randomwalks/dj

I just stumbled across an amazing album of historic San Francisco Photographs on Calisphere. I’ve been digging through online collections of old SF photos, and most are muddy, brittle, damaged. These are in amazing shape and startling clear.

Some favorites:
Market, Post, and Montgomery (this is where the Montgomery BART station is now):

Market, Kearney [sic], and Third Streets:

Mission Dolores 1865:

California West from Kearney Street:

The City from an Oakland Ferry Boat:

Ferry Building 1905:

Street Scene in Chinatown (before all the obnoxious chinoiserie)

Originally posted by peterme from peterme.com, on July 5, 2008 6:41 PM

Writer director Rob Pearlstein created a completely endearing 15 minute short film called Our Time is Up about a therapist who discovers he has six weeks to live. It's wonderfully produced and even got nominated for an Oscar in 2006.

To be fair, it's initially a bit reliant on some rather tired clichés about patients and therapists, but despite itself, it's disarmingly warm and funny.

The writing is excellent, wrapping up what could have been a series of short sketches into a gently poignant and thought-provoking story.

Link to 'Our Time is Up' on YouTube.
Link to the film's website.

Originally posted by vaughan from Mind Hacks, on July 5, 2008 3:00 PM

Photograph from Clarity on Flickr

I don't need to remind anyone that it's strawberry season, do I? Don't be fooled by the oversized yet tasteless beauties you'll find at the big grocery stores. Buy them local and in season, and you're less likely to be disappointed. Want to pick your own? You can find a farm near you at pickyourown.org. Found yourself with more berries than you can eat in one sitting? According to strawberries.com, the best way to store strawberries for 3 days or less is to place them in layers separated by paper towels inside a plastic container or sealed bag. If you need to store them longer than that, freeze them in a sealed plastic bag. Either way, don't wash the strawberries before you store them. Rinse them off right before you eat them. Here are a few recipes we think are worth trying this sugar snap pea season:

For Breakfast

Strawberry Panzanella [101 Cookbooks] Strawberry Pancakes [Amateur Gourmet]

As a Starter

Spinach Strawberry Salad [SE] Strawberry and Feta Salad [Closet Cooking]

With the Main Course

Spaghetti with Strawberries [Cookthink] Pork Tenderloin with Strawberry-Mango Salsa [Food Blogga]

For Dessert

Strawberry Shortcake [SE] Ponchatoula Strawberry Cupcakes [SE] Baking with Dorie: La Palette's Strawberry Tart [SE]

Originally posted by Alaina Browne from Serious Eats: Posts and Comments by Alaina Browne, on July 5, 2008 3:00 PM

Last night, the Rockies became the third team since 1956 to win a game in which they allowed 17 or more runs:

  Cnt Date          Tm   Opp GmReslt  IP   H  R ER BB SO HR Pit Str IR IS  BF  AB 2B 3B IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS Pk Ptchrs   ERA
+—-+————-+—+—-+——-+—-+–+–+–+–+–+–+—+—+–+–+—+—+–+–+—+—+–+–+—+–+–+–+——+——+
    1 2008-07-04    COL  FLA W 18-17  9   22 17 17  6  4  2 189 117  5  3  56  47  7  0   1   2  1  0   1  0  0  1      6  17.00

    2 1979-05-17    PHI  CHC W 23-22 10   26 22 19  3  4  6          2  1  59  56  3  1   0   0  0  0   2  0  0  0      5  17.10

    3 1969-08-03    CIN  PHI W 19-17  9   21 17 17  4  6  3  97  65  6  5  51  47  4  1   1   0  0  0   2  1  0  0      5  17.00 

It’s the first such game (since 1956) not involving the Phillies.

Originally posted by Andy from Stat of the Day, on July 5, 2008 6:16 AM

via Gord:
"I was recently in Halifax and was able to catch the last day of the 'arena: the art of hockey' show at the art gallery. One piece of synth-trest was this - link - that I thought you would get a kick out of.

The sk1 somehow had each key hooked up to each player (eg: A=goalie, C#=right winger etc...) and when the keyboard was played they would move around and such.

I tried to sample my own voice but forgot how to store and loop on the sk1 (I haven’t played with mine since I got it – stupid ebay impulse purchase/attempt at re-living my childhood)… but all the internal voices were still accessible." The device itself, and just the thought of leaving your own samples for others is absolutely hillarious. :)

Originally posted by matrix from Matrixsynth, ReBlogged by Jamie Allen on Jul 5, 2008 at 08:25 AM

Originally posted by matrix from Eyebeam reBlog, on July 5, 2008 5:25 AM

I'll admit to sharing some of Byron's disappointment in this year's Tour de France.

Organizers have disinvited last year's winner, Alberto Contador, and his entire Astana team, barring U.S. podium finisher Levi Leipheimer and former T-Mobile rider Andreas Klöden, as well as perennial Tour scrapper Chris Horner (who I hope winds up a race commentator based on his consistently excellent interviews). Also disinvited? QuickStep's Tom Boonen, the defending green (sprinter's) jersey champion, who tested positive for cocaine in an out-of-competition test in late May. Slipstream-Chipotle's David Zabriskie (back injury) and Tom Danielson (fitness) won't get a chance to show off the team's new sponsor and name, Garmin-Chipotle.

And, since it's apparently impossible to announce a cycling doping verdict during the 50 weeks of the year that don't precede the Tour, we've got a final (maybe) Floyd Landis verdict arising from the '06 Tour and a Michael Rasmussen decision arising from the '07 Tour. This doesn't smell like the recipe for a great Tour.

On the other hand, we've got two U.S. teams in the Tour this year. Garmin-Chipotle and Team High Road, rechristened Team Columbia and arising from the ashes of the old T-Mobile team, are two teams that are in the forefront of longitudinal testing, where teams track a number of blood markers and measurements throughout the season. The UCI plans to bring a similar program, which they're calling the “biological passport”, to all teams next year. It's not foolproof, but it looks like the best way to move beyond one-shot blood tests to a comprehensive and contestable doping defense in depth. Maybe the sport is starting up the hors categorie climb back to credibility.

Garmin-Chipotle brings two American riders without a lot of grand tour experience, Will Frischkorn and Danny Pate, to ride in support of seasoned team leaders David Millar and Christian Vande Velde. George Hincapie looks to be back doing his natural thing in support of Kim Kirchen (and possibly young Kanstantsin Siutsiou) rather than trying to ride as a team leader. And Canada - Oh Canada - finally returns to the Tour, with Ryder Hesjedal becoming the first Canadian Tour starter since Gord Fraser in 1997.

As always, I'll be covering all the action over at TdFblog, where Byron has promised to drop by for the occasional guest post. I've also got a Twitter feed and welcome contributions at my reference wiki, TdFwiki. If you find an interesting link, a news story, or a photo gallery, please feel free to drop it in the wiki.

Originally posted by Frank Steele from Bike Hugger, on July 4, 2008 8:44 PM

I love the Tour and I can’t wait for it to start tomorow. I’ve followed it twice, and seen individual stages in 3 other years. I know that some people have grown a little callused, or chosen to not pay attention anymore (and – I can’t blame them, it has been a bit of a circus). Regardless of all that I’m going to be tuning in daily (probably more than one showing) to Versus to watch the in-depth coverage.

I think people tend to take Versus coverage for granted, but I remember back to the Olympics when NBC covered the Road Race. OMG – now that was painful. Human interest stories, cameras following only the Americans, and I think the whole race got 20 minutes TV time as it switched back to Men’s Floor Exercise gymnastics. Suck.

Check the Versus site - make sure they know that the interest is still there and support their sponsors. If you really want to help keep the tour on TV - go buy a SAAB or something.

Originally posted by Andrew Martin from Bike Hugger, on July 4, 2008 7:59 PM

New Muppets video! Sam the Eagle presents a musical salute to America. (via patrioticeagle and danhacker)

Originally posted by (author unknown) from shey.net, on July 4, 2008 7:39 PM

When I read Jennifer Loven's AP piece on Obama, which I flagged in the post below, it made my eyes bleed so bad I hardly knew where to start in cataloguing the awfulness. But TPM Reader CO points out a good place to start.

We've seen many examples over the last couple days of reporters egregiously lapping up the McCain camp's nonsensical spin about Obama flip-flopping on Iraq. But some reporters can get spun so thoroughly that they actually retrospectively rearrange the facts of the campaign to accommodate the McCain camp's spin. Change the facts to suit the spin, as it were.

So here you have Jennifer Loven, a veteran journalist with one of the plum spots in the profession writing this sentence (emphasis added) ...

His problem is that his change in emphasis to flexibility from a hard-nosed end-the-war stance -- including his recent position that withdrawing combat troops could take as long as 16 months -- will now be heard loud and clear by an anti-war camp that may have ignored it before.

Sort of depends on the meaning of 'recent' because I think I've heard the 16 months line for some time. And, sure enough, from October 2007 ...

There is no military solution in Iraq, and there never was. I will begin to remove our troops from Iraq immediately. I will remove one or two brigades a month, and get all of our combat troops out of Iraq within 16 months.

If I'm not mistaken he has said this numerous times since.

Please. There's always, repositioning by both sides gearing up for the general. So let's note those. And I guess there's no stopping gullible reporters from getting jonesed up by each sides' spinners to find subtle shifts where there aren't any. But let's not get so bamboozled that we actually start making stuff up. Okay?

Originally posted by Josh Marshall from Talking Points Memo, on July 4, 2008 7:03 PM

While the barbeques are getting underway and the fireworks are being prepared, a Happy 4th of July from TPM. Organize and vote. Do it for your country.

Originally posted by Josh Marshall from Talking Points Memo, on July 4, 2008 12:58 PM

Taking a break from my top secret Independence Day project that combines typography and patriotism (more about this later), I came across something marvelous that I had to share.

The August 2008 issue of Print has this arresting image on the cover. I recognized that the typography grew out of our Gotham Rounded font, which is the magazine’s signature typeface, and had assumed that this treatment was a clever and curious bit of digital rendering on someone’s part. It is and it isn’t: designer Karsten Schmidt used software of his own devising to give Gotham Rounded’s polished letterforms these intriguingly organic roots (using a branch of mathematical modeling called reaction diffusion) but then fed these digital inputs into a 3-D “printer” in order to produce a physical object.

I’m fascinated by 3-D printers (read: want one.) They’re essentially inkjet printers, but instead of rendering an image using a grid of ink splatters on a page, they produce successive cross-sections of an object by strategically injecting liquid binder into a polymer powder. Taken together, these high-resolution cross-sections form a dimensional object, like the one Schmidt produced here. Print is running an article describing the making of the cover, and its designer has detailed the entire process, step-by-step, in this illuminating Flickr set. Check it out! —JH

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Hoefler & Frere-Jones, on July 4, 2008 12:41 PM

This 4th of July, America celebrates its 232nd year of Independence, its break with the monarchy of England, and the start of a republic lead by a democratically elected president. In November, we will continue celebrating this democracy by electing our 44th president. Here are some historical and family photographs of each of the two major candidates (in alphabetical order), John McCain and Barack Obama. (23 photos total)

Presidential candidates: Illinois Senator Barack Hussein Obama II and Arizona Senator John Sidney McCain III (Ed Zurga/Bloomberg News and AP Photo/LM Otero)

Originally posted by (author unknown) from The Big Picture, on July 4, 2008 11:50 AM

This blog entry comes from Comstock Park, Michigan, where the Midwest League’s West Michigan Whitecaps (Tigers) are hosting the Ft. Wayne Wizards (Padres).  Yesterday found me a few hours north in Midland, where I had an opportunity to talk to Brad Golder, the radio play-by-play voice of the Great Lakes Loons (Dodgers).  Golder, who previously worked as a producer for the Atlanta Braves radio network and as the play-by-play voice of the Nashville Sounds, shared his thoughts on Loons baseball and some of the best players in the Midwest League.

David Laurila:  Before we talk about some of the best of the Midwest League, what is the history of the Great Lakes Loons?

Brad Golder:  We’re affiliated with the Los Angeles Dodgers and are a non-profit organization.  We’re in Midland, Michigan, which is the home of the Dow Chemical Company and also Dow-Corning – two Fortune 500 companies.  This team, in 2006, operated as the Southwest Michigan Devil Rays, in Battle Creek, Michigan.  A group of regional community leaders here, led by Bill Stavropoulos, who was the former CEO of Dow, decided they wanted to bring minor league baseball to the area.  He led a group of investors that were predominantly non-profit groups and foundations in the area, and he donated a million dollars of his own from his William Stavropoulos Foundation.  That was in addition to the Dow Chemical Foundation, Dow-Corning Foundation, and several others in the area to buy the Southwest Michigan Devil Rays.  Ground was broken on April 13, 2006, and on April 13, 2007 we were playing baseball here at Dow Diamond.  The stadium was built for 33 million dollars, zero of which was passed on to the taxpayers; it was completely privately funded.

DL:  Who is the best player wearing a Great Lakes Loons uniform right now?

BG:  I think that Andrew Lambo, hands down, is the best prospect, and the best player, on this team.  He’s a hitter who can go to all fields with power, especially gap-doubles type power.  He’s also a real competitor.  For some players there’s an intangible you see when you’re with them on a day-to-day basis, and with Andrew that’s a swagger and confidence.  He’s an above-average defender in left; he gets good jumps on the ball, despite the fact that this is his first full year playing left field.  He’s probably a better defensive first baseman, but we have hardly seen him there, because with James Loney at first for the Dodgers, I think they see the future for Lambo as a left fielder.  And I think he’ll be well above adequate there, but his strength is hitting.  He’s a left-handed hitter who hits lefties better than righties, and he can go to all fields.  He’s the guy you want at the plate late, when the game is on the line, because he’s far and away this team’s best hitter.

DL:  Who else stands out?

BG:  The first name that comes to mind is Bryan Morris, who was a supplemental first rounder in 2006, which was the draft that got the Dodgers Clayton Kershaw.  Morris is coming off of Tommy John, and at one point this year he suffered some shoulder inflammation, but when he’s on he throws hard and really gets a lot of movement on the ball.  He’s also a smart pitcher on the mound, a guy who really thinks out there and has a good approach.  He’s both competitive and a bright guy.  Justin Miller is another.  At the start of the year he was kind of this team’s ace.  He has good sinking action to his fastball, but he has to control himself a little bit because he’s kind of wild – at this point he might be a bit more of a thrower than a pitcher, in part because he was predominantly a position player in college.

DL:  Who are the best players you’ve seen in the Midwest League this season?

BG:  We had the All-Star Game here, so we saw all of the best players gathered, but a lot of the guys who have dominated the Midwest League this year aren’t necessarily prospects.  The guy who is the top hitter in the league, Ian Gac, who just got promoted from Clinton, is 23 years old and has spent parts of three or four years in the league.  He’s been good, but it’s probably more of him being a man among boys.  Craig Italiano, a pitcher, has pretty much dominated the league, but he’s an older guy who is coming off getting hit in the head last year on a come-backer.  I think it was a fractured skull he suffered, and he missed all of last year.  Alfredo Figaro of West Michigan has also dominated the league, but I think he’s 23.  As far as younger players go, everybody on Lansing is pretty solid, including their whole infield.  They can throw eight different guys in their starting lineup who are 19 years old and under.  Defensively, Justin Jackson, their shortstop, is really solid.  Kevin Ahrens, their third baseman, is a top prospect.  John Tolisano is a pretty solid hitter as well.  A lot of guys in the league this year who are upper prospects, and are having good seasons, kind of fall in the lead-off hitter category: they’re kind of pests.  Evan Frey is one – he can get on and steal bases, and he has tough at-bats where he can foul off a ton of pitches.  Mike Moustakas is with Burlington, but he hurt himself the first time we played them, and we didn’t see him in the rest of the series, and he wasn’t in the All-Star Game, so I can’t give a very accurate report on him.  There’s also Ben Revere, with Beloit in the Twins organization.  I haven’t seen him a lot either, but seeing him in the All-Star game, he kind of falls in the same category as Frey–a pesky lead-off type hitter who is going to steal some bases.  He’s also hitting about .410 right now and is about as solid as they get.  I don’t know if there is, hands down, a prospect of the year in the Midwest League, but if there is, it’s probably Ben Revere.

Originally posted by David Laurila from Baseball Prospectus: Unfiltered, on July 4, 2008 10:51 AM

From Required Eating

Today in Coney Island, after ten minutes of regulation time, America's defending champion Joey Chestnut and rival Takeru Kobayashi were tied at 59 hotdogs. A five dog eat-off ensued, and Chestnut won! The Mustard Belt remains in America's hands, and Chestnut set a new 10-minute record. Go USA!

When asked why he put his body through this year after year, Chestnut replied, "I love to eat, I love the competition. It's the Fourth of July, and you can get away with it on this day, push your body this hard, for something silly like this."

As ESPN commentators said, "The passions were raw, but the hot dogs were cooked."

Video after the jump.

Joey Chestnut Wins Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest

Previously

Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest Shortened to Ten Minutes
'Major League Eating: The Game' Coming Soon for the Nintendo Wii

Originally posted by Raphael from Serious Eats, on July 4, 2008 10:40 AM

Last night John Lester threw a gem against the Yankees. His 5 hit shutout was all the more significant given his age, the opponent, and the location of the game. Since 1956 there have been 73 games started by young (24 or younger) Red Sox pitchers against the Yankees in NY. Lester’s game score of 83 ranks second only to a 3 hitter thrown by Dave Morehead in 1965.

Here are the leaders:

  Cnt AgeY.D Player            Date          Tm   Opp GmReslt App,Dec    IP   H  R ER BB SO HR Pit Str **GmSc** IR IS BF AB 2B 3B IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS Pk BK WP   ERA
+—-+——+—————–+————-+—+—-+——-+———+—-+–+–+–+–+–+–+—+—+——–+–+–+–+–+–+–+—+—+–+–+—+–+–+–+–+–+——+
    1 22.364 Dave Morehead     1965-09-04(1) BOS @NYY W  1-0  SHO9  ,W   9    3  0  0  1  7  0             87         29 28  1  0   0   0  0  0   1  1  0  0  0  0   0.00

    2 24.178 Jon Lester        2008-07-03    BOS @NYY W  7-0  SHO9  ,W   9    5  0  0  2  8  0 105  72     83         31 29  1  0   0   0  0  0   3  0  0  0  0  0   0.00

    3 21.287 Billy Rohr        1967-04-14    BOS @NYY W  3-0  SHO9  ,W   9    1  0  0  5  2  0             82         33 28  0  0   0   0  0  0   1  0  0  0  0  0   0.00

    4 23.269 Bob Ojeda         1981-09-12    BOS @NYY W  2-1  GS-9  ,W   8    2  1  1  1  7  0             80         27 26  2  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  0  0  0  0   1.12

    5 23.316 Roger Clemens     1986-06-16    BOS @NYY W 10-1  CG 9  ,W   9    4  1  1  0  4  0             79         30 30  2  0   0   0  0  0   2  0  0  0  0  0   1.00
    6 23.234 Ted Bowsfield     1958-09-01(1) BOS @NYY W  4-2  CG 9  ,W   9    4  2  1  3  9  0             79         35 32  1  0   0   0  0  0   1  0  0  0  0  0   1.00

    7 23.291 Roger Moret       1973-07-04(2) BOS @NYY W  1-0  SHO9  ,W   9    6  0  0  4  6  0             77         36 32  1  0   0   0  0  0   1  2  0  0  0  0   0.00

    8 23.033 Jim Lonborg       1965-05-19    BOS @NYY W  3-0  SHO9  ,W   9    4  0  0  3  0  0             76         32 29  0  0   0   0  0  0   2  0  0  0  0  0   0.00

    9 24.299 Bob Stanley       1979-09-05    BOS @NYY W  5-0  SHO9  ,W   9    7  0  0  0  2  0             75         33 33  0  0   0   0  0  0   2  0  0  0  0  0   0.00
   10 23.361 Roger Moret       1973-09-12    BOS @NYY W  7-1  CG 9  ,W   9    5  1  1  0  2  1             75         32 32  0  0   0   0  0  0   1  0  0  0  0  0   1.00

Originally posted by Raphy from Stat of the Day, on July 4, 2008 8:01 AM

Google Maps - Tour de France 2008

Google is taking Street View on the road.

The 3D panorama view for Google Maps is already available in dozens of US cities, allowing you to fly through stitched-together photos of San Francisco's Lombard Street, Broadway, or Ocean Drive in South Beach, Miami.

Now, Google is taking the tech outside the United States for the first time, offering Street View for not just the cosmopolitan parts of this year's Tour, but the entire route, from start to finish. Combined with a Google Maps .kml file of the route, you can fly through the entire route, viewing photos of any spot on the course at any time.

There's also an official introduction video on YouTube.

Also:

Google Earth Blog

Google Sightseeing | Tour de Street View

Originally posted by Frank Steele from Tour de France 2008, on July 4, 2008 7:39 AM

Shared by mathowie
I love the Kansas one with center-pivot irrigation circles

Земля как абстрактная картина


Malaspina Glacier, Alaska, USA


The Great Sandy Scars, Australia


Volga Delta, Russia


The Optimist, Kalahari Desert, Namibia


Richat Structure, Mauritiana


The Great Sandy Desert, Australia


Lake Carnegie, Australia


Mayn River, Siberia, Russia


Dasht-e Kavir, Iran


Garden City, Kansas, USA


Terkezi Oasis, Chad


Guinea-Bissau


Lena River, Russia


Ocean Sands, Bahamas

via

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Дмитрий Чернышев, on July 4, 2008 4:42 AM

"The lurid circumstances of Phoenix's death boosted him into the headlines, but they also consumed his achievements. He is the forgotten man of late-20th-century film acting. Do the young fans of Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal even know that there was an actor in the recent past who would make their idols look like bantamweights? At the time of his death, it seemed indisputable that his reputation would weather the scandal."

- Ryan Gilbey in a 2003 article in The Guardian that I came across tonight, asking why no one remembers River Phoenix anymore.  Five years later, I'm still wondering the same thing. 

Originally posted by Valarie Smith from Crazed Teacups, on July 3, 2008 10:10 PM

The Associated Press is reporting tonight that the Obama campaign is considering a novel idea for staging his acceptance speech at the convention: Don't actually give it at the convention, but at a much larger venue in Denver.

Instead of speaking at the Pepsi Center, which seats 21,000 people, in this scenario Obama would speak at Invesco Field, the site of the Denver Broncos games that holds 76,000 -- an astonishing number for a political gathering. Obama previously spoke to a similar-sized crowd in the run-up to the Oregon primary, and could almost certainly fill the stadium for his acceptance speech.

Franklin Roosevelt began the tradition of nominees directly addressing their conventions back in 1932, and it's been taken for granted ever since then. But the Obama camp's idea, if put into practice, would seriously outdo FDR.

Late Update: As commenters have noted, Invesco Field is not across town from the Pepsi Center, but is in fact right nearby.

Originally posted by Eric Kleefeld from TPM Election Central, on July 3, 2008 7:59 PM

I spent most of today in bed with some kind of nasty cold. So I only caught up on any news this evening. And I must confess to being little short of astounded by the avalanche of press BS I'm reading on Barack Obama's position on Iraq.

The McCain camp seems to have a lot of reporters eating out of its hands since many journalists don't appear to grasp the basic distinction between strategy and tactics. I've even had normally sensible journalist colleagues forwarding me RNC press releases like they're passing on the revealed truth. McCain's campaign actually put out a statement claiming that Obama "has now adopted John McCain's position that we cannot risk the progress we have made in Iraq by beginning to withdraw our troops immediately without concern for conditions on the ground."

I've watched this campaign unfold pretty closely. And I've listened to Obama's position on Iraq. He's been very clear through this year and last on the distinction between strategy and tactics. Presidents set the strategy -- which in this context means the goal or the policy. And if the policy is a military one, a President will consult closely with his military advisors on the tactics used to execute the policy.

This is an elementary distinction the current occupant in the White House has continually tried to confuse by claiming that his policies are driven and constrained by the advice he's given by his commanders on the ground. There's nothing odd or contradictory about Obama saying that he'll change the policy to one of withdrawal of American combat troops from Iraq with a specific timetable but that he will consult with his military advisors about how best to execute that policy.

For the McCain campaign to put out a memo to reporters claiming that Obama has adopted McCain's policy only shows that his advisors believe that a sizable percentage of the political press is made up of incorrigible morons. And it's hard to disagree with the judgment.

The simple truth is that this campaign offers a very clear cut choice on Iraq. One candidate believes that the US occupation of Iraq is the solution; the other thinks it's the problem. John McCain supports the permanent deployment of US troops in Iraq. That is why his hundred years remark isn't some gotcha line. It's a clear statement of his policy. Obama supports a deliberate and orderly withdrawal of US forces from Iraq. It's a completely different view of America's role in the world and future in the Middle East. Reporters who can't grasp what Obama is saying seem simply to have been permanently befuddled by George W. Bush's game-playing over delegating policy to commanders.

Originally posted by Josh Marshall from Talking Points Memo, on July 3, 2008 6:19 PM

From Required Eating

Will another light-green bar, signaling a new world record, make its way onto this chart tomorrow? Will Joey Chestnut, the only American since 1999 to win the Mustard Belt, hold onto his title? He would make 1916 champ James Mullen proud. [via Waxy.org]

Related:
Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest Shortened to Ten Minutes
Photo of the Day: Patriotic Hot Dog from Nathan's

Originally posted by Erin Zimmer from Serious Eats, on July 3, 2008 5:00 PM

It's a teaser, I know, but I have not had time to organize my favorites from Jonah's Father's Day photo session.  The shoot was a big success--much, much better than his two-year picture session.  How uncooperative was Jonah back then?  Enough that our print order was zero.  What a difference half a year makes! *grin*

Under considerable duress from Abuelita, Tio Kevin and Rob, I had Jonah's hair trimmed the week before the Father's Day pics.  It is now growing back with its original gusto, thank goodness!  I love his shaggy, bouffant hairdo.  In the morning, when his hair is at its fiercest, he reminds me of Lyle Lovett.  What do you think?

