Sunday, February 28
Depression’s Upside - NYTimes.com
Depression’s Upside - NYTimes.com: "For Darwin, depression was a clarifying force, focusing the mind on its most essential problems. In his autobiography, he speculated on the purpose of such misery; his evolutionary theory was shadowed by his own life story. “Pain or suffering of any kind,” he wrote, “if long continued, causes depression and lessens the power of action, yet it is well adapted to make a creature guard itself against any great or sudden evil.”"
Saturday, February 27
The Associated Press: Emotional orca show marks 1st since trainer killed
The Associated Press: Emotional orca show marks 1st since trainer killed: "The audience seemed thrilled, applauding and cheering as the whales zipped around their tank and splashed spectators during the show — with the theme of 'believe,' about a young boy who sees an orca and dreams of one day becoming a whale trainer. It was a fitting tribute to Brancheau, whose family said she always wanted work with the giant whales.
At one point during the show, a young girl was brought on stage and given a whale tail necklace.
'I just wanted to be here for this show. It's so special,' said Russell Thomphsen, 65, who said he is a season-ticket holder for SeaWorld. 'This touches so many lives.'"
At one point during the show, a young girl was brought on stage and given a whale tail necklace.
'I just wanted to be here for this show. It's so special,' said Russell Thomphsen, 65, who said he is a season-ticket holder for SeaWorld. 'This touches so many lives.'"
Thursday, February 25
Wednesday, February 24
The Curious Cook - Better Bread With Less Kneading - NYTimes.com
The Curious Cook - Better Bread With Less Kneading - NYTimes.com: "Look for recipes that give ingredient weights, and avoid measuring in cups and spoons, which include variable amounts of empty space. This will also let you calculate dough hydrations and avoid overly wet recipes. Just divide the total liquid weight by the total flour weight, and if the answer is much above 0.75, expect a relatively flat loaf."
Serial Suicides Continue at France Telecom Amid Restructuring - AOL News
Serial Suicides Continue at France Telecom Amid Restructuring - AOL News: "Because most France Telecom employees have civil servant status and are almost impossible to fire, sources within and outside the company say some have been bullied and harassed in an effort to get them to quit. In some cases, specific jobs have been eliminated, but since those who hold them can't be fired, they continue at the company, often as pariahs without any real work to do."
McSweeney's Internet Tendency: Could It Be That the Best Chance to Save a Young Family From Foreclosure is a 28-Year-Old Pakistani American Playright-slash-Attorney who Learned Bankruptcy Law on the Internet?
McSweeney's Internet Tendency: Could It Be That the Best Chance to Save a Young Family From Foreclosure is a 28-Year-Old Pakistani American Playright-slash-Attorney who Learned Bankruptcy Law on the Internet?: "COULD IT BE THAT THE BEST CHANCE TO SAVE A YOUNG FAMILY FROM FORECLOSURE IS A 28-YEAR-OLD PAKISTANI AMERICAN PLAYRIGHT-SLASH-ATTORNEY WHO LEARNED BANKRUPTCY LAW ON THE INTERNET?"
VIDEO: Owner Describes Surviving Out Of Control Lexus - The Consumerist
VIDEO: Owner Describes Surviving Out Of Control Lexus - The Consumerist: "'I put the car into all available gears, including neutral,' she recalled about her fruitless attempt to slow the car down. Ms. Smith says she even put the car into reverse, in which position the gearshift remained as the car quickly reached a speed of 100mph.
After putting both feet on the brake and employing the emergency brake to no avail, Ms. Smith began to think that her only choice was to run her car into the guardrail, if only to save the other drivers on the highway."
After putting both feet on the brake and employing the emergency brake to no avail, Ms. Smith began to think that her only choice was to run her car into the guardrail, if only to save the other drivers on the highway."
Tuesday, February 23
OpenEducation - by IdeaScale
OpenEducation - by IdeaScale: "Stanford University professor Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D. and her colleague Lisa Sorich Blackwell, Ph.D. developed a program for school children to learn that it is possible for them to succeed in learning beyond what they may currently believe about themselves.
http://www.brainology.us/
Along the way, children are given the impression that only certain people can succeed at learning certain subjects or in general.
Once the idea takes hold in a child's mind or a classroom full of children, it severely limits the progress the students will make."
http://www.brainology.us/
Along the way, children are given the impression that only certain people can succeed at learning certain subjects or in general.
Once the idea takes hold in a child's mind or a classroom full of children, it severely limits the progress the students will make."
