Friday, December 31
Sam Harris: A New Year's Resolution for the Rich
Sam Harris: A New Year's Resolution for the Rich: "Some readers will point out that I am free to donate to the treasury even now. But such solitary sacrifice would be utterly ineffectual, and I am no more eager than anyone else is to fill the pork barrels of corrupt politicians. However, if Gates and Buffett created a mechanism that bypassed the current dysfunction of government, earmarking the money for unambiguously worthy projects, I suspect that there are millions of people like myself who would not hesitate to invest in the future of America."
The War Nerd: Market Lessons from the Pashtun - By Gary Brecher - The eXiled
The War Nerd: Market Lessons from the Pashtun - By Gary Brecher - The eXiled: "In granddad’s stories it was the Brits, who could be dangerous. Now it’s these Americans, who are only dangerous when provoked—and the only thing that seems to provoke them is a wedding party. Anything else and they barely react."
The War Nerd: Market Lessons from the Pashtun - By Gary Brecher - The eXiled
The War Nerd: Market Lessons from the Pashtun - By Gary Brecher - The eXiled: "Us? Not in the Brits’ league when it comes to Empire. I guarantee they won’t remember us ten years from now. They’ve forgotten the Russians already, 20 years after they slunk home, broke and beaten. It’s the Russians who remember Afg; the war in Afg was one of the bigger nails in the USSR’s coffin, and they left a good chunk of their total tank and APC production lying in the dust there. Barely made an impression on the Pashtun. Just another day at the office."
The New Voodoo - NYTimes.com
The New Voodoo - NYTimes.com: "“McConnell Blasts Deficit Spending, Urges Extension of Tax Cuts.”"
Book Review - Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 1 - NYTimes.com
Book Review - Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 1 - NYTimes.com: "“If I had his nuts in a steel trap I would shut out all human succor and watch that trap till he died”"
Book Review - Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 1 - NYTimes.com
Book Review - Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 1 - NYTimes.com: "He speaks from the grave, he writes, so that he can speak freely — “as frank and free and unembarrassed as a love letter” — but there’s precious little frankness and freedom here and plenty of proof that Mark Twain, in the hands of academics, can be just as tedious as anybody else when he is under the burden of his own reputation."
Thursday, December 30
Locus Online Perspectives: Extreme Geek
Locus Online Perspectives: Extreme Geek: "I am by no means the geekiest SF writer working in the field today; on the power-law curve of geekiness, there are many ancient and gnarly masters before whom I am but a noviate, barely qualified to check the syntax in their shell-scripts. Stross, I'm looking at you here.
Nevertheless, I am far more geeky than average, and that geekiness has crept into my writing practice in a way that is very close to perfectly geeky inasmuch as it probably costs me as much effort as it saves me, inasmuch as it delights me, and inasmuch as it points the way to civilian applications that someone else might want to develop into products that the less geekified may enjoy."
Nevertheless, I am far more geeky than average, and that geekiness has crept into my writing practice in a way that is very close to perfectly geeky inasmuch as it probably costs me as much effort as it saves me, inasmuch as it delights me, and inasmuch as it points the way to civilian applications that someone else might want to develop into products that the less geekified may enjoy."
Sister's kidney donation condition of Miss. parole - Yahoo! News
Sister's kidney donation condition of Miss. parole - Yahoo! News: "Lumumba said he has no problem with the governor requiring Gladys to offer up her organ because 'Gladys actually volunteered that as part of her petition.'"
MousePlanet - The Trip Planner
MousePlanet - The Trip Planner: "Food on a Disneyland vacation can easily bust your budget, if not planned carefully. Technically, you are not supposed to bring food into the park. You can however, bring a cooler full of lunch, and leave this in the lockers outside the entrance. There is a nice picnic area in front of Disneyland. If your family is already used to this, no problem. However, there are lots and lots of food temptations throughout the park that are especially enticing for children."
Wednesday, December 29
No Machine Can Do My Job As Resentfully As I Can | The Onion - America's Finest News Source
No Machine Can Do My Job As Resentfully As I Can | The Onion - America's Finest News Source: "Replacing us with machines will increase profits, but can a dollar value be placed on the labors of someone who drinks before his morning shift just to get through the day? And when the machines are sitting in six-inch-deep gore at day's end, will they go home and take out their frustrations on family members and loved ones? I think not."
Tuesday, December 28
Wake Up, Geek Culture. Time to Die | Magazine
Wake Up, Geek Culture. Time to Die | Magazine: "Fast-forward to now: Boba Fett’s helmet emblazoned on sleeveless T-shirts worn by gym douches hefting dumbbells. The Glee kids performing the songs from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. And Toad the Wet Sprocket, a band that took its name from a Monty Python riff, joining the permanent soundtrack of a night out at Bennigan’s. Our below-the-topsoil passions have been rudely dug up and displayed in the noonday sun. The Lord of the Rings used to be ours and only ours simply because of the sheer goddamn thickness of the books. Twenty years later, the entire cast and crew would be trooping onstage at the Oscars to collect their statuettes, and replicas of the One Ring would be sold as bling."
Nancy Jo Sales on the Bling Ring | Culture | Vanity Fair
Nancy Jo Sales on the Bling Ring | Culture | Vanity Fair: "“God didn’t give me these talents and looks to just sit around being a model or being famous. I want to lead a huge charity organization. I want to lead a country, for all I know.”"
Monday, December 27
Olympus E-510 EVOLT Review: 31. Conclusion: Digital Photography Review
Olympus E-510 EVOLT Review: 31. Conclusion: Digital Photography Review: "And for the tickbox brigade the E-510 compares very well with its direct competitors in a 'spec for spec' comparison too, save for the rather antiquated 3 point auto focus system, and it adds a huge amount of customization options missing from the E-410. To be honest neither of these issues will have an immense effect on most users' experiences - the 3-point AF system works perfectly well 99% of the time (if you really want to capture sports action there are better cameras) and the majority of the additional controls will be left on default most of the time."
Jon Stewart’s Advocacy Role in 9/11 Bill Passage - NYTimes.com
Jon Stewart’s Advocacy Role in 9/11 Bill Passage - NYTimes.com: "The other was the broadcast networks (one of them being CBS, the former home of Mr. Murrow and Mr. Cronkite), which, he charged, had not reported on the bill for more than two months.
“Though, to be fair,” Mr. Stewart said, “it’s not every day that Beatles songs come to iTunes.”"
“Though, to be fair,” Mr. Stewart said, “it’s not every day that Beatles songs come to iTunes.”"
Stuff White People Like
Stuff White People Like: "3. Gift card to Anthropologie. You might have walked past it a few times at your local mall and wondered how they crammed the interior of a late-nineteenth century barn into a shopping center that was built in 2005. It is the store equivalent of a Wes Anderson film, which certainly helps to explain its appeal, but it is also the most efficient way for white women to look and (hopefully) live like Am�lie."
#46 The Sunday New York Times � Stuff White People Like
#46 The Sunday New York Times � Stuff White People Like: "The secret you may not know, is that deep down, all white people are desperately trying to make their life seem like an ad for a Sub Zero refrigerator, or an article in Gourmet/Bon Appetit magazine. To achieve either of these goals will set white people at ease.
But note well, that the sports section will always remain perfectly creased and unread, unless they have a teenage son. So on Monday morning, if you need to impress your coworkers, choose to talk about something you read in the Book Review section, the magazine, or Sunday Style."
But note well, that the sports section will always remain perfectly creased and unread, unless they have a teenage son. So on Monday morning, if you need to impress your coworkers, choose to talk about something you read in the Book Review section, the magazine, or Sunday Style."
Widow of skier killed at The Canyons likely to take case to state court | The Salt Lake Tribune
Widow of skier killed at The Canyons likely to take case to state court | The Salt Lake Tribune: "After Coles’ death, relatives said that he was an experienced skier with the latest safety equipment. Coles owned three helmets and offered to lend them to friends and family when skiing. He was wearing a helmet the day of the accident."
Saturday, December 25
The Real American Pie | Feature | Chicago Reader
The Real American Pie | Feature | Chicago Reader: "I can't shake the feeling that the abrupt fall of mince signaled some profound but undiagnosed shift in American culture, some seismic rearrangement of who we are—since we are, after all, what we eat.
I promise to keep researching (and baking) until I figure it out or die trying."
I promise to keep researching (and baking) until I figure it out or die trying."
The author of this essay died shortly after writing it.
The Hazards of Nerd Supremacy: The Case of WikiLeaks - Jaron Lanier - Technology - The Atlantic
The Hazards of Nerd Supremacy: The Case of WikiLeaks - Jaron Lanier - Technology - The Atlantic: "But leaving hypocrisy aside, is there something to the idea?�If the number of secrets falls with each passing minute and gradually approaches zero, what does that do to the world?�Would a world without secrets be fairer, or more compassionate?�More efficient?�Does it matter if some secrets are revealed before others?"
WikiLeaks Archive - Cables Show D.E.A.’s Global Reach - NYTimes.com
WikiLeaks Archive - Cables Show D.E.A.’s Global Reach - NYTimes.com: "The Drug Enforcement Administration has been transformed into a global intelligence organization with a reach that extends far beyond narcotics, and an eavesdropping operation so expansive it has to fend off foreign politicians who want to use it against their political enemies, according to secret diplomatic cables."
Gorillaz - The Fall
Gorillaz - The Fall: "iPad Applications Used: Speak It! / SoundyThingie / Mugician / Solo Synth / Synth / Funk Box / Gliss / AmpliTube / Xenon / iElectribe / BS-16i / M3000 HD / Cleartune / iOrgel HD / Olsynth / StudioMiniXI / BassLine / Harmonizer / Dub Siren Pro / Moog Filatron"
Ipad apps used by the Gorillaz on their latest album.
Friday, December 24
The Blast Shack
The Blast Shack: "If the Internet was walking around in public, it would look and act a lot like Julian Assange. The Internet is about his age, and it doesn’t have any more care for the delicacies of profit, propriety and hierarchy than he does."
Standoff in Eagle Mountain ends with suspect in custody - ksl.com
Standoff in Eagle Mountain ends with suspect in custody - ksl.com: "But the standoff wasn't over. For more than another hour, the man refused to give up while numerous SWAT officers set up a perimeter around the home.
A robot then delivered cigarettes to Holewinski, who had requested them. Another man inside the home was escorted out by the SWAT team."
A robot then delivered cigarettes to Holewinski, who had requested them. Another man inside the home was escorted out by the SWAT team."
Thursday, December 23
Steven Bradbury - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Steven Bradbury - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "After consulting the national coach Ann Zhang, Bradbury's strategy from the semi-final onwards was to cruise behind his opponents and hope that they crashed, as he realised that he was slower and could not match their raw pace.[14] His reasoning was that risk-taking by the favourites could cause a collision due to a racing incident, and if two skaters (or more) fell, the remaining three would all get medals, and that as he was slower than his opponents, trying to challenge them directly would only increase his chance of falling.[14][15] Bradbury said that he was satisfied with his result, and felt that as the second oldest competitor in the entire field, he was not able to match his opponents in four races on the same night.[16]"
The Post That Cannot Possibly Go Wrong | MetaFilter
The Post That Cannot Possibly Go Wrong | MetaFilter: "But what happened inside the Starlight Lines employee forum was even stranger than that. Because it was buried one password and six clicks into the site, only a few dedicated people found it, and found each other. And once they were there, they started roleplaying Starlight Lines, and didn't stop evolving a long and bizarre narrative for the next thirteen years."
