Sunday, January 16, 2011

Daily Thoughts 1/16/2011 (What Technology Wants, The Other Side of Innovation, Budget)

"Music and Literature," oil on canvas, by the American artist William Michael Harnett. Courtesy of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, 1878

Daily Thoughts 1/16/2011

I have been reading more of The Other Side of Innovation.  I learned that Fisher Price releases over 700 new products every single year.  Like the fashion industry, the toy industry has to constantly innovate.  This creates an atmosphere of continuous learning and continuing education.  I am finding the ideas about innovation refreshing in this book.

I read a little bit more of What Technology Wants by Kevin Kelly. This is a quote from P.83, "That's how it works.  This is how all technology works.  A gadget becomes a junky prototype and then progresses to something that barely works."  This sentences reflects on the deep understanding of the author of technology.

Web Bits

An article about the fight to save Britain's libraries. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/overdue-the-fight-to-save-our-libraries-begins-2185826.html

The same argument seems to be playing out in Britain as in the United States.  Even though more people want to use libraries and there is an increase in usage, libraries are not an essential service.   This is a reminder that an argument on pure statistics will not work that well.  As in the United States it is an attack on the cultural foundations of society.  Much of what is preserved in libraries and archives is part of cultural memory.  There seems to be an attempt to rewrite our past by wiping it clean.  We do need to remember history and not allow this to happen.

On a more local level the budget is still being negotiated.  http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011101160341  Mount Vernon City Council Overrides Mayor's Budget Veto.  This is a little more from an article that covers both the City Council President and the mayor. http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2011/01/14/mount-vernon-city-council-overrides-mayoral-budget-veto/

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