Oh the memories of my visit in 1999.

In-Flight Fresh Baked Cookies on Midwest

oreos and milk at cruising altitude

NJ or PA at 30K ft

The Rumor mill indicates that OS X 10.4, codenamed Tiger, has reached golden master status at build 8A428.

Any day now...

Art in Chinatown.

More Hobbitses

Amidst the grease.

4am Hobbit Breakfast

That's cooking in fresh bacon grease baby.

I gots flickr working!

I can send a picture to a flickr address, and flickr automatically posts the picture to blogger!

Also, bad grammar and misunderstanding recapitulate bad grammar and misunderstanding.

Bulk GFS Cheese

Co-op reminiscences.

Pop Envy

Pop Envy
Originally uploaded by satmandu.

Differences

The discriminating straphanger will notice upon detraining at the 57th st F station an atmosphere quite unlike others in Manhattan.

The platform feels clean and renovated, and the basement mezanine with the ticket booth has the design of a 70s office building or hospital, down to the steel framed glass walls and the speckled floor.

A seventies era room, in good repair, a recursed artificial island.

iTunes stopped recognizing my iPod shuffle today. This in and of itself wouldn't be a deal-breaker if my iPod is doing the yellow/green LED dance of death.

So the affair with iTunes was nice while it lasted, but now it appears that I need to move to greener pastures.

I need an application that will let me sync songs to my iPod, and also let me share music to the network. It would also be nice if I could play music to my airport express, which is hooked to the best speakers in the room - the ones on the Japanese TV.

Sure you say, I should probably just go ahead and reformat my computer; it has been six months, and now is the time. OS X 10.4 is supposed to go Golden Master on Friday, so since we're on the cusp of a new version anyway, why not just wait?

Silly Mortals...

I think the idea that beams from this most brightly is Despite...

Underdog "Stinky" robot beats MIT in underwater bot championship: "

Wired has the story of how four students from Carl Hayden Community High School in Phoenix, Arizona beat some of the
best schools in the country, including MIT, to win the national underwater robot championship. The students, who are
all undocumented Mexican immigrants, built their robot on the cheap in just three days, using PVC pipe, off-the-shelf
electronics and a few tampons. Called ‘Stinky’, the bot can record sonar pings and retrieve objects 50 feet below the
water’s surface. In addition to the top prize, the bot also ended up winning the design and technical writing
awards. The team’s total budget ended up being just $800, compared to $11,000 for the MIT team.

(Via engadget.com.)

Wil is deathblogging another one of his cats again.

question

Does diplomatic immunity counts as a life goal?

question

Does Diplomatic Immunity count as a life goal?

his arms wide open

Antonia and I got into a discussion this wet New York Easter Monday afternoon about the use of metaphor in professional writing. One becomes accustomed to using a very personally relevant library of metaphors in writing that isn't acceptable in formal writing styles, such as legal writing. It is't that other writing styles don't have metaphors, but that the vocabulary of metaphor is different, in sufficiently widespread use in the technical jargon to have achieved a level of cross generational timelessness or classicism.

Any discourse that necessitates an initiation into its terms is by definition exclusive, but more importantly, biased towards an inability to integrate the new and current.

I want to see a SCOTUS opinion come down that ends with, I'M RICK JAMES, BITCH.

The recipes used for this Sunday's Easter dinner.

Lamb recipe from here:

ROASTED LAMB ROSEMARY
        1(6- to 9½-pound) leg of lamb
        ½ cup minced fresh parsley
        2 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary or ¼ cup dried whole rosemary
        ¼ cup vegetable oil, divided
        6 to 10 cloves garlic, finely chopped
        Salt and pepper to taste
        1-1/4 cup Chablis or other dry white wine

Make several deep slits on outside of lamb and set aside. 

Combine parsley, rosemary, with 1 tablespoon oil, garlic, 

and cardamom. 

Stuff slits with this herb mixture. 

Brush outside of lamb with one tablespoon of the oil, 

and sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper. 
        

Place lamb in a roasting pan and bake at 450  for 

5 to 10 minutes. Combine remaining 2 tablespoons 

oil and wine. Reduce heat to 325 ; bake lamb for 2½ 

hours or until meat thermometer reaches 160 , basting 

occasionally with wine mixture. Let stand a few minutes 

before carving. Yield: at least 6 servings.

Also, a creamed spinach recipe from Shana. She notes that you should not let anybody intimidate you into putting in too much spinach.

SHANA'S CREAMED SPINACH

Big Bag Frozen Chopped Spinach
Microwave and squeeze out as much liquid as possible.

White Sauce:

½ c. Butter (One Stick)
½ c. Flour

Melt Butter, add flour over heat...heat until bubbly.
Whisk in slowly (or a fork, it's okay)

4 c. Milk (or ½ and ½ if you're feeling frisky)

Heat and stir over low to medium heat until the
mixture starts to boil gently. Heat and stir for
about 1-2 more minutes until the white sauce is
thickened.

