apple juice

I just finished reading “Three Cups of Tea” by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. I started reading the book earlier this year, but couldn’t find the time to finish it up during the second semester of the school year. As it turns out, it was one of the picks for our summer reading for school. I enjoy reading all of the picks that are made each year, so will also get a chance to read “Leaving Microsoft to Save the World”.

I throughoughly enjoyed the premise of the book. In the end, people are really after the same things: Security for the their family, education for their kids, the chance to give the next generation a better life than the one before it.

The link between terrorism and the lack of these things for so many who are living lives at the edge of poverty in places between Pakistan and Afghanistan is clear. The point is made over and over again that kids who are given an education go on to provide dividends to their communities in the years that follow.

It is such a simple message that is apparently lost on our government. Through the book Greg Mortenson meets with people across our government and military, only to find his pleas for not squandering the opportunity to provide for the Afghans living in poverty, displaced by our military actions.

The double-irony is that things like early childhood education, and education in general are often squeezed at the margins in the face of things deemed more “important” by the government. In one discussion with military leaders of our country, “Dr. Greg” points out for the cost of one cruise missile he could build 20 schools. Which do you think does more to combat terrorism? He asks.

And in our country, what could those types of funds, directed towards education do to lift people out of poverty, hopelessness and desperation?

In the end, the degradation of societies and communities comes from desperation and hopelessness. When there is no hope for a better future, everything comes unraveled.

I highly recommend the book. Check out the website of their foundtation, the Central Asia Institute, for more information.

Books I’m hoping to read this week:

• Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
• Wikinomics by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams
• Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
• The World Without Us by Alan Weisman

wall•e is one of the best movies I have ever seen.

monocle is a relatively new magazine that my dad introduced to me about a year ago. for all the initial joking about their unique worldview (it’s not called monocle for nothing), which is kind of like me making fun of vw-driving, mac-using, npr-listening liberals, i really enjoy the writing, content and design of the whole endeavor. 

i haven’t been taking advantage of their web content, though, and i found an article by a former? editor/designer at the magazine, which discusses the design decisions made in the creation of the complementary web site: design notes

Thus we were doing the opposite of what most magazine-driven brands when they turn to the internet (often as an afterthought). The obvious choice is to plonk all the magazine editorial online, and augment with a few editors’ blogs and such-like. At first glance, we were effectively letting the print material reside where it is best experienced – in the tactile format of the magazine – and instead exploring new facets of the brand with a broadcast-led website. But wanting to have our cake and eat it, the magazine material is there too, just reformatted for the web and immersed in a new navigational framework, appropriate to its new context.

anyway, i suggest a look at the magazine if you happen to see it on the newsstand, especially if you are awaiting a four-hour flight to somewhere. it’s a pretty thick magazine.

I don’t know when CNN added this Live streaming feature. It is awesome. The user can pick live feeds from a number of different events that may be happening at any moment. Very cool. Why do I need cable TV again?

I’m getting closer to canceling the cable and just pulling in my TV over-the-air. We’d also start relying on download services and netflix for our entertainment needs.

The download services are a particular pet-peeve of mine. This post over at wired explains the chaos that is NBC’s “strategy” for digital downloads.

NBC Provides Downloads, Sheer Frustration

On Friday, I was lucky enough to be amongst the first to see a new film called "The Listening Project". This documentary sends a group of people around the world to open a conversation about America’s role in the world. It’s not a perfect movie, and it has it’s own lens and perspective as all movies do, but it is quietly powerful in the way that we get to listen in on what people think about America, in locations as diverse as Vancouver, Kabul, and Tanzania.

The filmakers are going to be bringing the movie to some film festivals now, and with luck, they will be able to have it shown in theaters from there. Check out the website, there are some extended interviews and journals from the "listeners" as they made the film.