A collection of first-person accounts of the
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Entries for December 2004
Malcolm Gladwell on Jared Diamond’s new book
Malcolm Gladwell on Jared Diamond’s new book on how societies go extinct. “We can be law-abiding and peace-loving and tolerant and inventive and committed to freedom and true to our own values and still behave in ways that are biologically suicidal”.
Caleb Smith walked every street in Manhattan
Caleb Smith walked every street in Manhattan over the past 31 months. And a bonus mention of photoblogger Mike Epstein at the end of the article.
The Aviator
When I first saw the trailer for this movie several months ago, I thought it would suck for sure. Surprisingly, it did not. Not at all actually. DiCaprio continues to refuse to let his career be defined by Titanic, Scorsese is almost entirely transparent** as the director, and Cate Blanchett does a pretty convincing (and fun) Katherine Hepburn. When Hughes straps himself into his sleek experimental plane and breaks the speed record, the scene was shot so well that it made me want to go flying after I left the theatre.
** This is a compliment…as architect Yoshio Taniguchi said of the new MoMA: “Raise a lot of money for me, I’ll give you good architecture. Raise even more money, I’ll make the architecture disappear.” Scorsese made the director and the directing disappear.
RSS update
Just in time for the holidays, I’ve updated my RSS file to include the full text of my posts. For those that get off on such things, now you have absolutely no reason to visit kottke.org in a browser anymore.
Also, you can subscribe to kottke.org on Bloglines or on My Yahoo!.
(Oh, and my remaindered links have their own RSS file and subscribe at Bloglines and at My Yahoo!)
The best and worst of the new MoMA building
The best and worst of the new MoMA building. I like the Matisse in the stairway…it doesn’t attract a crowd there and you can stand as long as you want looking at it.
Child’s Play II: Kids review more old school video games
Child’s Play II: Kids review more old school video games.
How US communities are reusing big box store buildings
How US communities are reusing big box store buildings. What happens to the old shells when Home Depots, Wal-Marts, and K-Marts scuttle off to their new homes?
WorldChanging interview with Thomas Barnett
WorldChanging interview with Thomas Barnett. A good introduction to his ideas about the Functioning Core of Globalization and the Non-Integrating Gap.
Profile of Antanas Mockus, former mayor of
Profile of Antanas Mockus, former mayor of Bogata, and his innovative governing techniques.
Some Amish communities have serious problems with
Some Amish communities have serious problems with rape, incest, and pedophilia. A reminder that religious fundamentalism is harmful no matter where it occurs.
The WSJ on Apple’s potential halo effect
The WSJ on Apple’s potential halo effect. “The runaway success of iPods could drive sales of Apple computers”.
Meg, Ev, Paul Bausch, Ben, and Mena
Meg, Ev, Paul Bausch, Ben, and Mena are PC Magazine’s People of the Year. Recognized for something called “blogging”.
The Best Links 2004
In doing this site for the past six and a half years, I’ve grown quite fond of short form writing, especially nonfiction short form writing. Magazine articles, newspaper pieces, weblog posts, etc. As I’ve said before, I’d love to compile an end-of-the-year Best Online Writing book or do a monthly Reader’s Digest-style magazine that compiles the best short-form writing from a variety of sources, but there’s a lot of hassle to deal with (securing rights, working with publishers, killing trees).
Luckily, the magic of the Internet allows you to do things that aren’t quite perfect but work well enough that it’s worth the trade-off. In lieu of a book or magazine compilation of the best writing of 2004, here are some of the best things I linked to in the past year. The list consists mostly of magazine and newspaper articles with a few other types of media sprinkled in and is more objective than my favorite weblogs of 2004 list. If, unlike me, you’ve got a little bit of slack time at the end of the year at your place of employ, this should keep you busy for the rest of the day. Enjoy.
The Buddhabrot Set. An amazing universe of structure, spirituality, and mathematical intrigue.
Jared Tarbell, Gallery of Computation
Big and Bad. How the S.U.V. ran over automotive safety.
Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker
Victoria’s Secret. A look at one of Prada’s top saleswomen.
Mimi Swartz, The New Yorker
Street Smarts. Learning from JetBlue
Norm Brodsky, Inc. Magazine
Khaaan!!
khaaan.com
The Way We Eat Now. Ancient bodies collide with modern technology to produce a flabby, disease-ridden populace.
Craig Lambert, Harvard Magazine
Microsoft Research DRM talk
Cory Doctorow, craphound.com
What the Bagel Man Saw. Honesty and breakfast.
Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt, The New York Times Magazine
The Decline of Fashion Photography. An argument in pictures.