Add a few pinches of nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste.

Stir in cooked, drained spinach, and form mixture into
Shana effigy.
Consume gleefully.


Dinner consumed gleefully while watching Brigadoon and drinking Croatian liquor.

gifting

There's something to be said about the benefits of trade on a micro level.

Trade generally refers to a barter of goods for something of perceived similar value, the exchange generally completed at the same time.

Gifting however, is a far riskier proposition. Something of perceived value is given in exchange for good will. Ephemeral good will may or may not be returned with something tangible.

What makes gifting interesting is the occasional tendency to gift in return with something thematically linked to the previous gift.

Liquor for liquor. Favours for Favors. Books for books.

And for the lucky few, comics for comics.

I just received my last birthday gift, from Laura, the first six episodes of Ennis's Preacher in graphic novel form.

Rock.

All this time I've been thinking that Fischerspooner is a German band, but as it turns out, they are based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Terri Schiavo's Blog

Michael Schiavo's Blog

Terri & Ray Charles Duet

I didn't do it.

Allen has been the only living person to email me for the last 24 hours.

As he correctly points out:

I am the first and only!!

I love breaking records.

rock.

Forgotten New York.

Sigh.

And also proof that the M line was the Myrtle line.

More on Sosumi.

I wonder if I can make if my ring tone on my phone...

Living Wills aren't enough:

Having checked out the email...: "

Having checked out the email queue, I've got two corrections to make to earlier posts about the Schiavo case.

First, as about twenty lawyers have informed me, Judge Whittemore did not 'dismiss the Schiavo case,' but simply denied a petition for a Temporary Restraining Order that would have reinserted Schaivo's feeding tube while the full case was being heard. But since denial of the TRO (which can be appealed) means the judge thinks there's little or no chance the Schindlers can prevail in the underlying case, it's a bad sign for them.

Second, and perhaps more importantly, I heard from a medical social worker who made it clear 'Living Wills' won't necessarily control medical decisions in cases like Schiavo's. He suggested the far superior instrument is a Durable Power of Attorney for Medical Care, which not only indicates your wishes about live-support contingencies, but gives the person of your choice real control over medical decisions.

"

(Via Talking Points Memo.)

"DVD Jon" created a program last week that would let you buy music from the iTunes music store that was not encumbered with what is euphemistically titled "Digital Rights Management" (DRM). With the software that he wrote, one could buy music that wasn't restricted by Apple's rules. Normally the iTunes purchase process involves you paying for the music, iTunes downloading an unencumbered track, and then adding DRM to the track. Norwegian teenager Jon Johansen's software does away with the last step.

Huzzah! I say.

Apple didn't like this, because they want to own the WHOLE PIE of online music sales, and they've had to sell out our fair use rights to the music labels to do it. Allowing unencumbered use of music pisses off the labels. So they blocked Jon's program, and restricted access to the iTunes music store to iTunes 4.7.1, which supposedly had more advanced encryption.

Jon announced today that he's found a way around that restriction too, in a blog post titled "So Sue Me."

The irony of this is comes from the story behind a sound effect that has come with the Mac since it first supported sound. Apple was sued for trademark infringement by Apple Music (The Beatles' label) back when it started, and an agreement was reached where Apple would not get into the Music business.

Several years down the line, Apple started putting sound hardware into the Macintosh. The company's youthful spirit at the time led to the addition of a sound called "sosumi." It still exists in OS X. Go into System Preferences (in the apple menu) and click on Sound, then Sound Effects. Scroll down to sosumi and click on it. Notice the satisfying musical "Doh!" sound?

Coincidentally, you might have noticed that iTunes accesses the iTunes Music Store, not the Apple Music Store. That's because Apple Music and Apple are still at legal loggerheads.

Which is why you still can't buy music from the Beatles on Apple's site.

Sosumi.

Gothamist-Six Apart Happy Hour Tonight!

Content snipped - it doesn't matter...The picture rocks!

(Via Gothamist.)

Every time somebody thinks of some way to solve the spam problem, it gets posted to slashdot. This happens a lot. Luckily, somebody invented a form response to deal with all of the possible responses to such strategies. I've seen it many many times, but it needs to be recognized for the brilliant piece of cynical analysis/pigeonholing/satire that it is.

Your post advocates a



(x) technical ( ) legislative ( ) market-based (x) vigilante


approach to fighting spam. Your idea will not work. Here is why it won't work. (One
or more of the following may apply to your particular idea, and it may have
other flaws which used to vary from state to state before a bad federal law was passed.)