Restaurant critic S. Irene Virbila photographed and kicked out of Red Medicine | Daily Dish | Los Angeles Times
Restaurant critic S. Irene Virbila photographed and kicked out of Red Medicine | Daily Dish | Los Angeles Times: "Times Food editor Russ Parsons said Virbila contacted him after the incident and was upset by it. It was humiliating to be confronted in such a manner, Parsons said, and Virbila felt violated to have her picture taken without her permission. But mostly, he said, “She was upset because she has worked extremely hard for more than 15 years to maintain her anonymity in the L.A. restaurant scene.”"
Tuesday, December 21
Capitalizing Proper Adjectives
Capitalizing Proper Adjectives: "Capitalizing Proper Adjectives
A proper noun used as an adjective or an adjective formed from a proper noun is called a proper adjective.
Proper adjectives are normally capitalized. This includes brand names.
Correct: Syrian food a Kodak� camera
Some proper adjectives may not be capitalized because the association with a particular name is gone.
Correct: Teddy bear or teddy bear
Other words this has happened to are bourbon whiskey and venetian blinds.
Prefixes attached to a proper adjective are not capitalized unless the prefixes themselves are formed from a proper noun.
Correct: pro-Communist pre-Raphaelite Afro-Asian
(The prefix Afro- is formed from Africa.)
In a hyphenated word, only the proper adjective is capitalized.
Correct: Flemish-speaking Belgians"
A proper noun used as an adjective or an adjective formed from a proper noun is called a proper adjective.
Proper adjectives are normally capitalized. This includes brand names.
Correct: Syrian food a Kodak� camera
Some proper adjectives may not be capitalized because the association with a particular name is gone.
Correct: Teddy bear or teddy bear
Other words this has happened to are bourbon whiskey and venetian blinds.
Prefixes attached to a proper adjective are not capitalized unless the prefixes themselves are formed from a proper noun.
Correct: pro-Communist pre-Raphaelite Afro-Asian
(The prefix Afro- is formed from Africa.)
In a hyphenated word, only the proper adjective is capitalized.
Correct: Flemish-speaking Belgians"
Tips for New Paupers - By John Dolan - The eXiled
Tips for New Paupers - By John Dolan - The eXiled: "Warmth. Above all you need to have a dry warm place to sleep. We had only an unheated boat, and that was not enough. We woke up to the thump of sea ice banging against the hull and realized that the old world was still very much in session. When we finally fled to stay with family, we stayed in our blankets up against their gas fireplace for weeks. You won’t even want food much after a while. You’ll want heat itself, not the chemical middle man. You are going to realize that cold is the most frightening thing in the world. In older English dialects, “to starve” meant “to freeze.” You will see why."
Saturday, December 18
Bronchitis - Dr. Weil
Bronchitis - Dr. Weil: "With chronic bronchitis, eliminate milk and milk products. The milk protein, casein, can irritate the immune system and stimulate mucus production."
Thursday, December 16
UFC 124 winner Pierson dumped from Toronto Police Department - Cagewriter - UFC� - Yahoo! Sports
UFC 124 winner Pierson dumped from Toronto Police Department - Cagewriter - UFC� - Yahoo! Sports: "Pierson has been dismissed by the Toronto Police. They cited concerns about his one-time nickname of 'Pimp Daddy,' and the time and effort that Pierson needs to commit to fighting."
Brazen Baghdad gold heist leaves trail of dead - CSMonitor.com
Brazen Baghdad gold heist leaves trail of dead - CSMonitor.com: "RPGs for a jewel heist?
Local news reports and some policemen said the attackers were armed not only with standard weapons such as assault rifles and pistols fitted with silencers, but also with rocket-propelled grenade launchers and belt-fed machine guns.
An interviewer on the Iraqiya TV channel asked Baghdad security spokesman Qassim Atta the question that was on everyone's mind Tuesday afternoon: 'How did they manage to stage this operation at midday and get through all these checkpoints and security procedures in Baghdad?'"
Local news reports and some policemen said the attackers were armed not only with standard weapons such as assault rifles and pistols fitted with silencers, but also with rocket-propelled grenade launchers and belt-fed machine guns.
An interviewer on the Iraqiya TV channel asked Baghdad security spokesman Qassim Atta the question that was on everyone's mind Tuesday afternoon: 'How did they manage to stage this operation at midday and get through all these checkpoints and security procedures in Baghdad?'"
Bellagio robbery results in $1.5M in chips stolen by armed bandit - CSMonitor.com
Bellagio robbery results in $1.5M in chips stolen by armed bandit - CSMonitor.com: "Absher wouldn't say if MGM Resorts properties are among Las Vegas casinos that embed radio frequency devices in chips. But police will be keeping a close eye on cashier cages in case someone shows up with a stack of $25,000 chips.
'We have safeguards in place,' police Officer Barbara Morgan said.
The robbery had the makings of a scene straight out of a Hollywood caper. Police say a man wearing a jumpsuit and a motorcycle helmet with white stripes walked into the casino with a gun, robbed a craps table then sped away on a motorcycle in the dead of night."
'We have safeguards in place,' police Officer Barbara Morgan said.
The robbery had the makings of a scene straight out of a Hollywood caper. Police say a man wearing a jumpsuit and a motorcycle helmet with white stripes walked into the casino with a gun, robbed a craps table then sped away on a motorcycle in the dead of night."
Mitochondria and the Evolution of Human Longevity - Life Extension
Mitochondria and the Evolution of Human Longevity - Life Extension: "preserving youthful mitochondrial function is of paramount importance to prolonging life span. The good news is that modern science is rapidly discovering an arsenal of nutrients capable of slowing or reversing many of the degenerative changes constantly occurring within our mitochondria. Nutritional supplements such as acetyl-L-carnitine, R-lipoic acid, and coenzyme Q10 have been shown to improve mitochondrial function, while carnosine prevents age-related damage in cells due to glycation (the binding of sugars and proteins in the body). Still other nutrients, such as benfotiamine, Rhodiola rosea, and wheat sprouts, work in various ways to prevent age-associated changes in mitochondrial structure and energy production."
Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Autism, December 1, 2010, Giulivi et al. 304 (21): 2389 — JAMA
Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Autism, December 1, 2010, Giulivi et al. 304 (21): 2389 — JAMA: "Impaired mitochondrial function may influence processes highly dependent on energy, such as neurodevelopment, and contribute to autism. No studies have evaluated mitochondrial dysfunction and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) abnormalities in a well-defined population of children with autism."
Flawed simulation of a conflict that's difficult to simulate | Labyrinth: The War on Terror | BoardGameGeek
Flawed simulation of a conflict that's difficult to simulate | Labyrinth: The War on Terror | BoardGameGeek: "At bottom, terrorism as a method uses ruthless, dramatic, and well-communicated acts of violence to intimidate regimes into doing things they wouldn’t otherwise do. This approach gives the tiny group of terrorists power way out of proportion to their size, or the tiny percentage of the population that might actually support them. Because the vast majority of citizens vehemently disapprove of these methods, and the regime is not a failed state, terrorists remain small and secretive. In other words, it’s a very capable level of governance, in Labyrinth’s terms, that convince sthese groups to adopt terrorist methods and organization in the first place. (Unlike insurgents, who have more political and military space in which to organize and fight on a larger scale.)"
Wednesday, December 15
Time's 2010 Person of the Year | MetaFilter
Time's 2010 Person of the Year | MetaFilter: "I've formed close relationships with people I'd never think twice about if I just met them in a class twice a week. I've gotten to a point where I don't feel like I have any secrets from my friends. Not just my close friends, but from any of them. I don't hide parts of myself like I would otherwise. The prom night of my senior year in high school, I posted to Facebook a long, winding diatribe about why proms made me feel uncomfortable and scared and alone, and why I didn't want to be at the prom, and why I felt like in some ways prom intended to make me feel bad about that decision. Dozens of people responded, some of whom I'd literally never talked to, some of whom I'd thought must have hated me or thought I was a weirdo or any of the things a seventeen-year-old things people think about him. We all had a long, long, talk about our feelings. It was one of the first times I felt like I belonged — not just because of the amicability, but because I'd half thought that I was the only person who thought sad thoughts about things."
Time's 2010 Person of the Year | MetaFilter
Time's 2010 Person of the Year | MetaFilter: "Zuckerberg's vision of the Internet is different from yours. (Most of yours, anyway.) You see the Internet as an open frontier where literally anything can and will happen. He sees the frontier, too, but not as the endpoint that I think a lot of you do. For him, the huge open place is a space to build new hierarchies that have never existed before. (Hierarchy isn't the right word, though, because on Facebook everything is flat.) Facebook is a system designed to bring people socially together, regardless of what social things they're doing, regardless of if they happen online or offline."
Sunday, December 12
"You're in good hands and Gibbs will call last question." | MetaFilter
"You're in good hands and Gibbs will call last question." | MetaFilter: "There isn't a politician alive that's not a filthy, slimed-up bag of pus, it's just part of the job. And they will make deals, they will kow-tow to anyone they have to, they will pass legislation that is completely odious. It's vile. No US political party or system is ever going to be anything less than vile. But when democrats are in power, things tend to get better for everyone who's making less than $40 million a year, and many less people tend to get killed. I don't think the democrats even do it on purpose, as they are every bit as self-centered and criminal as the rest, but by mistake it becomes better for the average mope, ie me, probably you."
Saturday, December 11
Parents Embrace ‘Race to Nowhere,’ on Pressures of School - NYTimes.com
Parents Embrace ‘Race to Nowhere,’ on Pressures of School - NYTimes.com: "“When success is defined by high grades, test scores, trophies,”’ a child psychologist says in the film, “we know that we end up with unprepared, disengaged, exhausted and ultimately unhealthy kids.”"
James Burke: Connections | Watch Free Documentary Online
James Burke: Connections | Watch Free Documentary Online: "1. The Trigger Effect details the world’s present dependence on complex technological networks through a detailed narrative of New York City and the power blackout of 1965."
Friday, December 10
Sedan (nuclear test) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sedan (nuclear test) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "The Sedan shot resulted in a radioactive cloud that separated into two plumes, rising to 3.0 km and 4.9 km (10,000 ft and 16,000 ft). The two plumes headed northeast and then east in roughly parallel paths towards the Atlantic Ocean.[5] A large amount of nuclear fallout was dropped along the way, narrowly dispersed in a relatively small number of United States counties. Detected radioactivity was especially high in eight counties in Iowa and one county each in Nebraska, South Dakota and Illinois. Most heavily affected counties were Howard, Mitchell and Worth counties in Iowa, as well as Washabaugh County in South Dakota, an area that has since been incorporated into Jackson County and is wholly within Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. These four counties measured maximum levels higher than 6,000 microcuries per square meter (220 MBq/m2).[6]"
Sushi With You � Blog Archive � The DigiPen Survival Guide
Sushi With You Blog Archive The DigiPen Survival Guide: Books
When you first come to DigiPen, they tell you to buy a whole bunch of books. Books on programming, on game production, literature, art books, all kinds of stuff. Don’t do it. Save your money. One of the first things you’ll notice about the books they tell you to buy is that they are obscenely expensive. Moreover, books are heavy, very slow to search, and they take up a great deal of physical space. You may think, “I like to buy it just to have it.” Good for you. You just bought an eighty dollar piece of clutter that’s going to make your primitive packrat instincts feel good. Suppress this. You’re already
paying out the *** for tuition, and more likely than not you’re going to be paying off your student loans for the next thirty years of your life. Spending $100 less per semester is a significant savings. But you won’t be spending $100 less, if you buy no books, you’ll be spending $500 less. At $7500 / semester, that’s an eighth of your tuition."
