little brother is watching is a weblog
little brother is watching is a weblog that challenges the Bush administration’s domestic wiretapping program. (via) —dj
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Entries for March 2006
Airtrax produces material-handling equipment that can turn
Airtrax produces material-handling equipment that can turn and travel in any direction. It’s the end of the three-point-turn. Be sure to watch the video. — GK
I’m an idiot. Thanks to everybody who
I’m an idiot. Thanks to everybody who wrote in with the secret hidden on JWZ’s home page. A hint: It’s less a mathematical decryption problem than it is a Zawinski social engineering problem. — GK
If God does exist, is He a
If God does exist, is He a jerk? “The moment that Adam and Eve ate that fruit, wheels were set in motion that would ultimately result in the doom of mankind. Without some kind of intervention from God we would all be damned. God does promise to intervene, but it’s like building a nuclear bomb and setting it to go off in a large city at 12:00. Then, when all of the people of the city come to you for mercy, you disarm it for them. Does that make you a hero for disarming it or a lunatic for building it in the first place? The whole thing was orchestrated to make us feel dependent upon God. That says a lot about God’s character.” A rebuttal. — GK
“1. There is a website that successfully argues
“1. There is a website that successfully argues for the existence of God. 2. Here is the URL. 3. Therefore, God exists.” — GK
Leet. A disturbingly comprehensive Wikipedia entry on
Leet. A disturbingly comprehensive Wikipedia entry on l33tsp33k. — GK
“If you eat lunch with the same
“If you eat lunch with the same group of folks every day, eatlunch.at might help you!” I’m voting for Tacos Por Favor. They even have Mexican Coke. — GK
Update: Awesome chorizo-and-cheese soft tacos.
The Great Taco Hunt. One man’s lonely
The Great Taco Hunt. One man’s lonely but delicious quest to rate every taco in Los Angeles. — GK
Eery caricature of Harry Caray on top
Eery caricature of Harry Caray on top of his restaraunt in Chicago. Also in Google Earth news this week, an iPod-like pattern is allegedly the result of a poker bet gone horribly wrong. —dj
zHAUS photography has one of the best
zHAUS photography has one of the best slideshow interfaces I’ve ever seen. Flash, no permalinks, but still beautiful and intuitive. —dj
Survivor bias. If a mutual fund company
Survivor bias. If a mutual fund company runs three funds, two of which do well, one of which does poorly, they will simply dissolve the underperforming fund and continue to report performance on the survivors. They now appear to have a purely successful record, with all their (current) funds performing well. By systematically eliminating negative data, the survivors give a false impression of consistent success. — GK
Antimega reviews the new generation of mobile
Antimega reviews the new generation of mobile Flickr apps. Last year the only good way to upload to Flickr was through email or messaging, now there are more options. It’s also still early to count out Splashblog and Lifeblog, both of which have big money behind them. —dj
Have a weekend to kill and a
Have a weekend to kill and a burning desire to become an expert in Godzilla, Italian horror or screwball comedies? GreenCine movie genre primers. — GK
My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts,
My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts, an influential new wave composition by Brian Eno and David Byrne, is being released under a Creative Commons license. A social network for trading derivative works is also launching soon. —dj
Run for your lives! The world ends
Run for your lives! The world ends this year! Or next. Or the one after that. Or at some point in the future. — GK
For over half a decade, the front
For over half a decade, the front page of Jamie Zawinski’s site has been hexidecimal gibberish, with the source-code comment: “mail me if you find the secret. no, you can’t have a hint.” I spent some time trying a few years ago, but only discovered that the contents of the page change on a regular basis, each version has 404 lines and the only consistent characters are the anchors for the links and an asterisk in the seventh position on line 330. Anybody crack it? — GK
Tips for Newlyweds — First in a
Tips for Newlyweds — First in a Series: Never show any kids you have the pictures of you folding Mommy into the trunk of a car. It’s hard to explain out of context. — GK
Zlopp, Bangeth, Kapow, Klonk, Thwack, Kersploosh. Batman
Zlopp, Bangeth, Kapow, Klonk, Thwack, Kersploosh. Batman fight sounds or Web 2.0 company names? (via waxy)
Guests
I’m going to be away for a couple of weeks, but my pal Greg Knauss is taking over posting some remaindered links while I’m gone, aided by special guests David Jacobs and perhaps even Anil Dash.
Greg was the very first guest blogger here on kottke.org (and perhaps the first guest blogger ever anywhere) back in March of 2000 when I went to SXSW and they didn’t have wifi at the conference (nor did I have a laptop). Good times, back then.
When I get back, house on fire.
Ocean’s 13 is going to be made this
Ocean’s 13 is going to be made this summer. It’s good to see that the community is pulling together to keep Andy Garcia and Elliot Gould off the street.
Dubai is the fastest growing city on
Dubai is the fastest growing city on earth and wants to be the most important place on the planet, “what London was to the 19th century and Manhattan to the 20th”.
Photos of the top 15 city skylines in
Photos of the top 15 city skylines in the world. Hong Kong is #1 and I can’t disagree.
A list of the best Steve Jobs
A list of the best Steve Jobs quotes ever. A contradictory fellow, this Jobs.