( ) Spammers can easily use it to harvest email addresses

( ) Mailing lists and other legitimate email uses would be affected

( ) No one will be able to find the guy or collect the money

(x) It is defenseless against brute force attacks

( ) It will stop spam for two weeks and then we'll be stuck with it

( ) Users of email will not put up with it

( ) Microsoft will not put up with it

(x) The police will not put up with it

( ) Requires too much cooperation from spammers

( ) Requires immediate total cooperation from everybody at once

( ) Many email users cannot afford to lose business or alienate potential employers

( ) Spammers don't care about invalid addresses in their lists

(x) Anyone could anonymously destroy anyone else's career or business



Specifically, your plan fails to account for



(x) Laws expressly prohibiting it

( ) Lack of centrally controlling authority for email

(x) Open relays in foreign countries

( ) Ease of searching tiny alphanumeric address space of all email addresses

(x) Asshats

( ) Jurisdictional problems

( ) Unpopularity of weird new taxes

( ) Public reluctance to accept weird new forms of money

( ) Huge existing software investment in SMTP

( ) Susceptibility of protocols other than SMTP to attack

( ) Willingness of users to install OS patches received by email

(x) Armies of worm riddled broadband-connected Windows boxes

( ) Eternal arms race involved in all filtering approaches

( ) Extreme profitability of spam

( ) Joe jobs and/or identity theft

( ) Technically illiterate politicians

( ) Extreme stupidity on the part of people who do business with spammers

( ) Dishonesty on the part of spammers themselves

( ) Bandwidth costs that are unaffected by client filtering

( ) Outlook



and the following philosophical objections may also apply:



( ) Ideas similar to yours are easy to come up with, yet none have ever
been shown practical

( ) Any scheme based on opt-out is unacceptable

( ) SMTP headers should not be the subject of legislation

(x) Blacklists suck

( ) Whitelists suck

( ) We should be able to talk about Viagra without being censored

( ) Countermeasures should not involve wire fraud or credit card fraud

(x) Countermeasures should not involve sabotage of public networks

( ) Countermeasures must work if phased in gradually

( ) Sending email should be free

( ) Why should we have to trust you and your servers?

( ) Incompatiblity with open source or open source licenses

( ) Feel-good measures do nothing to solve the problem

( ) Temporary/one-time email addresses are cumbersome

( ) I don't want the government reading my email

(x) Killing them that way is not slow and painful enough



Furthermore, this is what I think about you:



(x) Sorry dude, but I don't think it would work.

( ) This is a stupid idea, and you're a stupid person for suggesting it.

( ) Nice try, assh0le! I'm going to find out where you live and burn your

house down!

I found this page on Udal Law, which is the old Norse law which still exists in some parts of Great Britain.

Highlights:

Udal Law still exists today, most apparent in the ownership of the coastline. Whereas in the rest of Britain ownership of land extends only to the High Water mark, in Orkney and Shetland this extends to the lowest Spring ebb, plus variously as far as a stone can be thrown, or a horse can be waded, or a salmon net can be thrown.


One interesting anomaly is the Mute Swan. About 1910 a Kirkwall lawyer was determined to prove that Udal Law still had force, and accompanied by his friend, the Procurator Fiscal, went out to Harray Loch and shot a swan. The case went to the High Court and the Crown lost. Everywhere else in UK the Crown owned the Swans - in Orkney they were, and still are, the property of the people as the Norwegian Crown never claimed such ownership. Nowadays we do not shoot swans, but the principles of the old Norse Udal Law still stand.

I wonder where else Feudal title supersedes modern law.

Thanks to Warren for bringing Udal Law to light.

Let us compare forecasts for this weekend:

New York:




Ann Arbor:

Did you notice that it says Ice Pellets?

Warren's opened up a message board for 12 hours.

Go Now.

I fear that deep down, conceptual artists are being serious, and are not actually mocking us.

My god i'm sitting nezt to the Olsen twins.

I'll be in Mid-Michigan Saturday through Monday morning. Give me a ululation if you're going to be around.

Oh, and props to my Debian brethren.

A bottle of Chateneuf-du-Pape Domaine du Vieux Telegraphe 2001, with the pronouncement that I am to save it for a special occasion, sauch as peace in the middle east, the annexation of Canada, First Contact, or the election of a Democratic President.

I now also have space age hardware to open the bottle, so far advanced that methods of torture with the shiny shiny ubercorkscrew have yet to be dreamed of.

Also, a damn fine home made cheesecake to boot.

Kickass.

Wolfgangs ended being excellent, though not as good as Peter Lugers.

So far, I have added steak knives, sake and sake glasses, and a copy of Harlan Ellison's screenplay for I Robot to my birthday arsenal.


There's still brunch tomorrow too!

This post brought to you by my new Treo 650, which arrived five years and fifteen minutes after the NASDAQ hit its all time high - at 4:15 Friday.

Another day, another birthday.


Hold, enough.

If you've ever written a web page, you're going to look at this and wonder, as with many of google's other pages, how the hell did they do that?

http://labs.google.com/googlex/

The key to making Sieve work on a Debian Sarge cyrus21 install is getting libsasl2-modules installed.

Time and time again I wonder how I could get anything done before google was around.