When you first come to DigiPen, they tell you to buy a whole bunch of books. Books on programming, on game production, literature, art books, all kinds of stuff. Don’t do it. Save your money. One of the first things you’ll notice about the books they tell you to buy is that they are obscenely expensive. Moreover, books are heavy, very slow to search, and they take up a great deal of physical space. You may think, “I like to buy it just to have it.” Good for you. You just bought an eighty dollar piece of clutter that’s going to make your primitive packrat instincts feel good. Suppress this. You’re already
paying out the *** for tuition, and more likely than not you’re going to be paying off your student loans for the next thirty years of your life. Spending $100 less per semester is a significant savings. But you won’t be spending $100 less, if you buy no books, you’ll be spending $500 less. At $7500 / semester, that’s an eighth of your tuition."
Thursday, December 9
Play This Thing! | Game Reviews | Free Games | Independent Games | Game Culture
Play This Thing! | Game Reviews | Free Games | Independent Games | Game Culture
The Warbler's Nest: Play this for Honors 2100.
Justice E.R.: A New Name for Our Corporate Oligarchy
Justice E.R.: A New Name for Our Corporate Oligarchy: "Govcorp is a theoretical plan of government conceived by Mormon philosopher Justin Heninger. The basic premise is 'Communism without Socialism.' The ideal of this system is that the government works for a profit, thereby competing with private entities to win the business of the citizens. The individual countries governed in the Govcorp system would be ruled over by some greater entity with only the power to uphold basic rights of the citizens (such as freedom of speech) and also to allow easy movement between the different countries."
ksl.com - Murdered bookseller unknowingly bought stolen books from gang member
ksl.com - Murdered bookseller unknowingly bought stolen books from gang member: "n February of 2009, 20-year-old Lorin Nielsen was arrested and charged with stealing books from his father, a polygamous church president.
He sold them to Sherry Black for $20,000.
The books included a first-edition French Book of Mormon signed by John Taylor with a message to Parley P. Pratt.
In total, the books were worth an estimated $45,000.
When the father confronted Nielsen about the theft, the report states Nielsen warned him that 'if he got police involved he will set off a chain of events he's not going to like because he is a member of a gang.'
Police reports state Nielsen was affiliated with an Insane Clown Posse, or Juggalos gang and had access to guns."
He sold them to Sherry Black for $20,000.
The books included a first-edition French Book of Mormon signed by John Taylor with a message to Parley P. Pratt.
In total, the books were worth an estimated $45,000.
When the father confronted Nielsen about the theft, the report states Nielsen warned him that 'if he got police involved he will set off a chain of events he's not going to like because he is a member of a gang.'
Police reports state Nielsen was affiliated with an Insane Clown Posse, or Juggalos gang and had access to guns."
25 Colleges With the Worst Professors - CBS MoneyWatch.com
25 Colleges With the Worst Professors - CBS MoneyWatch.com: "25 Schools with the Worst Professors
U.S. Merchant Marine Academy NY
U.S. Coast Guard Academy, CT
Tuskegee University, AL
Michigan Technological University
New Jersey Institute of Technology
Milwaukee School of Engineering, WI
Bryant University, RI
Bentley University, MA
St. Cloud State University, MN
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY
Minnesota State University, Mankato
Western Michigan University
Widener University, PA
Worcester Polytechnic Institute MA
Central Michigan University
Seton Hall University, NJ
Pace University, NY
Iowa State University
Drexel University, PA
University of Toledo, OH
Howard University, Wash. DC
St. John Fisher College, NY
University of North Dakota
Truman State University, MO
Mount Union College, OH"
U.S. Merchant Marine Academy NY
U.S. Coast Guard Academy, CT
Tuskegee University, AL
Michigan Technological University
New Jersey Institute of Technology
Milwaukee School of Engineering, WI
Bryant University, RI
Bentley University, MA
St. Cloud State University, MN
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY
Minnesota State University, Mankato
Western Michigan University
Widener University, PA
Worcester Polytechnic Institute MA
Central Michigan University
Seton Hall University, NJ
Pace University, NY
Iowa State University
Drexel University, PA
University of Toledo, OH
Howard University, Wash. DC
St. John Fisher College, NY
University of North Dakota
Truman State University, MO
Mount Union College, OH"
Wednesday, December 8
Judge Thomas Porteous Removed by Senate After Impeachment - NYTimes.com
Judge Thomas Porteous Removed by Senate After Impeachment - NYTimes.com: "As a result of his removal from the bench, which took effect immediately, he will not receive his annual federal pension of $174,000."
Monday, December 6
Friend or foe? Google, indie book sellers team up - BusinessWeek
Friend or foe? Google, indie book sellers team up - BusinessWeek: "Over the past decade, the number of independent stores operated by the ABA's membership has fallen from 3,000 to 1,700, the ABA said. McQuivey expects hundreds more to close during the next decade."
The Vulture Transcript: Sci-Fi Author William Gibson on Why He Loves Twitter, Thinks Facebook Is ‘Like a Mall,’ and Much More -- Vulture
The Vulture Transcript: Sci-Fi Author William Gibson on Why He Loves Twitter, Thinks Facebook Is ‘Like a Mall,’ and Much More -- Vulture: "Any thoughts on why the tea-party movement is so successful right now? Why is everyone so upset?
It helps to have a black guy in the White House. Any black guy. If you want to do an old, grumpy white folks party, get a black guy in the White House. You get your old grumpy white folks to turn out."
It helps to have a black guy in the White House. Any black guy. If you want to do an old, grumpy white folks party, get a black guy in the White House. You get your old grumpy white folks to turn out."
The Vulture Transcript: Sci-Fi Author William Gibson on Why He Loves Twitter, Thinks Facebook Is ‘Like a Mall,’ and Much More -- Vulture
The Vulture Transcript: Sci-Fi Author William Gibson on Why He Loves Twitter, Thinks Facebook Is ‘Like a Mall,’ and Much More -- Vulture: "What’s coded intelligence?
If you make something, it’s an artifact. It’s something that somebody or some corporate entity has caused to come into being. A great many human beings have thought about each of the artifacts that surround us. Different degrees of intelligence and attention have been brought to bear on anything … I’m looking at a tall Starbucks cup right now. The amount of thought that went into getting that Starbucks cup to look exactly the way it is, as it sits on the bedside table next to me, it’s an enormous amount of information."
If you make something, it’s an artifact. It’s something that somebody or some corporate entity has caused to come into being. A great many human beings have thought about each of the artifacts that surround us. Different degrees of intelligence and attention have been brought to bear on anything … I’m looking at a tall Starbucks cup right now. The amount of thought that went into getting that Starbucks cup to look exactly the way it is, as it sits on the bedside table next to me, it’s an enormous amount of information."
Friday, December 3
Bargain Junkies Are Beating Retailers at Their Own Game | Magazine
Bargain Junkies Are Beating Retailers at Their Own Game | Magazine: "In some cases, retail hackers take an attitude toward their targets that is literally paramilitary. Every year, Dev Shapiro, the 31-year-old moderator of the Black Friday boards at GottaDeal.com, plots a map of his own favored prey, the Best Buy store a few miles from his house. Starting as early as the Monday before Thanksgiving, a full 100 hours in advance, Shapiro arrives at the store to set up his base camp: tent, propane stove, rented Porta Potti. (“I charge a buck a dump,” he says. “It pays for itself.”)"
Bargain Junkies Are Beating Retailers at Their Own Game | Magazine
Bargain Junkies Are Beating Retailers at Their Own Game | Magazine: "Super-couponers complicate this theory considerably. According to Donald Lichtenstein, a professor of marketing at the University of Colorado at Boulder, super-couponers have learned to ignore “acquisition utility,” the pleasure and value one obtains from, say, a box of cereal. Instead, they peg their shopping decisions to “transaction utility,” the difference between what they’re getting the cereal for and what they think the cereal is supposed to cost. In other words, super-couponers don’t perceive a grocery item as food, at least not until they exit the store and serve it for breakfast. On the shelf and in the cart, the super-couponer evaluates products with the cold-eyed calculus of a trader."
Donna Haraway_The Promises of Monsters
Donna Haraway_The Promises of Monsters: "'The Promises of Monsters' will be a mapping exercise and travelogue through mind-scapes and landscapes of what may count as nature in certain local/global struggles. These contests are situated in a strange, allochronic time-the time of myself and my readers in the last decade of the second Christian millenium-and in a foreign, allotopic place-the womb of a pregnant monster, here, where we are reading and writing. The purpose of this excursion is to write theory, i.e., to produce a patterned vision of how to move and what to fear in the topography of an impossible but all-too-real present, in order to find an absent, but perhaps possible, other present."
Thursday, December 2
Wednesday, December 1
Cover Story – What Lies Beneath: Underground Chattanooga � Chattanooga Pulse
Cover Story – What Lies Beneath: Underground Chattanooga � Chattanooga Pulse: "The ruins are still there today.� Under the streets and buildings on the north end of downtown, a person feeling ratty enough can pop down a manhole when no one’s looking and see a side of Chattanooga that hasn’t been seen in over a century. Don’t expect to find gold tombs, Dead Sea scrolls or Rosetta Stones there. There is wonder, though: staircases to nowhere, rusted metal lights hanging from rotten ceilings, doorways that lead to blackness, old signs painted and crumbling on walls that were once street level. These ruins are the dream homes of ghost stories—Chattanooga Ghost Tours will even take you to see part of the Underground."
Tuesday, November 30
Duel of Ages :: View topic - Duel of Ages reaches a landmark
Duel of Ages :: View topic - Duel of Ages reaches a landmark: "Personally, Duel of Ages has been a very satisfying experience. This month Venatic reached the 30,000 mark in total games sold. Inventory is now less than 200 games per set. Due to manufacturing circumstances, a second run is not possible without starting the process over, with all of its costs, and under the current economy that is not feasible."
Monday, November 29
State's Secrets | MetaFilter
State's Secrets | MetaFilter: "We may have all secretly suspected at one time or another that Putin and Berlusconi are really just trumped up mobsters, but to find that such suspicions are also shared by those in a much better position to know puts the situation in a different light for me.
Also, the possibility that the Sauds are still actively supporting Al Qaeda and at the same time encouraging the US to initiate a military conflict with Iran--well, it makes for an interesting picture of the situation."
Also, the possibility that the Sauds are still actively supporting Al Qaeda and at the same time encouraging the US to initiate a military conflict with Iran--well, it makes for an interesting picture of the situation."
