Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Sub Rosa: Emails from the Dead (popmatters)
Posthumous e-mail services are an example of what has been described as the “transcendence industries”, enterprises that can be loosely divided into two categories: those that place emphasis on pragmatic issues, and those that cater to emotional fears and needs (though there is, of course, much overlap between the two). The practical services allow you to leave vital posthumous instructions for family and friends concerning such things as funeral arrangements, financial records, estate details, and insurance plans.
Blogger now lets you post in the future. Expect a nice note from me on May 6, 2108.
Posthumous e-mail services are an example of what has been described as the “transcendence industries”, enterprises that can be loosely divided into two categories: those that place emphasis on pragmatic issues, and those that cater to emotional fears and needs (though there is, of course, much overlap between the two). The practical services allow you to leave vital posthumous instructions for family and friends concerning such things as funeral arrangements, financial records, estate details, and insurance plans.
Blogger now lets you post in the future. Expect a nice note from me on May 6, 2108.
Monday, May 05, 2008
Get a free, DRM-less copy of Nine Inch Nails latest album, The Slip, here.
the music is available in a variety of formats including high-quality MP3, FLAC or M4A lossless at CD quality and even higher-than-CD quality 24/96 WAVE. your link will include all options - all free. all downloads include a PDF with artwork and credits.
the music is available in a variety of formats including high-quality MP3, FLAC or M4A lossless at CD quality and even higher-than-CD quality 24/96 WAVE. your link will include all options - all free. all downloads include a PDF with artwork and credits.
Friday, May 02, 2008
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Bad and getting worse: Gas is bad here, but it's $12/gallon in Aruba and $18.50 in Sierra Leone.
There's always Venezuela, where you can get a gallon for $0.12.
There's always Venezuela, where you can get a gallon for $0.12.
Harvard Law professor Elizabeth Warren on "The Coming Collapse of the Middle Class" (via metafilter)
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Until I see this for sale in the back of a comic book, I'm not going to believe it's real.
The comic blundering and ineptitude of the Bush Administration (or willful and premeditated subversion of justice, depending on how you look at it) apparently extends to its IT department. How they "lost" 5,000,000 emails.
Idiot security guard uses authority and a father gets his kid taken away from him at a ballgame after he mistakenly orders him a 'hard' lemonade.
And so what had begun as an outing to the ballpark ended with Leo crying himself to sleep in front of a television inside the Child Protective Services building, and Ratte and his wife standing on the sidewalk outside, wondering when they'd see their little boy again.
(detroit free press)
And so what had begun as an outing to the ballpark ended with Leo crying himself to sleep in front of a television inside the Child Protective Services building, and Ratte and his wife standing on the sidewalk outside, wondering when they'd see their little boy again.
(detroit free press)
Monday, April 28, 2008
"We are in the midst of a financial crisis the likes of which we haven't seen since the Great Depression."
George Soros on the bangup job we're doing with our economy.
George Soros on the bangup job we're doing with our economy.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Toshiba Household Nuke
Toshiba has developed a new class of micro size Nuclear Reactors that is designed to power individual apartment buildings or city blocks. The new reactor, which is only 20 feet by 6 feet, could change everything for small remote communities, small businesses or even a group of neighbors who are fed up with the power companies and want more control over their energy needs.
Toshiba has developed a new class of micro size Nuclear Reactors that is designed to power individual apartment buildings or city blocks. The new reactor, which is only 20 feet by 6 feet, could change everything for small remote communities, small businesses or even a group of neighbors who are fed up with the power companies and want more control over their energy needs.
Monday, April 21, 2008
More Bush Administration subversion of the free press in to an echoplex of pro-war talking points. (nytimes)
Hidden behind that appearance of objectivity, though, is a Pentagon information apparatus that has used those analysts in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance, an examination by The New York Times has found. The effort, which began with the buildup to the Iraq war and continues to this day, has sought to exploit ideological and military allegiances, and also a powerful financial dynamic: Most of the analysts have ties to military contractors vested in the very war policies they are asked to assess on air. Those business relationships are hardly ever disclosed to the viewers, and sometimes not even to the networks themselves. But collectively, the men on the plane and several dozen other military analysts represent more than 150 military contractors either as lobbyists, senior executives, board members or consultants. The companies include defense heavyweights, but also scores of smaller companies, all part of a vast assemblage of contractors scrambling for hundreds of billions in military business generated by the administration’s war on terror. It is a furious competition, one in which inside information and easy access to senior officials are highly prized.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
The FBI Lied to increase its powers under the PATRIOT act.