Video: Reality TV, the iPhone & the Future of Technology — Why It’s All a Game – GigaOM
Video: Reality TV, the iPhone & the Future of Technology — Why It’s All a Game – GigaOM: "Forget everything you did today. Clear your schedule and spend the next half hour watching this video. It’s a presentation by Jesse Schell, founder of Schell Games and former creative director of the Disney Imagineering Virtual Reality Studio. A veteran game designer, he is also on the faculty of the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University."
Copenhagen Consensus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Copenhagen Consensus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Copenhagen Consensus is a project that seeks to establish priorities for advancing global welfare using methodologies based on the theory of welfare economics. It was conceived[1] and organized by Bj�rn Lomborg, the author of The Skeptical Environmentalist and the then director of the Danish government's Environmental Assessment Institute. It is now run by The Copenhagen Consensus Center[2] under Lomborg's directorship at the Copenhagen Business School. The project considers possible solutions to a wide range of problems, presented by experts in each field. These are evaluated and ranked by a panel of leading economists. The emphasis is on rational prioritization by economic analysis, justified as a corrective to standard practice in international development, where, it is alleged, media attention and the 'court of public opinion' results in priorities that are often far from optimal."
Joseph Smith's "White Horse" Prophecy
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Editorials & Opinion | Don't confuse them with facts | Seattle Times Newspaper
Editorials & Opinion | Don't confuse them with facts | Seattle Times Newspaper: "At this point, Judi forwarded me their correspondence, along with a despairing note. She is probably somewhere drinking right now.
You see, like me, she can remember a time when facts settled arguments. This is back before everything became a partisan shouting match, back before it was permissible to ignore or deride as 'biased' anything that didn't support your worldview.
If you and I had an argument and I produced facts from an authoritative source to back me up, you couldn't just blow that off. You might try to undermine my facts, might counter with facts of your own, but you couldn't just pretend my facts had no weight or meaning.
But that's the intellectual state of the union these days, as evidenced by all the people who still don't believe the president was born in Hawaii or that the planet is warming. And by Mr. Thompson, who doesn't believe Henry Johnson did what he did."
You see, like me, she can remember a time when facts settled arguments. This is back before everything became a partisan shouting match, back before it was permissible to ignore or deride as 'biased' anything that didn't support your worldview.
If you and I had an argument and I produced facts from an authoritative source to back me up, you couldn't just blow that off. You might try to undermine my facts, might counter with facts of your own, but you couldn't just pretend my facts had no weight or meaning.
But that's the intellectual state of the union these days, as evidenced by all the people who still don't believe the president was born in Hawaii or that the planet is warming. And by Mr. Thompson, who doesn't believe Henry Johnson did what he did."
Debate Over Huntsville, Ala., Professor Accused in Killings - NYTimes.com
Debate Over Huntsville, Ala., Professor Accused in Killings - NYTimes.com: "scientists who have looked at Dr. Bishop’s r�sum�said they saw no evidence of genius, no evidence of a cure for diseases like A.L.S., no evidence that she even could have gotten tenure at a major university.
Most of her work was on nitric oxide, a gas that can transmit signals between nerves. High levels of nitric oxide, she proposed, might set off degenerative diseases like A.L.S., and cells treated with low levels of the gas might build resistance. But that is far from proven, scientists said, and the idea was not original with Dr. Bishop."
Most of her work was on nitric oxide, a gas that can transmit signals between nerves. High levels of nitric oxide, she proposed, might set off degenerative diseases like A.L.S., and cells treated with low levels of the gas might build resistance. But that is far from proven, scientists said, and the idea was not original with Dr. Bishop."
Mind - New Research Focuses on the Power of Physical Contact - NYTimes.com
Mind - New Research Focuses on the Power of Physical Contact - NYTimes.com: "Momentary touches, they say — whether an exuberant high five, a warm hand on the shoulder, or a creepy touch to the arm — can communicate an even wider range of emotion than gestures or expressions, and sometimes do so more quickly and accurately than words."
Target Cancer - After Long Fight, Melanoma Drug Gives Sudden Reprieve - Series - NYTimes.com
Target Cancer - After Long Fight, Melanoma Drug Gives Sudden Reprieve - Series - NYTimes.com: "In a kind of “pinch me” exercise, the six doctors sent one another “before and after” CT scans of their patients.
One was of Mark Bunting, 52, an airline pilot in Sandy, Utah. His initial scan in early October showed the cancer in his bones, an incursion considered virtually impossible to reverse. After two months on the drug, it had all but disappeared."