A bottle of Chateneuf-du-Pape Domaine du Vieux Telegraphe 2001, with the pronouncement that I am to save it for a special occasion, sauch as peace in the middle east, the annexation of Canada, First Contact, or the election of a Democratic President.

I now also have space age hardware to open the bottle, so far advanced that methods of torture with the shiny shiny ubercorkscrew have yet to be dreamed of.

Also, a damn fine home made cheesecake to boot.

Kickass.

So Anna had her 24th birthday party tonight, which rocked out at a little club/bar at 3rd & LaGuardia. We spent much of our time between the good tracks put on by the DJ, one of those people that was once popular at a mediocre high school, gawking at the couple across from us that really needed their own room.

It's ok to be mean spirited if you don't know them and they deserve it.

Brunch is coming up. A jolly 27 it is becoming. I will be in Michigan this weekend on family business.

Hi in advance.

Also, I just saw mousimus run across the floor.

So Anna had her 24th birthday party tonight, which rocked out at a little club/bar at 3rd & LaGuardia. We spent much of our time between the good tracks put on by the DJ, one of those people that was once popular at a mediocre high school, gawking at the couple across from us that really needed their own room.

It's ok to be mean spirited if you don't know them and they deserve it.

Brunch is coming up. A jolly 27 it is becoming. I will be in Michigan this weekend on family business.

Hi in advance.

Wolfgangs ended being excellent, though not as good as Peter Lugers.

So far, I have added steak knives, sake and sake glasses, and a copy of Harlan Ellison's screenplay for I Robot to my birthday arsenal.


There's still brunch tomorrow too!

This post brought to you by my new Treo 650, which arrived five years and fifteen minutes after the NASDAQ hit its all time high - at 4:15 Friday.

Take that, West Coast and your Bronco chases!

Yesterday's Big Police Chase: "

Yesterday, the local news channels sent their news helicopters in full force to capture a police chase. However, the chasee was not a suspect - it was a nervous poodle on the Major Deegan Parkway during rush hour. Clearly, this is why news copters were created. Ken Baez claims that he and his wife were petsitting the poodle, Snoopy, for his mother-in-law, but Snoopy escaped. Baez's nephew told the NY Times, 'I was going crazy because the dog was on the highway. They were like, he was neglected, but he wasn't. Everybody knows that dog.' But, as with animals-seen-on-TV, many people called the ASPCA, claiming to be Snoopy's owner, so the ASPCA will be holding onto Snoopy for a while, checking out the claims.

How do you keep your dog from running away? Gothamist suggests getting a tag for your dog, or even a microchip, in case your dog goes on the run. And cityrag has some good ideas about how to hang with your dog when you're in the city.

Photo from WNBC

"

(Via Gothamist.)

The Register has an article where it lays out the evidence for The Rise of the Machines.

This could just be baseless conspiracy mongering, but we can never be sure...

The following stories are linked to at the bottom of that page:

Battling teen crushes roboarm menace

French join motorised Lizard Alliance

Lizard Army develops copulating robot

We are Zogg: The Cuddly Menace

Lizard Army invades Alaska

London menaced by flaming DVD players

Killer hoover attacks Scotsman

Car self-destructs in assassination bid

The rise of the rat-brain controlled android

Japanese unveil trumpet-playing robot

Boffins unleash robotic cockroach

Ukrainian teen fights the Rise of the Machines

Man in satanic Renault terror ordeal

Killer cyberappliances: Satan implicated

US develops motorised robobollard

Killer cyberloo kidnaps kiddie

A robot in every home by 2010

Cyberappliances attack Italian village

Fire-breathing buses threaten London

Cyberloo blast rocks Stoke-on-Trent

Spanish cyberkiosks claim second victim

Cyberkiosk assaults Spanish teenager

Hi-tech toilet caught on camera

Hi-tech toilet swallows woman

I've been alerted to the Alabama 3, a Brit band that takes the Southern Preacher angle.

I'm supposedly going to Wolfgangs, the best Steak House in New York (and by extension, the known universe) tomorrow for my birthday.

And speaking of birthdays, thank you for noticing the Amazon Wish List.

The Great Chain of Being vs The European Convention on Human Rights

Or perhaps, "Bow down before the one you serve."

Fascinating stuff in this NYT article.

Charles and Parker Bowles plan to wed April 8 in a civil ceremony in Windsor. It is unprecedented for an heir to the throne to marry outside of a church, but it is believed necessary because the Church of England has qualms about remarriage for divorcees.

Eleven people submitted caveats, or objections, to the registrar general. Some argued that the Marriage Act of 1949, which authorized civil marriages, excluded the royals because it said ``nothing in this Act shall affect any law or custom relating to the marriage of members of the royal family.''

Registrar General Len Cook disagreed.

``A reading of the 1949 act which prevented the Prince of Wales and Mrs. Parker Bowles from contracting a civil marriage would interfere with their rights under the European Convention on Human Rights,'' Cook said.

