Commonplace Cartography - Latest Comments

Re: Surprise! Birkerts resists the Kindle

jcstearns — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 23:03:49 -0000

Agreed. I am not Internet evangelist, but I found Birkerts' arguments really weak. Even his best points seemed undercut by his shrill tone and lack of evidence or explanation.

Birkerts’ reference to Gutenberg in the title of his book is fitting. As I read his article, I couldn’t help but thinking of a story Clay Shirky tells in his book Here Comes Everybody. Shirky writes about the scribes - an elite group of literate monks - whose job it was, for many centuries, to hand-copy books. That is, until the 1400’s when Gutenberg came along. “Suddenly,” writes Josh Benton, describing the scene, “scribes were no longer a necessary link between knowledge and learner.” And as the printing press spread across Europe, the scribes sounded remarkably like Birkerts, warning of all that we will lose if we allow technology to reshape reading.

My expanded thoughts are here: http://stearns.wordpress.co...

Re: Spotted in the wild

Dr. Drang — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 18:47:23 -0000

A screenshot of a screenshot violates the "excessively meta" provision of the 1922 Antwerp Blogging Protocol. You'll be hearing from the League of Nations shortly.

Re: Make a museum

Jamie Kelly — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 23:58:02 -0000

What a fabulous showing! She's quite the artist! And she has quite the parents and grandparents for being so supportive of her ideas and oeuvre. Kudos!

Re: Multiples of 7

morrowplanet — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 22:45:55 -0000

Done.
http://mikemorrow.info/blog...

Re: Multiples of 7

Toni — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:47:27 -0000

I'm tagging you. Uneuphemistically. Get to it.

Re: The Green Light

Toni — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:44:13 -0000

I'd have to say my green light is my camera, an already outdated digital SLR from 2005.

I'm not a great photographer but because I am a writer, my photos tend to tell stories. But making images also forces me to use different parts of my brain, while also getting me the hell away from my keyboard during the day. Also, I have no aspiration to be a professional photographer, so I'm free to enjoy it as a hobby with absolutely no strategizing, unlike all reading/writing, which always leads me back to work.

Really like this idea of a green light or beacon as applied to both adults and kids. I love observing what drives my three sons.

Re: The Green Light

Jack H. — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:14:54 -0000

Around that age for my son, it was an imaginary mouse. He'd hold out his empty palm, and say, "You want to pet my mouse? He's very soft." It was the center of his imagination for quite some time.

For me, I wish there were a single focus. Instead, I think writing software and being with my son wrestle for my attention. I wonder if, when he's old enough to write software of his own, of he'll even want to, and if he'll still be so enamored of spending time with daddy.

Re: Basking in Fabulosity

morrowplanet — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 16:43:13 -0000

You're more than welcome. Good on ya!

Re: Basking in Fabulosity

the communicatrix — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 14:24:33 -0000

Dang. All that and "exegesis", too? Talk about owning your fabulosity.

Thanks for the blushworthy pimpage. And here I was, feeling mopeless (that's "mopey" and "hopeless", for the uninitiated). NO MORE OF THAT, MISSY.

Really. Thank you. I'm honored, and inspired to go live up to some of this ridiculously high praise.