Month: June 2010
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Why I have no respect for design behaviors at Microsoft
I’ve received my new laptop and am working on getting it outfitted and up to speed. (This process, by the way, is distressingly like moving to a new home and is equally as frustrating and potentially as traumatizing.) After logging in for the first time, the system helpfully suggests that you create a system backup. …
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Excellent headline explaining why we’re headed for the next Great Depression
Bravo, Paul Krugman! “The Invisible Bond Vigilantes Continue Their Invisible Attack” Could we call this the phantom menace? 🙂 The Invisible Bond Vigilantes Continue Their Invisible Attack
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Ethics and Economics in Journalism
Via Ezra Klein, a well-argued piece by Timothy Lee on the recent flap over the forced resignation of Dave Weigel from The Washington Post. If none of those names mean anything to you, then this is unlikely to be very interesting… Lee’s thesis is that reportorial objectivity is more a function of the economies of…
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Lego-mania
This is a mostly-pointless TED talk that celebrates the vast Lego culture … It’s fun even if it isn’t all that deep.
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The first truly honest campaign ad of the season
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gwr8KJO0Fc I possess a sort of socialpathic narcississism. … in this beautiful state that I’ve grown to love, since I moved here… 18 months ago. All of my motives are ulterior. Vote Clint Webb!
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Days of miracle and wonder, indeed
For about ten years, I’ve been running a project in my Honors Physics course called Days of Miracle and Wonder (yes, title taken from a Paul Simon song). In it, the students are asked to create a business case for a product or service not available today but likely to be so by 2030. Although…
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The conservative contradiction
In reflecting on Rand Paul and his ever-changing principles, the Lexington Herald-Ledger makes an interesting point about all the small-government types. Perhaps it says less about the ranters who are leveraging widespread dissatisfaction into cynical grasps for office, and more about the contradiction lodged deep within democracy itself. In fairness, many of us are guilty…
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The President and the Ring
I hate to turn into just a site that reposts The Daily Show but sometimes they’re spot on. The continued failure of President Obama to live up to his pre-election rhetoric on the rule of law is the most galling development of his administration. The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p /…
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Beautiful encapsulation of Glen Beck’s mendacity
Delivered, of course, by Jon Stewart: Mr. Beck lives in a cloistered world of paranoid delusion that is impervious to a priori evidence that contradicts his world view This is in response to Glen Beck telling his audience that no one but Fox “dared” show the footage of Israeli commandos repelling onto a boat and…