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Welcome to: THE JAMES BURKE CONNECTION NEWSLETTER 04 - APR 2002:
This newsletter and previous ones are available on-line as web pages at: Please pass this newsletter along to other James Burke enthusiasts you know about, who may be unaware of its existence. DISCLAIMER: The information contained in this newsletter comes from a wide variety of sources and is selected for publication solely by the newsletter's editor/creator Tom Palmer. Please be advised that James Burke does NOT necessarily endorse or associate himself with the information or organizations mentioned in the James Burke Connection website and periodic e-mail news updates. Likewise, the information contained in this publication does NOT necessarily represent the views and opinions of Mr. Burke.
Welcome to the fourth edition of James Burke Connection news update. I am delighted to see a steady number of James Burke enthusiasts signing up. And thanks for the many responses from previous subscribers who have expressed positive comments about the newsletter's contents. I can only hope that I will continue to find a supply of interesting tidbits relating to Mr. Burke to send your way. Always feel free to send in feedback as the mood strikes you. I really enjoy discussing Mr. Burke with you and hearing about how his work has affected your lives. In a recent example, I corresponded over a couple of days with a teacher from New York about the "connections" aspects of music. Wonderful! I am also delighted to hear stories from second-generation James Burke fans, who mention their parent's interest in Connections and The Day The Universe Changed when they first came out. Now, on with the information.
JBC WEBSITE NEWS I have continued to add items to the James Burke Connection site. This may go on for quite a while as I have big ambitions for the site. First, there are nine new pages featuring banner ads of various sizes for people to use. My intention is for Burke enthusiasts to use these little advertisements on their personal websites and in their e-mails to others as a way to create interest for the JBC website and Mr. Burke in general. You can see the first page of ads at: www.fantasticplaces.com/jamesburke/burke_banners.html Secondly, I have added two new names to the "Great Explainers" area, Joseph Campbell and Noam Chomsky. The late Mr. Campbell is known for his work in the area of mythology and Mr. Chomsky is famous for his work in linguistics as well as his opinions on the workings of the political world. By the way, if any readers have suggestions for people to include in this area, please send a note my way. www.fantasticplaces.com/jamesburke/explainers Thirdly, I have included a college paper from a recent acquaintance that talks about one of the Connections 2 episodes. I would encourage anyone out there who has similar school papers that have to do with Mr. Burke's work, to submit them for inclusion in the JBC site. www.fantasticplaces.com/jamesburke/burke_c2review.html Currently, I have recorded all of the Connections 3 programs from the Discovery Science Channel, have converted them to digital audio recordings and am in the process of transcribing them for further analysis. I have also started to do work on the area within the Resources Section that lists and categorizes all of the topics found in the indexes of Mr. Burke's publications. I feel that these upcoming pages will be helpful to many of your who write in with questions about things that happened in specific television programs. As you know, many of Mr. Burke's books closely follow the material in the TV programs. Right now I am concentrating on "The Knowledge Web" which parallels Connections 3. Once these two works have been processed, I will move on to the original Connections program and book and work forward through The Day The Universe Changed and Connections 2/The Pinball Effect. I would love to put the program transcriptions up online, but this may be a violation of the copyright laws. I will have to check this out with Mr. Burke and his publishers.
BURKE NEWS SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS (UPCOMING)
OK! This is your chance to go hear James Burke speak. Mr. Burke will be doing a small university lecture tour in mid-April, from the 9th to the 11th, in North Carolina, Minnesota and Texas. If you would like to go hear him, please check out the information that follows and contact the schools for further information.