One was of Mark Bunting, 52, an airline pilot in Sandy, Utah. His initial scan in early October showed the cancer in his bones, an incursion considered virtually impossible to reverse. After two months on the drug, it had all but disappeared."
Saturday, February 20
Chronic joblessness looms over recovery | Deseret News
Chronic joblessness looms over recovery | Deseret News: "Some labor experts say the basic functioning of the American economy has changed in ways that make jobs scarce — particularly for older, less-educated people.
Large companies are increasingly owned by institutional investors who crave swift profits, a feat often achieved by cutting payroll. The declining influence of unions has made it easier for employers to shift work to part-time and temporary employees. Factory work and even white-collar jobs have moved in recent years to low-cost countries in Asia and Latin America. Automation has helped manufacturing cut 5.6 million jobs since 2000 — the sort of jobs that once provided lower-skilled workers with middle-class paychecks."
Large companies are increasingly owned by institutional investors who crave swift profits, a feat often achieved by cutting payroll. The declining influence of unions has made it easier for employers to shift work to part-time and temporary employees. Factory work and even white-collar jobs have moved in recent years to low-cost countries in Asia and Latin America. Automation has helped manufacturing cut 5.6 million jobs since 2000 — the sort of jobs that once provided lower-skilled workers with middle-class paychecks."
Obama's Big Sellout : Rolling Stone
Obama's Big Sellout : Rolling Stone: "What's taken place in the year since Obama won the presidency has turned out to be one of the most dramatic political about-faces in our history. Elected in the midst of a crushing economic crisis brought on by a decade of orgiastic deregulation and unchecked greed, Obama had a clear mandate to rein in Wall Street and remake the entire structure of the American economy. What he did instead was ship even his most marginally progressive campaign advisers off to various bureaucratic Siberias, while packing the key economic positions in his White House with the very people who caused the crisis in the first place. This new team of bubble-fattened ex-bankers and laissez-faire intellectuals then proceeded to sell us all out, instituting a massive, trickle-up bailout and systematically gutting regulatory reform from the inside."
Wall Street's Bailout Hustle : Rolling Stone
Wall Street's Bailout Hustle : Rolling Stone: "Con artists have a word for the inability of their victims to accept that they've been scammed. They call it the 'True Believer Syndrome.' That's sort of where we are, in a state of nagging disbelief about the real problem on Wall Street. It isn't so much that we have inadequate rules or incompetent regulators, although both of these things are certainly true. The real problem is that it doesn't matter what regulations are in place if the people running the economy are rip-off artists. The system assumes a certain minimum level of ethical behavior and civic instinct over and above what is spelled out by the regulations. If those ethics are absent — well, this thing isn't going to work, no matter what we do. Sure, mugging old ladies is against the law, but it's also easy. To prevent it, we depend, for the most part, not on cops but on people making the conscious decision not to do it."
Ten rules for writing fiction | Books | guardian.co.uk
Ten rules for writing fiction | Books | guardian.co.uk: "Margaret Atwood
1 Take a pencil to write with on aeroplanes. Pens leak. But if the pencil breaks, you can't sharpen it on the plane, because you can't take knives with you. Therefore: take two pencils.
2 If both pencils break, you can do a rough sharpening job with a nail file of the metal or glass type.
3 Take something to write on. Paper is good. In a pinch, pieces of wood or your arm will do.
4 If you're using a computer, always safeguard new text with a memory stick.
5 Do back exercises. Pain is distracting.
6 Hold the reader's attention. (This is likely to work better if you can hold your own.) But you don't know who the reader is, so it's like shooting fish with a slingshot in the dark. What fascinates A will bore the pants off B."
1 Take a pencil to write with on aeroplanes. Pens leak. But if the pencil breaks, you can't sharpen it on the plane, because you can't take knives with you. Therefore: take two pencils.
2 If both pencils break, you can do a rough sharpening job with a nail file of the metal or glass type.
3 Take something to write on. Paper is good. In a pinch, pieces of wood or your arm will do.
4 If you're using a computer, always safeguard new text with a memory stick.
5 Do back exercises. Pain is distracting.
6 Hold the reader's attention. (This is likely to work better if you can hold your own.) But you don't know who the reader is, so it's like shooting fish with a slingshot in the dark. What fascinates A will bore the pants off B."
