December 2009
54 posts
“Even before a Nigerian with Al Qaeda links tried to blow up a Northwest Airlines...”
– Maureen Dowd in her op-ed piece for the New York Times, wondering why our airport security isn’t more technologically advanced. Memo to Maureen: when attempting to use a sci-fi writer’s name as a shorthand for a vision of the future, it’s a good idea to actually be familiar with the writer’s work....
Daring Fireball Linked List: Bruce Schneier on... →
Gruber quotes:
Despite fearful rhetoric to the contrary, terrorism is not a transcendent threat. A terrorist attack cannot possibly destroy a country’s way of life; it’s only our reaction to that attack that can do that kind of damage. The more we undermine our own laws, the more we convert our buildings into fortresses, the more we reduce the freedoms and liberties at the foundation of our...
Op-Chart - Picturing the Past 10 Years - Graphic -... →
WatchKuroshio Sea - 2nd largest aquarium tank in the world (via Vimeo)
The only reason to go to Atlanta is for the aquarium. They have the largest tank in the world, which looks a lot like this, only more so.
WatchThe Tarantino Mixtape on Vimeo (via Vimeo)
Now I’m ready to go on a Tarantino binge.
New Archive Feature - Pinboard - antisocial... →
I’ve been using Pinboard as my cloud-y bookmark service of choice since it came out because I really like the minimalism and thoughtfulness that goes into it. Delicious has gotten a little too noisy for me. While it does cost, I like that they’re putting the costs up front, instead of using mysterious dot-com era magically free business plans.
This new feature allows you to have your...
DJ SHADOW'S SHADOW | More Intelligent Life →
A band that does nothing but cover one of my favorite albums of all time, DJ Shadow’s “Endtroducing”. Great drumming.
After Expelling Uighurs, Cambodia Approves Chinese... →
This is kind of convoluted, but important. China was the main backer of the Khmer Rouge, and protected it diplomatically well into the 90s. Cambodia’s current government is a hodgepodge of former Khmer Rouge and holdovers from the post-invasion Vietnamese puppet government. The Khmer Rouge did a lot to exterminate the Cham, Cambodia’s Muslim minority. It’s a sickening indication...
Twittering Tragedy (and engagements!) →
Interesting little post about a media reaction to a mother posting to Twitter during a family tragedy, and the author’s own similar occurance.
My fiancé and I experienced the flip side of this, using Twitter (and passed on to Facebook) to announce our engagement. We got a similar reaction, great reception from everybody we know on Twitter and Facebook, and even great stories of how the...
2001
Oh man, I’m just gonna dispense with what I remember listening to, because it’s not really clear. Probably more classic rock and less regrettable rock, but I also remember that 2001 is when the first Gorillaz album came out, and I was totally into that, and still am.
These days, 2001 has aged quite well. Cannibal Ox’s The Cold Vein is an album from my later hip hop phase that I...
My Decade in Music (2000 ed.)
So, I’ve been inspired by my friend Mike’s posting his memories of each year in music. I’m going to try to follow in kind, though with significant amounts of shame. I’ll throw out what I listened to, and what I find from that year that I still listen to, regardless of when I started to listen to it.
So, 2000.
Freshman year of high school, and you can imagine the crap I...
WatchHulu - It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Kitten Mittens Commercial
Is your cat fat, skinny, or an inbetween?
Watchmerlin:
lonelysandwich:
scottjacksonx:
Me doing the fishstick.
At least, I think I’m doing the fishstick.
C’mon now drummer, I wantcha ta tighten up for me now.
I should have listened to the episode before I filmed this. Maybe then my attempt at casually focusing on the camera wouldn’t come off as such an intense stare.
This video is the kind of thing that happens when people have...
Diagram of Geek Culture →
Sumerians Look On In Confusion As Christian God... →
“They learn that when cooking, not everything becomes floppy like spaghetti and...”
– Curious George: Curious George Takes a Job, Parts I & II episode on TV.com
Lou Zoom by Lou Reed →
This is endlessly hilarious to me.
Dengue Fever: Electric Cambodia →
Finally. I always thought this band was fun, but really a pale shadow of what came before, like a classic rock cover band. Now they put out a disc of rarities and classics of Cambodian pop music in the 60s. This is going to be incredible.
Makes me want to get a uke. Think it’s a...
Killer Earth - The 9th Annual Year in Ideas - NYT →
This idea rings very true to me. While I suspect the actual truth is somewhere between the Gaia and Medea Hypotheses, with all life trying to simultaneously outcompete and coexist at the same time, I’m always glad when somebody does away with overly romantic visions of environmentalism. To my mind, it’s too common that aesthetics come before survival in the environmentalist crowd.
Note Taker Turns Your iPhone into an Endless... →
Best note app I’ve tried. THE MAN INVENTED THE SPREADSHEET.
Pearl Harbor in Retrospect (The Atlantic, 1948) →
“If one reads first the end of a good detective story, and then starts in at the beginning and reads through, it is easy to pick out the real clues from those which would have led to other deductions.”
I don’t think I realized how damn interesting this would be. Must be what it will be like to read 9/11 articles in 60 years. Makes me want to go back and read more retrospective pieces like...
“With three cats in my arsenal of cats this box works best for me.”
– Amazon.com: Omega Paw Self-Cleaning Litter Box, Green and Beige: Kitchen & Dining
AN ARSENAL OF CATS.
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The Evolution of the Hipster 2000-2009 →
2 tags
Windows 7
People that know me know I’ve long been a Mac user, in the fashion of the Older Generation, where you aren’t just a user but an advocate. Living through the slim times, when Apple was always on the verge of going out of business and using a Mac was more of a peculiar affectation than any kind of practical option, you had to have a bit of the fanatic in you.
These days, Apple’s...
Letters of Note: Blade Runner will prove... →
One of those few times (that I know of) that an author is actually really into a film adaptation of his work. Sad he never got to see the entire thing. I wonder what he would think of the final movie. It focuses on a narrow part of the book so it almost feels like it misses the point, but it stands well on its own.
RCA student radically improves the UK plug | ICON... →
Pretty freaking cool. Wish they would do something similar for ours here.
Amanda Knox - NY Times →
This whole Amanda Knox thing makes me so pissed at Italy. It’s been all downhill since da Vinci over there.
Best Of The Decade |
The A.V. Club... →
I’m a sucker for end of year lists. End of decade lists are like that, times TEN.
The Death of Uncool →
While a bit overenthused, I agree with this, and it’s exciting. It reminds me a bit of Jesse Thorn’s New Sincerity, which basically says that if you have enthusiasm for something, you can make it awesome. Now, uncool still exists (think Uggs or Jack Johnson), but moreso because of what it fails to produce rather than vagaries of popular trends and fads.