An article I just came across on ReadWriteWeb… very very interesting!
“The proliferation of real-time search engines and trend monitors (sometimes referred to as “listening platforms”) has thus far done little to address problems of this scale and importance. This is because they fail to provide context — i.e. show how a new piece of information is relevant to what we’ve seen before and where it fits in the space of possibilities and relationships. For instance, if you are a programming director at CNN trying to discriminate between significant news and Internet memes, simply knowing that #iranelection is a trending topic doesn’t tell you its relation to other topics or which communities are driving it — both critical factors. One promising area is data-oriented user interfaces: data and algorithmic analysis in the back-end and direct visualization and navigation in the front-end. This the next stage of social information, slicing and dicing, mixing and matching, interpreting and analyzing, completely on demand. In this new landscape, the data is the interface. It’s not just about sitting back and looking at pretty pictures. It is about setting aside stale UI metaphors and getting as bare-to-the-bone a human interface as possible for computation. The recently launched Wolfram-Alpha applies this principle to structured data. (Disclosure: I was a member of the core Wolfram-Alpha team and may continue to consult with Wolfram Research.) Real-time data streaming offers similar possibilities and opportunities. In this vein, let’s outline some basic ideas and methods for giving context to the streams.”
“I – In quella parte del libro de la mia memoria, dinanzi a la quale poco si potrebbe leggere, si trova una rubrica la quale dice: Incipit vita nova. Sotto la quale rubrica io trovo scritte le parole le quali è mio intendimento d’asemplare in questo libello; e se non tutte, almeno la loro sentenzia.”
Oh I just love this……From La Vita Nuova by Dante. English translation here.
I just finished reading “The Magician” by Somerset Maugham. Yes I’ve been on a bit of a Maugham marathon lately, I truly enjoy his works. I had never read “The Magician” before, and I’m glad I finally got the chance. In addiction to the usual genius of his style and the philosophical dilemmas, there’s a ton of sci-fi and a good deal of horror in this one! =)
One thing that didn’t surprise and yet fascinated me was the way Maugham builds the character of Oliver Haddo. He has this true genius for bringing to life the most horrifying, grotesque and complex characters. “Charles Strickland” in the “Moon and Sixpence” is another great example, in fact I can’t help noticing certain similarities between Haddo and Strickland. Maugham seems to have had a personal fascination with creating these monstrous characters, through which he can make his points regarding the complexities of human nature, much better and much sharper than he ever could, through pictures of niceness and nobility.
Maugham has very often based the main characters of his books upon a real world person. Charles Strickland was based on Paul Gauguin as I wrote in a pervious post, and apparently Oliver Haddo was based on Aliester Crowley. So, Maugham takes some of the most outstanding characteristics of an already magnificent [in either a positive or a negative way!] personality, and then ads his own special ingredients to create the main characters of his books. The heavy contrast caused by the moral and behavioral difference between various characters in the story, magnifies the personality traits of each of them further.
Of course in Case of Oliver Haddo, given the bizzare personality of Aleister Crowley, the end result is quite the perfect source of horror……..
Paparazzi doesn’t leave me alone even when I’m taking a break and checking my emails. =PP Just uploaded some more photos here in this album, including a few from the “Disfigured” painting exhibition, which features painting by my cousin Abbas Rizvi.
So this running gag of uncertain origins has finally landed on Facebook, and even has it’s own fan page now. =P Not that I have a clue as to who created the page, but here it is, the online testament to the apparent fact that it’s all my fault. Check it out! =P
So I finally got around to uploading some photos from the past couple of weeks. They’re in this album. Also, I’m usually not much for showing off but in this case I absolutely have to. =) You may notice my very pretty shirt in few of a photos including this mandatory exit shot. Well, this was my birthday gift from an awesome friend and the print design is his own. You can check out Frank’s online shop here, he has some really fantastic designs. =)
Oh by the way…. apparently, it’s aaaallllll my fault. 😉
So I’m currently having fun since my cousin Pooneh and her kids are here in Canada [arrived recently from Iran] as I’ve mentioned 10 times to everyone before. And today we took a trip with them to Burlington, where my cousin’s aunts live. So that’s where I am right now, I haven’t just suddenly disappeared. =P I’ll post some recent photos soon!
From underneath the trees, we watch the sky Confusing stars for satellites I never dreamed that you’d be mine But here we are, we’re here tonight Singing Amen, I, I’m alive Singing Amen, I, I’m alive [Chorus:] If everyone cared and nobody cried If everyone loved and nobody lied If everyone shared and swallowed their pride Then we’d see the day when nobody died And I’m singing Amen Amen I, Amen I, I’m alive Amen I, Amen I, Amen I, I’m alive And in the air the fireflies Our only light in paradise We’ll show the world they were wrong And teach them all to sing along Singing Amen, I, I’m alive Singing Amen, I, I’m alive (I’m alive) [Chorus x2] And as we lie beneath the stars We realize how small we are If they could love like you and me Imagine what the world could be If everyone cared and nobody cried If everyone loved and nobody lied If everyone shared and swallowed their pride Then we’d see the day when nobody died When nobody died… [Chorus] We’d see the day, we’d see the day When nobody died We’d see the day, we’d see the day When nobody died We’d see the day when nobody died…..
Hey, I'm Aasemoon, and this is my blog which has been around since 1998. Childhood toy project that ended up growing up with me.
You can reach me here:
aasemoon.blue
Zorbas is my kitten. You can see some pictures of him below. =)
