January 2010
43 posts
anyone else glad they’ve done away with the “take-note-of-average-american-hero-sitting-next-to-the-first-lady” schtick?
"Suicide"
(via Andrew Sullivan)
“There was a major blow to the head on the right side. There was evidence of torture on the upper torso, and on the palms of his hand. There were needle marks on his right arm and on his left arm. I am a law enforcement professional. I know what to look for when examining a body,” - Talal Al-Zahrani, father of one of the Gitmo “suicides” examining what was...
Best NYT lede ever?
No, because it trivializes a draconian rule. But, it is funny.
“Prisons can restrict the rights of inmates to nerd out, a federal appeals court has found.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/us/27dungeons.html
Being completely unfamiliar with the text of the ruling, it still rubs me the wrong way. Sure it’s 96-pages about dungeons and dragons, but it’s not...
Chess Intuition
(via Jonah Lehrer)
“At first glance, there is something surprising about a teenager weaned on chess software extolling the wonders of intuition. It’s as if we expect Carlsen to act like his software, to be as explicit in his strategic decisions as Deep Blue, the IBM supercomputer. But that misses the real purpose of practice and the real genius of the human brain. When we practice...
I just found out something interesting.
christielouwho:
funwithfire:
Although it probably won’t be interesting unless you’re familiar with the University of Calgary. Only half of the books in the current Mackimmie Library Tower and block will find homes in the new Taylor Library (technically the Taylor Family Digital Library, but that’s a mouthful) when construction is complete next year. The rest are going to a high density storage...
Fuzzy Math at Wendys
theonlyplfrmat:
I always cringe when I get this bag at Wendys.
If you can’t read it, the bag says:
We figured out that there are 256 ways to personalize a Wendy’s hamburger. Luckily someone was paying attention in math class.
Unfortunately for Wendy’s marketing, whoever was supposedly paying attention slept through the lesson on probability. The whiz bag designer figured that there were two...
Complete Disclosure On Credit Card Reform
maxistentialist:
Adam Levitin on NPR’s Fresh Air gives a very clear and straightforward introduction to the problems with the industry and the trouble we have regulating it.
I heard this in the car last summer when I was driving home, and I sitting in my car in the driveway until it was over. This is just a scathing description of the credit card industry, including the all-important difference...
LBJ Orders a Pair of Pants →
(via gregslist)
In the appendices of Robert Caro’s LBJ biographies under the heading “Johnson, Lyndon Baines” there is always a sub-appendix titled, “crudeness of.”
Upon listening, Ethan accurately commented that Scott Brown would have been curb stomped had LBJ been running the show.
the man is a fool
If Rush Limbaugh actually believes there is a massive political benefit to reap by helping earthquake victims, shouldn’t his fat jowls swell with patriotic pride? Moreover, wouldn’t the fulfillment of this humanitarian, political yearning demonstrate an appropriate level of governmental responsiveness? It seems unlikely for an elected leader to be so sensitive to the people’s...
Haiti in Ink and Tears
“Today is a good day to remember that in Haiti, nobody ever really dies. The many thousands who’ve had the breath crushed out of their bodies in the earthquake, and the thousands more who will not physically survive the aftermath, will undergo instead a translation of state, according to the precepts of Haitian Vodou, some form of which is practiced by much of the population. Spirits...
The Life of David Gale: Guatemalan Edition →
Banks repaying loans they never received →
theonlyplfrmat:
zachfey:
theonlyplfrmat:
Abridged blah blah blah
Double-abridged.
To your point 1: Not ‘so much for my concerns’, these are exactly my concerns. The government is taxing 50 large banks, some of whom don’t owe the taxpayers a cent, and the cost is being passed on to the bank’s customers. This tax does the opposite of what it intends to accomplish: the banks get off free,...
Banks repaying loans they never received →
theonlyplfrmat:
President Barack Obama has said Wall Street must repay $117bn (£72bn) to taxpayers and criticised banks for “massive profits and obscene bonuses”.
Followed up by the bold-faced lie:
[Obama] said the aim was not to punish Wall Street firms but to stop abuses and excesses from happening again.
But here’s the kicker (emphasis added):
The tax would apply only to financial firms...
“In Leno vs. O’Brien, Fans Show Allegiance Online http://bit.ly/4H0Uez”
– nytimes
The Jay Leno/Conan thing is getting as over-talked...
christielouwho:
(via thatgirlfaren)
I read Conan’s response, and now I am done. Shall we carry on to the next topic?
I agree that there is a lot of Conan/Leno bullshit being tumbled, but lets not forget that Conan’s response, as well as his current situation with NBC, are both open-ended. The results of the current stand-off have implications for millions of regular people who enjoy...
Conan O'Brien's statement
wadcity:
From the NYT Media Decoder blog:
People of Earth:
In the last few days, I’ve been getting a lot of sympathy calls, and I want to start by making it clear that no one should waste a second feeling sorry for me. For 17 years, I’ve been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I’ve been absurdly lucky. That said, I’ve been suddenly put in a very public...
mad props to tumblr for ditching tumblarity. now, get rid of those awful formsprings.
New Langewiesche - Snipers
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2010/02/sniper-201002
recently discovered a club in shanghai called “the butter factory.” the promotional posters referred to djs “showering” the audience with supafly hip-hop etc. etc. i think “slather” would be a more appropriate word.
Epilogue
alligatortower:
CHORUS
“The Knave abideth.” I dare speak not for thee, but this maketh me to be of good comfort; I deem it well that he be out there, the Knave, being of good ease for we sinners. I hope he proveth well in the tourney. If we shadows have offended, Think but this and all is mended, That you have but slumbered here While these visions did appear. And all wrapp’d up be this idle...
@adogharley
I’ve been kidnapped and I’m making trinkets at gunpoint in Wuhan.
“Michael Totten interviews Christopher Hitchens http://tinyurl.com/yhwpm6j”
– DaveMann
Capital Failure
Last fall, the American Law Institute, which created the intellectual framework for the modern capital justice system almost 50 years ago, pronounced its project a failure and walked away from it.
A study commissioned by the institute said that decades of experience had proved that the system could not reconcile the twin goals of individualized decisions about who should be executed and systemic...
WatchPrague’s Franz Kafka International Airport voted world’s most alienating.