randomwalks/dj

I wince reflexively whenever I hear Bush giving an interview but this one is especially bad.

BUSH: Well those are two different questions, did we fight the wrong war, and absolutely -- I have no doubt -- the war came to our shores, remember that. We had a foreign policy that basically said, let's hope calm works. And we were attacked.

WILLIAMS: But those weren't Iraqis.

BUSH : They weren’t, no, I agree, they weren't Iraqis, nor did I ever say Iraq ordered that attack, but they're a part of, Iraq is part of the struggle against the terrorists. Now in terms of image, of course I worry about American image. We are great at TV, and yet we are getting crushed on the PR front. I personally do not believe that Saddam Hussein picked up the phone and said, “al-Qaida, attack America.”

Originally from Cynical-C Blog by Chris reBlogged on Aug 30, 2006, 11:17PM

Originally posted by Chris from Cynical-C Blog, on August 31, 2006 1:42 AM

Quick Post

The 7th installment in the Up Series, which is a documentary series that revisits those remaining from the fourteen people profiled in the original film every seven years. The movie is out on October 3rd.

http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/49up/

Originally from Capn Design reBlogged on Aug 31, 2006, 1:41AM

Originally from Capn Design, on August 31, 2006 1:40 AM

Finally. A solid thought on how to respond to the global problem of dealing with terrorists. And it's got its roots in a very old thought which is a good sign. In an article titled The Dread Pirate Bin Laden, Douglas R. Burgess Jr. states:

More than 2,000 years ago, Marcus Tullius Cicero defined pirates in Roman law as hostis humani generis, "enemies of the human race." From that day until now, pirates have held a unique status in the law as international criminals subject to universal jurisdiction—meaning that they may be captured wherever they are found, by any person who finds them. The ongoing war against pirates is the only known example of state vs. nonstate conflict until the advent of the war on terror, and its history is long and notable. More important, there are enormous potential benefits of applying this legal definition to contemporary terrorism.

Mr. Burgess goes on and expands on this thought in several directions—all fascinating. The entire article is a great read.

The idea of treating terrorists as stateless people committing war with the world is a great one. It might just recast how we respond. And it ties into a feeling I had when it was clear that we about to invade Iraq. I didn't want to see us take out a country. I wanted to hear about Blackhawks dropping in commandos into terrorist bases and taking those out. I still do. Terrorists don't belong to any state—they operate outside the notion of the state. Therefore, the International community of states should react appropriately.

Via: Bruce Schneier.

Originally from James Duncan Davidson by James Duncan Davidson reBlogged on Aug 30, 2006, 11:17PM

Originally posted by James Duncan Davidson from James Duncan Davidson, on August 31, 2006 1:40 AM

We posted about the New York Public Library’s Digital Gallery a few months ago (and so did everyone else with access to a computer and a connection to the web) but actually viewing the collection was a chore since everyone was connecting to the library at the same time.

NYPL Digital Gallery is The New York Public Library’s new image database, developed to provide free and open online access to thousands of images from the original and rare holdings of The Library. Spanning a wide range of visual media, NYPL Digital Gallery offers digital images of drawings, illuminated manuscripts, maps, photographs, posters, prints, rare illustrated books, and more. Encompassing the subject strengths of the vast collections of the Research Libraries, these materials represent the applied sciences, fine and decorative arts, history, performing arts, and social sciences.

They have redesigned and made the site faster (with the use of new superchimps yes chimps!). The site also comes with a disclaimer.

Content on this site is drawn from a broad range of original historical resources, including materials that may contain offensive language or stereotypes. Such materials should be viewed in the context of the time and place in which they were created. All historical media are presented as specific, original artifacts, without further enhancement to their appearance or quality, as a record of the era in which they were produced.

And we present the best one’s we have found. All suitable for framing.

RELATED: Collection of Russian and Ukrainian posters, 1917-1921 and Harold M. Fleming papers, 1917-1971 .

Originally from Turbanhead.com by Administrator reBlogged on Aug 30, 2006, 10:21PM

Originally posted by Administrator from Turbanhead.com, on August 31, 2006 1:40 AM

6th Inning Yankees Game: Dancing YMCA Sweepers, originally uploaded by triciawang 王 圣 㨗.