For information on scheduling James Burke for a future speaking engagement, please contact his lecture agent Royce Carlton. info@roycecarlton.com www.roycecarlton.com/speakers/burke.html
--------- Mr. Burke still is looking for help from Graduate Students and Academics in researching biographies for the online "Knowledge Web" project. If you know anyone who would like to volunteer their time to this amazing project, please contact me (Tom Palmer) and I will pass along their request. e-mail at: info@fantasticplaces.com Mr. Burke does has an informational website in place now that begins to describe the project. You can visit it at:
TV SCHEDULE (UPCOMING) --------- The Connections 2 & 3 series continue to be rebroadcast on Discovery Science through April! science.discovery.com/schedule/series.jsp?series=46
Connections 2 - Discovery Science Channel - Now thru at least Apr. 27, 2002
Connections 3 - Discovery Science Channel - Now thru at least May 01, 2002 Note: I do not know if either Connections series will be played in proper sequence or if the final episodes scheduled will be the final episode for each series. Therefore, if you are planning to videotape these programs, don't necessarily wait for the beginning episodes to cycle through.
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NOTES FROM SITE VISITORS Dennis Smoot from the Smithsonian e-mailed in to alert and remind me about the Burke audio program they have to listen to: "A copy of an e-mail was forwarded to me about your new James Burke Connection newsletter. And, I just had a few moments to review your website with all of its great info and links about James Burke. If you like, feel free to link over to our FREE audio program that was made when Mr. Burke came to the Smithsonian to speak about his book The Knowledge Web. The Real Audio program is at: smithsonianassociates.org/programs/burke/burke.htm It's a great program and I think your readers will enjoy it. Best of luck and thanks for passing along the info about your site to us!"
Dennis R. Smoot
--------- "As I mentioned, I have all the Scientific Americans with the monthly column. I would be happy to sell the first 50 (now collected in Circles) as a set, if anyone would want them. I'm happy with the slightly edited versions in the book, and it's a lot smaller, but perhaps they would serve a good purpose for someone. I don't have a price in mind, but I don't have to be greedy, as I was given most of them and the rest I got as a subscriber." Steve may be reached at: smrubin0125@yahoo.com
--------- "Just wondering if you had any luck with finding someone that has a copy of "The Real Thing". I don't think it is available. I think my only hope is to find someone that recorded it off of the broadcast as I did. When I find out which segments are corrupted. I can share my two complete ones with other people. Do you have any ideas on where I could post an announcement that I looking for it." Warner may be reached at: wadmas@yahoo.com
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WAYS TO COMMUNICATE I still want to remind people about the newsgroup and Yahoo "group" where you can post messages and discuss Mr. Burke. alt.fan.james-burke groups.yahoo.com/group/connectionswithjamesburke/ The Yahoo area in question was previously a "club" and now has been converted to a "group". The caretaker of this area has offered to make me one of the moderators, so hopefully my participation in Burke communications will increase. As always, please take advantage of these resources, since they exist for that purpose.
WEBMASTER NEWS Not much new in my world, unless you want to take part in my attempts to sell products (in this case, mother's bracelets) over the web. www.fantasticplaces.com/products/bracelet.html
COMMENTARY / EDITORIAL A. This is an open invitation to Mr. Burke to explain the broader scope of his life's efforts. I, and I think many others out there, would like to know what Mr. Burke is trying to accomplish in the world. Does he have a mission? Is there a plan of some kind? Are there objectives he is trying to meet? I think we can all tell that he has a great sense of purpose. What does he hope to accomplish through the videos and books and speeches that he makes for us? How does he feel about being a role model? What does he think about the effect he has on people? What sort of perspective does he have about his place in the mass media and public education and the business world? What is his advice to us? What words of wisdom can he share as a result of the creative process he has gone through? I think Mr. Burke has the potential to create a lot of good in the world. I would interested to see if he has any ambitions that go beyond the materials he has produced to date. He has already planted his unique perspective in the minds of many people using his great talents as a story-teller. But to what degree will he actually influence people's lives? Is he simply teaching and entertaining us, or is he trying at some level to empower and enlighten us? Does he desire to have an active effect or a passive one on his audience? There are so many forces in our lives that