I have just read (and at the end of this post you can find the link) a great blog entry which argues for bringing more play into one’s life and work. Or more life and work into one’s play. And I guess, inherently, there will be more life into one’s life. And you know by now what follows: as he learns to play, one will also be able to have more play in his play. Do you see what I mean? ;) If not, don’t bother, read the original article, it is inspiring!

The image below shows a screenshot of Retrospector (one pet-project of mine) visualizing the activity on my machine between 15 september and 15 october.

Principles behind the picture construction:
- Days are arranged sequentially as rows along the y-axis
- Time flows along the x-axis and vertical lines corresponding to hours are visible for guidance. There is a bold line at 8 o’clock.
- Every application has an associated color
- Continuous usage of a given application during a day is represented as a horizontal bar having the color of the application

The picture tells several things about me:

• I don’t have a nine-to-five job :)
• The long and sometimes late programming sessions (green) and frequent writing sessions (magenta) give away the fact that a deadline was approaching :)

Some things for which such a tool might be useful are:

• Learning about oneself: one could see when are his best periods for certain activities. The images shows that I have some great programming sessions when the majority of the people in my town are sleeping :)
• Learning about how different people work: by analyzing how the activities of various users look one might derive user types and habits (if you are a mac user and want to contribute by observing yourself please let me know :)

On one hand, I think this is a cool project. On the other hand, there is always a privacy issue. How much is one willing to make public about his activities? Would people agree to send their activity data for analysis by a psichologist or for data mining? Maybe if I found a way to anonymize the data? Wouldn’t this type of display lead to supperficial characterizations of people?

Wachowski brothers present a movie in the style Matrix meets 1984 :) V for Vendetta (imdb) is an adaptation of a comic strip from 1982. The orwelian part of the story strikes some chords in its contemporaniety (while watching i remembered the busses in london which have surveillance cameras inside labeled “for your safety”).

Three quotes that summarize the movie for me:

People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people

Are you going to kill me now?
I killed you 10 minutes ago.

However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin van-guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition.

I vouch for the value of this varaciously vivid video!

(1958), by Leon Uris

by Leon Uris

From the books that I have recently read, Exodus stands out as one of the best (thanks Jeff for pointing it out to me! :). Leon Uris, a great story (and history) teller presents a summary of the formation of Israel as a state. However, one warning about the book: it is pretty addictive and it might deprive you of sleep. It has been scientifically proved that sleep deprivation has negative consequences as Cyrus pointed out to me today, scientists proved, and I already knew :)

The main character in the book, Ari ben Canaan, plays a key role in several events around the formation of Israel. One of these events is organizing an escape to Palestine of jews in a british detention camp in Cyprus. Besides him, several other characters are developed in detail. One peculiar thing about the way Uris builds his characters is that he takes the time to trace their histories back in time, and, by doing this he has the chance to present the broad context in which the actual story happens. During these backward projections, the book becomes a real history book.

The most extreme socialist experiments of the kibbutzim, the settlements that the jews created in order to work the land. The enthusiastic teen-age jewish army resisting the numerous enemies that surrounded the country. The incompetence of the english leaders of the time to successfully rule the palestine mandate and their refusal of accepting jewish immigrants in palestine during the holocaust. The horrors of the anti-semitism in Europe during the 19 and 20 centuries. The easiness with which mass manipulation can plant the seeds of hatred between nations, seeds that are still bearing fruits nowadays. The mass manipulation… These are several only few of the things that the book talks about.

I remember that quite some time ago, I met a romanian jewish young lady who told me that her dream was to go and live in Israel. I did not understand why would a young girl dream of going into the uncertain place that Israel was at the time… and I am not sure I understand now. However, after reading Exodus I certainly understand why a generation of jewish people saw in emigrating to palestine and forming a Jewish state, not only a dream but the reason to live. And if needed to die.

LB: Should we meet in your office or in ours?
Romain: Well, if you want us to be in time, I guess you should come to our office.