February 2011
WikiLeaks fears at Ebay… | footnoted.com →
Not the best headline. However, the post does note that:
In case there was any doubt, it’s now official: WikiLeaks has planted itself firmly in the corporate zeitgeist, in the form of a prominent mention in the 10-K that Ebay (EBAY)filed late on Friday afternoon.
Technically, WikiLeaks has made an appearance in the Edgar database before — on Aug. 20, in a conference-call transcript attached...
January 2011
Google Strikes Back →
futurejournalismproject:
Via Wired:
In a move that internet content creators have been dreaming about for years, web search giant Google has moved to crack down on spammy and derivative content that has been largely copied from other sources on the web and which somehow manages to bubble higher in results than the original.
Anyone who’s ever written a word on the internet and seen it ripped...
Designed to Disappear | C-Notes →
In the design of the app the developers must have really thought hard about people’s hesitance to share their location, because they designed a timeline into each notification. So, if we were meeting somewhere and I was running late, I could send you a link that would display my location on map and that link would only work for a configurable amount of time, (say 30 minutes). During that time,...
“I deal with the media quite a bit and I have to admit some frustration about how...”
– Cliff Mass Weather Blog: The Real Deal about La Nina and The Upcoming Weather
The Kickstarter Blog: Kickstarter and the Sundance... →
kickstarter:
Thirty years ago Robert Redford founded the Sundance Institute to nurture and celebrate independent film. In the years since, the Institute has used its platform to launch the most prestigious film festival in the world; a groundbreaking labs series to develop promising screenwriters, producers,…
Oh, man, that’s a great combination.
Canada authorities probe ice-encased dog - World... →
The dead dog was discovered by the homeowner on Jan. 15, said Marcie Moriarty, a spokeswoman from the British Columbia animal protection society, adding that the man did not know the dog or how the block of ice arrived on his property.
“It’s a bizarre and very upsetting case,” Moriarty said Wednesday. “Inside the block of ice, which looks to have been made from a large...
Demand Media shares soar in IPO - Jan. 26, 2011 →
Demand’s Google problem (and vice versa): Demand articles are meant to appear high in search engine results — but Google has said that it is changing its algorithm to improve search results.
“We hear the feedback from the Web loud and clear: people are asking for even stronger action on content farms and sites that consist primarily of spammy or low-quality content,” the...
Woman, son arrested after pets found dead in home... →
“A woman and her son have been arrested for investigation of 34 counts of animal cruelty in the first degree after 31 animals were found dead in a Granite Falls home over the weekend.”
Christ, yesterday was a downer day in news. One of those where I was glad to be very busy. This particular story, via @pasados, is the darkest spot on yesterday, at least to me.
DJ Le Clown vs. Ludachrist – Pon De Billie Foley...
Watchnearbysouthby:
Our ‘Nearby Southby’ (NbSX) Kickstarter is up! Check out the first edition intro video by Jake, introducing the showcase and our fundraising goals. Another video to come soon! You’ll wanna see the next one. We worked hard on it.
That’s me, doing the kickstarter voiceover. BTW, please donate to help four local bands throw a (unofficial) showcase on St. Patrick’s...
Cyberfucking While Feminist | Border House →
For a number of us, erotic roleplaying is a double-edged sword. It is, for some, a path to sexual freedom and a means of enacting another significant dimension of a roleplayed character’s life. But it is also an exercise fraught with a myriad of pitfalls created by the institutional sexism that still haunts many gaming and geek spaces.
Rather than have this piece entirely in my own words,...
Worshipping at the Chinese Altar - Bloomberg →
Like so many, Fukujama is confusing the making of decisions with the decisions themselves. We are all in awe when governments make decisions, let alone when they implement them. Especially here in the U.S., however, the sight of other governments actually doing things can induce Frankensteinian glee among political economists — It’s alive! It’s A-Live! It’s ALLLIVVE! — as governments do the...
Not social justice from where I’m standing —... →
I almost always see asexuality brought up as a negative and inaccurately. For example, a disabled character or character of colour in a television show might be denied sexuality or coded as non-sexual. Someone critiquing this portrayal from a social justice perspective might condemn it as “asexualising” or some such, as though asexuality is an oppressive tool rather than an orientation.
As best...
Burglars mistake man's ashes for coke, snort away ... →
2105:
Burglars snorted the cremated remains of a man and two dogs in the mistaken belief that they had stolen illegal drugs, Florida sheriff’s deputies said Wednesday.
OMG that’s horrible and darkly hysterical at the same time. Incidentally, the story-page headline—”Ashes to asses, dust to dolts”—is just as cringe-inducing funny, too.
Reblogging myself, since I’m still reeling in awe...
