because he is not allowed to use a calculator, his
fate of not being able to go to college to get higher education (assuming he wants one, and for
whatever it is worth) is basically sealed. Should the CBSE or any other school certification be
about just being able to do arithmetic without the use of a calculator? Is it more important (a) to
be able to do the calculation without a calculator, or (b) to know what calculation needs to be
done along with how to use a tool to do that calculation? A larger question is what should
education be about. It should be about teaching students how to think, solve problems, understand
the world, and be productive for themselves and the society. It should not be about rote
(interestingly, the wikipedia entry mentions India for rote learning) or being able to do double
integrals in their heads.
It’s
fairly easy to find exactly when most Americans started to get fat. All you have to do is go back
to the 1950’s. Some would say this is due to our fast food lifestyle, people spending too
much time in front of the TV instead of running from animals, or even possibly a plot by Colonel
Sanders. I think it’s directly related to the invention of the remote control. Now,
there’s even less reason to get up off the couch thanks to the latest invention: The
Clicker.
The Clicker is a 9-function learning remote with one important difference. It has a built in
bottle opener. Now, after you train your dog to go and get you a beer out of the fridge, you no
longer have to fumble in your pocket, or on the side table for an opener. You’ll know
exactly where it is. Unfortunately you can’t be lazy if you want to order one though, as
the website doesn’t have an electronic store. There
isn’t even a price listed, just a phone number. You can download the instructions on how to
program your new remote/bottle opener though.
This week
we've got a book hot off the presses for your weekly dose of entrepreneurial reading as 37signals founders Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson are back
with their second book in four months. Released earlier this month, Rework, a no-nonsense rethinking of how to successfully
start and run a business, comes hot on the heels of their first book Getting Real: The smarter, faster, easier way to build a
successful web application, which published in November of 2009.
Sponsor
This time Fried and Hansson take a more general approach to business by examining the ways that
new companies are disrupting traditional business practices and making a big splash. They cover
their entrepreneurial bases by reminding us that "no time is no excuse" and that "a business
without a path to profit isn't a business, it's a hobby," but then also elaborate on less
traditional practices that have helped them succeed.
The main theme of the book is to trim the fat and do fewer things better; simplifying every
aspect of your business and doing a smaller number of things at a higher quality is far better
than trying to do too much and a mediocre level. There were times when customers of their
products wanted more features and they refused to comply because it would slow them down and
decrease efficiency. They decry time-stealing meetings, lengthy contracts, childish office
politics and bloated inventories because they weigh down companies from reaching their full
potential.
Rework is a great read for entrepreneurs because it is very focused and
doesn't waste any time with lengthy use cases. The book itself is an example of the principals it
teaches; the quality of a written work is not based on it's length, so why should company be
judged by how many features it offers? Fried and Hansson admit that the book, which comes in at a
dense but brief 288 pages, was originally drafted to be nearly twice as long, but why say in 600
pages what you can say under 300? Another reason the book is a great read is because of the
authors' open and honest tone.
"Ever seen those weapons prisoners make out of soap, or a spoon? They make do with what they've
got," one passage humorously points out. "Now we're not saying you should go out and shank
somebody, but get creative, and you'll amazed with what you can make with just a little."
Other useful and easily digestible analogies for their unique business ideas include comparing
your company to a hot dog stand. They advise that the best way to trim down an inflated company
is to find the "epicenter" by asking yourself, "If I took this away, would what I'm selling still
exist?" The best hot dog stand doesn't worry about the decorations on the stand, or the
condiments - it worries about the hot dogs.
There are dozens of other valuable pieces of advice in Rework that are sure to inspire
any entrepreneur or small business owner. But as LeVar Burton famously said at the end of each
episode of Reading Rainbow, you don't have to take my word for it. Seth Godin, who has
authored several books on business and entrepreneurship including The Dip
which we profiled earlier this year, had nothing but high praise for Rework.
"Jason and David have broken all the rules and won. Again and again they've demonstrated that the
regular way isn't necessarily the right way," says Godin. "They just don't say it, they do it.
And they do it better than just about anyone has any right to expect."
This book is an obvious buy not only because the of the expert advice dispensed by the successful
founders of 37signals, but also because the book is an easy, quick and inexpensive read.
Personally, in a few short hours I was able to breeze through the audio version, which can be
found online for less than $10. But if you prefer reading words on a page, the Kindle version is
also $10, or a hardback copy is just $3 more at some online retailers.
