Solipsism Gradient

Der Schockwellenreiter kindly links to Nudge. Vielen Dank, Jörg!

Update: Ole Saalmann follows suit, thanks!

Update#2: The Daring Fireball liked it… made my day .

Via Boing Boing, Alex Steffen at WorldChanging reports that the Whole Earth Magazine has ceased publication:

Whole Earth magazine – spawn of the amazing Whole Earth Catalogs, source of the WELL, first to mention in print the Gaia Hypothesis, the Internet, Virtual Reality, the Singularity and Burning Man (or at least so the legend goes), the place where folks like Stewart Brand, Kevin Kelly and Howard Rheingold found their voices, and where a whole generation of young commune-kid geeks like myself learned to dream weird – is no more.

This is sad news. Sometime in the early eighties, I found a copy of the Whole Earth Catalog at a bookstore, took it home, and practically learned the whole thing by heart. I wrote down a long list of book recommendations, and on my first trip to the Bay Area in 1984 I went to several Berkeley bookstores and to the original Whole Earth Access shop, then shipped back about 100 Kg of books. I also drove up to Sausalito, to the Co-Evolution Quarterly (as it was called then) offices, and subscribed to the magazine – and came back several times over the years to renew.

Later on the magazine underwent some name changes – first to Whole Earth Review, then to Whole Earth Magazine – and several editorial and ownership changes. Its financial situation had always been uncertain, and at some point I neglected to renew my subscription. I did buy the Last Whole Earth Catalog, and then the Millennium Whole Earth Catalog, with the white cover, and it still is prominently displayed on the bookshelf behind me.

For myself, at least, the era of print magazines is practically over. Back in the eighties I regularly bought at least 30 magazines each month – now I’m down to one regular (Wired, whose print edition still is oddly much more interesting than the online version), and the occasional magazine bought for reading on the plane. Whole Earth Magazine’s online edition, too, somehow couldn’t recapture the magic. Kevin Kelly’s Cool Tools is more successful in that, but has a narrower focus.

Let’s hope someone finally figures out the magic formula to bring the magazine back to life.

Marvel of marvels, The World’s Most Powerful Meta-Disclaimer now disclaims even more!

Thanks to Brian‘s disclaimer for inspiration and some new dis-claims, and to the J-Walk Blog for pointing me at that.

Posted by taliesin’s log:
taliesin’s log linked to this post

Too little time to kill? Think different

Until the white goddess or one of her kin decided it would be otherwise, I intended last night to ‘blog about Time (making the best use of).

The notorious Reemco Inc. is back!

They now offer cutting-edge technology items such as the Plecostoma Pool Cleaning Organism, the Electric Toenail Clippers, the surprising Books On Tape, and of course the CDC Ebola Virus Outbreak Action Playset. Not to be missed.

My list of subscriptions has been updated (it’s to the left if you’re reading this in a browser), somewhat belatedly. Most of my favorite comics now have RSS feeds, a very welcome development.

So much to read, so little time

Posted by taliesin’s log:
taliesin’s log linked to this post

Of current affairs and perennial folly

After a tour of the blogosphere established that the weekend’s big story has triggered every imaginable kind of response, on top of a couple of e-mails asking what I make of it, it was a relief to find that many are still busy with something completely di

If you’re a fan of composer Philip Glass, you’ll love the Glass Engine, an IBM research project that allows you to select and listen to any track from over sixty Glass works. I spent over an hour there without really noticing.

The engine has a unique user interface which, unfortunately, runs only on Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Java is also required.