Inefficiency Isn't Bad for Everyone - The... →
Each year America’s labyrinthine tax code costs taxpayers billions, in dollars, hours and headaches. But it also has one giant beneficiary: America’s tax preparation industry.
The National Taxpayer Advocate’s latest annual report to Congress argues that “the most serious problem facing taxpayers” is not that taxes are too high, or that tax revenues fall so short of government spending, but that...
Tribe Helps Linguist Argue with Prevailing...
NYT: Israel's Stuxnet test led to Iran nuke delay →
This story is absolutely fascinating.
Flattr - Social micropayments →
interestingsnippets:
I really really like this concept.
New Research Indicates That Air Pollution Can... →
utnereader:
Toxicologist Lilian Calderón-Garcidueñas works for Mexico’s National Institute of Pediatrics and the University of Montana. In a long-term study of air pollution involving 55 middle-class children from Mexico City, she discovered signs of brain inflammation—lesions indicative of reduced blood flow that one would expect to find in older adults who are developing dementia.
New Research Indicates That Air Pollution Can... →
utnereader:
Toxicologist Lilian Calderón-Garcidueñas works for Mexico’s National Institute of Pediatrics and the University of Montana. In a long-term study of air pollution involving 55 middle-class children from Mexico City, she discovered signs of brain inflammation—lesions indicative of reduced blood flow that one would expect to find in older adults who are developing dementia.
New Report: Commercial Density, Not Street... →
What’s “striking,” in the view of the authors, is that retail activity in some of the walkable cores was up to four times greater than it should have been, based on the population of the district itself. That means that the commercial cores of walkable districts are attracting a wide sphere of merchants, including those from outside the immediate neighborhood. The findings challenge the...
New Report: Commercial Density, Not Street... →
What’s “striking,” in the view of the authors, is that retail activity in some of the walkable cores was up to four times greater than it should have been, based on the population of the district itself. That means that the commercial cores of walkable districts are attracting a wide sphere of merchants, including those from outside the immediate neighborhood. The findings challenge the...
“For those bent on the Palindromatic. Today’s date four ways, via...”
– @Neil deGrasse Tyson
Kickstarter - Nearby Southby →
Help fund my friends’ unofficial St. Patrick’s Day showcase show at SXSW 2011? They need support getting the showcase underway and are adopting Kickstarter to do it. Lots of fun rewards for contributors!
Philanthrocapitalism or Paternalism in New Guise?... →
Chip Case (of Case-Shiller) used to chide me for not taking (his) economics classes in college. Given where my reading and financial interests take me these days—plus a global financial crisis as background radiation—I really wish I had.
(For lack of better options, I blame Clinton-era prosperity for making it seem pretty dry.)
Philanthrocapitalism or Paternalism in New Guise?... →
Chip Case (of Case-Shiller) used to chide me for not taking (his) economics classes in college. Given where my reading and financial interests take me these days—plus a global financial crisis as background radiation—I really wish I had.
(For lack of better options, I blame Clinton-era prosperity for making it seem pretty dry.)
Dan Ariely: A gentler and more logical economics →
I do hope that the debate between standard and behavioral economics will not take the shape of an ideological battle. We would make little progress if the behavioral economists took the position that we have to throw standard economics—invisible hands, trickle-downs, and the rest of it—out with the bathwater. Likewise, it would be a shame if rational economists continue to ignore the...
Dan Ariely: A gentler and more logical economics →
I do hope that the debate between standard and behavioral economics will not take the shape of an ideological battle. We would make little progress if the behavioral economists took the position that we have to throw standard economics—invisible hands, trickle-downs, and the rest of it—out with the bathwater. Likewise, it would be a shame if rational economists continue to ignore the...
1 tag
Income inequality, The Economist →
…The financial system is shot through with moral hazard problems stemming from financial rescues of the recent and more distance past. Much good would come of efforts to restore market discipline by allowing investors to take their lumps. Still, there seems to be another plausible narrative lurking within the stories told in the pieces quoted above. It’s one in which governments...
1 tag
Income inequality, The Economist →
…The financial system is shot through with moral hazard problems stemming from financial rescues of the recent and more distance past. Much good would come of efforts to restore market discipline by allowing investors to take their lumps. Still, there seems to be another plausible narrative lurking within the stories told in the pieces quoted above. It’s one in which governments...
The Physics of Terror →
On Miller-McCune:
“When you start averaging over the differences, you see there are patterns in the way terrorists’ campaigns progress and the frequency and severity of the attacks,” he says. “This gives you hope that terrorism is understandable from a scientific perspective.” The research is no mere academic exercise. Clauset hopes, for example, that his work will enable predictions of when...
