Author Margaret Wertheim sets record straight with a "the publisher made me do it" disclaimer on Amazon

About ten years ago I read Margaret Wertheim's fascinating 1999 book on the cultural history of changing Western ideas about space from medieval to modern times, The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace. It was a catchy title, and the analysis of the changes in perception started with the invention of perspective drawing, which we take for granted today, was intriguing. The closing section about cyberspace seemed soft in comparison and suffered from taking the cyberspace metaphor too literally. Now, in a world of social media, YouTube and 24/7 streaming video, it seems positively quaint. What was once seen as an almost physical new frontier has become a couch for potatoes.

The other day I visited the book's Amazon site to use the Look Inside feature to check a citation. I also browsed the reviews, where I was surprised to find a "customer review" by the author. She seems to agree with me and other critics.

I am the author of this book and I would like to agree with the gist of many of the reviews here. The first half of the book - which traces the cultural history of Western concepts of space - is the real meat of the text and is by far the strongest part. The final part of the book, which deals with cyberspace, is weak by comparison. Actually when I wrote the book, I only wanted to write the first part, with a final short and tentative reflection on the then emerging realm of cyberspace. But the publisher - who thought cyberspace was a hip topic - pressed me to make cyberspace a bigger part of the exercise. I too feel that these final chapters have to a large degree been superceded by the development of the Net since 2000. But the real story of the book is the first 5 chapters which trace a critical transition in Western culture's conception of what it means to be a human embedded in a wider spatial scheme. It is this part of the book - which the European reviewers especially praised - that stands as the real achievement and that I would still urge apon readers.

She's right. I'd urge the book upon readers too, especially if they're interested in the history of Western religion, science and art and how they relate to each other. Just pass over the cyberspace stuff.

Dodging the production assistants to take some photos of the "Battleground" Hulu shoot in Wingra Park last fall

Something was going on down at the lake in Wingra Park early last November, so I went down to check it out. Somebody said it was a pilot for a political series that was going to be on Hulu, but I never heard any more about it, and never got around to uploading any shots.

What I remember is wrangling with production assistants about whether I could shoot there. One said I couldn't. I said, "Why not? It's a public park, and it's not blocked off. I'm not in the way." She didn't have an answer, and I backed off a bit and shot a few more frames. (I didn't shoot while they were filming and the set was quiet.) Then another one came after me and said, "No photography." We wrangled a bit more, with me holding forth on my first amendment rights, but I eventually got tired of being the aggressive photo jerk and went home. I wasn't sure the thing would ever air, anyhow.

But it will. It's a Hulu series called "Battleground" that premieres on Valentine's Day -- the streaming website's first scripted original series. It's about a fictional U.S. Senate race and was produced by a couple of West High School alums who came back to their hometown to film it over a couple months last fall. More in this Isthmus article.

Civil War hero Hans Christian Heg, whose identity Chrysler deleted in their Super Bowl ad, reporting for duty

The Wisconsin Civil War hero whose statue stands at the King Street corner of the Square in front of Gov. Walker's office was a focal point of the Wisconsin protests. His identity was deleted from Chrysler's Super Bowl "Halftime in America" ad at the same time signs in the clip were Photoshopped to remove union references. Here he is in all his glory, photographed as he reported for duty last March.

There's a good critique of the doctored footage in the photojournalism blog Bag News Notes, which also quotes John Nichols on the statue.

The Chrysler ad also disappears the identification on a statue of Colonel Hans Christian Heg, the Wisconsin Civil War hero who rallied a Scandanavian unit to fight for the union with the cry: “Norsemen…the government of our adopted country is in danger. It is our duty as brave and intelligent citizens to extend our hands in defense of the cause of our Country…”

Heg became a reference point for the hundreds of thousands of protesters who rallied at the Wisconsin Capitol in February and March of 2011, and who linked their activism to a tradition of answering the call to defend basic rights and ideals. Many of the largest rallies at the Capitol were held on the grounds where Heg’s statue stands, including the rally featured in the Chrysler ad.

Republicans attacked the ad, and some progressives claimed it as their own (there's even an @ClintForObama Twitter account), but I don't know. Seems like the politics of confusion and distraction to me. How anyone can see a commercial starring an icon of Hollywood conservatism -- Clint Eastwood, who says he doesn't even support Obama -- as progressive is beyond me. Especially when it illustrates the revival of the US auto industry by Photoshopping out unions.

I think the ad conveys a deeply apolitical, anti-union, corporatist message that masquerades as populist when it is really anything but. "The fog of discord, division and blame made it hard to see what's ahead," the ad says about the protests. Real populists saw this as a great moment of grassroots democracy in action, but corporations tend to see free assembly as merely divisive, disorderly conduct rather than a constitutional right.

And here in Wisconsin, at least, it's not at all hard to see what's ahead. It's the recall of Scott Walker and his union-busting agenda.

Alternative Forms of Winter Boat Storage

Neither of them recommended -- right side up and upside down, outdoors. Lake Wingra,Madison.