Category: Resources

Free classical music

I’ve been meaning to add to the classical side of my collection. Looks like these recordings are in ogg Vorbis format, so I’ll have to add that capability to my systems. Worth checking out.

Free classical music. Behold, a Creative Commons classical music-fest. Here’s Handel’s Messiah. Use a playthispage bookmarklet to get a directory streamed to you. [via Chris Corrigan]

This post also appears on the channel Free music

[Seb’s Open Research]

RealClimate blog takes a look at Michael Crichton’s confusion

RealClimate is a new multi-author blog that identifies itself as a

commentary site on climate science by working climate scientists for the interested public and journalists. We aim to provide a quick response to developing stories and provide the context sometimes missing in mainstream commentary. The discussion here is restricted to scientific topics and will not get involved in any political or economic implications of the science.

I found it courtesy of a pointer in the Technology Review blog. Most of their early postings interpret the science and help make it accessible to the interested lay person. But, they’re also willing to take a look at how popular culture looks at climate science:

Michael Crichton s State of Confusion.
In a departure from normal practice on this site, this post is a commentary on a piece of out-and-out fiction (unlike most of the other posts which deal with a more subtle kind). Michael Crichton’s new novel “State of Fear” is about a self-important NGO hyping the science of …
[RealClimate]

A wholehearted recommendation of Crossroads Dispatches

If you’re not reading Crossroads Dispatches by Evelyn Rodriguez, block out some time. Her blog is rapidly moving to the top of my ‘must read’ list. More importantly, it’s moving to the
top of my ‘must think about’ list. Here is one of many excellent posts littering my aggregator and clamoring for my wholehearted attention.

Our Presence Spills Onto Our Voice.
The day I met Cindy, a women’s network was milling about her artistic loft in the newly gentrified part of Salt Lake City doing what women’s network groups do. Cindy quietly and powerfully stood out from the rest of the… [Crossroads Dispatches]

In it she shares an exchange between her and Cindy Martenay of Insight Shift on the topic of presence. I’ve harped on the importance of mindfulness in navigating today’s world. Evelyn and Cindy make a great case that the better notion is that of “wholeheartedness.” Here’s one key graf to make that point:

If we cultivate — in our bodies and nervous systems — an ability to open up our lenses on the world, to become less sure of ourselves and more curious, we become more present to more of our experience as well as others’ experiences with us.

While I certainly fail more often than I succeed, it remains a worthy goal.

Uwe Reinhardt Is a Real Health Economist

You would not think that accounting could be an entertaining and illuminating subject to study, but then most of you did not have the opportunity to learn it from Uwe Reinhardt. I did have that opportunity and pleasure twenty-nine years ago. One of the lasting memories from my college days.

Today, whenever I run across something by Reinhardt, I take time out to read it, knowing that I will learn something useful and important.

Uwe Reinhardt Is a Real Health Economist.

I’m not a real health economist–although I have occasionally played the part of one in venues like the White House’s Roosevelt Room or Capitol Hill. Uwe Reinhardt is a real health economist. And he has written a very good Primer for Journalists [pdf] (and others who want to understand what the issues are) willing to think at a level higher than Bush-speak.

[Brad DeLong’s Semi-Daily Journal: A Weblog]

Slacker Manager blog

Another new blogger worth paying attention to. Appropriate in the spirit of my previous post.

Welcome the Slacker Manager to the GTD Zone.

I’d like to welcome Brendon Connelly – the newest blogger listed here at the GTD Zone at OfficeZealot.com. I came across Brendon’s blog this morning in a trackback to a post by mind mapping guru Nick Duffill, checked out his blog and recognized someone I thought could add to the conversation and exchange of ideas here.

Drop by Brendon’s blog and check out his latest thoughts. You can also read his Slacker manifesto at Change This. Before you jump to conclusions, you should understand that, according to Brendon, there are actually three kinds of slackers in the world:

Here’s the deal. When it comes to slackers, there are three types of people:

  • People who never slack. These people stress out for years, have bulging neck veins and die of early heart attacks.
  • People who slack all the time. These people live in their parent’s basement.
  • People who slack some of the time. That’s the rest of us. Embrace it.

[Marc’s Outlook on Productivity]

On the source of progress

One of my favorite notions from RAH. Of course, most organizations are terrified by the presence of the insightful lazy.

On the Source of Progress. On the Source of Progress —

“Progress isn’t made by early risers. It’s made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.”
— Robert Heinlein, Time Enough For Love — US science fiction author (1907 – 1988)

From The Quotations Page [Frank Patrick’s Focused Performance Blog]

My i-Name

I agree with Phil. This looks like an interesting experiment and worth $25 to play along. I’m =jim.mcgee and here is my contact page .

My i-Name.

While here, I’ve had a chance to learn about the Identity Commons, a move to create a third party identity service. Identity Commons is committed to individual ownership of identity information and relationships. They manage something called i-names, unique names that you can sign up for and keep for 50 years (one-time fee). I signed up for one this morning. I’m =windley. The equal sign is used before an i-name to identity it as an i-name. So far, about the only thing you can do with an i-name is to create a contact page. Here’s mine. Eventually, the i-name will tie to all kinds of forms of contacting a person.

I-names are based on the XRI specification. XRI (Extensible Resource Identifier) is a “new URI-compatible scheme and resolution protocol for abstract identifiers identifiers that are location-, application-, and transport-independent, and thus can be shared across any number of domains and directories. The XRI 1.0 specifications were published in January 2004 by the OASIS XRI Technical Committee.”

I’ve got no idea if this will ever go anywhere, but I think interesting and support it $25 worth.

[Windley’s Enterprise Computing Weblog]