Bruce Sterling's Blog

Mapping of cyberspace

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 08:07:27 -0800

*It's nice stuff here. More like metaphor than mapping, but then again, "cyberspace" is a metaphor.

http://observatory.designobserver.com/entry.html?entry=3407

posted by Bruce Sterling on November, 26

The Dark Web

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 06:07:17 -0800

*Gothic Gothic Gothic! All "Twilight," all the time!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/nov/26/dark-side-internet-freenet

(…)

"The darkweb"; "the deep web"; beneath "the surface web" – the metaphors alone make the internet feel suddenly more unfathomable and mysterious. Other terms circulate among those in the know: "darknet", "invisible web", "dark address space", "murky address space", "dirty address space". Not all these phrases mean the same thing. While a "darknet" is an online...

posted by Bruce Sterling on November, 26

Another Science Fiction: An Intersection of Art and Technology in the Early Space Race

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 04:06:03 -0800

http://berglondon.com/blog/2009/11/26/another-science-fiction/

*It's just tremendous stuff from BERG. It's like Thomas Pynchon, Taos-style. Imagine having your entire home done over in Taos-Los Alamos Rocketry Atomchic. And you're in there reading, say, "Prima Belladonna" (1956) from the "Vermilion Sands" series by J G Ballard. You might just implode right in your sling-chair.

*It would likely be even more provocative if you refurbished your soggy, Edwardian, "Silicon Roundabout" offices ...

posted by Bruce Sterling on November, 26

Polish Transition Architecture

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 04:06:03 -0800

*The formerly-communist, retrofitted "stuffed animal." There's half a continent covered with this stuff. It's a colossal story.

*The remarks in this article about buildings with "Polish identity" being built by offshored Polish guys who spent their lives learning architecture in the West…. Well, you know you're "glocal" when your regional identity-design exists to please guys who climb out of jets.

posted by Bruce Sterling on November, 26

Alessandro Ludovico from Neural.IT

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 04:06:03 -0800

*Italian cyberculture at its most cyberrific.

http://www.labforculture.org/en/content/view/full/58748

"Neural is a magazine on new media art, hacktivism and e-music that is published three times a year in English and Italian. It is complemented by its blog http://www.neural.it/, which features daily news and reviews.

"The following interview between Alessandro Ludovico and Annette Wolfsberger took place on 2 June 2009 in Rotterdam.

"What was the trigger for you to start Neural, and what format...

posted by Bruce Sterling on November, 26

Margaret Atwood making her case

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 04:06:04 -0800

*Science fiction writers like to get on Margaret Atwood's case because she badmouths science fiction as a commercial category, but maybe ol' Margaret can just write about Canadian mutant urban algae farms and we'll all be happy.

*I follow Margaret on Twitter and she comes across like a perky seventeen-year-old, which isn't bad for a glum, heavily politicized apocalypse-fan in her 7th decade.

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2009/10/margaret-atwood-speculative-fictions-apocalyptic-optimist

For a...

posted by Bruce Sterling on November, 26

Osmotic Power

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 04:06:04 -0800

*There's about a million eccentric power-generation schemes; this one's especially cute because it's osmotic. There's an Arthur C. Clarke story — gosh, must be 50 years old by now — that had a passing mention of an "osmotic bomb."

*You gotta like the idea of Norway somehow running on membranes.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8377186.stm

Norway's Statkraft opens first osmotic power plant

By Mark Gregory

BBC News technology correspondent

The world's first power project that generates energy by m...

posted by Bruce Sterling on November, 26

Thanks for the rain

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 02:05:58 -0800

*An awful drought. Really bad. Things do look much better now.

*There are some few Texan ranchers *still inside* the shrinking areas of extreme drought, guys watching their neighbors recovering while they stay seared by the crisis. I wonder what kind of Thanksgiving those people are having. A stoical one. "Cow people, out of the old rock," as J Frank Dobie used to say. Well — maybe it'll rain.

Texas Ranchers Welcome Rain After Historic Drought

Date: 26-Nov-09
Country: US
Author: Ed...

posted by Bruce Sterling on November, 26

One year later: terror attack on Mumbai massively strengthens Israeli arms industry

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:06:06 -0800

(((The takeaway here:)))

"Military Ties
"• Military cooperation and arms sales have become a central aspect of Israel-India relations.[28:]   • In 2009, Israel overtook Russia as India's leading arms supplier, with Israel and India signing more than $1 billion in defense contracts in 2007 and 2008.[29:]   • India has increasingly turned to Israel for sophisticated weapons systems. The Mumbai terror attack in November 2008 was particularly significant in expediting India's acquisition of air and n...

posted by Bruce Sterling on November, 25

At last, a federal bailout for American hippies

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:05:42 -0800

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/07/politics/washingtonpost/main5368594.shtml

(…)

"To some authorities, the new laws are essentially licenses to grow money. With a $100 investment in enriched soil and nutrients, almost anyone can cultivate a plant that will produce two pounds of marijuana that can sell for $9,000 in hundreds of medical marijuana clubs or on the street, according to growers.

"High-end marijuana grown under such special conditions often fetches 10 times the price of...

posted by Bruce Sterling on November, 25