Dilettante

2010-03-15T08:30:00.003-04:00

Schneier on Security: Mark Twain on Risk Analysis

2010-03-15T08:30:00.001-04:00

Schneier on Security: Mark Twain on Risk Analysis:

"I hunted up statistics, and was amazed to find that after all the glaring newspaper headings concerning railroad disasters, less than three hundred people had really lost their lives by those disasters in the preceding twelve months. The Erie road was set down as the most murderous in the list. It had killed forty-six—or twenty-six, I do not exactly remember which, but I know the number was double that of any other road. But the fact straightway suggested itself that the Erie was an immensely long road, and did more business than any other line in the country; so the double number of killed ceased to be matter for surprise.

By further figuring, it appeared that between New York and Rochester the Erie ran eight passenger trains each way every day—sixteen altogether; and carried a daily average of 6,000 persons. That is about a million in six months—the population of New York city. Well, the Erie kills from thirteen to twenty-three persons out of its million in six months; and in the same time 13,000 of New York's million die in their beds! My flesh crept, my hair stood on end. "This is appalling!" I said. "The danger isn't in travelling by rail, but in trusting to those deadly beds. I will never sleep in a bed again."

2010-03-15T01:17:00.001-04:00

2010-03-13T17:48:00.001-05:00

2010-03-12T13:21:00.001-05:00

Flavorwire » Mike Daisey Reveals Secrets of the World Order

2010-03-11T15:05:00.001-05:00

Flavorwire » Mike Daisey Reveals Secrets of the World Order:

Mike Daisey is known for his Spalding Gray-style tour de force monologues that recall personal experiences in a social and historical context, tackling such wide-ranging topics as the financial meltdown, the corporatization of the American theatre, and his time working in customer service at Amazon.com. For three new live productions, Daisey trades his solitary table and glass of water for a talented cast of actors to craft a radio program in the mold of Orson Welles’ The War of the Worlds— except, this is billed as the go-to program for “Masons of the 3rd Order and higher.”

We met up with Daisey and his alter ego to talk about the shifty masons, former presidents, powerful business men, and even an Ayn Rand musical about libertarianism and female submission. Learn about the secret order and drink the Kool-Aid after the jump.

2010-03-11T14:51:00.001-05:00

Nimble Design - /the/path/of/most/resistance

2010-03-11T12:43:00.003-05:00

Nimble Design - /the/path/of/most/resistance:

In Japanese aesthetics, one of the most striking things is the focus on negative space. The Japanese concepts of “Ma” and “Wabi-sabi” put as much focus on what is omitted as what is added. The result is beautiful art and architecture that invoke a sense of peace and stillness.

Apple is doing something rather daring with their new iPhone OS. They are essentially omitting features that people once took for granted in a typical computer. And one of the biggest things they’ve omitted is the visual file system. Instead, in the iPhone OS, the concept of the file is essentially gone. It’s been replaced by “apps and their stuff.”

The end result is that regular folks are happier with their computers and that geeks are pissed that Apple has “dumbed down” the computer. Geeks bemoan the lack of the file system in the iPad. When they criticize it for not being a real computer, this is what they’re talking about. Well, so be it.

Going Underground 28

2010-03-11T12:43:00.001-05:00

Good Artists Copy, Great Artists Steal « What I Couldn't Say…

2010-03-09T19:30:00.001-05:00

Good Artists Copy, Great Artists Steal « What I Couldn't Say…:

I feel for Google – Steve Jobs threatened to sue me, too.

In 2003, after I unveiled a prototype Linux desktop called Project Looking Glass*, Steve called my office to let me know the graphical effects were “stepping all over Apple’s IP.” (IP = Intellectual Property = patents, trademarks and copyrights.) If we moved forward to commercialize it, “I’ll just sue you.”

My response was simple. “Steve, I was just watching your last presentation, and Keynote looks identical to Concurrence – do you own that IP?” Concurrence was a presentation product built by Lighthouse Design, a company I’d help to found and which Sun acquired in 1996. Lighthouse built applications for NeXTSTEP, the Unix based operating system whose core would become the foundation for all Mac products after Apple acquired NeXT in 1996. Steve had used Concurrence for years, and as Apple built their own presentation tool, it was obvious where they’d found inspiration. “And last I checked, MacOS is now built on Unix. I think Sun has a few OS patents, too.” Steve was silent.