Wil points out that the writer for Battlestar Galactica is also the head writer for DS9, my favourite Trek franchise.

The last episode wasn't bad (the second I've seen, ok the first I've sat all the way through - the people around me are disdainful at best when it comes to watching it). In the context of a first season, it really isn't half bad.

Also, an interview with Jolene Blalock (T'Pol on ST: Enterprise) has this comment on the show's last episode:

"I don't know where to begin with that one," she finally stammers. "The final episode is... appalling.

I gave up on Enterprise right about when Nazi Aliens entered the plot line.

You have to work at Jumping the Shark and breaking Godwin's Law at the same time.

Don't you?

More Jon Stewart ululation tonight.

We've also set the Michael Jackson Trial Reenactments on E! to record every day.

I remember sitting in the LSA Dean's office in 2000, meeting with Bollinger & the Dean, during the Second Sitin on campus.

The Dean told us that has she had once, many years ago, participated in student activism. There was more than a little irony in realizing that she wasn't doing a very good job dissuading us. Us in a different world from the one she had protested in.

We were of course not the first to be in a position to be told, "I share your views, but I can not help you because of the gravity of my position."

Never Act Old.

In the midst of dinner time conversation at a Japanese place in Park Slope,
discussion turned to cartoons from our childhood based upon public characters or
people from live action shows.

Mr. T.

It's Punky Brewster.

Hammerman (This might refresh your memory.)

Now cross this conversation with that of US contingency plans for invading Canada should Quebec Secede, say to defend the english speaking eastern provinces from the francophone ones. What better way to assert our dominance than to rename the Atlantic Time Zone.

Imagine:

You are now entering Hammer Time.

Chris points out that there is legal equivalency between the urge to make crystal meth and have safe sex.

Now we just need a Sinatra song in the vein of Love and Marriage.

i think it's very telling that in...: "i think it's very telling that in nebraska, both condoms and pseudoephedrine are kept behind locked glass in grocery stores."

(Via enlarged to show texture.)

Hack your Prius to work in stealth mode.

I want a Prius.

A person I work with was called today out of the blue and asked if he would like to assist with a sequel to "The Passion of the Christ."

He politely demurred.

But...

So Many Jokes...

A Poem found on a page of the web site of the Nation Institutes of Health, in the kids section, titled, Little Brown Jug.

Why don't all military vehicles carry cell phone jamming equipment? Musharraf's vehicle does, which saved him from a similar attack a couple of years ago.

Cellphone bomb detonator: "

After three dead and one severely wounded bomb-squad techs, a team in Iraq happened upon this detonator—the one time we’re glad a Nokia phone didn’t work right; yes, it says ‘01 Call Missed’. Whoever made that call is going to be a little surprised when he gets a call back.





[Thanks, Mario]

"

(Via engadget.com.)

I saw what appeared to be giant white larvae in the trash can, and at first II was enthralled.

But I didn't have my contacts in, and upon further analysis, they turned out to be

merely styrofoam packing peanuts.

It isn't "Unicorns Kick Ass!" but oh my...

Say It Ain't So, Avril!: "

Word on the street is that Avril Lavigne kills kittens! We know- it's totally shocking and unexpected, but if someone took the time to put it on a sticker, it's almost certainly, absolutely true. [Related: NYC Streetart Project @ Flickr, with a comprehensive library of tags.]

"

(Via Gothamist.)

There's a legend about the casting for the Thin Man character in Charlie's Angels.

Apparently Crispin Glover wrote three dense pages of a character outline for the role, which got him hired.

Warren Ellis has written a character study for Bond which just screams "please let me write the screenplay."

They won't.

The woman in our subway car spellbound us with tales of damnation.

Repent she told us. The end is near.

Wake up she said.

But alas, I had already slept through my stop.

I now have the tracking number for my shuffle.

Ain't clients grand?

That was some drunk Dustin Hoffman.

/. brings you:

Your Rights Online: FCC to Fine Curses More Than Nuke Violations

from the punishment-fits-the-crime dept.

DiZNoG writes "With Congress debating new higher fines for broadcast indecency in the wake of last year's 'wardrobe malfunction' and Howard Stern's antics, Rolling Stone has published an interesting perspective on things. Rolling Stone did a review of fines levied by other federal regulatory bodies, and has found the new indecency fines disproportionately large compared to other fines. According to the article, if the bill passes then 'for the price of Janet Jackson's 'wardrobe malfunction' during the Super Bowl, you could cause the wrongful death of an elderly patient in a nursing home and still have enough money left to create dangerous mishaps at two nuclear reactors.' The article further states the largest fine the Nuclear Regulatory Commission levied last year was $60,000, this new bill would allow broadcast indecency fines up to $500,000. Glad I keep my broadcast cursing to a minimum, now if I could only get a handle on those pesky dangerous nuclear mishaps."