Here's
the thing about Portal: we love it so
much, we want to know everything about it. Like, the dude that came up with that Test
Chamber 14 setup? Yeah, tell us all about him and whether he was upset or proud that somebody
figured out how to get through it in five
seconds. That's why this Game
Informer video is so fascinating.
It's a brief documentary on both the DigiPen students and Valve veterans that created
Portal -- and are subsequently now working on Portal 2. It's like a video diary of completely
attractive and charismatic people you may have a slight unprofessional obsession with. Frankly,
they're our heroes ... even if Garrett admitted to LARPing at one point in his life.
Here's
the thing about Portal: we love it so
much, we want to know everything about it. Like, the dude that came up with that Test
Chamber 14 setup? Yeah, tell us all about him and whether he was upset or proud that somebody
figured out how to get through it in five
seconds. That's why this Game
Informer video is so fascinating.
It's a brief documentary on both the DigiPen students and Valve veterans that created
Portal -- and are subsequently now working on Portal 2. It's like a video diary of completely
attractive and charismatic people you may have a slight unprofessional obsession with. Frankly,
they're our heroes ... even if Garrett admitted to LARPing at one point in his life.
Macedonian bloggers and other new media users offered their own responses to the question
“How internet changed your life?”, posed in an article
[MKD] on BBC's Macedonian language site.
Darko Buldioski of Komunikacii.net applied a style
figure reminiscent of Slavic
antithesis to rephrase the question into “If I had no internet…” and
posted the following answers:
I would not have…
…been able to write on my blog, in which I invested much and got much in return :)
…known that BBC covers this topic, as I don't listen to radio news, I read it all
online
…met a bunch of excellent people with whom I regularly communicate about different
subjects
…ordered various trinkets that my brother transports for me when he comes from America
(it's supposedly cheaper there)
…worked on what I do now, because my work is about Internet.
Linking to the relevant South Park episode - “Over Logging” - Buldioski also
invited others to share their thoughts.
Dozens of Twitter users offered their
opinions via the hashtag #danemaseinternet [MKD] or “If there
was no Internet”…
…I would have to carry a notebook with me like [the author] Venko Andonovski to record
my thoughts [- Sead93]
…by God I would have dealt with scientific research and as a result I would have found
evidence to disprove the Theory of
Relativity [- goranmitev]
…I would never have discovered what life on a farm is like [- lazyvlad]
…and a number of them blamed the internet for not being in shape, lack of muscle mass or
excess fatty tissue.
Marjan Zabrcanec considers his blog Golemata
slika (The Big Picture) and his Twitter and Facebook profiles his “loudspeakers”
for exercising his right to the freedom of speech. He explained [MKD] that he opened his
first e-mail account 15 years ago, and that without internet he would not have known “which
topics and arguments are used by debaters from all over the world. Research would have been
tremendously hard. Now, there's Debatopedia,” and
would not have been able to effectively manage his NGO, or offer
cheap but powerful internet marketing campaigns for the clients of his current employer.
Vasilka
Dimitrovskareckoned
[MKD] that without Internet she would have never learned how to blog and use new media to
“detect, present and protect cultural heritage,” and influence the public opinion,
including appearing on TV.
…I would have remained just one more archeologist in the sea of unknown and anemic
archeologists in Macedonia without any attention from the society, and with even less respect.
Ribaro (The Fisherman) responded via a
vlog post, with audio in Macedonian and English subtitles.
Viktor Arsovski wrote [MKD] that without
Internet he probably would have continued to teach English, and not take part in the founding of
IT.com.mk, and…
I would take our media “for granted,” and not read information from other
sources.
I would have never known that some things in the society can improve.
I would not get frustrated by watching football (soccer) on [Macedonian TV] Sitel. Now by
watching online streaming I know there are quality anchors who explain about the sport instead of
talking nonsense. Therefore, even though it sometimes makes me nervous, at least I know that the
Internet offers me a choice!
Bloggers who posted on this subject also included Kihu Potru [MKD], who
emphasized the Internet's importance in sharing art and establishing connections between artists
- from visuals to haiku; Kuzmanov [MKD]; Martin [MKD]; and
Dzaman
[MKD].
