Contrary to popular belief, this new OS was named Singularity because it’s the only cool thing Microsoft has ever done on its own.

(I jest :))

Starting with “The World Is Flat”, I began reading and then demanding recommending that close friends read certain key books I’ve come across.

The idea is simple enough, and it differs significantly from a “book club”. In a book club (as I understand it) the group first collectively selecting a book, each person then reads said book, and then the group gets together at some point in the future to discuss it. The idea is quaint, to be sure, but both myself and my friends lack this sort of organization.

My technique is to find the books myself, read them, and if (and only if) the title is overpowering, I will recommend it to push it down the throats of my small circle of friends.

The idea is that if my selections are of high enough quality, the group that I’ve pushed these books onto will come to believe that their lives will in fact be improved by reading what I offer as worthy. The wrong thing to do, therefore, is to recommend something that’s mostly mundane, as that’s likely to undermine my ability to get them to read future titles.

Oh, and the other concept I’m doing for this project is actually buying the dead tree (non-digital) version of whatever title it is that I’m pushing. I don’t personally partake of them, as most of my book intake comes via audiobook while driving, walking, or working out, but I recognize that others enjoy the time spent with the legacy format.

So the idea is this — I find “must read” books, I consume them in digital format, and then I buy the hard copy and distribute it into the network. The person who gets it first is responsible for nothing except getting it to the next person in the list when they’re finished with it.

That’s the idea anyway.

The next book, by the way, is called “Freakanomics“, and it’s sick beyond all compare (I need to work on my hype language). The main concept with this book is that of economics in the true sense, i.e. using a set of tools to help figure out how things work. It goes about explaining how various things are thought to have happened vs. how they actually did — all supported by very strong arguments and excellent data.

So that’s the gist of it — I find cool stuff and I try my hardest to get my intellectual/geek buddies to read them via whatever means possible (including buying the book and putting it into circulation).

If you guys have any ideas for “must read” titles, do let me know. I am looking for those that are along the lines of “perspective altering”, i.e. books that help one change how they think about a great many things, or, at the very least “big” issues.

Ultimately, I’m in search of the unified theory of everything, and I’m simply gathering input at the moment. Any thoughts, comments, or other ideas are welcome.

Here are my Python links in Delicious:

http://del.icio.us/danielrm26/python

Let me know if you guys know of any other good ones. I’m always looking for ways to suck less with my favorite lanugage. :)

So the Kansas board of “education” has ruled that it’s now ok to teach intelligent design along with evolution. This is so, so sad. It’s not just sad — it’s also funny (but not the kind you laugh at).

It’s just getting stupid, people — we’re being laughed at all over the globe. Here’s a country that’s supposed to be on top of the world, and we don’t even have the gumption to respect science anymore.

Here’s a great bit for you:

As part of the decision, the Board of Education also went so far as to redefine science itself, saying that it is ‘no longer limited to the search for natural explanations of phenomena.’

No longer limited to the search for natural explanations? Are you f#cking kidding me? That has to be a joke. Seriously, this is just embarassing.

(throws hands up and walks away)

I’m a Gentoo guy, don’t get me wrong, but Ubuntu 5.10 is completely awesome. Very nice work being done on that project.

Steve Pavlina wrote an interesting (if not theoretical) post about how we perceive reality. Specifically, it explores the possiblity of us being more in control of it, or, to put it another way, it explores the possibility that we have been conditioned to believe that we cannot control it when in fact we can.

Anyway, it’s not a serious technical piece or anything; it’s a … thought experiment of sorts. Do check it out if you’re into this sort of intellectual excercise.

This is the first installment of a new series of posts called “China Pwns Joo”, a lame, geeky way of saying, “China Owns You”, which in turn is a lame, geeky way of saying, “China is the future and America isn’t because we’re stupid.”

Anyway, here’s the first piece: China’s Building Awesome New Eco-Cities; Why Aren’t We?

… inside a Linux-hosted VMWare session.

(Sad, but true.)