June 2011
“In The Netherlands the joke is usually presented as “A Dutchman, a German...”
– An Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
“A new form of communication has arisen with the rise of the press (read:...”
– The Gaming Philosopher: Walter Benjamin, “Der Erzähler” (The Storyteller). Found this branching off some stuff on Anna’s tumblr.
There’s a lot of interesting things about this passage, written in the ’20s (fuck, almost 100 years ago!) but one of them is how we are...
“Poets are our original systems thinkers. They contemplate the world in which we...”
– Sidney Harman (via tylrd)
“We here at Americans for Equal Justice feel strongly that the possibility exists...”
– Researching Enron has me going down a twisty maze of little passages. Ken Lay was the CEO of Enron, if you’re just joining us. Died in Colorado awaiting sentencing. But! Ken Lay is Alive - Ken Lay is Alive
“So many of adult life’s ills can be explained by not having four friends with...”
– Alain de Botton (via naranzarian)
Samuel Beckett interviewed John Lennon, I think...
Beckett: And we also agreed that I could tell a knock-knock joke.
Lennon: Well I wasn't all that keen on that.
Beckett: Just one - for only you, me and the tape recorder.
Lennon: Yes, okay, but only one, you promised.
Beckett: Yes, Yes. I did. Only one. I swear!
Lennon: Can you get on with it?
Beckett: The joke? Sure, why not? Here we go. You start it.
Lennon: Me? Okay-- Knock, Knock!
Beckett: Who's there?
Lennon: What?
Beckett: Who's there?
Lennon: You can be such a silly fecking twit, Beckett.
“What’s remarkable about the financial crisis isn’t just how many people got it...”
– What ‘Inside Job’ got wrong - Ezra Klein - The Washington Post
“In 2007, Lewis wrote a piece mocking the worrywarts trying to sound the alarm at...”
– (just found this article via noah) —
What ‘Inside Job’ got wrong - Ezra Klein - The Washington Post
Talking to three coins →
sheilaheti:
Does this primal fear come from my mother’s inconsistency?
Yes.
Does it also come from the demons or the monsters?
No.
Is there anything to be done about it, to quell it?
No.
Even a deeper spirituality wouldn’t help?
YES.
Yes it would help or wouldn’t help? Would help?
…
“On Tuesday, April 13, 2004, NASA transmitted “Where is My Mind?” to Mars to wake...”
– With your feet in the air and your head on the ground.
Wikipedia (via brianfeldman)
If your goal as a band or artist is to have millions of fans, win awards, or influence a generation, you band will still never be as cool as The Pixies.
(via gbreaux)
BRYCE DOT VC: If You're Competing On Features... →
this is true, and insightful, but also I don’t think it’s an Android problem, necessarily (tho I’ve also been shocked by how bad the UI is)
But what I read below is an advertising problem, the problem we had to deal with most frequently when I worked in agencies. Our clients knew what they’d worked hard on, (e.g., a faster processor) and could never understand why that...
WatchIan Bogost:
“A Slow Year is a collection of four games, one for each season, about the experience of observing things. These games are neither action nor strategy: each of them requires a different kind of sedate observation and methodical input.
The game attempts to embrace maximum expressive constraint and representational condensation. I want to call them game poems. The set comprises...
“For those of us who are involved in the various “content” industries I suspect...”
– Kenyatta Cheese (via soupsoup)
“Before talking politics, I would like to thank Mr. [Peter] Vesterbacka for...”
– Russian President Dmitry Medvedev thanking Angry Birds publisher Peter Vesterbacka.
Medvedev Thanks Angry Birds Maker for Distracting His Employees | techPresident
WatchThis video of JP Rangaswami speaking (Chief Scientist of Salesforce.com) is kind of brilliant. It wanders far through the various psychologies of work these days … and best of all, here’s a man who understands what time it is.
It is time to say what he says:
“The thing I want to avoid is that people will walk away from this presentation with the view that if work sucks, you...
“General Motors says it will invest $65 million in two plants and create or...”
– Thank god that grand plan worked. By spending 2 BILLION DOLLARS, we created and retained 4,000 JOBS and get — as a bonus? MORE FUEL-BURNING SUVs.
GM to Invest $65M in NY and Tenn. Engine Plants - NYTimes.com
Fuck you to everyone who criticized Obama for the auto bailouts.
(via evangotlib)
...
“I had panic attacks; we all did. My fellow writers would fall asleep, and then...”
– AOL Hell: An AOL Content Slave Speaks Out « News (via tedr)
“If AOL could find a good way for machines to write about Lady Gaga, they would...”
– AOL Hell: An AOL Content Slave Speaks Out « News (via tedr)
“I was in a think tank in Washington. The president of the think tank told me:...”
– Branko Milanovic (via azspot)
WatchI’m not sure about “the first weapon created entirely out of code” (given that the origins of the computer are military) but this is well researched and easy to watch. Well done, recommended.
Stuxnet: Anatomy of a Computer Virus (by Patrick Clair)
“The rats were implanted with a tiny array of electrodes, which threaded from the...”
– I’m not a neurologist or a doctor or anything like it, so I’ve no way to judge the meaningfulness of all this. But as a story — hopefully one that is meaningfully true — it is an extraordinary one.
Also the use of “…like a melody on a player piano…”...
“the process of understanding, it seems to me, is a process of constructing an...”
– haque design research - on reality, augmented reality, and that talk by kevin
@uah, this made me so happy to read. Not because you agree or whatever, but because it takes some of the ideas from that talk and expresses them more clearly than I could ever hope to. And then takes them further than I...
“Apple employees 50,000 people. Foxconn employs 1,000,000 people. So you can have...”
–
From Helen Walters’ AMAZING TUMBLR:
“Journalist and pundit Fareed Zakaria has an update to his book, The Post-American World, due out at the end of the month. For it (and a CNN special report airing tonight), he delved into the world and meaning of innovation—and examined how the United...
“A very unapologetically-unprepared @slavin_fpo plods through #AR, drops some...”
– Twitter / @traklord (“We are the dreamers of dreams; augmented reality awaits!”)
“I cannot walk down my neighborhood streets in the solitude of night without...”
– Jorge Luis Borges, A New Refutation of Time (via naranzarian)
“If someone tells you that he can make huge profits, year in and year out,...”
– Felix Salmon, “Wall Street: Same as It Ever Was” — The 14 Biggest Ideas of the Year - Magazine - The Atlantic
“It doesn’t matter how much I sequester myself or how thrilling the event...”
–
from “Space, Time and DVR Mechanics
When it’s come to sports, it’s live … or it’s totally dead.”
excerpt (not a summary) about tv from Chuck Klosterman: Why the DVR robs sports of all of their drama (via @flantz)
