• Midstream Musings – we scale ourselves and return Sisyphus …
- If the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland (the 1951 Disney film) used a smartphone, would his passing by a curious Alice been less panicky? Are you a multi-tasker? Over the years, real-time task juggling has been praised. Multi-tasking on our digital devices has become the model for all tasks, […]
- [Draft 3-21-2025 – teaser] Owl & rabbit – a 21st century fable (a matter of fidelity) Part 1 For a village with little complaint, the night was sprinkled with screams. Those nights. These were not timbres of terror. These were shouts at someone, shrieks about one’s situation. The unrest reached […]
- [Draft 3-24-2025] Pay attention! You’re at a cocktail party … or maybe in a social setting with your family … your attention is selective – like moving a spotlight around a stage, or tuning between foreground & background channels. Did you notice the person dressed in a gorilla costume walk […]
- I was reminded recently of the book Small Is Beautiful. Does its economic philosophy still pertain to today’s world? I still have the original 1973 paperback (book cover photos). Evidently the book is not available in digital (Kindle) format on Amazon. • Wiki > Small Is Beautiful: A Study of […]
- Fox & the ants (interdependency) It was a lean season in the valley. Even an abandoned scarecrow had been stripped of its straw, ripped to rags moving in a dry breeze. Faceless. A solitary, scrawny fox had slowly descended into the plain. Hunger gnawed at Jasper, but also the pain […]
- Influencers are masters of monetizing attention. Appealing, relatable storytellers – "real" voices saying whatever is on their minds – who may have started sharing a personal passion. The Guitar Guy, the Football Guy, etc. Later, with a fan base & connections & sponsors, they shifted to more primal engagement. [excerpt […]
- Re Figure-1's thread of Techno Optimism and my references to Margaret O'Mara's book The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America, this article (below) explores the notion that: "If Elon Musk is America's CEO, DOGE is the Silicon Valley executive branch." A remarkable interplay of Private sector connections (SpaceX, […]
- Speaking of hard work … • CNBC > makeit > "'Captain America' star Anthony Mackie: 'We're lying to our kids' when we say success comes just from hard work – luck is key, too" by Ashton Jackson (Mar 17 2025) – Being in the right place at the right time, […]
- Here's an interesting article about office surveillance tech in our contemporary workplace. But it contains some comments about the interplay with the work ethic, citing a book on the co-optation (perversion) of the Protestant work ethic. Regarding the question, "Whom is the work ethic supposed to serve?" • Wired > […]
- So, more legacy of Benjamin Franklin, the myth of the 'self-made' man. This article (below) traces the conflation of piety & profit, faith & finance, into the late 20th century in the tech industry, particularly Silicon Valley culture. This is something which I personally saw while working as a software […]