Originally posted by Emily Roth from Emily Tatum Roth, on July 3, 2008 4:55 PM

In catching up with various media after my vacation, I got around to listening to a BusinessWeek Innovation Podcast with graphic design luminary Steven Heller on The Business of Web Design.

Given the podcast’s title, I wasn’t at all ready for the conversation that occurs, wherein Mr. Heller blathers a misguided, outdated, outmoded, and mostly pathetic commentary on the state of design online.

Anyone familiar with the history of web design, could tell you that his commentary is reminiscent of what was spouted in 1996-1997 when graphic designers realized they were going to lose their battle to gussy up the web with “aesthetics” and that, god forbid, people just wanted to get shit done online.

This is not to diminish the role of great visual design online. But why do old guard graphic designers have to declaim that the current state of design on the web is so bad, and that it must be thrown out in favor of a more aesthetic one? The web is a remarkably successful medium and content platform. I’d pay more attention to the likes of Mr. Heller if he demonstrated an appreciation for the nature of the medium, and articulated a desire to mix in great graphic design with what’s already there, instead of grousing about clutter.

It’s just appalling that after 12 or so years of web design practice, we’re still having to address these inane views.

Originally posted by peterme from peterme.com, on July 3, 2008 3:50 PM

• Google Talk: Google Talk Launches for iPhone; Works Great in Sidebar
  So. Fucking. Cool.
  (tags: instant.messaging google life.hacker)
• Crooked Timber » » Blogs, Participation and Polarization
  Henry’s paper on homophily and participation. Need to read the whole thing still.
  (tags: new.media blogging ideology partisanship politics homophily)
• …My heart’s in Accra » Polymeme: Architecting the way out of echo chambers?
  Very cool site on an anti-homophily crusade. Serendipity and breadth of focus rules!
  (tags: new.media blogging tagging homophily ethan.zuckerman)
• Business Technology : Most Corporate Blogs Are Unimaginative Failures
  Not particularly surprising.
  (tags: new.media blogging wsj finance)

Originally posted by agolis from andrew golis, on July 3, 2008 3:36 PM

The late Sen. William Proxmire saved his Golden Fleece Award for federal government boondoggles but he might have made an exception for GOP direct mail firm BMW Direct -- which takes obscure Republican candidates and turns them into money-making machines for itself ...

High-res version at Veracifier.com.

Originally posted by Ben Craw from Talking Points Memo, on July 3, 2008 3:22 PM

Fascinating Animation World Magazine story on the steps Pixar took to make Wall-E look and feel like a traditional film by mimicking the limitations and optics of real-world cameras. Director of photography Jeremy Lasky:

We used a spherical lens as a kind of control to look at depth of field and barrel distortion and the optical breathing you get when you rack from things really close to really far away. It gave us a chance to have something tangible. We used an Arriflex camera with Panavision lenses. We looked at lens flares and how to focus lights in the background. There’s that shot in the truck [his home] when EVE’s looking at the lighter for the first time from WALL-E’s POV and you see the bouquet stretched in the background. And this is the kind of thing we discovered doing those tests.

(Via Daily Kos.)

 ★ 

Originally posted by John Gruber from Daring Fireball, on July 3, 2008 2:18 PM

I'm a big fan of guerilla gardening - neglected or abandoned urban spaces can be pretty bleak, it's neat when people take the time to brighten things up. Heavy Petal Gardening has an easy recipe for Seed bombs - make sure you use seeds that are native to your area. (I especially like the way these look - people will think there have been dung beetles around.)

Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Kids | Digg this!

Originally posted by Patti Schiendelman from MAKE Magazine, ReBlogged by Jamie Allen on Jul 3, 2008 at 05:13 PM

Originally posted by Patti Schiendelman from Eyebeam reBlog, on July 3, 2008 2:13 PM

Posted by Marissa Mayer, VP Search Products & User Experience

Late one night in the summer of 2000, I found myself answering user support emails in response to two new features we had just released, Advanced Search and Preferences (at the time catchily called "Language, Display, and Filtering Options" :)). Busy crafting answers about how to set Safesearch or change the number of results offered by default, I worked my way through the email queue. And then I saw it: The next email had just a number ("37") in the subject - and no message text. What a weird form of spam, I thought. Why would anyone be motivated to just send a number? I searched for the user's email address to see what else had been sent. Interesting. Lots of numbers: 33, 53, and then a clue: "61, getting a bit heavy, aren't we?" Furthermore, the date on each of the messages seemed very familiar. Then I realized that's because the dates were all days that I had launched various changes on the homepage. "Getting a bit heavy?" - that one did correspond to one of the wordiest homepage releases we had ever done. Could the sender be counting words? Sure enough, I looked back, counted the words myself, and he was - a manual, human version of a scale for the Google homepage. He was weighing our homepage and letting us know when it was getting too heavy. One of his earliest mails had a note in the body: "What happened to the days of 13?" - referring to the word count on the initial 1999 homepage.

This mystery and its revelation was really interesting because I thought about the homepage, and how to keep it simple, all the time. Yet I hadn't thought to look at it through this very simple lens: just count the words. The fewer, the better. Ever since that night, this has been our discipline, and everyone who works on the homepage and its design knows the current number: 28. (That's the word count for the basic page if you are signed out, there's no promotional line running beneath the search box, you've set Google as your homepage and thus don't get the "Make Google Your Homepage!" link, and you count "©2008 Google" as two words.)

So, today we're making a homepage change by adding a link to our privacy overview and policies. Google values our users' privacy first and foremost. Trust is the basis of everything we do, so we want you to be familiar and comfortable with the integrity and care we give your personal data. We added this link both to our homepage and to our results page to make it easier for you to find information about our privacy principles. The new "Privacy" link goes to our Privacy Center, which was revamped earlier this year to be more straightforward and approachable, with videos and a non-legalese overview to make sure you understand in basic terms what Google does, does not, will, and won't, do in regard to your personal information.

How does privacy relate to homepage word count? Larry and Sergey told me we could only add this to the homepage if we took a word away - keeping the "weight" of the homepage unchanged at 28. Given that the new Privacy link fit best with legal disclaimers on the page, I looked to the copyright line. There, we dropped the word "Google" (realizing it was implied, obviously) and added the new privacy link alongside it.



We think the easy access to our privacy information without any added homepage heft is a clear win for our users and an enhancement to your experience. You can check out the new Privacy Center here.

Originally posted by Karen from The Official Google Blog, on July 3, 2008 12:36 PM

schulze & webb presentation on what crime maps might do

 bookmark this on del.icio.us - posted by stamen to slide schulzeandwebb crime - more about this bookmark...

Originally posted by stamen from del.icio.us/stamen, on July 3, 2008 12:20 PM

Michael Froomkin has the dish:

I was interviewed today for this afternoon’s edition of Marketplace; of course you never know if they’ll use it or not. The topic was the strange — and to my mind wrongly decided — decision ordering massive disclosure of user YouTube video-viewing records in Viacom v. Google. For a very good explanation of most of the problems with the decision see EFF’s Kurt Opsahl’s discussion at Court Ruling Will Expose Viewing Habits of YouTube Users. Based on the cursory discussion in the decision, I don’t think the Judge read the Video Privacy Protection Act (aka “the Bork Bill”) right. The decision is, if anything, worse than Opsahl says, in that the court also orders disclosure of information relating to “private” videos — videos marked for limited distribution — including the title and information about who uploaded them. While it may be the case that some of these videos are trying to share copyright protected materials under the radar, it is undoubtedly the case that many of these videos are (1) truly private and of very limited distribution and (2) the author would be identifiable from the associated information ordered to be disclosed. (The order also is opaque as to what sort of precautions if any Viacom would be required to take to prevent leakage of this data.) There are some procedural obstacles to getting an immediate interlocutory appeal of this decision, but assuming they can be surmounted I think there’s a strong chance of reversal before the 2nd Circuit. This is only one of the first in what is sure to be a long series of fishing expeditions in the increasingly elaborate databases being created about our online behavior. It will get worse once our ISPs start tracking our every move in order, they will say, to better advertise to us. Video viewing records have the peculiar advantage of being protected by an unusually powerful statute, the so-called ‘Bork Bill’. Many other records won’t have that (although some will have ECPA), and that is an issue which needs urgent attention.

Originally posted by Siva Vaidhyanathan from The Googlization of Everything, on July 3, 2008 11:44 AM

Because I hadn't seen one yet, I thought I'd compile a small breakdown of what Viacom asked the court to order Google to reveal - along with some excerpts of the ruling.

The breakdown:

1) The source code for web search. Denied, protected.

Plaintiffs move jointly pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 37 to compel YouTube and Google to produce certain electronically stored information and documents, including a critical trade secret: the computer source code which controls both the YouTube.com search function and Google’s internet search tool "Google.com".

Plaintiffs argue that the best way to determine whether those denials are true is to compel production and examination of the search code. Nevertheless, YouTube and Google should not be made to place this vital asset in hazard merely to allay speculation. A plausible showing that YouTube and Google’s denials are false, and that the search function can and has been used to discriminate in favor of infringing content, should be required before disclosure of so valuable and vulnerable an asset is compelled.

2) The code behind YouTube's identification of infringing videos. Denied.

Plaintiffs also move to compel production of another undisputed trade secret, the computer source code for the newly invented "Video ID" program. Using that program, copyright owners may furnish YouTube with video reference samples, which YouTube will use to search for and locate video clips in its library which have characteristics sufficiently matching those of the samples as to suggest infringement.

The notion that examination of the source code might suggest how to make a better method of infringement detection is speculative. Considered against its value and secrecy, plaintiffs have not made a sufficient showing of need for its disclosure.

3) Copies of all removed videos. Granted.

Plaintiffs seek copies of all videos that were once available for public viewing on YouTube.com but later removed for any reason, or such subsets as plaintiffs designate (Pls.’ Reply 41).

While the total number of removed videos is intimidating (millions, according to defendants), the burden of inspection and selection, leading to the ultimate identification of individual “works-in-suit”, is on the plaintiffs who say they can handle it electronically. Under the circumstances, the motion to compel production of copies of all removed videos is granted.

4) Logs data including the "Login ID" and the IP address for each view of a video on YouTube. Granted.

Defendants do not refute that the "login ID is an anonymous pseudonym that users create for themselves when they sign up with YouTube" which without more "cannot identify specific individuals" (Pls.’ Reply 44) , and Google has elsewhere stated:

We . . . are strong supporters of the idea that data protection laws should apply to any data that could identify you. The reality is though that in most cases, an IP address without additional information cannot.

Google Software Engineer Alma Whitten, Are IP addresses personal?, GOOGLE PUBLIC POLICY BLOG (Feb. 22, 2008), http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2008/02/are-ip-addresses-personal.html (Wilkens Decl. Ex. M).

Therefore, the motion to compel production of all data from the Logging database concerning each time a YouTube video has been viewed on the YouTube website or through embedding on a third-party website is granted.

5) Metadata for every YouTube video including titles, keywords, comments, flags, poster's username, and other administrative information. Denied.

No sufficiently compelling need is shown to justify the analysis of "millions of pieces of information" sought by this request, at least until the other disclosures have been utilized, and found to be so insufficient that this almost unlimited field should be further explored.

Therefore, the motion to compel production of all those data fields which defendants have agreed to produce for works-in-suit, for all videos that have been posted to the YouTube website is denied.

6) The schema for Google's advertising databases. Denied.

However, given that plaintiffs have already been promised the only relevant data in the database, they do not need its confidential schema (Huchital Decl. ¶ 8), which "itself provides a detailed to roadmap to how Google runs its advertising business" (id. ¶ 9), to show whether defendants were on notice that their advertising revenues were associated with infringing videos, or that defendants decline to exercise their claimed ability to prevent such associations.

7) The schema for Google Video's databases. Granted.

Plaintiffs argue that the schema for that database will reveal "The extent to which Defendants are aware of and can control infringements on Google Video" which "is in turn relevant to whether Defendants had 'reason to know' of infringements, or had the ability to control infringements, on YouTube, which they also own and which features similar content." Id. 52 (plaintiffs’ italics). That states a sufficiently plausible showing that the schema is relevant to require its disclosure, there being no assertion that it is confidential or unduly burdensome to produce. Therefore, the motion to compel production of the Google Video schema is granted.

8) Copies of all of the videos on YouTube marked "private". Denied.

Defendants are prohibited by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act ("ECPA") (18 U.S.C. § 2510 et seq.) from disclosing to plaintiffs the private videos and the data which reveal their contents because ECPA § 2702(a)(2) requires that entities such as YouTube who provide "remote computing service to the public shall not knowingly divulge to any person or entity the contents" of any electronic communication stored on behalf of their subscribers and ECPA § 2702 contains no exception for disclosure of such communications pursuant to civil discovery requests.

8) All non-video data regarding videos on YouTube marked "private" including the number of times watched or embedded. Granted.

Plaintiffs need the requested non-content data so that they can properly argue their construction of the ECPA on the merits and have an opportunity to obtain discovery of allegedly infringing private videos claimed to be public.

There's some things I like about the ruling (of course Google's search source code shouldn't be handed to Viacom) but I'm sad about the concerns about release of user data being considered "speculative." Is this a legal definition separate from the normal usage of the word? Because I can show pretty easily that usernames are often not "anonymous pseudonyms" and that many people use their full names. Linking video habits to a specific person wouldn't be that hard, particularly for those who played by the rules and are content producers that use YouTube promotionally and used their full names and have public profiles linking to websites, blogs, etc.

I'm sad about the IP address arguments as well. I understand Google's in a tricky spot here but the argument they made that IP addresses are "in most cases" not identifiable has been conflated by the court to mean that IP data "cannot identify specific individuals." That's false. People hosting web sites from static IP addresses where they also use the internet (e.g. some small businesses) can be identified by their IP data. Because there's fewer of these cases means that the data can be handed over?

Also, getting all logs data just because a claimant suspects infringement seems too broad. Why not just number of times viewed during various time periods? Does this mean I should ask MTV Networks for demographic data they've collected for all of their content since they've used songs from one of the bands I've been in and I suspect they haven't told me about all the times it was used and aired? Was it just that one time on the Ashlee Simpson show? Really? How can I be sure unless they hand over all usage data, related or not? Also, I'd like all of their advertising data so I can see if I was treated fairly in terms of compensation. I would love that data! I promise I wouldn't use it as an advantage in creating a new business.

Originally posted by Chris Wetherell from massless, on July 3, 2008 10:04 AM

Apple dropped the price of the highest-end MacBook Air this week by $500—$400 from the SSD drive and $100 from the 1.8GHz processor. The machine is still a little pricey, but $500 is no small change.

Read More...

Originally posted by jacqui@arstechnica.com (Jacqui Cheng) from Infinite Loop, on July 3, 2008 10:00 AM

From Required Eating

Icy cold popsicles can be a welcome addition to hot 4th of July gatherings, even more so if you make them yourself in festive colors and interesting flavors to suit the occasion. While popsicle-making is a simple endeavor, the range of equipment options for making them is extensive.

Molds for Ice Pops

Tovolo Shooting Star Pop Molds, available at Amazon. My favorite commercial mold.

There are molds made specifically for this purpose that can be purchased this time of year at nearly every grocery, kitchen, and department store. They tend to be fairly inexpensive—usually somewhere between $1 and $20 for a set—and can be reused. Some models come with plastic sticks, which are almost always fitted with a cap that snaps in place over each popsicle cavity, holding the stick upright and in place and preventing prefreeze slops and spills.

After the ice pops made in these molds are frozen and unmolded, the cap-handles catch drips. And, because the sticks and handles are made from smooth plastic, there's no danger of splinters. The main drawback with these molds is that there's a finite number of stick-caps, usually one per pop compartment, so you can only make one batch at a time. Plus, the sticks almost invariably end up chewed and gnarled or just plain lost. (Though kids generally prefer the colorful plastic sticks that the kits come with, a serviceable remedy to the lost-stick issue is wrapping the filled compartments tightly with plastic wrap or tin foil, making a small puncture in the wrap with a paring knife, and then slipping a wooden stick in place through the puncture.)

Of this variety of mold, my pick for 4th of July pops is Tovolo’s Shooting Star Pop Molds (right) which yields a half dozen manageable-sized pops that are star-shaped in section.

The other main type of store-bought popsicle mold consists of a tray of popsicle cavities, generally with one slotted cap that fits over the entire mold and holds standard wooden popsicle sticks in place. These molds are less slop-proof, but they allow for the easy production of multiple successive popsicle batches (once one batch of popsicles is frozen solid, they can be removed and wrapped in parchment or wax paper, and the molds can be refilled and fitted with new sticks). The sticks don’t always stay perfectly vertical in these models, but I’ve found a few chopsticks or straight-sided butter knives to be sufficient stabilizers (above). Progressive’s Castle Freezer Pop Mold is my current favorite in this genre. Though the popsicles it yields are a little large for my tastes, its stepped-cylinder shape is great for making precise tricolor beauties like the Red, White, and Blueberry Bomb Pops featured in the recipe I provide here.

A few one-off notables include Lekue’s Silicone Ice Mold, for making stick-free push up–style pops, and Cuisipro’s Rocket Pop Molds, which combine the best of features from the two standard types of purchased popsicle molds—individually capped popsicle cavities that take standard disposable wooden popsicle sticks.

DIY Popsicle Molds

Use Dixie cups as a mold. Freeze your mixture, then simply peel away the paper cup.

While I appreciate the convenience of all of these purchased molds, most kitchens are rife with possibilities for ad hoc popsicle molds. Ice cube trays of all shapes and sizes and mini muffin tins can be employed to make diminutive pops. Silicon baking cups and molds work for larger pops, and Dixie cups make for inexpensive, albeit rather large, molds that double as disposable wrappers once the popsicles are frozen (shown at right).

The Recipe

Now that you're armed with supplies and tips, use this recipe to fill your molds: Red, White, and Blueberry Pops

Along those lines, with a little patience and know-how, you can easily make molds out of parchment or waxed paper (I’ve found parchment a bit sturdier). Aside from being inexpensive and adaptable for different sizes, shapes and occasions, these molds result in pre-wrapped pops, which melt more slowly in the heat (due to their snug, insulating wrapping) and make for tidy storage and serving. Origami books are a good source for ideas, but for the cone-shaped Red-White-and-Blueberry pop pictured with the recipe, I made parchment cornets (see the array below for details), which are a staple in professional pastry kitchens for piping melted chocolate and icing. I stood them upright in a loaf pan with the help of some rubber bands before filling and freezing. Because it takes a little practice to produce cornets so tightly made that their tips won’t leak, I suggest gently pressing each tip into a marshmallow or gumdrop, which makes the cones leak-proof and easier to stand upright during freezing. The candy can be removed before serving, but left, they make a cute finial for each pop and provide an extra little treat.

How to Make Parchment Cornets

Fold the paper in half and cut.

Fold the paper in half again and cut.

Fold paper along the diagonal and cut to make triangular pieces of paper.

Take one end of the piece of paper and curl it around the inside to form a cone shape.

Take the other end of the piece of paper and curl it around the outside.

Adjust the paper so that it forms a tight seal at the bottom.

To finish, take the outer end of the paper and fold it over the side into the cone. Seal the tip with a marshmallow or gumdrop if desired. Stick upright into rubber band-wrapped loaf pan.

You've Got Your DIY Mold; Now You Need Sticks

When it comes to handles for homemade pops, there are lots of options. Virtually anything that will fit in a given mold, is non-toxic and sturdy enough to hold the weight of the popsicle can be used, but my preference is for wood or paper options. Because these have a slightly rough texture and are somewhat absorbent, they tend to hold on to the popsicle better, preventing it from sliding down the handle as it melts.

The classic, disposable wooden popsicle stick is inexpensive and easy to find at most craft and department stores, and for many of the store-bought molds that don’t come with their own plastic sticks, these are the only handles that can be used. Popsicle mold manufacturers often sell these wooden sticks in small quantities, but the sticks are invariably more affordable, and just as well suited to making popsicles, when purchased in larger quantities from craft suppliers (just make sure they are labelled “non-toxic”).

Used Stained Sticks for an Extra Flash

Though wooden sticks are most widely available in their untreated, natural finish, I’ve also found them stained in bright nontoxic hues, good for adding a little zest to plain pops. Out of the package, the colored sticks tend to give off their dye, tinting the popsicles they’re used in and staining fingers along the way (above).

Through a little trial and error, I’ve found that this problem can be checked by soaking the sticks in hot water and lemon or lime juice (each color soaked separately) and then drying them on paper towels overnight before use. The colors will be less vibrant but far less problematic.

Stick Options for Small Pops

For smaller pops, like those made in ice cube trays, I prefer to use paper lollipop sticks or short sections of a wooden dowel or disposable chopstick. Toothpicks could also be used, but they tend to look disproportionate, lack sturdiness, and are difficult to grip.

Sticks for Large Pops

For larger pops, my hands-down favorite handle option is the wooden craft spoon (like the ones that probably came with little cups of ice cream in your elementary school cafeteria). Though slightly less common than regular wooden popsicle sticks, these are still inexpensive and generally easy to find wherever you can buy children’s art supplies. Wider and shorter than regular wooden popsicle sticks, they are easier to stand up straight in freezing popsicle liquid than other options, and their wide, tapered bases provide a good grip.

With so many options, there’s nothing stopping you from freezing up a batch of popsicle treats for Friday’s festivities or any other hot summer day.

Originally posted by Amanda Clarke from Serious Eats, on July 3, 2008 9:30 AM

THT Live has a link this Baseball Toaster post.

“I noticed where Mo lost his third game of the year despite putting together an ERA less than 1.00. How unusual is that combination? Well, here is a list of all the pitchers who have lost more than one game while posting an ERA under 1.00.”

LOSSES                        YEAR      L       ERA
1    Tim Keefe                1880        6     0.86
2    Ferdie Schupp            1916        3     0.90
T3   Chris Hammond            2002        2     0.95
T3   Jonathan Papelbon        2006        2     0.92
T3   Dennis Eckersley         1990        2     0.61

I was curious about this data so I ran it through PI and came up with the following list.

  Cnt Player             **L**   ERA  Year Age Tm  Lg  G  GS CG SHO GF  W  W-L% SV   IP   H   R   ER  BB  SO ERA  HR  BF   AB  2B 3B IBB HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB CS Pk BK WP   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  OPS   Pit  Str
 —-+—————–+——+——+—-+—+—+–+—+–+–+—+–+–+—–+–+—–+—+—+—+—+—+—-+–+—-+—-+–+–+—+—+—+—+—+—+–+–+–+–+—–+—–+—–+—–+—-+—-+—-
    1 Tim Keefe            6     0.86 1880  23 TRO NL  12 12 12   0  0  6  .500  0 105    71  27  10  17  43  294  0  397                                           0  1                            0
    2 Dutch Leonard        5     0.96 1914  22 BOS AL  36 25 17   7  9 19  .792  3 224.2 139  34  24  60 176  279  3  846                  8                        0  2                            0
    3 Mariano Rivera       3     0.96 2008  38 NYY AL  35  0  0   0 34  2  .400 22  37.1  20   4   4   3  42  417  2  133  129  4  0   0   0   0   1   1   3  0  0  0  0  .155  .173  .233  .406    9  520  362
    4 Ferdie Schupp        3     0.90 1916  25 NYG NL  30 11  8   4 17  9  .750  1 140.1  79  22  14  37  86  271  1  525                  5                        0  2                            0
    5 Jonathan Papelbon    2     0.92 2006  25 BOS AL  59  0  0   0 49  4  .667 35  68.1  40   8   7  13  75  515  3  257  240 10  1   2   1   1   2   1   4  1  0  0  2  .167  .211  .254  .465   18 1023  709
    6 Chris Hammond        2     0.95 2002  36 ATL NL  63  0  0   0  6  7  .778  0  76    53  15   8  31  63  439  1  311  272 11  2   9   1   5   2   7   2  1  0  0  1  .195  .278  .261  .539   45 1125  701
    7 Dennis Eckersley     2     0.61 1990  35 OAK AL  63  0  0   0 61  4  .667 48  73.1  41   9   5   4  73  606  2  262  257  9  1   1   0   0   1   3   1  2  0  0  0  .160  .172  .226  .398   13
    8 Rich Gossage         2     0.77 1981  29 NYY AL  32  0  0   0 30  3  .600 20  46.2  22   6   4  14  48  461  2  173  156  1  1   1   1   1   1   5   5  1  1  0  1  .141  .215  .199  .414   21
    9 Hank Aguirre         2     0.69 1968  37 LAD NL  25  0  0   0 16  1  .333  3  39.1  32   8   3  13  25  400  0  167  141  1  0   3   3   6   4   2   1  1  0  0  4  .227  .298  .234  .532   68
   10 Bill Henry           2     0.87 1964  36 CIN NL  37  0  0   0 20  2  .500  6  52    31   9   5  12  28  417  2  202  182  6  0   4   3   3   2   3   3  0  0  0  1  .170  .231  .236  .467   35
   11 Bill Harris          2     0.87 1931  31 PIT NL   4  4  3   1  0  2  .500  0  31    21   6   3   9  10  444  0  121                  0                        0  0                            0
   12 Jack Bentley         2     0.79 1915  20 WSH AL   4  2  0   0  2  0  .000  0  11.1   8   4   1   3   0  373  0   43                  0                        0  0                            0
   13 Martin Glendon       2     0.98 1903  26 CLE AL   3  3  3   0  0  1  .333  0  27.2  20   9   3   7   9  291  0  112                  0                        0  0                            0

Rivera is certainly working his way toward a unique season, but not as unique as the post suggests.

