After consulting with the other Tropophilia contributors, I’ve decided that the Tropophy needs a little revision.
The Tropophy is not destined to become another watered-down web award. Nay friends, verily I say unto you: the Tropophy is destined for greatness. And so, in order to give the Tropophy a little more dignity and to avoid late night scrambles every Thursday (ahem) for a winner, I’m going to be doling out the Tropophy on a less frequent basis. Maybe once every two weeks, maybe once a month… who knows? When an individual or group merits the Tropophy, so it shall be bestowed upon them. If you think we’ve missed a good recipient and you want to nominate them, get in touch.
Fear not, however, for I bring glad tidings to appease your disappointment.
- We will soon be featuring a couple of guest posts from some of Tropophilia’s most loyal readers. Check back next week for some new voices on some interesting issues.
- We will soon be debuting another regular “feature” on Tropophilia that will inspire you to reflect on change in your own experiences, and then will invite you to respond. I’m really pumped about it, and Joel should be rolling it out within a few days.
- Give me about 5 minutes, and I’ll have a new satellite challenge up.
Happy Friday, folks.
I definitely should be working right now, but this was begging to be blogged.
Today, two undersea cables were cut at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. Apparently either a boat anchor or some geological “event” severed the cables. CNN quotes an expert stating that “the damaged cables collectively account for the majority of international communications between Europe and the Middle East.” India, known around the world as the #1 destination for digital outsourcing, was dealt a sucker punch — 60% of its user base was affected — but it quickly got its breath back, according to the New York Times.
While it is reassuring that these companies had back-up plans for this sort of thing — the NYT article notes that traffic was quickly rerouted through other cables — a Reuters article notes that as of midday, Egypt is only 40% back online.
What would happen if something were to happen to our cables? I know the U.S. is sort of the hub into which all the cables are plugged, so it isn’t as easy as cutting a cord for us. But how vulnerable are we? Can you imagine the chaos, especially of the financial sort, that would ensue if someone were able to disrupt even a quarter of American web connectivity? Surely we have some kind of firewall and stop-loss system?
As more and more of our life — and money – is spent digitally, I would love to know not only how my passwords and privacy are being protected, but how the whole physical infrastructure is being protected as well. How tough is Google’s security at their server farms, for example?
Anyone know?
Image used under a Creative Commons license courtesy of Flickr user angusf.
So, in the “Things You Might Not Know About Taylor” category, I’d like to discuss my casual obsession (do those exist?) with gadget blogs. Some people really like diving into the Soduku puzzle in their morning paper, zoning out in front of the Today Show with a bowl of cereal, or flying around their apartment in a flurry of chaotic activity trying to simultaneously shave, shower, dress, and make coffee…all in order to make it out the door 5 minutes late. I used to be the chaotic “mornings are hell” type, but since transitioning to the “real” world I’ve settled into a morning routine that generally includes equal parts NPR, not shaving (the joys of facial hair), and…you guessed it…gadget blog browsing.
Before I go on, I should clarify: I don’t own a lot of gadgets. Of the thousands (and I do mean thousands, but we’ll get to that in a minute) of nerdy, unnecessary, hillarious, and sometimes positively sweet shiny gizmos I view in my morning haze, there aren’t many I could afford or would want to buy. But that’s not even the point. Gadgets represent, in the best and worst ways, the cutting edge of change: little geeky harbingers of what we never thought we would need…but actually might be handy. They appeal to the inner techno-geek inside all of us (everybody has one of those right? no? oh…) that, let’s face it, thinks for just a moment that even the most wildly impractical items would REVOLUTIONIZE our work productivity, household, or even social interactions.
Continue reading ‘An Ode To Gadget Blogs’
OK, so this one has nothing to do with either change or the news (that I know of)… but I wanted to get another, hopefully more difficult challenge up. Can anyone name this site, and the city and country in which it can be found?
(Click to enlarge)
[Update: We have a correct answer! For the record, as I mention in the comments to this post, "this ain't 20 questions." If someone doesn't get the answer after a day or two I'll start dealing out some hints, but otherwise you're on your own to guess, check, and guess again.]
As Dan has discussed, we live in an age of information saturation. Every day we hear more and more “figures”: rates, percentages, polls, etc. The 21st century is quickly becoming the “data century.” And, at least to me, the more data I am forced to digest, the less effect it has on me. There seems to be some sort of diminishing marginal impact as I am daily bombarded by statistic after statistic. This new, always-on media culture that we’re living in makes my brain numb to all but the most appalling or surprising information. This is indeed frightening, and I don’t think I’m alone.
Numbers can be useful indicators, but they can too often be either misleading or woefully inadequate means of conveying the messages they are intended to convey. To be blunt, let me put it this way: it’s one thing to look at a chart graphing the rising death toll in Kenya or Sudan; it’s another thing to see images of bodies piled up on the streets (and, I’m sure, an even more profound thing to walk amongst those bodies in person).
So here’s something cool I found on BoingBoing today. An exhibit at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles uses rice to create an interesting rendering of various statistics. Where numbers cannot adequately convey the scale or proportionality of something, rice offers a fresh perspective.
Continue reading ‘Rice Stats: Exploring Information Gluttony and Apathy’
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