work to diminish us and control us and drain us. Does Mr. Burke realize the power that he has to help push the situation in the opposite direction? I can only hope that he does and that he takes advantage of it. Now, the only questions is, how can we be of assistance? B. What is the point of observing history? What benefit will people receive, if any, from exposing themselves to programs like "Connections" and "The Day The Universe Changed"? How will this kind of information improve anyone's life to a noticeable degree?" Well, here's a short list of what Mr. Burke's work can do for you: 1. In general, it stimulates your mind to think about the things in your life and the society you exist in. 2. It gives you a deeper insight into the world around you and keeps you from taking what you have and know for granted. 3. It shows you the motivations people have for doing things and the reasons that certain social conditions have come about. 4. It can shatter some of the inaccurate social "truths" you carry and will teach you to question any information you are given. (It can help you recognize and judge propaganda being fed to you from various sources.) 5. It will demonstrate that the world you were born into has been constantly changing. It allows you to see that ideas and viewpoints and standards have fluctuated greatly over time. (Very little, if anything, has ever proven itself to be absolute or long-lasting.) 6. It will show you that the ideas and events that have changed the world the most have almost always been totally unexpected. (Because of this, the future can never be accurately predicted.) 7. From history, you will be able to see what it takes to make things happen and see where many things and ideas have actually come from. 8. It will reveal to you the methods by which change can be brought about and show you that change is easier to cause than you might have thought possible (or been led to believe). 9. With it, you can learn what works and what doesn't by observing the successes and failures of people throughout history. (In other words, it lets other people make your mistakes for you. And it allows you to reap the benefits of other's hard work, genius and accidental good fortune.) 10. It empowers you by giving you information to make more informed choices and by giving you new concepts and strategies to apply in your daily life. 11. It shows you how to watch for trends and how to look for situations to either avoid or take advantage of. 12. It shows you the value of your own ideas and the value of networking with others. (Time and again, Burke, and history, have shown that a single person can bring about dramatic shifts in ideas and in the way things are done.) There are probably a number of other points I could add to this list, but there is enough here to demonstrate the significance and importance of Mr. Burke's offerings. By himself, Mr. Burke is a wonderful teacher, but the greatest thing about his work is how he catalogs and presents so many other people with insights that we should all know about. And he does this in a manner that most people can understand and relate to. A true gift. So, if you ever have the opportunity to expose Burke's collection of connections to somebody new, I hope I have given you plenty of reasons to make sure they get the chance to be inspired by his perspective.
SEARCH ENGINE FINDS (CURRENT) --------- This month I tried some new types of searches using James Burke parameters. First, I did the usual search on Google, this time using the keywords "James Burke Knowledge Web". This produced a mish-mash of results, many of which are interesting, but no big groups that seemed to want to be categorized. So I am leaving the results pretty much in the order I found them. The really good news was, that I found several site and pages relating to Mr. Burke's upcoming Knowledge Web project. I am putting them at the head of the list. Now, secondly, I used the Hotbot search engine to do a reverse search on a URL. In other words, I went out searching to see who was connected to the James Burke Connection site. Again the results are interesting, if not humorous in certain cases. OK, here goes! --------- NEW SEARCHING TOOLS Below are some new searching tools I came across on the web that can be used to find info on James Burke that has appeared in magazines and newspapers.
FindArticles.com "FindArticles.com is a vast archive of published articles that you can search for free. Constantly updated, it contains articles dating back to 1998 from more than 300 magazines and journals."
e-library "eLibrary is not a search engine, in fact, we don't search the Web at all. Instead, we partner with top publications to provide you with current information AND years of archives in one convenient location. With eLibrary, you'll be able to: - Retrieve articles from major newspapers and magazines. - Save your favorite topics and articles for quick access. - Receive email alert when new articles match your favorite topics. - Access a thorough collection of encyclopedias, dictionaries, almanacs and a thesaurus. - Search through years of photo and map archives."
