Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?
My friends: Alistair Croll (BitCurrent, Year One Labs, GigaOM, Human 2.0, the author of Complete Web Monitoring and Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks), Hugh McGuire (The Book Oven, LibriVox, iambik, PressBooks, Media Hacks) and I decided that every week or so the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person "must see".
Check out these six links that we’re recommending to one another:
- The US swallowed these cups of tea to justify its imperial aims – Guardian UK. "A sad lesson in how insular, and eager to believe in the power of individuals we’ve become. The Guardian‘s Madeline Bunting sees Greg Mortenson‘s role as ‘the gentle giant of a man who stumbles into exotic and dangerous locations of which he knows little, and makes friends’ — a comforting view of America abroad as well-intentioned and welcoming. Ouch." (Alistair for Hugh).
- Academy Award Winning Movie Trailer – YouTube. "So meta. That is all." (Alistair for Mitch).
- Where does good come from? – Boston Globe. "One of the mysteries of the theory of evolution is where altruism comes from: if every individual is driven genetically to propagate its own genes, why do individuals (people, ants, antelopes) sometimes sacrifice themselves for the good of others? The legendary evolutionary biologist, E.O. Wilson, is making waves at age 80 with what, in the science world, is an extraordinary about-face: the dominant theory is that altruism comes from the desire to protect kin, who share genetic heritage. E.O. Wilson claims that theory doesn’t cut it, but rather there is an evolutionary push to protect the group – regardless of specific kin/genetic attachments. I pick this out because what might seem ‘obvious’ to the world at large is often a hot point of contention in science – as the mathematics must always catch up with the theories, and if it doesn’t, then theories don’t tend to stand. This one seems to have math behind it too." (Hugh for Alistair).
- Amazon’s $23,698,655.93 book about flies – It Is Not Junk. "One of the most contentious issues in publishing is how to price books and ebooks. Is $9.99 too high or too low? How about $23 million for a book? Here’s a case of algorithmic pricing on Amazon gone haywire." (Hugh for Mitch).
- NASA finds Earth-size planets in habitable zone – Digital Trends. "I love the Web because I am constantly finding fascinating news items this one. In the same breath, I’m completely frustrated with traditional mass media. Do you think this is a big deal? Not to ruin this very worthy read, but NASA‘s Kepler Mission has discovered ‘its first Earth-size planet candidates and its first candidates in the habitable zone, a region where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface.’ Kind of a big deal, no? Instead our news is littered with how Snooki lost some weight or The Royal Wedding. Really?" (Mitch for Alistair).
- What Books Will Become – The Technium. "What is a book? It’s a debate that Hugh and I will never tire of. It’s a question that I often think about it and it’s something that Hugh is constantly trying to develop upon. Well, it’s also something that Kevin Kelly (co-founder of Wired Magazine and the recently published business book, What Technology Wants) has thought about too. Not only is this long Blog post worth reading, so too are the fifty-plus comments that go along with it. Is it the format of a cover and pages? Is it the content and chapters? What makes something a book? Read on to find out what Kelly thinks." (Mitch for Hugh).
Now it’s your turn: in the comment section below pick one thing that you saw this week that inspired you and share it.