[I’ve gotten behind on my blogging, but these are some of the most interesting articles I’ve read in the last week or two. -egg]<\/p>\n
A Journey to the End of the World (of Minecraft) : The New Yorker<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n On March 28, 2011, a man who calls himself Kurt J. Mac loaded a new game of Minecraft. As the landscape filled in around his character, Mac surveyed the blocky,\u2026<\/p>\n The Champion Barack Obama:\u00a0How Black America talks to the White House (Ta-Nehisi Coates)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Last week The New Yorker ran a lengthy profile of Barack Obama, by David Remnick, in which you can hear the president’s opinions on everything from marijuana legalization to war to racism. Obama is as thoughtful as ever, and I expect that admiration for his thoughtfulness will grow as the ages pile upon us. I have tried to get my head around what he represents. Two years ago, I would have said that whatever America’s roots in white supremacy, the election of a black president is a real thing, worthy of celebration, a sign of actual progress. I would have pointed out that you should not expect a black head of state in any other Western country any time soon, and that this stands as singular accolade in the long American democratic tradition. Today, I’m less certain about national accolades. I’m not really sure that a writer\u2014whose whole task is the attempt to see clearly\u2014can afford such attachments.<\/p>\n Far From Home<\/a>\u00a0(National Geographic)<\/strong><\/p>\n In today\u2019s hyperconnected world, many developing countries find that their most lucrative export is people. The foreign workers and their families must grapple with an inevitable trade-off: emotional loss for material gain.<\/p>\n Robert Henke on Lasers, Structure, and Musical Choices; Intuition and Limitations<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Give Robert Henke [Monolake, Ableton cofounder] a computer, some lasers, and some time to make his own tools as well as his own music, and wonderful things result. In a new video [linked and excerpted here], he gives a master class not so much in technology as the philosophy of using that technology.<\/span><\/p>\n