You don't need to go hang-gliding over the Himalayas, you don't need to screw your luscious and oh-so-willing secretary or party all night with the beautiful people. You don't need visions of merging with the totality of the Universe. Just be what you are, where you are. Clean the toilet. Walk the dog. Do your work. That's the most magical thing there is. If you really want to merge with God, that's the way to do it. This moment. You sitting there with your hand in your underwear and potato chip crumbs on your chin, scrolling down your computer screen thinking "This guy's out of his mind." This very moment is Enlightenment. This moment has never come before and once it's gone, it's gone forever. You are this moment. This moment is you. This very moment is you merging with the total Universe, with God Himself.
having spent far too many happy hours playing each iteration of the sim city series (through #4), i can say the game has gotten way more realistic.
sim city 4, especially, has a bunch of skyscrapers from san francisco that you'll get in your cities if you do a decent job of zoning commercial areas.
there's a certain joy to walking around downtown san francisco and seeing the life-size versions.
True, I wouldn't class anything Autechre has done as noise-y, other than maybe Gantz Graf.
Snares also isn't at all that noisy other than that album he did with Speedranch.
I love the Autechre myspace page, despite how it looks, I'd say it's still more aesthetically pleasing than a great deal of the stuff I see on there, and that's not because I like the way it looks, it's an indication of how awful most myspace pages are.
I'm sticking by the source who told me about Digg bringing in the bank to help them sell. Even if that's not how Digg wants to spin their strategy to Business Week.
The Economist has been pushing out shorter pieces on their website which generally aren't as good as the longer ones that find their way into print. It is possible the need for increased production has stretched the staff and made quality drop across the board; I'm not sure. In some ways it is symptomatic of all web media: greater quantity, shorter time to market, but generally less attached reflection and quality. I see it as akin to Americans general preference for filling their houses with many cheap things instead of fewer better things. I'm not sure if this is a function of the local culture or the capitalist system; either way one hopes to help the web evolve in a better way.
One other deficiency, IMHO, is the slipping ethical standards. One recent Economist article on Mao's management style concluded with an incredibly pessimistic couple sentences about how it doesn't really matter how many unethical things you do, so long as you aren't caught and forced to reckon before you die.
In any case, I stopped reading the Economist cover to cover about a year ago.