The NYT reported yesterday that SecState Rice was snubbing a meeting in Cairo over a democracy activist that had been detained by the Egyptian authorities.

And today, the NYT reports that Mubarak "calls for democratic election reforms."

Choice quote from the article:

The audience before him at Menoufia University broke into applause and calls of support, some shouting, ``Long live Mubarak, mentor of freedom and democracy!'' Others spontaneously recited verses of poetry praising the government.

If you want to be taken seriously as a democratic reformer, you need to be in an environment that doesn't have Orwellian echoes.

Make good with the accountant, and you will have ready access to the delicate flesh of the soft underbelly of vast numbers of small businesses.

New York Thrills:

Just catching the Grand Central Shuttle to Time Square.

Running from the Shuttle to the 1/9 and jumping in doors in the first car, held open by a ten year old.

Running from the 1/9 at 59th St and down the stairs through a crowd eager to get up the stairs and into the Uptown D.

Running to my place, shaving, putting on a new shirt, and running down to the bus stop to ride west to the 125th 1/9 station to head uptown.

The bus goes by without stopping, and in response to the person trying to wave them down, we hear through the bus's loud speaker.

THERE IS NO LONGER A BUS STOP HERE.

I

perhaps like many of you

have been awaiting Warren Ellis's take on Hunter's End

sigh

after reading that

not even this

cheers me up

and then I remember

huge unsolicited bottles of Jaeger are the bestest kind

Thank you Allen.

There's a fantastic (albeit soft) article about the president based upon tapes secretly made by a friend during the 2000 election cycle in the times.

This is why Worldchanging's RSS feed is at the top of my Feedreader.

Muji House: "

Mention 'Muji' to most Americans, and you'll get a blank look. Not from everyone, of course: a few will remember the brand from William Gibson's deliriously excellent Pattern Recognition, and those who have lived in Asia or Europe may nod wistfully, a look of dreamy longing in their eyes. Muji is a Japanese store which sells a variety of goods, from clothing to CD players to housewares, all under the philosophy of the company's full name: Mujirushi Ryhohin, 'no brand, good product' (we posted about Muji back in December of 2003). While not explicitly a 'sustainable design' outlet, Muji emphasizes simplicity, recycling and the avoidance of waste in its production and packaging. People who shop at Muji often become somewhat fanatical in their devotion.

Muji is now applying its design philosophy to housing (Japanese page; rough English translation here). This strikes me as an interesting early indicator of something potentially big. What happens to the world of architecture when industrial designers, more accustomed to imagining new forms for coffee makers and laptops, turn their attention to the design of living spaces? After all, dwellings are just another kind of cultural artifact. What new insights might emerge?

Calton Bolick, an American on a long-term stay in Japan, wrote about discovering the new Muji demo home on a trip to Yurakucho:

As fellow expats from the San Francisco Bay Area, we both recognized the basic structure as essentially a loft (not new concept in the US, maybe, but new here) designed to fit Japanese-sized house lots and Muji shelving/furniture dimensions. It has an open atrium with the second level wrapped around it with floor-to-ceiling windows lighting up the main room. This model home had a kitchen centered around a stainless-steel island with an induction-heating range and ceiling hood: positively gigantic by Japanese standards and continent-sized in comparison to the pathetic kitchen arrangement inside my place. The upstairs had no interior walls, so you'd need curtains or shelving units to maintain some privacy, but nevertheless I was hooked.The cost is certainly reasonable: the base price is about ¥16 million (about $152,000 US), and with fixtures about ¥19 million (about $185,000 US). Of course, I'd need the land to put it on, but I kind of wonder if I couldn't buy the whole enchilada, pack it into a shipping container, and send it back to the US to be assembled there. And fill it with Muji furniture! And Muji appliances!.

See what I mean about those who shop at Muji? I've only been to Muji a few times, and I felt something of that same longing. Bolick's post gives a few more details, and includes some photos taken at the demo unit.

The Muji 'Infill' home doesn't stray too far from recognizable dwelling designs. This isn't all that surprising; a radical departure from traditional home design might not be the best first step, and Muji is more focused on making products simple than making them different. Still, this does feel like a distant early warning of a new trend. What would a Jonathan Ive-designed house feel like? Or one from Dominic Muren? This might also be a Viridian point of entry for wider application of LEED standards to residences: if the industrial designers turned architects adopt sustainable plans from the outset for their stylish ideas, the standards themselves have a good shot at catching some reflected cool. It's certainly a possibility -- I'll be watching this one closely.

(Posted by Jamais Cascio in A Newly Electric Green - Sustainable Energy, Resources and Design at 11:28 AM)"

(Via WorldChanging: Another World Is Here.)

If you love Chrostopher Hitchens, as I do, then read his latest speech praising Thomas Paine.

If you love Chrostopher Hitchens, as I do, then read his latest speech praising Thomas Paine.

Here's a phrase I don't hear enough from liberals.