Karen Lehrman, Slate
mashuga’s Fotolog. Portraiture of the homeless.
Gary F. Clark, fotolog.net
Ikeaphobia and its discontents
Adam Greenfield, v-2 Organisation
Birnbaum v. Michael Lewis. Moneyball, Red Sox, journalism, and screenwriting.
Robert Birnbaum, The Morning News
A Corporation That Breaks the Greed Mold
Jim Hightower, AlterNet
New Details Surface. Dick Cheney and Pat Leahy throw down.
Paul Sims, The New Yorker
The Anarchist’s Cookbook. John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods.
Charles Fishman, Fast Company
Week in Review. Hand drawn representations of the news.
Week in Review
Why don’t we do it in the road? A new school of traffic design says we should get rid of stop signs and red lights and let cars, bikes and people mingle together.
Linda Baker, Salon
Discovery of Flores Man. It sounds too incredible to be true, but this is not a hoax.
Nature
The Searchers. Radiohead’s unquiet revolution.
Alex Ross, The New Yorker
On the Record: David Neeleman, JetBlue Airways. Interview with the CEO of JetBlue
San Francisco Chronicle
How not to buy happiness. Can money make you happy?
Robert H. Frank, Daedalus
The Vice Guide to Everything. The DOs and DONTs of modern life.
Vice Magazine
Misinterpreted Movie Titles. Renaming movies with literal descriptions of their movie posters.
Something Awful
Blinded By Science. How ‘Balanced’ Coverage Lets the Scientific Fringe Hijack Reality.
Chris Mooney, Columbia Journalism Review
The True Story of Audion. How a piece of software got made.
Cabel Sasser, Panic
Something Borrowed. Should a charge of plagiarism ruin your life?
Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker
The Bell Curve. What happens when patients find out how good their doctors really are?
Atul Gawande, The New Yorker
Skeletal Systems. A character study of 22 present and past cartoon characters.
Michael Paulus, michaelpaulus.com
The Ketchup Conundrum. Mustard now comes in dozens of varieties. Why has ketchup stayed the same?
Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker
Decentralized Intelligence What Toyota can teach the 9/11 commission about intelligence gathering.
Duncan Watts, Slate
The way I rolled. A report on the Usher concert.
Mr. Sun, Mr. Sun!
Memory and Manipulation. The trials of Elizabeth Loftus, defender of the wrongly accused.
Sasha Abramsky, LA Weekly
Designs For Working. Why your bosses want to turn your new office into Greenwich Village.
Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker
Born of the Fourth of July. The statistics are not good for a baby born in the 24th and 6th day of gestation.
Eric C. Snowdeal III, snowdeal.org
John Stewart on Crossfire. You’re as big a dick on your show as you are on any show.
CNN Crossfire
Neal Stephenson Responds With Wit and Humor. An interview with the noted SF author.
Slashdot
Fear Itself. Learning to live in the age of terrorism
Gene Weingarten, The Washington Post
Consider the Lobster. For 56 years, the Maine Lobster Festival has been drawing crowds with the promise of sun, fun, and fine food.
David Foster Wallace, Gourmet
Aerial Photography. Earth from above.
Yann Bertrand
Child Portraiture. Muted works of vibrant mundanity.
Loretta Lux, lorettalux.de
Food Without Fear. When it comes to food, Americans have the tendency to lose all reason.
Dan Barber, The New York Times
John Maeda’s got himself a weblog called, what else, Simplicity
John Maeda’s got himself a weblog called, what else, Simplicity.
The Graphing Calculator Story
The Graphing Calculator Story. “I was frustrated by all the wasted effort, so I decided to uncancel my small part of the project. I had been paid to do a job, and I wanted to finish it. My electronic badge still opened Apple’s doors, so I just kept showing up.”
There are four types of parkers at the mall
There are four types of parkers at the mall. I am a hybrid parker: a one pass at the front row “search and destroyer” and then a “see it and take it”.
Richard Dawkins on the alleged marriage between religion and science
Richard Dawkins on the alleged marriage between religion and science. “We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further.”
What’s the deal with the number 11 in The Life Aquatic?
What’s the deal with the number 11 in The Life Aquatic?.
A demo of “Interactive Activation and Competition”
A demo of “Interactive Activation and Competition” neural networks, built with Processing.
My favorite weblogs of 2004
I love lists, especially those end of the year ones. Following Rex’s lead, here are some of my favorite weblogs from 2004. (Note: This list is not objective. I’m not surveying the entire landscape of weblogs and picking the best ones, just choosing my favorites from among those I follow on a somewhat regular basis.)