The strange episode is recounted in newly declassified documents obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation under the Freedom of Information Act. The documents shed new light on how senior FBI officials' determination to gain independence from judicial oversight slowed its own investigation, and led the bureau's director to offer inaccurate testimony to Congress. The revelations are likely to play a key role in Capitol Hill hearings Tuesday and Wednesday on the FBI's use of so-called national security letters, or NSLs
The strange episode is recounted in newly declassified documents obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation under the Freedom of Information Act. The documents shed new light on how senior FBI officials' determination to gain independence from judicial oversight slowed its own investigation, and led the bureau's director to offer inaccurate testimony to Congress. The revelations are likely to play a key role in Capitol Hill hearings Tuesday and Wednesday on the FBI's use of so-called national security letters, or NSLs
Monday, April 14, 2008
Papal Skateboard Design Contest, sponsored by the Archdiocese of New York in honor of the Pope's upcoming visit.
On not understanding the context of our present: "What Have We Learned, If Anything" (nybooks)
War was not just a catastrophe in its own right; it brought other horrors in its wake. World War I led to an unprecedented militarization of society, the worship of violence, and a cult of death that long outlasted the war itself and prepared the ground for the political disasters that followed. States and societies seized during and after World War II by Hitler or Stalin (or by both, in sequence) experienced not just occupation and exploitation but degradation and corrosion of the laws and norms of civil society. The very structures of civilized life—regulations, laws, teachers, policemen, judges— disappeared or else took on sinister significance: far from guaranteeing security, the state itself became the leading source of insecurity. Reciprocity and trust, whether in neighbors, colleagues, community, or leaders, collapsed. Behavior that would be aberrant in conventional circumstances— theft, dishonesty, dissemblance, indifference to the misfortune of others, and the opportunistic exploitation of their suffering—became not just normal but sometimes the only way to save your family and yourself. Dissent or opposition was stifled by universal fear.
War was not just a catastrophe in its own right; it brought other horrors in its wake. World War I led to an unprecedented militarization of society, the worship of violence, and a cult of death that long outlasted the war itself and prepared the ground for the political disasters that followed. States and societies seized during and after World War II by Hitler or Stalin (or by both, in sequence) experienced not just occupation and exploitation but degradation and corrosion of the laws and norms of civil society. The very structures of civilized life—regulations, laws, teachers, policemen, judges— disappeared or else took on sinister significance: far from guaranteeing security, the state itself became the leading source of insecurity. Reciprocity and trust, whether in neighbors, colleagues, community, or leaders, collapsed. Behavior that would be aberrant in conventional circumstances— theft, dishonesty, dissemblance, indifference to the misfortune of others, and the opportunistic exploitation of their suffering—became not just normal but sometimes the only way to save your family and yourself. Dissent or opposition was stifled by universal fear.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Next American City's "Respect for the Human Scale"
I don’t think we’re going to have to make a whole lot of further accommodations to the automobile. I’m serenely convinced that the automobile is going to be a diminishing presence in our lives. We’re not going to come up with any “miracle” or “rescue remedy” for the petroleum scarcity problem.
I don’t think we’re going to have to make a whole lot of further accommodations to the automobile. I’m serenely convinced that the automobile is going to be a diminishing presence in our lives. We’re not going to come up with any “miracle” or “rescue remedy” for the petroleum scarcity problem.
I think you’re going to see an interesting political problem arise, where motoring simply becomes an elite activity again and will be greatly resented by the masses of Americans.
Local cost of the Iraq War: FY 2008
See what W's senseless bloodbath is costing your town/county this year!
See what W's senseless bloodbath is costing your town/county this year!
Monday, April 07, 2008
Wanderlust - 2d
Bjork - Wanderlust (2d), with 3d version to come later this month. Making-of video is here
Bjork - Wanderlust (2d), with 3d version to come later this month. Making-of video is here
"What are the most important problems in your field? Are you working on one of them? Why not?"
