Month: September 2005
-
Words, Jobs, Cooking
Word Munger on reframing the abortion language (take that Frank Luntz!) We need to reframe the debate on abortion. Because the debate is not about abortion, it’s about sex. Instead of describing the sides as Pro-Life and Pro-Choice, we should be describing them as Anti-Sex and Pro-Sex. Here’s what the Anti-Sex people really want: they…
-
How do you do dooodle doodle dooodle do?
Turtle Services has some 78rpms from the 1920s. How do you do? is something that grabbed me. Found from Lucas Gonze’s master playlist
-
Does Google have a leg to stand on?
You know, after reading the commentaries by Patry and others, I’m beginning to think that google doesn’t have a leg to stand on, fair use wise. William Patry talks about the google/fair use problem. He writes: I have increasingly come to find the traditional four factor fair use analysis not only unhelpful, but harmful to…
-
Literary Product Placements
Scott Esposito on literary product placements in modern sitcoms. So, there’s a reason why John Updike’s Rabbit novels were always mentioning Toyota…. Another list of best literary works of the previous century. Some nice surprises: ..The Time of the Doves (La Plaça del Diamant) – Mercé Rodoreda, Spain, Voss – Patrick White, The Devil to…
-
Whitening Your Teeth
Molly Ivins on George W. Bush and Temper Tantrum Appointments: Republican appointees who oppose the agencies to which they are assigned are a dime a dozen, but Foulke is a partner from the most notorious union-busting law firm in the country. What he does for a living is destroy the only organizations that care about…
-
Business Models, Oil Prices
How to View NYT columnists for free (legally!) Jay Rosen writes about business models and Time Select. I’m a little more positive about subscription services like this one. Nick Kristof actually kept a pretty good weblog at the same time he was writing his columns. Krugman or Dowd may not exactly be A columnists, but…
-
A Judge Apologizes
Judge James A. Parker, apologizing to Wen Ho Lee (sidenote: this was a Clinton administration action) I feel that the 278 days of confinement for your offense is not unjust; however, I believe you were terribly wronged by being held in custody pretrial in the Santa Fe County Detention Center under demeaning, unnecessarily punitive conditions.…
-
The Same 59 Words Everywhere
George Monbiot on the peak oil theory ; It is true to say that oil reserves are not fixed. As technology improves or the price increases, oil that was formerly too expensive to extract becomes available. But the oil geologist Jean Laherrère points out that the survey’s estimate “implies a five-fold increase in discovery rate…
-
Company Cookbook with Cheese
company cookbook. i’m sorry. I have been laughing for the last 10 minutes about this one.
-
Colors of Feminine Hygiene
Some quick notes: BargainPDA review of Dell Axim x51v and (more importantly) a review of Windows Mobile 5.0. Teleread preview look at a Chinese ebookreader. In other news, slashdot covers China’s censorship policies. DigitalVomit comments: Democracy or porn? And which will be more difficult to filter out? I would say democracy. People (both in the…
-
100 Historical novels about rome
100 historical novels about Rome, prepared by James Hawking. National Book Award acceptance speeches. Here and here.
-
Jon Stewart and the US Congress
Betsy Rothstein writes an article about Republicans on the Jon Stewart show: When /US Senator Ben/ Nelson says, “I get all my news from John Stewart,” it’s a joke. But for some, particularly those age 18-34, it’s true. A famed statistic from the Pew Institute is that 21 percent of TV viewers 18-34 get the…
-
Texas: A Land for Bigots
Houston Chronicle editorial criticizing a proposition to ban gay marriage: This November, Texans will vote on Proposition 2, a proposed constitutional amendment that would silence further reflection on these important issues. The referendum language defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Texas law already outlaws same-sex marriage. Should voters approve this…
-
1984 or Animal Farm?
Dan Green responds to James Sallis’ article about reading old science fiction readers requires from later readers a knowledge of “the period in which it was written.” Another good work to use as an example: 1984. It was mandatory high school reading for me because schools wanted us to beware of the evils of communism.…
-
Ebook by Julian Simon
Free Ebook by Julian Simon: Hoodwinking of a Nation