Finaly, some people responded through comments on blogs of others, like
Oksimoron, who said [MKD]:
If there was no internet… I would have walked around more, I would have been a better
housewife, and would not look silly laughing alone in front of the monitor :-)
…would not have enrolled into post-graduate studies (found over the Internet)
- I would not have stayed awake till 5 in the morning
- I would not have known many of my current friends
- I would not have been able to book a hotel in Nice
- I would not have been able to surprise my loved ones who are far away with gifts
And for certain I would not have known that one day the Internet will die [MKD] ;)
We are all familiar with buns: Ball of bread, with a somewhat bland taste. Try these chocolate
hazelnut buns, a fusion of bread and dessert, bound to impress. Here's how to make them.
You know those special
amps used by Spinal Tap that go to 11, in order to provide "that extra push over the cliff"?
It appears Fox News has gotten a hold of some and hooked them up to its coverage of health care
reform.
As the reform bill moved closer to a vote in the House, the Fox News noise machine went into
overdrive, hurling every false and misleading claim it could muster.
The week in Fox News health care hysteria began with an oldie-but-goodie -- Steve Doocy, Bill Hemmer, and Bill O'Reilly all claimed or suggested that
the bill will, in O'Reilly's words, "require American taxpayers to fund abortion." But it
doesn't, at least not beyond what is currently permitted under current law. Fox News,
unfortunately, is not alone in
repeating this falsehood.
Then, Doocy and Hemmer, joined by Neil Cavuto and several other hosts, jumped on the idea that
a legislative procedure the House is reportedly considering to pass the Senate's version of
health care reform would allow them to do so without a vote. Wrong again -- the House would need
to vote to implement that procedure.
Carl Cameron, however, broke through the noise on this issue, pointing out that the process would simply
pass the bill "in one vote instead of two" and that the process "has been used, literally, for
centuries" -- indeed, Republicans made
copious use of the "self-executing rule" when they controlled Congress. Even Charles
Krauthammer conceded that it's
constitutional. Still, that didn't keep Alisyn Camerota from scoffing that the rule "might as well be a
self-immolating rule."
Fox News then pounced on a survey
claiming to have found that 46 percent of primary care physicians would consider leaving their
profession if health care reform passes. O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, and contributor Dr. Marc Siegel
all portrayed the survey as having been published by the prestigious New England Journal of
Medicine.
Except it wasn't. The article was written by the physician-recruiting firm that conducted the
survey, and it actually appeared in an employment newsletter produced by the publisher of the
New England Journal of Medicine, not the Journal itself. Further, the survey
itself was not all that scientific -- done via email contacts taken from the recruiting firm's
database -- so any claim that the survey's results accurately reflect the view of the American
medical community is dubious at best.
Fox News' Megyn Kelly did eventually note
that the survey was "not a scientific poll." But that didn't keep Glenn Beck from insisting -- hours after Kelly corrected the
record -- that "The New England Journal of Medicine says that if this bill is
passed nearly one-third of doctors will quit practice medicine."
(Beck, meanwhile, is keeping up the long
tradition of Fox News hosts pushing partisan political agendas by joining with Republican
Rep. Steve King to promote an anti-reform rally in Washington.)
Fox News contributor and serial
misleader Dana Perino made her own non-contribution to the health care debate, asserting that the reform bill's Medicare
investment tax on those making over $200,000 a year is "so disturbing ... because the people who
make that money are the small business owners." In fact, fewer than 1.3 percent of small business
owners would be affected by the tax.
When the Congressional Budget Office released new numbers detailing how the reform bill would
reduce the deficit by $130 billion over 10 years, Fox News didn't want to talk about that -- it
spent far more time highlighting how
much the bill would cost instead of how much it would save. And when that didn't seem to work, it
tried to discredit the CBO as
untrustworthy and unreliable. Never mind that when the CBO issued "favorable" numbers last fall
on a Republican health care reform plan, Fox News praised the CBO as "nonpartisan."
The Fox News spin is even confusing its own hosts. Brian Kilmeade can't quite comprehend how a bill can cost money
yet reduce the deficit, and Kelly admitted, "I don't understand anything they're
talking about when it comes to this potential law."
Fox News' inept war against health care reform, while in keeping with its function as the
communications arm of the Republican
Party in exile, is making itself look like the Spinal Tap of news. It doesn't really need that
"extra push over the cliff" -- after all, that's what it's been speeding toward for years.
A whole lot of shaky earthquake claims goin' on at Fox
How much does Fox News oppose health care reform? It's pretending natural disasters didn't happen
if they're inconvenient to the anti-reform agenda.
