Earth Hour and the Hour of Man

Earth Hour, in 2008, happens on March 29 between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. You can participate by turning off your lights during this hour. Earth Hour is the perfect way to begin your commitment to fighting climate change. For more information, visit the Earth Hour website, here:

Earth Hour website

Earth Hour is a small sacrifice: one hour per year. More than 50 years ago, the poet Walker Winslow proposed that -- to save our troubled world -- each of us might contribute one hour per week. Winslow called this concept "The Hour of Man."

He explained:
"I want to see the radio or television turned off for an hour a week, the paper or magazine laid aside, the car locked safely in the garage, the bridge table folded, the liquor bottle corked, and the sedatives kept tightly in their packages. I want to see production and consumption forgotten for this hour. Politics must be forgotten, national or international. The hour I propose could be called The Hour of Man. During this hour man could ask himself and his neighbor just what purpose they are serving on earth, what life is, what a man or woman can rightly ask of life as well as what they must give in return. If that man is working and struggling for what he really wants, is it worth the price he pays in personal suffering? Neighbors should learn to listen intently to neighbors. In only that way will the eye turn inward. In other people's souls they could see the undistorted image of their own souls. As they helped others they would help themselves."

A beautiful idea!

In every age, there are individuals who believe the goodness of human beings, and work for a better society: a new age of wisdom, caring, and community. Earth Hour on Saturday night -- with participants all over the world -- is a small step and significant step toward a greener and healthier world.

Watch the video (on YouTube) about Earth Hour:


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Zorba the Greek, a Clip from the Film

Wrote Albert Camus:
"In the midst of Winter, I found within myself an eternal Summer."

And the Zen master Masahide said:

My storehouse
burned down
Nothing obscures the view
of the bright moon.

Watch this scene from the film Zorba the Greek. The boss and Zorba had invested everything -- months of labor and all their cash -- in great scheme to transport lumber from the top of a mountain to the land below. But the technology fails, and they lose everything.

After viewing the film clip, watch the entire film; then read the novel -- and remember to celebrate your life.



That's not all. There is a ballet version of Zorba the Greek, where the boss has learned quite a bit about dancing. Click the READ MORE link, and then scroll on down to see it.

Watch the ballet in the clip below. And contact Multigram for the DVD of the entire performance: http://www.multigram.com



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Book Review: Digital Prepress Primer

Reviewed by Michael Pastore

When you create a document with Pages (the word-processing software included in Apple’s iWork), you can save it in a number of different file formats. To do that, simply select Export (from the File menu), and then select from four options: PDF, Word (.doc). RTF, or plain text (.txt). Saving to PDF is especially useful for everyone who wants their documents to be viewed the same way, and to remain impervious (well, somewhat) to changes. Your word-processing life gets even more interesting when you chose Print (from the File Menu), which allows you print you file, or to save it to these formats: PDF, Postscript, and PDF-X.

You may or may not know that PDF-X is a type of PDF file (a “restricted subset” in the jargon) that meets certain requirements for printing: all fonts must be embedded; images must be encoded in CMYK or spot colors; active content (forms, sounds, movies) canned be embedded ... and so on. When I need a clear and concise explanation of PDF-X, and everything essential about preparing documents for digital printing, I open up the handy little book titled: Digital Prepress Primer.




Digital prepress involves “all operations necessary to prepare a (printing) job for output to digital device." The book’s 14 chapters are divided into four sections: Job Creation; Digital Image Caputure and Reproduction; Job Engineering; and Digital Output. Author Marin does excellent work in explaining some of the more complex aspects of this field, especially color theory and reproduction; and digital trapping and imposition.



The book is written mainly for printing pros, but the clear language will make it interesting for everyone curious about how modern books are made. Especially notable is Chapter 8, ‘Graphic Arts Workflow’ which takes you inside the mind and office of a book-printing professional, as it describes the basic steps of print production: concept and design; prepress; press; finishing and binding; and shipping.


A glossary at the end defines more than 100 printing terms. The book is generously illustrated with screenshots, diagrams, and photographs. A handy reference, the Digital Prepress Primer reminds me of Strunk & White’s “The Elements of Style” for everyone involved in the work of book production.


Digital Prepress Primer
by Joseph Marin
Paperback, 114 pages
Published by PIA/GTF Press
ISBN: 978-0-88362-563-7


Links:
PIA/GATF: the Printing Industries of America, Inc. / Graphic Arts Technical Foundation
http://www.gain.net

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Save the Internet — Support Net Neutrality

What is Net Neutrality ? A belief that the Internet should remain equal for all users, and free from interference from the telecommunications companies who provide broadband service to consumers. These broadband companies want to destroy Net Neutrality, to create a "two-lane" information highway system. Those who pay more would get the fast-lane service, and those who pay less would get the slow lane, with the possibility that some content from the Internet would be filtered out according to the whims and whams of your ISP.

Net neutrality is the way that, for the most part, the Internet is working now. But the big companies are trying to change the laws to allow them to control the content-flow, and thereby create an undemocratic Internet.