Yankees Game, bronx? Nyc

Originally from Hi Tricia! by Tricia Wang 王 圣 㨗 reBlogged on Aug 30, 2006, 8:34PM

Originally posted by Tricia Wang 王 圣 㨗 from Hi Tricia!, on August 30, 2006 9:26 PM

Kenyatta at Yankees Game, originally uploaded by triciawang 王 圣 㨗.

Yankee stadium, bronx, nyc

HI DAVID and ADRIANA!

Originally from Hi Tricia! by Tricia Wang 王 圣 㨗 reBlogged on Aug 30, 2006, 8:10PM

Originally posted by Tricia Wang 王 圣 㨗 from Hi Tricia!, on August 30, 2006 9:26 PM

One great paradox of globalization is that although geographical locations (and the connections between them) are at its very core, the phenomenon nevertheless makes it easier than ever for us to forget the identity and meaning of a particular place. In other words, globalization is simultaneously everywhere and nowhere. This is the crux of the Mapping Globalization Project (MG). A joint undertaking of Princeton University and the University of Washington, MG combines maps, narratives, and data and analysis, in order to examine trade networks, mass migration, and other patterns and impacts of globalization.

The notion of a network may be the best means through which to appreciate the particular qualities of globalization. Most literally, networks are arrangements of connections into nets, or systems linking groups of points and intersecting lines...A focus on networks allows us to examine the integration of economic, social, political, and cultural regimes as a process in and of itself. Viewing globalization as a network allows us to combine different forms of interaction (e.g., trade, migration, conflict) into a cohesive portrait of international integration.

This project is connected to the International Networks Archive's (INA) Remapping Our World project, which Dawn wrote about here some time ago. The infographics at INA's site also document the spread of globalized cultural phenomena, such as entertainment and consumer goods. The maps pictured here, which was what caught my attention today at Core77 shows McDonald's and Starbucks chains as distributed throughout the world.

The MG team provides a list of free downloadable data on a wide range of industries and institutions touched by globalization, from arms trade to piracy to tourism. It's very interesting, useful information, and it paints a clear visual picture of the connections we too often forget.

(Posted by Sarah Rich in The Tech Bloom – Collaborative and Emergent Technologies at 02:06 PM)

Originally from WorldChanging: Tools, Models and Ideas for Building a Bright Green Future by Sarah Rich reBlogged on Aug 30, 2006, 6:06PM

Originally posted by Sarah Rich from WorldChanging: Tools, Models and Ideas for Building a Bright Green Future, on August 30, 2006 9:26 PM

Just spent about 30 minutes trying to get a Logitech webcam we had lying around the office to work with my Thinkpad.  Couldn't make it work, and gave up after I realized that I spent about 29 minutes more than I should have trying to find and install the drivers for the damn thing.  It's late 2006.  Shouldn't plug and play be a reality by now?

There was one nice touch in this otherwise incredibly frustrating experience -- Logitech has nice little pictures to help you find the right software for your device. Of course, the package for my cam was a 79mb download (who needs 79 megs of software for a web cam?) that didn't work.  But hey, at least their web team got their part of the experience right.

Originally from this is sippey.typepad.com by Michael Sippey reBlogged

Originally posted by Michael Sippey from this is sippey.typepad.com, on August 30, 2006 9:26 PM

Guest editor Sasha Frere-Jones deconstructs the week in music: Dylan, Danity Kane, Leaders of The New School, the history of Sub Pop Records, E-40 featuring Big Boi, Cornelius, Clipse, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Lily Allen, and Beastellabeast

A Remnick addition to the New Yorker’s masthead, pop music critic Sasha Frere-Jones must have been the first person to sneak the phrase “inscrutable batphones” into the magazine (as in, “not all musicians below the age of 30 are getting tattooed with runic symbols and sending viruses to each other on tiny, inscrutable batphones”). For this week’s mp3s Digest, we asked Sasha to comment on some of our favorite songs found around the web.* * * Bob Dylan, “Nettie Moore” I didn’t drink the Bob Dylan Kool-Aid until I was 35 years old. It was fun being the non-believer, but there was always this big hole in my map, and ‘60s Dylan plugged it just so. It was him, it was that guy. “Don’t Look Back” made it clear. He changed the channel on the century; turned the “She Loves You” Beatles into the “Norwegian Wood” Beatles; established the right... Click here to continue reading this article.

Visit The Morning News.