Originally posted by Raphy from Stat of the Day, on July 3, 2008 9:26 AM

There's no question Barack Obama has shifted his position on FISA. But I'm hearing more and more that Obama has clearly shifted his position on Iraq. I've been a bit under the weather the last few days. So maybe I've missed something. But can anyone show me any evidence that this is really true? I know the McCain campaign is saying it? And I know bleating, game-playing neocons are saying it. But now that I'm seeing network talking heads saying it, can I see some evidence beyond the fact that the idea is getting pitched by the McCain campaign? Many thanks ...

Originally posted by Josh Marshall from Talking Points Memo, on July 3, 2008 9:04 AM

Milky Way Loses Two Arms, Jim Abbott, Lt. Dan, Galileo, Copernicus, Copernicanism, Fixed Earth Believers, Keanu Reeves at Thespian Net, There's A Bomb On The Bus What Do You Do What Do You Do?, Knit Yarn Spock Ears, Explosion containment net Patent, Half RV, Half Houseboat, Cool Amphibious Manufacturers International, Ian Usher Sold His Life On eBay for Three Hundred and Ninety Nine Thousand Dollars, Ian Usher on Ustream, Instant Origami

Originally posted by hello@rocketboom.com (Rocketboom) from Rocketboom, on July 3, 2008 8:00 AM

me watching you watching youtube... --JA

Yesterday, in the Viacom v. Google litigation, the federal court for the Southern District of New York ordered Google to produce to Viacom (over Google's objections):

all data from the Logging database concerning each time a YouTube video has been viewed on the YouTube website or through embedding on a third-party website

The court’s order grants Viacom's request and erroneously ignores the protections of the federal Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), and threatens to expose deeply private information about what videos are watched by YouTube users. The VPPA passed after a newspaper disclosed Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork's video rental records. As Congress recognized, your selection of videos to watch is deeply personal and deserves the strongest protection.

The Logging database contains:

for each instance a video is watched, the unique “login ID” of the user who watched it, the time when the user started to watch the video, the internet protocol address other devices connected to the internet use to identify the user’s computer (“IP address”), and the identifier for the video.

Google correctly argued that “the data should not be disclosed because of the users’ privacy concerns,” citing the VPPA, 18 U.S.C. § 2710. However, the Court dismissed this argument with no analysis, stating “defendants cite no authority barring them from disclosing such information in civil discovery proceedings, and their privacy concerns are speculative.”

In a footnote, the Court references the VPPA, noting that the federal law “prohibits video tape service providers from disclosing information on the specific video materials subscribers request or obtain.” It is possible that the reference to "video tapes" in the VPPA was confusing. However, the Act is not limited to the technology available at the time of its enactment.

To the contrary, the act refers to “prerecorded video cassette tapes or similar audio visual materials.” A YouTube video may not be a videotape, but certainly qualifies as audio visual material. Thus, YouTube is a “video tape service provider” under the act, because it is “engaged in the business [of] delivery of … audio visual materials.” The VPPA protects “personally identifiable information,” which is defined to include “information which identifies a person as having requested or obtained specific video materials or services.” This is exactly what is in the Logging database.

Accordingly, pursuant to this federal law, the Court may not order the production of “personally identifiable information”:

in a civil proceeding [except] upon a showing of compelling need for the information that cannot be accommodated by any other means, if—

(i) the consumer is given reasonable notice, by the person seeking the disclosure, of the court proceeding relevant to the issuance of the court order; and
(ii) the consumer is afforded the opportunity to appear and contest the claim of the person seeking the disclosure.

Today’s court order made no finding that Viacom could not be accommodated by any other means, nor were the YouTube users provided with notice and an opportunity to contest the claim.

Instead, the Court focused on some statements made by Google on its blog:

We . . . are strong supporters of the idea that data protection laws should apply to any data that could identify you. The reality is though that in most cases, an IP address without additional information cannot.

The Court also stated that Google did “not refute that the ‘login ID is an anonymous pseudonym that users create for themselves when they sign up with YouTube’ which without more ‘cannot identify specific individuals.’”

As an initial matter, this is factually insufficient. If any single one of the YouTube users in the Logging database picked a Login ID that does identify that user (i.e. if my YouTube login was kurtopsahl), then the Logging database' information about viewing habits is protected by the VPPA, even if others pick anonymous pseudonyms.

Furthermore, even Google’s IP address statement only asserts that “in most cases” the IP address is not identifiable, certainly not in all cases. Putting aside whether a Google Public Policy blog's statement on an unrelated topic can waive the privacy rights of YouTube users, the statement means that at least some YouTube users are identifiable, and must be protected by the VPPA.

In any event, the court ordered production of not just IP addresses, but also all the associated information in the Logging database. Whatever might be said about 'an IP address without additional information,' the the AOL search history leak fiasco shows that the material viewed by a user alone can be sufficient to identify the user, even with neither a login nor an IP address.

The Court's erroneous ruling is a set-back to privacy rights, and will allow Viacom to see what you are watching on YouTube. We urge Viacom to back off this overbroad request and Google to take all steps necessary to challenge this order and protect the rights of its users.

Originally posted by Kurt Opsahl from EFF.org Updates, ReBlogged by Jamie Allen on Jul 3, 2008 at 09:18 AM

Originally posted by Kurt Opsahl from Eyebeam reBlog, on July 3, 2008 6:18 AM

Monokai is a nice, vibrant colorscheme for Textmate that has graciously been ported to Vim by Damien Gombault.

Originally posted by ry from Modcult, on July 3, 2008 5:29 AM

This is the only big ladder I own. It works great as an extension ladder for painting, cleaning the gutters or reaching any of those high places. Like the Little Gorilla, it can be re-configured as a step ladder, so you can use it anywhere there is no wall to lean against. But like the previously-reviewed Green Bull Double Front Ladder, this ladder also has steps on both sides, allowing two painters to work at the same time (the max capacity is 375 lbs). The Werner definitely offers the best of both worlds. More expensive, yes. But surprisingly lightweight for a ladder this strong. I've had mine for more than 10 years with no sign of wear or tear. My dad is still using the one he bought in the '70s.

-- Dan McCulley

Werner Combination Step/Extension Ladder
$322
(8ft.)
Available from Amazon

Manufactured by Werner

Related items previously reviewed in Cool Tools:

Ladder Levelers

Deep-Step Safety Ladder

Access All Areas

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Cool Tools, on July 3, 2008 5:00 AM

From Required Eating

Tara Parker Pope asked 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth author Jonny Bowden for an updated list of foods most serious eaters aren't eating but should be.

The list isn't all that surprising, since it includes the oft-mentioned pomegranate juice and prunes (or what they're now trying to call "dried plums"), but I must admit I had no idea that turmeric had anti-inflammatory and anticancer properties.

Bowden's list is below. What do you eat to maintain health?

• Beets
• Cabbage
• Swiss chard
• Cinnamon
• Pomegranate juice
• Prunes (dried plums)
• Pumpkin seeds
• Sardines
• Turmeric
• Frozen blueberries
• Canned pumpkin

Moral of the story: If we wrap prunes with bacon, we get the best of both worlds.

Originally posted by Ed Levine from Serious Eats, on July 3, 2008 4:30 AM

Prior to last night’s game, Jerry Manuel told reporters that Luis Castillo’s entire body is essentially in pain, from his thigh to his hip to his back, due to overcompensating for pain in his knees.

In a post to his blog for the Bergen Record, Jeremy Cothran writes, “After games, Castillo often resembles a walking mummy, the way he’s wrapped from waist to toe in Ace bandages.”

…that’s terrible, yet totally funny

According to Manuel, the team will soon discuss whether the best course of action will be to simply put Castillo on the disabled list.

…the buzz from new orleans suggests that a second baseman from Triple-A could be promoted to take castillo’s spot on the roster, such as Argenis Reyes or Abraham Nunez…

Reyes, 25, is hitting .290 with 11 doubles and a .353 OBP in 79 games for Triple-A New Orleans, while hitting .358 in 81 at bats against left-handed pitchers.

Meanwhile, Nunez is batting just .191.

…frankly, Damion Easley has earned the chance to start in castillo’s place, regardless of whether castillo is on the disabled list…that said, i love the idea of having Reyes and Reyes as the middle infield duo…

ShareThis

Originally posted by Matthew Cerrone from MetsBlog.com, on July 3, 2008 4:07 AM

• On the Dopplr shift - broadstuff
  "Is Great Design more a UE thing or a Marketing thing? - answers have I none here, others have noted that great taste and Digerati acclaim historically is no guarantee of crossing the chasm ( Dopplr is like a software Apple, aesthetically beautiful )"
• blogging and its opposite
• How bad is the recession for start-ups? « azeem.azhar
• Previous/Next and Back/Next pagination links considered harmful
  Obvious when you think about it, but still damn right. Well put Mr. Haughey.
• Scenes from a Franchise
  To illustrate how good ‘Batman Begins’ [is], I thought it would be an interesting exercise to go back through the reviews of its predecessors written in The New York Times, to see how each movie had been received at the time of its release.
• BULLITT Chase Scene Geocoded

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Blackbeltjones/Work, on July 2, 2008 9:00 PM

Over the last couple days we've been telling you about this DC outfit called BMW Direct. They are a direct mail shop. And from what we can tell they have a two-tiered business model.

First, they've got a few bonafide Republican elected officials who they raise money for by the normal rules of direct mail fundraising business. But then they've got a bunch of potemkin candidates for whom they raise insane gobs of money, almost all of which they keep for themselves.

Good work if you can get it.

The biggest moneymaker in this latter category -- though there's some competition -- seems to be Deborah Honeycutt (R-GA) who's running in the 13th district of Georgia. In 2006 Honeycutt lost to incumbent David Scott (D-GA) by an impressive 38 points. And since in this cycle her campaign has managed to spend only a measly $16,695 in Georgia, you might figure for round two against Scott, Honeycutt is just dialing it in.

But quite the contrary.

Look at her FEC filings and you find that Honeycutt is one of the biggest players in the 2008 cycle. With the help of BMW Direct she's managed to raise an astounding $1.7 million.

To give you some perspective, high-profile netroots-backed Darcy Burner raised only $1.37 million over the same period -- and that's a very impressive total.

So where's all the money going? Well, of that $1.7 million, $1.5 million went to BMW Direct and various affiliated companies. So we've been wanting to find out how happy Honeycutt was with BMW Direct raising insane amounts of money for her around the contrary which she gets virtually none of.

Well, it turns out they're pretty psyched.

Andrew Tilghman got a hold of Honeycutt's volunteer campaign manager Michael Murphy who says, "We've been very pleased with them. BMW Direct has been able to help us raise resources and tap into a thirst in the country for the principles and platforms that she stands on."

How about Honeycutt's campaign getting next to none of the money raised for them? "I just work with the resources we have ... All I can say is we've been very pleased with BMW Direct."

Originally posted by Josh Marshall from Talking Points Memo, on July 2, 2008 5:38 PM

You've likely seen this by now but I've got to link it up anyway because whenever I think about it, it makes me LOLL (laugh out loud, literally). The American Family Association automatically replaces words like "gay" with "homosexual" in the AP stories they display on their news site. When an American sprinter named Tyson Gay is in the news, the practice leads to hilarity.

Homosexual eases into 100 final at Olympic trials
Tyson Homosexual easily won his semifinal for the 100 meters at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials and seemed to save something for the final later Sunday.

And on it goes..."On Saturday, Homosexual misjudged the finish in his opening heats...", "Homosexual runs wind-aided 9.68 seconds to make Olympics...", "Close call: Homosexual barely averts major flop in 100..." Fox News has applied the same technique to stories about suicide bombers...they changed all instances of that term to "homicide bombers".

(link)

Originally posted by jason@kottke.org from kottke.org, on July 2, 2008 5:37 PM

• Flickr: popsicle triumph
  I've almost hit my strawberry wall this season, but notmartha's homemade popsicle looks amazing.
• Oregonian: OSU students enter solar car in 2,400-mile race
  A story about Rain Dancer, a solar car designed and built by a group of OSU students.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from onfocus.com, on July 2, 2008 5:30 PM

Sixteen months is a very long time to wait for an ice cream cone. But it has been nearly a year-and-a-half since we first reported that Hell’s Kitchen was about to get its own little piece of frozen dessert heaven, courtesy of East Village refugee NYC Icy. Then weeks and months passed with precious little work done to the shop’s new digs. More troublingly, after summer of last year ended, even the banners were removed from the window, and worse, around December of last year, it looked as if NYC Icy was going to amount to nothing more than just another cruel tease.

But something interesting happened–on one of our regular February walks past the storefront, we saw signs of construction being done. Then a few months later, we started to hear rumblings that NYC Icy would indeed open at the end of June 2008–and to our astonishment, it did.

So we paid a visit, then another, and another, and after licking and slurping a dozen flavors of their sorbet and ‘cream ice,’ we confess to being more than a little smitten. Our favorite style is the cream ice–an Italian-style confection that tastes like a cross between ice cream and gelato. Of the cream flavors, we think the pumpkin pie is tops, an aromatic, spice-infused concoction dense with sweet pumpkin and nuggets of pie crust. It is the best pumpkin pie-flavored food we have ever tasted, bar none. The banana and chocolate malt cream ices aren’t too shabby either. And among the sorbet flavors, we love the mango and mango-basil flavors, along with the fresh-squeezed OJ (pictured above with the banana cream ice in the background) and the pink grapefruit (cups range from $2.50-$3.75, depending on style and size).

At the same time, we are very consciously enjoying NYC Icy while it lasts, because all the signs are there that this very buzzworthy dessert shop has…well, screwed itself. Not only did it miss a second consecutive chance to open for a full spring-summer season, it opened this June without re-building any kind of momentum or excitement. There are no lines wrapping around the block, as there were with Grom’s openings–lines that on the Upper West Side remained for six months after the shop opened–instead, there is a local nonchalance that NYC Icy finally made good on its promise. One Tenth Avenue neighbor told us, “Eh. We’ve learned to live without it. They got us all worked up last year, but we have moved on.” Ouch.

For a shop that is already in the red for sixteen months of rent while the space sat empty, there is no worse omen than the indifference of the locals. Moreover, the storefront appears to have been given the kind of makeover that would take a competent contracting team sixteen days, as opposed to sixteen months–the floor has been tiled over like a bathroom, a graffiti mural covers one stark white wall, and the place has been furnished with three rolling ice cream freezers, a blue countertop and five orange IKEA chairs. Imagine what HGTV might do if they converted a florist to an ice cream shop in 24 hours, and you’ve got the idea–after all this time, NYC Icy looks like it was opened in a rush. Perhaps this is why the owners chose to hedge their bets and open a Ditmas Park outlet this year as well, a shop that is apparently garnering all the neighborhood interest that NYC Icy deserved, at least, had it opened as promised back in April ‘07. As much as we adore the icy snacks, we can smell the apathy in the air on Tenth Avenue and are counting the days until NYC Icy closes its doors and makes Brooklyn its permanent home. But for now, at least we have this summer.

NYC Icy, 628 Tenth Avenue (between 45th and 44th Streets), no telephone.

Originally posted by Nosher from NYCnosh.com, on July 2, 2008 5:02 PM

A Flickr set of book covers for Penguin’s Great Ideas series of books. Pictured above: The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.

via Kottke

Originally posted by Matt from Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog, on July 2, 2008 4:00 PM

Filed under: Software, Developer

Cornerstone made a dashing premier as a full release recently, outpacing the much-anticipated Versions in its development cycle and leaving many of us wondering: why couldn't we have had such polished Subversion clients back when Subversion really mattered? With friendlier and more flexible version control systems like Mercurial and (my recent favorite) Git taking center stage, it just seems odd that two applications devoted to last year's RCS are vying for the spotlight.

After a 10 minute tryout, I have to say that Versions, though still in beta, was more intuitive in general. I really, really like the timeline feature in Cornerstone, though, which allows you to Command-click any two points on the timeline and see a diff with the built-in viewer. For basic Subversion-related tasks (and probably more advanced tasks that I didn't delve into yet), both clients are far ahead of what currently exists, both in usability and aesthetics.

For those who still have a strong interest in Subversion, and who haven't already sworn allegiance to Versions at some point in the year (plus) we've been waiting for it, Cornerstone just crowded the playing field. You can read more on Cornerstone at the Zennaware website.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Originally posted by Brett Terpstra from The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW), on July 2, 2008 4:00 PM

This whole, not writing until September thing, is not going to work.  I miss blogging way too much.  What I am going to do is try to cut back on my addiction.  Blog once a week over the summer.  That way, I will still have tons of time for my manuscript, but I won’t loose touch with you guys completely. 

Not only that, I felt really bad.  I was hoping that after I wrote my “taking a break for the summer” blog that you guys would say to yourselves, “Okay.  Meg’s taking a break.  I’ll write September 3rd down in my calendar and come back then.” But you guys are still coming.  What you are looking at, I don’t know, but I am touched by your loyalty.

So, this is the deal.  I will blog once a week.  Unless something really exciting happens and then you’ll get a double dose. 

Now here is an abbreviated version of the last couple weeks away:

At the airport the Great Canadian Books store had my book, Porcupine featured right over the cashier!  When I saw that they did that, I danced around a bit in the hall and then Don and I went for some Japanese food next door. 

My new agent, Laura Langlie is so wonderful I can’t even believe the things she does.  I feel very, very lucky.  And if I had been blogging regularly I would have given you the blow by blow of the last few weeks, but now there are too many to even list.  I’d be here all day. 

Don and I went to a writing workshop.  We were meeting up with a bunch of friends.  There was/still is a huge fire.  We were around 15 minutes from the place when we ran into a road block and the police informed us that we would have to go around.  A round-about route that added another 5 hours of driving to our trip.  Not a welcome addition, since we had left our house in Vancouver at 3:30 AM.  And had been traveling for ten hours already.  We finally got there.  The sky dark with smoke, the sun blood red through the haze.  It was not so bad at the beginning but in the next few days it got harder to breath, grey ash falling covering everything.  Me wishing I had brought a different colour of sweater, because by the time we walked down the hill to where the workshop was, the shoulders of my black sweater were covered with the greyish white flakes and it reminded me of my Step-father and me having to scratch his head.  There was a skunk residing under the floor boards of the room they assigned us too, and it was extremely smelly and I got pro-active and somehow cajoled them to give us another room.

We decided to leave the place where the writing workshop was being held, because a couple of the people in the workshop had breathing issues, and lo-and-behold a miracle happened and we found a new place a couple hours down the coast that had just the right amount of spare rooms and we moved the whole thing there.  And the one lonely writer who was unable to make the move...showed up on the last day and wrote a really wonderful kick-ass piece!  It was a crazy, chaotic, perfect workshop and everyone wrote beautifully.  Inspiring on many levels.

Then we went to San Francisco to Book Passage to cheer our friend, Ken, with his panel presentation at the Mystery Writers Conference.  He was great!  A real rock star and we treated him as such.  (You r________s you.) And since we were there Don and I went to a bunch of the talks and even though I don’t write mysteries, we learned a lot. 

AND...James Fant, (our friend and part of Don and Ken’s writing group) GOT AN AGENT!!!!!  Whooheee!  A really good one.  Amy Rennert.  She was on several of the panels and seemed really nice and down to earth and super smart.  So congratulations to both of you!

And Emily is coming home on July 5th and I am over the moon!

And I am going to see the fantabulous Rosie O’Donnell in the Cyndi Lauper True Colours Tour, this afternoon and my friend Samantha (of Bolen Books fame) is coming over on the little sea-hopper plane, and we are going to dance and sing and get burnt in the sun and let me tell you this.  These two girls are GOING to have fun!

And the first day after I did my “I’m going to take a break” blog, this thing happened at the ferry terminal and I wanted to blog it, but I was trying to ween myself, so I wrote it on my desktop instead, but now I am blogging, so I will post it right after this. 

Now, remember everyone.  I am only going to blog once a week during the summer...At least that is what I am telling myself.  Let’s see if I can do it.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Meg's Blog, on July 2, 2008 3:17 PM

Thanks in part to McFly 2015.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Elsewhere, on July 2, 2008 3:07 PM

Just read Humanity Critic. Man! I should just quit.

Originally posted by Zentronix from zentronix: dubwise & hiphopcentric, on July 2, 2008 2:55 PM

Speed is a great movie.

Shut up. Dennis Hopper just one hair away from revisiting Frank Booth, explosions galore, FUCKING JEFF DANIELS and Keanu the machine - in his prime. Watch this and Point Break as a double bill and you can just about forgive those Matrix sequels. It’s also still the best thing that Sandra Bullock has been in (Bionic Showdown included)*.

Joss Whedon ‘interfered’ in what would have been just Die Hard on a bus without his uncredited input. A key change was Alan Ruck’s character being rewritten from a carbon copy of Ellis (”Hans, babe, put away the gun“) in Die Hard to the wonder struck tourist that almost falls under the speeding wheels of the rescue vehicle at the airport. Interestingly Whedon rewrote the character to be an audience favourite and then went ahead and killed him anyway. Whedon is a bad bad man.

The one chance I got to put a question to him in person I asked if killing off much loved characters was something that came easy. “Have you ever seen my stuff?” was the reply.

We’ll take that as read.

Now, I’ve seen Speed many times, but this time what really struck me was something in the final part on the subway train. I’ve always felt this sequence was needlessly tacked on and sure enough it was very much a last minute addition to the script and every time I’ve seen it it manages to push the movie from ludicrous-but-enjoyable to just the wrong side of dumb. However, this time my favourite part of the movie was after Hopper has been dispatched and Jack and Annie realise that those handcuffs just aren’t coming off. Jack has a chance to leave Annie, but of course this is SPEED so instead he just pushes the throttle higher.

And this is where things get interesting.

He puts his arms around her, gets between her and the cuffs and they sit down and wait for the thing to derail. There’s a small quiet moment in the movie just before things go all kablooy for the last time as they shoot along the tunnel holding onto each other as the lights flicker over head and I fucking loved that scene.

I wonder if that (last minute as it was) was another Whedon addition. It’s a great scene, Jack’s frustration at not being able to kick the pole from its fitting gives way to quiet acceptance as Annie pleads with him to leave and once the dust settles and you hear her joyous “You didn’t leave me!” you just know it’s the perfect ending.

Then they went and made Speed 2.

Fuckwits.

*Actually she’s great in Demolition Man too. Shut up. (Oh and the crappy screencap above is actually the results of me photographing the TV. Haven’t looked into screen capture from Blu-ray yet)

Originally posted by Mike from sizemore, on July 2, 2008 2:30 PM

Happy 100th birthday, Thurgood Marshall.

Originally posted by David Kurtz from Talking Points Memo, on July 2, 2008 1:51 PM

presumably this means i can’t buy sparklers. sad because i wanted some for upcoming weekend garden parties, pier parties, and the beach.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from the real janelle, on July 2, 2008 1:29 PM

Great moments in movie marketing (and the view from my office window).

Also worth noting: The church sits next to entrance to the Holland Tunnel — Hellboy just wants to get to Hell’s Mouth, and he’ll be damned if God’s shack gets in his way.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Jessica Coen, on July 2, 2008 1:16 PM

Delicious Otoro at Kim.

Kim has opened up Kyoto next door at Romilly street 26. Tonight he had some amazing Otoro. The aubergine starter is just amazing. Grilled slowly with a soy based sauce which is sweet. Kyoto is really worth a visit.

Originally posted by Christian Lindholm from ChristianLindholm.com, on July 2, 2008 1:08 PM

I think we've now got the tell on the ouster of Rick Davis at the McCain campaign.

It's not just that Davis is being replaced by Steve Schmidt as campaign manager. They are reportedly also scrapping their system of 11 largely autonomous regional managers to run the campaign, an approach to running a national campaign that I do not believe has ever been tried before.

That sounds a lot like they're scrapping the whole operation and starting again from square one, thus squandering the huge advantage they got by sealing up the nomination months in advance of the Democrats.

No doubt, they'll talk about retooling and logical evolutions. But this sounds much more like scrapping the whole org chart and starting from scratch.

Late Update: The Trib discusses what appears to be another key part of this. The McCain hands getting their walking papers to make room for Rove's crew to take over.

Originally posted by Josh Marshall from Talking Points Memo, on July 2, 2008 12:50 PM

Flickr set of the cover designs for the 3rd installment of Penguin's Great Ideas series of books. As We Made This rightly notes, the cover for The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction is the gem of the collection.

(link)

Originally posted by jason@kottke.org from kottke.org, on July 2, 2008 12:48 PM

Posted by Robby Stein, Associate Product Marketing Manager

For those of you using newly released Firefox 3, or willing to give it a try, you can take advantage of a new feature that lets you set Gmail as the default for all email links -- those that contain "mailto:" in them. If you're like me and don't have a default email client set up, then clicking these links typically launches an installation wizard for a destkop mail client, or opens some email software that you don't actually use.

Now you can configure Firefox to launch Gmail when you click on email address links and avoid the hassle. The folks over at Lifehacker published these tips on how to set it up:

1) Go to Gmail and sign in.

2) While in Gmail, copy and paste the following into your browser's address bar and hit enter.

javascript:window.navigator.registerProtocolHandler("mailto","https://mail.google.com/mail/?extsrc=mailto&url=%s","Gmail")

Google Apps users can use this code (but be sure to replace yourdomain.com with your Google Apps domain name):

javascript:window.navigator.registerProtocolHandler("mailto","https://mail.google.com/a/yourdomain.com/mail/?extsrc=mailto&url=%s","Gmail")

3) Click "Add Application" when you are prompted¹. Congrats, you just added Gmail to your browser's list of mail clients.