State's Secrets | MetaFilter
State's Secrets | MetaFilter: "For the people with blowback fears:
If you believe that our first- and second-world peers haven't already read all this information and more (which has been available to over 3 million servicemembers for several years now) via their intelligence networks, I have a bridge to sell you.
posted by mullingitover at 12:55 PM on November 28 [44 favorites -] Favorite added! [!]"
If you believe that our first- and second-world peers haven't already read all this information and more (which has been available to over 3 million servicemembers for several years now) via their intelligence networks, I have a bridge to sell you.
posted by mullingitover at 12:55 PM on November 28 [44 favorites -] Favorite added! [!]"
State's Secrets | MetaFilter
State's Secrets | MetaFilter: "These docs include names of people such as a Chinese contact who informed American Embassy personnel that the Chinese government was hacking into Google in China. The result of that will be a bullet in the back of the head.
When Amnesty complained, Assange twittered that they should donate employee time and resources (which are for advancing human rights) to redacting the documents--even though he was the one releasing them."
When Amnesty complained, Assange twittered that they should donate employee time and resources (which are for advancing human rights) to redacting the documents--even though he was the one releasing them."
Matthew J. Miller's HOWTOs: Backing Up Gmail with Thunderbird Using IMAP
Matthew J. Miller's HOWTOs: Backing Up Gmail with Thunderbird Using IMAP: "HOWTO
Follow these instructions to configure Thunderbird for Gmail IMAP. Use these recommended settings.
Familiarize yourself with how Thunderbird actions will synchonize with Gmail. One thing in particular to note:
IMAP translates labels with a forward slash (/) into a folder hierarchy like you see in your computer's file system. If you have a label such as 'Family/Friends,' you may want to reconsider your naming schemes because your IMAP client will display it as a folder named 'Family' with a subfolder named 'Friends.'"
Follow these instructions to configure Thunderbird for Gmail IMAP. Use these recommended settings.
Familiarize yourself with how Thunderbird actions will synchonize with Gmail. One thing in particular to note:
IMAP translates labels with a forward slash (/) into a folder hierarchy like you see in your computer's file system. If you have a label such as 'Family/Friends,' you may want to reconsider your naming schemes because your IMAP client will display it as a folder named 'Family' with a subfolder named 'Friends.'"
LDS.org - Ensign Article - Some Thoughts on the Gospel and the Behavioral Sciences
LDS.org - Ensign Article - Some Thoughts on the Gospel and the Behavioral Sciences: "LDS behavioral scientists must extract both the obvious and hidden wisdom embedded in the value system of the gospel of Jesus Christ."
Make Your Own Storm Windows
Make Your Own Storm Windows: "I know that a lot of people with older homes have resorted to using plastic on their windows to eliminate drafts. I used to do this every year too. I checked into replacing the windows, but the cost was a small fortune. So here is what I came up with.
Supplies:
1x2 pieces of wood
Pieces of plexi glass
4 L brackets per window
primer
Small amount of your trim paint
Window clips, two per window (These are made by Stanley and look like big wing nuts with screws.)"
Supplies:
1x2 pieces of wood
Pieces of plexi glass
4 L brackets per window
primer
Small amount of your trim paint
Window clips, two per window (These are made by Stanley and look like big wing nuts with screws.)"
When a Windfall of Money Arrives, So Can Challenges - NYTimes.com
When a Windfall of Money Arrives, So Can Challenges - NYTimes.com: "Take time out from all those buying, spending and gifting decisions and sort through what you really want,” she said. “Usually you can do anything you want, just not everything, so take time to make decisions before you do anything.”"
Sunday, November 28
Amazon.com: Race, Rhetoric, and Technology: Searching for Higher Ground (Ncte- Literacy and Composition Research) (NCTE-Routledge Research Series) (9780805853131): Adam J. Banks: Books
Amazon.com: Race, Rhetoric, and Technology: Searching for Higher Ground (Ncte- Literacy and Composition Research) (NCTE-Routledge Research Series) (9780805853131): Adam J. Banks: Books: "Race, Rhetoric, and Technology: Searching for Higher Ground (Ncte- Literacy and Composition Research) (NCTE-Routledge Research Series)"
LDS.org - Ensign Article - Some Thoughts on the Gospel and the Behavioral Sciences
LDS.org - Ensign Article - Some Thoughts on the Gospel and the Behavioral Sciences: "Chesterton warned about accommodating ourselves “to the trend of the time,” which he said “at its best consists entirely of people who will accommodate themselves to anything,” even “to a trend that isn’t there.” Meanwhile, while there may be much mocking, significant numbers of some sober scholars and thoughtful individuals in the world will notice the glow of the gospel light as it breaks forth in the behavioral sciences, as elsewhere, in preparation for the promised period Isaiah foresaw when “the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.” (Isa. 26:9; italics added.) But the spirit by which we proceed is not the spirit of this world."
ENAM 802:syllabus
ENAM 802:syllabus: "Cecelia Tichi, Shifting Gears : Technology, Literature, Culture in Modernist America"
Saturday, November 27
Teen held in alleged Portland bomb plot - latimes.com
Teen held in alleged Portland bomb plot - latimes.com: "Mohamud boasted that he had written in support of violent jihad for an online, English-language propaganda magazine called Jihad Recollections, using the pen name Ibnul Mubarak.
The FBI later recovered the three articles, including one entitled 'Getting in shape without weights.' It seeks to introduce Pilates training to those preparing 'physically for jihad.'"
The FBI later recovered the three articles, including one entitled 'Getting in shape without weights.' It seeks to introduce Pilates training to those preparing 'physically for jihad.'"
Friday, November 26
How Ma Bell Shelved the Future for 60 Years
How Ma Bell Shelved the Future for 60 Years: "This is the essential weakness of a centralized approach to innovation: the notion that it can be a planned and systematic process, best directed by a kind of central intelligence; that it is simply of matter of assembling all the best minds and putting them to work in unison. Were it so, the future could be planned and executed in a scientific manner."
Complaint Box: Sitting Tight - NYTimes.com
Complaint Box: Sitting Tight - NYTimes.com: "For me, the fun left flying when the extra rows of coach seats arrived. I’m not a freak. I’m only six feet tall, yet my toes often go numb after being squished up against the seat in front of me. And that’s before the person sitting there lowers the seat back. And, parents, you may think your child is adorable bouncing around beside you, but if I’m behind her, every bounce is a painful slam into my kneecaps. I have the bruises to prove it."
TSA Administrative Directive: Opt-Outters To Be Considered "Domestic Extremists"
TSA Administrative Directive: Opt-Outters To Be Considered "Domestic Extremists": "The terminology contained within the reported memo is indeed troubling. It labels any person who “interferes” with TSA airport security screening procedure protocol and operations by actively objecting to the established screening process, “including but not limited to the anticipated national opt-out day”� as a “domestic extremist.” The label is then broadened to include “any person, group or alternative media source” that actively objects to, causes others to object to, supports� and/or elicits support for anyone who engages in such travel disruptions at U.S. airports in response to the enhanced security procedures.
For individuals who engaged in such activity at screening points, it instructs TSA operations to obtain the identities of those individuals and other applicable information and submit the same electronically to the Homeland Environment Threat Analysis Division, the Extremism and Radicalization branch of the Office of Intelligence & Analysis (IA) division of the Department of Homeland Security."
For individuals who engaged in such activity at screening points, it instructs TSA operations to obtain the identities of those individuals and other applicable information and submit the same electronically to the Homeland Environment Threat Analysis Division, the Extremism and Radicalization branch of the Office of Intelligence & Analysis (IA) division of the Department of Homeland Security."
TSA revenge screenings | MetaFilter
TSA revenge screenings | MetaFilter: "I kind of think its hilarious that as soon as upper class white people have to deal with police harassment on a regular basis, the world is ending."
Thursday, November 25
Electric Solid Body Uke
Electric Solid Body Uke: "Check out moongazermusic.com for four string bridges. You can use a piezo style saddle with the hardtail bridges including a midi system. I'd recommend the Ghost sytem form GraphTech. Otherwise, use a standard magnetic pickup. I'd recommend using a bolt on neck to make the joint. Its a pretty easy process if you have a router. On this page, http://www.crossroadswood.com/shop.html, towards the bottom right there are a couple pictures of a jig that show one way of cutting the neck and pocket for a bolt on. I think its self explanatory."
Wednesday, November 24
Can Google Voice ring my iPod Touch? - Google Voice Help
Can Google Voice ring my iPod Touch? - Google Voice Help: "Although Gizmo5 can be used as call-out, the free version only works for 3 minutes. �This restriction can be bypassed however, by the following method:
1. Sign up/ possess a GV account.
2. Jailbreak Ipod (warranty is fine, all you have to do is restore it. research it. it's completely safe)
3. Download GV Mobile App through Cydia
4. Download Truphone for your Ipod Touch
5. Sign up for a free Gizmo5 account.
6. Once you sign up for the gizmo account, put in your truphone account address where gizmo has an option for incoming call forwarding (truphoneusername@truphone.com I think)
7. Add a phone through your GV Mobile application on the ipod. Enter your Gizmo number into this area."
1. Sign up/ possess a GV account.
2. Jailbreak Ipod (warranty is fine, all you have to do is restore it. research it. it's completely safe)
3. Download GV Mobile App through Cydia
4. Download Truphone for your Ipod Touch
5. Sign up for a free Gizmo5 account.
6. Once you sign up for the gizmo account, put in your truphone account address where gizmo has an option for incoming call forwarding (truphoneusername@truphone.com I think)
7. Add a phone through your GV Mobile application on the ipod. Enter your Gizmo number into this area."
Saturnalia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Saturnalia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Saturnalia was a time to eat, drink, and be merry. The toga was not worn, but rather the synthesis, i.e. colorful, informal 'dinner clothes'; and the pileus (freedman's hat) was worn by everyone. Slaves were exempt from punishment, and treated their masters with (a pretense of) disrespect. The slaves celebrated a banquet: before, with, or served by the masters. Yet the reversal of the social order was mostly superficial; the banquet, for example, would often be prepared by the slaves, and they would prepare their masters' dinner as well. It was license within careful boundaries; it reversed the social order without subverting it.[2]"
Tuesday, November 23
Taliban Leader in Peace Talks Was an Impostor - NYTimes.com
Taliban Leader in Peace Talks Was an Impostor - NYTimes.com: "Although officials from both countries hailed the arrest as a hallmark of American-Pakistani cooperation, Pakistani officials have since indicated that they orchestrated Mr. Baradar’s arrest because he was engaging in peace discussions without the ISI’s permission.
Afghan leaders have confirmed this account."
Afghan leaders have confirmed this account."
BRUSHES WITH HOCKNEY | More Intelligent Life
BRUSHES WITH HOCKNEY | More Intelligent Life: "He picks up his iPad and slips it into his jacket pocket. All his suits have been made with a deep inside pocket so that he can put a sketchbook in it: now the iPad fits there just as snugly. Even his tux has the pocket, he tells me."
