The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE! In honor of this holiday of spooky magic, I’m dedicating today’s post to a book that is filled with the stuff.

Since Harry Potter, no book has entranced me in the same way, until The Night Circus. I bought it weeks ago, but only started to read it a week ago, while commuting to and from work, and before I fell asleep.

Set in the late 19th century, it’s a love story filled with mystery, magic, and murder, which leads it to be very engaging for those who have a little imagination.

When I was halfway through the book, I realized that I wanted to learn more about the author – and Erin Morgenstern is not only a writer, but a painter (which explains a lot about the novel). I also HAD to find out if  someone bought the movie rights.

I was not surprised to find out that Summit Entertainment (yes, Twilight) closed the deal, and a few sources on the ‘net say that the producer of the Harry Potter films may be involved.

I am hoping that the author decides to turn it into a series, even though an interview with CNN states that it’s not in the cards as of now – but there might be a prequel! (Here’s to hoping).

So, is it the best thing since Harry Potter? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

The book is filled with quotes, and one of my favorites:

A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.

- Oscar Wilde

Scared of the bear nutcracker... and also by questions about what's going on with journalism.

Many journalists today are making a similar face as the one showcased to the left.

A former boyfriend friend sent me an email last week and asked for my opinions on the journalism industry. He writes:

“How do the dwindling print media companies resurrect themselves…  My personal opinion is that there are some working examples of quality news and information sources… I think that people will pay for quality (take magazines like the New Yorker and The Economist). The problem is that the value of the daily news depreciates because new stories are so volatile… I can also see how deeper problems could arise like an information divide between those who can afford quality and  the technology and gadgets needed to do so, and those who cannot. Thus leading to a place where the people who could really use some quality informing are less likely to have access to it” – email submission

I responded with a quote from Being Digital by Nicholas Negroponte (Director of MIT’s Media Lab) which was published in 1995.

It’s safe to assume that if you’re reading this, you’ve heard of Digg.com. You know, just one of those sites that pioneered a new way to aggregate content on a single page where users determined what was most important.

Someone loves Digg

But what I didn’t know (and I’m, again, assuming you didn’t either) is that Digg had a true test of character on April 30, 2007 when a blogger posted this, leaking a new HD-DVD Processing key.

According to the book Groundswell, Digg was catching some heat on the fact that this post kept rising to the top of Digg.com’s home page. You know, lots of lawyers, threats, maybe even a strongly worded letter.

But even though Digg didn’t write the content, admins were forced to work to keep it off the main page- but that does not stop the groundswell- online users and creators of content. People just kept reposting it on their personal blogs.

That’s basically the whole point of “Goundswell” – you can’t control what people say. You just have to provide a forum for interaction and listen. You’ll probably pick up some tips that will help your company/product/whatever in the end.

In true rebel fashion, Digg decided to steer clear of censorship and agressive moderation of news stories- therefore making the “hands off” policy public with this announcement:

Today was an insane day. And as the founder of Digg, I just wanted to post my thoughts…

In building and shaping the site I’ve always tried to stay as hands on as possible. We’ve always given site moderation (digging/burying) power to the community. Occasionally we step in to remove stories that violate our terms of use (eg. linking to pornography, illegal downloads, racial hate sites, etc.). So today was a difficult day for us. We had to decide whether to remove stories containing a single code based on a cease and desist declaration. We had to make a call, and in our desire to avoid a scenario where Digg would be interrupted or shut down, we decided to comply and remove the stories with the code.

But now, after seeing hundreds of stories and reading thousands of comments, you’ve made it clear. You’d rather see Digg go down fighting than bow down to a bigger company. We hear you, and effective immediately we won’t delete stories or comments containing the code and will deal with whatever the consequences might be.

If we lose, then what the hell, at least we died trying.

Digg on,

Kevin

If you’re interested at all in social technologies and how they are changing the way “traditional” business has been done in the past, check out Groundswell. It’s not too “techy”- so even if you studied finance 15 years ago you wouldn’t be lost.

So, in my first rotation as a GE IMLP, it looks like I’m going to be working with some fun, new technologies. Maybe even some crazy satellite stuff.

And it’s not just me. A couple of my IMLP coworkers need to navigate their way through some technical documents and training.

But how?

Newton’s Telecom Dictionary. It basically held my hand through computer networking and other technical classes in college. With wit and humor, Harry Newton will help you breakdown high level technical terms in a means that can actually be understood by humans.

It’s like this reviewer said on Amazon:

Harry does a great job of defining telco terms and acronyms in plain English and not by using other complex terms and acronyms. This is much more significant than it sounds at first. It is simply impossible for any professional to know every last obscure acronym and term used in this expansive and ever-growing industry over the past 100 years. Harry will help to make sure that you never have to ask anyone else what in the heck their TLA’s mean. You will be the Alpha-geek. All others will bow in your presence. Life will be good.

Newton’s Telecom Dictionary has one more unique trait. Harry’s wry sense of humor has threaded itself into many of the definitions. This is one of those rare tomes that you can sit down with and randomly read for enjoyment. Whenever there is an interesting and/or humorous story behind a telco term, Harry inevitably includes it with the definition. This dictionary can be fun to read! This is especially nice if someone walks into your work space and catches you reading your dictionary. They will never suspect you of goofing off!

-Christopher Erickson
Intrepid Engineer of the Far North

My conclusion. If you work with technology (who doesn’t?) buy an edition of this dictionary. If you’re cost conscious right now, buy an older edition (they come out annually). The 2005 edition is $1.89. Seriously.