October 2010
“OTHER POLITICAL PARTIES INSPIRED BY THINGS UPON WHICH PEOPLE GENERALLY AGREE.”
– McSweeney’s Lists
Kill ’Em All: How Loggers Use Herbicides →
utnereader:
Roundup is one of the best-known herbicides, but it’s not just for farmers and groundskeepers—the logging industry also pours tons of the stuff on forests. It may be killing more than you think.
I blame the Patriarchy for my technical... →
Worth the read even if you disagree.
Alcoholic energy drink sickened students -... →
Nine students were hospitalized after the Oct. 8 party in Roslyn, where about 50 people had been drinking. Some students had blood-alcohol levels ranging from 0.12 percent to 0.35 percent after consuming cans of the drink called Four Loko, CWU President James L. Gaudino said at a news conference Monday. Other students mixed the drink with additional alcohol, he said.
…
Four Loko is made...
More taxes? More liquor? What? →
lisasho:
Washington State sure loves its ever-increasing ballot initiatives, referendums, and amendments. Here’s a handy-dandy little tool to cut through all the doublespeak and jargon and figure what in the hell all of this year’s state ballot measures actually mean.
(Brought to my attention by the stellar City Club crew.)
“8) Try to live near a subway entrance. In a world of crazy-expensive oil, it’s...”
– Douglas Coupland’s “A radical pessimist’s guide to the next 10 years”, via Mark Herrmann
MSFT
Me: If it is already 1 p.m. on a Friday and I'm still in my sweatpants because of the fire alarm going off as I got here...is there a point to changing to jeans?
Shezad: You know, five years ago that was the decision that started down the slippery slope for Sweat-pants Guy down the hall.
Me: Go point. I'll go change into jeans.
Amazon: 14-Day Lending Coming to Kindle "Later... →
infoneer-pulse:
Amazon will allow Kindle users to lend books to each other for 14-day periods, the company announced this afternoon.
The lending feature has been one of the primary selling points of Barnes & Nobles’s Nook e-reader, which is slated for a refresh next week. As with Barnes & Nobles’s lending feature, Kindle lenders will not be able to access the book on loan during the...
The Tuesday Podcast: When A Dead-End Job...
WatchCosmic Log - Scientists pinpoint the farthest galaxy
The galaxy, known as UDFy-38135539, is one of several super-distant objects picked out from the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, the most sensitive snapshot ever taken of deep space. In time, astronomers may well spot objects that are even farther away, but this particular galaxy was the first of its type to go through the arduous process of having...
“The emotional roller coaster captured on Twitter can predict the ups and downs...”
– Twitter Can Predict the Stock Market | Wired Science | Wired.com (via interestingsnippets)
If we map more of these effects, can we counter them? Or alternatively, at what investment timeframe does the chatter/crowd-mentality effect have *valid* market meaning?
WatchVideo: Massive Attack – ‘Atlas Air’ | Nialler9 Music Blog
Yep, good stuff.
“Wolves are also noted for their peculiar habit of adopting and nursing human...”
– Dr. Boli’s Celebrated Magazine. (via chryselephantine)
24 Scary Facts About the U.S. Economy →
“‘They took our’…globalization?”
The Google Price Index : Planet Money : NPR →
The company is looking at ways to use search queries to measure other real-world trends, including unemployment.
Varian told the FT that he got the idea for the GPI after his pepper grinder broke. He went online to look for a replacement, and was struck by the list of prices for pepper grinders.
“What’s the first thing you want to do if you’re an economist?” he asked....
Apple's iPad is good for Amazon's Kindle, which... →
infoneer-pulse:
When Apple unveiled its iPad in January with its full-color high-resolution glory, many assumed it would be end of story for Amazon.com’s Kindle book store and its black-and-white reader.
Turns out the iPad has actually helped Amazon. Not only are sales of the Kindle device expected to grow 140% this year to nearly 5 million units from 2009, but digital book sales via the...
“French women are exhausted. We have the right to do what men do — as long as we...”
– The editor-in-chief of Elle France, on a new Pew Research Center survey, which found that three in four French people believe men have a better life than women—by far the highest share in any country polled. As the New York Times puts it: “The birthplace of Simone de Beauvoir may look Scandinavian...
The (Crippled) Invisible Hand - Maxine Udall (girl... →
I urge you to read the entire [context of Adam Smith’s much-abused “Invisible hand” quote in “The Wealth of Nations”]. What you will discover is that Smith was writing about how those who deploy capital in pursuit of profits are constrained in where they deploy it by their aversion to losing said capital. Even if there had been a possibility of higher profits by...
Students hospitalized after mass overdose at... →
Police say about a dozen young people, mostly Central Washington University students, overdosed on an unknown substance at a party at a Roslyn-area home last night.
Neighbors say the home is a rental house and there is usually no one there. But police say last night someone threw a party at the home with the apparent goal of drugging teens and young women and attacking them.
Oh wow,...
“Before I first acquired a Kindle, exactly one year ago, I didn’t usually...”
– Buying books is fun, with a glass in your hand | Books | The Guardian
