Friday, January 28, 2005

What databases are for Some databases are filled with useless junk. Some are filled with valuable financial data. And some -- the chosen -- contain truly useful information:   Buffy database with every character, episode, crewmember, etc. Cory Doctorow: The Buffyology database contains "every Buffy character, episode, cast member, writer and director and every word of every show, in a searchable database."  Link (via Making Light) [Boing Boing] 9:19:07 PM    Questions? Comments? Flames? []

What makes California so special? I know that the rest of the country laughs at us. This could be one of the reasons: Erik Davis workshop in Big Sur. David Pescovitz: BB pal Erik Davis, author of Techgnosis and an amazing body of articles on technology, culture, and strange belief systems, is teaching a workshop at Esalen in April called "The Visionary State: California's Spiritual Frontiers." . . . . . . The program will examine the idea that California's alternative spirituality forms a distinct religious tradition on its ownóa kind of West Coast Hinduism, full of diverse and often contradictory sects, philosophies, and spiritual technologies, but sharing a a common cultural landscape."  Link [Boing Boing] Seriously, this eclectic openness to anything and everything is a big part of what I love about California. OK, being a native is also a factor. Sure, go ahead and laugh, but you other states better not feel superior to us. When your state is the world's fifth largest economy, then maybe I'll pay attention. 9:09:57 PM    Questions? Comments? Flames? []

Copy what? Guy handed me a printout from a Russian LiveJournal blog last night; it took a moment before I recognized why it looked so familiar: "copylove"  lifted part of my review of October's BayDUX gathering, printed in the January/February <interactions>, from the HTML posting of same on my site. I don't know whether to be bothered by the lack of attribution (it is copyrighted, after all), or glad that someone's sharing the information internationally. It's not like the list of participating organizations contains any brilliantly original writing. But it would have been nice of "copylove" to at least mention where he read about it. Blogging etiquette calls for linking back to and acknowledging your sources. BTW, if you're a member of ACM, you can (reportedly) access the article now in ACM's Digital Library. 8:30:51 PM    Questions? Comments? Flames? []

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