Friday, February 19
Single-engine plane crash in Austin, Texas | MetaFilter
Single-engine plane crash in Austin, Texas | MetaFilter: "Whenever I hear about engineers doing things that are radical, I'm reminded of the 2006 podcast I listened to by Marc Sageman where he talks about how many among the 9/11 folks were engineers. The Anarchist movement in the early 20th century were engineers and physicians. About 15 minutes into the mp3 [MP3 link] he describes this. It echoes here because the 9/11 'falls prey to an unusual reading of the Koran' and start from first principles and ignore years of religious interpretation. The way the guy cites the tax code reminded me of that too."
Wednesday, February 17
TED2010: Ten fascinating people you've never heard of - CNN.com
TED2010: Ten fascinating people you've never heard of - CNN.com: "Jane McGonigal is one of the most interesting inventors you've never heard of.
The bubbly game designer -- whose optimism seems to flow out of her wild blond hair -- is trying to get the world to play a lot more online video games, and not just for the sake of fun.
The cooperative skills and hopefulness that people learn while pecking away at online games like World of Warcraft will help our society address real-world problems like climate change and nuclear arms proliferation, she says. To get people to use less oil and mentor entrepreneurs in Africa, she also is developing games that merge the digital and real worlds."
The bubbly game designer -- whose optimism seems to flow out of her wild blond hair -- is trying to get the world to play a lot more online video games, and not just for the sake of fun.
The cooperative skills and hopefulness that people learn while pecking away at online games like World of Warcraft will help our society address real-world problems like climate change and nuclear arms proliferation, she says. To get people to use less oil and mentor entrepreneurs in Africa, she also is developing games that merge the digital and real worlds."
alternative modernity
alternative modernity: "ALTERNATIVE MODERNITY?
PLAYING THE JAPANESE GAME OF CULTURE
by Andrew Feenberg
If games both fashion and reflect culture, it stands to reason that to a certain extent a whole civilization and, within that civilization, an entire era can be characterized by its games.
������������������� Roger Caillois, 'Les jeux dans le monde moderne'
The writer's irony is a negative mysticism to be found in times without a god.
��������������������� Luk�cs, The Theory of the Novel
Introduction: Games as Rational Systems"
PLAYING THE JAPANESE GAME OF CULTURE
by Andrew Feenberg
If games both fashion and reflect culture, it stands to reason that to a certain extent a whole civilization and, within that civilization, an entire era can be characterized by its games.
������������������� Roger Caillois, 'Les jeux dans le monde moderne'
The writer's irony is a negative mysticism to be found in times without a god.
��������������������� Luk�cs, The Theory of the Novel
Introduction: Games as Rational Systems"
Tuesday, February 16
How a Heart Attack Gave the Giraffes’ Aaron Lazar a New Lease on Life -- New York Magazine
How a Heart Attack Gave the Giraffes’ Aaron Lazar a New Lease on Life -- New York Magazine: "Lazar returned to New York and met with his doctors and a rep from the ICD manufacturer. One doctor confronted him directly. “She said, ‘You really should not be doing what you’re doing,’” Lazar says. “And I said, ‘This is what I do.’” He then literally haggled with them over a new ICD trigger. “The doctor’s like, ‘Okay, let’s make it 195 for two and a half minutes,’” remembers Lazar. “And I was like, ‘Couldn’t you make it 200 for five minutes?’ It was like buying a mattress from Russians.”"
Knuth: Retirement
Knuth: Retirement: "My full-time writing schedule means that I have to be pretty much a hermit. The only way to gain enough efficiency to complete The Art of Computer Programming is to operate in batch mode, concentrating intensively and uninterruptedly on one subject at a time, rather than swapping a number of topics in and out of my head. I'm unable to schedule appointments with visitors, travel to conferences or accept speaking engagements, or undertake any new responsibilities of any kind. I'm glad that the WWW makes it possible for me to respond to questions that I don't have to see or hear."
Monday, February 15
Saturday, February 13
Friday, February 12
hmarisagallagher David Rockwell: as an architect (usually focused on permanence) creating temporay events pushes creativity and a sense of play #TED
Play, permanency and literacy
The $5 Guerrilla User Test � Bumblebee Labs Blog
The $5 Guerrilla User Test � Bumblebee Labs Blog: "Users aren’t so much unintelligent as they are distracted and indifferent"
Thursday, February 11
Wednesday, February 10
Community colleges, another view :: Grant McCracken
Community colleges, another view :: Grant McCracken: "Perhaps as a reply to the TV show that now holds the community college up to ridicule, Kay Ryan, the US poet laureate, has this to say:
“I simply want to celebrate the fact that right near your home, year in and year out, a community college is quietly—and with very little financial encouragement—saving lives and minds,” said Ryan. “I can’t think of a more efficient, hopeful or egalitarian machine, with the possible exception of the bicycle.”"
