June 2010
Men’s ‘Shapewear’ Is a Retail Hit →
Have we learned nothing? Straight from ruining our economy by packaging subprime mortgages into pristine CDOs, we’re now buying undershirts that obscure our fat. (Via NYTimes)
May 2010
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“People think of it like, ‘I’ve not seen him play a sorcerer, that...”
– Nic Cage.
And suddenly, half his canon makes sense. (Via Vulture)
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“The messages have mostly been from people trying to hook up with M.I.A. If she...”
– Lynn Hirschberg.
Hirschberg wrote a rather unflattering (though overdue) article on MIA in the NYT. MIA responded by tweeting Hirschberg’s phone number, insinuating it to be her own. (Via Pitchfork)
Senate Panel Votes to Repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t... →
“In case you’re wondering who’s responsible, I take responsibility. It is my job...”
– Obama.
Not sure how it will go over among the masses, but I for one am ecstatic that we have a president who can admit when he’s wrong. (Via NYTimes.com)
Ontario vs. Dan Aykroyd's Skull Vodka →
Canadian actor Dan Akroyd has launched his own brand of vodka called Crystal Head. The liquor comes in a fiendish glass skull, which has apparently incurred the wrath of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO), which controls all liquor sales in Akroyd’s home province. The LCBO says it will refuse to sell Akroyd’s Crystal Head, explaining, “The image of the human skull is the...
More Foxconn Suicides, Despite (Because of?)... →
Turns out asking people to sign contracts to promise not to commit suicide in order to escape their overwhelmingly controlled, bureaucratic life doesn’t work.
Dear lord. Too sad.
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Microsoft CEO to get guest slot at Apple CEO... →
OK, this is an even bigger PR coup than Gray Powell on stage. The Register writes:
Anti-Adobe, anti-Google, anti-antitrust masterstroke?
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will take a seven-minute segment of Steve Jobs’ Apple Worldwide Developers Conference to announce that his Visual Studio 2010 software will compile native Mac OS X and iPhone OS applications.
‘Top Kill’ Effort Seems to Be Working, U.S. Says... →
Via NYTimes.
Heidi Montag talks to God : The New Yorker →
The reality-show personality Heidi Montag recently underwent ten plastic-surgery procedures on a single day. Montag told People that, before deciding to take these measures, “I prayed about it for a long time and said, ‘God, if it’s wrong, then I won’t do it.’ ” The full text of Montag’s prayer has only recently been made available.
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Steve Jobs will win the day if he invites Gray Powell on stage to “unveil” the iPhone at WWDC.
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“The plan calls for dumping 50,000 pounds of “viscous fluid” on top of the well....”
– David Knowles. This isn’t encouraging. (Via True/Slant)
“Before the start of monetary union in 1999, EU countries borrowed at different...”
– Wolfgang Munchau
And they packaged the debt again, non-transparently, as part of the eurozone bailout last week. Hmm…
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“What lessons can we draw from the Facebook flameup? Lifecycle changes can trump...”
– Bruce Nussbaum.
Perfectly said. I haven’t seen this observation yet: digital change spurred cultural change at a rate faster than lifestage change. In doing so, we tripped up when the digital generation became adults, undoing some of the cultural trends bleeding-edge companies had been...
Best "human realizes he's secretly a robot" scene... →
Creation Of The Humanoids is rumored to be Andy Warhol’s favorite film, and camp-meister Susan Sontag extolled it in “The Imagination Of Disaster.” It’s easy to see why, from this scene where an anti-robot bigot realizes he’s a robot. (Via io9)
New “Drastically Simplified” Facebook Privacy... →
Facebook: it’s only partially about simplification. It’s about the availability of privacy. Until you create the feeling that I have complete control over my own data, you’re going to be running into this issue time and time again.
“TO LIVE, TO ERR, TO FALL, TO TRIUMPH, TO RECREATE LIFE OUT OF LIFE.”
– The synthetic bacteria (aka, “man-made life”) created by researchers at the Venter Institute, sports a custom DNA strand that quotes Joyce, among others. (Via Singularity Hub)
Sometimes I think markets slump just so Wall Street can keep throwing “The Dow is over 10,000!” parties.
“When word first got out that Facebook was working on a question & answer...”
– How is that sexy? TechCrunch needs to get out more. (Via TechCrunch)
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Twitter Bans All Ad Platforms Besides Their Own →
In the second recent threat to Twitter’s developer-friendly reputation, Costolo announces in a blog post that: “Aside from Promoted Tweets, we will not allow any third party to inject paid tweets into a timeline on any service that leverages the Twitter API.”
Building a developer community around your product is like waking a Golem.
“58% of people agree with the statement that, ‘they have more ability than...”
– Media stat of the day.
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WatchWrite The Future. Probably the best ad I’ve ever seen. (by W+K (of course), via Nalden)
Federal Writers' Project →
Remind Congress to bring this back for the next bailout. Best WPA program ever.
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"Flash Crash"
I predict this will be the phrase of the year. For multiple reasons.
humancomputer:
“drips // auntie’s harp” flying...
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“If we did not act, we faced a draconian future. Where one man, one company, one...”
– Google Vice-President of Engineering Vic Gundotra.
Plus they wanted to make a bunch of money off mobile search. But, yeah, the moral thing too.
Also: after hearing this quote and watching the coalition of Sony/Adobe/Google form, I couldn’t help but think these guys have seen Lord of the...
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“The navy is here with their special trained dolphins and sea lions!”
– Megan is enjoying her job as photo librarian for the Port of San Francisco.
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Scientists Find 'Baffling' Link between Autism and... →
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Germany Asks Google to Surrender Private Data →
This will be interesting to watch.
Google head Eric Schmidt recently said that having people’s private data in their hands was better than a government. Google says they follow local laws, but their China decision indicates that they’ll pick up and leave when their principles are violated (or firewalls.)
This case should be interesting, and a landmark, for many reasons:
The data in...
Facebook, Zynga Settle Dispute; Announce Five-Year... →
Facebook and social games maker Zynga, which had been battling over their relationship, have settled their differences, ensuring that Zynga titles—like FarmVille and Mafia Wars—will stay on the site. Zynga is the top app developer on Facebook, but in recent weeks had been reportedly preparing to exit the social network, after negotiations with Facebook over the use of Facebook’s virtual currency...
Michael Bolton had a new album →
sfhaps:
http://www.myspace.com/michaelbolton To play Modesto, Orville, Ojai & Yountville
I despise Michael Bolton and take great pleasure that his California tour consists of Modesto, Orville, Ojai & Yountville.
Pity about Yountville, though.