Monday, November 22
The Sporting Scene: Jordan’s Moment : The New Yorker
The Sporting Scene: Jordan’s Moment : The New Yorker: "There is a photograph of that moment, Jordan’s last shot, in the magazine ESPN, taken by the photographer Fernando Medina. It is in color and covers two full pages, and it shows Russell struggling to regain position, Jordan at the peak of his jump, the ball high up on its arc and about to descend, and the clock displaying the time remaining in the game—6.6 seconds. What is remarkable is the closeup it offers of so many Utah fans. Though the ball has not yet reached the basket, the game appears over to them. The anguish—the certitude of defeat—is on their faces. In a number of instances their hands are extended as if to stop Jordan and keep the shot from going in. Some of the fans have already put their hands to their faces, as in a moment of grief. There is one exception to this: a young boy on the right, in a Chicago Bulls shirt, whose arms are already in the air in a victory call."
The Sporting Scene: Jordan’s Moment : The New Yorker
The Sporting Scene: Jordan’s Moment : The New Yorker: "Ebersol liked Michael Jordan very much, and was well aware that he and his network were the beneficiaries of Jordan’s unique appeal. Jordan’s presence in the finals was worth eight or nine million viewers to NBC. Ebersol was delighted by the ratings for this series so far—they would end up at 18.7, the highest ever. At this point, though, Ebersol was rooting not for Michael Jordan but for a seventh game, and that meant he was rooting, however involuntarily, for Utah. A seventh game would bring NBC and its parent company, General Electric, an additional ten or twelve million dollars in advertising revenues. Jordan’s exploits had brought many benefits to the N.B.A. over the years, but he was such a great player that no N.B.A. final in which he was involved had gone to the ratings and advertising jackpot of a seventh game."
Apple - Support - Discussions - iTunes 10 Auto Fill Free Space Results ...
Apple - Support - Discussions - iTunes 10 Auto Fill Free Space Results ...: "Re: iTunes 10 Auto Fill Free Space Results in 'Over Capacity' Warning.
Posted: Sep 26, 2010 8:16 AM � in response to: fhamilton410 �
� Reply Email
I had the same problem. I kept trying to get iTunes to Auto-Fill - up to the AVAILABLE capacity.
It kept refusing because of 'Over Capacity'
I tried the Summary - Manual - Apply which the previous poster suggested over and over and it still wouldn't Auto-Fill.
Finally this is the solution that worked for me:
1) Set iTunes to manually manage music and apply
2) Select ALL the music on your device (in my case iPhone) and DELETE it
3) Make the Auto-Fill settings you want and sync"
Posted: Sep 26, 2010 8:16 AM � in response to: fhamilton410 �
� Reply Email
I had the same problem. I kept trying to get iTunes to Auto-Fill - up to the AVAILABLE capacity.
It kept refusing because of 'Over Capacity'
I tried the Summary - Manual - Apply which the previous poster suggested over and over and it still wouldn't Auto-Fill.
Finally this is the solution that worked for me:
1) Set iTunes to manually manage music and apply
2) Select ALL the music on your device (in my case iPhone) and DELETE it
3) Make the Auto-Fill settings you want and sync"
Sunday, November 21
The Attention-Span Myth - NYTimes.com
The Attention-Span Myth - NYTimes.com: "So how did we find ourselves with this unhappy attention-span conceit, and with the companion idea that a big attention span is humankind’s best moral and aesthetic asset? In other eras, distractibility wasn’t considered shameful. It was regularly praised, in fact — as autonomy, exuberance and versatility. To be brooding, morbid, obsessive or easily mesmerized was thought much worse than being distractible. In “Moby-***,” Starbuck tries to distract Ahab from his monomania with evocations of family life in Nantucket. Under the spell of “a cruel, remorseless emperor” — his own single-mindedness — Ahab stays his fatal course. Ahab’s doom comes from his undistractibility."
Saturday, November 20
Multiply this by HOW MANY mortgages out there? | MetaFilter
Multiply this by HOW MANY mortgages out there? | MetaFilter:
"Any sufficiently advanced financial instrument is indistinguishable from fraud."
Well, there's at least ONE "Whitie" could use some killin'... | MetaFilter
Well, there's at least ONE "Whitie" could use some killin'... | MetaFilter: "That sort of thing' means a show that transcends the usual 'I am a person watching musicians perform on stage' and becomes 'I am participating in a strange overwhlemingly sensate ritual that might destroy me'. They went on late and by the standards of later shows it was even pretty tame but they turned off all the lights and there was a moment and then suddenly small firecrackers were going off all over in the audience and then they dragged out a lot of stuff and set it on fire and played these massive interlocked beats with three drummers standing over a small red light on stage and they turned on a strobe and then sprayed out water on a long, flat arc over the crowd and into your face -- you'd see it caught in the strobe for an appreciable instant before SMACK in the face with it, it's a peak moment for you if you like sensation!"
David Foster Wallace's Personal Files - Newsweek
David Foster Wallace's Personal Files - Newsweek: "While many children are capable of conjuring imaginative tales, the grade-school Wallace has an unusual empathy for the adult double-bind of finding purpose in a job that also brings misery."
Gravity's Rainbow Death Pact - bangmoney.org
Gravity's Rainbow Death Pact - bangmoney.org: "If I were to meet Thomas Pynchon tomorrow, I wouldn't know whether to shake his hand or sucker-punch him. Probably both. I'd extend my right arm, take his hand in mine, give one good pump, then yank him towards my swinging left fist. As he lay crumpled on the ground beneath me, gasping in pain, I'd point a bony finger right between his eyes and say 'That was for Gravity's Rainbow.'"
Collaborative Insanity | MetaFilter
Collaborative Insanity | MetaFilter: "Courses might have been able to teach me how to learn those things and what to keep in mind:
how to participate in a tech forum/IRC channel/issues queue, or even just the fact that these things exist and are essential to keeping your skills up to date
how to debug for various browser/OS combinations and where to find out about the latest IE workarounds
accessibility: color contrast, alt text, semantic markup, etc
usability: say what you mean and don't change what ain't broke just because you want to be 'unique'"
how to participate in a tech forum/IRC channel/issues queue, or even just the fact that these things exist and are essential to keeping your skills up to date
how to debug for various browser/OS combinations and where to find out about the latest IE workarounds
accessibility: color contrast, alt text, semantic markup, etc
usability: say what you mean and don't change what ain't broke just because you want to be 'unique'"
Friday, November 19
International Klein Blue - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
International Klein Blue - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "International Klein Blue is outside the gamut of computer displays, and can therefore not be accurately portrayed on webpages."
Oliver James | FiveBooks
Oliver James | FiveBooks: "More intelligent women in the upper echelons of our society really do need to get their heads around the fact that the form of feminism we’ve had has been an absolute disaster. Anyone who has teenage daughters will quickly agree. They look at their teenage daughters and just think: ‘What the *** is this? Is this what we were fighting for? Ever shorter skirts, shagging on a random basis, completely obsessive concern with appearance, obsession with exam results? Is that what it was all about?’ Teenage girls at competitive schools are the most mentally ill group in our society."
Oliver James | FiveBooks
Oliver James | FiveBooks: "All this stuff about how society is making us ill and we’re all mentally ill because we’re richer sounds very nostalgic for a simpler past of warm beer and cricket. But as a woman surely things are better because we don’t die in childbirth or, ideally, get abused by our husbands?
It depends when exactly you choose to compare. If you compare with 1950 there is strong evidence from American research that a woman in her 20s today is five times more likely to be mentally ill using the same method of measurement as a woman going back to 1938. Actually, it includes women in their late teens as well and there is a linear increase the closer you get to the present day, overall. So, no. It is a complete myth that feminism in the American form, and I’m talking only about Britain and America here – the picture is probably very different in Sweden and Italy or Spain…�"
It depends when exactly you choose to compare. If you compare with 1950 there is strong evidence from American research that a woman in her 20s today is five times more likely to be mentally ill using the same method of measurement as a woman going back to 1938. Actually, it includes women in their late teens as well and there is a linear increase the closer you get to the present day, overall. So, no. It is a complete myth that feminism in the American form, and I’m talking only about Britain and America here – the picture is probably very different in Sweden and Italy or Spain…�"
Nut consumption, vegetarian diets, ischemic heart disease risk, and all-cause mortality: evidence from epidemiologic studies — Am J Clin Nutr
Nut consumption, vegetarian diets, ischemic heart disease risk, and all-cause mortality: evidence from epidemiologic studies — Am J Clin Nutr: "Perhaps one of the most unexpected and novel findings in nutritional epidemiology in the past 5 y has been that nut consumption seems to protect against ischemic heart disease (IHD). Frequency and quantity of nut consumption have been documented to be higher in vegetarian than in nonvegetarian populations. Nuts also constitute an important part of other plant-based diets, such as Mediterranean and Asian diets. In a large, prospective epidemiologic study of Seventh-day Adventists in California, we found that frequency of nut consumption had a substantial and highly significant inverse association with risk of myocardial infarction and death from IHD. The Iowa Women's Health Study also documented an association between nut consumption and decreased risk of IHD. The protective effect of nuts on IHD has been found in men and women and in the elderly. Importantly, nuts have similar associations in both vegetarians and nonvegetarians. The protective effect of nut consumption on IHD is not offset by increased mortality from other causes. Moreover, frequency of nut consumption has been found to be inversely related to all-cause mortality in several population groups such as whites, blacks, and the elderly. Thus, nut consumption may not only offer protection against IHD, but also increase longevity."
ADHD: 12 Myths And Facts (PHOTOS)
ADHD: 12 Myths And Facts (PHOTOS): "A 2010 study in Pediatrics found that children with higher urine levels of organophosphate, a pesticide used on produce, had higher ADHD rates. Another 2010 study showed that women with higher urine levels of organophosphate were more likely to have a child with ADHD.
The studies suggest a possible link, but can't prove that pesticides cause ADHD. Marcy Rosenzweig Leavitt, PsyD, who works with ADHD patients in private practice in the Los Angeles area, recommends buying organic varieties of fruits and vegetables, especially those prone to high levels of pesticides (or scrubbing nonorganic produce before eating)."
The studies suggest a possible link, but can't prove that pesticides cause ADHD. Marcy Rosenzweig Leavitt, PsyD, who works with ADHD patients in private practice in the Los Angeles area, recommends buying organic varieties of fruits and vegetables, especially those prone to high levels of pesticides (or scrubbing nonorganic produce before eating)."
Joel Fuhrman, M.D.: Heart Health: How You Can Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease
Joel Fuhrman, M.D.: Heart Health: How You Can Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease: "recent data has shed light on the protective properties of almonds and walnuts on vascular health. (15, 16) The Physicians Health Study demonstrated that eating nuts and seeds regularly protects against sudden cardiac death caused by arrhythmia. The data suggests that following a low-fat diet for a long period of time, though effective at reducing atherosclerotic plaque, could actually increase the risk of sudden cardiac death. (17)"
How China swallowed 15% of 'Net traffic for 18 minutes
How China swallowed 15% of 'Net traffic for 18 minutes: "For about 18 minutes on April 8, 2010, China Telecom advertised erroneous network traffic routes that instructed US and other foreign Internet traffic to travel through Chinese servers. Other servers around the world quickly adopted these paths, routing all traffic to about 15 percent of the Internet’s destinations through servers located in China. This incident affected traffic to and from US government (‘‘.gov’’) and military (‘‘.mil’’) sites, including those for the Senate, the army, the navy, the marine corps, the air force, the office of secretary of Defense, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Department of Commerce, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and many others. Certain commercial websites were also affected, such as those for Dell, Yahoo!, Microsoft, and IBM."
digital digs: prototyping a non-essay composition pedagogy
digital digs: prototyping a non-essay composition pedagogy
Nice piece on the obsolescence of the traditional academic essay.
