Maria Popova and @brainpickings - The best the Internet has to offer

For me, Maria Popova and @brainpickings represent the best that the Internet has to offer: http://t.co/JsIAbMg9Ec
— Andrew Sullivan (@sullydish) January 15, 2014

Legal blogger David Allen Green (@DavidAllenGreen) (@JackofKent) gave his take here on the best legal commentary the Internet has to offer. Washington Post blogger and darling of the Internet Ezra Klein (@EzraKlein) warrants note as he spins off from Wonkblog to create an altogether new form and breed of Internet journalism. One that changes the model from one of "relentless presentism" to "persistent content". Vague. I know. We're still waiting to see what this actually means.

Writing for free

On writing for free, it was Mark Twain who I've long deferred to for counsel when it comes to the sometimes-thorny issue. His position was this (see here also):

"Write without pay until someone offers pay; if nobody offers within three years, sawing wood is what you were intended for."

More recently I read the piece by Genevieve Smith (@gvsmith) in Elle Magazine, with a piece entitled, 'I'm for Sale'on the challenges of writing, getting paid and making it. Then there was also the interesting piece by Noah David on awl.com which had been featured on Andrew Sullivan's, the Dish here. What Noah does is basically explain how he works as a writing and balances the books. A great insight.

World History in One Chart

World history in one chart: (via @jimpethokoukis) twitter.com/mattyglesias/s…

— Matt Yglesias (@mattyglesias) April 23, 2013

Above is a tweet from American blogger Matt Ygelias (@mattyglesias) which struck me greatly: it has managed to capture in one image what man has managed to achieve in only a few hundred years.

Ben Bernanke has sketched things out further in a recent address. He said:

Many factors affect the development of the economy, notably among them a nation's economic and political institutions, but over long periods probably the most important factor is the pace of scientific and technological progress. Between the days of the Roman Empire and when the Industrial Revolution took hold in Europe, the standard of living of the average person throughout most of the world changed little from generation to generation. For centuries, many, if not most, people produced much of what they and their families consumed and never traveled far from where they were born. By the mid-1700s, however, growing scientific and technical knowledge was beginning to find commercial uses. Since then, according to standard accounts, the world has experienced at least three major waves of technological innovation and its application.

The first wave drove the growth of the early industrial era, which lasted from the mid-1700s to the mid-1800s. This period saw the invention of steam engines, cotton-spinning machines, and railroads. These innovations, by introducing mechanization, specialization, and mass production, fundamentally changed how and where goods were produced and, in the process, greatly increased the productivity of workers and reduced the cost of basic consumer goods.

The second extended wave of invention coincided with the modern industrial era, which lasted from the mid-1800s well into the years after World War II. This era featured multiple innovations that radically changed everyday life, such as indoor plumbing, the harnessing of electricity for use in homes and factories, the internal combustion engine, antibiotics, powered flight, telephones, radio, television, and many more.

The third era, whose roots go back at least to the 1940s but which began to enter the popular consciousness in the 1970s and 1980s, is defined by the information technology (IT) revolution, as well as fields like biotechnology that improvements in computing helped make possible. Of course, the IT revolution is still going on and shaping our world today.