“I simply want to celebrate the fact that right near your home, year in and year out, a community college is quietly—and with very little financial encouragement—saving lives and minds,” said Ryan. “I can’t think of a more efficient, hopeful or egalitarian machine, with the possible exception of the bicycle.”"
Pet Rats: Has our rat had a stroke?, pet rats, sniffles
Pet Rats: Has our rat had a stroke?, pet rats, sniffles: "Now for the bad news:
Your rat has a pituitary tumor on the base of her brain. The signs are all there, from her inability to eat, lethargy, and finally, the neurological signs; unable to grasp with her forelimbs and inability to chew. Swallowing is also pretty hard for her."
Your rat has a pituitary tumor on the base of her brain. The signs are all there, from her inability to eat, lethargy, and finally, the neurological signs; unable to grasp with her forelimbs and inability to chew. Swallowing is also pretty hard for her."
Tuesday, February 9
PeteSearch: How to split up the US
PeteSearch: How to split up the US: "Mormonia
The only region that's completely surrounded by another cluster, Mormonia mostly consists of Utah towns that are highly connected to each other, with an offshoot in Eastern Idaho. It's worth separating from the rest of the West because of how interwoven the communities are, and how relatively unlikely they are to have friends outside the region.
It won't be any surprise to see that LDS-related pages like Thomas S. Monson, Gordon B. Hinckley and The Book of Mormon are at the top of the charts. I didn't expect to see Twilight showing up quite so much though, I have no idea what to make of that! Glenn Beck makes it into the top spot for Eastern Idaho."
The only region that's completely surrounded by another cluster, Mormonia mostly consists of Utah towns that are highly connected to each other, with an offshoot in Eastern Idaho. It's worth separating from the rest of the West because of how interwoven the communities are, and how relatively unlikely they are to have friends outside the region.
It won't be any surprise to see that LDS-related pages like Thomas S. Monson, Gordon B. Hinckley and The Book of Mormon are at the top of the charts. I didn't expect to see Twilight showing up quite so much though, I have no idea what to make of that! Glenn Beck makes it into the top spot for Eastern Idaho."
Millionaire gives away fortune which made him miserable - Telegraph
Millionaire gives away fortune which made him miserable - Telegraph: "'More and more I heard the words: 'Stop what you are doing now – all this luxury and consumerism – and start your real life',' he said. 'I had the feeling I was working as a slave for things that I did not wish for or need.
I have the feeling that there are lot of people doing the same thing.'
However, for many years he said he was simply not 'brave' enough to give up all the trappings of his comfortable existence."
I have the feeling that there are lot of people doing the same thing.'
However, for many years he said he was simply not 'brave' enough to give up all the trappings of his comfortable existence."
Exile in Greenville - The Atlantic (March 2010)
Liz Phair goes to Nascar.
(March 2010): "I’ve never been to a NASCAR race. I picture a bunch of rednecks dousing themselves with beer and slapping their wives on the ass. I’m more familiar with the environmental crowd, and expect to have zero fun at the expo learning a lot of depressing facts about the future that I’ll feel helpless to do anything about."
CSCW 2010: The 2010 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work
CSCW 2010: The 2010 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work
This looks great. I think I saw Marcy Bauman mention it on FB.
Monday, February 8
Soccer Dad | Ask MetaFilter
Soccer Dad | Ask MetaFilter:
"How do you keep your sense of adventure when you sit in a cubicle and have to pick up the kids at 5 o'clock?"
The Ten-Cent Solution - The Atlantic (March 2007)
The Ten-Cent Solution - The Atlantic
(March 2007): "Better results are what they get. After comparing test scores for literacy and basic math, Tooley has shown that pupils in private schools do better than their state-school equivalents—at between a half and a quarter of the per-pupil teacher cost. In some places, such as Gansu, China, the researchers found that private schools serving the poor had worse facilities than comparable state schools; in Hyderabad, they were better equipped (with blackboards, desks, toilets, drinking water, and so on). Regardless, the tests so far show that private-school students do better across the board."