Thursday, November 18
Humanities Scholars Embrace Digital Technology - NYTimes.com
Humanities Scholars Embrace Digital Technology - NYTimes.com: "most humanities professors remain unaware, uninterested or unconvinced that digital humanities has much to offer. Even historians, who have used databases before, have been slow to embrace the trend. Just one of the nearly 300 main panels scheduled for next year’s annual meeting of the American Historical Association covers digital matters. Still, universities, professional associations and private institutions are increasingly devoting a larger slice of the pie to the field.
“The humanities and social sciences are the emerging domains for using high-performance computers,” said Peter Bajcsy, a research scientist at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign."
“The humanities and social sciences are the emerging domains for using high-performance computers,” said Peter Bajcsy, a research scientist at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign."
Sunday, November 14
Grub Hacker: Cheap Sous Vide Machine built on a budget
Grub Hacker: Cheap Sous Vide Machine built on a budget: "SousVideMagic controller"
Amazon.com: M. B. Berberich "Cran...'s review of SousVide Supreme SVS-10LS SousVide Supreme...
Amazon.com: M. B. Berberich "Cran...'s review of SousVide Supreme SVS-10LS SousVide Supreme...: "I am stunned by the price of this item though. I'm using my late mother's 50-year old Sunbeam roaster oven (similar to the Hamilton Beach 32229 22-Quart Roaster Oven on Amazon for [...]). I also have an older model of the 'SousVideMagic 1500D controller' which now sells for[...] and controls the temperature to within 0.1 degree F (really!). My setup holds 18 liters of water without danger of overflowing for less than [...]. You can duplicate this rig and give a second one to your mom and still come in at the same price as this 10 liter gadget.
Sous Vide is a spectacular way to cook, but not at this price."
Sous Vide is a spectacular way to cook, but not at this price."
News flash: Deadly terrorism existed before 9/11 - Ask the Pilot - Salon.com
News flash: Deadly terrorism existed before 9/11 - Ask the Pilot - Salon.com: "Body scanners are in the news this week. If a decade ago people were told that a day was coming when passengers would need to be looked at naked before getting on a plane, nobody would have believed it. Yet here we are, and what might be next?"
Saturday, November 13
Who Will Stand Up to the Superrich? - NYTimes.com
Who Will Stand Up to the Superrich? - NYTimes.com: "“How can hedge-fund managers who are pulling down billions sometimes pay a lower tax rate than do their secretaries?” ask the political scientists Jacob S. Hacker (of Yale) and Paul Pierson (University of California, Berkeley) in their deservedly lauded new book, “Winner-Take-All Politics.” If you want to cry real tears about the American dream — as opposed to the self-canonizing tears of John Boehner — read this book and weep. The authors’ answer to that question and others amounts to a devastating indictment of both parties."
Organizing your great American novel
Organizing your great American novel: "Freeware program yWriter helps you plan out and organize your next great novel, breaking the necessary structuring of a story into small, manageable tasks."
Friday, November 12
Help me find addctive, uplifting indie pop/folk bands to listen to on repeat | Ask MetaFilter
Help me find addctive, uplifting indie pop/folk bands to listen to on repeat | Ask MetaFilter: "Help me find addctive, uplifting indie pop/folk bands to listen to on repeat"
LDS don’t get theological respect because they seek and shun mainstream acceptance, prof says | The Salt Lake Tribune
LDS don’t get theological respect because they seek and shun mainstream acceptance, prof says | The Salt Lake Tribune: "“Mormons like everyone else,” wrote Robert Putnam and David Campbell in their new book, American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us, “while almost everyone else dislikes Mormons.”"
Thursday, November 11
CiteULike: Tracing Teachers' Use of Technology in a Laptop Computer School: The Interplay of Teacher Beliefs, Social Dynamics, and Institutional Culture
CiteULike: Tracing Teachers' Use of Technology in a Laptop Computer School: The Interplay of Teacher Beliefs, Social Dynamics, and Institutional Culture: "Research on ubiquitous computing in schools has documented that teachers often change instructional practices over time when using technology with students and has further suggested that teachers' use of technology may play a role in their shifting toward more constructivist pedagogy. Our two-year study takes an ethnographic perspective in examining how three middle school teachers learned to use technology in the context of a laptop computer program. The ways in which those teachers eventually integrated computers into classroom instruction were powerfully mediated by their interrelated belief systems about learners in their school, about what constituted 'good teaching' in the context of the institutional culture, and about the role of technology in students' lives. The condition of ubiquitous technology did not initiate teachers' movement toward constructivist instruction. Rather, the laptops were a catalyst that enabled one participant, who had a pre-existing dissatisfaction with teacher-centered practices, to transform her classroom through collaborative student work and project-based learning."
Wednesday, November 10
Edward Tufte is having a yard sale | MetaFilter
Edward Tufte is having a yard sale | MetaFilter: "Attending one of Tufte's full-day sessions in San Francisco was one of the most monumental disappointments of my professional life. It was 8 hours of dry-but-acceptable lecturing, chock full of 'turn to page 82 of 'Visual Display of Complicated Information' and read the 3rd paragraph down' ... silence ... then he'd read it to us and maybe talk a little bit more about it. Maybe. The guy's a genius in many regards and I agree with his sentiments against presenting information using slides in general, but he does a horrible job convincing people to present without them. It was just terrible."
Is Facebook Ruining Human Friendships? | Wired Science�| Wired.com
Is Facebook Ruining Human Friendships? | Wired Science�| Wired.com: "After analyzing thousands of photos, the scientists found that, on average, each student had 6.6 close friends in their online network. In other words, nothing has really changed; even the most fervent Facebook users still maintain only a limited circle of intimates."
Tuesday, November 9
Our Banana Republic - NYTimes.com
Our Banana Republic - NYTimes.com: "The richest 0.1 percent of taxpayers would get a tax cut of $61,000 from President Obama. They would get $370,000 from Republicans, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. And that provides only a modest economic stimulus, because the rich are less likely to spend their tax savings.
At a time of 9.6 percent unemployment, wouldn’t it make more sense to finance a jobs program? For example, the money could be used to avoid laying off teachers and undermining American schools."
At a time of 9.6 percent unemployment, wouldn’t it make more sense to finance a jobs program? For example, the money could be used to avoid laying off teachers and undermining American schools."
cubicledrone comments on This Is Why We Pirate
cubicledrone comments on This Is Why We Pirate: "Piracy exists because there is no supply in a market with growing demand. People want reasonably priced, convenient digital content. Those companies that provide that product (Hulu, independent bands, Amazon.com, blogs, podcasters, App Store) are growing at a staggering rate. All other companies are suffering.
It has nothing to do with 'not wanting to pay for ***.' The proof is simple. Everyone who buys even a single orange at a grocery store has all the ingredients they need to never run out of oranges again, yet oranges are one of the most lucrative agricultural businesses in the country.
Water falls out of the sky for free. Bottled water is a billion-dollar business.
Fans can watch baseball on television for free. Ballparks are routinely sold out.
People will pay if you sell a good product. They won't pay otherwise. The end."
It has nothing to do with 'not wanting to pay for ***.' The proof is simple. Everyone who buys even a single orange at a grocery store has all the ingredients they need to never run out of oranges again, yet oranges are one of the most lucrative agricultural businesses in the country.
Water falls out of the sky for free. Bottled water is a billion-dollar business.
Fans can watch baseball on television for free. Ballparks are routinely sold out.
People will pay if you sell a good product. They won't pay otherwise. The end."
City Calendar
City Calendar: "Event: 'TED Screening: Lifestyle'
Library Activities
Date: Monday, December 06, 2010 At 03:00 PM
Duration: 1 Hour
Contact Info:
801.229.7050
Email:
URL: http://http://lib.orem.org/"
Library Activities
Date: Monday, December 06, 2010 At 03:00 PM
Duration: 1 Hour
Contact Info:
801.229.7050
Email:
URL: http://http://lib.orem.org/"
Monday, November 8
Reagan budget chief slams GOP on taxes | Raw Story
Reagan budget chief slams GOP on taxes | Raw Story: "'Two years after the crisis on Wall Street, it has been announced that bonuses this year will be $144 billion -- the highest in history. That's who is going to get this tax cut on the top -- two percent of the population. They don't need a tax cut. They don't deserve it.'"
You pay for WHAT? | Ask MetaFilter
You pay for WHAT? | Ask MetaFilter:
"paying for fried rice is like paying to rummage around in someone's fridge for leftovers."
Salt Lake City Blogs:Gavin's Underground-Kier Defstar
Salt Lake City Blogs:Gavin's Underground-Kier Defstar: "Kier: My first pieces were horrible. When it came to art I was definitely no natural. In fact for some reason I was really nervous and scared of the art aspect of it because the people I painted with were already superb artists, and the talent that runs in my family decided to skip me. I actually didn't even attempt a real piece until a few years after just tagging the streets. I had friends who started doing graff after me who advanced super fast, like Erups for example. But for me it was a long uphill battle. I'm still learning new techniques and trying to hone my craft everyday."
I love reading about artists who weren't born to it, who worked hard to develop their craft.
Sunday, November 7
Speak, money—By Roger D. Hodge (Harper's Magazine)
Speak, money—By Roger D. Hodge (Harper's Magazine): "The corruption of our institutions manifests itself in a variety of ways, but in none so dramatic as the imbalance of national wealth, which in recent decades has shattered records formerly set in the late 1920s. Although it is often claimed that the gap between rich and poor began decisively to widen in the late 1970s, as if to absolve Ronald Reagan for what his followers no doubt count as his primary accomplishment, the total share of income of the wealthiest 10 percent of American families was well within the postwar norm until 1982, when Reagan’s policies began a massive, decades-long transfer of national wealth to the rich. Under Bill Clinton, who shamelessly appropriated the Reaganite agenda, the transfer was even more dramatic, as the top 10 percent captured an ever growing share of national income."
Speak, money—By Roger D. Hodge (Harper's Magazine)
Speak, money—By Roger D. Hodge (Harper's Magazine): "Alas, the agony of citizenship is never ending; voting is the beginning of civic virtue, not its end, and as suffrage has expanded so has its value been steadily debased. The locus of real power is elsewhere. Wealth and property qualifications, poll taxes, and the like are very far from being historical curiosities; they have simply mutated. Campaign contributions and other forms of political spending have assumed that old exclusionary function, and only those who can afford to pay are able truly to manifest their political will. Voters still “matter,” of course, but only as raw material to be shaped by the actual form of political influence—money—which molds the body politic by realizing itself in the ductile mass of common voters."