On March 18, Doocy took exception to
President Obama's statement that a provision in the health care reform that would help Louisiana
cope with Medicaid shortfalls resulting from Hurricane Katrina might also help Hawaii because it
"went through an earthquake. "Hold it. What Hawaiian earthquake?" Doocy asked. "There was an
earthquake in 1868 that killed 77. There was an earthquake in 1975 that killed two." After noting
that the provision applies to states that have suffered a natural disaster "within the last seven
fiscal years," Doocy added: "Essentially it boils down to just one state, and that is Louisiana."
Doocy seems to have forgotten that there was an
earthquake in Hawaii in 2006. Not only did it cause tens of millions of dollars in damage,
the
Bush administration "declared a major disaster exists in the State of Hawaii and ordered
Federal aid to supplement State and local recovery efforts" as a result of the quake.
But Doocy didn't need to rely on federal agencies for information on the quake -- Fox News
reported on it at the time.
(Investor's Business Dailysimilarly
ignored its own reporting to suggest there was no recent Hawaii quake.)
It seems that rather than trust the federal government or his own news organization, Doocy chose
instead to trust right-wing bloggers, who were spreading the misinformation. That runs
counter to a 2007
memo -- issued after Doocy and other Fox hosts falsely claimed that Obama was educated in a
madrassa -- in which Fox News vice president John Moody reportedly wrote, "For the record: seeing
an item on a website does not mean it is right. Nor does it mean it is ready for air on FNC."
Media Matters has written
Fox News requesting that Doocy correct the record. We shouldn't have to, since Fox News is
supposed to have a "zero tolerance" policy toward on-air mistakes, but then, these are the same
folks that
ludicrously insisted that a Fox & Friends graphic in which poll numbers added up to 120 percent contained no
errors.
The latest right-wing witch-hunt target: Jim Wallis
Fox News has long been a leader in witch hunts against Obama and his administration (or, really,
anyone who can be remotely tagged as liberal). Now Glenn Beck, as an extension of his repeated
challenged Beck to a debate over
social justice, Beck demurred, his vaguely
threatening statements making it clear his witch hunt was more important than reasoned
debate: "In my time, I will respond. ... Just know the hammer's coming. ... And when the hammer
comes, it's going to be hammering hard and all through the night, over and over."
Right-wing website WorldNetDaily, meanwhile, blundered into the breach with a poorly written
article that attempted to put words in Wallis' mouth. WND claimed that Wallis was a "champion of
communism," even though Wallis has declared communism to be a "failed" system; asserted that
Sojourners has published "a slew of radicals" while ignoring that it has also published a slew of
conservatives; and alleged that "Sojourners' official 'statement of faith' urges readers to
'refuse to accept [capitalist] structures and assumptions that normalize poverty and segregate
the world by class,' " even though the word "capitalist" -- inserted by WND -- actually appears
nowhere in the statement. WND even falsely claimed that Wallis "labeled the U.S.
'the great captor and destroyer of human life.' "
Somehow, we suspect that Beck's upcoming assault on Wallis will be just as divorced from reality
as WorldNetDaily's.
Erick Erickson joins the "scumbags" at CNN
Should a blogger who once called a retiring Supreme Court justice a "goat f---ing child molester"
be rewarded with a regular commentary gig on CNN? Doesn't matter -- the deal's been done.
CNN announced this week that RedState editor Erick Erickson has joined the network as a political
contributor, mainly appearing on John King's new show. The network claimed that Erickson is "a
perfect fit" for King's show, adding that "Erick is in touch with the very people John hopes to
reach."
Media Matters has detailed
Erickson's history of outrageous statements, of which the aforementioned is but one.
Predictably, conservatives defended
Erickson's new job, his fellow RedStaters among them. One of Erickson's RedState defenders,
however, went a tad off-message: "From
Non-Conservatives, to Academics and Liberal Elitists, to self-soiling and unprincipled
Professional Politicians and firmly-entrenched good ole boys inside the
M(ostly) S(cumbags)
M(edia), each of these clowns has a tale of doom about the
hell we're headed for compliments of CNN's hand basket."
We have to wonder: Does Erickson consider
his new CNN colleagues to be "scumbags"?
Media Matters maintains active online communities on the nation's leading
social networking sites. Be sure to join us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube,
MySpace,
and
Digg and join in on the discussion.
