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Who am I?

You can look at my home page for more information, but the short answer is that I'm a dilettante who likes thinking about a variety of subjects. I like to think of myself as a systems-level thinker, more concerned with the big picture than with the details. Current interests include politics, community formation, and social interface design. Plus books, of course.

Blogs I read

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Recent posts

Tue, 15 Jun 2004

Keeping Score
Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony have apparently launched an effort to bring more people into appreciation of classical music and how it fits together (here's the Chronicle article this morning). The effort is called Keeping Score, and is going to be a five year multimedia effort. The first fruits of that effort are being broadcast this week on PBS in a Great Performances special focusing on Tschaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 (Check local listings - it's at 8pm on KQED in the Bay Area). The first hour will apparently be a behind the scenes look at how the symphony rehearses and prepares for such a performance, and the second will be a complete performance of the finished work. Sounds like it could be really interesting.

The effort also includes an online component at KeepingScore.org, giving the interested viewer a chance to learn more. It looks like a neat effort all around, and entirely in fitting with what I know of Michael's desire to share the joy of music with everyone he meets.

posted at: 01:17 by Eric Nehrlich | path: /links | permanent link to this entry | Comment on livejournal

Zoning at Burning Man
I went to Burning Man in 2000, mostly because a bunch of my friends were going, and I figured it was one of those things that everybody should experience once. It was an interesting experience. I think the best part from my perspective was getting there early before the party started (I was there nine days), and watching the city grow up around me. I was helping to set up the central cafe, and each morning as I wandered from our campsite to center camp, there would be more and more structures around; landmarks would change daily. It was fascinating to watch this city of 30,000 people appear around me.

Anyway, what reminded me of it was reading an article in the Chronicle this morning, discussing the planning that is necessary to make a town work. Even a town as anarchic and free-spirited as Black Rock City needs rules. They have roads, they have a public works department, and they try to situate similar camps together. Good article.

posted at: 00:47 by Eric Nehrlich | path: /links | permanent link to this entry | Comment on livejournal