Lots of people are not happy with this move by the telecommunications giants. But the solution is not as easy as "change your ISP." Broadband buyers often have little or no choice all.

What can we do? ... An excellent group, Save the Internet, is organizing an effort to preserve net neutrality. And Congressman Ed Markey is attempting to pass a bill that will protect our Internet freedom.



Learn more, with these Resources For learning about Net Neutrality:


Save the Internet:


Ed Markey's Proposed Law:


Net Neutrality in Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_neutrality

Net Neutrality Supported by John C. Dvorak
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2269835,00.asp

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Beautiful Evidence by Edward Tufte

Beautiful Evidence
by Edward Tufte

Hardcover, 214 pages
Graphics Press, 2006
Order directly from the publisher: www.EdwardTufte.com

Essay by
Michael Pastore

George Orwell, famous for the (sadly) prophetic dystopian novel 1984, has written other works worthy of careful reading. His essay Politics and the English Language exposes techniques used by propagandists (governments and advertisers) to intentionally distort reality and truth. In Orwell’s autobiographical novel Down and Out in Paris and London, the book’s hero mingles with the poor and homeless in those great cities. After months of talking with these forgotten men — men who could not answer the question “Who lived first, Jesus or Napoleon?” — Orwell concluded with this memorable remark: “Their ignorance was limitless and appalling.”

This week, two works were announced, either one of which should make us wonder not if, but when that colossal ignorance has shifted continents. Susan Jacoby’s book The Age of American Unreason, surveys our culture of childishness and our lack of intellectual depth. A new film, Two Million Minutes compares three pairs of typical high school students — in America, China and India. The difference? Instead of partying and watching television, students in China and India do something revolutionary with their high-school years: they work diligently and they learn.

What can save America from this nosedive into absolute stupidity? … We need intelligent leadership — meaning, a president and Congress who are educated, and value knowledge and art. We need a revolution in education, and in teacher training, from the kindergarten to the university. We need a better media, committed not only to truth, but to something that was once called ‘wisdom’. And we need a core of intelligentsia — authors, artists, and practical-minded intellectuals — who can advise us throughout this enormous change.

One of these authors is Neil Postman. His book Building a Bridge to the 18th Century: How the Past Can Improve Our Future (1999) examines the Enlightenment thinkers, and shows how their timeless ideas might be used to renew our floundering schools. Postman died in 2003, yet the torch still burns in the hands of another author of integrity and genius, who, like Postman, is well-versed in both history and technology, and unafraid to question the technologies that oversimplify our lives and make things worse. Edward Tufte is this author, and his latest book, Beautiful Evidence, is a stunning masterpiece of content and design.



What is Beautiful Evidence about? … Tufte is the world’s leading authority on analytic design (more commonly called “information design”). In an interview, he explained:

“The point of analytic design is to assist thinking.”

Tufte has developed an ingenious set of principles that allow scientists, researchers and scholars to use all the available data (evidence) — numbers, text and images — in the best possible way, to discover and convey a truth.

The book itself is gorgeous. Filled with large and unique images, each page contains another visual and intellectual surprise. You see, for example, a “simple” still life painting by Cezanne or an innocent line drawing by Matisse. After a few pages of Tufte’s analysis of the work of art, it is no longer simple. Our seeing becomes intensified, and thus more dimensions of the work are immediately revealed. Here is the first reason why, to me, Tufte’s work seems so essential: he bridges the terrible gap between art and science — and between artists and scientists. Art without precision and knowledge is often sloppy and superficial. Science without art — without feeling and imagination — can be false, misapplied, and dangerous.

We are drowning under seas of information. Tufte states that the number of PowerPoint slides produced each year is between 100 million and 1 billion. We have oceans of information, yet all this data does nothing but befuddle us — unless we are trained to distinguish the significant from the meaningless. And here is the second reason why every thinking person should study Tufte’s works: he shows us reliable techniques for debunking falsehoods and discovering truths.

“Making a presentation is a moral act, as well as an intellectual activity.”
—Edward Tufte

Beautiful Evidence — written primarily for academics and scientists who explain things with numbers and charts — can nevertheless be enjoyed by any intelligent reader. For consumers of information (meaning: the entire world), awareness of Tufte’s ideas enlightens us about the doublespeak of disfunctional politics, and the doubletalk of fatuous advertising campaigns. For everyone who teaches or explains, Tufte’s chapter about the failure of PowerPoint (with a reference to Peter Norvig’s parody of a powerpointed Gettysburg Address) can improve your presentations. “Improve your presentations” does not mean making better PowerPoints, like the popular video (now circulating YouTube) that advocates the “10—20—30 rule”: have no more than 10 slides; make the presentation no longer than 20 minutes; and set the font size at a minimum of 30 points. Tufte’s solution is radical and right on target: he suggests giving up our sacred PowerPoint, and replacing it with a well-written scientific report, a 4-page illustrated handout, and a presentation format that includes a discussion between the presenter and the audience.

