Social Networks in Business

Tools to examine and map social networks and dynamics among company employees, expertise and hierarchy would be helpful to senior management in many larger companies. Trampoline Systems did an interesting project relating to this, using data such as email communications.

Link

PhD Defense

My PhD defense will take place on the 16th of March 2007 at 14.15 in Aarhus.

Where? Aarhus University, Auditorium 025, building 1324.

Map (marked in red)

Dissertation

Wish me luck.

Qutb About the West: Dishes More Important Than Religion

I love my dishwasher. Sayyid Qutb, a radical islamic scholar, think I should care more about my soul. Here is what he concluded after having lived in USA 1948-50, citing Lawrence Wright:

Qutb saw a spiritual wasteland, and yet belief in God was nearly unanimous in the United States at the time. It was easy to be misled by the proliferation of churches, religious books and religious festivals, Qutb maintained; the fact remained that materialism was the real American god. ‘The soul has no value to Americans,’ he wrote to one friend. ‘There has been a Ph.D. dissertation about the best way to clean dishes, which seems more important to them than the Bible or religion.’ Many Americans were beginning to come to similar conclusions. The theme of alienation in American life was just beginning to cast a pall over the postwar party. In many respects, Qutb’s analysis, though harsh, was only premature.

Lawrence Wright, The Looming Tower
(Thank you The Bos'un Locker)

I prefer a society with clean dishes, anytime. There is a number of interesting articles about Qutb and his meeting with Western civilization.

• Berman, Paul "The Philosopher of Islamic Terror" New York Times Link
• Drehle, David von "A Lesson in Hate" Smithsonian Magazine Link
• Potts, Rolf "The Tourist Who Influenced the Terrorists" Vagablogging Link
• Siegel, Robert "Sayyid Qutb's America" National Public Radio Link
• Wright, Lawrence "What Turned Sayyid Qutb Against America?" History News Network Link

Online Book: Dive Into Python

As my great grand-dad always said, "Son, life has taught me that you only need two tools in life. Python and C++". He was right. Learn Python using this online book.

Link