And that was the last I heard on the topic.

2010-03-08T13:17:00.001-05:00

Slings and Arrows - Theater - The Stranger, Seattle's Only Newspaper

2010-03-07T08:11:00.003-05:00

Slings and Arrows - Theater - The Stranger, Seattle's Only Newspaper:

And I'm not predicting the death of theater; I'm predicting its decline into the total cultural irrelevance of poetry and classical music. Which isn't to say those things are bad -- but when was the last time you had an argument with someone about a poem or a symphony? People used to. They still (rarely) get into arguments about theater...but that's going to stop, and when it does, theater has become inert.

Every city will have its Theater, like it has its Symphony Orchestra and its Opera, with a handful of amateur groups scattered around, entertaining a modest audience of friends and enthusiasts. Nothing wrong with it, but it's not the same as having a conversation with our culture. Which I believe most theater artists would like to be having.

Tromsø

2010-03-07T08:11:00.001-05:00

FrontRow » Blog Archive » Mike Daisey: An Evening of Higher Learning

2010-03-06T14:47:00.003-05:00

FrontRow » Mike Daisey: An Evening of Higher Learning:

Daisey is kind of like that storied professor. You take their class because you’ve heard so much about how great they are. Never specific traits described but always revered tones. People who took this class would exchange a knowing look as if they had just come out of Plato’s cave and ran into each other. So, you take the class and on the first day, you think what’s the big deal? This prof is like a lot of profs. It is still lecture/discussion followed by test/presentations/papers. Why do people make such a fuss? And slowly it dawns on you that this isn’t a professor in the literal terms – a person professing. The difference is so small it is hard to see at first. It is simply a question of authenticity. This teacher loves their material authentically. There is no noise coming from vanity or ego to muddy up the transfer of knowledge. And they show you how you can love the material, too, without saying it specifically, without professing a love, but living it in front of you. That is the magic created and performed by Mike Daisey and directed by Jean-Michele Gregory.

It wouldn’t be fair to say the evening’s show is just about Brecht, though his stories about Brecht are fascinating. Daisey weaves stories about his own life into the lecture, but the aim and effect are entirely different than a stand-up comic. Not that they aren’t funny. Some are. His stories tend to reveal himself or what he has discovered about himself in the same way that he has discovered things about Brecht. Placed close together with comparisons implied and specified, we learn more about each than we would without the other. That’s good teaching. That’s good theater.

2010-03-06T14:47:00.001-05:00

hello journalists

2010-03-04T15:36:00.001-05:00

IF YOU ARE A TECH JOURNALIST WRITING ABOUT THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY OF STEVE JOBS:

1) My last name is spelled Daisey.

2) I will not be playing the "role" of Steve Jobs. The monologue concerns Steve Jobs' rise and fall and rise, Apple, industrial design, and the human price we are willing to pay for our technology, woven together in a complex narrative. I play no one but myself, speaking to the audience.

3) I'm a monologuist. What I perform is a monologue, not a play.

4) You can visit wikipedia, or use google, and even some of the links on this site to quickly get a sense of my work.

5) This one is for the old-schoolers: If you cut me, I always bleed six colors.

London at night 4

2010-03-04T12:03:00.005-05:00

FrontRow » Blog Archive » Truth in Wit: Mike Daisey Brings His Juggernaut Monologues to Open the Out of the Loop Festival

2010-03-04T12:03:00.003-05:00

FrontRow » Blog Archive » Truth in Wit: Mike Daisey Brings His Juggernaut Monologues to Open the Out of the Loop Festival:

Daisey comes to Dallas this weekend with a scathing critique of American culture at large and its theater culture in particular. It is a culture, he said during a conversation Wednesday, that has allowed us to “corporatize” the American theater. Think of it as an actor’s revolt. His play, How Theater Failed America, takes on the theater world in Daisey’s trademark style: a wandering semi-autobiographic monologue that mixes storylines and farce, serious critical satire and his bombastic sense of humor. Daisey has been described as a cross between Noam Chomsky and Jack Black. Jokes about sex with Paris Hilton cozy up against serious reflections on the craft of Bertolt Brecht. What keeps it all together is Daisey’s dynamism as a performer, an individual with the charisma and charm to make a one-man show feel like a an ensemble epic. Daisey will perform two works at this year’s Out of the Loop Festival: Great Men of Genius, a four part “bio-logue” that tells the life stories of Bertolt Brecht, P.T. Barnum, Nikola Tesla, and L. Rob Hubbard, and How Theater Failed America.