In ancient Greece, the art of rhetoric split into two antagonistic paths. There were the Sophists, who, for one lepta, would persuade you that A equals B — and then for a drachma would be happy to convince you that what they just taught you was false. Rhetoric had deteriorated into a psychological battle known as the art of persuasion: how to get people to think and do whatever you want them to do and think. Socrates invented a better idea. The Socratic method uses questions to debunk false claims and to reveal true ideas. The technique is summarized in these words of Socrates: “Let us go forth together in search of truth. And if we disagree, and you can show me that you are right, then I will be the first to give way.”

This noble and beautiful Socratic spirit lives on — in all the words, images and works of the artist-scientist Edwarde Tufte.

== End of Review ==

Related Links to Review of Beautiful Evidence

Edward Tufte (and Graphics Press) website: http://www.EdwardTufte.com

George Orwell: Text of Novel Nineteen Eighty-Four: http://www.netcharles.com/orwell/books/1984.htm

George Orwell: Film of 1984:
http://filmschatten.blogspot.com/2007/06/nineteen-eighty-four-1984.html

George Orwell: Down and Out in Paris and London:
http://www.netcharles.com/orwell/books/downandout.htm

George Orwell: Politics and the English Langauge:
http://www.netcharles.com/orwell/essays/politics-english-language1.htm

Susan Jacoby book: The Age of American Unreason (article in NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/14/books/14dumb.html

2 Million Minutes (film)
http://www.2mminutes.com/

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address as a PowerPoint Presentation (by Peter Norvig):
http://www.norvig.com/Gettysburg/index.htm

Neil Postman - Article in WikiPedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Postman

Science + Government = Bad Science:
http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/science/default.asp
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07/12/bush_bad_science/

Adbusters
http://www.adbusters.org


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Google Analytics — Get the free ebook

Google Analytics is a free service that allows you to discover (non-personal) information about the visitors to your website. G. A. is best-known for its connection with Google's adwords, and marketing Gurus use it to analyze websites to make bigger bucks. Yet this free tool can be used by anyone -- individuals and non-profit organizations -- who wants to increase the popularity of their websites.

Epublishers Weekly has produced a free ebook:

Google Analytics: A Quick Guide to the Basics.

You can read the full-sized version of this ebook (thanks to Scribd and their new iPaper) by clicking this link:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/2087013/Google-Analytics-A-Quick-Guide-to-the-Basics

This 70-page ebook is written for the new user. Mainly designed for individuals and non-profits, it can be read profitably by business-website owners, and anyone who needs a basic understanding of what G.A. is all about. Illustrated with screen shots, the ebook concludes with a page of resources for learning more about Google Analytics.

The ebook is free with no strings attached: except a one-page advertisement by the sponsor, on the very last page of the ebook.

Here is a miniature preview of the ebook. To turn the pages, just scroll the scroll bar. To read the full-sized version, just click on the square in the upper right-hand corner of the miniature preview. Or, click this link:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/2087013/Google-Analytics-A-Quick-Guide-to-the-Basics

Google Analytics: A Quick Guide to the Basics

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The Zorba Anthology of Love Stories

Many Greek philosophers looked forward to old age, because &mdash they haplessly argued &mdash old age freed them from the slavery of love.

Euripides disagreed. More than 2,000 years ago he explained the great secret:

"When love is temperate it is the sweetest thing,
but save me from the other kind."

Happy Valentine's Day from EPW and Zorba Press.

And take a look at the Zorba Anthology of Love Stories.

Here, dear Reader, you will find a treasure of 31 stories (and passages from novels) all about the wild joys, the heartbreaking sorrows, the wonderful comedy, and the delightful mysteries of Love. Romantic love is the main theme of these tales, but other varieties of Love are explored: erotic love, motherly love, brotherly love, spiritual love, and friendship.

This book contains 28 selections by great storytellers from many lands, including Chekhov, Mansfield, Balzac, Dostoyevsky, Mary Shelley, Tolstoy, Hesse, Yezierska, E. M. Forster, Selma Lagerlöf, Marguerite Audoux, Maupassant, Hawthorne, Melville, Casanova, and many more. Also included are an Introduction by the editor, and 3 original pieces by Charles Elliott, Michael Pastore, and the novelist O. Thoreau.


But why read about love, when you watch a film? ... One of the great comic love films of all time is Smiles Of A Summer Night, by Ingmar Bergman. A comedy, yes, but a drama as well, and filled with pointed insights about human relationships. This is one of the last films that Bergman made before his work -- still good, but very different -- plunged through a glass darkly, filled with shrieking women, weak-hearted men, and sexistential angst.

Thanks to the website Filmschatten, you can now see Bergman's film free: a broadband internet connection (cable or DSL) is needed.
Filmschatten website: http://filmschatten.blogspot.com/

Smiles of a Summer Night (part 1 of 7)

And did we mention, for the perfect gift for Valentine's Day, the Zorba Anthology of Love Stories ?


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