March 2009
36 posts
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Extreme Ice & Dying Glaciers →
If you ever doubted global climate change, you need to see this documentary. Many mountain glaciers are losing so much more ice than they gain that they’re dying out. One is losing ice 8 times faster than it did only 30 years ago. Almost all are dying, which will be devastating for the sixth of humanity that relies on them for drinking water. Conservatively, the sea level is expected to rise...
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Ten Trillion and Counting →
The day Obama took office, the national debt was already at $10 trillion. Now, after 8 years of huge deficits under “small government” Bush (and four previous years of surpluses under Clinton), the Republicans want to blame the new president for their own fiscal irresponsibility. (PBS Frontline)
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Compact Fluorescent Bulbs Draw Quality Complaints →
How can compact fluorescent lights save energy if they burn out quickly? It turns out many of them are missing essential instructions—like not to install them in unventilated fixtures. (N.Y. Times)
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Obsession Times Voice →
In an interesting counterpoint to Fake Steve Jobs, John Grubber says if you want to write a blog, just do it. The money will follow. (Daring Fireball)
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Juvenile Convictions Overturned in Pennsylvania →
Hundreds of kids were sent to jail by a corrupt judge who accepted kickbacks from the prison industry. His conviction rate was more than twice that of the rest of the state. Maybe for-profit prisons are not a good idea! (N.Y. Times)
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Study Links Depression to Thinning of Brain’s... →
Scientist discovered a link between depression and structural differences in the brain. But is it cause or effect? That and other questions remain open for exploration. (N.Y. Times)
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Dear A.I.G., I Quit! →
An executive at A.I.G. writes an interesting resignation letter. Readers’ comments are just as interesting. (N.Y. Times)
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New York Ready to Repeal ’70s-Era Drug Laws →
New York is likely to pass a reform to drug policy that will eliminate minimum sentences for low-level offenses and extend the reach of drug courts at a -yet-to-be-determined cost (but will likely reduce overall prison costs). (N.Y. Times)
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Alaska Volcano Blows Smoke on Republicans →
In his response to Obama’s speech to the nation last month, Louisiana Governor and Republican spokesman, Bobby Jindal, mocked the Democrats for including “something called volcano monitoring” in the stimulus bill. Now, that’s coming back to roost after advance warning of an Alaskan volcano eruption over the weekend has helped save lives. Perhaps, we should remove...
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Google User Experience →
There has been some hubbub over the past few days about the state of visual design at Google. Doug Bowman explains his reasons for leaving the company in a critical post on his blog. Kevin Fox, also a former Google designer, posted an interesting response. To me, the most interesting thing is that Google has developed and publicly posted its design principles that define the Google User...
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Bat Mitzvah in Their 90's →
A group of Ohio women in their nineties are planning a bat mitzvah for themselves just for the fun of it. (N.Y. Times)
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“Republicans: Do you think your party automatically wins if the country loses?...”
– Thomas L. Friedman in Are We Home Alone? (N.Y. Times)
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Reading Test Dummies →
The key to reading comprehension is familiarity with the relevant subject. In other words, we need to give students reading material that is relevant to them. As a result, reading can become a goal of every subject taught in school, and reading comprehension tests will become worth teaching to.
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“Americans… get 7 percent of our calories from soft drinks, more than we do...”
– Mark Bittman in Eating Food That’s Better for You, Organic or Not (N.Y. Times)
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WatchA tilt-shift film of Sydney’s Mardi Gras parade last Saturday by Keith Loutit (Vimeo via Towleroad)
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“The only person who can sit on your ass is you.”
– Merlin Mann on Kutiman, Big Media, and the Future of Creative Entrepreneurship (43 Folders via Daring Fireball)
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Annie Leibovitz's Troubles Fueled by Gay Tax... →
We really do need gay marriage, or we need to separate the religious ceremony of marriage from the social contract like some Californians are working on. We also need a stimulus plan for financial literacy.
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Know When Any Web Page Changes →
I’ve been using ChangeDetection.com to track when something I’ve been eying is discounted and when music festival tickets are available for purchase. After I set up an alert, it emails me when the specified web page changes. It’s a little on the geeky side in terms of usability, but I’ve found it to be worth the trouble and worth the money it saves me.
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Illinois Corruption Timeline →
The Onion is very funny this week. What happened? (The Onion)
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Usability Review of Amazon's Kindle 2 →
Considering this review of its accessibility, Amazon’s Kindle 2 might be good for people who need large print books, like my parents. However, it doesn’t find good value in it for most people. (Jakob Nielson’s Alertbox via Daring Fireball)
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Wolfram|Alpha Is Coming →
Stephen Wolfram is working on an amibitious project: the computerization of all kinds of systematic knowledge. I wonder if someday it will have as much mindshare as Google. (Also, why not call it Alpha Wolfram instead of Wolfram|Alpha?) (Wolfram Blog via Daring Fireball)
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My So-Called Performance on ‘Gossip Girl’ →
The British author (that is to say, gay author) Christopher Isherwood’s hilarious take on his cameo on the “Gossip Girl” TV show. (N.Y. Times)
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“She’s made her point. Now she should put away Thunder and Lightning.”
– David Brooks speaking about Michelle Obama’s well-built biceps, as quoted by Maureen Dowd, political humorist, in the New York Times Op-Ed piece, Should Michelle Cover Up? Dowd goes on to write that Washington is “sensually avoidant,” which is ironic consider its reputation as a...
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Americans Growing Kinder to Bud
Coincidentally, two of my favorite blogs have articles about legalizing marijuana and other drugs.
FiveThirtyEight, written by Nate Silver, the gifted political polling stats analyst, notes a growing sympathy for legalization in Americans Growing Kinder to Bud.
Tom Evslin, a politician and technology analyst based in Vermont talks about Latin American leaders who are pushing for an end to the...
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How to Avoid Choking under Pressure →
When under pressure, don’t stop the flow to concentrate on what you’re doing. “It is actually better just to get on with things if you are well rehearsed.” Also, “ratcheting up the pressure at your practice sessions is the best way to avoid failing when it counts.” (Scientific American via Outsports)
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Growing Rich by Blogging Is a High-Tech Fairy Tale →
The lesson here is that your blog has to appeal to a broad reach of people in the millions to really make money — celebrity gossip for instance. (Newsweek)
Why Require Credit Card for a Free MP3?
Why does Amazon require a credit card to download free albums? It’s annoying. (You’ll only experience a problem if you don’t already have a credit card on record or if the card expired.)
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Last Rites →
The sad fate of the newspaper. (Mike Davidson’s Mike Industries)
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“It costs $390,000 a year to sustain each American trooper overseas.”
– The Congressional Research Service as quoted in The Economic Cost of War in Iraq and Afghanistan (N.Y. Times)
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Keeping the Faith, Ignoring the History →
Time to end faith based community groups funded by the U.S. government? (N.Y. Times)