What’s in a Name Part 2 & 3

Errol Morris’ What’s in a Name parts 2 and 3. It’s definitely an interesting series of essays, as people in Chinese cultures have a very different way of approaching names. While most of them never change their family name, a lot of them change their English name and Chinese first name, even at a very young age. I’ve had grade 1 students change their names very suddenly. It’s rarer to change your Chinese first name, but it happens often compared to what I’m used to.

Errol Morris on Names

Errol Morris is back with his latest series of articles in the NYT. This time around, he investigates what a name is. I found this particularly interesting, because Taiwanese people/children change their English names and Chinese first names (but not their family names) quite often.

Anatomy of a Meme through Supercuts

Andy Baio explores memes through supercuts. It’s his new column on Wired.

The Anti-Hero in Modern Television

Malcom Harris takes a look at the anti-hero in today’s TV shows. Almost all networks have one now in their shows.

 

The Battle for London

London Riots 3rd Night in a Row

The Streisand Effect

The Streisand effect is a primarily online phenomenon in which an attempt to hide or remove a piece of information has the unintended consequence of publicizing the information more widely. It is named after American entertainer Barbra Streisand, whose attempt in 2003 to suppress photographs of her residence inadvertently generated further publicity.
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Rodrigo Rosenberg’s Murder in Guatamala

Finally making my way through this Rodrigo Rosenberg article in the New Yorker. It’s a long-form, in-depth article, that clocks in at about 14,000 words, which is one of the reasons why the tab has remained open in my browser for the last few months. It’s an astounding story, told almost perfectly by David Grann.

Between 2000 and 2009, the number of killings rose steadily, ultimately reaching sixty-four hundred.

The murder rate was nearly four times higher than Mexico’s.

In 2009, fewer civilians were reported killed in the war zone of Iraq than were shot, stabbed, or beaten to death in Guatemala.

The state’s counter-insurgency strategy, known as “drain the sea to kill the fish,” culminated in what the commission deemed acts of genocide.

Criminal networks have infiltrated virtually every government and law-enforcement agency, and more than half the country is no longer believed to be under the control of any government at all.

Incredibly, the death rate in Guatemala is now higher than it was for much of the civil war.

And there is almost absolute impunity: ninety-seven per cent of homicides remain unsolved, the killers free to kill again.

In 2007, a U.N. official declared, “Guatemala is a good place to commit a murder, because you will almost certainly get away with it.”

Guatemalans often cite the proverb “In a country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.”

The election was one of the bloodiest in the country’s history: more than fifty local candidates and party activists were murdered, and Colom’s campaign manager was nearly killed by three grenades thrown at his motorcade.

As Don DeLillo has written, “A conspiracy is everything that ordinary life is not. It’s the inside game, cold, sure, undistracted, forever closed off to us. We are the flawed ones, the innocents, trying to make some rough sense of the daily jostle. Conspirators have a logic and a daring beyond our reach. All conspiracies are the same taut story of men who find coherence in some criminal act.”

Castresana thought, Rosenberg had been making threats to himself.

As inconceivable as it seemed, Castresana and his team were now certain that Rosenberg—not the President, not the First Lady, not Gustavo Alejos, or anyone else—was the author of his own assassination.

Castresana says of Rosenberg, “He set himself off like a suicide bomber.”

“He was an honorable person.” He added, “He wanted to open up a Pandora’s box that would change the country.”

Swimming in Algae In China & Balloons

Boy swims in an algae-filled coastline in China

Reflection of a balloon

Is Shame Necessary?

Jennifer Jacquet on

“Balancing group and self-interest has never been easy, yet human societies display a high level of cooperation.”

The Limits of Friendships

Editors from Wired and Vanity Fair take a look at personal branding through Facebook. Many people aren’t aware or fully aware that they over-share. Employers now Google and Facebook potential applicants to see exactly who they are. Over-sharing can complicate things. Just like real-time conversations, online personas should contain some editing.