Monday 19 May 2003

Giles Foden discusses asymmetric morality with regard to Africa. "How to fix Africa? This is the weightiest moral problem of the world. Weapons of mass destruction (phantom or otherwise), Bin Laden, Palestine, all these are feather-burdens by comparison. Thus the rage felt by many about claims to virtue made by western governments concerning Iraq and the "war on terror". The problem is not asymmetric warfare, it's asymmetric morality." One of the important points Foden makes is how, whatever we may think, we are inextricably tied to Africa. "For ecological, political and social reasons, we are in coalition with Africa whether we like it or not," he writes. In my World Economic Forum days, we were determined to get Africa on the agenda for Davos. But for all our efforts, it proved incredibly difficult to attract the non-South African CEOs to participate. More of them should read Foden. [Davos Newbies] 8:49:27 PM

"..... users follow a "scent" to content that you have made 'smelly.'" [curious lee] 5:58:17 PM

Guardian Online's Neil McIntosh has devoted his Monday online column today to the Googlewash (Orlowski/Register) story and the appearance of blogs in Google search results. I found it well worth the read and I'll bet you will too :-) [onlineblog.com] ok i'll blog it 4:39:26 PM

Net notes: The National Trust has appealed to British gardeners to help to save the large garden bumblebee from extinction. Read our top 10 web tips to sustaining rare British species. [Guardian Unlimited] 3:52:09 PM

[curiousLee] 3:46:26 PM

This is a blog site for a class called "New Technology & Child Development" being taught in the Cognitive Studies in Education program at the University of Washington by Philip Bell. The class has a dual focus on understanding the technological fluencies that kids are developing with new technologies as well as how digital technologies, electronic gadgets, and interactive media are influencing children's development... [Philip Bell] Nicely designed courselog with an interesting selection of resources. [Sebastian Fiedler] [Untitled Source] 3:15:50 PM

A bid to host the 2012 Olympics in London is a great opportunity. We must grasp it with enthusiasm, says David Aaronovitch. [guardian regeneration news] 3:08:39 PM

Government backing for London's Olympic bid is unlikely to succeed but it could provide a handy excuse for not investing in the south-east, says Matt Weaver. [guardian regeneration news] 3:07:36 PM

Register: "BT wants to bring wireless broadband to thousands of boozers across the UK." [Scripting News] 3:05:11 PM

London joins Paris and New York in licensing buskers on its underground train stations from Monday. [BBC News | UK] about time too - now what about some quality-control ";-)" 10:37:31 AM

'Ripper' who snatches rare prints from top libraries across Europe on the run. [Guardian Unlimited] 10:34:12 AM

"Hi, my name is Jimmy. I'm 40 years old, I make my living as a consultant, and I've never created a presentation using Microsoft PowerPoint. Clients occasionally look at me as if I'm from Mars when I show up without slides. I've found PowerPoint presentations to be superficial ways of delivering information.[elearningpost] 8:51:40 AM

Very good BBC Radio documentary on Celebration, the New Urbanist town that Disney built adjascent to Walt Disney World. How would the world look if it were run by the Disney corporation? In the alligator-infested swamps of Florida is a town built and founded by Disney. Celebration was founded in 1994, and sold to Americans as "a place of caramel apples and cotton candy, secret forts, and hopscotch on the streets". Thousands of Disneyphiles came from across the USA to resettle in the town and live the Disney dream. In winter, the town's managers blow fake snow into the streets, and in Autumn, they provide fake leaves. But there is increasing dissent in Celebration at Disney's authoritarian rule. Dylan Winter travels to Florida to hear both sides of the story. LinkDiscuss[Boing Boing] 8:48:48 AM