Originally from The Morning News reBlogged on Aug 30, 2006, 11:21AM

Originally from The Morning News, on August 30, 2006 4:14 PM

The other night we discovered how fun of a game Apples 2 Apples is. There's no right and wrong, just plenty of room for creative word association and subjective judging!! For example, two cards from which the players had to play off of were put on the table : Casual and Demanding. Is there any other game where you can put down your Anne Frank* card and get rewarded for hilarity?? No. Another good play was in response to the cards, Elitist and Lucky...of course Ghandi was the obvious choice. Love this game!!

* Although Jason reluctantly put this card down as as he's more of a logical player, the best play of the night award still goes to him - congrats!

** Meg gets an award for deeming HMOs the winner in face of Creative and Frazzled cards instead of Indiana Jones and the award goes to Jonah for successfully lobbying for his HMOs card as the obvious choice over Indiana Jones.

Originally from Andrea Harner by Andrea reBlogged on Aug 30, 2006, 10:44AM

Originally posted by Andrea from Andrea Harner, on August 30, 2006 4:14 PM

Instead of paying twice for mobile homes in New Orleans, wouldn't it have been better for the reconstruction money to go to somewhere...better?

Originally from clusterflock reBlogged on Aug 29, 2006, 4:26PM

Originally from clusterflock, on August 30, 2006 4:13 PM

I'm off later today to Linz, Austria for the 2006 Ars Electronica Festival. My husband will be speaking at the conference, and I (for once) will not be. Yay! This means more time for me to explore the home of the Linzertorte and perhaps locate the very best one in town. Afterwards, we'll be doing some traveling in the region, where I hope to eat all sorts of delicious local delights that I can report about when I return.

Until I do, there will be no updates on the site. I'm not even bringing my computer. So enjoy your last days of summer, and I'll see you back here on September 10th, full of sausage stories and Linzertorte tales.

Originally from megnut.com blog by meg@megnut.com (Meg Hourihan) reBlogged on Aug 30, 2006, 12:47PM

Originally posted by meg@megnut.com (Meg Hourihan) from megnut.com blog, on August 30, 2006 4:12 PM

Posted by Adam Mathes, Associate Product Manager, Google Book Search

Starting today, you can go to Google Book Search and download full copies of out-of-copyright books to read at your own pace. You're free to choose from a diverse collection of public domain titles -- from well-known classics to obscure gems.

Before the rise of the public library -– a story chronicled in this 1897 edition of The Free Library – access to large collections of books was the privilege of a wealthy minority. Now, with the help of our wonderful library partners, we're able to offer you the ability to download and read PDF versions of out-of-copyright books from some of the world’s greatest collections.

Using Google Book Search, you can find The Free Library and many other extraordinary old books, such as:

* Ferriar's The Bibliomania
* A futurist from 1881's 1931: A Glance at the Twentieth Century
* Aesop's Fables
* Shakespeare's Hamlet
* Abbott's Flatland
* Hugo's Marion De Lorme
* Dunant's Eine Erinnerung an Solferino
* Bolívar's Proclamas
* Dante's Inferno

To find out-of-copyright books that you can download, simply select the "Full view" radio button when you search on books.google.com. (Please note that we do not enable downloading of any book currently under copyright. Unless we have the publisher’s permission to show more, we display only small snippets of text –- at most, two or three sentences surrounding your search term -– to help you determine if you’ve found what you’re looking for.)

Of course, this is just the beginning. As we digitize more of the world's books -- whether rare, common, popular or obscure -- people everywhere will be able to discover them on Google Book Search.

Originally from Official Google Blog by A Googler reBlogged on Aug 30, 2006, 12:45PM

Originally posted by A Googler from Official Google Blog, on August 30, 2006 4:12 PM

Admittedly, this is perhaps more of an interesting trick rather then a needed feature; However, if you’ve ever wanted to print man pages or simply read them in a nice, anti-aliased document view instead of within the Terminal, here’s a tip you might like. The following bash script (and credit goes 100% to my friend Victor, who is sans-blog) will format and open man pages in Preview:

#!/bin/bash

cmd=$1
if [ -z $cmd ]; then
    me=`basename $0`;
    echo "Usage: $me command_name";
    exit;
fi

man $1 > /dev/null 2>&1
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
    echo "No man page for $cmd";
    exit;
fi

man -t $cmd|open -f -a /Applications/Preview.app

On my box, I called the script ‘manpreview’ and dropped it in ~/bin/ for easy access. Once you `chmod u+x` it (and have ~/bin/ in your path), you’ll be able to do fun things like `manpreview tcpdump` for some extended reading.