12. Mr Sun! - The funniest celestial object in the blogoverse.
11. Collision Detection - Clive’s got some writing chops — he’s a professional journalist — but his enthusiasm for the subject matter is what I look forward to when clicking through his site.
10. Gothamist - As Jen’s posting frequency has decreased (that she kept that pace for so long is amazing), the site has become a little aimless, but it’s still worth a few daily visits.
9. Dooce - Heather can (and does) talk about anything and make it funny. Despite several challenging episodes in her life over the past couple of years, Dooce is still going strong and from what I can tell, keeps getting better. One small request though: TONE DOWN THE ALL CAPS SHOUTING. Please?
8. Slower - Except for the celebrity photos, which he posts specifically to irritate me, Eliot’s work somehow gets better with each visit. Well, I don’t much like all the people photos he’s been posting recently. On second thought, maybe I should reconsider…
7. Anil Dash - His professional duties for Six Apart has resulted in a substantial decrease in volume on his site, but Anil was a must-visit for me in the first half of the year.
6. My del.icio.us inbox - Josh, I know you’re hurting, but hook me up…I need my del.icio.us inbox back!
5. Gulfstream - The best weblog that you don’t read. Michael updates somewhat irregularly, but every single link he posts is gold.
4. Boing Boing - Cory’s the engine that makes BB run…when he’s posting regularly, the site shines.
3. Waxy.org - One of the best edited sites on the web. Andy highlights so much interesting stuff.
2. The Morning News - Apologies to Rosecrans and Andrew for including TMN in this list of weblogs, but the site’s too good not to mention because of semantics.
1. Photos from my Flickr friends - Flickr is the most fun on the web right now. Period. It’s the closest thing I’ve experienced online to hanging out with your friends at the coffeeshop. (Note: your Flickr friends page looks different when you’re logged in and is a lot more useful.)
And a special mention…
0. Kottke.org - Oh man, am I gonna get mail about this one…the nerve! But I really enjoyed doing my site this year and I’ve already told you this isn’t really a “best of” list. Earlier in the year, I was thinking about quitting entirely and the site’s been a little, uh, crappy the last couple of months (if you haven’t noticed, you’re not paying enough attention…wake up out there!), but other than that, the site’s been really good to me. Thanks for reading, your emails, your comments, and for indulging me. Expect good things next year.
The Pioneer Anomaly
The Pioneer Anomaly. Something appears to be slowing the Pioneer spacecraft down, but no one knows what it is yet.
A mysterious something is “washing” the solar
A mysterious something is “washing” the solar panels on the Mars rover Opportunity. The lifetime of the rovers was thought to be limited because of the dust clogging the solar panels, but Opportunity is still operating near peak output.
The Long Tail is the working blog (
The Long Tail is the working blog (woblog?) for Chris Anderson’s new book of the same title. It’ll be interesting to see how these book-in-progress blogs affect the end product.
Slate editor Jacob Weisberg on their purchase
Slate editor Jacob Weisberg on their purchase by The Washington Post. I’ve come to like Slate a lot and wish them well in their new environment.
An update
So, I didn’t mean to leave everyone hanging with regard to the Sony/Jeopardy/Ken Jennings situation, but these kinds of things are often not well suited to be discussed in public until certain issues have been decided/settled/etc. I still can’t say too much about it, but Sony and I have retreated to our respective corners, both a little battered and bruised and unwilling to come out for another round. I wish it could have ended better for both parties…this thing blew up at a really bad time for me and made my life a living hell for about a week and Sony probably didn’t enjoy getting dragged through the mud as much as they were. Would have been nice to find a solution that was mutally beneficial, but it’s hard to do so when legal proceedings are involved.
In a completely unrelated matter *cough*, for those of you who were kind enough to offer me financial support in this matter, you may want to think about giving some money to the EFF:
[The Electronic Frontier Foundation] was created to defend our rights to think, speak, and share our ideas, thoughts, and needs using new technologies, such as the Internet and the World Wide Web. EFF is the first to identify threats to our basic rights online and to advocate on behalf of free expression in the digital age.
I obviously believe that what the EFF does is extremely important and I’m grateful to them for doing so much on our behalf. Now, go give ‘em a cuddle.
Kernin’ in the boys room
Kernin’ in the boys room. Someone wrote “bitch” on the wall of a men’s bathroom at Parsons and someone else corrected their kerning.
An interview with Noah Baumbach, co-writer of
An interview with Noah Baumbach, co-writer of A Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.
Top 10 key scientific advances of 2004
Top 10 key scientific advances of 2004. Discovery of water on Mars tops the list.
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