January 2010
47 posts
2 tags
“An old British lady said, “But I just love the smell of newspapers! And books —...”
– Jonathan Harris, Davos, Switzerland. (via fascinated)
What really frustrates me is when fear of change is warped into open hostility towards those who embrace it. Change is natural. Those who fight against that fact are fighting against the nature of the universe, and something tells me that in the...
1 tag
“The whole thing basically went like that: Republican asks obnoxious question...”
– War Room — Salon.com (via think4yourself | soupsoup) I was under the weather yesterday so I missed the event, but fortunately the whole thing is on C-SPAN’s YouTube channel. I wish presidents did more televised events like this, but this one was so brutal I doubt it’ll happen again any time soon....
“An anecdote: When the iMac came out, Apple drew a line in the sand. They said:...”
– stevenf.com - I need to talk to you about computers. I’ve been… (via agovella)
1 tag
redking asked: http://vimeo.com/1017019 -- this is your band, right? are you still doing shows in .pl?
2 tags
The Moon is Dead →
fuckyeahspace:
I’ve never gone into politics on Fuck Yeah Space and although I support increased funding for science, I acknowledge that policy-making is a complicated business with no easy solutions (if you don’t understand the intricacies of policy making, please read what is arguably the most influential ecology theory essays ever). Society is a complex system, interwoven and tangled by time....
1 tag
“I will not give up on changing the tone of our politics. I know it’s an election...”
– President Obama (via savingpaper)
Good rhetoric. Now please, please make this happen before everyone truly loses faith in the governing process.
1 tag
“The one lesson Barack Obama has learned in his first year in office is that...”
– The Pandering Guide to the State of the Union - Speeches - Gawker (via peterwknox)
You could also replace “grownups” with “remotely intelligent human beings”.
1 tag
3 tags
“We think we’ve captured the essence of reading the newspaper. A superior...”
– Martin Nisenholtz of the NYTimes
Live from the Apple ‘latest creation’ event — Engadget
1 tag
2 tags
“One of the most pernicious attributes of ideology, whether secular or religious...”
– God is Not Great | Solar Powered Bibles for Haiti: Why Some…
A very insightful and well thought out article on how Christian Evangelicals are exploiting the Haitian earthquake for their own gain.
4 tags
“More than half of the “best-selling” e-books on the Kindle, Amazon.com’s...”
– With Kindle, Publishers Give Away E-Books to Spur Sales - NYTimes.com
OK, please tell me someone else has noticed that the book industry is mimicking the music industry circa 1998. Soon, unknown writers will start going digital-only, and publishers will start whining that their revenues are falling...
2 tags
“Every day is more time consuming than the last. Anytime I get 1 thing done I...”
– Personal Management in the year 2010 by Big Method.
This sums up about where the internet and I are at with our relationship at present.
(via lanipauli)
This is exactly where I am as well. I think this is a natural dilemma for those of us whose jobs require at least six hours a day of net time.
2 tags
1 tag
1 tag
1 tag
“Building individuals up benefits the individual. Tearing individuals down and...”
– Matt Dillahunty, The Atheist Experience, January 17th 2010. (via goodreasonnews)
2 tags
“With the new tablet device that is debuting next week, Apple Inc. Chief...”
– With Tablet, Apple Sees New Money in Old Media - WSJ.com
I KNEW it!
1 tag
“It is a truly remarkable feat, in just one year’s time, to turn the fear...”
– Drew Westen: Obama Finally Gets His Victory For Bipartisanship
People, for the most part, are short-sighted and forgetful. Why is this a surprise?
1 tag
“Sexual Assault Prevention Tips Guaranteed to Work
1. Don’t put drugs in...”
– I got yer rape prevention email forward right here - rape prevention tips for men. Read the whole post. (via monkeytypist)
Brilliant
1 tag
Why Obama is suddenly unpopular
nickzed:
The Economist:
Some on the left, like Jane Hamsher at FireDogLake, have a health-care position voters can understand: it’s all the fault of the insurance companies and Big Pharma. That’s not true and leads to no workable solution, but it makes progressives happy to hear it.
Scott Brown has a health position voters can understand, too: it’s all the fault of big government. That’s not...
1 tag
“He has pledged to be the 41st vote against health care. And since Massachusetts...”
– Stephen Colbert
America, once again you disappoint me.