Media Matters Minutenow on
YouTube
For some time now, radio shows and stations throughout the country have been carrying the
Media Matters Minute, a daily, minute-long recap of our work topped off with
the "most outrageous comment" of the day. We encourage you to subscribe (YouTube /
iTunes /RSS) to the
Minute's daily podcast, hosted by Media Matters' Ben Fishel.
This weekly wrap-up was compiled and edited by Terry Krepel, a senior web editor at Media
Matters for America.
Kevin Rushby thought he didn't get on with horses. But a two-day ride across beautiful
countryside of Provence was the start of a new love affair
When the horses come down from the hill, I'm standing on the lane, wondering if there is any way
to get out of what is about to happen. It's an impressive sight: the dozen horses, manes and
tails in motion, all cantering through the forest, the dog barking at their heels. There were two
patched and painted ponies, like Apache war steeds, a pair of dainty Arabs, dish-faced and
bug-eyed, like they had pranced straight out of a Stubbs painting. There were a couple of greys
and some big brown mares. The biggest brute will be mine, I thought – the one
with the grudge.
Far below us, down 700m of mountainside, shimmering and hazy, was the Côte d'Azur with its
white tower blocks, black cars and scorched skin. But we were no longer in that world; we were in
a golden forest of field maples, oaks and scarlet sumac near the village of Sainte-Agnès,
just a few miles north of Monaco, close to the Italian border. We were setting out on a two-day
ride into the virtually uninhabited interior, our saddlebags stuffed with supplies and bedrolls.
Denis came past me, whistling, then shouting for the dog, "Avant, avant, Uxel!
Allez, Juanita!" And the dog, a huge lolloping hound, was behind Juanita, one of the
painted ponies, urging her down. I noticed that the dog appeared to know the horse's name, and
thought, "Is that possible?"
I stepped back. My partner, Sophie, and six-year-old daughter Maddy were with Denis, catching
horses by the manes, slipping on bridles, tying them up to a rope strung between two trees. But I
stepped back.
I'll be honest. Horses and me never did click. A bite on the hand long ago, tales of terrifying
injuries, cowboy movies where they get thrown and trampled and bitten and generally reduced to a
bloody, quivering pulp, and finally the time in Sudan – I blush at the
recollection – when I coolly threw myself up on a mule, and went directly over
the other side into the dirt. If only the whole village hadn't been watching! Some of them
laughed so hard they had to lie down. Gimme a bike any day. To add to my woes, Sophie and Maddy
are comparative experts – and they look good in jodhpurs.
The night before, Denis had explained his methods. "I leave the horses out on the mountain
– that way they get strong and they have the security of the herd. They got a
pecking order and they got leaders. I work with 'em."
Denis Longfellow inspires confidence. Born in California in the 60s, he grew up surrounded by
writers and poets (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an ancestor). In the 70s he moved to Provence
and spent 10 years with the last generation of old-time shepherds: "They couldn't read or write,
but they knew how to keep animals."
Denis has a direct simple animal psychology: "In Europe you got a lot of culture grown up around
horseback riding. There's a guy two metres up there, looking down on someone, and he wants to
make that seem mysterious and complicated. But it ain't. Horseback riding ain't complicated."
Now, here on the lane, Denis is about to show me how simple it is. He grabs the big brown mare
– the one with the grudge, of course – and he grips the
reins in one hand together with a fist full of mane and he says to me. "Hold her like this. Get a
foot in your stirrup, then jump up."
I do it. The horse keeps steady. Denis positions my toe in the stirrup. "It's a natural position:
feet underneath, basin ..." he points at my pelvis. "That's where you ride –
in the basin. You can stand if you want, but keep your head down and butt up. Hold the mane with
both hands if you need to."
Maddy and Sophie are up, too. Mel and Liz, colleagues of Denis, are up. The loose horses are
milling, hooves clattering on tarmac. The dog, Uxel, is waiting for a signal. Denis jumps into
the saddle. A piercing whistle. My brown mare, Mada, turns sharply right and pounces forwards
after the loose horses. A cacophony of hooves explodes around me. A black horse bashes my knee.
We're going downhill at a trot and my bum is being punched. Stand up. Grab mane. Horse's head
starts to pump up and down as she breaks into a canter. Denis comes rattling past, cooler than a
cowboy dude, leaning back like he's tootling a Harley D up Route 66: "Sit back. Use your basin.
It's like making love."
I can't sit. I can't make love with my basin. I can't do anything but hold on. And yet that's
cool. Denis is cool. "OK, basin up and head down," he shouts. "Like a jockey."
