When John Atkinson and I were driving from Kansas to New Mexico after recording <A HREF="http://ssl.blueearth.net/primedia/product.php?productid=22&cat=1&page=3…;, we spotted a crop duster spraying a roadside field. I was stunned by his precision at high speed—and by the exuberant loops with which he terminated each run. It looked incredibly difficult, and also like he was having a ball.
Somehow, the November issue of <I>Technology Review</I> made it to the top of my Empire State Building pile of unread magazines and I happened upon this fascinating recollection by Freeman Dyson about working for the Operational Research Section during WWII.
Philip K. Dick, far from being too paranoid to be prophetic, might not have been paranoid enough. After all, even <I>my</I> comments section makes you prove you're not a robot (<I>Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?</I>) and there really <I>are</I> cameras everywhere for our protection (<I>Through a Scanner Darkly</I>). Oh yes, and legislation aimed at protecting us from terror may have invaded our privacy (<I>Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said</I>).
It's funny, but one of the topics Jeff Wong and I have been discussing, seemingly on a daily basis, has been the endless barrage of negative reviews of <I>300</I>. I have my misgivings—principally the film's depiction of Hoplite warfare that completely ignores the existence of hoplon armor or Hoplite tactics.
To celebrate his 80<SUP>th</SUP> birthday, EMI is loading all of Mstislav Rostropovich's discography onto iTunes for download. That's 5000 tracks.
If, when listening to the music of John Coltrane, you've been asking yourself <I>what am I missing?</I>, <I>Traneumentary</I> will give you answers. It's a podcast series that interleaves commentary and Coltrane's music with interviews with collaborators like McCoy Tyner and Jimmy Cobb, contemporary musicians like Terence Blanchard and Jason Moran, and legendary producers Michael Cuscuna and Joel Dorn—not to mention the great man himself.
I told you baaaad things happened when you monkey around with sheep.
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Dear Stephen,
Why theater goers in Epidaurus could hear actors from 60m away.
As a sci-fi fan, I can assure you that this never ends well.