January 2009
35 posts
johnroderick: Snow’s about melted, time for: windstorm! After that hail, then frogs. If anyone is secretly keeping Israelite slaves, please set them free.
December 2008
60 posts
JohnCleese: some people spout complete twaddle. they could be spouting incomplete twaddle and leaving the remaining twaddle for us. thoughtless!
1 tag
On the extrinsic geometry of contact structures →
Vladimir Krouglov
How to Break a Terrorist →
How anyone can say that torture keeps Americans safe is beyond me — unless you don’t count American soldiers as Americans.
(ht: Schneier)
On the App Store and Free Markets →
It’s true that the standardization of App Store prices prices at 99 cents is a bad thing, but, as Brent Simmons points out, the key problem is that there’s no way to try before you buy. Even though it’s not really a lot of money, who is going to plunk down $10 or $20 on an app they can’t try out first?
(ht: Daring Fireball)
johnroderick: My half-brother has spent twenty-five years saying “Marijuana’s not addictive!” Now he’s shortened it to “Where’s my phone?”
nick: “The apostrophe key does not mean ‘Holy shit, here comes an S!’”
emilybrianna: Saying “hello” into the tv remote doesn’t work. This goes double for when it’s the alarm clock that’s beeping.
“Are they handing out herpes with playoff spots this year? I don’t think...”
– Aaron Schatz
luomat: Dear FCC: Why aren’t you doing anything about TV commercials being 3x volume of the show? That’s much worse than fleeting expletives/nipples
We’ve decided the Atlanta and D.C. NBA teams need to switch mascots, giving the world the Washington Hawks and the Atlanta (Grand) Wizards.
1 tag
Recently read: The Consolation of Philosophy, by Boethius
Perhaps it may strike some as strange to say that evil men do not exist, especially since they are so numerous; but it is not so strange. For I do not deny that those who are evil are evil; but I do deny that they are, in the pure and simple sense of the term.
gordonshumway: When I said my dessert tasted like caulk, it was sadly and horrifyingly misunderstood.
sloganeerist: I make coffee with a French press for the same reason I fish with a flyrod. I like things that are unnecessarily complex and frustrating.
1 tag
Recently read: Vulcan’s Hammer, by Philip K. Dick
Might there be some unintended consequences to rationalizing government by putting a computer in charge? Given that this is a Philip K. Dick novel, I think you can guess the answer.
AmyJane: I can’t help but feel that we’ve done something wrong when I hear the boy refer to his Christmas list as “Ordering from Santa.”
It’s distressing to realize I’ve reached the age where I enjoy receiving socks for Christmas.
1 tag
Recently read: The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, by Edward R. Tufte
This is the first of Tufte’s books on information graphics and is full of sound advice and excellent examples, like Charles Joseph Minard’s depiction of Napolean’s Russian campaign.
scottsimpson: The beauty of a bottle of wine is that it can be re-gifted dozens of times without losing its freshness.
hoosiergirl: There’s a golf controversy - the women’s long-drive champ used to be a man! Not bad considering she lost 2 balls between her 1st & 2nd hole.
Brother: “Clint Eastwood is to scaring people as Woody Allen is to casting himself as the romantic lead with highly implausible partners.”
indefensible: Hey TV journalist! Saying the Lebanese Jewish community has ‘gone underground’, while you are walking through a Jewish cemetary – Not cool.
Private →
John Gruber gives an excellent overview of the use of private APIs in third-party iPhone applications.
raylehmann: Obama’s been on the campaign trail since the day he got here. So if his Senate seat isn’t filled immediately, that changes…what, exactly?
diveintomark: Someone once told me that if anybody hassles me about language, to yell “prescriptive grammarian!” and the linguists will come rough him up.
badbanana: He’s making a list, and checking it twice. And washing his hands three times. And checking his list again. And tapping the door knob twice.
Turns out that opening the case of a Western Digital My Passport Essential HD is harder than the internet would have you believe.
colbycosh: It’s true: megapixels are the penis size of digital tech. (I.e., a reasonably relevant quality I dismiss out of sheer self-interest)
fireland: My kid’s got ADD so we’re thinking about sending her to one of those concentration camps?
2 tags
“Mathematicians do not study objects, but the relations between objects; to them...”
– Henri Poincaré, Science and Hypothesis
@cederber The WSJ story doesn’t appear to be entirely accurate. See http://tr.im/2bji and http://tr.im/2bjl
summersumz: I love how the news is all “In Arab culture, throwing shoes is a grave insult” as though elsewhere it’s the same as “mad props Mr. Prez!”
Seadragon Mobile is pretty cool, but no Mandelbrot set? WTF?
gruber: What’s a good name for the award Amazon should win for not having the Kindle available during the entire holiday season?
bcompton: No, son, we don’t OWN that movie. We own a plastic disc & an obligation to watch that movie with the blinds down so no strangers “steal” it.
Consider the Philosopher →
James Ryerson revisits David Foster Wallace’s undergraduate thesis, revealing some of the key recurring themes of Wallace’s later writing. Essentially a refutation of Richard Taylor’s semantic “proof” of fatalism, the thesis arrives at a distinctly DFW conclusion:
if Taylor and the fatalists want to force upon us a metaphysical conclusion, they must do...
lonelysandwich: The Pew Charitable Trusts should’ve dropped some of that dough on a sillier name.
I will never get used to rain in December. Rain is for summer afternoon thunderstorms, not winter.
1 tag
Recently read: The Dog of the South, by Charles Portis
This was recommended by a friend, who said it was one of the best books he’d ever read. I wouldn’t go that far, but it is pretty good. The narrator is a finely wrought character, but his accidental travel partner, Dr. Reo Symes, is a great one. A disgraced doctor, incorrigible con man and deluded dreamer, Symes is at once...
Denver just put their FIFTH running back of the year on IR. Good thing their defense doesn’t completely suck ass.
Oh, wait. It does.
Shit.