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08.10.09 From the department of are you fucking kidding me: an anti-healthcare activist involved in a fight outside a forum is asking for donations to cover his medical costs because he lost his job and doesn't have health insurance. via daring fireball link | 0 comments 05.28.09 "What we need," Gruber told Berkeley faculty members, "is a no-fault, amicable divorce, because all Californians need state government that is closer to the people, and state government needs constituents who have more similar needs, who have a more common purpose." link | 0 comments 03.24.09 I realize I haven't been blogging much (anywhere) recently, so I thought I'd at least catch you up on what I've been reading: lots and lots about the ongoing financial crisis. I've mostly taken a pass on the "news" angle (read: the elementary school blather and reductionist hyperbole that makes up most of the coverage on TV) and gone exclusively to the Internets. Below are some of the sites and sources I've been keeping up with. (Warning: confusion and general despair ahead.)
link | 0 comments I've heard this idea whispered around the edges of the commentariate since the beginning of the financial crisis, but NPR's Planet Money blog is the first I've seen to really lay out the full shape and size of the next boogeyman: securitized credit card debt. Basically, it's the same exact thing as the chopped-up-and-repackaged-mortgages that took down the banks when people started defaulting on payments. Only these are made up of our credit card debt. Which is much, much easier to give up on and walk away from than a home that you can no longer afford. In other words, take a pass on that next "Low low introductory APR!" offer and hang on to your hats. link | 0 comments 02.06.09 Hope springs eternal that features like this wont remain Japanese-market exclusives, thankyouverymuchglobalwarming. Honda's new, revamped InSight (Remember the first mainstream hybrid, the nerd-mobile with the rear wheel cowlings? That was the original InSight; now it looks exactly like a Prius) features a "driving assist" eco-mode. Through fairly simple to understand feedback system, the car will tell you when your driving is more or less eco (-logical or -nomical, really). This really gets to the heart of the current problem of mainstreaming environmentalism. It's not that people aren't willing to change (though some, decidedly, are not) but simply that they need to be retrained. All of us need to be retrained. To bring reusable bags to the store (offer a discount), to drive better (give real-time feedback), to take the bus or train more often (congestion pricing), to use less electricity (higher standard rates or enticements for efficiency), etc. So good job, Honda. Now just try not to chicken out on the failing US market. The old rules (SUV RULZ!!!) no longer apply. We need this kind of change in thinking, and we need it yesterday. link | 0 comments 01.22.09 Turns out the White House kinda sucks. Hard to believe a quick executive order can't remake some of the technology shortcomings, even in a financial crisis. At least it would stimulate the technology sector... link | 0 comments 01.12.09 Ars Technica has a fairly well-thought analysis of recent reporting about the environmental cost of using the internet. They touch on, but fail to firmly grasp, my most favorite topic in environmental reporting: the lack of common methods of calculation and units of measure in evaluating carbon footprint. Maybe we can add this to the sky-high pile of unrealistic expectations we've setting for the incoming Obama administration. link | 0 comments 01.10.09  After 3 and a half hardy years of nearly non-stop work, my trusty Airport Express (b/g, for the record) has finally been put out to pasture. The little guy served me well, not only pushing tunes to my stereo (so magically and wonderfully) but also serving as the only router for an expanding household that eventually grew from humble beginnings (1 laptop) to yesterday, when it was pumping out a (surprisingly) reliable wireless connection for 2 laptops, 2 iPhones, a TiVo and a Wii. For the last two years, the little guy has lived in our media console, the NORAD of our tiny apartment. The combination of electronics silently humming away in that cabinet and the massive amount of data the little power-plug router was streaming combined to produce an over-heating that sometimes pushed it over the edge. On a few occasions in the last 6 months, the box would become non-responsive; it was so hot that I would have to unplug it and stick it in the fridge for up to 10 minutes before I could revive it. Today, it was finally retired to a leisurely life of streaming music, serving as an adjunct to the new wireless network hosted by the Time Capsule I just purchased. It may seem silly to be posting an homage to a piece of electronic gear the size of a power adapter, but this one has served me so well, it's deeds could not go unrecognized. Working better, under constant abuse, and lasting longer that I had ever imagined, this little gizmo will go down in my personal history as one of the best purchases I ever made. link | 2 comments 11.17.08 Really amazing collection of news shots from the horrifying Southern California wildfires, assembled by the Boston Globe. link | 0 comments 10.29.08 A new website featuring brief interviews by Errol Morris with "people in the middle" (moderates, independents, republicans) who are voting for Obama. Some of the segements feel a little canned, but overall, it's a compelling series of stories and statements from real people about why they're voting for Obama next Tuesday. [People in the Middle for Obama] link | 0 comments 10.02.08 Joe Nocera of The New York Times published yesterday an amazingly detailed, thrilling account of the run up to the current financial crisis. It's not an easy read, and remains fairly technical, but it's the best distillation I've seen so far of the difficult issues that are at work here. If you haven't been able to wrap your head around this thing yet, or don't understand why the credit market's problems are such a big deal, please read it. link | 0 comments 08.25.08 I just realized that I had my mail client on my Mac configured wrong; for the last 6 months I've assumed that everything I "deleted" from my local mail client was archived in GMail. Because I had it set up wrong, I was actually deleting them. Shit. link | 0 comments 08.21.08 I really hate the self-importance of statement-art (a fact that the recent Whitney Biennial brought into clear relief for me). But this collection of sculptural graphs, presenting scary stats as abstract, but still quite humane works of art, are something else entirely. It skirts all of the things I hate about modern art and delivers all of the things I love about it. [via] link | 0 comments 08.14.08 A few weeks go, The New Yorker published a really fantastic article on the study of insight — how our brains locate and recognize a solution from, seemingly, nowhere. It's a great read and really insightful (sorry!). The article has gone behind the magazine's Pay Wall, but a PDF is available here. link | 0 comments built with movabletype |
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