Fascinating article about how it’s becoming impossible
Fascinating article about how it’s becoming impossible to tell 20 year olds and 40 year olds apart and the end of the generation gap. The author never gives a satisfactory answer as to why this shift has occurred though…there has to be an interesting book in here somewhere.
Hobo financial indicators
Hobo financial indicators, or how to tell what the stock/bond markets are going to do based on how well hobos are living. Short discarded cigarette butts = bad, lots of dogs getting dental work at the vet = good, lots of litter on the floors of movie theatres = good. (thx, zacharie)
The CIA World Factbook maintains a page
The CIA World Factbook maintains a page about the entire world, which seems like it was meant to be read by aliens about to visit Earth for the first time. (thx jake)
Even with the encroachment of blogs, craigslist,
Even with the encroachment of blogs, craigslist, and online stock listings, James Surowiecki says the newspaper business is actually not a bad business to be in these days. “Newspapers are classic cash cows: solidly profitable businesses in a stagnant industry.”
Shopsin’s is moving to Brooklyn. Wonder at
Shopsin’s is moving to Brooklyn. Wonder at the marvelous information design of Shopsin’s menu or read Calvin Trillin’s outing of the restaurant in the New Yorker.
Even native New Yorkers are often disoriented
Even native New Yorkers are often disoriented when exiting subway stations, so why doesn’t the MTA print a little direction indicator on the pavement near the exits? Better yet, download the stencils provided here and let’s do it ourselves.
Rebutting Caterina, David says it’s a great
Rebutting Caterina, David says it’s a great time to start a business. Good points by both, but they’re ultimately arguing different things. ps. Staying small isn’t the answer to everything, guys.
Fascinating thoughts on the future of science
Fascinating thoughts on the future of science by Kevin Kelly. The sequence of recursive devices and triple blind experiments (“no one, not the subjects or the experimenters, will realize an experiment was going on until later”) were especially interesting.
Profile of Daniel Dennett, “Darwinian fundamentalist” and
Profile of Daniel Dennett, “Darwinian fundamentalist” and author of a new book that argues that “religion, chiefly Christianity, is itself a biologically evolved concept, and one that has outlived its usefulness”.
Update: Review of Dennett’s book in the New Yorker.
Norah Vincent disguised herself as a man
Norah Vincent disguised herself as a man for 18 months to see how the other half lived (and write a book about it).
Lots of chatter lately about the “broken
Lots of chatter lately about the “broken windows” theory of why the US crime rate dropped so dramatically in the 80s and 90s. Writing in the Boston Globe, Daniel Brook explores the possible cracks in the theory, while proponents William Bratton & George Kelling defend it from “attacks” from ‘liberals”, “anti-police groups”, and “ivory-tower academics”. Gladwell says broken windows holds up, Dubner disagrees, and Gladwell rebuts.
In his new book, Twelve Books That
In his new book, Twelve Books That Changed the World, Melvyn Bragg discusses, um, there’s no other way to put this, twelve (British) books that changed the world.
3 Years 3 Minutes is a short film spanning
3 Years 3 Minutes is a short film spanning three years of Felix Jung’s life in photos. (thx, ed)
Schedule a request for interruption from the
Schedule a request for interruption from the Bureau of Interruptions, and they’ll email, telephone, mail, or visit you at your office to “[open] up new places for your mind to wander”. (thx, chris)
Interesting interview with Jonah Peretti about contagious
Interesting interview with Jonah Peretti about contagious media, business, and web media. (thx, carrie)
Collection of publicly available articles from The
Collection of publicly available articles from The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2005. Good reading. (thx, robin)
Mexican Coke is growing in popularity
Mexican Coke is growing in popularity in the US, despite Coca-Cola’s insistence that it’s the same product. (And for the record, it does taste different and better because of the real sugar used.)
Sand animation art. Watch the videos…it’s
Sand animation art. Watch the videos…it’s cooler than it sounds. (thx, brock)
“Typing of the Dead is like Mavis
“Typing of the Dead is like Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing…if Mavis Beacon was a flesh-eating zombie!!”
Lamenting the sad state of the typography
Lamenting the sad state of the typography on girls’ asses. “This booty type is in fact similar to public signage that I’ve worked so closely with over the years: it’s meant to be seen, it’s communicating important and relevant information, it can be used to alert people of a problem (“SLUT!”), or it can simply be pointing out a scenic overlook.”
Tiltomo groups similar Flickr photos together by
Tiltomo groups similar Flickr photos together by theme, color, or texture.
Bruni reviews Shake Shack
While not exactly a starred review, Bruni ruminates on the Shake Shack in his blog and is also on a more general burger warpath.
Videos from presentations at Google, including John
Videos from presentations at Google, including John Battelle, Seth Godin, Antarctic meteorites, Hal Varian, and Sergey Brin. (thx, jf)
Shaking up tech publishing: “It seems that
Shaking up tech publishing: “It seems that the industry standard [for authors] is something akin to 10% of the profits (which easily take 4-5-6 months to arrive), being forced to write in Word, and finally a production cycle that’s at least a good 3 months from final book to delivery. That’s horrible!” Building a shop “to take $19 from your credit card” and laying out books in InDesign aren’t as easy as he makes it out to be for everyone, but it’s a great overall point.
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