Saturday, November 6
jwz - Did somebody just try to buy the British government?
jwz - Did somebody just try to buy the British government?: "True on the last point. Many storys of U.S. lawmakers and their donors that I've seen involve large campaign contributions after a key bill passed, not before. But they do it both way"
Did somebody just try to buy the British government? - Charlie's Diary
Did somebody just try to buy the British government? - Charlie's Diary: "For the past 20 weeks I have been engaged in a very strange dialogue with the two noble Lords, in the course of which I have been trying to bring to their attention the willing availability of a strange organisation which wishes to make a great deal of money available to assist the recovery of the economy in this country. For want of a better name, I shall call it foundation X."
Paging John Le Carre!
What BOARD GAME(s) have you been playing? - Fortress Ameritrash
What BOARD GAME(s) have you been playing? - Fortress Ameritrash: "Often Barrel of Monkeys on coffee makes your hands shaky, which is why I win over the art school hipsters I usually play with every time."
Friday, November 5
Commander_Q comments on TIL That In 1933 The Heads of Chase Bank, GM, Goodyear, Standard Oil, the DuPont family, and Senator Prescott Bush Tried To Lead a Military Coup Against President FDR & Install a Fascist Dictatorship in the United States (WTF)
Commander_Q comments on TIL That In 1933 The Heads of Chase Bank, GM, Goodyear, Standard Oil, the DuPont family, and Senator Prescott Bush Tried To Lead a Military Coup Against President FDR & Install a Fascist Dictatorship in the United States (WTF): "Fascism per se requires authoritarian and nationalist governance. It may not always be crazy Jew-killing (although it essentially always does involve some of that in practice), but fascism DOES necessarily mean strict oppression of minority views and cultural dispositions.
The essential problem with fascism is the same as the essential problem with communism: to decide by fiat what the goals, culture, and role of everyone will be requires either unanimous consensus or brutal repression of dissent."
The essential problem with fascism is the same as the essential problem with communism: to decide by fiat what the goals, culture, and role of everyone will be requires either unanimous consensus or brutal repression of dissent."
Thursday, November 4
Republican Game Plan Led to Historic Victory - NYTimes.com
Republican Game Plan Led to Historic Victory - NYTimes.com: "Representative Alan Grayson, Democrat of Florida, stood outside his home in Orlando two weeks before the election and marveled at the scope of the attacks and the candidates they were backing. “They think they can elect a ham sandwich,” he said.
He expressed relief that the barrage against him had come to an end, noting that his attackers appeared to have concluded that their work with him was done and moved on to another member.
They were correct. He was one of the 60 Democrats who lost their seats on Tuesday."
He expressed relief that the barrage against him had come to an end, noting that his attackers appeared to have concluded that their work with him was done and moved on to another member.
They were correct. He was one of the 60 Democrats who lost their seats on Tuesday."
Republican Game Plan Led to Historic Victory - NYTimes.com
Republican Game Plan Led to Historic Victory - NYTimes.com: "They also tried to push Democrats into retirement, using what was described in the presentation as “guerilla tactics” like chasing Democratic members down with video cameras and pressing them to explain votes or positions. (One target, Representative Bob Etheridge of North Carolina, had to apologize for manhandling one of his inquisitors in a clip memorialized on YouTube. Only this week did Republican strategists acknowledge they were behind the episode.)"
Republican Game Plan Led to Historic Victory - NYTimes.com
Republican Game Plan Led to Historic Victory - NYTimes.com: "The White House struggled to keep Democrats in line, with a misplaced confidence in the power of the coalition that propelled Mr. Obama into office. Republicans capitalized on backlash to the ambitious agenda Mr. Obama and his party pursued, which fueled unrestricted and often anonymous contributions to conservative groups, some advised by a nemesis Democrats thought they had shaken, Karl Rove. That money so strengthened the Republican assault across the country that an exasperated Democratic party strategist likened it to “nuclear Whac-a-Mole.”"
Wednesday, November 3
Motorcycle Couriers in London - Artful Dodgers - Motorcycle Escape
Motorcycle Couriers in London - Artful Dodgers - Motorcycle Escape: "Street survival skills become second nature to long-term couriers. Most told me that they'd had their serious accidents early on. They learned quickly to assume other drivers can't see them until eye contact has been made--and once eye contact has been made, to assume the driver will purposely attempt to run them down. Veterans notice even the subtlest body language from drivers; things like the slight upward hunching of drivers' shoulders when they tense up before a desperate lane change."
Monday, November 1
Zero history (fb2) | Библиотека lib.ololo.cc
Zero history (fb2) | Библиотека lib.ololo.cc: "“I saw that an American cotton shirt that had cost twenty cents in 1935 will often be better made than almost anything you can buy today. But if you re-create that shirt, and you might have to go to Japan to do that, you wind up with something that needs to retail for around three hundred dollars. I started bumping into people who remembered how to make things. And I knew that how I dressed had always attracted some attention. There were people who wanted what I wore. What I curated, Bigend would have said.”"
Give Obama a Break - NYTimes.com
Give Obama a Break - NYTimes.com: "Until Mr. Obama, Democrats barely acknowledged that it was possible for a teacher to be bad."
The Sporting Scene: Jordan’s Moment : The New Yorker
The Sporting Scene: Jordan’s Moment : The New Yorker: "What professional basketball men were now seeing was something that had been partly masked earlier in his career by his singular physical ability and the artistry of what he did, and that something was a consuming passion not just to excel but to dominate. “He wants to cut your heart out and then show it to you,” his former coach Doug Collins said. “He’s Hannibal Lecter,” Bob Ryan, the Boston Globe’s expert basketball writer, said. When a television reporter asked the Bulls’ center, Luc Longley, for a one-word description of Jordan, Longley’s response was “Predator.”"
Sunday, October 31
White iPhone bestows immortality? - IPHONETOUCH.BLORGE
White iPhone bestows immortality? - IPHONETOUCH.BLORGE: "the real scoop is that the white iPhone bestows immortality and as such only Steve Jobs has one. That would explain, once and for all, why the white iPhone has not yet been released and why it has been removed from the Apple Web site. We mere mortals were never intended to have a white iPhone 4."
Saturday, October 30
All Programs Considered by Bill McKibben | The New York Review of Books
All Programs Considered by Bill McKibben | The New York Review of Books: "I was told by a prominent young producer. “Now young people come to the radio with the idea that it’s cool. ‘Cool’ and ‘radio’ in the same sentence is a whole new phenomenon.”"
All Programs Considered by Bill McKibben | The New York Review of Books
All Programs Considered by Bill McKibben | The New York Review of Books: "As they become the primary news source for more and more Americans, public radio newsmagazines are restricting their own ability to move listeners. Like physicians in medieval times they seek to balance the four humors (so as not be too choleric, sanguine, phlegmatic, or melancholy) by blood-letting. Public radio newsmagazines are looking a little pallid these days, because the passion has been drained off.2"
In just 30 days, you too can write a masterpiece - News, Books - The Independent
In just 30 days, you too can write a masterpiece - News, Books - The Independent: "Two years ago, Birdsong author Sebastian Faulks wrote a James Bond thriller, Devil May Care, in only six weeks – following the work pattern of Bond's creator, Ian Fleming."
Wednesday, October 27
Woman Charlie Sheen was with during his drunken night ID'd as porn star Capri Anderson - NYPOST.com
Woman Charlie Sheen was with during his drunken night ID'd as porn star Capri Anderson - NYPOST.com: "Sheen then flew back to Los Angeles, where he is set to resume shooting next week for his CBS sit-com, which pays him nearly $2 million per episode."
Wait, two million per episode? That's unbelievable.
Wait, two million per episode? That's unbelievable.
The Anosognosic's Dilemma: Something's Wrong but You'll Never Know What It Is (Part 1) - NYTimes.com
The Anosognosic's Dilemma: Something's Wrong but You'll Never Know What It Is (Part 1) - NYTimes.com: "Dunning wondered whether it was possible to measure one’s self-assessed level of competence against something a little more objective — say, actual competence. Within weeks, he and his graduate student, Justin Kruger, had organized a program of research. Their paper, “Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties of Recognizing One’s Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-assessments,” was published in 1999.[3]"
Perl and Nuclear Weapons Don't Mix - The Perl Journal, Winter 1997
Perl and Nuclear Weapons Don't Mix - The Perl Journal, Winter 1997: "I meekly suggested that the task of finding and fixing the bugs could be automated by a Perl script, and it was then that they asked me to leave the room."
Perl and Nuclear Weapons Don't Mix - The Perl Journal, Winter 1997
Perl and Nuclear Weapons Don't Mix - The Perl Journal, Winter 1997: "Red Alert!
Sometimes I think working for NORAD is like being a systems administrator. As long as you do your job well, everyone else ignores you with impunity. It's only when crises occur that people notice you, and not many pleasantries get exchanged when that happens.
However, if you ever get the chance to observe see a full-blown military crisis firsthand, I recommend the experience. It's kind of like when the fire alarm goes off in high school. You're pretty sure it's a false alarm. You act like it's a big joke. But there's a little jittery part of you worrying that you will soon be engulfed in a huge scholastic inferno and miss the prom."
Sometimes I think working for NORAD is like being a systems administrator. As long as you do your job well, everyone else ignores you with impunity. It's only when crises occur that people notice you, and not many pleasantries get exchanged when that happens.
However, if you ever get the chance to observe see a full-blown military crisis firsthand, I recommend the experience. It's kind of like when the fire alarm goes off in high school. You're pretty sure it's a false alarm. You act like it's a big joke. But there's a little jittery part of you worrying that you will soon be engulfed in a huge scholastic inferno and miss the prom."
I'm going to be a college professor | MetaFilter
I'm going to be a college professor | MetaFilter: "I would stick a shrimp fork in my eye before even remotely considering leading a different life or changing one bit of the career path I've stumbled along for the 28 years since I was a first-year MA student. The smartest, most fortuitous thing I ever did was go to graduate school and get a humanities doctorate because it's what I was most suited for, and because of all I learned along the way and keep learning with and from the students who give a [expletive]. I'm aware that it doesn't work out this well for everyone and academic jobs are -- and have throughout my professional life been -- hard to get. And that is unfortunate, except maybe it does also sift out some of the people who are quite bright indeed but not really cut out for a lifetime of 90-minute meetings to distribute travel funding or morning-long discussions of department bylaw revisions."
Secret Money in Iowa - NYTimes.com
Secret Money in Iowa - NYTimes.com: "As The Times reported recently, the American Future Fund was started with money from Bruce Rastetter, an ethanol company executive. Mr. Braley supports ethanol tax credits — a favorite in Iowa. Mr. Rastetter, who is pushing to defeat several Democrats on the House energy and agriculture committees, has not explained his political goals.
The fund, based in Iowa, has spent at least $574,000 to run a series of anti-Braley ads. One that is particularly pernicious shows images of the ruined World Trade Center and then intones, “Incredibly, Bruce Braley supports building a mosque at ground zero.” Actually, Mr. Braley has never said that, stating only that the matter should be left to New Yorkers."
The fund, based in Iowa, has spent at least $574,000 to run a series of anti-Braley ads. One that is particularly pernicious shows images of the ruined World Trade Center and then intones, “Incredibly, Bruce Braley supports building a mosque at ground zero.” Actually, Mr. Braley has never said that, stating only that the matter should be left to New Yorkers."
