December 2009
220 posts
“Fixing the problem doesn’t mean voting out the feckless Democrats or the...”
– Lawrence Lessig (via squashed)
Larry is one of my heroes.
(via jayparkinsonmd)
Larry is my hero too.
Mandatory Internet Filters and Opportunistic...
rentzsch:
I just learned Australia is going ahead with a plan to mandate national internet filtering.
Martin Pilkington tells me such a thing is already active in the UK:
@rentzsch The UK already has something like this for child pornography. Nobody knew about it until it accidentally blocked the wrong site
I can’t help but think this is a good thing.
The more sites gets blocked, the more...
“I think, and I hope, the best thing to come out of health reform is a very...”
– Me. (via jayparkinsonmd)
The Significant Objects Project
roomthily:
The auctions were part of the Significant Objects Project, an experiment designed to test the hypothesis that “narrative transforms the insignificant into the significant.” Or, put differently, the goal was to determine whether you could take an object worth very little and make it worth much more by giving it a story, by endowing it with meaning.
To that end, the project’s...
Apple seeds contain trace amounts of cyanide.
ohyeahfacts:
An apple a day keeps the doctor away, but I guess you’ll see the coroner a little sooner than expected.
(source)
Cats do not taste sweetness.
ohyeahfacts:
(source)
Finally revealed why cats are so finicky!
“Once poverty is gone, we’ll need to build museums to display its horrors to...”
– Muhammad Yunus (via brettjohn, caraobrien & tameourways & jesuisperdu) (via dubliner) (via mikehudack)
The depressed area of skin under your nose and...
ohyeahfacts:
(source)
Mythical Threat Level: Orange
artgillespie:
Great comment on this piece by Nate Silver (via Daring Fireball) in which he compares the probability of being on a flight with a ‘terrorist incident’ with that of being struck by lightning:
Well if Nate’s not going to do any editorializing, I’ll fill in the gap: We need a god damned war on lightning. Look at how dangerous it is! Will the terror of Zeus never stop!? Won’t...
A majority of women unconsciously choose mates...
ohyeahfacts:
(The Most Amazing Book of Useless Facts)
“The Economist puts more faith in business than most. Yet even the stolidest...”
– The idea of progress: Onwards and upwards (via marco)
No One Left
rentzsch:
Michael Getler (via John Gruber):
Last Friday evening, Dec. 4, was the final broadcast of what has been known for many years as The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. The following Monday, Dec. 7, the new-look version of the venerable, one-hour, weekday nights, news broadcast made its debut as the PBS NewsHour. Lehrer was still in the anchor chair but his name was gone from the logo and some...
Incentivized Altruism →
jayparkinsonmd:
Only one in ten Israeli adults is an organ donor and the country is addressing the situation with an innovative new policy. Organ donors and their close relatives will now receive priority if they require a transplant. Jacob Lavee of the Sheba Medical Center said the new policy “provides an incentive for individuals to agree to help each other.” The policy will be widely...
“Well, the whole point of the public option originally was that if you’re going...”
– Glenn Greenwald (via azspot)
Ding ding ding! We have a winner.
Why do you think their stocks increased so much upon news that the mandate looks as if it’s going to happen?
(via jayparkinsonmd)
Steal These Books
roomthily:
Fiction is the most commonly poached genre at St. Mark’s Bookshop in the East Village of Manhattan; the titles that continually disappear are moved to the X-Case, safely ensconced behind the counter. This library of temptation includes books by Martin Amis, Charles Bukowski, William S. Burroughs, Raymond Carver, Don DeLillo and Jack Kerouac, among others. Sometimes the staff isn’t...
Crazy →
mrgan:
In 1956, Alaska did not have any mental health treatment facilities. A bill was drafted to create and fund a state program to address this. Surely no one in their right mind would oppose the creation of such a sorely needed healthcare institution?
Well, no one except religious groups, anti-communist groups, right-wing groups, and Scientologists. They claimed that the bill would strip...