"You and Your Research" (pdf)
A transcript of an excellent talk given by Richard Hamming given at Bell Labs in 1986 on what makes great science.
"You and Your Research" (pdf)
A transcript of an excellent talk given by Richard Hamming given at Bell Labs in 1986 on what makes great science.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Going for Broke (NewYorker)
In recent months, a lot of people have been handed financial get-out-of-jail-free cards. C.E.O.s who presided over billions in losses have walked away with tens of millions in compensation. The Federal Reserve has showered cheap money on banks and brokerages. Even Bear Stearns caught a break when, last week, J. P. Morgan agreed to quintuple the price it will pay to take over the firm. But there’s one group for whom forgiveness has not been forthcoming: ordinary consumers struggling with piles of credit-card debt. For them, escaping the burden of their bad decisions and their bad luck has become much harder.
In recent months, a lot of people have been handed financial get-out-of-jail-free cards. C.E.O.s who presided over billions in losses have walked away with tens of millions in compensation. The Federal Reserve has showered cheap money on banks and brokerages. Even Bear Stearns caught a break when, last week, J. P. Morgan agreed to quintuple the price it will pay to take over the firm. But there’s one group for whom forgiveness has not been forthcoming: ordinary consumers struggling with piles of credit-card debt. For them, escaping the burden of their bad decisions and their bad luck has become much harder.
The Green Light (Vanity Fair)
As the first anniversary of 9/11 approached, and a prized Guantánamo detainee wouldn’t talk, the Bush administration’s highest-ranking lawyers argued for extreme interrogation techniques, circumventing international law, the Geneva Conventions, and the army’s own Field Manual. The attorneys would even fly to Guantánamo to ratchet up the pressure—then blame abuses on the military. Philippe Sands follows the torture trail, and holds out the possibility of war crimes charges.
As the first anniversary of 9/11 approached, and a prized Guantánamo detainee wouldn’t talk, the Bush administration’s highest-ranking lawyers argued for extreme interrogation techniques, circumventing international law, the Geneva Conventions, and the army’s own Field Manual. The attorneys would even fly to Guantánamo to ratchet up the pressure—then blame abuses on the military. Philippe Sands follows the torture trail, and holds out the possibility of war crimes charges.
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
The music industry's latest extortion scheme: preemptive, presumptive taxation
The plan—the boldest move yet to keep the wounded entertainment industry giants afloat—is simple: Consumers will pay a monthly fee, bundled into an internet-service bill in exchange for unfettered access to a database of all known music.
There are so many problems with this that I don't even know where to begin. What about those that don't want Warner's crap product? What about deaf/hearing impaired customers? Why should I pay for the failed business model for an industry that I hate? What precedent does this set for other failed campaign contributors? Am I supposed to pay a Ford tax because they make garbage cars that nobody wants anymore? This is utter bullshit. Let the music industry die the slow, painful death it so rightfully deserves.
The plan—the boldest move yet to keep the wounded entertainment industry giants afloat—is simple: Consumers will pay a monthly fee, bundled into an internet-service bill in exchange for unfettered access to a database of all known music.
There are so many problems with this that I don't even know where to begin. What about those that don't want Warner's crap product? What about deaf/hearing impaired customers? Why should I pay for the failed business model for an industry that I hate? What precedent does this set for other failed campaign contributors? Am I supposed to pay a Ford tax because they make garbage cars that nobody wants anymore? This is utter bullshit. Let the music industry die the slow, painful death it so rightfully deserves.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
[Americans are Sheep, revisited]
A Salon analysis on the Time Magazine article claim that Americans don't care about domestic spying abuses, as long as they are accompanied by vague, dubious, or even false claims about increased security.
A Salon analysis on the Time Magazine article claim that Americans don't care about domestic spying abuses, as long as they are accompanied by vague, dubious, or even false claims about increased security.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
War, jobs, economy, election be damned. Britney is still huge news.