I'm laughing with exhilaration. We sheer away down a broad grassy footpath. Sophie is alongside
me on her grey gelding and grinning. "Well?"
I can't stop smiling. "I – think – I –
might – like – this ..." How come, I'm wondering, I never
realised what fun this could be? And I haven't even thought about falling off.
After an hour we pull up by a tumbledown cottage where a man with a face full of furrows is
waving a bottle of pastis. He pours me a stiff measure.
"You'll never believe what I saw this morning: a man with a knapsack and nothing else
– naked!" He laughs. "I hardly see a soul up here, though it's just a few
kilometres from the coast."
A curious thing about Provence is how the coast and the mountains have exchanged population: the
coast was once an overheated pirate-afflicted zone that nobody wanted, while the cool hills were
desirable – everyone lived up here. Now the population is all down on the
coast, even though it's still overheated and pirate-infested (they sail in gilded mega-yachts
these days), and the hills are silent: you would struggle to get a pétanque match together
in most villages.
Riding through the sun-dappled forest, the only humans we see are a couple of mushroom
collectors. We emerge at an abandoned coastguard station and a magnificent panorama. Behind us
are the snow-capped Alpes Maritimes, ahead the sparkling sea and the mountains of Corsica on the horizon,
200km away. Westwards we can see Provence disappearing in ridges of blue and violet, while to the
east are the mountains of Italian Liguria.
"I guess most kids in England learn horseback riding indoors," Denis says to Maddy.
She nods: "My horse is called Pippin. We go across the ring from A to C, then B to D. It's fun."
I think Maddy is missing the rule-bound predictability of the riding school, a place where
correct clothes, posture and meticulous attention to detail are observed. She has coped with the
intensity of this outdoor experience with remarkable sang-froid, but for her –
truth to tell – the confidence nurtured in the riding school is indispensable
here.
Lunch is laid out: tiny black Niçoise olives, cheeses, hunks of bread, a bottle of red
wine, pasta and salads. We eat and talk, then some of us snooze. Later we trot onwards in the
deep glow of late afternoon. Denis tells me how he breaks new horses in.
"There ain't no problem when they live in a herd. The young colts run with us and they see what
happens with the older horses. When they're three years old, I put a bridle and saddle on them. I
use hackamore bridles so there's no bit. They take to it real easy."
In a broad meadow we gallop about and round up the loose horses, whooping and yelling like
cowboys on the range. It is both ridiculous and wonderful. That evening we light a camp fire, put
some sausages on to cook, and watch the stars come out.
"If only I'd known riding could be like this!" I say to Denis. "No pomp – just
relaxed."
My attitude to horses has, I admit, been damaged by exposure to a certain kind of horsey person:
braying women in uptight clothes, red-faced toffs in white cravats, all wearing those foul black
helmets with a ribbon on top. (I have to stop myself at this point since Maddy and Sophie love
this kind of kit.) Denis, I scarcely need to say, does not wear any of that ghastly garb,
favouring jeans and checked shirts with sunglasses under a baseball cap.
"A lot of guys come to it when they are older – thirties, forties, even
fifties and sixties," Denis says. "There's no problem with age at all."
There is a commotion among the horses and Maddy goes to investigate. She comes back grinning
sheepishly. "They're doing binki-bonki."
A torch reveals what exactly binki-bonki is: a grey gelding in an aroused state mounting a
chestnut mare.
"Ah, that's Dodo," says Denis. "He gets in the mood every three or four months
– no problem." He goes back to turning sausages on the fire.
Next morning we ride for about three hours and have lunch on a hilltop before heading back
towards Sainte-Agnès, at 760m the highest coastal village in Europe. We unsaddle the
horses and send the herd off into the forest, then sit down to an excellent dinner in the village
restaurant.
Later that evening, I head out alone on to the rocks around the village. The trip has challenged
my prejudice, and then surprised me by flipping it over entirely. The truth is that I was the one
with the grudge, not the poor horse. I sit down on a spur of granite and look around. To the
south are the bright lights of Menton and Monte Carlo; to the north is complete darkness,
punctuated by the hoots of owls calling across the valley. And above, as if attempting to tie
these two impossibly different worlds together, is the broad spangled belt of the Milky Way.