Originally from [eriksmartt.com/blog] by erik reBlogged on Aug 30, 2006, 12:15PM

Originally posted by erik from [eriksmartt.com/blog], on August 30, 2006 4:12 PM

"Naguib Mahfouz, the Egyptian novelist, playwright and screenwriter who won the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature and was widely regarded as the Arab world’s foremost novelist, died today, Reuters and The Associated Press reported. He was 94." [from the New York Times article]

Originally from clusterflock reBlogged on Aug 30, 2006, 11:26AM

Originally from clusterflock, on August 30, 2006 4:12 PM

Always alone...

Originally from clusterflock reBlogged on Aug 29, 2006, 10:30PM

Originally from clusterflock, on August 30, 2006 4:12 PM

There's been a great hue and cry about the debate over the definition of the word "planet", and Pluto's recent change in status. Frankly, I think the whole thing is silly -- like a lot of words, "planet" means different things to scientists than to lay people, and that's where the drama comes in.

But the uproar has inspired something pretty amazing. Mike Pusateri, proprietor of the venerable blog Cruftbox, organized the Pluto is a Planet Protest.

Mike's protest was inspired, enlisting the help of his children and his friends to raise awareness of the cause and culminating in the creation of an amazing video over on Vox. I had been unmoved by the debate thus far, but now I'm convinced of the danger -- Uranus is next!
<!-- ckey="59931FCE" -->

Originally from Anil Dash by Anil reBlogged

Originally posted by Anil from Anil Dash, on August 30, 2006 4:12 PM

The difficulties of interviewing Bob Dylan. "Dylan is rarely concerned about sounding polite, and he says things, but he sometimes makes them up. He also contradicts himself, answers questions with questions, rambles, gets hostile, goes laconic, and generally bewilders."

Originally from kottke.org remaindered links by jkottke reBlogged on Aug 30, 2006, 4:28PM

Originally posted by jkottke from kottke.org remaindered links, on August 30, 2006 4:04 PM

The LJ-ification of wordpress.com continues apace. Well, icons are pretty much the main thing that gets people to pay for LJ, and I’m sure multiple avatars will be a paid upgrade at some stage. I am happy, meanwhile, because I get to use the ancient wordpress wank icon I never actually used on LJ.

Actually, I made two wordpress wank icons, but the other one didn’t scale as well:

(The text is a misquote from Shelley Powers:

Additionally, you talk about the Wordpress community, but you don’t treat it as a community. You treat it as Matt and the Backup Singers.

which I loved sufficiently to iconise, if not quite enough to actually use the icon.)

Originally from wordpressâ„¢ wank by that girl again reBlogged on Aug 30, 2006, 3:22PM

Originally posted by that girl again from wordpressâ„¢ wank, on August 30, 2006 4:04 PM

here's a good overview;s is YouTube's biggest star a viral marketing effort or just kids havnig fun? [via] 

Originally from Waxy.org Links reBlogged on Aug 30, 2006, 2:54PM

Originally from Waxy.org Links, on August 30, 2006 4:04 PM

OMG - 1.6+ million Flickr photos geotagged in the first 32 hours. A flickr screencast called GeoTags & You tells how to do it.  I know at least one friend, who I suspect, will spend hours and hours doing this.

Originally from DefinitiveInk by joshua mack reBlogged on Aug 30, 2006, 1:32PM

Originally posted by joshua mack from DefinitiveInk, on August 30, 2006 4:04 PM

---

Kraftwerk stitch by the daughter of co-founding member Florian Schneider. Her dad is the guy at the end with no coiffure.

Originally from Tom Moody by tom moody reBlogged on Aug 30, 2006, 6:42AM

Originally posted by tom moody from Tom Moody, on August 30, 2006 4:04 PM

If you thought the prequels were bad take a look at the Star Wars Holiday Special. Here is the opening...


The cantina scene with Bea Arthur (no really!)


And Princess Leia singing to the outro.

Originally from Cynical-C Blog by Chris reBlogged on Aug 29, 2006, 8:35PM

Originally posted by Chris from Cynical-C Blog, on August 30, 2006 9:00 AM

Today is silence for me. Breathe in, breathe out. Respect for all that we've endured, thankfulness for all the help we received. Jaw set tight. It's still too enormous for me to get my head around, so I won't try. Words are often useless for me, and today, more so.