(March 2007): "Better results are what they get. After comparing test scores for literacy and basic math, Tooley has shown that pupils in private schools do better than their state-school equivalents—at between a half and a quarter of the per-pupil teacher cost. In some places, such as Gansu, China, the researchers found that private schools serving the poor had worse facilities than comparable state schools; in Hyderabad, they were better equipped (with blackboards, desks, toilets, drinking water, and so on). Regardless, the tests so far show that private-school students do better across the board."
Amazon.com: How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed Ability Classrooms (2nd Edition) (9780131195004): Carol Ann Tomlinson: Books
Amazon.com: How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed Ability Classrooms (2nd Edition) (9780131195004): Carol Ann Tomlinson: Books: "How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed Ability Classrooms"
There are days when I think I could really use this book.
Notes from the Atlantic teaching article:
First, great teachers tended to set big goals for their students. They were also perpetually looking for ways to improve their effectiveness. For example, when Farr called up teachers who were making remarkable gains and asked to visit their classrooms, he noticed he’d get a similar response from all of them: “They’d say, ‘You’re welcome to come, but I have to warn you—I am in the middle of just blowing up my classroom structure and changing my reading workshop because I think it’s not working as well as it could.’ When you hear that over and over, and you don’t hear that from other teachers, you start to form a hypothesis.” Great teachers, he concluded, constantly reevaluate what they are doing.
Superstar teachers had four other tendencies in common: they avidly recruited students and their families into the process; they maintained focus, ensuring that everything they did contributed to student learning; they planned exhaustively and purposefully—for the next day or the year ahead—by working backward from the desired outcome; and they worked relentlessly, refusing to surrender to the combined menaces of poverty, bureaucracy, and budgetary shortfalls.
Alex Payne — On the iPad
Alex Payne — On the iPad: "The thing that bothers me most about the iPad is this: if I had an iPad rather than a real computer as a kid, I’d never be a programmer today. I’d never have had the ability to run whatever stupid, potentially harmful, hugely educational programs I could download or write. I wouldn’t have been able to fire up ResEdit and edit out the Mac startup sound so I could tinker on the computer at all hours without waking my parents. The iPad may be a boon to traditional eduction, insofar as it allows for multimedia textbooks and such, but in its current form, it’s a detriment to the sort of hacker culture that has propelled the digital economy."
The iPad and Higher Education
The iPad and Higher Education: "Without changing the system of copyright, licensing, or even the idea that the textbook is central to educational experience, I would suggest that little will be changed. In fact quite the opposite, the big textbook manufactures will gain more purchase in this realm. What is worse, is that all indications from Apple seem to be that this will strengthen DRM and copyright."
Sunday, February 7
slacktivist
slacktivist: "The Supreme Court has ruled that corporations are persons and that money is speech and that, therefore, corporations have a greater right to free speech than other, mortal persons with actual mouths but not as much money. These poorer, merely human persons also don't get to enjoy the apparently divine right of limited liability.
Among the more intriguing repercussions of this astonishing and absurd ruling is that foreign corporations are also now free to buy up all the airtime they can afford to run attack ads against American elected officials. The xenophobic right wing seems only dimly aware of this so far, but I can't help but wonder how they will respond when, say, America Movil -- the Latin American mobile phone company owned by Carlos Slim Helu, the world's third-richest man -- decides to run campaign ads attacking U.S. politicians opposed to illegal immigration."
Among the more intriguing repercussions of this astonishing and absurd ruling is that foreign corporations are also now free to buy up all the airtime they can afford to run attack ads against American elected officials. The xenophobic right wing seems only dimly aware of this so far, but I can't help but wonder how they will respond when, say, America Movil -- the Latin American mobile phone company owned by Carlos Slim Helu, the world's third-richest man -- decides to run campaign ads attacking U.S. politicians opposed to illegal immigration."
slacktivist: I think maybe part of the reason you're so angry is you keep demanding that you get screwed and then, not surprisingly, you keep getting screwed
slacktivist: I think maybe part of the reason you're so angry is you keep demanding that you get screwed and then, not surprisingly, you keep getting screwed: "The only hope you have of ever seeing another pay raise is if Congress passes health care reform. Without health care reform, the increasing cost of your health insurance will swallow this year's raise. And next year's raise. And pretty soon it won't stop with just your raise. Without health care reform, the increasing cost of your health insurance will start making your pay go down."
