April 2011
Israel's 'Syria option' was never one →
The Guardian, abstract: “Many Israelis assumed Assad’s Iran alliance was not a happy one. On the contrary, that axis is ensuring the dictator’s survival”.
This time, brutal crackdown in Syria may not work... →
“Assad’s promises of reform have failed to stop the widespread protest — but Syria is no longer cut off from the outside world”
Walking around Aleppo’s markets recently*, young salespeople took pains to express that in Aleppo they felt the protests in the south to be rabble-rousers augmented by neighboring countries (Jordan). The protests are disproportionate to...
Mirage and reality in the Arab Spring - Opinion -... →
Al Jazeera and similar arabic cable news has been really fascinating to follow during my trip in the Middle East. I don’t follow the arabic commentary because I don’t speak the language but the persistent coverage and debate has been notable.
I wish I could understand the language rather than relying on fellow travelers’ translations no matter how eager they are to share.
WatchCivil War Anniversary | Video | abc11.com
Willie on TV! Being a library nerd! Jaime, you must be so proud.
Stiglitz Calls for New Global Reserve Currency to... →
The world economy needs a new global reserve currency to help prevent trade imbalances that are reflected in the national debt of the U.S., said Nobel-prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz.
A “global system” is needed to replace the dollar as a reserve currency and help avoid a weakening of U.S. credit quality, said Stiglitz, a professor at Columbia University in New York. The dollar fell to...
Dear Hillary Clinton: Here's 7,500 Words on U.S.... →
mikehudack:
theatlantic:
The Chinese government is not fond of criticism. Sometimes they lock the critics up (see: Ai Weiwei). They can’t do that with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, though. Thus, apparently in response to a Clinton’s speech and the U.S. State Department’s 2011 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, the Chinese government has released its own report: a catalog of the...
Envy (The Observer's Books section) →
Hell of an essay.
Developer Week in Review - O'Reilly Radar →
Like most major technology companies, it can sometimes be hard to judge where Google lies on the moral spectrum. However, the King of Search took moral ambiguity to a new level this week with a press release that basically said:
Software patents are evil
But all the other cool kids are doing it.
And if we don’t get some, we can’t defend ourselves.
So we’re making a move for...
Transocean’s quiet risk panel & push for immunity... →
The bonus incident speaks volumes about Transocean and the tone set at the top of the company. But so do two other details in the filings. First, the company’s board created a Health Safety and Environment Committee in August last year, some four months after the spill. Guess how often it met during the four months between then and the end of the year? Once.
Agenda Item 2 in the proxy is even...
“Pisces, the Fish (Feb. 19-March 20)
Where still waters run deep, this is where...”
– What’s your beer sign? | Beer Hopping | Independent Weekly
Via Jaime on Reader. This is mystical nonsense I can believe in. To the local beer store I go.
“They mean the same thing, I think,” the man said. “Invaluable and...”
– The Ruricolist: All The Lonely People
The Space Needle →
cameronmoll:
Nobody does time-lapse like Philip Bloom. For equipment setup and commentary, including a discount code for Magic Bullet Looks, see The Making of the Seattle Timelapse.
Twaffic: Will Twitter—and tweets about... →
Tom Vanderbilt, who also runs “How We Drive” which I link to a lot:
Given Twitter’s particular genius for broadcasting micro-narratives of no particular consequence (Will that friend of yours get on that next flight to Spokane? Oh, will that grocery line ever budge?), it’s little surprise that conversation about traffic—the liturgy of complaints, the minor revelations,...
The Story of Economics ‘Gods’*
More or...
“In Bloodlands, a brave and original history of mass killing in the twentieth...”
– The Worst of the Madness by Anne Applebaum | The New York Review of Books
I know, I know. Dour stuff. But it’s a hell of a book—I’ve hobby-researched WWII for a decade and this angle is freshly shocking. This weekend I blame @berkun, who got me watching Ken Burns’ WWII docs....
“While, obviously, some women will apply to speak, the overwhelming evidence is...”
– Would I attend my own conference? - O’Reilly Radar
The bright lights aren't supposed to be red &...
The best part of this Friday evening’s 7th Ave undergrad migration pattern? The students standing under a meager tree in a decent rainstorm, expecting to be let back in to the house-party where a fellow student fell through a window. I’m sure once the ambulance leaves with said student, the attendant cops will hold the door for the party-goers to come back in and resume their...