So instead, a simple photograph of my mom's Eden, one year on. She's sitting on the front porch of what will be her new home soon. It's risen on the foundation of the home Katrina destroyed, only steps away from her FEMA trailer, and every day she looks out the trailer window a thousand times at it, and her gold smile lights up, and she whispers "Thank you, Jesus."

It's been built by the sweat and love of volunteers from all over the country. From all walks of life they've come into the Gulf to help their brothers and sisters. Normal, average Americans, disgusted by their government's inaction, they've picked up hammers and done it themselves.

One day there's a moldering heap of rubble, the next day hippie volunteers from Burning Man bulldoze it and take it away. One day it's a flat slab of concrete, the next day a pre-fab home kit is delivered by One House At A Time and New Hope Construction. One day there's a jumble of materials, the next day a church group from Oregon shows up and builds the frame and shell. A little later a group from Pennsylvania shows up and paints it my mom's favorite shade of green, and puts a tin roof on so she can hear the rain fall at night. And not to be outdone, a group from Alabama comes over and sheet rocks the interior, then comes back and builds her a deck for good measure.

Like I said, too enormous for me to get my head around. So today I want to just sit and rest, and enjoy the look of pride and place in my mom's eyes.

We may have far to go, but we've come a long way.

Originally from Operation Eden by clayton cubitt reBlogged on Aug 29, 2006, 6:12PM

Originally posted by clayton cubitt from Operation Eden, on August 30, 2006 9:00 AM

Korean Film Festival
At BAM Rose Cinemas (30 Lafayette Avenue between Ashland Place and St. Felix Street), BAMcinématek presents two films by Lee Man-hee — Water Mill (1966) at 6:50 PM and The Devil's Stairway (1964) at 9:15 PM.

Originally from Brooklyn Record by Brooklyn Record reBlogged on Aug 30, 2006, 9:24AM

Originally posted by Brooklyn Record from Brooklyn Record, on August 30, 2006 8:57 AM

A classic article by Stephen Jay Gould on the changing biological features of Mickey Mouse. Over the years, Mickey has become more well-behaved and his appearance more juvenile (larger eyes, short pudgy legs, relatively large head, short snout, etc.). "When we see a living creature with babyish features, we feel an automatic surge of disarming tenderness."

Originally from kottke.org remaindered links by jkottke reBlogged on Aug 30, 2006, 9:01AM

Originally posted by jkottke from kottke.org remaindered links, on August 30, 2006 8:57 AM

The Yes Men are at it again! This week the artists managed to work their way into a conference on the reconstruction of New Orleans, one year after Hurricane Katrina, and present a speech while masquerading as an executive of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Yes Man Andy Bichlbaum outlined a plan for HUD to immediately reverse their policy rto destroy 5,000 units of 'perfectly good' affordable housing, and outlined all the reasons that the existing policy had harmed the community. The Yes Men are 'media artists' not only in the sense that they use new media to carry out and document their work--often erecting websites parodying those targets in need of their 'identity correction'--but also in the sense that their work very much plays out within the news media. Such was the case when they scored a BBC interview, posing as a Dow Chemical representative, and again when they appeared as 'themselves,' in a follow-up to the hoax. CNN.com reports that Bichlbaum told a reporter, this week, 'The real reason we do it is what we're doing right now... You're paying attention to this issue of affordable housing and the absurd policies of HUD.' The Yes Men make the truth sensational and newsworthy, giving reporters an opportunity to write about it. Thus, by lying about who they are, in order to expose horrible situations, the artists turn a double negative into something slightly more positive. Visit their website to read a transcript or watch a video of this post-Katrina positivity in action. - Marisa Olson

http://www.hano.us/announcement.html

Originally from Rhizome.org: Rhizome News reBlogged on Aug 30, 2006, 3:00AM

Originally from Rhizome.org: Rhizome News, on August 30, 2006 8:57 AM

---

The movie 8 BIT: A Documentary about Art and Videogames, which I discussed here last winter, premieres at the Museum of Modern Art on October 7, 2006. The film has a website, and you can view a trailer here (YouTube) or here (Quicktime). This is what I posted about it previously:

Last night vertexList gallery hosted a semi-private screening of the documentary film 8 BIT, directed by the gallery's proprietor Marcin Ramocki and produced by Justin Strawhand, who did the cinematography. The subject is art and the video game, but several distinct cultures and subcultures overlap: the big three being conceptual art, gamers, and electronic music but also the demoscene, chiptunes, gameboy music, and miscellaneous odd hacks. It's a PBS-quality collection of talking head interviews (including yours truly wearing a suit jacket and doing his best critic impersonation), interspersed with concert footage, video clips, and a kaleidoscope of stills that underscore and comment on things being said in the interviews.