Some stars hate the paparazzi. Others use them to reinvent themselves or increase their fame. Working with the paparazzi to create memorable shots is called “giving it up,” a sexualized metaphor that neatly captures the masculine-feminine romantic dynamic of need and reluctance that characterizes the relationship between celebrity photographers and their subjects. Paris Hilton is the Queen of Giving It Up, Dano says. “She creates the beautiful shots that we need. She is the one who wants it.” Another favorite is Lindsay Lohan. “Lindsay’s OK, but she’s kind of strange, because she can be high, or in a weird mood,” he says. His least favorite subjects are surly male stars like Leonardo di Caprio, Ben Affleck, Justin Timberlake, and Tom Cruise. “Jessica Simpson, she’s really sweet, she’ll give it up. Gwen Stefani is nice. She’ll give it up.” But no one in the business compares to Britney.
Some stars hate the paparazzi. Others use them to reinvent themselves or increase their fame. Working with the paparazzi to create memorable shots is called “giving it up,” a sexualized metaphor that neatly captures the masculine-feminine romantic dynamic of need and reluctance that characterizes the relationship between celebrity photographers and their subjects. Paris Hilton is the Queen of Giving It Up, Dano says. “She creates the beautiful shots that we need. She is the one who wants it.” Another favorite is Lindsay Lohan. “Lindsay’s OK, but she’s kind of strange, because she can be high, or in a weird mood,” he says. His least favorite subjects are surly male stars like Leonardo di Caprio, Ben Affleck, Justin Timberlake, and Tom Cruise. “Jessica Simpson, she’s really sweet, she’ll give it up. Gwen Stefani is nice. She’ll give it up.” But no one in the business compares to Britney.
A good name dragged down (Washington Post)
More American consumers have gotten caught up in a special brand of watchlist purgatory because their names are similar to ones on OFAC's list of "specially designated nationals," according to e-mails and other documents released under court order yesterday. By law, businesses are barred from conducting transactions with anyone on the list. Yesterday's court-ordered release of documents to the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, offers a window into the kinds of disruptions suffered by those ensnared in the process, as well as the difficulty of clearing their names.
More American consumers have gotten caught up in a special brand of watchlist purgatory because their names are similar to ones on OFAC's list of "specially designated nationals," according to e-mails and other documents released under court order yesterday. By law, businesses are barred from conducting transactions with anyone on the list. Yesterday's court-ordered release of documents to the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, offers a window into the kinds of disruptions suffered by those ensnared in the process, as well as the difficulty of clearing their names.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
"Our dollar is worth maybe zero over here," said Mary Kelly, an American tourist from Indianapolis, Indiana, in front of the Anne Frank house. "It's hard to find a place to exchange. We have to go downtown, to the central station or post office."
Friday, March 14, 2008
More Evil Bush garbage
The Environmental Protection Agency weakened one part of its new limits on smog-forming ozone after an unusual, last-minute intervention by President Bush, according to documents released by the EPA.
EPA officials initially tried to set a lower seasonal limit on ozone to protect wildlife, parks and farmland, as required under federal law. While their proposal was less restrictive than what the EPA's scientific advisers had proposed, Bush overruled EPA officials Tuesday and ordered the agency to raise the limit, according to the documents.
"It is unprecedented and an unlawful act of political interference for the president personally to override a decision that the Clean Air Act leaves exclusively to EPA's expert scientific judgment," said John Walke, clean air director for the Natural Resources Defense Council
Coaches drive their teams hard, using long practices to teach students to know when a pig has too much back fat or if a T-bone is cut poorly... Meat team coaches say that decisiveness is a key to meat-judging success.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Band video clips are a dime-a-dozen these days, but here's a nice one by Wilco on Austin City Limits: "Impossible Germany" (thanks, Pete)
Hey Hollywood! Stop everything and cancel those production company contracts. Fred and Sharon are signing deals!
Monday, March 10, 2008
Runnin' With The Beatles.
I'm sure this'll get yanked within the hour, but it's good while it lasts...
I'm sure this'll get yanked within the hour, but it's good while it lasts...