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found with Google - Mar. 24, 2002:
Info on Burke's Knowledge Web project
News from Portland Business Journal - includes info on the Knowledge Web project
Website of individual working on Burke's Knowledge Web project
NPR radio program from Dec. 1999
COM566 course assignment - Western Maryland College
lecture for VLearn3D conference - Dec. 01, 2001
Bulletin Board message about using Burke's materials in the classroom
Review of Pinball Effect by The CEO Refresher
Short review of Pinball Effect
Review of The Knowledge Web by The Reviewer
An MIT student quotes Burke on his home page
Burke mentioned in comments from Museums and the Web page
Library lists Knowledge Web as a source for calendar
ACM Technical Program - Keynote Address - Nov. 1999
Booklist from The Constants and Equations Page
Calendar for SUNY Fredonia - Convocation Address Oct. 2001
Burke mentioned in Dr. Dobbs Journal Dec. 2000
Burke mentioned in L'Abri newsletter - Sep. 2000
Burke's KW mentioned in PKAL Lederhendler interview
Reading list from a Stanford Electrical Engineering graduate student
Burke speech mentioned in Union College, NY newsletter
Announcement page for Burke speech - Apr. 12, 2000
PDF essay mentioning Burke
Simon and Schuster description of The Knowledge Web
Note about Burke appearance on WGN radio - Jun. 25, 1999
Burke quoted in Global Internet Project
Burke AOL chat - Mar. 03 1996
Discovery Channel chat - Mar. 14, 1996
Tie-in to Burke on a Wittgenstein page
Burke speech at Rutgers???
Review of KW by American Leasing
Burke interview - EDN Access - editorial May 9, 1996
Burke quoted in a commentary
Booklist from The Mind's Eye
Transcription of Burke web audio clip
Page about an IEEE seminar - Oct. 5, 2001
Reading list from Right Brain Books
Books - 16th Century Inventions - Princeton Public Library
PDF - Essay "Making The Connection" - heavy on Burke
Recommended books from FatBrain
Reading List from Science Friday
Quick quote from KW - an interesting page
Announcement from Truman Univ. about lecture - Oct. 2001
Another Truman Univ. page about Burke visit - Oct 2, 2001
Book list on knowledge management from ICASIT
Burke quoted in Bootstrap message
Burke mentioned in essay "Numbers Into Knowledge"
Listed on SuperZone web directory
Burke mentioned on Internet Time Group page re: OnLine Learning 2000
Reading list from Erikserver
Books about Stonehenge
Burke quoted on an astrology page
Hackensack High School Philosophy Club
Speech announcement from NASA - May 30, 2000
Book quotes including The Axemaker's Gift
Booklist on Philosophy and Computing
Real Audio excepts from "Printing Transforms Knowledge"
C Magazine - article includes Burke interview
Time article by Burke
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found with HotBot - Mar. 26, 2002:
Alan Hoyle's home page
Scientists Contributing to Nutrition
Aesthetic Computing
MIT - Inventing Modern America
Overbooked: Annimals
Pleasant - evidently had a Burke link at one time
Splorp Blog Archive
Uncle Mick's webpage
Teaching & Learning
Paul Fisher links
Engineer's Week Detroit
John Macilree's reading list
Fastac links
CSICOP site review
Homepage of Wilhelm (Bill) K. Schwab, PhD
The URinaL links page
The eVisum education portal
Ramblemuse - science links
Smalltalk Consulting page
The McKinnon Institute
Dictionary.com nonfiction authors
ASM Detroit - educational links
The Mary L. Cook Public Library
College Course - Burke: Technology as Cultural History
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Floyd Ingram's (Library) Resource Center
PhysicsLessons.com
PBS TeacherSource
Internet Time Group
EduBanners
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Philosophy of Kissing page - funny
EBAY LISTINGS (CURRENTLY UP FOR SALE) As found on eBay Mar. 31, 2002 www.ebay.com --------- DVDs Connections 1 - 1 copy
--------- Connections 1 - 1 copy
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Connections - 2 copies
DVD, VIDEO, BOOK, AUDIOBOOK LIST (ORDER ON-LINE) --------- DVDS
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--------- The Axemaker's Gift: Technology's Capture and Control of Our Minds and Culture Circles: Fifty Round-Trips Through History, Technology, Science, Culture Twin Tracks: The Unexpected Origins of the Modern World
--------- The Axemaker's Gift: A Double -Edged History of Human Culture
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