It’s funny that we can impart meaning on something as aberrantly vague as “you are expert at probing the motivation of others.” But I guess all we want is some hidden insight into the future, and if there’s even a shadow of a possibility that we might decipher something from a book and/or newspaper, we’ll grasp for it like hungry rats at a cube of ham.

(And I guess it is interesting, somehow, though mostly interesting simply because it seems like the sort of thing that shouldn’t be interesting. Anyway.)

On This Beautiful Day In History:

Today in 1933 the infamous German Reichstag fire engulfed the eponymous building, burning it to the ground. (You can also read the Manchester Guardian article [which is mis-dated March].)

On this date in 1961, J-L Godard’s Breathless (“À Bout de Souffle”) gets to premiere in U.S. movie theaters.

Gulf War I ends (1991).

Other Stuff You May (Or May Not) Find Interesting:

Mel’s The Passion etc. etc. is put in a context where it belongs. Which I don’t mean in a bad way, necessarily. All I’m saying is, Groundhog Day really does deserve to be looked at as a spiritual film. (via Christian Science Monitor)

Ever hear of Tuvalu? Hint: it’s a country. Recently, this tiny island nation has been pummeled (or is still being pummeled? I’m not entirely sure) by extra active King Tides. The 3 meter tides aren’t going to completely submerge the islands (which are at most 4.5 m above sea level), but they are going to be an uncomfortable reminder of the almost inevitable disappearance of the islands under a rising ocean, thanks to global warming. Here are two very curious facts. Fact 1: the population of the islands (eight of them) is about 12,000. Fact 2: neither Australia nor New Zealand have yet agreed to offer sanctuary in the event of the islands being completely flooded. (BBC)

“Cell phones aren’t inherently evil.”

Though it seems ironic, apparently cell phones are helping to “bridge the telephonic divide,” bringing rich and poor countries closer together when it comes to communication ability.

In part this narrowing inequality has to do with the fact that cell phone towers are actually much cheaper to build than the infrastructure that’s required for fixed-line phones. This makes sense if you think about it, though it’s certainly not automatically apparent to anyone who uses either kind of phone. Particularly since the people who have lived their whole lives in a consoling array of communication technologies come to expect that all these things will be available for them (telephones, cell phones, computers, TV, radio…) to the extent that temporary lapses in, say, phone service, evinces an almost automatic reaction of complaint.

Cell phones, despite their spotty performance, have probably only enhanced this reaction—to the extent that we now (many of us) expect constant attachment to a means of communication.

As anyone can tell you, there are certain people for whom this attachment is a real necessity, not imagined. Paramedics, for instance. For the most part I’ve assumed that cell phones were generally a cancer-like growth on society, spun wildly out of control and used entirely out of proportion to their necessity.

This, when you think about it, is actually kind of selfish.

To say that cell phones are basically an unnecessary good, one the world would not hurt to see disappear, neglects the fact that this is only true, all other things being equal. All other things are not equal. Not in the least bit.

Annual Growth Rate in Phone Connections
(Cellular and Fixed-Line) by Income Level of Country, 1992–2001 (WorldWatch Institute)

Thanks in part to mobile phones, gaps in phone access are being narrowed at an increasingly frenetic pace. And with cellular phone access, you also open the window of possibility for increased internet access.

Granted, the ‘internet divide’ today is still quite marked: 41 users per 100 people in the industrial world vs. 2.3 per 100 in the developed world. A 17 to 1 ratio doesn’t exactly sound a dazzling trumpet of equality. But it helps to put things into perspective when you look back and realize that the ratio, as of 1995, was 40 to 1. While providing access to Amazon.com, streaming radio, and Oakley.com isn’t exactly going to solve all the world’s problems, the internet can provide pathways to economic development¹, a la linkages between rural farmers and market information, would-be patients and information about treatment facilities and doctors, etc.

Okay, so there’s still a certain breed of cell phone user for which I have nothing but a few choice words. But cell phones have finally managed to escape my mild disgust.