4) To set Gmail as your default, click on this link and you will be prompted with a dialog box listing available email applications. By selecting Gmail and checking "Remember my choice for mailto links" you won't have to tell your browser again. (You don't actually need to send an email after you click that link.)



You can always change this setting by going into "Tools" > "Options" (or "Firefox" > "Preferences," for Mac users) selecting "Applications" and going to the "mailto" option. There's a drop down next to the option that lets you change your default. Clicking "Application details" will take you to a settings page where you can completely remove Gmail or other mail apps.



¹If nothing happens when you type in the code, double check that you copied the entire snippet correctly, and if nothing happens, you probably changed an advanced setting (maybe without even knowing) and need to set it back to default. To do it, type about:config into your browser and make sure that network.protocol-handler.external.mailto is on the default setting: true.

Originally posted by Robby Stein from Gmail Blog, on July 2, 2008 12:48 PM

From Recipes

I should have known that our new little grocery store in Chicago wouldn't have fennel. The fiancée and I had been planning a crazy sardine pasta, having been inspired by the New York Times recent article about 11 healthy foods, but once the fennel was missing, the recipe quickly fell apart. We decided to make something simple instead using the availble decent looking asparagus and incredibly cheap lemons. I didn't have an exact recipe, but I knew that could find something to do with all of these ingredients.

I'm not sure how I found Robin Robertson's recipe for pasta with asparagus and pine nuts, or why the source seemed like a good one, but I was drawn to the addition of the pine nuts, an ingredient I had ready-to-go in the pantry. We didn't have as much pasta as the recipe called for, nor any fresh dill, resulting in a dish that was mostly asparagus and lemon with some pasta mixed in. I'm not sure if that would have worked or not. This simple recipe turned out really well—it was fresh and light, and a perfect summer dinner.

About the author: Nick Kindelsperger is a co-founder of The Paupered Chef, a blog dedicated to saving time and money while enjoying food in every way possible. He sells wine for a living and lives in Columbus, Ohio.

Pasta with Asparagus and Pine Nuts

- serves 2 -
Adapted from Pasta for All Seasons by Robin Robertson.

Ingredients

1/4 cup pine nuts
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 pound asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 pound pasta
Zest and juice of one lemon
Salt and pepper

Procedure

1. Toast the pine nuts in a skillet over medium heat. It will take about 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside.

2. Pour the olive oil into the skillet over medium heat. Toss in the garlic and the asparagus. Cook until the asparagus has softened, about 4 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to the directions on the box. When it's done, remove from the pot and toss directly into the pan with the asparagus. Cook for a minute. Turn off the heat.

4. Add the lemon juice and zest and season with salt and pepper. Stir until combined. Serve up.

Originally posted by Nick Kindelsperger from Serious Eats, on July 2, 2008 12:30 PM

Christopher Hitchens writes about getting waterboarded for the July issue of Vanity Fair.

You may have read by now the official lie about this treatment, which is that it "simulates" the feeling of drowning. This is not the case. You feel that you are drowning because you are drowning-or, rather, being drowned, albeit slowly and under controlled conditions and at the mercy (or otherwise) of those who are applying the pressure. The "board" is the instrument, not the method. You are not being boarded. You are being watered.

As you can see in the video, Hitchens maybe lasted 15 seconds or so.

(link)

Originally posted by jason@kottke.org from kottke.org, on July 2, 2008 11:53 AM

Currently in his third season with the Diamondbacks, Orlando Hudson is one of the best defensive infielders in the game, capturing Gold Gloves at second base in each of the past three seasons.  While Gold Gloves are sometimes awarded more on undeserved reputation than on merit, Hudson has earned his hardware, regularly rating among the league best in defensive metrics such as range factor and zone ratings.

David Laurila:  How would you describe Orlando Hudson the baseball player?

Orlando Hudson:  I’m an OK baseball player.  I’m not going to say that I’m good, or that I’m average, I’m just going to say that I’m an OK baseball player.  I think that defensively I’ve developed over the years.  I was always a hitter in the minor leagues – not one of the defensive guys — but I developed defensive things over the years.  Having an infield coach like Brian Butterfield when I was in Toronto was a huge help to me.

DL:  Do you think that defense is underappreciated by most baseball fans?

OH:  No, not by real fans like you’ll find in places like Boston, Chicago, St. Louis and both New Yorks.  They know the game well, so they know how important defense is.

DL:  There are defensive reputations and there are defensive metrics.  How much disconnect do you feel there is between the two?

OH:  I have no clue, man, as to how that is perceived; I don’t know how it’s looked at.  I don’t know if there’s a guy sitting up there saying, “This guy has more range than this one.”  I just go out there and play.

DL:  I’m referring, in part, to whether some players arguably deserve Gold Gloves more than the guys who actually win them, primarily because of the difference between perception and actual value.

OH:  There are definitely some guys out there who made one or two errors and won the Gold Glove, but it’s one of those things, man.  It’s definitely a great award to win, but there are a lot of guys who definitely should have won one that haven’t won any yet.  But beyond that, I can’t really say.

DL:  Who are some of the more underrated defensive infielders in the game?

OH:  I think Mark Ellis – man, he’s a great defensive player.  Brandon Phillips of the Reds is a great defensive player.  Chase Utley – great.  Dan Uggla – another great defensive player.  There are quite a few guys.  Don’t get me wrong, they get notice that they make the plays, that they make the routine plays.  Obviously they haven’t brought home Gold Gloves yet, but that’s not saying they won’t, because they have potential to definitely bring home Gold Gloves.  It’s just one of those things.  I’m not saying that people don’t appreciate them for their defense, but some guys put up so many power offensive numbers — they’re great defensive players too.

DL:  When you look at your defensive numbers, which ones mean the most to you?

OH:  Errors.  I have a lot of silly errors, like maybe you throw the ball home and it kicks off the catcher or something, and the runner advances, and it’s an error.  I try to keep my limit every year, but I always seem to go over it.  But it’s just part of the game that’s going to happen; we’re not perfect.

DL:  Do you pay attention to things like Range Factors and Zone Ratings?

OH:  No, I just go out there and play.  I don’t pay attention to Range Factors or Zone Ratings, no.

DL:  Some players are said to have “soft hands.”  Is that something innate, or can it be developed?

OH:  I think that’s something natural, and I don’t have soft hands.  It’s just a God-given talent that you’re born with, and I’m not one of those guys.  But it’s the way you field the ball, how you see the hops, and how you play the hops the right way – and you’re not going to play every hop the right way – and the way you see the ball come off the bat and get around it to get in position to get off a good throw to first base. 

DL:  Can you say a little about the relative value of scouting reports and reacting to how the ball comes off the bat?

OH:  Part of it depends on the way the guy is pitching that day, whether he’s throwing a guy inside or out.  And if it’s a power pitcher like a Roger Clemens, and you’ve got a guy like David Ortiz or Manny Ramirez at the plate, the ball is going to come off a little harder than usual.  In that case, I’d obviously play back a little deeper to get a better read of the ball if it comes to me.  So it’s definitely knowing your hitter and knowing your pitcher.

DL:  Do you pay a lot of attention to reports?

OH:  I do a little bit, but I’ve been around both leagues, so I pretty much know the hitters and go more by feel now.

DL:  Do you view Omar Vizquel as a Hall of Fame player?

OH:  I think that Omar Vizquel is a Hall of Fame player, because he’s much like Ozzie Smith, who was such a superb, superb defensive player.  He’s not going to hit for power, but he’ll go get his base hits and steal you some bases.  I think Omar is definitely one of the most exciting defensive players to ever play the game.

Originally posted by David Laurila from Baseball Prospectus: Unfiltered, on July 2, 2008 11:22 AM

Nicely designed poster for The Dark Knight.

(link)

Originally posted by jason@kottke.org from kottke.org, on July 2, 2008 10:36 AM

Last week two ladies whom we'll call the Ko Girls posted an ad on Craigslist calling for two gentlemen to join them at Momofuku Ko, where they'd secured the coveted and elusive four-top for an upcoming night (for this past Monday). Coupla cute girls, coupla cute boys, coupla orders of shaved foie gras, one Dave Chang—como se dice, magic!

Here now, straight from the Ko Girls, this is their story.

About Us: Linda (pictured right; 28, blond, attorney) and Rebecca (left; 32, brunette, attorney). We met in law school and share a predilection for all things fattening and delicious.

The Contestants: Within the first day or two we receive about a dozen applications, which is fewer than expected (the original Ko-thario allegedly received over a hundred), but nearly all are strong candidates. Over the course of the week, we meet four of them. These are our favorites:

Linda's first choice pair: Mr. A, a restaurant blogger and -- according to Linda -- a total hottie (Rebecca disagrees with this classification, though, finding Mr. A to be decidedly sub-hottie; mutual accusations of crack-smoking are hurled; ultimately, we agree to disagree), and Mr. B, a restaurant consultant who is Mr. A’s friend and seems to be an all-around likeable and good-looking guy.

Rebecca's first choice: Mr. C, a Wall Street guy. Rebecca is the only one of us who gets a chance to interview him. Her first impression is that he is cute and, more importantly, that he genuinely shares our enthusiasm for pork fat.

The Decision: Linda holds the golden ticket, so Linda gets to choose Mr. A and Mr. B. All is fair in love, war, and Ko reservations.

The Ko-risis: Several days after inviting Mr. A and Mr. B and about six hours before our reservation, we receive an email from Mr. A saying he has to cancel due to family obligations. Frantic emailing between Rebecca and Linda ensues. Mr. B says he still wants to go, so now we just need to find a fourth. Rebecca emails Mr. C to ask him to fill in, and -- apparently unhappy about being our backup plan -- he tells us his "pride says no, but [his] stomach says yes." Ultimately, he agrees to come with us. Crisis averted.

The Ko-risis, part deux: A few hours later -- that is, only three hours before the reservation -- Mr. B emails to tell us that, nah, he'd rather not go to Ko without Mr. A after all. More frantic emailing ensues. As it turns out, Mr. C wanted to bring a friend in the first place, so he is happy to bring along his friend Mr. D. Crisis averted. Again.

The Pre-Dinner: The four of us stop off for a quick drink before the reservation, at Terroir, to get to know each other a little better. Mr. C’s friend, Mr. D, turns out to be a tall attorney with a nice sense of humor. At this point, both Mr. C and Mr. D seem like adequate dining companions but nothing to write home about, which is a little disappointing considering the rigorous interview process. No doubt David Chang will soon fill the void in our hearts with fatty goodness.

The Dinner: The meal starts with a pork fat-soaked English muffin and a puffy pork rind. Our bouches are thoroughly amused. Surprisingly (to us, anyway), it is the foodgasm guru himself, David Chang, who prepares and serves our food to us. Having him explain the origins of the frozen foie gras dish feels a little like how I imagine a putting lesson from Tiger Woods would feel. Having him wipe up a bit of sauce from the side of our dish and say "sorry, I'm not much of a waiter" feels akin to Tiger Woods scrubbing our golf clubs and schlepping them around the course for us. It's an odd brew of awe and embarrassment that we experience, and we can’t help but break out in giggles whenever the Changster graciously answers one of our questions.

The rest of the dishes are beyond amazing, but we won't go into any more depth since a lot of bloggers and reviewers have already described them. Up until the last 20 minutes of the meal, we are both feeling like the whole project has been a resounding success. Alas, at that point in time, Mr. C abruptly makes a rather douchebaggy remark toward Rebecca, something to the effect of "Thanks for your number, but it's not you it's Ko." And -- come to think of it -- neither Mr. C nor Mr. D ever thanks us for inviting them. Okay, so these guys have now been downgraded from Adequate to Totally Lame, but we still enjoyed our dinner immensely. The bill is then split four ways, and our paths likewise split as soon as we leave the restaurant.

Overall: The experience was still a positive one. We enjoyed meeting all the applicants and have forgiven Mr. A and Mr. B for ditching us, and we generally had a fun time with the whole process. The objective was to mingle great food with great adventure, and we achieved that.

Originally posted by BL from Eater, on July 2, 2008 10:28 AM

As I had to upgrade my personal blog to the newest WordPress version (and my old theme had been hacked to death), I chose to start from scratch with a WordPress theme.

[You can download the new theme here.]

As I am a lazy person and I think blogging is first and foremost about content and availability, I wanted to re-use as much as possible the good stuff other people have done and then tweak it a bit to fit my needs.

Voilå! YUI autogrid minimal, a WordPress theme based heavily on YUI’s Grids CSS and Base CSS with a few changes to fit the HTML that WordPress creates for you.

To work around the issue of YUI Grids being optimized for a certain resolution, I used the autogrids trick blogged here previously.

This is what this WordPress theme gives you:

• clean, simple markup
• a grids layout that changes with the available browser space
• a fixed right side menu for easy access of the search and pages
• an hCard in the footer to download to Outlook or Mail
• Nice, easy-to-read typography without any fancy distractions

What it does not give you (as I hadn’t had time to look into these):

• Ajax that nobody really needs
• the new WordPress enhancements like the dynamic sidebar
• pop-up comments (come on, this is 2008!)

You can see a few messier, older versions of this theme at work on my personal blog and on Scripting Enabled, the event I am organising about accessibility hacking later this year.

Originally posted by Christian Heilmann from Yahoo! User Interface Blog, on July 2, 2008 10:22 AM

Found Art (Soho): Unmonumental 39, originally uploaded by Joy Garnett (archive).

Originally posted by joy garnett from NEWSgrist - where spin is art, on July 2, 2008 10:05 AM

From Required Eating

As much as we’d like to, there are times during the day when can’t actually eat something delicious. At those moments, then, we have to resort to the next best thing—looking at delicious food.

Photograzing is a place to share your best food photography, discover new food blogs, and find tasty inspiration. Whether it’s ideas for tonight’s dinner, some eye candy to help you procrastinate, or just a lively connection to the community of food-lovers on the web, we hope you’ll find this new food photography site a staple of your online diet.

How It Works

Photograzing is powered by you, the Serious Eats community. If you’re a food blogger, you can show off your best photography by submitting a picture and a brief description. If your submission is approved, it will appear with a link to your site. The best submissions will also appear on Serious Eats.

And even if you’re not submitting items yourself, you can participate by clicking on photos to visit the poster’s site or by leaving comments on the photo right on Photograzing. You can sign in with your existing Serious Eats account. (If you don’t have one, you can get one for free—it’s quick and easy to sign up!)

In all, we’ve heard that the food blog community loves having a place to gather, and since there’s been a clamor for a site like this, we wanted to offer you Photograzing. Best of all, Photograzing will benefit from the energy and enthusiasm that have been hallmarks of the Serious Eats community from day one. We also want to acknowledge and thank Tastespotting for the obvious inspiration. We encourage our community to check it out.

So, welcome to our new site—we can’t wait to start grazing along with you!

Originally posted by The Serious Eats Team from Serious Eats, on July 2, 2008 10:00 AM

With two currently functioning orbiters, and five more missions planned in the next year, Earth's Moon may soon have seven active probes operated by five nations, with even more coming soon. NASA's plans to return humans to the Moon by 2020 are moving steadily ahead, with some concrete prototypes and initial designs beginning to emerge. Called the Constellation Program, NASA's vision involves new and upgraded launch vehicles, exploration vehicles, autonomous rovers, new spacesuits, crew and cargo vehicles, and much more. Here are seven photographs of our possible future on the Moon, and a look back, with ten images from our last visits with the Apollo missions, more than 36 years ago now. (17 photos total)

Looking Forward -- Spacesuit engineer Dustin Gohmert drives NASA's new lunar truck prototype through the moon-like craters of Johnson Space Center's Lunar Yard. The lunar truck was built to make such off roading easy, with six wheels that can be steered independently in any direction. In addition, the steering center can turn a full 360 degree, giving the driver a good view of what's ahead, no matter which way the wheels are pointing. (NASA/JSC)

Originally posted by (author unknown) from The Big Picture, on July 2, 2008 9:04 AM

Identi.ca, an open source/free software + open content = open service microblogging service launched today. From the FAQ:

How is Identi.ca different from Twitter, Jaiku, Pownce, Plurk, others?

Identi.ca is an Open Network Service. Our main goal is to provide a fair and transparent service that preserves users’ autonomy. In particular, all the software used for Identi.ca is Free Software, and all the data is available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license, making it Open Data.

The software also implements the OpenMicroBlogging protocol, meaning that you can have friends on other microblogging services that can receive your notices.

The goal here is autonomy — you deserve the right to manage your own on-line presence. If you don’t like how Identi.ca works, you can take your data and the source code and set up your own server (or move your account to another one).

Identi.ca is a project of Evan Prodromou, featured at Creative Commons previously for his work on Wikitravel and other open content initiatives.

Now you can microblog with less guilt. Follow Evan.

Creative Commons’ Jon Phillips is quoted in the press release:

Response from initial testers has been enthusiastic, both for the software’s design and functionality, as well as the site’s openness. “It makes me feel alive again to see the resurgence of free/open on the web,” said Jon Phillips, Community Manager with Creative Commons in San Francisco, CA.

Originally posted by Mike Linksvayer from Creative Commons » CC News, on July 2, 2008 8:59 AM

Wall-E was wonderful...best new film I've seen in a long time. With it, Andrew Stanton joins Brad Bird in Pixar's top tier of directors, with the much-heralded John Lasseter in third place. But I can see where Tyler Cowen was coming from when he stated in his short review that the film was "not recommended for children" and that "some bold genius at Pixar will be fired". Wall-E was funny, charming, and endearing but also subversive, disturbing, and dystopian. That combination that usually doesn't play well at the box office but some of my favorite films ride that fine line between comedy and disconcerting drama.

Some other thoughts and observations:

• This was the first Pixar movie to include live action sequences. What, they couldn't 'toon Fred Willard?
• Disney is selling all sorts of Wall-E merchandise to go along with the movie, much of which will end up in a landfill somewhere. Just like the movie. It's a full circle. Very clever, Disney.
• Here's a list of easter eggs and references in the film and here are some Apple-specific references. My favorite was a scene near the end with Wall-E, the autopilot, and the autopilot's buddy that referenced the Luke/Vader/Emperor struggle at the end of Jedi.
• I doubt it was an explicit reference, but the future earth of Wall-E resembles that of the under-appreciated Idiocracy.
• The ending credits are a fun little tour through art history.
• Presto, the funny short movie played before Wall-E, is available for purchase from the iTunes Store for $1.99. Here's the Buy n Large corporate web site. Galax-E is a font inspired by the lettering from Wall-E.

Rating: 5.0/5.0

Originally posted by jason@kottke.org from kottke.org, on July 2, 2008 8:37 AM

Lets Go Mets is one of my favorite blogs for a few obvious reasons (Baseball, Mr.Met, early Vox blogger). This past Sunday night he recognized that Carlos Delgado, one of the Mets biggest underachievers, was performing like a superstar during the day but a scrub (at best) at night.

The story was subsequently picked up by Metsblog, and then New York Newsday. Alex Britell took this a step further in the New York Sun and invented a new statistic to measure the gap between day and night performance:

I've conceived a metric called Vision%, which simply measures night batting as a percentage of day batting, with 100 being equal dexterity at night and during the day, with the assumption that, all other things being equal, the average player will see and hit similarly at both times. For instance, if Player X bats .294 during the day, but .252 at night, his Vision% is 86. Moves of a few points in Vision% can mean huge jumps — chiefly because players hit about twice as many times at night.

...Delgado's Vision% has been on a downward trend since before he came to the Mets — from 97 in 2005, to 90 in 2006, to 85 last year, to this year's awful 58.

Carlos Delgado also enjoys the starting first basemen's role on my Fantasy Baseball team, the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoirs. Please, Carlos, go to an eye doctor! The Reservoirs need your Vision% to be in the 90s!

Originally posted by David Jacobs from hello, typepad, on July 2, 2008 8:18 AM

Lets Go Mets is one of my favorite blogs for a few obvious reasons (Baseball, Mr.Met, early Vox blogger). This past Sunday night he recognized that Carlos Delgado, one of the Mets biggest underachievers, was performing like a superstar during the day but a scrub (at best) at night.

The story was subsequently picked up by Metsblog, and then New York Newsday. Alex Britell took this a step further in the New York Sun and invented a new statistic to measure the gap between day and night performance:

I've conceived a metric called Vision%, which simply measures night batting as a percentage of day batting, with 100 being equal dexterity at night and during the day, with the assumption that, all other things being equal, the average player will see and hit similarly at both times. For instance, if Player X bats .294 during the day, but .252 at night, his Vision% is 86. Moves of a few points in Vision% can mean huge jumps — chiefly because players hit about twice as many times at night.

...Delgado's Vision% has been on a downward trend since before he came to the Mets — from 97 in 2005, to 90 in 2006, to 85 last year, to this year's awful 58.

Carlos Delgado also enjoys the starting first basemen's role on my Fantasy Baseball team, the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoirs. Please, Carlos, go to an eye doctor! The Reservoirs need your Vision% to be in the 90s!

Originally posted by David Jacobs from hello, typepad, on July 2, 2008 8:18 AM

Filed under: Gaming, Universal Binary

I thought Adobe and Microsoft were bad, but Feral Interactive has just released a patch for Chessmaster 9000 that brings Universal Binary status to the well known chess application. Other changes in version 1.1.2 include support for the latest MacBooks with Intel X3100 graphics. So now you can finally try the Queen's gambit on your Intel Mac without the distaste of Rosetta.

The 1.1.2 Universal patch is a free download from Feral. Chessmaster 9000 retails for about $40.

[via MacNN]

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Originally posted by Mat Lu from The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW), on July 2, 2008 8:00 AM

Glenn Fleishman:

You won’t pay a 3G rate for a 2G iPhone with a new service plan, AT&T confirmed for me today. This should be good news to anyone looking to either sell their so-called 2G iPhone when they upgrade to an iPhone 3G, or for those looking to buy (or beg) the older iPhone model without paying a fee for bandwidth they can’t use.

 ★ 

Originally posted by John Gruber from Daring Fireball, on July 2, 2008 7:58 AM

I have decided that every Wednesday I am going to post a picture or two from the past.  This picture is one of only a handful of both Jonah and I that I like from his first year of life.  As some of you know, I basically lived in pajamas for the first six months postpartum and shunned the camera.  Thus, while I have hundreds of adorable pictures of Jonah by himself or with others, there aren't many of him and mommy.

In this photo, I am (surprise) wearing pajamas.  The shirt I have on (thanks, David J!) is part of the fundraising efforts of Liz Claiborne's Love Is Not Abuse program, which works to end domestic violence.  It features a heart on the front with the program's message: Love Is Not Abuse.  Jonah loved to reach out and touch the heart every time I wore this shirt, and I was always so taken by his gesture.

I am so glad the moment was captured, despite the pjs...

Fast forward a year, and here we are (NOT in pajamas *grin*) at the beach.  I love this picture.

"Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother." -Lin Yutang

Originally posted by Emily Roth from Emily Tatum Roth, on July 2, 2008 7:52 AM

How man-eating model Carla Bruni went from rock 'n' roll ingenue to the fierce First Lady of France

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Radar Online Features, on July 2, 2008 7:44 AM

Observe sunspots by going to Grand Central Terminal?

The southern wall of the Grand Concourse, facing 42nd Street, has semicircular grills high up, with small curlicued spaces like those in a leafy tree. Many of those spaces act like the aperture of a pinhole camera, reflecting an image of the sun that, when it reaches the floor, will be 8 to 12 inches wide. The smaller grill spaces will produce dimmer but sharper solar images on your paper.

(via 92y blog)

(link)

Originally posted by jason@kottke.org from kottke.org, on July 2, 2008 7:42 AM

Filed under: Multimedia, How-tos, WWDC, Developer

We heard from TheCodingMonkeys last week, and there was mention of a joint project with Boinx Software. Being a big fan of Boinx software (iStopMotion, Mousepose, Fotomagico), I couldn't wait to see what they had up their sleeves. The project is called BoinxTV, and it's going to be an invaluable tool for a wide range of video production applications. It allows for on-the-fly camera switching, transitions, lower thirds, graphics, logos, crawlers, graphs, title, you name it. And when you finish a run, you've got a QuickTime movie that requires no post production (unless you really want to). Oliver and Dominik share more about its audience and development in the video after the jump.

If you're interested in hearing more about the beta and staying up-to-date on the current status, check out http://www.boinx.com/boinxtv. I've been asked to emphasize that BoinxTV is pre-release. Many aspects of it, including the UI pictured above, are constantly changing and improving.

[Viddler link|QuickTime format]

Continue reading WWDC '08: Boinx + TheCodingMonkeys = BoinxTV

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Originally posted by Brett Terpstra from The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW), on July 2, 2008 7:30 AM

There is life yet for Chloe Sevigny's Opening Ceremony collection.

While on Topshop, we came across their new Post-War Precision collection (originally called the Valerie Collection, though we don't know why they changed the name). Topshop describes it as "1950s pin-up styling with a rockabilly twist", but between the checkered pieces, acid wash jean jacket and ditsy floral print dresses we thought "We Wish We Were Chloe Sevigny" would have been a more apt description.

Just take a gander at these high-wasted checked pants. Remind you of anything? We thought so. Similarily, this blouse by Topshop is almost an exact replica of one Chloe turned out for Opening Ceremony (although in the picture it's shown in floral, Chloe also made one in basic white), one of the more wearable pieces of the collection. And these tiny floral printed shorts are very reminiscent of Chloe's floral skirt. Topshop even went as far as a floral bustier, one of the more signature pieces from Chloe's collection (ps. we're still not sure who's buying these). [Editor's note: Natalie loves Chloe's floral bustier!]