"He may be a partisan hack, but damnit he's our partisan hack."

Microsoft's leetspeek primer. Learn how to talk to your kids.

What do you mean you don't have kids

Dirty dishes are equivalent to communism.

I've instituted a containment policy.

Friedman's column in today's NYT about taking on Syria rocks.


Choice words:

Baghdad Rules mean the Lebanese giving the Syrian regime - every day, everywhere - the purple finger.

I don't think I've ever seen a NYT columnist call for giving somebody the finger.

One of the Gnome guys has a post up about ideas that are guiding them towards their next generation linux window server (to replace the current X implementation.)

Perhaps a bit geeky, but the following snippet may give you some idea of what they are talking about:

Progress bars made with tendrils of curves that smoothly twist and squirm like a bucket of snakes as the bar grows.

Text transformed and twisted beyond recognition in a manner both unseemly and cruel.

Keep up the good work...

We used the DVR to its full advantage tonight, putting John Stewart ululating on over and over again.

Kosher Dining in New York City, just a link away.

Does this make me a linking blog?
That sounds a lot like lincoln log.
No Sam I am no lincoln log.

Some bullshit that almost makes a Mac man wanna go PC.

Now imagine that coming out of Jason Mewe's mouth...

Warren's Muse:

Where My Ideas Come From

Fwd: [IP] Dave, why do the IP consider recogniti on of cr eationism in afewschool districts so

> From: "David Farber"
> Date: February 13, 2005 12:43:22 PM EST
> To: ip@v2.listbox.com
> Subject: RE: [IP] Dave, why do the IP consider recogniti on of cr
> eationism in afewschool districts so
> Reply-To: dave@farber.net
>
>
>
> _______________ Forward Header _______________
> Subject: RE: [IP] Dave, why do the IP consider recognition of cr
> eationism in afewschool districts so
> Author: Marc
> Date: 13th February 2005 12:27:07 pm
>
> Dave;
>
> For IP if you wish;
>
> I may be simply preaching to the choir, but it occurs to me that Neil
> has
> subtly answered his own question.
>
> Kansas schools aren't the current BIG problem - I agree. They ARE
> however
> the place where big problems begin. Today's kids are tomorrow's
> leaders and
> voters. As we discuss the decline in the quality of education, we seem
> to
> forget that we are living in times that result from the shortcomings of
> yesterday's educational system. While it may be difficult to link AIDS
> and
> Sudanese genocide to American education, it is not to difficult to lay
> war,
> Bush and a good measure of global warming at Americans' feet. How did
> we get
> here? Because the average American is not broadly educated, lacks basic
> skills in problem decomposition/resolution and critical thought, and is
> poorly prepared for the role of citizen in a world class democracy. A
> system
> that is by the people, for the people, is only as good as its people!
>
> As education fails, so too follows the society. In certain respects, I
> have
> to consider that the success of America in the last century was at
> least
> somewhat due to the large scale importing of highly educated
> non-Americans
> as either immigrants or students. Current xenophobic policy is choking
> that
> lifeblood out of the country; Where will the critical thought, and
> broadly
> founded imagination, that is necessary for innovation and social
> evolution,
> come from?
>
> If we deal with the Kansas' of the moment, we will be doomed to deal
> with
> their consequences in 20 years.
>
> I am not American, but this is swiftly ceasing to be a world with
> national
> boundaries - what happens to America happens to the world. What I have
> found
> disturbing are the reactions I hear to global polls of education
> quality
> that show US students ranking lower than most developped nations; "Who
> cares
> if the Swedes are better educated? They don't run the world, we do!"
> (I wish
> I was joking)
>
> Marc Aniballi
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-ip@v2.listbox.com [mailto:owner-ip@v2.listbox.com] On
> Behalf Of
> David Farber
> Sent: February 12, 2005 7:25 PM
> To: ip@v2.listbox.com
> Subject: [IP] Dave, why do the IP consider recognition of cr eationism
> in a
> fewschool districts so
>
>
>
> _______________ Forward Header _______________
> Subject: Dave, why do the IP consider recognition of creationism in a
> fewschool districts so
> Author: "Munro, Neil"
> Date: 12th February 2005 5:19:59 pm
>
>
> much more offensive than the crummy math & science scores among so
> many poor
> and middle-class Americans? Or the declining number of Americans going
> into
> the sciences and engineering? Or, more broadly, why care about Kansas
> schools when there are so many greater horrors, such as global
> warming,
> genocide in Sudan, President Bush, war, AIDS, etc.
>
> I'm not defending or attacking creationism, just trying to find out
> why your
> folks care so much about the policy of a school board in Kansas.
>
> Neil
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: owner-ip@v2.listbox.com on behalf of n
> Sent: Sat 2/12/2005 11:16 AM
> To: ip@v2.listbox.com
> Subject: [IP] Re: Creationists take their challenge to evolu tion
> theory
> into theclassroom
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "John S. Quarterman"
> To:
> Cc: "John S. Quarterman" ;
> Sent: Saturday, February 12, 2005 10:45 AM
> Subject: Re: [IP] Re: Creationists take their challenge to evolu tion
> theory
> into theclassroom
>
>
>>> _______________ Forward Header _______________
>>> Subject: Re: Creationists take their challenge to evolution theory
>>> into theclassroom
>>> Author: David Byrden
>>> Date: 12th February 2005 1:26:23 pm
>>
>>> ...
>>
>>> I think my approach should be used to deflate the Creationists such
>>> as Mr. Harris, who said:
>>>
>>>>> "There are creation myths on both sides. Which one do you teach?"
>>>
>>> Mr. Harris is wrong; there are more than two sides. Every religion
>>> has a different creation myth.
>>
>> And Christianity has at least two: Adam and Eve created
>> simultaneously vs.
>> Eve created out of Adam's side; they're both in Genesis 1. This is
>> well known to every serious student of religion, or, for that matter,
>> to anyone who simply reads that book.
>>
>>> If the Creationists force Creation to be taught in schools, the
>>> schools should teach every single creation myth from cultures all
>>> around the world. This would leave no time for any science in science
>>> class - thus making a point - and would undermine the students'
>>> unthinking acceptance of Christianity.
>>
>> Or at least undermine their unthinking acceptance of some particular
>> sect's interpretation of Genesis as representing Christianity. After
>> all, when did Bishop Ussher's dating of Creation to 4004 BC
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Ussher
>>
>> become more important than the Sermon on the Mount or the parable of
>> the Good Samaritan?
>>
>> David has said what I haven't seen many people say: the response that
>> will succeed to a creationist attack on evolution is not to circle the
>> wagons around evolution or even around science. It is to
>> counterattack against the creationists' version of religion and
> Christianity.
>>
>> This isn't something that many of us particularly want to do; science
>> isn't about attacking religion; it is about science.
>> However, this isn't science; it is politics. What creationists
>> believe and teach in their own homes and churches is their affair.
>> But when they interject their dogma into public school systems as
>> fact, they expose it for critical examination, not to mention
>> ridicule.
>>
>>> David
>>
>> -jsq
>