How Smart Cafeterias Could Fight Childhood Obesity - David R. Just and Brian Wansink - Food - The Atlantic
How Smart Cafeterias Could Fight Childhood Obesity - David R. Just and Brian Wansink - Food - The Atlantic: "Instead, the ideal lunchroom—the smartest lunchroom—would be the one that led children to make healthy choices in the face of some more tempting options."
Tuesday, October 26
Univision set to become top U.S. broadcast network - Yahoo! News
Univision set to become top U.S. broadcast network - Yahoo! News: "NEW YORK (Adweek) – With double-digit ratings growth this season, Spanish-language broadcaster Univision is off to a better start than any of the major English-language networks, and the future is promising as well.
The new census is expected to show a nearly 45% increase in the number of Hispanic Americans since 2000, to a total of 50 million. This couples with continuing audience erosion at the major networks and Univision's recent deal with Mexican programer Grupo Televisa, which locks up the source of much the network's popular programing for at least another decade."
The new census is expected to show a nearly 45% increase in the number of Hispanic Americans since 2000, to a total of 50 million. This couples with continuing audience erosion at the major networks and Univision's recent deal with Mexican programer Grupo Televisa, which locks up the source of much the network's popular programing for at least another decade."
Spiritual cleanser sentenced for sex abuse | The Salt Lake Tribune
Spiritual cleanser sentenced for sex abuse | The Salt Lake Tribune: "But long before the Guatemalan transvestite came to be known as a Mayan priestess named Nicole Morales, Jose David Morales-Hernandez was a little boy subject to regular group rapes and beatings by his gangster cousins, his lawyer said at his sentencing Monday."
Monday, October 25
Book Review - Zero History - By William Gibson - NYTimes.com
Book Review - Zero History - By William Gibson - NYTimes.com: "When I was a teenager, I used to play records and imagine that, because of probability and the fact that the world was so vast, some other teenager on the other side of the globe was listening to the same thing at the same time. Then the Internet came along and disillusioned me. It wasn’t so much that the Web created a “global village,” but it did make the world seem a lot smaller: it became obvious that some things just didn’t exist, and that there were thousands of phrases that no one was tweeting or Googling. No one was necessarily listening to the same record as I was. One of the great things Gibson does is put some romance back into the digital world."
An Exchange on Manufacturing Consent, Noam Chomsky interviewed by various activists (Excerpted from Understanding Power)
An Exchange on Manufacturing Consent, Noam Chomsky interviewed by various activists (Excerpted from Understanding Power): "In fact, it's extremely important for people with power not to let anybody understand this, to make them think there are big leaders around who somehow get things going, and then what everybody else has to do is follow them. That's one of the ways of demeaning people, and degrading them and making them passive. I don't know how to overcome this exactly, but it's really something people ought to work on."
Legalized Pot's Unlikely Supporters: Moms And Cops : NPR
Legalized Pot's Unlikely Supporters: Moms And Cops : NPR: "'It's borderline legal, illegal, gray-area stuff,' he says, 'breeding high strain, high quality, high medicinal marijuana in a sacred way.'"
Legalized Pot's Unlikely Supporters: Moms And Cops : NPR
Legalized Pot's Unlikely Supporters: Moms And Cops : NPR: "'These exotic strains that we know and love are going to quickly become obsolete because a 5-by-5 space is just not enough space to breed and experiment all these new strains,' she says. 'It would be a real shame if we lost all of this variety.'"
Sunday, October 24
FoxNews.com - JUAN WILLIAMS: I Was Fired for Telling the Truth
FoxNews.com - JUAN WILLIAMS: I Was Fired for Telling the Truth: "Daniel Schorr, my fellow NPR commentator who died earlier this year, used to talk about the initial shock of finding himself on President Nixon’s enemies list. I can only imagine Dan’s revulsion to realize that today NPR treats a journalist who has worked for them for ten years with less regard, less respect for the value of independence of thought and embrace of real debate across political lines, than Nixon ever displayed."
Ouch.
Saturday, October 23
How-To: Enable WebDAV on Your Mac for iWork on iPad: Apple �
How-To: Enable WebDAV on Your Mac for iWork on iPad: Apple �: "How-To: Enable WebDAV on Your Mac for iWork on�iPad"
Facebook turns zombie game into monster happening - USATODAY.com
Facebook turns zombie game into monster happening - USATODAY.com: "Alisa Landrum, a high school French teacher who lives a couple of blocks from the starting point, is concerned about the area's elderly being terrified by marauding hordes of zombies."
Build Your Workday Around Focus: Tips from the Trenches
Build Your Workday Around Focus: Tips from the Trenches: "How to start your day right:
1. Write 'FOCUS' on an index card. It sounds silly, but if you can't commit to this simple step, you probably won't commit to the others. Write it down, and keep it next to you on your desk. It's a simple reminder, to help you be conscious.
2. Write down your Most Important Task for today. Actually write it down, on the same index card. You're going to do this first. It should be a high-impact task that makes a big difference to your business, career, life. Something that you're excited about is best."
1. Write 'FOCUS' on an index card. It sounds silly, but if you can't commit to this simple step, you probably won't commit to the others. Write it down, and keep it next to you on your desk. It's a simple reminder, to help you be conscious.
2. Write down your Most Important Task for today. Actually write it down, on the same index card. You're going to do this first. It should be a high-impact task that makes a big difference to your business, career, life. Something that you're excited about is best."
Lies, Damned Lies, and Medical Science - Magazine - The Atlantic
Lies, Damned Lies, and Medical Science - Magazine - The Atlantic: "sure, a lot of dubious research makes it into journals, but we researchers and physicians know to ignore it and focus on the good stuff, so what’s the big deal? The other paper headed off that claim. He zoomed in on 49 of the most highly regarded research findings in medicine over the previous 13 years, as judged by the science community’s two standard measures: the papers had appeared in the journals most widely cited in research articles, and the 49 articles themselves were the most widely cited articles in these journals. These were articles that helped lead to the widespread popularity of treatments such as the use of hormone-replacement therapy for menopausal women, vitamin E to reduce the risk of heart disease, coronary stents to ward off heart attacks, and daily low-dose aspirin to control blood pressure and prevent heart attacks and strokes. Ioannidis was putting his contentions to the test not against run-of-the-mill research, or even merely well-accepted research, but against the absolute tip of the research pyramid. Of the 49 articles, 45 claimed to have uncovered effective interventions. Thirty-four of these claims had been retested, and 14 of these, or 41 percent, had been convincingly shown to be wrong or significantly exaggerated."
Lies, Damned Lies, and Medical Science - Magazine - The Atlantic
Lies, Damned Lies, and Medical Science - Magazine - The Atlantic: "Researchers headed into their studies wanting certain results—and, lo and behold, they were getting them. We think of the scientific process as being objective, rigorous, and even ruthless in separating out what is true from what we merely wish to be true, but in fact it’s easy to manipulate results, even unintentionally or unconsciously. “At every step in the process, there is room to distort results, a way to make a stronger claim or to select what is going to be concluded,” says Ioannidis. “There is an intellectual conflict of interest that pressures researchers to find whatever it is that is most likely to get them funded.”"
Lies, Damned Lies, and Medical Science - Magazine - The Atlantic
Lies, Damned Lies, and Medical Science - Magazine - The Atlantic: "In poring over medical journals, he was struck by how many findings of all types were refuted by later findings. Of course, medical-science “never minds” are hardly secret. And they sometimes make headlines, as when in recent years large studies or growing consensuses of researchers concluded that mammograms, colonoscopies, and PSA tests are far less useful cancer-detection tools than we had been told; or when widely prescribed antidepressants such as Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil were revealed to be no more effective than a placebo for most cases of depression; or when we learned that staying out of the sun entirely can actually increase cancer risks; or when we were told that the advice to drink lots of water during intense exercise was potentially fatal; or when, last April, we were informed that taking fish oil, exercising, and doing puzzles doesn’t really help fend off Alzheimer’s disease, as long claimed. Peer-reviewed studies have come to opposite conclusions on whether using cell phones can cause brain cancer, whether sleeping more than eight hours a night is healthful or dangerous, whether taking aspirin every day is more likely to save your life or cut it short, and whether routine angioplasty works better than pills to unclog heart arteries."
Friday, October 22
NPR Should Have Let Juan Williams Go Years Ago – The Awl
NPR Should Have Let Juan Williams Go Years Ago – The Awl: "And now come the threats to terminate NPR's government funding. NPR should respond by telling the blowhards to bring it on. Federal funding makes up about 2 percent of NPR's budget. Even by the most extreme maximum estimates, including indirect sources, less than 10 percent of NPR's annual budget is from the kind of federal funding its enemies like to say it depends on. Losing that (still-valuable) 10 percent might be worth finally being rid of the 'publicly funded' albatross that has plagued the NPR brand."
Thursday, October 21
Income inequality in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Income inequality in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
[check out the cool chart at the bottom]
[check out the cool chart at the bottom]
Wednesday, October 20
Wired 1.04: Disneyland with the Death Penalty
Wired 1.04: Disneyland with the Death Penalty: "'It's like an entire country run by Jeffrey Katzenberg,' the producer had said, 'under the motto 'Be happy or I'll kill you.'' We were sitting in an office a block from Rodeo Drive, on large black furniture leased with Japanese venture capital.
Now that I'm actually here, the Disneyland metaphor is proving impossible to shake. For that matter, Rodeo Drive comes frequently to mind, though the local equivalent feels more like 30 or 40 Beverly Centers put end to end."
Now that I'm actually here, the Disneyland metaphor is proving impossible to shake. For that matter, Rodeo Drive comes frequently to mind, though the local equivalent feels more like 30 or 40 Beverly Centers put end to end."
Apolitically Incorrect � Automatically Importing an MS Word Document into LyX
Apolitically Incorrect � Automatically Importing an MS Word Document into LyX: "Unfortunately, one my favorite Open Source Writing programs, the LaTeX front-end LyX, does not support Microsoft Word files. And even though I prefer to write using LyX and LaTeX, I’m often forced to use MS Word simply so that I can “stay in the loop”.
But that doesn’t mean I’ve been happy about it.
When I’m not happy, I�get motivated to solve the problem.� Thus,�I’ve been trying to shoehorn my preferred tools into a world dominated by Word for a very long time.� After experimenting with a lot of different options, I think I’ve finally come up with a system seems to work pretty well. Specifically:
It allows me to import Microsoft Word files into LyX with a single click.
It maintains most document structure, including headers, styles, and other structural elements.
It successfully translates MS Word syntax to LyX.� This means that I do not need to spend time repairing double quotes or fixing em-dashes."
But that doesn’t mean I’ve been happy about it.
When I’m not happy, I�get motivated to solve the problem.� Thus,�I’ve been trying to shoehorn my preferred tools into a world dominated by Word for a very long time.� After experimenting with a lot of different options, I think I’ve finally come up with a system seems to work pretty well. Specifically:
It allows me to import Microsoft Word files into LyX with a single click.
It maintains most document structure, including headers, styles, and other structural elements.
It successfully translates MS Word syntax to LyX.� This means that I do not need to spend time repairing double quotes or fixing em-dashes."
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