The Topshop stuff is actually really cute (thankfully, they stayed away from midriff baring tops) but our reaction was overshadowed by the same sneaking suspicion we had when we tried the items on last March in Opening Ceremony, or maybe it was last April and at Urban Outfitters. Either way, we're wondering why, amidst less than positive reviews, the Sevigny collection has had such a strong influence on retailers.

Perhaps Chloe was on to something, but it's a shame her designs are being copied more often than worn.

--HAYLEY PHELAN

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Fashionista, on July 2, 2008 7:01 AM

Ramon Casto was 2-for-4 with 3 RBI, including the game tying double in the fourth inning, during the Mets 7-4 victory over the Cardinals last night.

Castro, speaking to reporters after the game:

“I just want to win. I’m glad I played good today. Every time I play more, I feel better. I just want to help the team win, especially now, when we need it. Every time they put me out there I will play my best.”

…i think the time has come for the Jerry Manuel to go with a platoon situation behind the plate…castro is too good of hitter to only be playing a one or two games a week, especially with Brian Schneider struggling against lefties and castro hitting southpaws at a .400 clip…

ShareThis

Originally posted by Mike Nichols from MetsBlog.com, on July 2, 2008 6:46 AM

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Wooster Collective, on July 2, 2008 6:28 AM

A special Eater correspondent headed over the R&L Restaurant to check out the festivities for its Grand Reopening at 8 a.m. this morning. As somewhat expected, the gutted Florent space was none too festive: "R&L open. 3 customers, 7 staff visible front of house. Manager talking about redecorating - 'I have an old picture of 14th Street I could bring in.'. Coffee hot...Also, it kinda feels like a hospital cafeteria." Let's just say it's no Florent at 9 AM. But we should give Joanne Lucas & Co the benefit of the doubt—that could be a really great picture of 14th St.
· Vital R&L Update: Florent Excised, Opening Tomorrow! [~E~]

Originally posted by Amanda from Eater, on July 2, 2008 5:58 AM

From Our Delhi Struggle: The bloggers found this sari for sale in a mall in Gurgaon, the tech hub south of Delhi. I found out this sari was designed by the famous designer Satya Paul. It's actually an "Oogle" design, clearly meant to throw Google trademark lawyers off the trail! On the Satya Paul site it goes for RS. 11,995 or US$299.88.

Originally posted by Siva Vaidhyanathan from The Googlization of Everything, on July 2, 2008 5:43 AM

• Car Sales Plummet in June (CNN, NYT)
  
• 'Wings' on WTC Transit Hub Won't Open and Close (News, NYT)
• NYT Looks Back on Park Slope's Month Without Parking Rules
  
• Alternate-Side Parking to Be Suspended in More Brooklyn Nabes (Bklyn Paper)
• Long Island Boy Sustains Broken Legs in Hit-and-Run Crash (News)
• Community Boards Say They Were Given Short Notice About Summer Streets (Villager)
  
• High Gas Prices Spark Interest in Adult Bike Lessons (Boston Globe)
  
• It's Official: Denmark Is the World's Happiest Nation (Evening Standard)
  
• SF Car Commuters Switching to Bikes and Transit (SF Chron via Bike Commute Tips)
  

Originally posted by Ben Fried from Streetsblog, on July 2, 2008 5:02 AM

The TED2008 Gift Bag was the first product from a brand-new company, Rickshaw Bagworks. Made in San Francisco with sustainable fabrics and thoughtful details, the TED bags became a bit of a cult item -- not least because they weren't available for retail sale at the time of the '08 conference.

This week Rickshaw opens its online store, selling the TED-style bag (the call it the "med commuter messenger") along with other styles, including a baby bag that benefits Healthy Child Healthy World.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from TED | TEDBlog, on July 2, 2008 4:58 AM

Accept Your Future Interfaces!, originally uploaded by selfconstruct.

I thinkin of starting a pool on flickr of hand-written signs taped to touch interfaces…

Originally posted by Matt from Blackbeltjones/Work, on July 2, 2008 12:17 AM

Three years ago, at the same point in the life cycle of Movable Type 3, we took stock in what we had built, and turned our focus to product quality. That tradition continues today with Movable Type 4.2.

Movable Type 4.2 is not a release of Movable Type narrowly focused on bringing more bells and whistles to the platform, but instead on making dramatic improvements to the fabric of the product in order to pave the way for more exciting things to come. And we are not just talking about performance, although that is a core focus of the release. We, learning from projects like Apple's Snow Leopard, want this release to be about setting new standards of quality for the product.

To that end, Movable Type 4.2 has been an opportunity for us and the community to make changes to our development and testing process so that going forward we can ensure an ongoing level of quality our customers and users expect and deserve. Here are just a couple of the things members of the team have been working on in effort to improve code quality:

• Mark Paschal, the creator of Action Streams, has been working on building the most extensive unit test framework Movable Type has ever had. Not only will this help us to bring future versions of Movable Type to market faster, but it will also help us to elevate the quality of every release of Movable Type going forward by automatically running every release through a battery of automated tests.
• Fumiaki Yoshimatsu, our lead engineer in Japan, has been conducting a line-by-line code audit looking for a variety of issues that even our manual QA tests may not be able to test adequately.

However, there is more to quality in our eyes than a lack of bugs in the core product, it is also about ensuring a clean, painless, anxiety-free upgrade path for our users. That means giving plugin developers time to report forward compatibility issues they find in their plugins, and then fixing the compatibility issue as opposed to asking them to retool their plugin or theme. Why is this important? Because users should not suffer the anxiety of breaking their site, or be forced into hours of work to update their site just to take advantage of a new version of software.

Finally, this release is not only about improving the quality of our core open source platform, but also of our commercial products as well. Therefore we are happy to announce today the availability of, for the first time, a public and open beta of our Movable Type Community Solution (MTCS). MTCS is a premium product offering released last year that powers sites like Boing Boing, Talking Points Memo, Serious Eats, the Kenneth Cole blog and many others which many of our users and community members have been curious about. So today is a not just an opportunity for our customers to help us test the Community Solution, it is also an opportunity for all of our users to kick its tires, give it a spin and see if MTCS is a product they might want to recommend to the company they work for, or to their clients.

To everyone who has been participating in the beta so far, to all of those who have already submitted feedback or bug reports, and to all of the community developers who have contributed bug fixes, we say "thank you." One hundred times: "thank you!" And to everyone: we invite you to download Release Candidate 3 and to continue helping us make this one of the best releases in MT's history.

Originally posted by Byrne Reese from MovableType.org - Home for the MT Community, on July 1, 2008 11:48 PM

Now that I’ve gotten back from ALA and gotten some sleep, I’ve been ruminating over privacy topics some more. The panel went well. I also read Cory Doctorow’s book Little Brother on the way home — they were giving away copies at the panel — and enjoyd it quite a lot. It’s a YA just-barely-dystopian book about a terrorist-seeming event and the Bay Area lockdown that follows and how a group of tech savvy teens respond, and how others respond. It’s a good book.

During the panel, we were taking about things you’d want to keep private that you don’t necessarily need to keep secret. Sex and bathroom activities were two obvious examples. This then led to a discussion, more like hitting on a few points, about library records and how there is a difference between trashing them — so you can legitimately say “we don’t have any records to show you” — and obscuring them, say through encryption, so that the records are available to, say, patrons and yet not to librarians or, it follows, to law enforcement. I found this idea intriguing. Now that we’ve done a decent job making the point that patron library data is data that we protect, maybe we can make that protection more sophisticated so we don’t have to protect it by completely eradicating it. Maybe.

Anyhow, I got grabbed outside of the panel by Library Journal and I talked a little bit about this.

Also can I just say that Library Journal’s coverage of ALA was really engaging and worth reading this year? I haven’t been following ALA conferences in a while but I was surprised how much I enjoyed reading about this one in addition to attending it.

Originally posted by jessamyn from librarian.net, on July 1, 2008 8:25 PM

This video of a transportation system in planning stage somewhere in China is interesting and innovative. It shows that the train doesn’t have to stop for embarking and disembarking passengers thus saving not only energy but also travel time.

Originally posted by Pratik from Urban Planning Blog, ReBlogged by Jamie Allen on Jul 1, 2008 at 09:31 PM

Originally posted by Pratik from Eyebeam reBlog, on July 1, 2008 6:31 PM

We all knew surging gasoline prices would hurt auto sales. But it’s happening a lot faster than many had guessed.

Automakers are reporting their June sales figures today, and if red is your favorite color you may like what you see. Ford’s sales were down 28 percent from a year ago, and GM’s were off by 19 percent. The big surprise was Toyota, down 21 percent. It seems Toyota’s overall sales were less dependent on its highly coveted Prius cars than on its trucks.

Since February, gas has risen from $3 a gallon on average to more than $4, where it has lingered for much of June. So a lot of the hottest, low-mileage models of recent years are baking in the sun on car lots, while hybrids and other fuel-efficient cars are in hot demand.

The two manufacturers who saw their sales increase, Honda and Volkswagen, are the same passenger-car makers that have seen their market share dwindle in the age of the SUV. Both saw one-percent gains.

Then there’s Ford. Its F-Series pickup truck, which gets about 15 miles a gallon on city streets, managed to sell 38,789 units in June. But that figure is down 41 percent from June 2007. The F-Series, long America’s best selling vehicle, was outranked last month by the Corolla and Camry from Toyota and the Civic and Accord from Honda. Only two of Ford’s 20 or so models gained on year: the Ford Fusion, up 18 percent, and the Mercury Milan, up 8 percent.

The problem for automakers is, demand has changed in a matter of a couple of months, while automakers need a year or so to increase or decrease supplies. They might have seen this shift coming a year or so again, but they didn’t act.

Even Toyota failed to keep up with changing demands. It sold 17,806 hybrids in June, two thirds of them Priuses. But it sold three times as many light trucks: 53,957 of them. Even so, light-truck sales were down 32 percent in June. Toyota may market itself as a maker of fuel-efficient hybrids, but it’s just as exposed to America’s shunning of SUVs as any carmaker.

Toyota’s performance in June was so disappointing that General Motors was able to cling onto its title as the largest U.S. automaker. Only because GM’s 19-percent decline wasn’t as steep as Toyota’s, it still wears the crown.

That’s hardly a silver lining, it’s more like a string of tinsel. But in this economy, automakers will take good news where they can get it.

Originally posted by Kevin Kelleher from Earth2Tech, ReBlogged by Jamie Allen on Jul 1, 2008 at 09:27 PM

Originally posted by Kevin Kelleher from Eyebeam reBlog, on July 1, 2008 6:27 PM

Continuing on the cassettes theme, I found this site via Randee Dawn:

http://www.cassettefrommyex.com/

The stories on the front page come largely from professional writers, who include a photo of themselves, a photo of the tape and a complete track listing.  (They should send me a photo of themselves WITH the tape!) 

The coolest aspect of each entry is that there's a neat inline player that lets you listen to the audio of each mixtape.  Side A and Side B are separate streams, of course.

I've only read a few of the stories, but my favorite so far is from Katy Finch called "Scarface and 40's":

"I met Robert at a Purple Rain party. It was 1992 and my spring break trip to Santa Cruz, where my friend Crina was going to a much cooler school, was almost over. But I had one last night and a party full of Prince before my departure. While Crina’s roommates rehearsed their band in the garage, beating their way through a Dokken cover then smoothly transitioning into a track from Freaky Styly, we hung lavender vinyl in the windows and baked pot brownies for the party. I was not looking forward to flying back to Poughkeepsie where everyone at my east coast college was trying to convince each other that they had bought Bleach before they had bought Nevermind. Including me."

Cheers to Katy for all those delicious details, and cheers to the team that created the website.

Originally posted by Krissy from art is the new religion, on July 1, 2008 5:57 PM

thanks joanna. hi reblog! let's get this party started: right. love, jamie

via http://bestpicever.com/pic-1006-Kitty-sitting-on-glass

Originally posted by ionoi from FFFFOUND! / EVERYONE, ReBlogged by Jamie Allen on Jul 1, 2008 at 08:57 PM

Originally posted by ionoi from Eyebeam reBlog, on July 1, 2008 5:57 PM

Engadget and Tom's Hardware give us a nice example of chartfail. Somewhere Tufte is slapping his forehead. If the chart doesn't support the correct conclusion, don't use it.

Originally posted by Wes Felter from Hack the Planet, on July 1, 2008 5:01 PM

An article I wrote on typography and nationalism is out now in the July/August 2008 issue of PRINT. The full text is online here.

This is an idea I’ve had simmering for a couple of years, so it’s nice to finally see it in public. In the end, I only had 1,300 words to use so there’s some interesting material I had to cut. (One could write a dissertation on the subject.) But I think the arc of it comes across.

Some of that material and a few other points of reference are filed in the typography category of this blog.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Social Design Notes, on July 1, 2008 4:27 PM

I didn't even know who Clay Felker was when I started reading New York Magazine as a high school teenager -- and I didn't even know about New York Magazine until my fabulous (and much older) theater friend and mentor of overall fabulousness and sophistication, Sandra Garland Bull, introduced me to it, and simultaneously, to New York City itself. We couldn't go to New York (from New Hampshire) without New York, Sandy told me, even if we had to drive to two towns over to find it. The entire time we walked the streets of Soho, the West Village and the theater district, all new to me, Sandy (who grew up in neighboring Darien, CT and knew the city well) carried with her a current copy of New York rolled up in her hand like a must-have accessory. And despite the magazine's increasingly white, monied and semi-precious tone over the years, I've had a subscription ever since -- delivered to addresses in several different states and even more zip codes. In memorializing Felker, who died today of natural causes at the age of 82, media pundit Kurt Anderson wrote this: "Probably all outsiders (if they are, in [E.B.] White’s genius phrase, 'willing to be lucky') mentally compile a New York City field guide and playbook when they’re in their twenties and thirties, but Felker did so literally, and published it in weekly serial form." Exactly. And it stuck. What I love most about New York is that, like PAPER, it has sustained this very clear sense of self as its own little brazen, bad-ass New York media institution. It knows what it is, what it has to offer, and that it will be and offer those things to an audience of readers who are waiting and relying on it to hit the stands or show up in their mailboxes every week. That's cool. Plus, I can hardly live without the crossword. Nicely done, Clay Felker.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from PAPERMAG: WORD UP!, on July 1, 2008 3:30 PM

New Building, New Bills, originally uploaded by bryanboyer.

Bryan Boyer’s master of architecture thesis project blew me away when I came across it today.

It’s called “Reclaiming Utopia” – an imagined new Capitol for the US government. It seems well-considered and suitably imposing – but the killer part is not the building I think.

For me it’s the almost science-fictional level of world-building touches around his project of new currency featuring the building, folk art and even commemorative plates.

Puts you in mind of Paul Verhoven’s ad breaks in RoboCop and Starship Troopers in terms of really convincing peripheral visions of a world.

It puts you in a future-fictional America where something or someone has caused and completed a reboot of the Union’s sacred symbols.

Originally posted by Matt from Blackbeltjones/Work, on July 1, 2008 3:22 PM

The SOS signal celebrates 100 years of official use today.

It took the tragedy of the Titanic to reveal just how vital a universal system was. After the collision in April 1912, the ship's radio operators sent out both the old CQD and the new SOS signals, but some ships in the area ignored both, thinking that they were having a party. They soon learnt otherwise, as international headlines told how Jack Phillips, the Titanic's first radio operator, and 1,500 others had been lost along with the "unsinkable" ship. The new SOS distress signal was rarely ignored after that.

Guglielmo Marconi gave testimony to the panel investigating the loss of the Titanic about the emergency signals.

Mr. Marconi explained the distress signals in use in vessels equipped with wireless telegraphy. "C.Q." meant "All stations" and "C.Q.D." was the distress signal. According to the regulations that signal must not be used except by order of the captain of the ship, or other vessels transmitting the signal. Since 1908 the distress signal had been "S.O.S." This and the "C.Q.D." were simply three letters, but they could be interpreted as meaning "Come quickly, danger," and "Save Our Souls".

Here's a simulation of the message that the Titanic sent out that night.

(link)

Originally posted by jason@kottke.org from kottke.org, on July 1, 2008 3:12 PM

From Required Eating

Photograph from Tambako the Jaguar on Flickr

Bee rental costs may be to blame for the price of produce these days. Since honeybees started mysteriously disappearing, growers of products like pumpkins, cucumbers, and almonds have been forced to rent bees by the colony in order to pollinate their crops. Most crops require one to two beehives per acre, and each hive now costs somewhere between $10 and $180, depending on the season and the grower's intended use for the bees—a burden which is passed on to the consumer in the form of higher food prices. Not only is this a significant cost, but with scientists still perplexed as to the cause of the bee blight, there's no readily apparent solution to the problem of higher bee fees. At least the House Committee on Agriculture met on Thursday to discuss the issue—a small comfort, but it's a start.

Related:
Save Bees, Eat Ice Cream
Scientists Buzzing About Honeybee Deaths

Originally posted by Sarah Wolf from Serious Eats, on July 1, 2008 2:45 PM

There seems to be a recurring theme on a hell of a lot of blogs and sports pages today. I'm always up for jumping on a bandwagon so here goes...

MADONNA

AND A ROD

Rod Carew's doing a Novena? And here I always thought he was Jewish. I never thought the sports gossip community was so religious. Wait, what?

They're all talking about who?

Nancy boy and the skank?

Meh, I'll stick with Hall of Famer Rod Carew.



(he converted)

Originally posted by dayf from Cardboard Junkie, on July 1, 2008 2:09 PM

    

    

Team Flickr wishes all of our Canadian members a Happy Canada Day!

Photos from Lao Er, Amadika, About News46, marty_pinker, aiaichristmas, and poppymaher.

Originally posted by Heather Champ from Flickr Blog, on July 1, 2008 2:00 PM

Filed under: Gaming, Software, Developer, iPhone, SDK

As we get closer and closer to the App Store launch (I'm still holding out for seeing an updated iTunes on July 8th, one week from today), a few big name game developers have announced that they're checking out the market for gaming on the iPhone.

First up is Bioware, one of my favorite developers and makers of the classics Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, and the recent Mass Effect. In an interview with Patrick Klepek over at MTV Multiplayer, Bioware's CEOs Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk said that yes, they are watching the iPhone as a game development platform, but they're mostly keep an eye on "what type of consumer buys games on it and what type of experience they're looking for." I worry a bit that they mean that if only casual games sell big they'll stay away from it, because gentlemen, I'm playing games on the iPhone, and I would love a solid, in-depth RPG to play. Who wouldn't, really?

And former EA exec Neil Young has split from the company to form his own development house, called "ng:moco" ( we have no idea what that means, either). They'll focus exclusively on making games for the iPhone -- Young says that they want to step up to be the "spiritual first-party" for the platform. He points out that the iPhone has the power of a PSP, except that it's also got a camera, an accelerometer, a multitouch screen, is location-aware, has all your media on it, and is always on and always connected. Just like we've always said, that's a great gaming device, and it's exciting news that a former EA exec like Young is going to work on getting some great games developed for it.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Originally posted by Mike Schramm from The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW), on July 1, 2008 2:00 PM

From Serious Eats: New York

Editor's note: Every afternoon we like to post a short Sugar Rush to end your day. Think of it as the dessert to your daily blog reading. —Zach

The first of the month can evoke fear (rent, already?) but for Shake Shack custard fans, it's a glorious day. Kicking off July, another Custard Calendar [PDF] rolled out today, and that was not pistachio filling cups this afternoon. Basil custard, folks.

Our reactions: Not too sweet and with such an intense basil flavor, our Alaina Browne blurted out, "I feel like I should throw that into my pasta!" Maybe all those caprese salads prepared us for the dairy-basil synthesis. Not an everyday flavor, but definitely good. (As far as basil frozen custards go?)

Don't worry if you missed it, there are four more Tuesdays left in the month, or you can sample one of the six other flavors, including plum crumb (Wednesdays), milk chocolate chunk (Thursdays) and peach cobbler (Sundays). Shake Shack: Southeast corner of Madison Square Park (corner of 23rd Street and Madison Avenue; map); shakeshacknyc.com

Related
Sugar Rush: 'Coffee and Donut' Custard at the Shake Shack
The Peach Custard at the Shake Shack Rocks!

Originally posted by Erin Zimmer from Serious Eats, on July 1, 2008 1:45 PM

From Required Eating

WiiWare games get released Monday mornings, and every Monday, like a good boy, I check to see if Major League Eating: The Game is going to be available to download. And every week, I'm disappointed. Rumor had it that the game was going to be released in time for the Annual Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest on July 4th, but this week only Magnetica Twist was released. Here's hoping that next week, on July 7th, we'll be able to get our virtual gluttony on.

Previously: Serious Eats' coverage of Major League Eating: The Game

Originally posted by Raphael from Serious Eats, on July 1, 2008 1:15 PM

Though he does label Wes Clark's comments "inartful," Obama offers no apologies for them at his presser today. Instead he makes the novel argument that as a candidate for the most powerful post in the world, he's got other, more important things to think about...

The McCain campaign rushed out a statement moments ago attacking Obama for the above appearance, saying: "Apparently Barack Obama now thinks that smear attacks on John McCain's military service are fair game."

The McCain campaign does indeed want an apology from Obama, as opposed to a rejection of Clark's comments. An apology would constitute a kind of admission that Obama had somehow participated in an exercise designed to demean someone's military service. This would make the subtext -- that Obama doesn't sufficiently respect military service in general -- that much easier for the GOP to keep alive. That subtext is what this is really about, of course.

But as Ben Smith notes, Obama -- having already rejected Clark's statements yesterday -- just isn't prepared to allow himself to fall further back on defense and won't cede McCain any moral high ground.

Originally posted by Greg Sargent from TPM Election Central, on July 1, 2008 1:14 PM

Can we imagine a day when, having sorted out our recyclables and compost-ables, then responsibly earmarked our "still perfectly good" stuff for reuse, we'll have no trash left to drag to the curb? What are the solutions that will take the developed world from our current rates of over-consumption to zero waste?

British Columbia, one of Canada's most progressive provinces, faces some difficult decisions. Estimates warn that the Cache Creek landfill, where Vancouver sends about 1/3 of its garbage, will fill to capacity and close by 2010; current disposal rates will also fill the Vancouver landfill by 2038. And sourcing new landfill space in a sensitive geographic strip of densely populated land bordered by mountains and ocean is nearly impossible. In response, Vancouver is pursuing an ambitious citywide zero-waste goal. Last week, I attended the annual conference hosted by the Recycling Council of British Columbia (RCBC), one of the hardest-working groups out there in the realm of waste solutions, to learn more about the region's plan.

The strategy encompasses a lot of programs, and over the course of the conference, analysts, city officials and guests from successful organizations like San Francisco's Bay Friendly Landscaping and Gardening offered ideas for ramping up recycling compliance from businesses and individuals, and increasing composting of organics. Both programs are strong in British Columbia (Vancouver currently diverts about 52% of its municipal solid waste into recycling streams), but could be much stronger with more consumer outreach and education and better enforcement of recycling and composting policies, among other approaches.

There are deeper, more paradigm-shifting strategies for shrinking the waste stream, and British Columbia offers a leading model of what some of those strategies look like. Its Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR, also known as Product Stewardship or producer take-back) program sets a global example of public-private collaboration in this area. Its plan covers a rapidly growing list of products (the goal is to add two new product categories every three years), and has seen impressive success in getting producers to cover the costs.

Presenters Monica Kosmak and Laurie Gallant

On the first afternoon of the conference, representatives from both industry and the local government convened in a panel to discuss getting from Vancouver's current model to the goal of 100% EPR. Landfill diversion consultant Laurie Gallant posed questions to the panel that had been raised by her recent study on EPR strategies. Main opportunities for improvement, it seems, lie in increasing public awareness and making it both easy and attractive for consumers to comply (in Gallant's words, "make it as pleasant for me to return my TV as it was for me to buy it."). One idea from the audience that caught my attention was Helen Spiegelman's, suggestion of a central resource recovery park. The visible and accessible neighborhood destination offered one-stop EPR drop-off and processing (the design she referenced was proposed by Eric Lombardi at Colorado-based Eco-Cycle).

Others at the conference reminded us that reuse is another potent strategy, and one that we frequently overlook. A few B.C. organizations offer a progressive approach to reuse that seems to be working. On the e-waste front, Free Geek Vancouver has grown immensely since its 2006 founding, and is currently able to reuse about one-fourth of the 15 tons of discarded equipment they receive every month (and as the first Canadian non-profit approved as an e-steward by the Basel Action Network, they deal responsibly with the rest). Also through reuse, nonprofit < a target="new" href="http://cfs.ic.gc.ca/">Computers for Schools now provides about one-fourth of all computers going into Canadian schools annually. And the RCBC connects old residential and industrial goods with new users easily, through its Materials Exchange, "a dating service for waste."

Still, says Free Geek Vancouver founder Ifny Lachance, these programs only begin to address what could potentially be done in terms of repair, reuse and more long-lasting design, if our society placed more value on durability of goods, rather than short-term disposal solutions. We're on board with Lachance (and not just because her name is so cool!), and have long advocated fixing rather than replacing our products. Repair programs have an added benefit: while minimizing waste, they also frequently build community, like Worldchanging Canada editor Mark Tovey noted in his post on bike co-ops.

Singer Raffi with Keynote Speaker Annie Leonard

Finally, we reach the topic that no one really wants to talk about: how will Vancouver handle the residual garbage that remains after these preferable programs have diverted as much as they can?

Landfilling is one option for managing residuals. Some communities choose to incinerate their garbage, but because burning trash is now known to release some of the most potent toxins known to humans, this method is widely opposed. But Vancouver citizens now face a newer, albeit controversial, option: a plasma gasification plant. Euphemized as a "Waste to Energy" solution, the plant offers the fourth "R" – recovery – in the form of recovering the energy stored in the garbage that B.C. residents cannot, or simply will not, properly divert from the waste stream.

