Flotsam & Jetsam

U-bahn, by Chris Glass

Thu, 17 May 2012 22:41:52 -0400

U-bahn, by Chris Glass

"Sometimes with books, as with farts, it’s better to just hold it in."

Mon, 07 May 2012 00:22:37 -0400

“Sometimes with books, as with farts, it’s better to just hold it in.”

- Nina Strohminger, eviscerating Colin McGinn’s The Meaning of Disgust

“New types of conduct”

Sat, 05 May 2012 22:58:00 -0400

“New types of conduct”:

Florian Müller demolishes the notion that Google’s conduct with respect to the Java APIs was standard “industry practice”.

Plus, the last line is brilliant:

[T]he fact that there wasn’t another high-profile lawsuit over a hijacked API doesn’t mean anything: there simply wasn’t a need for anyone to bring such a lawsuit because no hijacked API ever reached a level of commercial significance even remotely comparable to that of Android. New types of conduct require new types of lawsuits.

Glory Boys

Wed, 02 May 2012 11:06:19 -0400

Glory Boys:

Drew Magary on Gregg Easterbrook (and, by extension, most sports columnists):

As I’ve said here before, Easterbrook is the kind of uppity asshole who attaches a moral lesson to any sports result. Teams don’t lose because they’re lacking in talent, or because the other team happened to play better that day. Teams lose because EGO-DRIVEN GLOREE BOYZ ARE TOO BUSY LISTENING TO THE HIPPITY HOP TO PROPERLY REPRESENT AMERICA ON THE FIELD OF PLAY.

[…]

Never mind that the NFL itself has morphed into a money-gobbling, corporate-whoring, shit-eating behemoth. It’s still incumbent upon the PLAYERS to be ambassadors and moral exemplars for their sport, even though sports don’t need any such representation.

O RLY?

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 12:57:00 -0400

Obama on busting medical marijuana growers:

I can’t ask the Justice Department to say, “Ignore completely a federal law that’s on the books.”

Yeah, that never happens.

Replies, promoted tweets, and a crazy idea

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 12:59:57 -0400

Replies, promoted tweets, and a crazy idea:

Dan Wineman:

What if users were treated like thinking beings and not like credit cards with eyestalks?

Spring is in the air, so here are a few photos I took in the...

Sat, 17 Mar 2012 00:08:00 -0400

Spring is in the air, so here are a few photos I took in the State Botanical Garden of Georgia: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Defining Property

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 17:34:40 -0400

Defining Property:

Paul Graham on intellectual property and, without mentioning it by name, SOPA/PIPA:

When you’re abusing the legal system by trying to use mass lawsuits against randomly chosen people as a form of exemplary punishment, or lobbying for laws that would break the Internet if they passed, that’s ipso facto evidence you’re using a definition of property that doesn’t work.

Also, this is the most concise diagnosis of the basic problem with music labels and movie studios I’ve read, and it applies equally well to, e.g., investment banks:

[T]he underlying problem with the labels and studios is that the people who run them are driven by bonuses rather than equity.

"[Most World of Warcraft players] understand that their problems can’t be banished just by reading a..."

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 19:58:00 -0500

“[Most World of Warcraft players] understand that their problems can’t be banished just by reading a few words from an enchanted parchment—even if we feel that’s how the world ought to work. I live in perpetual hope that legislators will someday grasp this point.”

- Julian Sanchez

Note that these two concepts are pretty much exact opposites.

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 09:41:19 -0500

Note that these two concepts are pretty much exact opposites.

Kill Hollywood

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:53:00 -0500

Kill Hollywood:

Paul Graham and Y Combinator are looking to fund startups that will compete with movies and TV:

The main reason we want to fund such startups is not to protect the world from more SOPAs, but because SOPA brought it to our attention that Hollywood is dying. They must be dying if they’re resorting to such tactics. If movies and TV were growing rapidly, that growth would take up all their attention. When a striker is fouled in the penalty area, he doesn’t stop as long as he still has control of the ball; it’s only when he’s beaten that he turns to appeal to the ref. SOPA shows Hollywood is beaten. And yet the audiences to be captured from movies and TV are still huge. There is a lot of potential energy to be liberated there.

(via Daring Fireball)

If both Paul Graham and Horace Dediu think there’s something here, that’s probably a pretty good sign that there’s something here.

"Make good stuff, then make it easy for people to buy it. There’s your anti-piracy plan. The big..."

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 22:47:05 -0500

“Make good stuff, then make it easy for people to buy it. There’s your anti-piracy plan. The big content companies are TERRIBLE at doing both of these things, so it’s no wonder they’re not doing so well in the current environment.”

- Jonathan Coulton (via Merlin Mann)

"This map exhibits remarkable structural features that delight topologists."

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:02:00 -0500

“This map exhibits remarkable structural features that delight topologists.”

- Rida Farouki on the Hopf map

The President’s challenge

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 20:45:00 -0500

The President’s challenge:

Nat Torkington lays the smack down on the Obama administration’s bullshit challenge to the tech community (see also Tim O’Reilly’s posts: 1, 2, 3).

(via Daring Fireball)

50 States and 50 Metros

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:38:00 -0500

50 States and 50 Metros

Who wrote the infamous Ron Paul newsletters?

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 23:26:48 -0500

Who wrote the infamous Ron Paul newsletters?:

Gene Callahan has a pretty convincing theory.

How Doctors Die

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 23:22:58 -0500

How Doctors Die:

Ken Murray:

It’s not a frequent topic of discussion, but doctors die, too. And they don’t die like the rest of us. What’s unusual about them is not how much treatment they get compared to most Americans, but how little.

(via Kottke)

You make me nervous

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 02:06:00 -0500

You make me nervous

“Mathalysis” by Milan Kollinger

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 18:54:00 -0500

“Mathalysis” by Milan Kollinger

"In the September 2008 meeting at which Paulson and Bernanke briefed lawmakers on the need for TARP,..."

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 23:54:00 -0500

“In the September 2008 meeting at which Paulson and Bernanke briefed lawmakers on the need for TARP, Bernanke said that if nothing was done, “unemployment would rise — to 8 or 9 percent from the prevailing 6.1 percent.” […] The U.S. jobless rate hasn’t dipped below 8.8 percent since March 2009.”

- Bloomberg