Looming concrete

2010-03-04T12:03:00.001-05:00

2010-03-03T19:41:00.001-05:00

"This unfortunate aphorism about Art holding the mirror up to nature is deliberately said by Hamlet in order to convince the bystanders of his absolute insanity in all art matters."

—Oscar Wilde, The Decay Of Lying

Sandy Handset

2010-03-01T15:32:00.001-05:00

Daring Fireball: Tits and Apps

2010-02-25T21:02:00.003-05:00

Daring Fireball: Tits and Apps:

The other thing that bothers me, and ought to bother Apple, is the obvious capriciousness with which these apps were removed. These apps were allowed for about a year and a half. Some developers were prospering by them. And then, boom, they were gone. The reason Apple ought to be concerned about this is that it unsettles all developers — even those whose apps and ideas for future apps were nowhere along the lines of girls-in-bikinis. What developers see here isn’t Apple managing its own brand. What developers see is that the App Store is a shaky foundation upon which to build a business. One day you’re prospering, the next day your app is gone. There are awesome iPhone OS apps that aren’t being built because developers don’t trust Apple not to yank the carpet out from underneath them.

2010-02-25T21:02:00.001-05:00

GM Kills Hummer, Officially - Hummer - Jalopnik

2010-02-25T14:31:00.001-05:00

GM Kills Hummer, Officially - Hummer - Jalopnik:

GM will officially wind down Hummer operations as a deal with a Chinese automaker stalled over Chinese environmental concerns You gotta love Hummer — a brand so quintessentially American, so brazenly gas-guzzling, that even the Chinese find it offensive.

Mike Daisey Hosts THE GREAT AND SECRET SHOW at The Greene Space 2010/02/24

2010-02-24T15:42:00.003-05:00

Mike Daisey Hosts THE GREAT AND SECRET SHOW at The Greene Space 2010/02/24:

For the first time ever in its 114-year history, THE GREAT AND SECRET SHOW will be made available to the masses when Mr. Daisey brings the show to a live studio audience at WNYC's The Greene Space.

This unprecedented opportunity to witness the live production of the heretofore clandestine radio programme will take place on March 12th, April 16th, and May 12th at 7pm. Audiences at home may also partake in this historic moment through a live webcast of the programme at www.wnyc.org/thegreenespace.

Launched in 1896 at the dawn of radio and still transmitted via Tesla Oscillator today, the programme was designed exclusively for Masons of the 3rd Order and higher. Long assumed to be the stuff of conspiracy theories, THE GREAT AND SECRET SHOW is in fact the world's longest continuously broadcasting radio programme. Though only heard by a small number of individuals throughout history, those Secret Masters have been the movers and shakers who have shaped the world as it is today.

THE GREAT AND SECRET SHOW features a blend of Mr. Daisey's masterful and poignant storytelling with news and interviews with the newsmaking people of our day: bold adventurers, scientists (mad and otherwise), wayward princesses, dashing rogues, and other colorful figures of Our Society. The show covers the latest discoveries in cryptozoology, telluric currents, and advances in both steam and electrical technologies, presenting them in a manner both accessible and informative. Expect trenchant analysis, penetrating wit, and social critique both acid-tongued and whip-smart. Now, at long last, the programme beloved by the Secret Masters will be shared with the world.

When reached for comment, Mr. Daisy said, "From the depths of its black and unknown tunnels to the blinding heights of its terrible skyscrapers, New York City is the best, last bastion of civilization's hopes and terrors. Sending my voice into its ether, night after night, in this impossible metropolis is both an honor and a privilege."

Long-time listener FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT said of the programme, "THE GREAT AND SECRET SHOW is the most essential and clear-throated voice for liberty and civilization that can be heard in these dark times."

The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space is located at 44 Charlton Street (at Varick St.), New York.

Tickets are $25 per programme, available at www.wnyc.org/thegreenspace.