Highlights include the stage appearances of Tree Wave [above photo] and Bodenstandig 2000 at Jeffrey Deitch last spring, Cory Arcangel discoursing on Nintendo cracking and the different types of synthesizer sounds in '80s computers, Alex Galloway's explanation of his Nam Jun Paik-like physical hacks bringing out the inherent flaws and coding errors in console games, footage from Eddo Stern's trippy, deconstructed Vietnam war game landscapes, Joe McKay on Audio Pong and the attempted or presumed realism of early hockey games, and it must be said, my withering putdown of gameboy music followed by Nullsleep telling me to fuck off from the stage at Deitch. A movie with an eternally adolescent pursuit at its core just wouldn't be complete without a good food fight.

Expect more plugs as the date approaches.

Originally from Tom Moody by tom moody reBlogged on Aug 29, 2006, 2:08PM

Originally posted by tom moody from Tom Moody, on August 29, 2006 6:21 PM

Iron Chef Morimoto's recommendations for Tokyo. Now you know where to get the best omakase, fugu, and knives on your next trip.

Originally from megnut.com blog by meg@megnut.com (Meg Hourihan) reBlogged on Aug 29, 2006, 10:19AM

Originally posted by meg@megnut.com (Meg Hourihan) from megnut.com blog, on August 29, 2006 6:21 PM

Street hacks: how to survive a freestyle rap battle. "Have your first real battle against someone you at least somewhat dislike. If you can find someone who just gets you emotional or who angers you, it makes it easier to flow about them." (thx, steve)

Originally from kottke.org remaindered links by jkottke reBlogged on Aug 29, 2006, 1:26PM

Originally posted by jkottke from kottke.org remaindered links, on August 29, 2006 6:20 PM

SensorPlanet is a Nokia-initiated cooperation on large-scale wireless sensor networks. The result of SensorPlanet is a global test platform for mobile-centric wireless sensor network research.

The objectives of SensorPlanet are to

* Make mobile handset -oriented wireless sensor network research easier
* Make possible for individual research groups to design and implement large scale experiments
* Allow creation and sharing of large data sets that can be analyzed/mined by many parties
* Establish a "Mobile Wireless Sensor Network Open Source community": Allow sharing of OS code
* Provide a forum for publishing early interesting results
* Accelerate concept innovation for consumer-oriented (and other) wireless sensor network research
* Create an ecosystem for industry and academia for collaboration and development

Originally from unmediated by yatta reBlogged on Aug 29, 2006, 11:41AM

Originally posted by yatta from unmediated, on August 29, 2006 6:20 PM

The New York Public Library's Digital Gallery has tons of great old photos of Central Park...among other things. thx, bryan

Originally from kottke.org remaindered links by jkottke reBlogged on Aug 29, 2006, 2:57PM

Originally posted by jkottke from kottke.org remaindered links, on August 29, 2006 6:18 PM

Great composite photo of Andre Agassi playing a point against Andrei Pavel in the US Open last night. Looks like Agassi had Pavel running a bit.
Update: Nice appreciation of Agassi with a summary of his career.

Originally from kottke.org remaindered links by jkottke reBlogged on Aug 29, 2006, 2:46PM

Originally posted by jkottke from kottke.org remaindered links, on August 29, 2006 6:18 PM

It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted on Mena’s Corner. Funnily enough, it’s not that I haven’t had time to blog, it’s because I’ve been doing a whole lot of personal blogging over on Vox, some product blogging over at Team Vox and been totally heads-down in product development. Even with the Mena’s Corner absence, Six Apart is still well-represented with blogging, between Pronet Weblog, Everything TypePad and another blog you may have never seen before: TypePad Feature Weblogs (these are but a few). There are so many amazing blogs being featured each and every day — it’s quite remarkable to see the talent we have on the service.

