September 2008
39 posts
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“When you think you’re not thinking about something, you probably are.”
– Dr. Jung-Beeman speaking in “We’ll Fill This Space, but First a Nap” about how an incubation period like that provided by sleep may increase creativity. (N.Y. Times)
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Me on "Sound Opinions" →
You can hear me on the MP3 stream or podcast of Sound Opinions show #99 at 54:56 with my call-in complaint about Radiohead’s web site. I got behind in my podcast listening so it was just yesterday that I ran into this old episode of Sound Opinions, the Rock and Roll talk show. (Chicago Public Radio)
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“The larger lesson [of 1929] is how Wall Street brought down Main Street.”
– Timothy Egan (N.Y. Times)
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Rocks May Be Oldest on Earth →
Scientists may have found the oldest rock in the world in northern Quebec. If so, this “would run counter to the traditional image of the young earth as a roiling cauldron of magma oceans, a view that is falling by the wayside among researchers as more geological data is unearthed.” (N.Y. Times)
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McCain Declares Self Winner of Tonight's Debate
In Internet adverstisements, McCain has declared himself the winner of the presidential debate that hasn’t even happened yet. It’s scheduled for tonight. Perhaps this ad is from earlier debates, but there haven’t been any since Palin joined the ticket. (Note the white box “Paid for by McCain-Palin 2008.”) (Washington Post via Towleroad)
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Hot Athlete
U.S. decathlete Trey Hardee (Fox Sports Australia via Outsports)
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Stupid Lighter App is Quite Clever →
This stupid lighter app for iPhone and iPod touch is pretty clever because it use social and viral features to find others with the same silly app. (TechCrunch via Daring Fireball)
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Puppet Government
Statler & Waldorf come down from their balcony to agree to disagree about why to watch the presidential debate. Got to love those Muppets! (N.Y. Times)
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Sarah Palin and the Rape Kits →
The mainstream media is finally picking up on the horrible decision to charge victims for rape kits by Palin’s Wasilla, Alaska administration.
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WatchPresident of Skate (College Humor via Daring Fireball)
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Killing Our Enthusiasm →
IPhone developers are becoming disillusioned by arcane demands of confidentially that Apple is enforcing via Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). (Furbo)
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How Sweden Solved Its Bank Crisis →
Stopping a financial crisis, the swedish way. (N.Y. Times)
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Evolving the Single Daddy →
Nature has more single male (or hermaphrodite) asexuality than previously believed. (N.Y. Times)
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Punxsutawney Bush Emerges from White House... →
Nation to see six more weeks of bad financial weather. (N.Y. Times)
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It Was Research For A Movie Role →
Ryan O’Neal, 67, and his son Redmond, 24, were busted in Los Angeles this morning on suspicion of meth possession. Very sad. (D listed)
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“When [Sarah] Palin says “government has got to get out of the way” of the...”
– Timothy Egan in “Moo.” (N.Y. Times)
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“I hate Élites. Which is why, whenever I am having brain surgery, or eye...”
– George Saunders on “Regular gal,” Sarah Palin. (The New Yorker via Daring Fireball)
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“[Government officials] rigged contracts, worked part-time as private oil...”
– From three reports released a week ago by the Interior Department’s Inspector General. This is how the Bush administration regulates oil companies. (The Associated Press)
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How to Make Chicago Better →
It’s time to finish the plan of Chicago that Daniel Burnham made 100 years ago. (Chicago Tribune)
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“Throughout her political career, [Sarah Palin] has pursued vendettas, fired...”
– According to a review of public records and interviews with 60 Republican and Democratic legislators and local officials by the New York Times.
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Govt. Fights Building Code Born of 9/11 →
Once again, George Bush’s government is running to the rescue of business, in this case skyscraper developers, at the cost of safety.
Seven years after 9/11, we still don’t have new fire codes in most of the country. The GSA wants to slow down or halt the adoption of new standards that would require enough stair wells to completely evacuate very large skyscrapers in a timely manner....
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iPod Growth Slows?
It is likely that the iPod is reaching saturation in the music player market or, as John Gruber of Daring Fireball noted, the iPhone is stealing iPod sales.
Gruber notes that Apple didn’t mention sales growth like it usually does in its annual iPod special event, which happened yesterday.
What’s Apple to do? Grow the iPod market! More precisely, they’re introducing the iPod to...
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“The City of Wasilla, under Mayor Sarah Palin, charged rape victims for their own...”
– As reported in a year 2000 news article in the local Wasilla, Alaska newspaper, The Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman. (via Towleroad and AmericaBlog) Palin’s administration didn’t want to burden the taxpayers.
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Why We Should See Apple TV 3.0 Tomorrow →
Tomorrow, Apple is expected to announce a refresh of its iPod line. Entrepreneur Peter Magnusson hopes Apple will also announce a big list of new features in Apple TV. (Magnusson’s blog via Fortune’s Apple 2.0)
While his wish list for Apple TV is overly ambitious, the timing is right for a 3.0 version of the product.
Apple TV, like the iPod line, is the perfect product for Christmas...
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Oh, Deer Sarah Palin →
A concise summary of the problems with Sarah Palin as Vice President. (Jim Provenzano)
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At Movies, Fewer Eyes, Bigger Haul →
For an industry that cares mostly about the money, higher ticket prices and a Batman sequel delivered near-record revenue to the major studios. (N.Y. Times)
The fact that the customer base has shrunk doesn’t bother them?
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“A person can achieve an average annual savings of $9,596 per year by taking...”
– According to the American Public Transportation Association’s “Transit Savings Report” (Chicago Transit Authority)
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“The McCain campaign’s claims of a “full vetting process” for Palin were as much...”
– Frank Rich (N.Y. Times)
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“The Republicans clearly believe that real people are idiots. This disdain for...”
– Judith Warner in “The Mirrored Ceiling” (N.Y. Times)
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Is History Siding With Obama’s Economic Plan? →
Democratic presidents are historically better for the economy and better at reducing income inequality according to Alan Blinder, an economist and advisor to Democratic politicians. (N.Y. Times)
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“I know Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton is a friend of mine, and governor,...”
– What Gail Collins imagines Joe Biden saying to Sarah Palin, the Republican candidate for V.P. and governer of Alaska (N.Y. Times)