Slate's Brendan Koerner offers an overview of how plasma gasification works here. Plasco Energy Group, a Canadian company, is offering the Vancouver area its own plasma gasification plant, which they say will generate power from garbage with zero emissions, producing clean air and potable water as byproducts. Plasco also promises to cover the system's expected $150 million startup cost, which they say will make the project "zero-risk."

Assuming that we will have at least some residual garbage to deal with for the foreseeable future, is gasification a smart way to handle it?

Well-intentioned people have strong opinions both for and against gasification. Objections to the plant include the point that Plasco's technology is not yet well tested, and Vancouver's environmental status as an extremely sensitive airshed. Christina Seidel of the Recycling Council of Alberta offered a very reserved and pragmatic presentation on the issue as it pertains to municipalities. First, it's important to see the bigger picture of the plant's role in waste management. As she put it, "No matter what you call it, it's disposal." She pointed out that the Zero Waste International Alliance explicitly excludes strategies of burning or burying garbage, and that both gasification and landfilling should be seen as transitional strategies at best en route to the ultimate zero-waste goal.

She's right, and most of the conference attendees agreed: ultimately, a zero waste goal requires upstream change, not downstream technology. Although better, safer ways to handle our residuals are necessary short-term solutions, true sustainability requires a system that echoes nature's efficiency and sees resources where we currently see only waste. If we approach the life-cycle of our goods in a different way, we can design residuals out of the process (Look here and here for some great examples of these emerging technologies). When we reach that point--when waste equals food either for the earth or for industry--we will truly be a closed-loop society.

Stanley Park

Photo credits: Julia Steinberger

Help us change the world - DONATE NOW!

(Posted by Julia Steinberger in Columns at 1:04 PM)

Originally posted by Julia Steinberger from WorldChanging, on July 1, 2008 1:04 PM

Last week, TEDTalks celebrated our 50 millionth view by counting down the Top 10 TEDTalks of all time (so far) -- and inviting people to share their own favorites. Here are a few:

My favorite is still Susan Savage-Rumbaugh and those bonobo apes.
-- S.F., Boynton Beach, Florida

Stamets (mushrooms), Isabel Allende (passion), Dave Eggers (schools), and Ballard (ocean) -- not to be missed.
-- Marian Angele

Majora Carter's talk on her environmental work in the Bronx.
-- lydia chadwick

Majora Carter's is my absolute favorite!
-- Ariel, a TED fan

I am dropping a line to say how much I enjoyed Aubrey de Grey's speech on aging.
-- Diana Pasley

I think Malcom Gladwell is that hidden gem.
-- +Jono

I nominate Theo Jansen's talk on creating new creatures as one of the "Hidden Gems."
-- Paul

If your own favorite TEDTalks aren't on the Top 10 list yet -- or you'd like to share your own hidden gems -- write to us at contact@ted.com or post a comment.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from TED | TEDBlog, on July 1, 2008 1:00 PM

Sounds like current AT&T customers who are under contract with phones other than the original iPhone are stuck paying significantly higher up-front prices. I don’t get it.

 ★ 

Originally posted by John Gruber from Daring Fireball, on July 1, 2008 12:06 PM

I swear I just said to my cohort Jacki, "I think I'm going to run to the beach for a few hours today -- which means Angelina Jolie will probably have her babies because I'm not near my computer."

I was kidding, Angie!

Well, she hasn't popped just yet (and thankfully I'm already back from day in the sand) but Angie has checked into to a hospital in the south of France -- and the babies should be here at some point.

"There's no urgency," hospital representative Nadine Bauer told the Associated Press. "[Angie's admittance has] been planned for a long time."

The rep also said so far, so good for the newest Brangeloonies., "She's very well. Everything is fine."

As you know, Angie is awaiting the birth of her fifth and six children, with partner Brad Pitt.

Hang on to you hats, peeps, the madness is about to begin...

Originally posted by Tracy Pepey from iVillage - Daily Blabber, on July 1, 2008 12:02 PM

According to an unconfirmed rumor, Apple may be expanding iPhone 3G distribution to Best Buy and Radio Shack locations in the US.

Read More...

Originally posted by ars@chrisforesman.com (Chris Foresman) from Infinite Loop, on July 1, 2008 11:45 AM

Jamie, a recent resident at Eyebeam, is a multimedia artist and performer currently stationed in the Old Country at the Culture Lab. He likes things that make noise and making noise with things, but has more recently begun a torrid love affair with the internet. More about him and his work at http://heavyside.net/

Originally posted by Joanna from Eyebeam reBlog, on July 1, 2008 11:43 AM

Jim Webb spokesperson Kimberly Hunter sends us a statement rejecting the McCain campaign's accusation that he collaborated with the Obama camp to attack McCain's service...

I can tell you that Senator Webb has never spoken with Senator Obama about this issue nor has he spoken to Wesley Clark. Senator Webb's comments were not targeted at McCain's military service. He has consistently called for politicians not to insert politics into military service. This is the exact same argument that he used against Lindsay Graham last year in their Meet the Press interview regarding objections to giving troops adequate dwell time at home.

Senator Webb has never, and would never, demean the service of anyone who has stepped forward to serve our country. To the contrary, he was calling on those on all sides of the debate to refrain from implying that their political views are representative of the military writ large.

Of course, Webb is now in an argument about whether he demeaned McCain's military service.

Discuss.

Originally posted by Greg Sargent from TPM Election Central, on July 1, 2008 11:35 AM

Advice on writing screenplays.

I think people see inspiration as the ignition that starts the process. In fact, real moments of inspiration often come at the last minute, when you've sweated and fretted your way through a couple of drafts. Suddenly, you start to see fresh connections, new ways of doing things. That's when you feel like you're flying. The real pleasure of any script is the detail. And a lot gets lost in the process. Put it back in at the last minute.

(link)

Originally posted by jason@kottke.org from kottke.org, on July 1, 2008 11:26 AM

Tomorrow, Frank Bruni reviews Bar Milano, Jason Denton's post-Lupa Ital in Murray Hill. Today, the Eater oddsmakers have set the action as follows:

Zero Stars: 4-1
One Star: 3-2
Two Stars: 3-1 √√
Three Stars: 50-1
Four Stars: 10,000-1

With Lupa still relegated to the lower ranks of $25 and Under, Denton ran the show for Molto Mario and Joe Bastianich there, Bar Milano will be Denton's first restaurant to get the full once-over from the Bruni. Two stars is the lower limit aim, certainly, with three being what dude's probably hoping for at his most optimistic Me Time moments. Now, to the reality of the situation, the restaurant has gotten decidedly tepid reviews thus far, with RG's trey and Paul Adams' rant being the respective high and low marks. While the restaurant is not in any danger of getting run over by the zilch train, one star is in play; in fact, one star is probably the most likely scenario, the menu, previous reviews, neighborhood and current Bruni mood considered. However, our end of the day thinking here is that the Bruni's personal affinity for Lupa is going to get Denton the benefit of the doubt and push what is currently a one star restaurant into the deuce realm based on potential. Thusly and ergo, Eater's got a hundie on two stars at 3-1. Bettors take your mark.
· Bar Milano [NYT; after 8:00 PM]

√√ denotes the Eater bet.

Originally posted by BL from Eater, on July 1, 2008 11:19 AM

This is fun: A campaign staffer for a leading GOP Senator has been busted posting fake posts on liberal blogs under an alias.

Burnt Orange Report, the premier state-level liberal blog in Texas, has discovered that commenter "Buck Smith" -- who claimed in the site's comments to be a liberal and who was critical of Texas Democrats and their candidates -- was in fact none other than David Beckwith, a top Texas Republican operative who works for GOP Sen. John Cornyn.

What makes this story funny is the way this joker managed to get himself caught.

Beckwith, who served as the top spokesman for Cornyn's 2002 campaign and is on board again this year, gave the same e-mail address at BOR as he did at a Web page for his high school class. Oops.

According to BOR blogger Matt Glazer, Cornyn campaign spokesman Kevin McLaughlin reacted sarcastically and shamelessly to questions about this:

What?!?! 'Buck Smith' isn't a real person?!?! Are you serious?? People blog under screen names?!?! I am shocked...next thing I know you'll be saying the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus aren't real either. What kind of world are we living in?!?!

Cornyn's campaign and Senate offices have not responded to our inquiries.

A fun footnote to this whole affair: One of the things "Buck Smith" said was that David Beckwith should get a raise.

Originally posted by Eric Kleefeld from TPM Election Central, on July 1, 2008 11:04 AM

The Washington Post runs a cutesy piece on Top Chef's Spike Mendelsohn and his delayed Good Stuff Eatery in D.C. As usual he's got some big ideas: "The plan is to do a burger better than anyone, applying classical training to America's signature dish, and then expand Good Stuff to, say, Adams Morgan or Arlington. Then go national...'I think it is the next big food city,' he says of the District...'I would like to be an ambassador of bringing young, hip restaurants here. I'm looking at D.C. as a blank canvas where I hope to practice my art form." [WP]

Originally posted by Amanda from Eater, on July 1, 2008 10:53 AM

Ladies and gentlemen, I present the collective insanity of American cable television.

Originally posted by agolis from andrew golis, on July 1, 2008 10:52 AM

I've started a new weekly column with Vibe.com called Side Dishes. It's basically a "Song of the Week"-style column meshed with Soul Sides-style content. Even though the first post crosses over with some of stuff I wrote about the other week, in general, I'll try to keep the two distinct. Sides Dishes will also be more focused on music that's still in print (either as reissues, anthologies, etc.). Cruise on over and add Side Dishes to your subscription list; I think Soul Sides fans will enjoy it.

---

Also...new summer songs post from Roberto Gyemant. Four great selections by one of Latin music's sharpest new chroniclers and taste-makers.

Originally posted by O.W. from soul sides, on July 1, 2008 10:29 AM

In today's episode of TPMtv, the very best of MSM hyperventilation about Wes Clark's non-demeaning comments about John McCain ...

High-res version at Veracifier.com.

Originally posted by Josh Marshall from Talking Points Memo, on July 1, 2008 10:12 AM

I've been staring at this pile of 1987 Topps on my desk for a week and for the life of me I can't figure out what to write about it. Now, 246 different 1987 Topps card is undoubtedly awesome, that's not in dispute. That's nearly a third of the set! Plus a lot of 'em are bent, like the Palmiero rookie. Aaaawwweeesssooommmeeee... I think I'm just paralyzed by the awesome. I tried pulling the more awesome cards from the pile, but I ended up with over 50 cards, all of which were pretty damn awesome. Unfortunately I've got an awesome box to dissect and I can't be fooling around forever. I opened up the scanner bed, chucked 'em all in the air and scanned the ones that fell on the scanner. All but ONE fell face down. Totally awesome. Here's a buncha '87 Topps, feel free to use for your desktop wallpaper or just print it out and frame it to hang over the mantle.


Also found amongst the awesome was a ticket stub from that hockey team I was talking about way back here. I don't remember who won this game or even if there was a fight, but I do remember that some lady got nailed with a hockey puck. Actually thats very not awesome. Kinda sad in fact. Actually this post is terrible, forget you even read any of this. I'm not doing a very good job of conveying the astoundingly extreme awesomeness of this lost box am I.

Hey, they won the game over Huntsville! That's a little awesome.

Originally posted by dayf from Cardboard Junkie, on July 1, 2008 10:12 AM

McCain says Jim Webb should stop criticizing him too -- says Obama's behind it.

Originally posted by Josh Marshall from Talking Points Memo, on July 1, 2008 10:11 AM

Krieger 6/17/08

Clover Club, Julie Reiner's fancy cocktail lounge on Smith Street opened almost two weeks ago, giving the cocktail hounds in Manhattan and Brooklyn alike plenty of time to get drunk on the bar's offerings and breathlessly relay their experiences on the internet. So far the reviews are surprisingly mixed. Some people can't get enough of the debonair decor and the pefectly made, beautifully presented cocktails, while others say the space is contrived, the cocktails, weak and unoriginal. At least no one's shy about sharing their opinions. Let's get to the good news and the bad news on Clover Club.

1) The Good News: Cocktail expert Robert Simonson offers up his thoughts and gives the place a bit of a rave: "The barstaff...was making dozens upon dozens of four select attractions from the cocktail menu, and I tried one of each...All were beautiful. The New York Sours dense and dark. The punch was not exactly deceptively strong, as punches can be—just plain strong. The swizzles were lovingly prepared with twirling palms swirling dancing swizzle-sticks. And the Juleps were ice cold and attractively frosting up their silver mugs." [Off the Presses]

2) The Bad News: Doree Shafrir of the Observer penned a piece yesterday pointing out exactly where Clover Club gets it wrong: "The biggest problem with Clover Club...is that it gets Brooklyn pretension all wrong. Everything looks like it came straight from the Jazz Age section of a Restoration Hardware catalog: tin ceiling, dark wood paneling, etched-glass light fixtures, black-and-white photos of indeterminate provenance of mustachioed men at a bar...and an overly descriptive menu of cocktails like the 'Hemingway Cobbler' and the 'Highland Smash.' In other words, it's all just a wee bit too contrived." [NYO]

3) The Bad News: A reader sends in a note about his negative experience at the bar, begging us to stop the hype: "Somebody put the brakes on the hype about this place!...Design-wise, the room is huge, and yes, it has the de rigeur tin roof, but otherwise it isn't particularly visually arresting...then there are the actual drinks: downsized, oversweetened versions of what's on offer at Flatiron Lounge, in uglier glassware....We tried a wide variety (9 different drinks between 3 of us) and nothing was particularly great. Also, service was lousy - our waiter was extremely slow..." [Inbox]

4) The Good News: In general the cocktail obsessives over on eGullet seem to like the place. They have some lengthy point by point reviews of the entire space and experience, but this sums it up: "Stopped in on Sat after mermaid parade at about 6:30 and it was pretty busy - the bar was full, and most tables were as well. Tried a couple of cocktails, really enjoyed the Southside Fizz, a nice twist on one of my favorite summer cocktails. The back space is incredibly cool." [eG]

5) The Pretty Good News: Yelp has a pan for the place, an all out rave, and two mostly positive reviews, like this one: "The debonair, 1920s highbrow style of the place wins, big time...The servers were all cute and charming, and had reasonably detailed knowledge of the beverages for a place so new. The libations themselves were tasty, though not quite up to the standard of little branch; they were really similar to what's on offer at Flat Iron Lounge...this is really pretty close to 5 stars - the drinks were just slightly not there for that fifth. I still thoroughly recommend the joint and will be back.

Originally posted by Amanda from Eater, on July 1, 2008 9:54 AM

This is either a major mistake or a brilliant undercover ad ploy:

Fred Flare just released a t-shirt that screams "I Love New York."

It's fitted, it's green, it's pretty cute but not, you know, amazing.

The thing that makes it interesting is the type face. It's the same type face that New York Magazine uses. In fact, it really looks like the t-shirt is saying, "I Love New York" - the glossy, not the city.

I mean, we love New York too, but somehow, we're guessing the t-shirt isn't talking about all that.

The shirt sells for $24, which is actually more expensive than a NY subscription.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Fashionista, on July 1, 2008 9:48 AM

Last night in Florida, Rays manager Joe Maddon left the dugout to pull Troy Percival from the game.

However, Percival waved off Maddon, then moved away from the manager walking towards second base.

The two men then got in to a heated argument on the mound, in plain view for every one to see.

For video and a full report of the incident, click here.

…jeez, percival really needs to grow up…i mean, seriously, he’s just so immature, what a cry baby…actually, i bet he needs a veteran, like Jose Valentin, to keep him in line…

…oh, right, he’s Troy Percival, so, instead, this outburst is interpreted as meaning he is firey, such as MLB.com labeled him, and passionate, he has heart, etc., unlike Jose Reyes though, who, after he argued with Jerry Manuel in much the same way, and threw his glove after an error, was characterized as immature and childish and compared to a Little Leaguer by so many fans, reporters and talk-show hosts…

…in other words, keep on being Jose Reyes, jose…

Reyes is batting .328 in the 43 games since May 15, during which he has 20 extra base hits and a .383 OBP.

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Originally posted by Matthew Cerrone from MetsBlog.com, on July 1, 2008 9:15 AM

Hello all,In honour of Canada’s 141st anniversary of pseudo-independence, I’ve place...

Originally posted by (author unknown) from the real janelle, on July 1, 2008 9:11 AM

Foodie Jason Perlow takes the plunge and gets himself a proper barbeque rig, a Brinkmann box smoker for only $70 at Home Depot. The results look impressive, especially for $70.

(link)

Originally posted by jason@kottke.org from kottke.org, on July 1, 2008 9:02 AM

Red Sweater replies to a note from Joel Spolsky on not disabling menu items: “He’s absolutely right about hidden menu items, but on the area he emphasizes, disabled menu items, he’s absolutely wrong.”

Originally posted by Brent Simmons from ranchero.com, on July 1, 2008 8:56 AM

Joel Spolsky has a remarkable track record of speaking truth to programmers on his blog: Joel On Software. Occasionally he says something with which I disagree, but usually it’s on a subtle point, or it’s an issue where his passion for doing things one way is motivated by his preferred platforms: Windows and the web.

Today Joel shared a very short and dangerous pronouncement on the use of hidden and disabled menu items:

A long time ago, it became fashionable, even recommended, to disable menu items when they could not be used.

Don’t do this. Users see the disabled menu item that they want to click on, and are left entirely without a clue of what they are supposed to do to get the menu item to work.

Instead, leave the menu item enabled. If there’s some reason you can’t complete the action, the menu item can display a message telling the user why.

He’s absolutely right about hidden menu items, but on the subject he emphasizes, disabled menu items, he’s absolutely wrong.

Joel argues that instead of disabling a menu item, applications should leave them enabled, and instead display an informative message when the user tries to use them. This solves one problem: that of the user who is perplexed as to why a menu item is disabled. I recognize and applaud the desire to fix this issue. But enabling every menu item creates more usability problems than it solves.

Disabled menu items convey valuable information. Users who are skimming menus in order to figure out what to do are trained by years of experience to skim past disabled items and look for enabled ones instead. The more complex the application is, the more valuable this dichotomy becomes. In essence, disabling menu items gives application designers a means of “funneling” user attention to the actions in an application that will actually work at this moment in time.

Sure, it’s frustrating when you can’t figure out why a menu item is disabled. But what would be unbelievably frustrating is drowning in a sea of enabled menu items, for which the application offers no immediate usability guidance. Instead of skimming past disabled items, a user could be forced to select several, each time receiving a valuable instruction (punishment) as to why it was a worthless move. In time the user would learn to avoid these irritatingly enabled menu items, but they would be offered no future assistance in actually avoiding them.

Joel is right that it’s a bad idea to outright hide menu items. Users become comfortable with an application by learning its topography: where each menu item is in relation to its menu and the other items in that menu. When you go about willy-nilly removing and adding items, it can cause confusion. If you’ve ever visited an old home town after years away, you know this problem. You’re sure your favorite restaurant is around here somewhere, but so many of the shops and landmarks have changed, it’s hard to find it as quickly as you once could.

Joel’s suggestion may increase the learnability of an application in one very specific way, but at the expense of long-term usability. Although it can be argued that an application needs to be learnable in order to attract long-term users, I think user loyalty will be greater when the usability of the application is maximized.

What would be a better solution? The idea is to answer the naive user’s question: why is the menu item disabled? For this purpose I can think of many solutions. The application might show tool tips as the mouse hovers over the disabled menu item. Or if the problem is especially grievous, it could warrant a dedicated reference page in the documentation, where users could easily look up the cause of their frustration. The point is to build a framework for application learnability that does not seriously affect the usability of the application for experienced users.

It’s not often I get to say it, but hear me loud and clear today: don’t listen to what Joel says about menu items!

Originally posted by Daniel Jalkut from Red Sweater Blog, on July 1, 2008 8:52 AM

Written by filmwad

Intro paragraphs? Where we’re going, we don’t need…intro paragraphs.

12. You can’t pay attention to the movie

Dates are pretty goddamned stressful experiences. You’re constantly trying to figure out how to act, what to say, where to put your arms, and if and when it’s okay to try and kiss her. They’re absurdly complex, needlessly aggravating social constructs that cause many to go into nervous breakdowns.

In other words, they’re not terribly conducive to a true movie-watching environment. You can’t pay attention to things like character arcs or symbolism when you’re too busy worrying about whether putting your hand on hers would be too forward at this point in the date, or if sticking your penis into the popcorn tub will either be a hilarious joke or just burn really badly.

11. Movie theatres are too almost-romantic

A darkened room with soft seats, smelling faintly of popcorn and dreams, warm and moist with human body temperature. It almost makes one think of sex, given the right date, but the obviously unsexy aspects of movie theaters — stains, spills, the fact that a fucking movie is actually playing — make the place a not-quite-romantic way to spend two hours. One part of your body is ready to engage in a ravenous makeout session with the person sitting next to you, while the other worries about how long it’s been since these seats were sanitized.

10. It’s fucking expensive

Nobody ever just goes to a movie on a date. It’s always dinner and a movie. You can do just dinner, but you can never do just a movie. This means you’ll be spending around fifty to a hundred dollars in a single night, on someone you’ve never even taken out on a date before! Throw in popcorn and candy and maybe IMAX tickets if the movie’s available there, and you’ve got the potential to waste a shitload of money on a first date that might not ever lead to a second.

9. The floors are sticky

And that shit is not sexy. Just pointing it out.

8. You can’t ask for your money back

Now, you can, technically, ask for your money back from the box office before the film’s halfway point if it really, really sucks. But you definitely can’t do that on a date. You’ll just plain look cheap. There’s no turning back if you see a crap film: that money is gone for good.

7. Movies are nerdier than other date possibilities

Dates are moments to be impressive. You can take her mini-golfing, and show her you’ve got a sense of humor whilst doing something mildly athletic. You can take her rock climbing, and show respect for her thrill-seeking ability. You can go to a carnival, and try to regress back to the simple wonder and fun you had as children.

Or, you can take her to a movie and just sort of sit and stare at fictional stories for a few hours.

Of all the things you could possibly do on a first date to impress someone, why take them to a movie? The best dates say, “I’m adventurous,” or, “I’m intelligent,” or “I’m compassionate.” Taking someone to the movies just says, “I like movies.” So what?

6. Two hours is a long time to sit around someone you might despise

Anyone who has been on a blind date knows the feeling: the person you’ve chosen to spend the night with is either really ugly, or your political opposite, or has an abhorrent personality, but you’ve still got to spend the next few hours alongside them because the date has already been arranged.

A crappy dinner, you can always leave early and split the check. A lame trip to a sporting event, you can sneak out. A movie, as previously mentioned, you cannot escape from if you’re the one who paid. Not just your money is gone, but your time, as well: you might possibly have to spend 120 minutes sitting next to the Overweight Racist Demon Date from Hell just because you chose to go to a movie instead of somethign more easily-escapable.

5. Good movies are usually not romantic

No Country for Old Men is probably one of the most incredible movies ever made, but it’s not really something that says “hey, let’s have giddy, experimental sex afterward” to your date. Reservoir Dogs is not a film that inspires cuddling, and The Godfather isn’t exactly the feel-good movie of the century.

Great films are about loss and horror and evil and triumph and sacrifice, and these are the exact things that are not remotely romantic on a first date. After you know where your date stands, sure: take her out to No Country and have a nihilistic good time, then spend the rest of the night contemplating it and trying not to think about Chigurh. If you’ve just met the chick, however, then perhaps a truly great film would simply be too emotionally overwhelming for a first date.

4. Shitty movies infect everything around them with shittiness

Conversely, something like Delta Farce or Madagascar 2 will infuriate both you and your date so much that the entire date will be ruined: the film upon which you were relying on for the quality of your entire date betrayed you, and essentially wasted a combined four hours of your and your date’s lives. Both will be angry, and whoever chose the movie will be blamed by the other, even if that person paid. Unfortunately, the evil of shitty movies can invade your date and ruin it from the inside out.

3. Wall-E will be way more adorable than whomever you’re dating

I know what you’re thinking. “Oh,” you say. “I’ll take this girl I really like to see Wall-E! It’s cute, it’s funny, and it’s a love story so she’ll think I’m really sensitive and want to give me kisses!”

Wrong.

The inherent problem with watching Wall-E is that almost every robot in that movie is at least fifteen times more adorable than you, or anyone you know, will ever be. Wall-E is the single cutest creature ever committed to film, Eve is a cute iPod-looking thing, and M-O steals the goddamn show in the very few scenes he in. Wall-E is an adorable movie, yes, but it’s so adorable that when it’s done, your date won’t be thinking about you — they’ll be thinking about seeing Wall-E again. You will have enjoyed yourself as well, but you’ll also have been officially cockblocked by a three-foot-tall metal box with no elbows.

2. It’s obvious

Women hate cliches, and considering the actual idea of a “date” is quickly being phased out in favor of drunken, passion-fueled hookups at substance-filled parties, maintaining originality is priority one. The “dinner and a movie” date is literally as old as movies themselves. Why would you want to choose the most standard, boring date possibility in the history of date possibilities? Why not bring her a heart-shaped box of chocolates and some flowers, while you’re at it?

1. It doesn’t allow for conversation

With all the etiquette and rules and nervousness that accompanies a first date, it’s easy to forget what they’re actually for: getting to know the other person. With that in mind, can you literally think of a worse way to spend two hours with someone you’re attracted to than sitting next to them for two hours in a dark room, literally without ever making eye contact?