Proposition 317 : 1000000 signatures are needed to help make St. Patrick's Day an official U.S. holiday. (sponsored by Guinness)
Sunday, March 09, 2008
The SIGUR RÓS film, Heima, is available on youtube in its entirety
'heima' is sigur rós's first ever film, filmed over two weeks during the summer of 2006 when the band undertook a series of free, unannounced concerts in iceland. they hauled 40-plus people round 15 locations to the furthest flung corners of their homeland for their debut venture into live film, to create something, well, inspirational.
on their way they went to ghost towns, outsider art shrines, national parks, small community halls and the absolute middle-of-nowhere-ness of the highland wilderness, as well as playing the largest gig of their career (and in icelandic history) at their homecoming reykjavik show.
'heima' (icelandic for "at home" or "homeland"), truly, shows sigur rós as never before. whereas seeing the group live is normally a large-scale and sometimes overwhelming experience, making full use of lights and mesmeric visuals, 'heima' was always intended to reveal more of what was actually going on on stage. it does this via long-held close-ups and a rare intimate proximity, without ever once breaking the spell.
loosely based on a documentary format - and including personal reflections from the band - 'heima' also serves as an alternative primer for iceland the country, which is revealed as less stag destination-du-jour and more desolate, magical place where human beings have little right to trespass.
'heima' features performances of songs from all four sigur rós albums, many radically reworked, as well as two exclusive new songs in 'guitardjamm', which was filmed inside an abandoned herring oil tank in the far west of the country, and the traditional 'a ferd til breidarfjardar 1922', performed with poet steindor andersen.
'heima' was directed by dean deblois, a long-time fan of the band and director of the oscar-nominated animated feature 'lilo & stitch', using an icelandic crew.
'heima' is sigur rós's first ever film, filmed over two weeks during the summer of 2006 when the band undertook a series of free, unannounced concerts in iceland. they hauled 40-plus people round 15 locations to the furthest flung corners of their homeland for their debut venture into live film, to create something, well, inspirational.
on their way they went to ghost towns, outsider art shrines, national parks, small community halls and the absolute middle-of-nowhere-ness of the highland wilderness, as well as playing the largest gig of their career (and in icelandic history) at their homecoming reykjavik show.
'heima' (icelandic for "at home" or "homeland"), truly, shows sigur rós as never before. whereas seeing the group live is normally a large-scale and sometimes overwhelming experience, making full use of lights and mesmeric visuals, 'heima' was always intended to reveal more of what was actually going on on stage. it does this via long-held close-ups and a rare intimate proximity, without ever once breaking the spell.
loosely based on a documentary format - and including personal reflections from the band - 'heima' also serves as an alternative primer for iceland the country, which is revealed as less stag destination-du-jour and more desolate, magical place where human beings have little right to trespass.
'heima' features performances of songs from all four sigur rós albums, many radically reworked, as well as two exclusive new songs in 'guitardjamm', which was filmed inside an abandoned herring oil tank in the far west of the country, and the traditional 'a ferd til breidarfjardar 1922', performed with poet steindor andersen.
'heima' was directed by dean deblois, a long-time fan of the band and director of the oscar-nominated animated feature 'lilo & stitch', using an icelandic crew.
Friday, March 07, 2008
POSSESSED (film)
A look at the mental health consequences of when collecting becomes hoarding
A look at the mental health consequences of when collecting becomes hoarding
Thursday, March 06, 2008
The Wire's War on the Drug War
If asked to serve on a jury deliberating a violation of state or federal drug laws, we will vote to acquit, regardless of the evidence presented. Save for a prosecution in which acts of violence or intended violence are alleged, we will — to borrow Justice Harry Blackmun's manifesto against the death penalty — no longer tinker with the machinery of the drug war. No longer can we collaborate with a government that uses nonviolent drug offenses to fill prisons with its poorest, most damaged and most desperate citizens.
Jury nullification is American dissent, as old and as heralded as the 1735 trial of John Peter Zenger, who was acquitted of seditious libel against the royal governor of New York, and absent a government capable of repairing injustices, it is legitimate protest.Wednesday, March 05, 2008
The National Academy of Engineering has released their "Grand Challenges in Engineering" list (see sidebar)
Clean water and affordable solar are great... but Enhancing VR?
Clean water and affordable solar are great... but Enhancing VR?
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
I found the NYTimes Migraine Art slideshow today as I coincidentally have a pounding headache that won't go away. Images like this definitely don't help.