I did want to write and check in and say that more of my blogging can be found at Team Vox and blogging almost daily (mostly privately) at mena.vox.com. If you’re unfamiliar with Vox, I wrote a post about it in early June. If you’d like an invite, simply request one.

A lot of what I wrote about in that introductory post about Vox, I also shared in my Ted talk in February. This summer, and for the first time, the Ted Blog has been putting up past talks online as a way to share the event with those who can’t attend. (See all the TedTalks online)

Yesterday my talk was added — and If you can bear to watch 18 minutes of me, I think it’s a good way to get an idea of the motivations behind Vox. I don’t talk about the product at all. Instead, it’s about how powerful personal blogging can be, as a way to stay connected and, fundamentally, record one’s life.

Originally from Mena’s Corner by Mena reBlogged on Aug 29, 2006, 3:32PM

Originally posted by Mena from Mena’s Corner, on August 29, 2006 6:16 PM

<!-- comment --> I redesigned onfocus in March 2002. Since then, I haven't touched the design except for a few tweaks here and there. This site was way past due for a change, and this is the new look. If you're reading this in your newsreader, you'll have to click to see the new onfocus design in red, white, and black. I still have to work on the sub-pages, but I thought getting the weblog moved over would be a good start.

Originally from onfocus.com reBlogged on Aug 27, 2006, 6:40PM

Originally from onfocus.com, on August 29, 2006 9:11 AM

U.S. government data is ostensibly public domain, but as Jared Benedict, the force behind the Libre Map Project, discovered, you still need to pay for it sometimes. Jared was trying to make USGS 1:24,000 topo maps in DRG format...

Originally from The Map Room by Jonathan Crowe reBlogged on Aug 29, 2006, 9:20AM

Originally posted by Jonathan Crowe from The Map Room, on August 29, 2006 9:05 AM

From News.com: "Experts say the biggest reason why users aren't using their cell phones to access the Web more often is that compared with the traditional Internet, today's mobile Internet is still fairly rudimentary when it comes to Web site quality and ease of navigation.

Part of this experience is determined by the technology used by Web site developers and phone manufacturers providing access to sites. But it's also impacted by the fact that most users don't yet have access to faster 3G networks and affordable 3G handsets, which greatly improve quality.

"We're just waiting for all the pieces to come together," said Linda Barrabee, program manager for Wireless and Mobile at Yankee Group in the U.S. "I think once carriers improve the experience and solve the network and handset penetration issues, the services will become a lot more appealing to consumers."

Originally from textually.org by emily reBlogged on Aug 29, 2006, 9:17AM

Originally posted by emily from textually.org, on August 29, 2006 9:05 AM

1964 profile of Bob Dylan from the New Yorker.

Originally from kottke.org remaindered links by jkottke reBlogged on Aug 29, 2006, 8:47AM

Originally posted by jkottke from kottke.org remaindered links, on August 29, 2006 9:05 AM

I launched a new design for my blog about two weeks ago, but I'd been waiting until I had a chance to shake out a few of the more egregious bugs to mention the new layout and to describe some of the thinking behind it.

First, the page should look at least something like the screenshot you see above. The markup's mostly valid, the CSS is mostly not hacked, but more importantly, it looks kind of like how i think my site should look.

And yep, the big picture of me at the top is a little bit pompous. I'm hoping the tongue-in-cheek nature of that comes across, but if not, it'll just be our little joke. Coming from a family history that includes some actual pundits, I feel like I'm slightly more entitled to have some fun with the idea. Unfortunately, I think there's about a billion political or tech bloggers using the term to describe themselves, so I'll content myself with just naming my blog after myself. That's worked pretty well for the past 7+ years. (Did I mention last month marked my seven year anniversary for this blog?)

One additional item I plan to add to the page is a list of upcoming events. I am doing a lot of public speaking over the next few months, and I'd love to get a chance to meet up with readers of my site. So if you have suggestions about how to present this information, or how you'd like to meet up, let me know.

There's still some little bugs in the display, and I could probably refine the design a little bit more, but finally, here's my new blog design. One of the things I'm most proud of is that the names of the people who comment on this site are featured prominently with the posts, both on the homepage and on the individual post pages. I really, genuinely love the high quality comments I get, so it's likely that any final refinements to the design will be focused on highlighting good comments to have a more prominent place on the site.

Originally from Anil Dash by Anil reBlogged

Originally posted by Anil from Anil Dash, on August 29, 2006 9:05 AM