Dates should be about conversation, and not just about some stupid movie you just saw. They’re meant to be about figuring the other person out, finding out what they’re like, who they are. In this sense, a movie is the ultimate distraction from the true meaning of a date: you’ve technically gone out, and you’ve technically shared one another’s company, but you haven’t actually done anything. Nothing is risked, and thus, nothing is gained. It’s a silly waste of time and money.

Why not take her to a monster truck rally instead?

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Originally posted by bspcn from The Best Article Every day, on July 1, 2008 8:33 AM

Have the initiatives undertaken by the McCain campaign to achieve separation from George W. Bush -- such as his frequent discussion of his POW past and his focus on energy and environmental policies -- achieved their desired goal?

Not according to a new poll from Gallup, which finds that a big majority of Americans is either very or somewhat concerned that McCain would pursue policies too similar to those of President Bush:

Sixty eight percent are concerned about this, the poll finds. Even more tellingly, the survey also finds that 67% of independents are worried about this, too. That's some very fertile ground for the Democratic message to take root in.

Separately, Think Progress has some examples that demonstrate that Americans have good reason to fear this.

Originally posted by Greg Sargent from TPM Election Central, on July 1, 2008 8:30 AM

story links: chaos theory (via), gaston julia, julia set, benoit mandelbrot, madelbrot set, fractals, earthquake predictions chaos, darpa security chaos, artificial intelligence chaos, pathology chaos, cardiology chaos, invader set

Originally posted by hello@rocketboom.com (Rocketboom) from Rocketboom, on July 1, 2008 8:00 AM

Readers,

Every year, right before the tour we get either an update to a drug scandal or a new scandal. And this time it’s Floyd’s failure in the appeal process. The CAS scolded Floyd’s team for their aggressive tactics and attempts to embarrass and shame the lab.

What do you think? Did Floyd hurt his own case? Was he El Dope the whole time?

Originally posted by DL Byron from Bike Hugger, on July 1, 2008 7:14 AM

alexbalk:

Milestones of any sort always seem ridiculously arbitrary; the idea that we’re going to give special weight to some moment of personal import because it’s been x number of rotations round the sun since we first did it strikes me as kind of laughable. Still, it’s the only common metric we’ve got, so what the hell. It was on a July 1st much like this one that I started my stint at Gawker… back in 2006. Yes, two years ago. That’s it. WHAT THE FUCK? It’s like Rip Van Winkle except they kept me awake the whole time. And prodded me with needles and torches. I mean, holy crap, it’s a good thing I did nothing with my life for the other 30-odd years, because between Gawker and Radar, I should look and feel like a slightly less sprightly Wilford Brimley. Which I do. Anyway, happy anniversary to me. Another year like this and I’ll be in a box.

That was a bad week, wasn’t it?

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Jessica Coen, on July 1, 2008 6:46 AM

From the inbox: "I was at Momofuku Ssam last night with my cousin and a guy who hooked up us up when we all went there a few months ago came over and told me they had a cancellation at Ko and asked if we wanted to go. I wasn't feeling that great and didn’t think I could handle it (plus I would've had to pay for my cousin) so I said no. Am I the dumbest man in Manhattan?" [KoWire]

Originally posted by Amanda from Eater, on July 1, 2008 6:23 AM

When I was twelve years old, my dad told me that if I wasn't careful, I was going to turn out like my mom. We were driving down Main Street in Spanish Fork, just past the public library, when Dad dropped the b-word. Total bitch, he said. At twelve, I'd probably heard the word a total of three times, and I was embarrassed by it. Clearly, he and my mom had fought about something (money, more than likely); he was blowing off steam. Once after they'd argued, he punched the deep freeze in the garage, leaving a shallow dent. This time he told me that I was going to have a string of unsuccessful marriages and nasty divorces, because I didn't know how to treat people. I don't really remember my dad spanking me as a kid. But I remember this.

I remember, too, coming home from a church activity that evening, frazzled and upset, and telling my mother that one of the girls on my kickball team called me a bitch. I went to bed while the sun was still up. And, while the sun was still up, I was dragged back out of bed and into the living room where an innocent thirteen year old girl was waiting to apologize for hurting my feelings. I confessed, bawled, and went back to bed.

Later, my mom came in, sat down next to me on the daybed and asked me why I'd lied. I told her I didn't know; let her assign it to general preteen angst. But I knew. All I'd wanted was for her to be sorry that someone had called me such an awful thing - without telling it it had been my dad who'd said it. If I told her, they would fight again. Dad would punch something or hold onto the banister and yell until Mom left to drive around the neighborhood while it got dark. Later, when she came home, Dad would have written, "I'm sorry" in his slanting scrawl in dry erase marker on the garage freezer door. And I would have had another nightmare about thick, brown barrels tumbling from the sky - a dream I'd associate for the rest of my life with the barrel-shaped rootbeer candies - and woken up with my pillowcase soaked in sweat. I didn't want that. I didn't want to be the reason they yelled.

Mostly, though, I didn't snitch, because I didn't want him to be right.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from iVillage - This Fish, on July 1, 2008 5:25 AM

• More on the 'Prime-Time' Debut of Select Bus Service (NYT)
• Secure Bike Parking Still a Rarity in NYC Commercial Buildings (NYT)
• How Rising Oil Prices Are Affecting New Jersey Life (Star-Ledger)
• Teenagers Not Cruising Around Much This Summer (NYT)
  
• McCain's Anti-Amtrak Stance May Come Back to Bite Him (Boston Globe)
  
• Daniel Garodnick Calls for Bigger Federal Role in Infrastructure Investment (Sun)
• FedEx Eyes Site in Astoria's 'Asthma Alley' for New Distribution Center (MTR)
  
• Delays at WTC Site Keep Cortlandt Street Station Shuttered (AMNY)
  
• British Cycling Group Proposes Adapting Rules of the Road for Cyclists (BBC)
  

Originally posted by Ben Fried from Streetsblog, on July 1, 2008 5:02 AM

                                                                                                                                Photo by DTR

Cast iron: When properly maintained, cast iron pans are superlative cookware.  They are inexpensive, durable, and because they’re so dense, they’re slow to heat, but when they do get hot, they stay that way.  When they are properly “seasoned,” they are virtually as good as the fanciest non-stick sauté pan, better in fact, because they can take a beating.  They do react to acid and salt, however, so you wouldn’t want to salt food down in cast iron, and the acid in tomatoes will actually draw iron into a tomato sauce (iron is good for you but tomato is bad for the pan).

To season cast iron, pour a half-inch layer of oil into it, put it over high heat until the oil is very hot or put it into a 300 degree oven for an hour or so, then let it cool completely.  Pour off the oil and wipe it dry with a paper towel.  (If you make fried chicken or deep fry potatoes in your cast iron, it will season itself.)  Never use soap on it, only an abrasive (a copper scrub pad or some kosher salt), dry it with a paper towel, and if it needs it, rub some more oil into it.  It will stay seasoned and glossy indefinitely.  If you neglect it, it can be re-seasoned.  Even old and abused cast iron pans can be cleaned, seasoned and reborn as first-rate cookware.

Enameled cast iron is cast iron that has an enamel coating—and therefore is non-reactive to salt and acid and should not be “seasoned”—is also an excellent cooking material.  It can be used on the stove top or in the oven and is especially suited to braising because, while its surface is semi-non-stick, it still allows food to brown and the bottom develops a fond.
                                                                                              —From The Elements of Cooking

Some readers have asked me about cast iron cookware—I have the three pans above and I use them all the time, love them. I don't think I paid more than $10 for any of them.   Great for any kind of cooking.  It's what I roast chicken in, and bacon seems to taste better when fried on cast iron.  Turn them upside down and use them as a pizza stone.  They truly are some of the best cookware available from a practical standpoint, but also there’s something satisfying in cooking food in these elemental vessels, in this age of plastic handles, non-stick surfaces and marketing ploys.  Food looks great when it's cooking in these things (see Moonstruck for one of the most memorable food shots in film).  Look for used pans in antique stores—all of my pans were found on travels through Amish country in central Ohio.  They're easily brought back to gorgeous gleaming black life, they make great gifts, they last forever. Heavy expensive copper pans hanging in your kitchen intimidate.   The sight of cast iron inspires.

Originally posted by michael ruhlman from ruhlman.com, on July 1, 2008 3:56 AM

    Last night I looked at Wikipedia's "Advanced Placement Program" entry, just to make sure my column "This is Sparta!" was linked as footnote #8 as mentioned in my most recent Examiner column, and I noted that it indeed was still there. But there was a 9th footnote as well. So I clicked on that and--lo and behold--up popped yesterday's column "A Footnote to My Career." I am doubly honored, footnote-wise!

Originally posted by Erica Jacobs from TeacherTalk, on July 1, 2008 2:24 AM

Probably the best use of the custom Crumpler Bike Hugger bag to date — as a baby bag for Molly, daughter of Andrew and Sally.

Uploaded by Hugger Industries | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

Originally posted by DL Byron from Bike Hugger, on June 30, 2008 5:16 PM

good move, the users are rejoicing  

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Waxy.org Links, on June 30, 2008 4:49 PM

Outstanding: EveryBlock has expanded to two new cities, Charlotte and Philadelphia. More from Adrian Holovaty at the EveryBlock weblog.

 ★ 

Originally posted by John Gruber from Daring Fireball, on June 30, 2008 2:32 PM

Useful Bash tips from Allan Odgaard. There’s also some great stuff in the comments, including this gem from Pádraig Brady — I’ve always wished the arrow keys worked like that in Bash.

 ★ 

Originally posted by John Gruber from Daring Fireball, on June 30, 2008 2:12 PM

From Required Eating

Photograph taken by Melissa Hom, from Grub Street

Now there's no excuse for finding cartilage in your warm peekytoe crab cake with shaved cauliflower at Le Bernardin. They use an ultraviolet light that distinguishes crabmeat from cartilage (the cartilage appears a much brighter white), which executive chef Eric Ripert discovered last year after seeing it on a French TV program.

Related
The 50 Best Restaurants in the World, per S. Pellegrino
Eric Ripert's New Website
In Videos: Anthony Bourdain Interviews Eric Ripert

Originally posted by Emily Koh from Serious Eats, on June 30, 2008 1:45 PM

TPM Reader BA finds himself befuddled:

Continues to boggle my mind what a difference 4 years can make to the conservatives.

1996: Bob Dole is a war hero! Clinton is a draft dodger! WORSHIP THE WAR HERO!

2000: Forget the war! Ignore the potential Vietnam-era AWOL-ness of our candidate, and his complete lack of foreign policy knowledge! He's got integrity!

2004: So what your candidate actually fought and was injured in the same war during which our candidate was so very much NOT AWOL! We mock his service and question the legitimacy of his injuries! Have a purple band-aid to wear at our convention!

2008: Only a certified war hero can lead this country! WORSHIP THE WAR HERO!

Originally posted by David Kurtz from Talking Points Memo, on June 30, 2008 1:42 PM

P.O.V. (www.pbs.org/pov/) just launched a companion website for Arts Engine's latest film Election Day which will have its broadcast premiere on the PBS series tomorrow night (check local listings). We are so excited to have this new site live! The P.O.V. Interactive team really delved deep into the world of election reform to create a comprehensive and incredibly informative site, one chock full of resources, additional footage, and take action opportunities.

My favorite section is the Election FAQ where Common Cause's Derek Cressman gives you all the answers to questions about our electoral process here in the U.S. From queries about how our voting system measures up against other countries to learning about how you can become a pollwatcher, these are questions we need to ask and answers we must know with the 2008 election fast approaching. Got a question about our elections that you want answered? You can even suggest your own here.

You can also get involved by participating in the News Hunt and reviewing current news stories about the 2008 elections and our voting process. If you want to see our current system change, you can find a hearty list of suggestions for taking action. Finally, you won't want to miss a few additional scenes from the film here on P.O.V.'s site.—posted by Jolene

Originally posted by (author unknown) from MediaRights: Staff Blog, on June 30, 2008 1:21 PM

New $59 Subversion client for Mac OS X, from Zennaware. At a glance, the UI details seem very thoughtful, including an optional widescreen layout. The file comparison tool can compare both text and images. Extra credit for debuting with a proper 1.0 version number, unlike Versions, which debuted as (and remains) a public beta.

It strikes me as an odd coincidence that two serious Subversion clients would debut at a time when many developers are starting to switch away from Subversion to distributed revision control systems such as Git and Mercurial.

 ★ 

Originally posted by John Gruber from Daring Fireball, on June 30, 2008 1:13 PM

These popped in my head over the last 72 hours and seemed like good solutions to two problems in baseball.

1. Instead of using the All-Star game to determine home field advantage in the World Series, use the cumulative record for interleague play. Using one game where the players aren't used to playing together and probably won't be going full force isn't representative and home field is a big deal. This year, the American League would have won handily, having bested the NL with a 149-102 record.

2. It's time to get replays going in baseball. The angles aren't as tough as other sports so replays should be fast. To keep gameplay moving, they should adopt the NFL rules and allow two challenges per team, per game. Not that it would have kept the Cubs from getting swept by the White Sox, but it's frustrating when replays show a clear mistake by the umps. Time to fix it.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Capn Design, on June 30, 2008 12:52 PM

still catching up from vacation, this hit Digg but worth reading if you missed it  

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Waxy.org Links, on June 30, 2008 12:21 PM

don't miss Douglas Rushkoff's comment about his Pseudo investment  

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Waxy.org Links, on June 30, 2008 12:15 PM

From Required Eating

Do you wax nostalgic over the Hydrox cookie, the original créme-filled chocolate sandwich cookie predecessor to the Oreo? Starting today, Kellogg's is holding a contest to find America's biggest Hydrox fans, the grand prize being a six-month supply of Hydrox cookies and a trip for two to New York City where the winner will attend the 100th anniversary celebration and taste the new cookies that will be available for a limited time in August.

Related
Hydrox Cookies Are Back, Temporarily, But Recipe May Be Changed
Top 10 Awesome Nostalgic Foods We Want Back

Originally posted by Emily Koh from Serious Eats, on June 30, 2008 12:15 PM

A number of readers have either suggested or explained that what the Obama camp is trying to do is have its cake and eat it too, make sounds of disapproval, such as President Bush did in 2004 with respect to the Swift Boaters, while still gaining advantage from them.

Perhaps. But that's not what I'm seeing.

I've also seen suggestions that Obama must either to reject Clark's comments or vehemently restate them. But that's nonsense. There's nothing to be gained for the candidate to be critical of McCain in this regard. He can keep repeating his praise for McCain's service and time as a POW, which he should do and is not in conflict in any way with anything that Clark said.

What his campaign should not be doing is lending its imprimatur to the proposition that because saw combat in Vietnam and suffered as a POW that he has the judgment to be an effective president.

Late Update: As an example, TPM Reader SS writes ...

Am I the only one who thinks that the Obama campaign is winning big here and that the media is being played badly? The conversation has begun - "it's out there" as they say - does McCain's record as a (not-very-good) fighter jock and POW more than thirty years ago in some way qualify him to be Commander-in-Chief? At the same time, Obama "rejects the statement" and "honors and respects Senator McCain's service." How is Obama hurt by this? How is McCain? And now we can let the bloviators compare this honest question to what was done to John Kerry. Remember how Kerry's record was fair game because he brought it up and Bush and Rove pretended like they had nothing to do with the SBVT? Obama seems to have learned the new rules. As a friend of mine likes to say, if I were having any more fun, I'd have to be twins.

As I say above, if they're on this, great. Experience has taught me not to take it for granted.

Originally posted by Josh Marshall from Talking Points Memo, on June 30, 2008 12:02 PM

Madonna has been one of fashion's most fickle friends; all too ready
to call Jean Paul Gaultier or Olivier Theyskens when she feels like donning couture, but more often than not trudging around in track suits and baseball caps.

But in her new-ish "Give it 2 me" video, fashion seems once more to be on her mind. Madge dances around and goes on and on and on in front of a chevron pattern suspiciously like the one that covers Goyard's signature luggage. Ok, it's upside down, but come on.

All the while, Pharrell is playing with his much blogged about purple crocodile man-Birkin.

But given his allegiance to Vuitton, we're surprised they don't writhe around in front of a monogram canvas.

Go figure.

--BRETT KANE

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Fashionista, on June 30, 2008 11:58 AM

We thought Gwyneth Paltrow's July Bazaar cover was just a very delayed reaction to Iron Man - turns out it's part of a 40-page Estée Lauder campaign that continues within the magazine, just barely disguised as editorial.

The cosmetic giant placed the four faces of their new perfume, Sensuous, throughout the issue, even though the actual ads don't debut until fall. The move means a priceless Gwyneth cover for Bazaar and an insane amount of advertising for Estée Lauder before their ads, (which also feature Elizabeth Hurley, Carolyn Murphy and Hilary Rhoda), even hit.

This weekend, The New York Times asked if the partnership meant Hearst, (which owns Bazaar) was selling out, before admitting that it's actually a pretty smart move.

This morning, WWD reports an even cooler partnership between Marie Claire, (which is also owned by Hearst) and Ray-Ban. The two have commissioned five New York City artists to create billboards to promote Ray-Ban's new colored Wayfarers. And the magazine will also run three times more Ray-Ban ads this year than ever before.

The symbiotic relationship between fashion magazines and fashion advertisements has been losing steam as circulation has slowed for print publications and more companies turn to online advertising. So while at first these ad campaigns, whether subliminal like Estée Lauder's or in your face like Ray-Ban's, seemed a bit desperate, we actually think they're kind of cool - especially when real artists are getting into the mix and what used to be a boring ad gets taken to a new creative level.

We actually kind of love it, and we're sure Andy Warhol's probably giggling in his grave.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Fashionista, on June 30, 2008 11:32 AM

Sorry, guys! Major server problems today, but it looks like we're back. Thanks!

xo F

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Fashionista, on June 30, 2008 11:27 AM

To watch the following clip of the late George Carlin appearing on Kiner’s Korner, click play below:

…carlin was an absolute comedic genius…r.i.p., mr. carlin…

…on a side note, i was never a fan of Ralph Kiner when i first starting watching Mets games…i know, that is sacrilege, but it was the truth, until i met the man at Mickey Mantle’s restaurant in 1989, when i was 11 years old…now, i love when he is in the both telling stories of the good ol’ days…

…hat tip to Neil Best’s Watchdog for the link…

…added to by Matthew Cerrone…

…i, on the other hand, am a huge fan of carlin, and had no idea that he was a Mets fan…that only makes my memory of him now that much better…

ShareThis

Originally posted by Mike Nichols from MetsBlog.com, on June 30, 2008 11:05 AM

In a report for SI.com, Jon Heyman lists 19 pitchers who could be traded before the deadline on July 31, including A’s RHP Rich Harden and Huston Street, Reds RHP Bronson Arroyo and O’s RHP Chad Bradford, among others.

Regarding the outfield, Heyman writes, “Jason Bay and Xavier Nady should be highly coveted, and I can imagine the Mets calling every other day to try to bring back Nady, whom they dealt to the Bucs for Oliver Perez in 2006.”

In a recent report for the Post-Gazette, Dejan Kovacevic wrote that the Pirates are far more likely to trade Nady than Bay, assuming either become available.

ShareThis

Originally posted by Matthew Cerrone from MetsBlog.com, on June 30, 2008 10:29 AM

I don’t know who this guy is, but after staring at my office computer’s empty blue background for nearly a year I’ve decided that he’s becoming my desktop wallpaper.

He was also sitting in the front row at Dior Homme with Kanye (where this stunning pic was taken), but who gives a shit? He gets to look at me now all the time.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Jessica Coen, on June 30, 2008 10:12 AM

I was in Seville last week for the first time since February 2007, and in the intervening year there's been something of a transportation revolution in the city. It's most visibly evident in the Sevici bike-share bikes (bicis in Spanish) that are everywhere. The system launched in April 2007, and ultimately there will be 250 stations and 2,500 bikes spread throughout the city of some 700,000 residents.

I saw the bikes in use by locals in all parts of town, including the rather bleak office parks and university complexes on the west side of the Guadalquivir River. The cycles seem less popular among tourists, although they're a great way to get around the very flat terrain -- and, at 5 euros for a weekly membership with the first half hour of each ride free, and very reasonable rates for longer use, they're a good option.

One of the most amazing things to me was how quickly the city has put in an extensive bike-lane network. The green-painted lanes lead you for miles and miles through the city's neighborhoods, and as far as I could tell, they're all protected. In many places, this is done by putting the bike lane in the street shielded by a low concrete barrier -- enough to deter cars, but far less unsightly than the Jersey barriers used in some parts of New York. Elsewhere -- and here is the revelation, as far as I'm concerned -- the bike lane shared the sidewalk with pedestrians. Not once, in nearly a week, did I see this causing any distress to pedestrians or cyclists (although one resident did grumble to me, somewhat half-heartedly, about reckless cyclists).

(more...)

Originally posted by Sarah Goodyear from Streetsblog, on June 30, 2008 10:09 AM

Here's the McCain campaign's response to Obama's rejection of Wes Clark's comments about McCain's military record...

"Of course Barack Obama has called many times for a new kind of politics, but his campaign just hasn't lived up to it. We've learned we need to wait and see what Senator Obama actually does, rather than take him at his word."

Can you believe it? The McCain camp isn't accepting Obama's disavowal of Clark's comments!

I was certain that the McCain campaign would respond by saying: "Okay, we appreciate Obama's response, and Clark's comments are now a dead issue. Let's get back to talking about the issues." (Editor's note: Please tone down the sarcasm. Way too heavy-handed.)

Late Update: Here's McCain speaking about the whole controversy at today's press conference:

Originally posted by Greg Sargent from TPM Election Central, on June 30, 2008 10:02 AM

The Image Fulgurator is an ingenious device that detects the flash from nearby cameras and quickly inserts a message onto whatever is being photographed so that it shows up in any photos being taken.

It operates via a kind of reactive flash projection that enables an image to be projected on an object exactly at the moment when someone else is photographing it. The intervention is unobtrusive because it takes only a few milliseconds. Every photo another photographer takes of an object at which the Fulgurator is also aimed is affected by the manipulation. Hence visual information can be smuggled unnoticed into the images of others.

Check out the results. (thx, red)

(link)

Originally posted by jason@kottke.org from kottke.org, on June 30, 2008 9:52 AM

Yesterday, while leaving Shea Stadium, I saw a guy wearing a Scott Kazmir Mets jersey.

I stopped him and asked if he spent money on it prior to the trade, or after.  Naturally, he ordered it online after the trade.

What’s interesting, though, is it was sent to him with a space between the Z and M in the last name.

Apparently, he said, the team will not ship out jerseys with No. 19 and the full last name of Kazmir on a Mets jersey.

…from what i can gather, this is their policy for any player who is not on the Mets, and has more to do with the league than the specific team…the thing is, i just can’t see how this is enforced…however, in a case like kazmir, which is so obvious, and such a notorious deal, it makes sense that it would be censored…

…i had never heard of such a scenario, and wonder if any other fans have gone through the same situation…

ShareThis

Originally posted by Matthew Cerrone from MetsBlog.com, on June 30, 2008 9:51 AM

We were just chatting here at the office about what's behind the Obama campaign's rapid rejection of Wes Clark's statements. The read from those in touch with the Obama campaign seemed to be that they don't want to get into a conversation that focuses attention on McCain's war record and/or experience.

If that's the case, it's more troubling than it appears on the surface. I can think of a lot of other reasons why they might not want to get into this. Maybe they think it conflicts with the 'new politics' message they're trying to push. Or perhaps they think the wind's at their back or they don't want the subject to be changed.

But if it really is a fear of getting things focused on McCain's war record or experience it really is the kind of mistake Democrats habitually make. Take a look. McCain's entire campaign is about his time as a POW and the claim that his war service makes him uniquely qualified to be the country's commander-in-chief. They're pushing the fact that he's been on the national stage for four decades, whereas Obama's only been there for four years. That is almost the entirety of his campaign. So it's out there. It's already a key focus of this campaign.

John McCain's claim to experience, based in large part on his military service, is a key issue in this campaign. Ignoring it doesn't make it go away.

Originally posted by Josh Marshall from Talking Points Memo, on June 30, 2008 9:34 AM

Coffee at 9:30 p.m. at the Java House. Q St. between 16th and 17th NW. We dream in a humid night, warm like a blanket, the people walking by with headphones or running shirtless. Car-horn squonk reminds me of Ornette Coleman. Piggybacking on unknown Internet connection “lyrical.” The problem with the Web is that form and function don’t jive for me. How to resolve? I’ve had ideas, never gotten around to them. Man next to me regards weathered paperback with skepticism, is it doing the trick? Next day he puts on slippers and develops a new scheme. How to make money without really trying. Meanwhile hair thins and bones creak.

I’ve settled into a rhythm. Enough money in the bank account right now that I don’t have to worry though I probably should. I would not mind a lit cigarette in my hand — earlier at the bus shelter a man sat next to me and exhaled cigarette smoke and I liked the smell. A woman standing nearby in a white shirt looked back possibly with displeasure or disgust. The girl in front of me wearing Chucks as well fidgets with her chignon. Next to her a guy thumbs a device and wears a wild yarmulke, not something you usually see. Most yarmulkes are unassuming and conservative. She stands and looks around and puts the book in a totebag with insignia that to me are cryptic. Mr. Mxlpytk! Now a kid walks by making noises that sound both like quacks but also unlike those made by any actual bird.

Last night Louisa and I set out to my garden plot, me on foot, her on her new bike for keeping at my place. She had ridden ahead of me across the low concrete bridge that crosses Four Mile Run. As I approached the bridge I noticed two men standing on the path and looking out into the creek. I wondered what they were studying. It took me a while to see it, but there it was: a large bird squatting upright, standing stock-still, looking straight ahead. One of the men asked me what it was, and I had to admit I had no idea. But later, as Louisa and I ate whole-wheat spaghetti with a sauce that included basil I clipped from the garden on that visit, I thumbed through a field guide to birds. Louisa looked with me and said she spotted the bird we saw. I doubted her at first, but as it turned out, I think she was right: it was a black-capped night heron. What a cool name.

