After missing the talk by Brian Eno last month, I really wanted to see the next talk in the Long Now series. The December talk was by Peter Schwartz, a well-known futurist and business strategist. Schwartz was a co-founder of Global Business Network, a consulting company that uses scenario planning, a strategy of exploring possible […]
Buying media
As sort of a semi-pre-Christmas present to myself, I went a little bit nuts in buying media for myself this weekend. Here’s the sum total for y’all’s entertainment. I ordered some stuff from Amazon: Crossing the Chasm, by Geoffrey A. Moore (because all of our marketing people at work are talking about the chasm, so […]
Bloglet
If you’re interested in the content of this blog, but don’t want to deal with checking the web page sporadically, I’d recommend using the service at Bloglet. Create a new account with your email address, click on “your subscriptions” on the right side” and enter https://www.nehrlich.com/blog/index.rss in the box labelled “To subscribe to an RSS […]
The Semantic Web
The Semantic Web was recently brought to my attention after reading an article by Clay Shirky, previously mentioned in this blog. As usual, I agree with much of what Shirky has to say. But apparently, he ignited quite a discussion, including this rebuttal and the further discussion here. In the terms that Shirky originally states, […]
Language in Thought and Action, by S.I. Hayakawa
Amazon link (originally posted on 8/17/03, link fixed on 11/17/03) I found this book in a roundabout way. In Conscientious Objections, Neal Postman reviewed the book Science and Sanity, by Alfred Korzybski, calling it one of the most important books of the last century. Korzybski developed the field of general semantics, a system of thinking […]
LookinGlass Architecture and Design
My friend, Emil Mertzel, and his business partner Nick were recently published in a Taiwanese design journal. The article is available from their website, at this link (down at the moment that I am posting, but I’m sure it will be back up eventually). I sent Emil the following e-mail after reading the article: So, […]
My old web page
I was looking at Rob Calhoun’s web page, after he was so kind as to link to this blog, and read his entry about finding his old MIT web page and seeing how similar it was to his current one. So I looked for mine. And I found it. And, yup, it’s pretty much identical […]
The Transparent Society, by David Brin
Amazon link Like The Humane Interface, I picked this up when a friend was giving it away. I read most of it last month, and then finally finished it over Thanksgiving weekend. Brin is asking an interesting question: is privacy a lost cause? And, if so, what is the proper way to respond? His suggestion […]
Paladin of Souls, by Lois McMaster Bujold
Amazon link I adore the Vorkosigan series, by Bujold, but haven’t warmed quite as much to her fantasy series set in Chalion. I borrowed the first one, The Curse of Chalion, from the library, and it was a good read, but not particularly memorable; in fact, I recall almost no details of it at this […]
Playing with rules
I want to spend some time explaining nerds. In particular, nerds of the type that I get along with. I mentioned in my rant about questioning the assumptions that “The difficulty comes in dealing with people who believe that the rules are the rules full stop.” It’s interesting because after reading that in the context […]