Saturday, February 6
Overview | Pew Internet & American Life Project
Overview | Pew Internet & American Life Project: "14% of online teens now say they blog, down from 28% of teen internet users in 2006"
Friday, February 5
Ideal line length for content | Max Design
Ideal line length for content | Max Design: "The ideal line length for text layout is based on the physiology of the human eye… At normal reading distance the arc of the visual field is only a few inches – about the width of a well-designed column of text, or about 12 words per line. Research shows that reading slows and retention rates fall as line length begins to exceed the ideal width, because the reader then needs to use the muscles of the eye and neck to track from the end of one line to the beginning of the next line. If the eye must traverse great distances on the page, the reader is easily lost and must hunt for the beginning of the next line. Quantitative studies show that moderate line lengths significantly increase the legibility of text.
Web Style Guide – Basic Design Principles for Creating Website
Patrick J. Lynch and Sarah Horton
2nd edition, page 97."
Web Style Guide – Basic Design Principles for Creating Website
Patrick J. Lynch and Sarah Horton
2nd edition, page 97."
Thursday, February 4
The Inform 7 Handbook
The Inform 7 Handbook: "In teaching small classes of middle-school-age kids how to write their first games using Inform 7, I learned two things: First, kids take to I7 programming very naturally. It's fun for them! But second, they often find the built-in Documentation in the I7 application difficult to deal with. I've heard similar comments from adults who sent emails to thank me for the Handbook.
Last year I had a new student gamely start with Chapter 1 of the Documentation and almost give up IF entirely on hitting pages 1.7 and 1.8, which deal with the Skein. I had forgotten to tell the class, 'Don't read those pages. They're confusing, and you don't need to know about the Skein yet.'"
Last year I had a new student gamely start with Chapter 1 of the Documentation and almost give up IF entirely on hitting pages 1.7 and 1.8, which deal with the Skein. I had forgotten to tell the class, 'Don't read those pages. They're confusing, and you don't need to know about the Skein yet.'"
Wednesday, February 3
Educational challenge-based interactive fiction. Of a sort. � Emily Short's Interactive Storytelling
Educational challenge-based interactive fiction. Of a sort. � Emily Short's Interactive Storytelling: "Back in 1993 I [Emily Short] was tutoring my sister in algebra. Her quizzes and tests were always made of word problems with a running storyline involving many recurring places and characters. I tied the fate of the main characters to how well she did on the previous quiz, so a good performance brought them good fortune.
Unfortunately, one test she completely bombed, and, well, this is a transcription of the quiz she got next. (On behalf of my younger self, I apologize to the people of Argentina, the spirit of Goethe, and hypnotists. [Hi, Conrad.])"
Unfortunately, one test she completely bombed, and, well, this is a transcription of the quiz she got next. (On behalf of my younger self, I apologize to the people of Argentina, the spirit of Goethe, and hypnotists. [Hi, Conrad.])"
The GigaOM Network - Salon.com
The GigaOM Network - Salon.com: "Wolverine has�chosen to orient its Black Tonic app around a handful of basic principles that differentiate it from existing services:
Instant “experience sharing,” synchronizing browsers for all those watching a presentation.
Placing control in the hands of the presenter alone.
Stripping back the interface to give prominence to the slides’ content, rather than the app itself."
Instant “experience sharing,” synchronizing browsers for all those watching a presentation.
Placing control in the hands of the presenter alone.
Stripping back the interface to give prominence to the slides’ content, rather than the app itself."
Healthcare Reform - Salon.com
Healthcare Reform - Salon.com: "Gawande's third book, 'The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right,' explores how doctors and other professionals, overwhelmed with the complexity of their work, have become more likely to fail. Gawande's proposed solution is simple and inexpensive, if not terribly sexy: a checklist. Sound too mundane? Keep in mind that Gawande proved, in conjunction with the World Health Organization, that doctors and surgical teams who use checklists save lives."
Giz Explains: Why HTML5 Isn't Going to Save the Internet - HTML5 - Gizmodo
Giz Explains: Why HTML5 Isn't Going to Save the Internet - HTML5 - Gizmodo: "Here, try this: Right-click anywhere on this webpage, and click 'View Page Source,' or 'View Source,' or something to that effect. Your eyes will be assaulted with a wall of inscrutable text. You'll see evidence of syntax, but your brain won't be able to parse it. Your eyes will glaze over, and you will close the window. This, my friends, is HTML. But you probably already knew that, because it's 2010, basic web languages are basically in our drinking water. So what's this '5' business?"
BBC News - Why do people vote against their own interests?
BBC News - Why do people vote against their own interests?: "For Mr Westen, stories always trump statistics, which means the politician with the best stories is going to win: 'One of the fallacies that politicians often have on the Left is that things are obvious, when they are not obvious.