The wind kicks up. Could it be about to rain?

Originally posted by (author unknown) from gargoyle drumming, on June 30, 2008 8:50 AM

I'm fascinated by early color photography...it takes a time we think of being in black & white and makes it accessible and modern. In the hands of Auguste and Louis Lumière, the "lowly, lumpy potato" made color photography possible in the early 1900s. The photos were called autochromes.

The Lumière brothers gathered up their potatoes and ground them into thousands of microscopic particles; they separated this powder into three batches, dying one batch red-orange, one violet and one green; the colored particles were thoroughly mixed and sifted onto a freshly varnished, clear glass plate while the lacquer remained tacky; excess potato bits were swept from the plate, which was pressed through steel rollers to flatten the colored grains, transforming each into a minuscule color filter measuring from .0006 to .0025 millimeters across. Gaps between the colored particles were filled in with carbon black, the plate was varnished again and a thin, light-sensitive emulsion of silver bromide was brushed over that. Now the plate was ready for the camera. When the shutter was opened, light filtered through the translucent potato grains, and a multicolored image was imprinted on the emulsion. After the negative plate was developed in the lab, it was washed and dried, covered with another piece of glass to protect the emulsion and bound with gummed tape. Et voilà! A color photograph unlike any seen before.

Here's a slideshow of some photos taken by this process. Here's some autochromes of Mark Twain from 1908.

More early color photography (not necessarily autochromes): Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii's stunning photographs of Russia circa 1909-1915, photos of WWI, photos of WWII, and photos of America in the late 30s/early 40s (color corrected). (thx, david)

(link)

Originally posted by jason@kottke.org from kottke.org, on June 30, 2008 8:47 AM

trust but verify | Requiem for a Champion

No one has done a better job following the Floyd Landis case than David Brower, Bill Hue, and a gaggle of interested commenters and guest posters over at Trust But Verify. Today, with the announcement that Floyd Landis has lost his final appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland, Hue offers a fitting coda to the Landis circus:

Floyd is my hero because in the face of the biggest travesties of “justice” I have ever seen, he stood proud, determined, true to himself and his family and did not bow to those who define “the game” by making its rules, prosecuting those deemed to violate those rules and then stack the deck with those responsible to judge those “violations”. He made them work for it and we are all the beneficiaries of his efforts even though he ultimately derived no benefit, whatsoever.

I go back and forth on the ultimate question of Floyd's guilt or innocence, but I absolutely agree that the rush by organizers and WADA to be tougher and tougher on drugs has trampled the ideals of fair play, sportsmanship, and athletes' rights. It's unfortunate the riders don't have the leverage to create something akin to the major league baseball players' union.

Landis was also ordered to pay $100,000 toward the US Anti-Doping Agency's legal costs. He is eligible to return to racing in January 2009, just in time for the Tour of California, but I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) he would be subject to the no-UCI-teams-for-2-additional-years proviso (assuming there's still a UCI in 2009).

Also:

Court of Arbitration for Sport: Bulletin | Full decision (.pdf file)

VeloNews | Floyd Landis loses CAS appeal

PodiumCafe | Landis Appeal Decision Open Thread

Originally posted by Frank Steele from Tour de France 2008, on June 30, 2008 8:46 AM

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Originally posted by Gina Trapani from Lifehacker, on June 30, 2008 8:00 AM

Joe Lieberman predicts a terrorist attack in 2009 and says that's why we should vote for McCain.

Originally posted by David Kurtz from Talking Points Memo, on June 30, 2008 7:54 AM

The NYT’s rehash of Democrats’ “southern problem” is a pretty remarkable accomplishment. 1,300 words on the first African-American nominee’s ability to compete in the historic site of slavery and Jim Crow without the words “racism” or “prejudice” or any other phrase that put the trends both current and historic in proper context.

Instead, the “paper of record” chose to whitewash history with polite euphemisms. On why white Southerners left the Democratic Party:

But voters’ allegiance was rocked in the 1960s by the Democrats’ leadership in passing civil rights legislation, and whites began to move to what Republicans asserted was their more natural ideological home. [emphasis added]

Yes, and that ideology was, um, white supremacy.And this is good, apparently there could be a “Republican” backlash if Obama registers too many “new voters”:

Some Democrats say the Obama registration drive could have unintended consequences, spurring a higher turnout among whites planning to vote Republican. But Charles Bullock, a political scientist at the University of Georgia, said he considered that unlikely.”Older whites who are most likely to have traditional racial attitudes are probably already registered and may have records of consistent participation,” Dr. Bullock said.

As Mr. Mabus put it, “I’m sure some won’t vote for him because he’s African-American, but I’m pretty sure those people wouldn’t vote for any Democrat.”

Again, those “traditional racial attitudes” are racist attitudes. Say it with me New York Times: r-a-c-i-s-m.The problem is not that Barack Obama is an African-American. And it’s not “traditional racial attitudes,” and it’s not “Republican backlash,” and it’s not that the GOP is a “more natural ideological home” for Southerners.

The problem is that many older voters (not all, of course) in the South are racist. They are the problem. So rather than pointing at Barack Obama, or Northern Democrats, or the “issue of race,” let’s point at racism and racists.

Cross-posted from TPMCafe.

Originally posted by agolis from andrew golis, on June 30, 2008 6:49 AM

I.D. Magazine's 54th Annual Review came out this week. And its with great excitement that I can finally announce that we've been awarded Best Packaging of the Year for the PT3 Ultramagnetic Collection. Who would have thought that a goofy idea that sparked off over some Thai food (and was taken from sketch to final product in less that 2 months) would have beaten the big budgets of Apple's iPhone, Band-Aid, and Marc Jacobs. "Puma's table tennis set all but won at first sight. The case-- two form-fitting pieces of milky-white PVC held together by magnets-- clearly expresses what's inside, and it took the jurors' every ounce of self-control not to drop their checklists and start playing immediately." Its also great to see the continued momentum behind table tennis, and the judges recognition that Puma has been a big part of this recent buzz. "Seeking its own sport to colonize and accessorize, the shoemaker hit, improbably, upon Ping-Pong." It looks like others have taken notice, as you'll see the release of Nike's new TT shoe. Dustin Ross In summary, Judge Stephen Burks stated, "You're not trying to show off the brand. You're just carrying this useful thing. And maybe that's why I like it. It's Puma, but it doesn't have to scream it. It's confident about what's inside." Thanks to all the judges and I.D. magazine. Its such an honor to be featured alongside such winning projects like Pentagram's Saks Identity and Yves Behar's Y Water. Also, a big shout to my mate Tom at Exposure, who pulled down an honorable mention for his Nike RunNYC Project. I had fun helping him a little bit with that too. Thanks again to the folks at Puma: Khairi, Theo and Barney, and to the ever-growing team at Aruliden. To my man Jeff Staple, co-creator of PT3. And Dustin Ross, for his photography and a few late nights to make this happen. The cases will be on display at Parson's as part of an exhibit beginning July 9, and hopefully to Puma retail spaces in the near future.

Originally posted by Tyler Askew [New York] from M a blog / Tyler Askew, on June 30, 2008 6:19 AM

AMC announced today that acclaimed film actors Jim Caviezel (The Passion of the Christ, The Thin Red Line) and Ian McKellen (Lord of the Rings, The Da Vinci Code) have signed on for the network's reinterpretation of the highly influential 1960s cult classic, The Prisoner. AMC is co-producing the six-part mini-series with ITV Productions and Granada International, with a worldwide premiere slated for 2009. The Prisoner, AMC's second original mini-series, combines a wide range of genres, including espionage, thriller and scifi, into a unique and compelling drama, and expands upon the network's distinctive cinematic approach to creating high-quality programming.

Caviezel will play the title role of "Number Six," a part that was originally made famous when played by Patrick McGoohan. McGoohan also served as the creator, producer, writer and director of the 1960s series, which has become widely regarded as one of the most famous and intriguing cult TV series ever created, permanently altering the scope of the fantasy genre. Two-time Oscar nominee Ian McKellen will co-star playing the role of "Number Two."

(Check back on AMCtv.com in the coming weeks for further news about The Prisoner, and sign up for the newsletter to get updates on AMC programming and originals, like The Prisoner, Mad Men and Breaking Bad.)

Originally posted by Drew Pisarra from The Prisoner, on June 30, 2008 5:01 AM

In the four games played with the Yankees on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Carlos Delgado had four hits in 15 at bats, three of which were home runs, including 10 RBI while striking out two times.

Interestingly, Delgado was 4 for 9 in the two day games, but hitless in six at bats during the other two games.

This is not an isolated trend, though.

In 30 day games this season, Delgado is batting .293, while averaging one home run every 10 or so at bats.

However, in 49 night games this season, Delgado is batting just .190, while averaging one home run every 50 at bats.

…that…is amazing…i’m not one to put a whole lot in to stats like this, but, wow, that one is hard to ignore…

To put this in to perspective, at that rate, with those stats, if the Mets were to play 162 day games, apparently Delgado would hit .290 with roughly 45 HR and 130 or so RBI.

…hat tip to the Lets Go Mets blog for a heads up on the splits…

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Originally posted by Matthew Cerrone from MetsBlog.com, on June 30, 2008 4:52 AM

Photoshopped version of my photo by unknown artist - I do not own the copyright to this derivative work

The original image

It was awhile ago, but someone sent me a photoshopped version of my photo of George Lucas and JJ Abrams. I can't seem to find the email. I'd like to contact the artist to ask for permission to use it and ask them to license it under a CC license. I'd also like to provide attribution. If you sent me the photo and are reading this, can you leave a comment or send me an email? If you know who did this, let me know too.

Thanks!

Originally posted by Joi from Joi Ito's Web, on June 30, 2008 4:44 AM

So, who wants a sewing machine? I'm giving one away ... This Singer Stylist 834 was the first machine I bought for myself, with my own money (actually, with the first real paycheck I ever got!) ... I'm trying not to be sentimental about this (because I really need to get rid of some STUFF) but I *would* like it to go to a good home. So instead of Freecycling or Craigslisting it, I thought I'd try here first.

It's FREE, but there are a few caveats:

-- the timing's off, so it needs a visit to the repair shop before you'll be able to use it. Luckily, the sticker on the machine will tell you where to go. Last time I took it in, the tuneup cost $80.

-- you have to be able to pick it up, here in Chicago ... I won't ship it. This sucker's HEAVY. It does, however, have a carrying case. You have to pick it up before July 15 -- I've given myself two weeks to give this away.

-- I think I have the manual. Somewhere. I'll try to dig it up. I also have some extra feet for it, but heaven only knows WHICH feet, and WHERE. They will also be the target of some sewing-room archaeology.

I made a lot of clothes with this machine, and I think it's still good for a couple years' more sewing, if you don't do anything rough (like making jeans or canvas bags). It's simple to use (even without the manual) and friendly for beginners.

If you want this machine, email me (the email address is over there, on the right, towards the bottom of this page) and we'll work out the details.

In addition: I am selling my serger. (I really don't use it, and I'd rather use that space for more fabric or as a spot for the Singer Red-Eye machine, instead.)

Also: does anyone do any crafting with circuit boards? I just came across a stash of old etherlink cards ... if you want 'em, email me. Those are really light, so I'm happy to ship them. Now, like my innocence, circuit boards gone.

Originally posted by Erin from A Dress A Day, on June 30, 2008 4:31 AM

The usually very reliable Ted Casablanca broke my heart a little last week, when he speculated that Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck were heading for a split. And, because Bennifer are hardly ever photographed together, it's difficult for us to monitor the state of their union. But Jen's rep quickly squashed the breakup talk, telling UsMagazine.com that they story was completely fabricated.

"There is not one ounce of truth to it," the rep said.

Concurring with the denials, Ben told Access Hollywood's Billy Bush that all is well at home.

“We’re very happy," the Ben of Ben & Jen said. "Things couldn’t be better. We’re kind of taking it easy and just kind of enjoying a little downtime at home."

This puts my mind at ease, I think, 'cause I just couldn't deal with the thought that my cutie Violet's world would be torn apart.

Originally posted by Tracy Pepey from iVillage - Daily Blabber, on June 30, 2008 3:34 AM

Here Comes Everybody, by Clay Shirky. In retrospect, it’s surprising that it took this long for Clay to write a book. Given my past run-ins with his postulations, I approached the book with some skepticism. It won me over, though, because, unlike when he’s addressing issues of information science, when he talks about social software and social movements online, he knows what he’s talking about. In some ways, this is Smart Mobs 6 years later (which I blogged extensively at the time.)

Predictably Irrational, Dan Ariely. However much I liked Here Comes Everybody, I actually believe this to be a more important, and fundamental, book. It’s a quick read — a few hours at most. It details a series of experiments that the author, with a variety of colleagues, conducted in order to probe the economic irrationality of humans. It turns out much of our economic behavior makes little rational sense. Thankfully, Ariely doesn’t propose any explanations for this irrationality (many others would be tempted to weave some evolutionary psychobabble)… But he does propose a set of implications, usually having to do with regulating our economy, because if people are simply not going to be rational, a “free market” ends up doing harm, because it inadvertently (or not) takes advantage of such irrationality. Ariely maintains an active blog on this subject.

I enjoyed the insights Ariely provides into understand human behavior. My only frustration with the book is that, because Ariely treats the population as a whole, and he’s interested in how populations behave, he doesn’t provide any insights into classes of people, and I think it would be interesting to know if there are, say, people who *do* behave rationally, and what characteristics do they possess?

Originally posted by peterme from peterme.com, on June 29, 2008 9:09 PM

After the video of a Chinese farmer's homemade airplane started circulating around the web late last week, commenters on several sites cried hoax, and I received several emails and tweets questioning my mental health for believing such a thing exists.

But the video wasn't obviously fake; home-built airplanes aren't rare, I have no reason to doubt the ingenuity of the Chinese farmer, and I'd rather believe in the wonderfully improbably than be cynical about everything I see. A second video of the plane has been uploaded to YouTube which, in my mind, corroborates the existence of the flying contraption (it's actually an autogyro) beyond a reasonable doubt.

(link)

Originally posted by jason@kottke.org from kottke.org, on June 29, 2008 7:26 PM

Longtime TPM Reader LB checks in from Missouri, where McCain, for the moment at least, is outspending Obama:

The entire Republican campaign will be focused on making Obama the worst menu choice imaginable. Of course this will sully St. McCain's reputation and he will be subject to all manner of criticism (the stuff DC Dems fear so much they'll do anything to avoid). Nonetheless, the Republicans will take an ugly win over a noble loss any day.

They will use the summer months to shore up the old McCain image as "maverick", "moderate" and independent. It's all lies but they don't care about that. The Democratic campaign meanwhile ... is entirely new to the national game and has nothing like the experience of winning the Republicans have so they are essentially giving free ground to the opposition instead of going on the attack now when they have McCain down and could easily keep him down. ...

The ... Democrats are not planning on winning. They are planning how not to lose. Naturally, this is one of the best strategies known to man if you wish to lose the contest. Republicans on the other hand are actively planning on how they win. They know this necessarily includes doing all they can to sully Obama's reputation and paint him as something he is not: untrustworthy, extreme, etc...

What we know, however, is that the Republicans have won the last two Presidential campaigns and have deep experience running a national operation, how to prepare for the fall and how to execute a take down of the opponent. The one thing Republicans rely on more than anything else is Democratic docility and inaction during summer and well into September. My view is that the best thing the Obama camp could do is not wait for the assault to begin (something they openly admit they are preparing for) but instead to launch their own assault. Were they to do this and put the Republicans on the defensive and keep them there until November it would reverse roles and give the Democrats the strategic advantage that is always so elusive to them in the fall campaigns.

Obama has the money to do this and the capacity to sustain it. Unfortunately, it looks to me as though all the signs point to the Obama campaign now becoming more and more focused on DC and listening to the wise heads in Washington whispering in their ears about how to handle things. Thus, we begin to see a replay of a great deal of what we've seen before: planning how not to lose instead of planning how to win. I hope I'm wrong. I hope the Obama people are developing a proactive, aggressive, in your face campaign to strike down McCain and the crap the Republicans are preparing. It's just there are no signs that this is what is being planned. And so I am very worried.

Originally posted by David Kurtz from Talking Points Memo, on June 29, 2008 7:00 PM

Suddenly I care about OpenStreetMap, all over again.

OSM is a cognitive surplus project whose ultimate goal is a CC-licensed, crowd-sourced vector map of the world, competitive with Google, NavTeq, TeleAtlas and other geographic data providers. The project has been in motion for the past four years, with especially active support in Germany and the UK and a recent TIGER/Line infusion for the United States.

Why is OSM interesting? Having watched Oakland transition from the raw TIGER/Line data import to a more refined, watched-over state (compare the visual appearance of nearby Concord to West Oakland for a sense of the difference), I'm starting to think that the main advantage of OSM might be in the kinds of details overlooked by the larger mapping agencies, and in a certain unevenness of coverage indicating which places are cared-for. Over the past few weeks, I've spent a few hours drawing in parks near where I live:

(before)

(after)

The difference isn't exactly earth shaking, but it does begin to introduce a feeling of reality into the rendered image. Raw streets are probably accurate enough for basic driving purposes. Parks fill in details, and promise that what you're seeing bears some relationship to what you'll find if you were to actually visit.

Google Maps' coverage of West Oakland is still substantially wrong, especially outside the 880 loop in the Port Of Oakland territory. They've still got Army Base roads that no longer exist, and miss Middle Harbor Shoreline Park completely. Small potatoes until you think about the effort expended to convert port and military territory to more civic uses in a part of town known more for its asthma-aggravating emissions than its amenities.

The potential for detail represented by OSM extends down into territories more conventionally associated with local-type business listings. Tagging your input with "amenity: pub" causes a little amber pint glass to be rendered to the main map, betraying the beer preference of OSM's British founders and their aims for a richer mapping experience:

What's really going on here is that a particular historical wall is being chipped away. The understanding fostered by the Googles and NavTeqs of the world is that map data is an unchanging (or at least unchangeable) base layer, with transient information such as directions or grocery stores layered over it. What's interesting about OSM is the edit button, the thing where you get to apply your own local knowledge about your area for others to benefit from. This is where I think OSM is finding its niche as a credible alternative for those who need maps. For example, we decided to go with a Virtual Earth base layer for our Oakland Crimespotting project, to expedite its launch at a busy time. Almost a year later, we may suddenly find that OSM's data for Oakland has reached sufficient quality for use in a real application, one where we might (for example) choose to mark and render liquor stores, schools, or police stations right on the map layer for added crime data context. We don't need nationwide coverage, but we do need excellent local coverage and are probably willing to do the footwork to improve an area for our own immediate benefit.

The kind of custom rendering implied by what I'm describing is starting to become a sane possibility, with software like Mapnik making available high quality visual rendering of geographic information. Paul Smith of EveryBlock described its basic use in an ALA article a few months back, while we've been using the software to a point where we can confidently predict its blackbox behavior and really start to customize its output.

Annoyingly, OSM is still finding its technical footing. Despite an excellent API, changes made to the underlying data take a few days to appear in the officially rendered tile sets, and the editing tools are still a bit dorky for general consumption. This may not ultimately matter as far as the basic idea is concerned - momentum behind the project is sufficient for it to gain a foothold in certain key metropolitan areas, and supports specialist efforts like derived cycling or topographical maps. I can imagine other specialist needs like motocross, fishing, bed and breakfasts, etc. taking over the care and feeding of certain kinds of map data. It's easy to forget that familiar road maps were once a hobbyist endeavor as well.

I'm interested in a near future where the native advantage of commercial mapping agencies becomes a liability. Might there be a situation where it's no longer economically feasible for company representatives to drive every street when there might be equally-good input from crowds of motivated participants? At some point, the quality of the basic street grid becomes Good Enough, and the kinds of details noticed only by locals takes on greater importance.

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Originally posted by (author unknown) from tecznotes, on June 29, 2008 4:57 PM

Jarkko Hietaniemi, you're my hero  

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Waxy.org Links, on June 29, 2008 11:40 AM

Examiner column for June 30.

    Thanks to the popularity of my column “This is Sparta!—Facebook Prank or Political Statement?” I am now a footnote in Wikipedia. I have written about the Advanced Placement program for more than twenty years, yet this is the first column to create any buzz.

    The column itself recorded the phenomenon of a Facebook group that encouraged students to write “This is Sparta!” in their AP tests, and place a single line through the sentence so it wouldn’t affect their scores. In the English Literature and Composition reading, we adopted that line as a rallying cry to help us finish reading a million essays.

    The column received eleven comments on the Examiner website—approximately ten more than I usually get. I received an email from the Facebook group’s creator, Kevin Xu, and also from several AP graders who saw the phrase over and over again during their subject’s readings.

    As my column continued to be popular online days after its publication, I explored websites that linked it. Kevin’s original group, “Everybody write ‘This is Sparta!’ on Their AP Tests” accompanied the link with the comment: “Everyone we hit the news!”

    Discussion boards on his site explored “What the readers are thinking” and dispelled rumors that students’ scores might be cancelled if they had participated in the group campaign.

    A link on “Digg” called my column “Edutainment,” and I realized at that moment that Edutainment was the wave of the future!

     I discovered “College Confidential,” a website devoted to all manner of obsessive ruminations by high school students over college admissions, policies, and AP tests.

    That website let me know the exact moment AP scores were available by telephone (Friday, June 27, at 1:15 p.m.) The first entry after that, at 1:18 p.m., was from a mother bragging that her daughter got the highest scores possible on her AP tests—all fives. I noted with a pang that previous to that moment there had been many pages of commentary by students who were in an agony of expectation and anxiety as they awaited their scores.

    The high point of my online research was the moment I discovered I was a footnote in the Wikipedia entry “Advanced Placement Program.” If you click at the bottom under #8, my Examiner column pops up. It is as close to Andy Warhol’s fifteen minutes of fame as this education columnist will likely ever get!

    A prank that announced it was “Just for fun—Totally Random” has, through the magic of internet connections, rippled far beyond its original goal of bringing a smile to the faceless AP graders. My column has led me to discover the existence of multiple types of online connections—from commentary to virtual discussions among parents, graders, and test takers.

    I have discovered that because students suffer the same anxiety teachers do waiting for scores, they have created a special website devoted to expressing their fears and mutual commiseration.

    I have also discovered that high-stress situations, such as taking tests and waiting for results, benefit from random LOL moments—like discovering yourself as a footnote. And it all started with Kevin’s innocuous words, “Let’s all give the teachers a lil surprise!”

Originally posted by Erica Jacobs from TeacherTalk, on June 29, 2008 10:05 AM

Written by toxel

Why should ads be boring? Check out this collection of unforgettable advertisements from around the world.

Nissan Cube Advertisement

Break Glass in Case of Adventure. [link]

Nike Cars Advertisement

Cars decorated as Nike kicks in Mexico. The front car carrying the ball. [link]

BMW Advertisement

“From up here, I can see BMW of Bridgeport” [link]

Nescafe Advertisement

This picture of a Nescafe branded building is from Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, and must be among the largest inflatables in the world. [link]

Nike Advertisement

Nestle Advertisement

Creative Nestle billboard advertisement. [link]

Mini Advertisement

Hopi Hari Advertisement

Fitness Company Advertisement

Shopping bags given away to customers when purchasing fitness accessories or nutritional supplements at the Fitness Company fitness centers. [link]

Skin Cancer Towel Advertisement

“Please take care this summer” [link]

K-Swiss Advertisement

McDonald’s Bus Stop Advertisement

Just what you want while waiting for the bus: that mouth watering, tantalizing reminder of how much you’d love to stuff your face with a 1,000 calorie burger only to be reminded later by your stomach it wasn’t the best decision you could have made. [link]

Woodland Shoes Advertisement

Powerful idea for a billboard. [link]

Outdoor Stunt by Goodyear

Lovely concept, but I think there’s something lost in translation in this outdoor campaign for Goodyear. The sign says:

(front) “Your vehicle has been towed. Call 0800 081-8181.”
(back) “For sticking on the roads.” [link]

FedEx Kinko’s Advertisement

When coming up with an ad campaign for FedEx Kinko’s, the innovative minds at advertising agency BBDO were inspired by the streets of New York. The agency installed oversized bottles of correction fluid, highlighters, and, in one case, an office lamp, on the city’s busy thoroughfares for a couple of days earlier this year. [link]

Peta Advertisement

The action is named ‘None of us would like to end up like this.. neither would other-than-human animals’ and it was done with four big foam trays, each of them containing a naked activist inside, and covered with a see-through plastic with a ‘Human meat’ sticker on it. The idea was to imitate the ‘meat’ trays we can find at the supermarkets and to show that we are also animals, just as other-than-human animals, we neither would like to end up there. [link]

Ravensburger Puzzles Advertisement

BIC Razor Advertisement

Bic developed this creative outdoor advertisement for their razors. The billboard is blank except for a small logo, but without it the advertisement might be missed and it acts as a good backdrop for the giant razor and cut grass. The only draw back is the constant trimming of the lawn. [link]

Mercedes Advertisement

IKEA Advertisement

Ikea on Wheels advertisement. [link]

Canon Advertisement

Creative Canon outdoor advertisement. [link]

Kill Bill Advertisement

LEGO Advertisement

Lego’s ad agency in Santiago (Chile) used cranes to hang giant Lego blocks. [link]

Discovery Channel Advertisement

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Originally posted by bspcn from The Best Article Every day, on June 29, 2008 8:08 AM