1 tag
“I’m starting to get both angry and dispirited by any number of groups who are...”
– Balk
Massachusetts Senate Race: The Fundraising Letter You Won’t See | The Awl
(via peterwknox)
Agreed completely. It’s become impossible for me to read about politics in America without wanting to slam my head into my desk repeatedly.
1 tag
“Let me see if I have this straight. You have to replace one of the most beloved...”
– Jon Stewart (via soupsoup) (via savingpaper)
1 tag
“Depending on which blog you trust, full details of Steve Jobs’s latest gadget...”
– My Generation: Articles of faith - Times Online
This could really work, not just for magazines but for newspapers as well. If Apple makes this affordable, and more importantly, if more and more manufacturers begin to see a tablet device as more of a substitute for books, magazines, and newspapers,...
1 tag
“There is no escape. You can’t be a vagabond and an artist and still be a solid...”
– Hermann Hesse, “Wandering”
(via shatteredsunshine)
(via printedandbound)
“I am so tired of rearranging my life around what the stupidest people MIGHT do.”
– Bill Maher (via cocknbull) (via goodreasonnews)
Amen, brother.
1 tag
Things Atheists Didn't Do in 2009 | Quick Hitts →
See part 2 as well.
1 tag
“Usually, freelance journalists find a buyer for their work before digging into...”
– Paige Williams – Journalism, etc. – About The Dolly Freed Story
I really like this idea and execution, though once the novelty wears off, I don’t think it will be sustainable. Nonetheless, congratulations to Paige Williams for being the first and to pull it off so well.
Haitian Quake Person Database →
A friend of mine is working on this project to register persons missing as a result of the earthquake in Haiti. Please spread the word, especially if you know of anyone with loved ones affected by the quake.
1 tag
“Read a lot. Study grammar. Be nice to older writers (laughs). No. Hang in there,...”
– Author Jonathan Ames gives advice to aspiring writers. (via lanipauli)
Check, check, and check, if my thesis adviser counts.
2 tags
The Daily Caller →
Nevermind the content - this is one of the ugliest websites since 2005.
1 tag
How to post photos on the internet
marco:
Take a boring photo with your 50mm f/1.8 prime wide open, with a small sliver of your subject in focus. Leave large portions of the subject outside of the focal plane, regardless of how important or interesting they are.
Rotate the camera 30 degrees before shooting.
Square-crop.
Oversaturate or slightly desaturate. Tint red to look old. Under no circumstances should you apply a...
“On days when workers have the sense they’re making headway in their jobs, or...”
– Progress, not recognition or incentives, is what really motivates workers. “Breakthrough Ideas for 2010,” Harvard Business Review (via somethingchanged) (via fluffynotes) (via alexjcampbell) (via lanipauli)
This week in Stating the Obvious…
1 tag
“Getting attacked is really the only way we Americans learn about world...”
– Jon Stewart on the new threat from Yemen.
1 tag
“A lot of the people who read a bestselling novel, for example, do not read much...”
– The Economist via (via mudd up!) (via ericmortensen)(via jasencomstock) (via jaimeleigh)
This is true. And it’s double edged to the point where it’s the reason I haven’t read any of the Harry Potters (heard I’m missing out), the DaVinci Code (eh), and anything Twilight (ye gods).
(via peterwknox)
...
ask me anything →
Go ahead, you know you want to.
3 tags
“The crumbling pay scales have not only hollowed out household budgets but...”
– Freelance writing’s unfortunate new model - latimes.com
This article is dead-on with my experience in the business. And the writer comes to the same conclusion I have: an advertising-based model is antithetical to having quality content in the media.
2 tags
“It’s just like living in a village, where it’s actually hard to lie because...”
– I’m So Totally, Digitally Close to You - Clive Thompson - NYTimes.com
Very interesting analogy.
1 tag
“We’ve long exceeded the capacity of information that we can absorb and retain....”
– Dave Armano on The Human Feed (via lanipauli)
I’d comment on this but I got too distracted by my Tumblr feed to actually read the article.
1 tag
3 tags
In defense of Google
…life before Twitter, cyber bullying or Paris Hilton had something to recommend it, if only that it didn’t have any of them. It was slower, knowledge was more precious for having been hard won, there was no glowing oracle to tell you every answer. If you wanted to find that forgotten high school love, you had to open a book and start turning, one page at a time.
- ‘Oh,those days...