It was a good run while
it lasted, but it looks like the video retail chain Blockbuster is finally on its way to the big
strip mall in the sky. Yahoo reports that the
video chain is close to filing for bankruptcy after a disastrous year, which saw them losing over
$500 million in 2009. The Texas-based company has been meeting with lawyers to discuss their
options, and even went as far as to
consult Pierpont Communications about how to break the news to the press, and more importantly
the stockholders, that the retailer had, "issued a regulatory filing claiming it may need to seek
federal bankruptcy protection if it cannot restructure its debt."
So how bad could it be? Well, just take a look at Blockbuster's record over the past few years:
they have closed hundreds of stores, sales have gone down by 20%, and profits are plummeting. The
retailer made
some attempts last year to get into the digital content game, but I think this is a case of too
little too late, because revenue from their new kiosks, online rentals, and streaming video hasn't
helped. Now compare that to a company like Netflix that has grown annually by 20 per cent
and is posting profits of $679.7 million for 2009.
Blockbuster had revealed that it was in negotiations with Hollywood studios for better financial
terms to provide their stores with DVDs when the bankruptcy story hit the wire. If Hollywood
decides that Blockbuster is too much of a financial risk, it could force the already cash-strapped
retailer to make up-front payments for their content, and with 'liquidity' being a real problem for
the video retailer, it could be the last nail in the coffin. So far, the financial melt-down is
focused in the US, and according to Blockbuster, Canadian and UK stores are just fine. But I can't
be the only one who thinks it's just a matter of time before what started out as a joke has gotten one
step closer to becoming reality.
This week
we showed you how to make potato chips in the microwave, demystified the legality of recording
phone conversations, and helped you add Mac-like gestures to your Windows laptop. More »
This week
we showed you how to make potato chips in the microwave, demystified the legality of recording
phone conversations, and helped you add Mac-like gestures to your Windows laptop. More »
This week: Mapping! It's one of my favorite topics. We'll discuss how maps are made, who owns the
aerial image of your backyard, and how to crowd-source mapmaking. With Peter Birch of Google and
Nick Black of Cloudmade.
A website that sorts everyday the most relevant information to you.
Vote for the news and Matoumba will learn your tastes and the information that you like the most.
It is all FREE!
Find here the history of the stories you found interesting.
Show this to people who share the same interests as you,
and if they use Matoumba, their own votes will fine recommandations to you.
In the
next few weeks, the ReadWriteWeb events guide will take you from New York City, to San Francisco,
to Portland, Oregon. Along the way you'll find a conference on search engine strategies, a
showcase for startups, an in-depth look at the freemium business model, and a day filled with of
social media case studies.
Go beyond search at 
After a long winter's hiatus, 
The first 
The social media conference for marketers, 
The social media conference for marketers, 
The 
The 
The 
The 2nd annual 
We know you’re busy. Even with every social media, web, and
RSS tool at your disposal, you can occasionally miss out on some of the week’s most
insightful content.
![Click here to read How To: Hide Your "Collection"](http://cache-02.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2010/03/160x120_screencap_2010-03-20_at_8.27.55_am.jpg "Click here to read How To: Hide Your "Collection"")
![Click here to read How To: Hide Your "Collection"](http://cache-03.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2010/03/160x120_screencap_2010-03-20_at_8.27.55_am.jpg "Click here to read How To: Hide Your "Collection"")
Thirty-Six Strategies 1.0
Description:
It’s
fairly easy to find exactly when most Americans started to get fat. All you have to do is go back
to the 1950’s. Some would say this is due to our fast food lifestyle, people spending too
much time in front of the TV instead of running from animals, or even possibly a plot by Colonel
Sanders. I think it’s directly related to the invention of the remote control. Now,
there’s even less reason to get up off the couch thanks to the latest invention: The
Clicker.
This week
we've got a book hot off the presses for your weekly dose of entrepreneurial reading as 
Rework is a great read for entrepreneurs because it is very focused and
doesn't waste any time with lengthy use cases. The book itself is an example of the principals it
teaches; the quality of a written work is not based on it's length, so why should company be
judged by how many features it offers? Fried and Hansson admit that the book, which comes in at a
dense but brief 288 pages, was originally drafted to be nearly twice as long, but why say in 600
pages what you can say under 300? Another reason the book is a great read is because of the
authors' open and honest tone.
Dozens of Twitter users offered their
opinions via the hashtag 
Finaly, some people responded through comments on blogs of others, like
It was a good run while
it lasted, but it looks like the video retail chain Blockbuster is finally on its way to the big
strip mall in the sky. 
Recommandations
)
and reject those that you are not interested in
(
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