'Obama's administration made a tremendous mistake by not immediately branding the economic collapse that we had just had as the Republicans' Depression, caused by the Bush administration's ideology of unregulated greed. The result is that now people blame him.'"
'Obama's administration made a tremendous mistake by not immediately branding the economic collapse that we had just had as the Republicans' Depression, caused by the Bush administration's ideology of unregulated greed. The result is that now people blame him.'"
Tuesday, February 2
Op-Ed Contributor - Playing to Learn - NYTimes.com
Op-Ed Contributor - Playing to Learn - NYTimes.com: "THE Obama administration is planning some big changes to how we measure the success or failure of schools and how we apportion federal money based on those assessments. It’s great that the administration is trying to undertake reforms, but if we want to make sure all children learn, we will need to overhaul the curriculum itself. Our current educational approach — and the testing that is driving it — is completely at odds with what scientists understand about how children develop during the elementary school years and has led to a curriculum that is strangling children and teachers alike."
A Study Finds Mental Benefit of Fish Oil - WSJ.com
A Study Finds Mental Benefit of Fish Oil - WSJ.com: "Fish oil pills may be able to spare some young people with signs of mental illness from a progression into fully developed schizophrenia, according to a preliminary study of 81 patients in Austria."
Monday, February 1
DEVONthink Pro and Scrivener – Tools for Writers
DEVONthink Pro and Scrivener – Tools for Writers: "Both DEVONthink and Scrivener are great tools for brain dumping information from different sources – something I do a lot of – and I could see either being useful in a day to day way to full time bloggers looking to get themselves organized."
Steven Poole: Goodbye, cruel Word
Steven Poole: Goodbye, cruel Word: "For the first time, I no longer have a copy of Microsoft Word installed on either of my computers. That’s some change. I wrote my first two books, and many hundreds of articles, in Word. But I’m writing my third book in an inexpensive yet wonderful piece of Mac-only software written by a single person instead of a “business unit” at Redmond. Scoured of Word, my computers feel clean, refreshed, relieved of a hideous and malign burden. How did it come to this?"
My newest new system – Text files, Notational Velocity, and SimpleText — Jack Baty
My newest new system – Text files, Notational Velocity, and SimpleText — Jack Baty: "Every 6 months or so I tend to throw out whatever “systems” I’m using and start fresh. It happened again this past weekend after I stood behind someone and watched him open up TextEdit and make a note in it. TextEdit! Can you believe it? What year is this? I kept watching and he just wrote what he needed to write and saved the file to a folder on his drive with an easy-to-remember name. Done."
Why My Mom’s Next Computer Is Going To Be An iPad
Why My Mom’s Next Computer Is Going To Be An iPad: "The iPad is a computer for people who don’t like computers. People who don’t like the idea of upgrading their 3D drivers, or adjusting their screen resolution, or installing new memory. Who don’t understand why their computer gets slower and slower the longer they own it, who have 25 icons in their system tray and have to wait ten minutes for their system to boot up every day."
Cornish Journal - A Recluse? Well, Not to J.D. Salinger's Neighbors - NYTimes.com
Cornish Journal - A Recluse? Well, Not to J.D. Salinger's Neighbors - NYTimes.com: "Mr. Salinger was a regular at the $12 roast beef dinners at First Congregational Church in Hartland, Vt. He would arrive about an hour and a half early and pass the time by writing in a small, spiral-bound notebook, said Jeannie Frazer, a church member. Mr. Salinger usually dressed in corduroys and a sweater, she said, and would not speak. He sat at the head of the table, near where the pies were placed."
Choice of Games Blog : Introduction to ChoiceScript
Choice of Games Blog : Introduction to ChoiceScript: "What is ChoiceScript?
ChoiceScript is a simple programming language for writing multiple-choice games (MCGs) like Choice of the Dragon. Writing games with ChoiceScript is easy and fun, even for authors with no programming experience."
ChoiceScript is a simple programming language for writing multiple-choice games (MCGs) like Choice of the Dragon. Writing games with ChoiceScript is easy and fun, even for authors with no programming experience."
Why are you so terribly disappointing?
Why are you so terribly disappointing?: "Our disappointment begins to curdle, to turn back on itself, poison the heart, turn us nasty and low. It shifts from merely being a national mood or general temperament, into a way of being. A wiring, deep and harmful and permanent. It's all very disappointing, really."
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