I Knew Those Bastards Were Not To Be Trusted: "

Police have released CCTV footage of three men they are still trying to trace following an attack which left a 23-year-old man with facial injuries.

The victim was assaulted by a man dressed as Superman after a dispute over a shortage of food at a burger van at about 0030 GMT on Christmas Day…

(Thanks to Elvis NoDoctors.)

"

(Via Warrenellis.com.)

I tried to type in "robitussin" into my phone. Usually it recognizes what I want to type and asks me.

Instead it gave me "snagturqin".

Umm, no.

I'm strangely intrigued whenever the red recording light on the front of the DVR turns on. 8 in the morning. The light is on. A Simpsons episode? Late night movie on IFC?

The bright LED looks suspiciously like the light on Video cameras that indicate recording. (As opposed to that species of video camera that turned OFF the red light when recording...I used to have one of those.)

Still not sick. (again)

So I watched part of Coupling on BBC America. I can't say I've gotten into it.

The theme song "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps" was wracking my brain for a while until I realize that Cake did a version of it.

And a bit of googling reveals that the song is might be written by Osvaldo Farres (as "Quizás, Quizás, Quizás"), English lyrics by Joe Davis.

Smart People Choke Under Pressure.

Finally, an explanation for my SAT scores...

And the best corollary put forward on slashdot:

Donovan McNabb really is smart.

My favorite response to this comes from my friend Sarah:

catherine mackinnon has to go somewhere and shut up.

Sinners in the Hands of a Jealous God

So after four months of delay, bureacracy and persistent badgering, Cable (television and internet) is finally installed at the pad.

As part of the package, I have a Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8000 DVR box above the TV. Several shows have been set to record already, and I am intrigued by this show on BBC America called the Kumars at 42.

mmmm.

BBC America.

People in comas might still be aware of what is going on around them.

This coming from a comparative brain imaging study of people in comas and normal people with their loved ones talking to them.

I'm shocked this hasn't been done before.

catblogging, not me.

We've agreed on a mutual defenestration pact in our apartment for those caught playing Yanni.

Allen has never heard of Yanni.

I googled Yanni and came across this.

Beware.

From Dearest Warren:

The lesson of the 1930s is that, in a time of encroaching conservatism and creeping repression, the correct response is not to flush your fucking spine down the toilet.

Homage to pie boy.

sniff.

I finally took care of this today:

Goodbye! You have unsubscribed from sole@umich.edu,
a University of Michigan Lyris listserv.

If you have any parting remarks, you may direct them to
this special address:...

Allen during the superbowl:

Run you fools!

(apologies to Gandalf)

A glorious dot commy article about a company that acts like and hires like the early days of microsoft and google, but wants to make rockets.

Oh ye aspiring authors.