May 2011
Armed residents put up resistance to Syrian army -... →
What began as a disparate movement demanding reforms has erupted into a resilient uprising seeking Assad’s ouster. Human rights groups say more than 1,000 people have been killed in the crackdown, which has drawn condemnation and sanctions from the United States and European Union.
Monday’s accounts were the first credible reports of serious resistance by residents taking up arms....
One-day porch sale
This Memorial Day weekend is dedicated to moving. Namely, me out of my house and into a good friend’s condo. It’s a drawn-out process because I don’t actually move until July. Yet I do have to have the place near-empty for the undergrads(+co-signing parents) that will be touring my house. I “get” to camp out in my own home, packing everything out of sight each...
Lapham's Quarterly: A Brief History of the Auto... →
laphamsquarterly:
Because he was in France, President Obama signed the extension for the Patriot Act using an autopen, first patented in the US in 1804. Wired has fantastic history of Presidents and autopen over on their Threat Level blog:
President Kennedy uses the autopen for nearly any signature that…
“Something seems to happen to people when they meet a journalist, and what...”
– Quote from Janet Malcolm’s “The Journalist and the Murderer”, in The Perils of the Print Interview : Sam Harris
The Google Carry Trade | Crossing Wall Street →
Let’s look at Google’s earnings yield (which is the inverse of the P/E Ratio). Based on this year’s earnings estimate, Google’s earnings yield is 6.42%. Based on next year’s, it’s 7.48%. Even going by last year’s earnings, it’s still 5.60%.
In other words, Google’s yield on its equity is far higher than its yield on its debt. The lesson is to use debt. In fact, I think an interesting trade...
Fresh fatalities as Syrians brave crackdown →
aljazeera:
More deaths reported as several towns witness renewed demonstrations against president Assad’s one-party rule.
WatchHorse herpes outbreak forces rodeo queens to ride stick ponies – ksl.com Video courtesy of KSL.
Via my brother, who says :). I just ask, WTHeck, Utah?
Need Therapy? A Good Man is Hard to Find (New York... →
psychotherapy:
As a male therapist myself, I’m especially interested in hearing responses to this recent piece in the New York Times about the dwindling number of male therapists in the field (according to this piece, it’s down to about 10% of all therapists in practice). Would the lack of availability of a male therapist keep you from seeking therapy in general?
(New York Times, 5/21/11):
...
Inside Al Jazeera →
If Colbert was giving voice to a September 11 mind-set that still secretly plagued the network’s image—Al Jazeera as a Trojan horse for extremism—Mohyeldin seemed to anticipate the question, assuming the measured voice of reason to Colbert’s contretemps. “Unfortunately Americans are being deprived of the choice of watching Al Jazeera,” he said, “and people say that Americans aren’t interested in...
From Snarky Truth to Reasoned Explanation →
kurafire:
For those who dismiss this post TL;DR, or too boring to read: this is the precise reason I wrote my snappy, snarky take-down first. This follow-up post is an examination of the issues, complete…
Excellent stuff, Faruk.
Futurity.org – Wanted: Gender-free job ads →
Via @kurafire. I do enjoy (and am grateful for) Faruk’s feminist side.
Was LinkedIn Scammed? - NYTimes.com →
I have no doubt that most everyone at LinkedIn was thrilled to see the run-up; most executives at start-ups usually are. An I.P.O. is an important marker for any company. And, of course, the executives themselves are suddenly rich. But, in reality, LinkedIn was scammed by its bankers.
The fact that the stock more than doubled on its first day of trading — something the investment bankers, with...
Bonnet movie marginalia
Me: IMDB['s trivia page] is entirely detailed notes about all the costumes. But the last one confirms—randomly—the bundt cake at the wedding was a Cathedral cake pan from Nordicware.
Sara: I thought so! I was going to say that looked like a bundt cake.
Me: Wait, why do you know bundt cake pans?
Sara: I like them. They're fun to make; fun to spell.
“..essentially, if you thought of it, everything was beautiful in this world,...”
– “The Lady with the Little Dog” - Anton Chekhov (via deartaylorr)
Atheists offer to rescue Christians’ pets after... →
When judgment day comes — which some US Christian fundamentalists insist will happen on Saturday — have you thought about what you’re going to do with the family dog and cat?
I love America’s enterprising spirit.
Mobiles for Women, Part Two: The Darker Side |... →
Is Google really afraid of rumors?… |... →
To be sure, rumors can move the market, which is why investors need to use their common sense and judgment as filters before acting on rumor and innuendo. But it’s interesting that a company like Google would include this as a risk factor, especially since: 1) investors already know that this happens from time to time, 2) it’s really not that helpful, and 3) it’s a little like warning about...
“I was so convinced that this rare R-rated event comedy featuring women burping...”
– Nikki Finke: ‘Bridesmaids’ Overperforms For $24.4M – Deadline.com (via apsies)
“When I saw my secret published I was so excited I almost called my friend and...”
– PostSecret: Sunday Secrets
I love this comment. Also good:
NYT: A Rite of Torture for Girls →
Kristof’s latest is a heart-breaker, of course.
My Experiences as a Female Software Engineer «... →
Via @codejester. Thanks, Gary!
Syria's Facebook Wars | Fast Company →
Facebook shut down the Syrian military’s official page, and Syrian Facebook users began encountering a primitive certificate-forging scam seemingly carried out by the government. See what happens when cyberwarfare comes to the formerly friendly Facebook.
Nuts.
Sweeping Crackdown Continues in Syria -... →
Others have said the arrests are often arbitrary, sometimes for little more than a tattered identity card, in a campaign that seems motivated to bully people to stay indoors and to restore a measure of fear that long girded the Assad family’s four decades of rule.
“The reaction of the authorities has excluded any possibility of having a rational solution,” said Rassem al-Atassi, the president...
Jina Moore on Rape in the DRC →
The only way, apparently, to make it clear how bad rape in Congo is is to turn it, by metaphor, into cancer. In that part of the press-release-mimicking-news-journalism in which an outside expert’s voice legitimizes the point being made, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative Director (and MD/MPH) Michael VanRooyen says, “Rape in the DRC has metastasized amid a climate of impunity, and has...
Steve Kroft explains why he broke interviewing... →
Via @snookca. Great piece on the technique behind a pivotal interview.
The Ruricolist: Laika →
Bacon writes (against atheism) that men are better for having a god as dogs are better for having a master: a strange and improper argument. But if our faith is as heavy as the faith of dogs is to us, we can have a sort of sympathy, and imagine how gods might know shame.
Laika →
The Ruricolist
How right that a dog went first, and that, for a time, she was between us and darkness. All our proud rockets, our brave pioneers, and we entered space as a child might enter a basement, holding onto a dog’s tail. She was a Moscow stray. A stray, and therefore nobody’s dog, or everybody’s—yours and mine, even. A Moscow stray, distant aunt to that remarkable...
Official Says Syria Has the Upper Hand Over... →
Great Write-Up In Park City Magazine →
Get Bageled - Park City Magazine Blog
Often, it’s the big ritzy places that put Park City on the map. But it’s the little locally-run, out-of-the-way places that make it home. Take Park City Bread & Bagel in Quarry Village (just off the Jeremy Ranch exit) for instance. In a little strip mall in this mini shopping center, PC B&B is an unassuming gem. The menu is handwritten on the ...
